A bit more attacking aggression and running past players instead of turning them back and forth and not making progress. I am not criticising him, infact he has been one of the shinning lights offensively this season but we know he can do better

Hello Gooners,

Just thought I’d write a few lines this evening as I didn’t post an entry during the day. What to make of the Everton match ey? To me it was quite the mixture really.

Let me get the negatives out of the way first (always better to end on positives)

Creativity is lacking in this side at present. We are obviously missing the best passer and the player who more often than not provides the most amount of assists year after year. Cesc Fabregas. Theo Walcott as an outlet is also missing big time. Yesterdays game may have not been the best game for him, a match where space is minimal but he always makes opposition players adjust their game because they know they cannot afford to give him space in behind them. Rosicky, it is hard to talk about him being a missing player due to the length of time he has been out but we know that we are short on attacking ideas without him in the squad.

With those players missing we are currently struggling to create clear cut chances, this is partly why the Bolton and Portsmouth matches were won very late on. We are a passing team missing creative passers so of course we are going to suffer. The full backs are not providing good enough quality in the final third at the moment and that is a shame because they are getting into very good ideas. Sagna had a number of assists last season and this hasn’t been the same this time round. Clichy on the whole has struggled with his final ball and is still developing that side of his game.

For those who say we don’t need Arshavin and we should be concentrating on other areas well I disagree. Djourou like or not is like a new signing in the fact that he brings something different. The defensive performances since he has been included have improved. Think Stamford Bridge, think last night, but I’ll get onto that in a second.

Fingers crossed that the Arshavin deal does happen after all this time it blinking better do. I am not sure how close he is to being ready to play for Arsenal but we need a player who can unlock doors, who can disguise passes, who can take out the opposition by running past them. Samir Nasri is the one from midfield who has the capabilities to create chances but I feel he is stuck wide often than not which is a surprise to me. At the start of the season he would drift inside almost every time he passed the ball but nowadays he seems to be dummying opposition players two or three times then passing it back. I think we need a bit more penetration from him, a bit more attacking aggression and running past players instead of turning them back and forth and not making progress. I am not criticising him, infact he has been one of the shinning lights offensively this season but we know he can do better, especially away from home where his creativity is arguably more important.

Ok, lets get to the positives shall we. You may not agree but listen up.

Earlier on in the season our defending was criticised and rightly so in my opinion. We were sloppy and sometimes damn right unprofessional (Spurs springs to mind) last night at Goodison part we looked very solid and restricted Everton to one low strike from Cahill and obviously his header which should have been picked up by someone other than Clichy. Apart from that we had Fellini and Cahill to deal with all evening, two players very good in the air and Johan Djourou, Bacary Sagna and William Gallas dealt with this superbly. Against Bolton after our late goal we powered away many crosses into our box and it is great to see the improvement. There appears to be more organisation about the back four which is very important. The one game that we looked a bit shaky was against Villa at Villa Park, since then I cannot remember a poor defensive display.

The work rate of the players was another positive, we had to match Everton on that note and I think we did and did it well. When our team do not work as they should then it angers me, it is the one thing that I do not expect to tolerate as a supporter. Even though the game was not as entertaining as it should have been, I much preferred this display than say for example Sunderland away where I thought the players strolled until the last 10 minutes.

Another positive.. Robin Van Persie. I do not need to say anymore on that.

At the end of the day, or the beginning come to think of it, a point away at Everton is not a bad result. It is not ideal because of the Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester United results but many fans are talking as if Aston Villa are going to win all the rest of their games. They are not, We are not going to either but at least we have some major players coming back and hopefully a new big signing coming in.

Basically it was not an ideal result but lets keep perspective.

Our next 6 league fixtures go like this..

West Ham (h)
Tottenham (a)
Sunderland (h)
Fulham (h)
West Brom (a)
Blackburn Rovers (h)

Very winnable matches along with the return of key players could show us in a brighter position come the home straight.

Don’t get me wrong, I am worried about our position and would rather we were currently in the same position we were in last season. But all the Wenger and squad bashers, read that line again. We were top last season so it means we are not that far away. The league looks out of reach this season even though it is very possible mathematically but I cannot see Manchester United faltering too often from here on in as they are in very good form right now. Having said that Liverpool and Chelsea are also very inconsistent at the moment.

Right I would add the bits and pieces that happened today but I guess you have already read it already. Have yourself a good evening folks.

Back tomorrow.