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Hey everyone. Just to say that as part of the blog re-launch, Goonerboy is now on Twitter.

Find me @GoonerboyBlog, or just click on the 'follow' button in the column to the right of this post.

I should have a post up soon with a great pic from the statute unveiling today.

The Pros and Cons of Manchester's Exit from Europe

Pros

So, the first pro is fairly obvious - hilarity. It's always funny to watch United lose, especially in Europe where Fergie's ability to influence referees is less pronounced. The fact that they were served up one of the easiest CL groups I can remember makes it even funnier. The loss also exposes the fact that United aren't, perhaps, the force they once were. I know it's become almost as common to say United are on the decline among the football media as 'this season, Liverpool will definitely be title contenders', but there does seem to be an end of an era air around the club. Scholes has gone, and Giggs will be gone soon as well. Ferdinand can't hack it anymore. Fergie is 70. They have no central midfield. None of these are damning - indeed, I still expect United to finish second - but you wonder whether United really bought the right players in the summer.This article, by Daniel Taylor of the Guardian, suggests that the Glazers financial pillage of the club is really beginning to hurt the team in the transfer market. Yes, they absolutely destroyed us in August - but it increasingly looks like that result may have papered over quite a few cracks.

City's defeat is funny on a few different levels. Nasri's face being one of them. It would be easy to go into 'a money can't buy you everything' rant, but, let's face it, they will win something this year. But it also shows that they are not the all-conquering force that their domestic form has suggested so far. They are beatable in a one-off game situation, especially with Lescott and Toure in defence.

From an Arsenal perspective, it gives us a glimmer of hope in terms of the competition. We have been far more consistent in Europe this year than in the prem, and our record against English teams in the CL is abysmal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we've ever beaten an English team over two-legs in Europe? Let alone in the last ten years. With a bit of luck we could go further in Europe this year than many of us hoped back in early September.

Cons

United and City are now free to focus on the league. While Europe has shown City are beatable, the resources at their squad make it a big ask for any team in the prem. I think we will give them a good game, but, as Alan Davies keeps on saying, I worry for our unbeaten record. It's one thing for them to buy the league; it's another to buy one of the greatest achievements in modern football.

I would expect Mancini to use the exits as an excuse to spend more cash in January, and the title already looks a foregone conclusion.

The exits of the Manc clubs also means that it's only us and Chelsea, out of the six teams realistically competing to finish in the top-four, who will be playing top-level European football in the new year. This increases the chances of United sowing up second place and, I hate to say it, the spuds getting 3rd/4th. They may yet implode, given the potential fall-out of 'arry's court-case, and, let's face it, the fact they are spurs, but they look a good outfit at the moment, and will be better rested than us for league games.

Conclusion

Schadenfreude is a wonderful thing in football, especially when it is at the expense of the likes of Ferguson and Mancini. In the short-term, seeing Manchester stripped of meaningful European football is a wonderful mix of joy and hilarity. Their exits also increase the chances of us going on a decent run in the competition.

However, it's hard to see past the Spanish teams, and even resurgent Italian and German teams like Napoli and Bayern, for the CL this year. By overly investing our resources in the competition, we could weaken ourselves domestically in a competition against other teams for top-four places who won't be playing as many games as we are. Furthermore, their defeats increase the likelihood that City and United will be in January - although, if United don't, perhaps a serious financial malaise really has taken over the club.

The ultimate conclusion of all this is that, despite Wilshere's return in January, we need reinforcements. Many of Wenger's buys this summer have turned out well, but we need more bodies in midfield and up-front. We are a van Persie injury away from our mini-resurgence collapsing, because Park and Chamakh are not up to the job of being a reliable understudy. Buying a striker in January will be expensive, but the club needs to bite the bullet if we are to fully exploit any advantage we have gained by the events on Wednesday.

I'm back, and so are Arsenal

Since we last spoke, I've completed a degree, got married and switched continents.

The Season ticket has been swapped for 10am kick-offs at Lucky Bar DC. Thankfully, some of the best Gooners in the world reside over here in the States. (get in contact if you are a fellow DC gooner).

Forgive me for not posting.

But, really, the reason my posting slowed up over the last few years is that, for at least the last two seasons, I found it difficult to say anything original about Arsenal.

There's only so many so different ways that you can talk about the same bunch of overpaid, overhyped players choking when it came to the business end of each season, which seems to have happened for at least the last three years since our last real title challenge in 2008.

But something has changed this year. Especially since the fiasco at Blackburn, I've started to really enjoy watching Arsenal for the first time in a long time. Of course, I'd watch - and support - an Arsenal team made up of eleven vela-denilson-nasri-eboue hybrids, if it ultimately came down to it. None of us are switching sides. But not having to watch a bunch of spineless primadonnas is much nicer.

It's nice to watch a midfield which keeps things ticking over, and doesn't switch off. It's nice to watch midfielders who's first instinct isn't to look for the next pass. It's nice to watch seasoned pros who don't whine and quietly get the job done.

Given that the nadir of the youth project has surely come and gone (the hellish months between the Carling Cup final and the demolition at Old Trafford) I actually feel optimistic about the future for the first time in a long-time.

And who thought we'd have been the English team that qualified so comfortably for the second round of the Champions League?

So, Forward. I think this will be a very interesting season, and I hope to comment on it more than I have recently.

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Hope you all like the new layout. Any suggestions are welcome.

Question for the day - should Goonerboy finally join Twitter...

A sad day in the history of Arsenal Football Club

A few tweets from Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, summed up my misgivings about the events which have occurred in the past 48 hours:


I am in shock over Kroenke taking 62% of Arsenal. Heart not head. Doesn't feel in keeping with Gooner traditions, tho am not sure why.

What may be lost at Arsenal with Kroenke takeover is our distinctiveness & proud sense of independence. Now we're just like the rest. Sad.

It's hard to sum up the mood amongst gooners at the moment, and I don't claim to be any such barometer - but I felt that it might be worth adding my 'two cents', as it were, to the argument.

Firstly, I don't believe that any football club, let alone ours, should be privately owned by any one individual. Clubs should be representatives and servants of wider communities, and should be owned by their fans. These fans, as far as I'm concerned, can come from anywhere in the world. I've watched Arsenal play in bars which are thousands of miles away from Islington, and seen people there who care just as much about the club as local ST holders. Football should be, above all, about passion, a sense of belonging, and tradition - and fans are the best people to ensure these things are maintained at the forefront of a club's vision.

When I buy a match ticket, or a replica shirt, I want to know that my money is going towards the running and growth of a club, not towards, fundamentally, the enrichment of an already fantastically rich individual. Under private ownership, clubs are simply machines to serve the economic interests of their owners. That's not why football clubs came into existence, and it's not why they should exist today.

Secondly, whilst Kroenke has stated in his offer doc that "The offer will not be funded by way of any debt finance … for which the payment of interest on, repayment of or security for any liability [contingent or otherwise] will depend on the business of Arsenal", this doesn't necessarily mean that we are going to avoid a situation whereby the fans effectively pay for Kroenke's purchase of the club.

As Matt Scott in the Guardian put it:

"The Guardian asked Kroenke's adviser how Kroenke had financed the acquisition and if it had involved any form of borrowing against his other assets. Kroenke declined to respond. When asked whether the director-shareholders had applied a restrictive covenant preventing dividends being drawn from the club, Arsenal responded that since it was not detailed in the offer document no such covenant exists. That opens the door to the possibility that, in a less direct way than Glazer, he may in future use the club's funds to service leverage he has taken on to fund the buyout."

If Kroenke wants to win over the Arsenal fans, he clearly needs to be much more open about how he is going to finance the purchase of the club, and what his intentions are for its future management. And, personally, I want to hear from the man himself, not just Gazidis. Arsenal fans pay thousands of pounds in ticket prices, and have a right to hear directly from the club's upper management about how the club is being run.

Of course, Kroenke has managed his sports clubs very successfully and prudently in the US. But US sports teams are subject to much greater degrees of regulation that English football. The NFL, for example, is effectively run as a closed monopoly, with strict spending caps, by the 'franchise' owners. Running the St Louis Rams is a very different proposition to running an Premier League team, and I'm not sure it should be cited as evidence in Kroenke's favour.

To sum up - a takeover by Kroenke is preferable to one by Usmanov. But this weekend's movements saw the beginning of the end of Arsenal as a club which had fans as substantial shareholders. It really has come to something when I hope that Usmanov does keep his shares, in order that the multitude of small fan shareholders are not forced to sell their stock to Kroenke.

It does not have to be this way. In Germany, 51% of all clubs must be owned by their fans. It seems that the Germans have not forgotten why football clubs came into existence. Hopefully, one day the UK will also remember that football is not just about money.

As a post-script, I'd also just like to express my gratitude towards Danny Fiszman, in the hope that all Arsenal fans recognise the work undertaken by this man, the last true 'custodian' of the club. If Danny trusts Kroenke enough to sell his shares to him, then I will given Kroenke the benefit of the doubt in the short-term. But, given the other recent takeovers of Premier League clubs, I think it would be short-sighted to be anything but extremely cautious of what may occur in the future.

Arsene needs to buy if we want to win a trophy this season.

This is clearly Arsenal's best opportunity to win the league in several years.

United are clearly stuttering, not just due to the loss of Ronaldo, as any team would do, but also as they have no defensive stability whatsoever. Their league title last season was built on an almost impregnable defence, which almost everyone seems to have overlooked due to Ronaldo's departure.

As for Chelski, they have also stuttered in December and, assuming the ACoN continues after the dreadful events last week, they will suffer hugely from the loss of Dogbag, Essien, Mikel and Kalou.

So, considering we are the form team in the league, we need to exploit the indifferent form of our competitors. I agree with Wenger that a much lower points will be needed to win this league this season in comparison to those of the last few years. And, if we can hold it together when we play chels, United, and 'pool in a row at the end of Jan/start of Feb, we have a relatively kind run-in after that.

All this begs the question: do we need any new players? At the end of November, I think a resounding 'yes' would have been the answer; at the end of December, the reply might have been more mixed.

I think yes.

Firstly, in goals. I've been saying this for two-three years now, but Almunia simply isn't good enough, and he will never be good enough. The uncertainty he breeds in defence is paralysing the players in front of him, and making Vermaelen and Gallas often look like worse players than they are. Almunia doesn't know when to stay or when to come to crosses, he bizzarely punches the ball when he can often catch it, and when he does get the ball in his hand he's taken to booting it up field towards our towering centre-forward, Andrei Arshavin. Either give Fabianski a go, or buy a new keeper Arsene, it's as simple as that. Almunia, aside from a penalty save against Hull, has cost us far too many goals, and points this season. The fact that there are almost 12 other keepers in the Prem I would take and play instead of him says a lot.

Secondly, a defensive midfielder who can cover in defence. If Senderos is not to ever play for us again, we cannot have only Silvestre as back-up. The idea to bring back Campbell is considerably half-baked, but may just about work out for half a season. Ideally, I'd like a player who can play in both midfield and defence - like Song - especially given what looks like a recurrence of Denilson's back injury on Saturday. If not, Eastmond is the only defensive midfielder we currently have in the squad.

Should we buy a forward? Maybe. Arshavin is being squandered in a central role - especially with Nasri often deciding not to pass to him when he has the opportunity. Eduardo doesn't seem to be able to play as the lone-man up-top, and Bendtner is often shoved out to the sides when he plays. It would be very like Arsene to buy another forward when I think it is our defensive play which is letting us down at the mo, but we'll have to wait and see.

Overall, I just think that a signing could give us the lift that the club needs to push us on towards some silverware. Whilst the signing didn't ultimately work out, the purchase of Reyes in '04 gave the team the lift it needed, I think, to ensure the title that season. Going through the whole of this month w/o a new signing is a huge risk, especially given the huge cash reserves we have atm.

We'll have to wait, as always, but in what will be a tight title race, one or two extra bodies might just give us the edge we need.

Adebayor, God, and karma; philosophy and football after a hammering.

Well that was a bit of a kick in the teeth, wasn't it?

I felt sure, so sure (to quote Take That) that the universe would be aligned in our favour for the game on Saturday. That we would hold the moral high ground with our system of breeding young talent against city's collection of hideously over-paid egomaniacs.

But, and as we all found out after Abramovich came to London, having huge piles of money does, quite often, get you pretty far in life.

Recently, I've thought about God and football players. I suppose it started when I saw Michael Burke do a documentary on religion and sport, in which he asked a series of players, including our (then) own Gilberto and Edu whether they really thought God cared about which team wins in a football match. The bemused look on their faces was quite a picture.

I thought about this with relation to the game on Saturday because Adebayor does one of the more ostentatious pre-game prayers I've seen in the Premier League. He stands, as he crosses the white-line, with his hands in the air, head back and looking to the sky as if God's divine power is flowing into him and no-one else, whilst the rest of the players sheepishly file past him onto the field.

So given he did score against us on Saturday, he escaped being sent off for one of the most vicious fouls I've seen in a long time, and he even threw in a goal-line clearance just for shits and giggles, a troubling thought struck me: what if god is on adebayor's side?

Of course, an alternative view could be that life is a serious of inter-connected but essentially arbitrary and random actions which are only given meaning through post-facto historical analysis.

But I just can't understand how Ade has got away with it all. Flirting so openly with other clubs and then attacking Arsenal fans - who paid his salary, something he never seemed to remember - and then really sticking it to us on the weekend just seems unfair. Surely we have the moral high-ground? A bit of justified booing at a multi-millionaire player who didn't get an even more lucrative move, and who then sauntered through the next season like he was already on the beach supping cocktails doesn't mean we're in the wrong, does it?

Do nice guys finish last? Does money talk louder than anything else?

I guess we'll see, because karmic re-alignment might be on the way. I'm not sure Eastern philosophers could have envisioned such an almighty institution as the FA when they were formulating their various beliefs, but our hopes now rest with them to re-align the universe.

Because Adebayor can't win; or at least he can't win in this way.

If he'd scored, fine, I'll take it. There are thousands of footballers who score against their old clubs, and who don't provoke riots in doing so because, by acting with a degree of circumspection, it's quite easy to avoid this. Seeing someone like Craig Bellamy having to show Adebayor how to act like a professional, or even merely a moderately respectful human being, should have shown Ade how far beyond the pale he'd gone on Saturday.

Even if he'd given a little bit back to our players, who were flying in on him a bit, through a bit of pushing and shoving, ok, I can understand that.

But to provoke a riot and to almost blind another player, and to almost snap poor Cesc in two, cannot go unpunished. Because if players like Ade are allowed to do whatever the hell they want on the field then surely any notion of justice must be removed from football.

Anyway, enough pseudo-philosophical ruminating.

We deserved to lose on the weeekend, and at the moment City look a better team than us. They have a better flow to the team, and have a goal threat coming from several parts of the pitch. Whether they can hold it together for the whole season is another question, but they will certainly be pushing for a top-four position come April and May.

We looked awful at the back. Almunia was horrendously at fault for the first goal, and he's cost us points this season already. But even if Fabianski wasn't injured, would Almunia's place be under threat? I don't think so, and our goalkeepers look like a weak part of the squad at the moment. Under-investment in this key position could cost us, especially when we could have signed Given in January.

Aside from Almunia, what appalled me was seeing us give Bellamy and Ade free shots/headers in the box. Whilst the centre-backs have to take a degree of criticism for not marking up, Clichy and Diaby were so utterly horrendous on our left-hand side that confusion reigned in the defence. If Clichy puts in many more performances like that, Gibbs may get into the first XI quicker than he might have predicted.

The only real positives to draw from the match were the return of Tomas Rosicky, who should now start in front of Diaby/Denilson, and a fine finish from RvP to get off the mark for the season.

Our splendid start to the season has been ended, in any case, and we need to get it back on track immediately, given that Chelsea have won 5 in 5, and we're 6 points behind city.

Roll on Liege.

A good performance but a bad result, and last minute transfer thoughts.

It was a tough game to take on Saturday. On seeing United's line-up I immediately felt we could win the game - Nani, Valencia, a fading Giggs, O'Shea, Carrick, Brown: these were players we could beat.

And so it initially appeared. In the opening half we dominated the game and deserved to go in ahead at the break.

It was a moment of pure magic from Arshavin that gave us the lead - a shot so pure that the ball barely deviated, but was still too much for Foster to deal with. Of course, we should have already been ahead after Fletcher completely took Andrei out in the box. But this being Old Trafford, why should we be surprised? I'll never forget the way we were cheated in 2004, and so seeing officials being so blatantly swayed in United's favour is just par for the course up at The Theatre of Dodgy Decisions.

The real turning point in the game, in any case, was van Persie's miss early in the second half. Arshavin brilliantly carved open the United defence and cut the ball back towards van Persie who had cleverly dropped off his man to give himself space for a shot. Foster stuck out his leg and made a superb reaction save, but Robin should have buried it; there can't be any excuses from missing from that position, especially at such a crucial moment in the game.

I don't think Robin has played poorly so far this season, but he hasn't scored, and if he's handed chances like that he has to score. I said earlier in the week that it doesn't matter who's scoring, as long as someone does. I still feel this is true, but in the big games you have to be clinical; you can't squander chances.

2-0 at that point would have won us the game, I'm sure. But instead we contrived to self-destruct in the most painful way possible.

If there's blame to be attached, then, unfortunately, the majority has to fall on Almunia. He hasn't started the season particularly well, as evidenced by the goal we conceded against Pompey. What he thought he was doing trying to claim the ball when Rooney was a) running away from goal and b) Gallas was already dealing with it (!) is anyone's guess.

Was it a dive? Rooney was certainly going down before Almunia touched him, but, unlike Boruc, he didn't have the nous to pull away to show that Rooney was diving. Being that he's English this is, of course, merely 'Clever play'. A soft, soft penalty, and one that could have been easily avoided.

Almunia also has to take his share of the blame for the second goal. Yes, it was Diaby who was mainly at fault, but I think Almunia's indecisiveness earlier in the match, and his inability to dominate his area had sowed confusion in the defence. Given how strong Almunia looked at the end of last season, it's a shame he seems to have slightly regressed. Here's hoping he can pull it together over the international break.

My major disappointment was our rather limp response to the second goal. We seemed to leave it too late to try and re-take the lead, and had it not been for hilarious misses from Nani and Berbatov we could well have ended up losing 3-1. The final humiliation was the ridiculous decision to send Arsene to the stands amongst the Mancs who yet again showed themselves to be a bunch of classless idiots through their repeated insistence of singing that song. Given Ferguson had the gall to complain about our fans 'abusing' him a few years back, I find it incredible that United have never faced any sanction over this song, or that the club doesn't try and do anything to stop their fans from singing it in the first place.

So, a weird one, in all. An absorbing encounter that I thought we deserved to win, but ended up taking nul points from. I just hope that the boys use this game to develop a sense of righteous injustice to spur them on, instead of just mentally collapsing, again.

As I write this there's about 28 hours of hte transfer window left. Will we sing anyone? Maybe. Given Senderos looks like staying, I'm not sure we need another centre-back - Phil is an acceptable second string player. The area we do need strengthening is in central midfield, namely a player who can provide cover for Alex 'soon to be the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League' Song.

The only signing that looks on the cards, atm, is Chamakh but I'm not convinced he's what we need.

Whatever happens, it's not going to be intense as during the last transfer window, so it's probably best that we all just go out and enjoy the bank holiday and hope for the best. The squad if fundamentally sound, so let's not get silly if we don't sign anyone.

Arsene Wenger: stand tall.

I am appalled.

I don't care about the result; I care about Arsene.

To be humiliated in the way he was, in front of 80,000 braying mancunians. That isn't right.

Especially if all he did was kick a drink bottle!


Stuff the result, the ref was a disgrace today.

Arsene: we love you. See you next week.

Eduardo stuns footballing world by creating a new form of cheating.

On Wednesday night in London the footballing world was rocked to its core as Croatian striker Eduardo (if that is even his real name) invented a form of cheating so insidious, yet so innovative and breathtaking, that many in the stadium, and across the world, were driven to tears by anger, despair and incomprehension.

'Why me! Why did I have to see this? What have I ever done to this world!' was the opinion voiced by one tearful supporter leaving the stadium, clearly shocked at what he had seen. His friends tried to comfort him, but he'd seen too much. They had all seen far too much.

Some are labelling what Eduardo did, 'The Croatian flop'; others, in a tribute of sorts to Eduardo's Brazillian heritage, have called it the 'Rio roll-over'. Some have even called it a 'dive', although this term is completely unknown in footballing communities.

The Celtic players attributed their defeat solely to Eduardo's action, which they claim traumatised them so deeply that they were simply unable to continue playing afterwards. This claim is, of course, completely and utterly plausible.

One player stated, 'it might seem, to the untrained eye, that Arsenal had completely dominated the game up to the point. That we had only had one shot on goal in the entire 120 or so minutes of the tie before Eduardo's goal. That our team is made up of a motley-crue of Premiership rejects, scottish driftwood and players who couldn't find contracts elsewhere in Europe. That we had played so poorly in the first half that ITV was forced to show a manifestly offside goal as our best chance at half-time.

'This is, of course, rubbish. Our game-plan was simple: lull Arsenal into a false sense of security by allowing them to go 2-0 up and completely dominate passing, possession, etc., and then, in the last ten minutes, to score 400 goals to win the tie on aggregate. Gary Caldwell had practised a move where he would run round the entire team heading the ball over each one of them like a seal, before scorpion-kicking the ball into the net. This was going to be goal number 400.

'Because of Eduardo's 'dive', if that's what it's being called, we were absolutely robbed of a game we would have undoubtedly won otherwise, especially as, by trying to cripple Arsenal's players in the first-leg, we had honourably played the game in 'the british way', where breaking players legs and crippling them are honoured pursuits. That we were denied our progression after such persistent fouling is really hard to take.'

UEFA have charged Eduardo over the said 'dive', stating that they would attempt to fully stamp out this new form of gamesmanship.

The organisation stated in a press release that, 'It was imperative that this form of cheating was destroyed before it could grow any further. We have never seen any incident like this in any European competition ever before; it is so unprecedented that we are at a loss of what to do. Eduardo may be turned over to the British police force for sentencing, because this crime clearly goes beyond football'.

Members of the British media stated that Eduardo must be dealt with harshly, before English players began being infected by 'the devious ways of the foreigner'.

One journalist stated, 'would steven Gerrard ever dive? no. Wayne Rooney? no. Michael Owen? no. Of course not: they're English. We need to make sure 'Eduardoing' doesn't catch on and that our decent boys aren't brainwashed into following his cheating ways.'

Further news is forthcoming, but for now I would like to say that I hope Eduardo receives a life-ban from football for destroying the careers of so many players and for taking the game to such a level of disrepute. I hope you're proud of yourself, Mr. da Silva.

The team vs. the individual: Arsene's new system.

Three games and 12 goals should leave no room for complaint.

Yes, the opposition was weak at the weekend, but so what? I remember going to a string of games in January/February last season where we played fairly mediocre opposition and couldn't buy a goal.

Portsmouth might be a shambles, but we can only beat the teams put in front of us.

Moreover, the other two teams we've beaten may not be top-top-level quality, but is anyone suggesting that Goodison Park or Parkhead are easy places to go and get results?

Three games in August and three wins; and by my predictions we will have two more before the month is out.

I think we will see the game out tonight without much difficulty, and will probably put at least another two goals past the celts.

Beating United at OT will be a huge ask, but I think, despite their demolition of Wigan on the weekend, that United are a team entering a difficult period of transition.

They have very little midfield to speak of the at the moment, they have Michael Owen as their third-choice striker, and if Rooney doesn't perform (which admittedly he almost always does when they play us) they will definitely struggle against a side brimming in confidence and full of dynamism. And if they don't buy before the end of the transfer window, something is afoot behind the scenes at the club. Fergie is not the type of manager to bank a cheque for £80m, no matter what he may protest in public.

The things that's struck me about the way we've been playing at present is how it seems to be ensuring that someone will be presented with a chance to score for us at regular intervals within games. It's less that our forwards aren't scoring, and more that the onus isn't on them to get all the goals.

Even if it worries me a little that players like Arshavin and, in particular, van Persie don't seem to have fully clicked into the system, does it really matter if the team is winning? Does it matter if van Persie scores or not, even if he is our nominal 'striker' if he's provided three assists in two league games? Whilst I'd like to see Arshavin in a central role - if more of our squad can perform to the peak of their ability by him being shoved out to the side (and only shoved out there a bit in any case), does it matter if he doesn't get four goals in every game?

Ultimately the formation seems to be encapsulating a lot of what Jonathon Wilson predicted in his excellent book, 'Inverting the Pyramid'.

Future trends in the game, at least at its highest-levels, will be towards 'universalism': Playmakers who can tackle, wingers who can cut inside and swap wings, centre-forwards who have the technique and passing ranges of midfielders, defensive players who can bring the ball out of defence and start attacks.

Total football for the Champions League generation.

And that's what strikes me about critics of the new system who say that Bendtner hasn't scored, van Persie hasn't scored, Arshavin isn't contributing enough. Who cares as long as we win?

If we can successfully continue our progress towards a system that has 5-6 players across the midfield and forward line who can effectively interchange positions, we will overwhelm our opponents, as we saw in the breathtaking 15 seconds that led to Diaby's second goal.

So, I'm excited about this season. I'm still hoping one more central midfielder comes into the squad before September 1st, but I think, if nothing else, we are in for a year of entertaining football. And let's all try and be positive for once!

Bail-outs and long-term growth; a surprise scoreline, but not a surprise result/

You can really beat that for an opening day result, can you?

6 goals away from home. No matter who you're playing in the league, that's an exceptional performance.

And for some, an unthinkable result. After all, Arsenal haven't spent huge-wads of cash this summer. There's been no 'bail-out' of the squad. The continuation of long-term growth, with the clearing out of hindrances to this progression, has been the name of the game.

There are some who think the only way to resolve problems in football, and the world, is to throw money to prop-up broken systems. Maybe just one more huge injection of funds will do it; the old system ain't broke, it just needs fixin'. I don't think that's true in the global economy, and I certainly don't think that's true with regard to the current Arsenal squad. Things fall apart, of course; but I think we have a very solid base to the team at the moment that wouldn't have been achieved through mega-spending.

But this hasn't stopped the vultures have swarmed round the club. Mssrs Usmanov and 'red and white holdings' telling us that we'll never compete w/o their money; that only a rights issue will save the club! And who cares if they buy all the additional shares! Don't you know Red and White Holdings really love Arsenal with all their hearts. That a young Alisher dreams of one day pulling on the Arsenal no.10 shirt, admittedly in size XXXXL.

No. Of course he doesn't. We have a manager with vision, who realised that rather and try and patch over the cracks of an old team, a new one needed to be created. But this would take time, and it has taken time, and football fans, myself included, are some of the ficklest people in the world when it comes to supporting a manager and his team, even if their support for the club might be undying.

But I just feel that the demolition of Saturday proved something. We can be competitive without bail-outs. We can run a successful football team without rights issues. We can even, if you're to believe certain other blogs written by rock-star journalists, able to win by 6 goals without any of our forward line playing well. Remarkable!

So, while I didn't think we'd win by 6, I thought we'd win. And as my last two posts before the season started showed, I think Arsenal can win the league this season; and if not the league, then certainly some form of silverware.

Injuries, as always, will be the tipping point with what has proved to be a brittle team in recent seasons. But we won on the weekend without Nasri, Walcott, Rosicky, or Diaby.

If we are to keep Eboue, which looks increasingly likely and which, I amaze myself when I say this, won't necessarily be a bad thing if he's ok with a squad role, I think we only need one more player to come in before the 1st of September: an additional defensive midfielder to provide some cover for Song.

Other than that, I think the squad looks good. The performance on Saturday was by far the best of any of the 'top four' teams (and yes I did watch all the other games.)

I don't want to get carried away after one game, but I don't think I am; I think we are probably the form team of the 2009 calendar year in the Premier League and I think Wenger will prove a point to a lot of people this season.

The next big test is tomorrow at Parkhead, and I predict another win, if not by as many goals. It'll be a big test for the team, but unless Diaby starts in the middle of the park, I think we'll be ok.

Til then.

Fabregas, Arshavin and Eduardo could win Arsenal the league this season, if they stay fit.

The first thing to bear in mind is that we haven't lost anyone critical to the team's coherency or ability during this post-season. As I said in my last post, I think we've, at most, lost players who were our fourth-best striker and fourth-best defender. The fact both started games last season doesn't mean anything; even if they were first choice, Arsene, like myself, was suitably unimpressed with both of them to sell them off. I truly believe if Arsene wanted to have kept them, he would have.

Morevoer, we have replacements for them, already.

So, This is not a repeat of the 2008 debacle when we lost three central midfielders in a year - diarra, flamini and gilberto - and replaced them with three very raw kids - Song, Denilson, Diaby (and possibly Ramsey).

Moreover, Toure and Adebayor weren't 'talismatic' sales - neither carried such gravitas in the club that their sale left some form of psychological gap, in the way that the sales of Vieira and Henry did, for instance.

So, in short, for the first summer for a long time, perhaps since 2005, we're not having a difficult summer in terms of losing players in the transfer window. All the key players in the squad are staying. Please remember this, because I've already seen one report yesterday declare that Arshavin has begun to 'fill the gap left by Adebayor'. I'm really convinced that there is any gap to fill. Bendtner and Vermaelen have filled it already, and we're getting rid of player who, by all accounts, were causing division in the dressing room.

The only position in the squad where we need to thicken things up a bit is central midfield, because whilst Song is increasingly looking the part, beyond him its just Denilson and Diaby, who i still don't rate, and Ramsey, who may need another developmental season.

But let's focus on what we're going to keep this season: players such as Arshavin, Fabregas, Eduardo, RvP, Gallas, Sagna, Clichy, etc.

The first three, in particular, are trophy winning players.

Arshavin is by far and away the best half-striker I've seen play for the club since Bergkamp. I would compare him to Henry but I think they are too dissimilar, except in the fact that they can both change games in the blink of an eye. A player like Andrey inspires the team, because the rest of the squad knows he can produce a moment of brilliance that will create or score a goal, that no-one else in the pitch, perhaps in the premier league, could produce.

Fabregas is looking sharp after his injury and has already begun to, thrillingly, link with Andrei for goals. The relationship between those two could be a huge determinant of our success next year.

As could the fitness and the use of Eduardo. Eduardo is the best finisher at the club, perhaps one of the best in European football. He's better than Huntelaar, that's for sure. But after the seriousness of the injury he sustained, how much can we rely on him? Look at Diaby - i'm pretty sure his similar injury has prevented him from being able to play more than 5 games in a row, due to its lasting effect on his still developing body.

If Eduardo, Arshavin and Fabregas say fit, and are consistently picked in a formation which maximises the potential of the trio, we will win something next season, quite simply because they will give us a combined attacking force which will devastate most teams. Even if our defence remains a bit shaky, they will get us the goals that can push us that extra 5% further, which is all we're lacking in the second half of last season.

So, perhaps a little bit more defensive steel is needed, but that's about it (as I write this, Song has just made a tremendous last-ditch tackle in the box to deny Rangers a goal).

And watching the game today, young Jack Wilshere might just be the joker in our pack. He is obscenely talented and he cost us practically nothing. My only real concern is the Robin van Persie engima. Where is his best position? Is he good enough to have the rest of the team, or at least forward line, built around him? I'm not sure if I know the answer to either of those questions.

So maybe, take a deep breath, we don't need that many signings; I think next season might just be fun.

Arsenal sell their fourth choice striker and fourth choice centre-back for £40m: this summer is shaping up quite nicely.

Hello all. I'm back. I needed to re-charge my blogging batteries so I stopped for the summer when Arsenal's season ended - after the champions league exit against United.

But I'm starting to get excited about next season in a most unusual way.

Normally, signings are the things that gets the modern football fan out of his seat and into the blogosphere. But this summer, it's been sales.

Two shrewd sales at the that.

Firstly getting rid of Adebayor, possibly the most reviled Arsenal player since Cashley for the stonkingly good price of £25m. £25m! He will score 10 goals for City next year and agitate for a move again. He's been forced to leave two clubs now due to attitude problems, and we won't be the last club in which he talks his way into being sold. Bendtner, Eduardo and RvP are all better players, and Vela and Walcott are also decent options. Another striker might be needed to bring some guaranteed class to the mix, though, especially given RvP and Eduardo's injury problems.

Secondly, getting £15m for Kolo is a true stroke of managerial genius. I love kolo, he is a true Arsenal legend and he never gave less than everything out on the pitch. That's why we all love kolo. But he's past it. He's not a natural defender, and his game is completely based on recovery pace. With that waning, it's a good time to sell. Unlike Ade, this is a good buy for City, but it won't be enough to take them above us next year. And £15m is a superb amount of money, all emotions side, for a player in Kolo's current state.

With the news of Eboue's imminent departure, it seems Arsene is intent on getting rid of the dead-wood in the squad. With reports of a €10m fee agreed for him, that could be £50m banked for 2 average players and one entering a decline. Great business, which gives us options.

Do we need to spend this cash? Well yes, but not as much as the media and parts of the fan-base say so. The purchase of Vermaelen means we have him, gallas, Djourou, Silvestre, song and even senderos, if he stays.

Central midfield is probably the area we need to address, a true enforcer type player is something that could really kick the team on - but i was impressed by Song at the end of last season, so perhaps this is unnecessary as well.

It's easy to forget that we were the form team in the league for much of the second half of last season. I think Vermaelen looks like an excellent purchase, and Arshavin has had a chance to bed-in already. We are not having a fire-sale; our best players are going to stay this summer.

So, in Arsene I trust, I tentatively state. With one or two more players, whom I'm sure will arrive, I think we might just have the right mix for this season. So ignore what the media say; i think we might just surprise a few people next year.

A grim day for all concerned and it's time for a rethink

I don't think there's too much point in swathes of analysis for this match because it's all quite simple.

Yes, a horrible, horrible mistake from gibbs cost us early on; yes, almunia should have saved ronaldo's forty yarder.

But 4-1 was a fair refelection of the utter dominance united had over us over two legs. If anything, 1 goal for us was charitable, as was united only scoring 4 goals.

But that's whatr you get when you stick with players who don't know how to defend at the highest level. Last night we had toure, who's lost it, and Djourou, who may never get it, as our CB partnership. we played a kid at LB. United had o'shea, not the world's greatest player, but a solid one nonetheless. we even had a united cast-off on the bench. embarassing.

We had rvp sauntering around doing not very much, unable to cut it in another big game, while adebyor was almost as ineffective as he was in the first leg. nasri, song and fabregas tried but no-one really knew where tehy were playing. theo was anonymous.

But this is what happens when you take a policy of investment in talented youth to its conclusion - a lot of potential, inconsistent results. United have invested properly in their team and will defend their trophy in Rome.

So, mistakes cost us last night. Mistakes on and off the pitch. We lost because our first XI, let alone our squad, wasn't good enough and that has to come down to decisions taken by arsene.

Yes, we got to two semi-finals this year, but how many top-quality teams did we have to play to get there? Roma and villareal would not make the top-four in england, and we fell in the FA Cup as soon as we played a decent team.

If all we get this summer are more teenagers then we won't win anything because nothing will have changed. Arsene - it's time for a rethink. Look at the impact of arshavin before you go out and buy, because if you don't then your position needs to come under review, I'm afraid to say.

Tsarshavin and Silvestre: a tale of two signings and 8 goals.

I don't know about you but I was actually physically shaking at the end of the game at Anfield. Not necessarily with rage or joy; just due to the immense amounts of adrenaline that had been pumped through my body during one of the more incredible games of football I've seen.

People have said it was a strange game as we had nothing to play for. Well, that's balls. Firstly, we're only 6 points behind 3rd place,and after Chavski's draw we would have only been 4 if we'd won. Secondly, I'm not wholly convinced that some of the players didn't have a sneaking feeling we could make a late title challenge.

The only way that was going to happen was if we won all our remaining games, and others fell to bits - a kind of replication of the '98 season.

It didn't happen, and I'm still trying to work out if we were unlucky not to win or lucky not to lose.

The game veered from the sublime to the ridiculous - Arbeloa playing a virtual one-two with Arshavin before his stupendous goal or us AGAIN being outnumbered in our own box in the closing minutes of a game we were hanging on to win (spuds home, villa away spring to mind).

On balance, a draw was probably fair. As incredible as some of our attacking play was, I can safely so I have witnessed few defensive performances as abject as that from an Arsenal team in the past.

And so for me it largely came down to two players: The Imperious TsArshavin of mother Russia; and the light-bulb headed disaster that is Mikael Silvestre.

Arshavin epitomises everything that the majority of our signings should be: established players with bags of talent who can make a difference instantly.

His goals highlighted every part of a great attacking players repertoire: speed, finesse, agility, power, an ability to use both feet, and a tenacity to be in the right place at the right time.

His fourth goal was almost hallucinatory in its brilliance. Theo sprinting half the pitch with another great Anfield assist, before Arshavin finished with the type of aplomb that I doubt any other Arsenal player could muster. I nearly wept. It was beautiful.

And within seconds, the other signing had helped undo his work. Silvestre, who has been unremittingly awful since his arrival at the club, helped stir panic in our defence and saw us again snatch what felt like a defeat from the jaws of victory. Seriously, if he wasn't good enough for the Mancs, why the hell should he be good enough for us? His performance yesterday was worse than Senderos's last year up in scouseville, and i'd never thought i'd say that.

I'd like to say it's incredible that we managed to concede with only 2 minutes to go, but it wasn't. The only incredible thing is where Howard Webb got five bloody minutes of injury time from. We have the shell of a great team at the moment, but one that still turns off too often at critical moments.

The only reasonable excuse is that we had a patched up defence yesterday. But even then, when was the last time Kolo had a consistent period of form? What was the point of losing Senderos and buying Silvestre? Does Denilson offer any defensive assistance whatsoever?

The game was thus a microcosm of Arsenal's season - moments of sublime attacking football woven into periods, and i do mean periods, of utter chaos in defence.

Can we push on from this? Yes, if we concentrate on improving our defence again. Silvestre should be sold/put-down. Kolo should be a squad player. Gibbs - who has been fantastic since coming in - should be allowed to push Clichy for a starting berth. Gallas and Djourou should be our starting CBs, and if Gallas leaves a decent replacement - not a kid or some ropey Cygan-esque CB - should be brought in. I still think a new goalkeeper isn't an awful idea.

In midfield, Denilson's place in the team should come under serious consideration. I think that playing Nasri centrally but with a more defensive mindet could really work as he bust a gut doing so last night. He certainly can't be worse than the performances Denilson has produced in the last two games.

Cesc should not play in the ridiculous support striker position he's been pushed into.

Song should be first XI - his improvement this year has been a joy, and he even pushed Arshavin for Motm last night.

The team should be built around Arshavin playing centrally in the hole.

If our defence is tweaked, and we mentally thoughen up a bit when we get ourselves into good positions, we can push on from this season. I really think that Arsene not putting out a first XI for the FA Cup was a mistake because this group of players needs to get a trophy, any trophy under its belt, and winning the FA Cup would have been easier than the Champions League. Players need to learn how to win and sometimes you have to aim a little low at first.

Overall, more Arshavins and less Silvestres. Then, one day, we might actually hold a lead at Anfield...

Thugs, dodgy barnets and goal-scorers.

Something a bit different today: a guest columnist. Here is Russ and his thoughts:

You may not realise it but these are the groups into which every single winner of the PFA Player of the Year Award can be easily placed. Some actually fall into two camps. Consider Kevin Keegan (winner in 1982) as a clear example. Okay, okay so it’s too easy naming players from the seventies and early eighties as evidence of this rule. But honestly go through the list and place every winner in a category. The great thing about this is that there will be absolutely no protestations from friends who do the same; it’s simply always, utterly, glaringly, obvious. I will give you a few, completely at random. Again be aware they may occupy two groups.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (winner in 2007, and 2008). 2. Roy Keane (2000). 3. Peter Shilton (1978). 4. Alan Shearer (1995). 5. Thierry Henry (2003, 2004).6. John Terry (2005). 7. David Ginola (1999). 8. Norman Hunter (1974). 9. Ian Rush (1984)....

Your list above should read very similar to:
1. Dodgy Barnet and Goal Scorer, 2. Thug, 3. Dodgy Barnet, 4. Goal Scorer, 5. Goal Scorer, 6. Thug, 7. Dodgy Barnet, 8. Thug, 9. Goal Scorer...

Think I've cherry picked them? Try these bad boys on for size: Andy Gray (Thug and Goal Scorer, as delightfully evidenced by Everton’s second goal against Watford in the 1984 FA Cup Final; the elbow to Steve Sherwood still hurts the people of Hertfordshire, almost as much as their flagging Hedge Funds). Steven Gerrard (Thug and goal scorer, as evidenced when his request for “That song by Atomic Kitten” was rejected by a Liverpool DJ, and, by the way Steve, where has your forehead gone?). And Peter Reid (The Wolfman again sits in both camps) to name but a few extras easily categorised.

So this ‘fact’, as distinct from coincidence, got me thinking about the deserved winner of this year’s award. Now, it’s common knowledge, at least to members of the public, that footballers are not the brightest bunch. The inclusion of five Man Who? players on the six player short list seems to back this notion up. I still think the inclusion of Ryan Giggs (he of just 8 completed Premier League matches this season) occurred because everyone got together and had a chat about who their favourite players were when they were growing up. Someone also told me that Neville Southall and Chris Waddle were on this year’s original list before it was shortened.

Nevertheless if Giggs does win it, it will only stand to reinforce our aforementioned ‘fact’ I suppose (Dodgy Barnet).

So, I thought, if I believe their short-list to be pretty much nonsense, then who should win the gong this year? Obviously the man must be easily assimilated into at least one of the groupings to ensure our ‘fact’ remains. But, I’m sure you’d agree, we need to get this ‘fact’ a bit more attention amongst the football going public. Let’s face it, had it not been for this blog you would be none the wiser I’m almost certain of that. So who is it that can propel this ‘fact’ across the air waves and into the minds of football fans? Who is the man we need to win the Award to affirm our ‘fact’? To crystallize it? To cement it? Whose win will land on Newspaper desks and smack the editor of the tabloids right around the chops?

Well, by my reckoning there is one man that stands above all others. He is an impressive Goal Scorer (7 in the PL from midfield), a Thug (12 yellow cards and counting so far this season), and he has a really, really Dodgy Barnet (D-I-S-C-O.). We all know who he is. I shall not state the obvious. It’s just a shame Piers Morgan isn’t still at The Mirror.


******

So there you go, let Russ know what you think. Pretty decent shout for Player of the Year, for me, given the dross that's been served up for most of this season. My choice is Mikael Silvestre - what a player he's been for us, English football and france this season.

'Spittergate', Phil Brown, Sam Allardyce, Pedersen, Diouf and the real scourges of modern football.

We should, really, be celebrating getting into the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2005, but we're not because of Phil-Brown-accuses-Cesc-of-spitting-gate.

Did Cesc spit at Brian Horton, Hull's assistant manager? No. Do I have categorical proof of this? No. But I'm far more willing to take Cesc's word over Brown and Horton's. Just look at Cesc's categorical denial on the club's website, compared with this radio interview given by Brown today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7950507.stm

One or two 'er, oh, did I say, that *silence*' moments in that interview says it all. As does Brown changing his story from saying it occurred on the pitch, to being in the tunnel. As does the fact no-one else seems to have witnessed it. You don't have to be a judge to work it out.

Yet the English press have gone mad. Because the footballing media in this country love a good scandal. And spitting, in particular, seems to be the worst thing possible for a football player to do.

And to be frank, that's bullshit. Spitting isn't very pleasant, but it's hardly a scourge of the game. We've seen three far worse things at The Emirates this week which have been ignored or brushed over by the self-appointed watchdogs of the game in our media.

Firstly: negative, scientific, soul-less football, which liberally employs time-wasting and cheating to get results.

Not from us but from Blackburn and, in the past, any team that Sam 'I could have been England manager' Allardyce has managed. And I do count this as a scourge of the modern game because it makes football boring; it turns the game into a drab parody of what it should be; it turns a work of art into a robot. Blackburn, under Allardyce's order, played football like a rugby team on the week-end. They punted the ball into touch in our half to win possession, contested the line-out, sorry throw-in, and used their designated playmaker, Paul Robinson, to take any free-kick they won, which they lumped into the box to try and win the fabled 'second-ball' which Allardyce's game is all about.

Brown employed the other side of this strategy to perfection at The Emirates last night. Time-wasting at every opportunity, such as getting players to pass the ball round the whole team, practically, before taking a bloody throw-in. That Brown had the temerity to blame Wenger for getting Myhill booked for time-wasting before accusing him of being unsporting for not shaking his hand was the cherry on this cake of crap. Maybe, Phil, Arsene didn't shake your hand because he didn't like being called a cheat? But no, it's Arsene who's at fault, clearly.

Teams who set themselves up like Blackburn and Hull only have themselves to blame when they lose. By trying to cheat and hoofing the ball towards victory they're only cheating their own fans. Don't complain that no-one respects you when you don't respect the game and the way it should be played. And maybe, journalists of the UK, you could give Arsene some credit for consistently producing entertaining football for you all to watch, instead of just accusing him of being a bad loser. As a postscript to this, where was the condemnation of Alex Ferguson after his defeat on Saturday? When he claimed United were the better team and refused to even talk to the press afterwards? No-where. That Ferguson has got such an easy ride from the press for so many years, whilst every action of Arsene's comes under scrutiny, is a disgrace and hints at more shadowy motives at work in the media.

Secondly, Pedersen's dive, which didn't even get a booking on the weekend. It's all part of the same cheating which sees time-wasting employed against us to get results. That Pedersen hasn't received any form of punishment for this outrageous piece of cheating is staggering, as was Pedersen's claim that he isn't a cheat. Yes, yes you are.

Thirdly, Diouf's tackle on Almunia. I was sitting right in front of this at The Grove and it was a horrible, horrible tackle. Late, vicious and intended to injure to gain advantage. Coupled with Kevin Nolan's tackle on Victor Anichebe a few weeks ago, it seems football has learnt nothing from Martin Taylor's career-threatening tackle on Eduardo more than a year ago. Diouf should have been red-carded and received a lengthy (more than 3 game ban) for it, but no. Allardyce even defended the challenge after the match despite the sheer viciousness of the tackle. Shows you everything you need to know about the man.

That allegations of spitting and a lack of a handshake are considered bigger issues than career-ending tackles, diving, and the negative football which Allardyce practices and champions shows how messed up the English media is. Ignore them and get ready for Wembley.

Amazing Arshavin lifts Arsenal, but Bendtner deserved better from the fans.

Well, that was a bit better, wasn't it?

After what seems, and in fact was, months of tepid league matches with barely a goal in sight we were finally able to conjure up an extremely decent performance yesterday.

Whether it was due to the opposition or not is probably a moot point; they were certainly no worse than some of the other teams we've struggled to score against this season, although i have additional thoughts on Sam allardyce to follow in a seperate article.

What seemed to make the difference was an early goal, and attacking impetus and energy from the get-go, instead of from the middle of the second half.

Why? Better players are playing, and the performances of a few others have improved. Quite simple, really.

Song, who I was relatively scathing about a few weeks ago, was absolutely superb, looking, dare i say it, vieira-esque at moments as he broke up play and distributed the ball. For me, he looks a far more convincing future foil to Fabregas than Denilson who, whilst good yesterday, doesn't quite have the strength or defensive ability necessary for the modern holding player.

Song would have been MotM if not for the star of the show: Mr. Arshavin. What a breath of fresh air he's been. From the first time I saw him play, it was obvious that he was a world-class player, a cut above the level some of our other players have been producing of late. With Theo and Nasri at his side, Bendtner in front of him, and Song feeding him, he was sensational yesterday, not least with a truly superb individual goal. It's been a while since i've seen a goal at the emirates which has left me awe-inspired but that one definitely did.

His passing is excellent, he's not afraid to shoot (he's definitely no Hleb), and he's not afraid of the physical side of the game. He's a player who won not just Russian but European competitions with Zenit and propelled an otherwise fairly average russian side to the semi-finals of the European Championships. If ever there was a player who looked capable of winning us silverware it's him, and I sensed that the crowd felt that yesterday at the game.

Large sections of the crowd, however, also made their negative thoughts known about bendtner yesterday in a very disappointing manner. Here's a player who never hid during the game, who's build up play was excellent and, as far as I'm concerned, was vital to us winning the game as convincingly as we did. He's also, in my opinion, a far better all-round player than Adebayor, despite his current lack of finishing prowess.

I was equivocal about the Eboue booing because my problems with Ebou go far beyond his ability - they are to do with his cheating, selfishness and self-destructiveness. I simply think he cannot be trusted on the pitch and had only himself to blame for the crowd's negative reaction. I also don't think he really understands why he was booed because he's too stupid to realise how embarrassing his antics have been to supporters of the club. The fact he clearly thought that he can take a penalty when we're 3-0 up in the 90th minute to make amends with the fans shows that the has no idea why so many of us were angry with him in the first place.

Bendtner, on the other hand, is still extremely young and has the right attitude, overall. Booing and cursing him will not improve his performances and I was glad that some of the crowd tried to counter the negativity with 'super nick' chants, in which I joined in.

There's been a lot of negativity at the Grove of late; let's hope not just arshavin, but also the fans, can do their bit to counter it.

Til later.

When you win on penalties, who cares what happened before?

A long European night in Rome ended with a penalty shoot-out triumph, and for once I'm not going to over-analyse the match.

A midfield of Eboue-Diaby-Denilson-Nasri-Bendtner was always going to struggle away from home, and it was painful at times last night. Bendtner worked hard, Diaby occasionally shone, Nasri had a few moments, but Denilson and Eboue were predictadly average and awful, respectively.

I read today that Eboue is already talking about a contract renewal as he only has one year left on his contract, or something, and that Inter are interested in him.

I would actually be prepared to organise charity events to raise money for Inter to fund his bloody transfer. He's a complete waste of space, and could have ended the tie in London if it wasn't for his predictably woeful finishing. As for Denilson, it seems his taken to being the new 'invisible wall' a little too literally, although he was visible when he gave the ball away at least.

With RvP isolated up-front and blasting the few chances he had over the bar, it turned into a two-drunkards-outside-the pub-slogfest: there was movement, a few dangerous blows, but no knock-out punch. For this, in part, we have to thank Julio 'the Beast' Baptista, who put in what some have called his finest performance for Arsenal last night. Thanks Baps.

That said, apart from a calamitous error which led to the goal, we didn't defend too badly. Sagna was predictably immense, quelle surprise, Kolo and Gallas did ok, with Kolo doing his best to look panicky at every occasion, Clichy was a bit ropey as usual this season, and Almunia was solid. I'm enjoying being proved wrong about Almunia at the moment, long may it continue.

By about the 65-70th minute I was sure the game would go to penalties, with only perhaps our bench likely to provide the spark we needed for a goal. Unfortunately, neither Theo or Eduardo were able to produce anything and the game meandered through a drab period of extra-time.

And so to penalties. We missed, I feared the worst; they missed, my hope returned; they missed again, utter relief. It has to be one of the longest shoot-outs I've seen, and credit to the players for keeping their nerve. A lot of the penalties weren't particularly convincing, but they went in, which is all that matters.

And the same can be said about the result itself. Yes, we were poor in Rome, but we completely outplayed them in the first leg, so, on balance, we deserved to win the tie. Crucially, by the time we play our quarter-final, we should have Fabregas and Rosicky (stop laughing) back, and theo and Eduardo will be much nearer full fitness.

So, with a win against Blackburn and against Hull in the 1/4 finals on Tuesday, our season may just produce silverware yet.

But for now let's just revel in the fact WE WON A PENALTY SHOOT OUT. This is satisfying enough in the short-term, for this goonerboy.

til later.

Arshavin exposes the mediocrity of an Arsenal drawing their way to fifth place.

At a personal level, it was nice to attend a match after having been unable to get to the Grove since the Bolton match in January. Being a relatively superstitious kind of person, I had hoped that my presence at the game might be enough to break Arsenal out of their goal-less funk, but evidently not.

In some respects, it’s easy to exaggerate just how badly Arsenal are playing at the moment. The team have, after all, now gone three months and a week unbeaten in the league. We’ve also only conceded 3 goals in the eleven games since the beginning of January.

From that point of view, you’d think we be at the top of the table challenging for the title. Unfortunately – and as the debate of my article last week showed – stats can be ignored or shaped to fit certain conclusions. And, the most important stat at the moment is the most important in football: goals scored. We have only scored in 3 goals in our 7 league matches since the start of January. That is relegation form, especially when you consider that most of the team’s we’ve been playing of late have been from the bottom-half of the table. 3 goal-less home games, in particular, isn’t good enough to get into the champions league.

I was excited to see Arshavin in the flesh and almost mistook him for our mascot when he came out of the tunnel. He really is very small for a footballer.

But Arshavin’s performance only left me depressed. Why? Because he is a level above most of the dross that’s starting for the team at the moment. I would go as far as to say that out of all our starting XI, only Arshavin, Gallas, and possibly Sagna would get anywhere near a starting place in the 2004 or 2002 title-winning teams.

Arshavin does things instinctively, quickly, and efficiently. When you see him somehow produce a breathtaking, defence splitting ball after it looked like he had got the ball tangled up in his feet, you realise how good he is. He takes about a third of the touches other team members do, because he’s about twice as good as some of them. He kept intelligently laying the ball off to players and creating dangerous situations throughout the whole of the first half and well into the second before tiring, and almost giving up in the face of Clichy’s embarrassing inability to cross the ball, or for RvP to do anything but hit his passes straight at the goalkeeper.

Arshavin had at least three passes that should have been assists but he was let down by team-mates. If Eduardo had been playing yesterday we would have won; but he wasn’t and no-one else in the Arsenal team has the ability, or perhaps discipline, to realise that missed chances cost matches.

By the end of the match I felt embarrassed. Arshavin has exposed just how poor some of the current squad are; by buying too many Denilson’s, Diaby’s and Song’s, Arsene has created a team of potential. Hopefully it’s not too late for him to realise that it’s established, international players – more Arshavins - who win titles, not kids.

There were worries all over the pitch. Nasri has developed a Hleb-like ability to avoid shooting and responsibility; Vela again just looks like a talented kid rather than a seasoned pro who’s going to win us some games; Diaby and Denilson did their best, yet again, to provide us with no drive whatsoever from central midfield, although their partnership was a cut above that of Song and Denilson last week. Kolo was again made to look like a fool by Fulham’s crossing and long-balls. Arsene reiterated his belief in the Gallas-Kolo partnership in his programme notes, but Fulham would have scored if not for poor finishing on their part. What Kolo has to do to be dropped, I don’t know. Certainly, the vastly superior performances of Djourou this year haven’t been enough to dislodge Kolo from the side.

Yet, the drop in form of Clichy was perhaps the single most worrying aspect of the game. Zamora simply walked past him on a number of occasions. He’s looked more and more suspect defensively as the season has wore on, and going forward he was absolutely awful. Arshavin should have given him an earful, newboy or no.

So this has what it’s come down to: we can’t score. We have too many average players who aren’t capable of winning us games, and a new signing who has put into cruel relief just how average a lot of our players really are.

At the end of the match, boos rang out, but I didn’t partake and I still refuse to, even if I understand and share the frustrations of the fellow gooners who did.

Fulham didn’t just defend their way to a 0-0: they were excellent and fortunate not to win. We simply didn’t have the personnel. Injuries? We knew about Rosicky and Eduardo at the start of the year, so only Theo and Fabregas can really be cause for complaint.

The fact is we came into the season with a ridiculously weak squad and we’re finally reaping the consequences. Arshavin’s signing goes someway to improve the situation, but also shows that these moves should have been done earlier by a manager who’s let the club down through an over-reliance on his pet-project.

Fourth place or not, we’ve only mounted a credible league challenge once in the last four seasons. That is not good enough. These four consecutive 0-0s should be a turning point in how Wenger views certain players in our squad. Let’s hope it is.