A day of firsts at the Emirates, but old problems remain.

Sorry for the lack of posts since last Wednesday, but it's been a bit of a tough old week in Goonerboy-ville.

The highlight of my week was, undoubtedly, the first day at the Emirates. After queueing for some 25minutes to get served in The Bailey on Holloway road - who seemed to have totally underestimated the increased match day traffic they'd be getting - I finally got served, and after a few drinks, headed down the road to the UFO that is the Emirates.

It looked - to be frank - magnificent. It brought home to me, and probably many others, that while we all loved Highbury, it was a bit of a ramshackle old place by the end. The increased space outside the stadium, and in the gantries inside was wonderful, as were the notably larger seats and spaces between the rows. While the cost of all this space was, unfortunately, the feeling that you were slightly further from the action than before, I personally felt the atmosphere inside was wonderful. The filled in corners and the extra 22000 people really made a difference to the volume levels, although it wasn't until the second half that everyone really found their voices.

As for the game itself...first night nerves aplenty. Some players looked tired - a ridiculous state of affairs that whoever organised the ridiculous friendlies on Wednesday [UEFA/FIFA?] have to take the blame for.

Villa stuck to a sensible game plan, given the clear gulf in class between the two sides. O'Neill - a manager I really admire - had clearly used his brief time in charge to marshall the resources he had as effectively as possible. This consisted of defending and restricting space in the final third. Villa seemed happy enough for us to knock the ball around ad infinitum around the edge of the area, and we lacked a cutting edge - and a willingness to shoot - that was necessary for a goal. Unsurprisingly, or surprisingly given our lack of headed goals, it took a set-piece to break the deadlock, with Kolo heading home. Unfortunately he was off-side.

The second half saw two things I had feared. Firstly, Villa scoring with almost their only attack of the game. Jens was at fault for not claiming the ball, but there was a worrying lack of cohesiveness in the defence as a whole. Djourou has the makings of a class act, but him Toure, Eboue and Hoyte did not look to be on the same wave-length at crucial moments of the game. Hoyte, in fact, looked terrified. There was a moment when Thierry wanted to take a short corner, and Hoyte, not seeing him, trudged back, head-down, to the centre-circle. The vultures around his arsenal career could almost be heard circling as Flamini came on to replace him.

At a playing level, we need Cole or Clichy back. At a morale/reputation/morality level, the re-introduction of Cole into the team could damage us. The crowd were notably divided on the issue. There was a few shall we say 'derogatory' chants against him, but also some mutterings in his favour. I noticed on Sky afterwards there was almost a punch up between two Arsenal fans over whether we should let him back or not. If he comes back and plays well, all could still be forgiven. We desperately miss his pace and ability to overlap on the left. And football fans can be fickle in these situations.

The other thing I was worried about occurred when Eboue went down 'injured' and play continued. A storm brewed up, placated only by Villa's ineptness in front of goal. Yet they were playing to the letter of the new law. It will take a while to get used to, but I'm in favour of the new ruling. I think players do take advantage of the 'gentlemen's agreement' and it was becoming a problem, especially when they actually very rarely need the treatment. Expect a few problems and controversies before it settles in to common practice though.

The real star of the day was Theo - indeed I had noticed on the tube on the way up, that Walcott32 and Fabregas4 seem to be the favoured shirt numbers on the new home kit. Quite simply, he changed the game. We would have lost without his introduction. The contrast between the aging war-horse that is Freddie and Theo that was marked. Freddie gave it his all, tackled away, but never looked like scoring, or even really troubling their r-b. Theo immediately caused panic, running at their defence, crossing into dangerous areas and causing problems. Hleb - and indeed most of the team - was invigorated from his so-so performance with Theo's presence. They connected on the left hand side, Theo put in a beauty of a cross, RvP flicked on and Gilberto struck the ball into the top hand corner at a speed of around 432Mph.

A few brief flurries followed but it was all huff and puff. As I stood to clap the team off, I noticed a divide in the crowd between those who did and didn't think the team was worthy of applause. While Arsenal didn't play brilliantly, there was no lack of effort. It just looked like we were out of practice, and hadn't found a cohesive rhythm to their attacks. Henry looked disjointed and peripheral, Hleb found it difficult to connect his passes, Adebayor couldn't find Henry, and RvP really didn't seem to find his groove.

Things will improve, but not immediately. We need, as Arsene said, about ten games before the team - and us -feel like the Emirates is our home. I think we can still realistically challenge for second or third, but Chel£ea still look too good. People have read far too much into Manu's demolition of Fulham yesterday - a team who will be in a relegation struggle this year, and who we put 8 goals past last season. Liverpool also look permeable. We need to find out feet, and also, still, not put too much pressure on youngsters such as Theo who will still need some time to settle in. Not that anyone will now hype him into the next Henry already. Oh no.

It was quite an interesting weekend in the premiership. I'll be intrigued to see how Reading get on, as they seem to still almost be identical to the side they were promoted with. My predictions for relegation are Watford, Wigan, and Charlton/Fulham thusfar. I think Reading and Sheff Utd might just have what it takes to hold on, while Wigan seem to have ripped out the heart of the team that did so well last year.

Til later, Gb.