Cesc Fabregas looked back to his best but was lacking runners. Had Theo Walcott or Carlos Vela been playing then Cesc would have been able to use his range more effectively

Appologies for the lack on My Vision over the last few days, I suppose I have misjudged my ability to juggle family life, work and writing stuff. I actually missed most of the Arsenal game on the weekend, but have managed to watch most of it from good old trusty Sky +

The result was not quite what we wanted it to be and Gooners are bound to be a bit upset that we couldn’t maintain a run of victories but I think the other results from the top 4 show you what kind of season we have on our hands this season. Arguably we had the best result out of the top 4. Liverpool being at home would have been expected to beat Hull City (yeah yeah, I know)

Chelsea drew at home (again) against West Ham who could and should have won it in the final minutes just as they should have against Liverpool at Anfield.

Manchester United drew away to a team below Middleborough. So lets not go over board. I actually think there were some good positives to take from the game.

Before the equaliser we looked in the best shape we have done in some time. Our crisp one touch passing was back and the link up play between Adebayor. Van Persie, Cesc and Diaby looked very positive. If we had another goal scoring from the wide areas then we would have won the game, I have little doubt.

Some of our early football was breathtaking, one move that ended with Van Persie dragging a shot wide on his weaker side was what this team can and should be doing on a regular basis. I haven’t seen us do that in a long time and that includes the Manchester United victory.

We were effectively playing 4 central midfielders and still managed to pass the ball around well.

I have a few points about the first half.

1) Diaby criminally didn’t pass to Adebayor, instead he blazed over. That would have infuriated Wenger who always tells his players to pass to a better placed team mate.

2) Cesc Fabregas looked back to his best but was lacking runners. Had Theo Walcott or Carlos Vela been playing then Cesc would have been able to use his range more effectively.

3) Alex Song must be a nightmare for Arsene. One hand he is a player that we badly need, big strong, fills in at the back when spaces are left, wins balls in the air and makes blocks. On the other side he cannot play football in this Arsenal team who zip the ball around accurately. He gives the ball away at an alarming rate. Even his passes that find an Arsenal player put them into trouble. If his ball retention does not improve then I agree with Wenger that he should be a center half and not a midfielder. Sol Campbell had the same problem but he didn’t receive the ball anywhere as often as Song would in the area that he occupies.

4) Currently Wilshere and Vela are on the bench to watch and learn and not to play. He probably thinks that playing them will harm their development. 2 central midfielders out wide were not creating enough chances and he would have changed things much earlier if he had players that he trusted to play. leaving the substitutes till 80 minutes when clearly we needed something new was wrong in my eyes.

It also shows how much we are lacking another wide option.

So the real top 4 stay the same while Aston Villa capitalise. Aston Villa do not frighten me right now, I think we have too much for them and they still have not come across injuries to key players. Ashley Young would have been a Gooner if Arsene thought that £11 million was a good investment. I reckon he thinks it is now.

Liverpool are another side that I do not rate very highly and I haven’t done from the start of the season. They will finish 3rd at very best.

Emmanuel Adebayor had his say on the result and performance against Boro.

“We were disappointed but at least we got something from the [Middlesbrough] game,” the Togo striker said. “Now we have to get focused for what is a big game against Liverpool. Every game now is the game of the season and we just want to try to keep our dreams alive. Liverpool will be a big test but it’s vital that we stay positive. If we can get everyone working together then we have a great chance to beat them.”

I am looking forward to the Liverpool game and think we will deliver a good performance. I believe that this group of players gain confidence from playing good football rather than points. Hopefully we can include Sami Nasri back into the team. I would rather have Eboue playing out wide and let Wenger choose between Song and Denilson.

At the end of the day, 4 points from two away matches at Chelsea and Boro is a good return and we are still unbeaten in the league with Cesc as captain. I am still hoping that this is still the beginning of our long unbeaten run that will see us driving up the league table after Christmas along with Eduardo back sharp with a couple of January signings to bolster the squad. I would use Rosicky but it wouldn’t sound realistic enough. ok, well that’s about that, sorry for the late post an all. Back tomorrow.

Your Vision

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