Man City 3 Ireland, Robinho, Sturridge
Arsenal 0

It is not a good title by any mean but the way things are going for Arsenal at the moment, the cloud of depression will be looming for a long, long time just like the monsoon clouds hanging over Kuala Terengganu at the moment.

The news that William Gallas has been stripped off his captaincy was received with a bit of joy but the French defender is not the only reason that we have performed so poorly as the display at the City of Manchester Stadium indicated.

It is like almost every single Arsenal players have gone off form with the names Gael Clichy and Denilson immediately came to mind.

Clichy gifted the goal against Sp*ds, could have headed past Manuel Almunia against Manure, finally completed the task against Aston Villa and last night's comedic tangle with Mikael Silvestre presented Steven Ireland with the opening Man City goal.

Denilson perhaps was asked to do a job that he is not really ready to do, yet but against Man City he was terribly poor, to put it mildly. There were numerous errors that I really wished that Arsene Wenger would take him off midway through the match.

Nicklas Bendtner had another poor game and perhaps Steve McMahon of ESPN-StarSports is right after all when assessing the Big Dane as a terrific Championship player but still not good enough to play in the Premier League.

With big matches coming up against Dynamo Kyiv and Chelsea it is very important for Wenger to get his thoughts right and come up with a good solution to the mess that we are in right now.

Being optimistic, I do feel that we are still within a shout with the rest of the table toppers but things really have to turn around in order to ensure we keep our place in the top four again this season.

Perhaps Arsene should go British again to be at the heart of his midfield and the player who would fit the bill is Aaron Ramsey who made Arsenal looked much livelier when he came on for Gavin Hoyte.

The recently capped Welsh international could be alternated with Jack Wilshere partnering Cesc Fabregas. Both of them showed a lot of quality and perhaps their British hearts could fire things up for Arsenal.

If you really believe in youth, give this suggestion a try, Arsene!

...

ARSENAL 0
ASTON VILLA 2 Glichy OG Agbonlahor

I just simply do not know how to call the latest defeat at the Emirates.

Is is a debacle?

Is it a disaster?

Is it a setback?

What?

I would not go as far as calling for Arsene Wenger's resignation but the team he put out against Aston Villa was a different team to the one that won all three points against Manure last week.

Different in the sense of attitude.

Do we really motivate ourselves just against the like of Manure, Liverfool and Chelski? And for other matches, we just simply turn up and all the three points will be in the bag.

Of course the lips say 'NO' but the attitude seems to be saying 'YES'.

So it is not fair to blame Arsene as he puts his trust on his players to continue the momentum from getting back to their winning ways. For me, the players really let us down with the lack of hunger against a more motivated team, especially with former Gunner, Steven Sidwell was very keen to prove his worth after being let go by Arsene earlier.

We could just put the blame on luck as Bacary Sagna was down injured when Villa broke through his side and the referee for not awarding a free-kick after Curtis Davies had taken down Carlos Vela prior to the second goal.

But the truth was the visitors who looked more deserving to go home with all the three points.

And I for one, would like to see how are wee going to get back on track.


Again.

...

Arsenal 3 Simpson 2 Vela
Wigan 0

As usual I have to wake up in the wee hours in the morning in order to catch the Arsenal youngsters in action but as it was against Sheffield United in the last round, it was totally worth it.

Another scintillating first half display (according to the commentator as I woke up with just five minutes of the half to go) was rewarded with a Jay Simpson goal that separated both teams at the break.

Then the young Gunners just continued where they left off and when you thought there was a hint of a fightback by Wigan, they just struck. As Wigan pressured the Arsenal defence, captain for the night Lukasz Fabianski punched away a cross and the ball found it's way to Carlos Vela.

The Mexican international's pace was simply too hot to handle and he cut to the byline with ease. Having the mind of a team player he squared the ball to Simpson who finished cooly for his second of the night and distanced Arsenal from their more experienced opponents.

A while later it was 3-0, as Vela displayed the kind of skill that made Arsene Wenger persisted in bringing him to the Arsenal fold. Another ball out from defence from Johan Djourou found Vela who flicked the ball towards goal.

Then it was a race with a defender to the ball and Vela just nicked it with a sublime chip that sailed over the bemused Chris Kirkland in the Wigan goal. It was such a priceless look, as I remembered he was one of the biggest culprit when it came to time wasting at the Emirates a couple of season back.

He did not waste any time tonight.

It was also a good outing for Fran Merida, whose long range effort had Kirkland scrambling to save and also for Kieran Gibbs. The young left-side player forced the Wigan custodian into making a couple of hard saves during the match.

Eduardo da Silva appeared on the TV screen tonight, and I really hope to see him in action real soon. But one of Wenger's summer acquisition did get his first competitive action in Arsenal colours during the match.

Amaury Bischoff was given his debut when he came on for Jack Wilshere, whose pass released Simpson for the first goal. It was a descent performance under a no pressure situation.

However, in the closing stages Wigan did pile up the pressure and Fabianski was forced to work hard to keep his clean sheen dream intact. Daniel de Ridder's mazy run ended up with a shot with the Polish goalkeeper did well to save but Henri Camara was following up.

Fabianski did well to get up quickly and got his hand on the goal bound ball and push it against the bar. Arsenal eventually cleared the danger and saw out the match.

Now we are in the last eight, I wonder who we could be facing next?

...

Arsenal 2 Nasri 2
Manure 1 Da Silva

It was such a satisfaction to get a win after all the less then positive results that we had over the last few weeks, and the satisfaction tripled when the win came against one of the big rivals for the League title, Manure.

It was a nervy start which had me pulling my hair as early as in the third minute when Manuel Almunia continued with his uncertain form of late by catching a back pass from Mikel Silvestre. But the Arsenal goal survived the threat from the indirect free-kick awarded and also a few more anxious moments afterwards as the visitors tried to impose themselves.

However much to their credit, Arsenal players also began to find their feet and Nicklas Bendtner should have done better with the crosses that were played to him. United also rode their luck when a bad punch by Edwin van der Sar landed at the feet of Abou Diaby who could not find an opening along the sea of legs in front of him.

But luck was with Samir Nasri in the 22nd minute when he controlled a header from Dimitar Berbatov from a corner and unleashed a left foot shot which took a slight deflection off the f*ck-face Gary Neville to carry it past van der Sar.

It was such a great satisfaction that he was the one to give us the lead.

But it was a great credit too to Nasri whose technique was superb in executing the shot which was difficult to say the least.

It was a great football match which had all the ingredients to make it a classic, when both teams decided to come out and play football the way it should be played.

Then the second goal came just within minutes from the restart of the second half. Arsenal kept possession with their passing game. The a crucial off the ball run by Theo Walcott took Nemanja Vidic away which gave Nasri the space for him to run to.

Cesc Fabregas saw this and his pass opened the door for Nasri to blast his shot past van der Sar. A typical Arsenal goal which we have not seen for a while.

If people were expecting that Arsenal had learned their lesson and shut up shop, they did not know Arsene Wenger's Arsenal that well. It was true that Manure staged a wonderful fightback to salvage something from that match but Arsenal managed to hold on.

If referee Howard Webb was in a bit more centre position he would have seen the tug on Nasri's shirt in the penalty box by Vidic. But he was viewing the incident from the back and in his eyes it was simply a come together of both players.

Then in the last minute substitute Rafael Da Silva volleyed home past Lukasz Fabianski, who came on for the injured Almunia earlier. It was such a sweet strike that there was nothing the Polish goalkeeper could do and Arsenal were made to sweat it out for the six minutes added time due to the Almunia's injury.

Thank God, there was no repeat of the Sp*ds episode. The Gunners even had the chance to kill off the match but Bendtner who seemed to be a bit off in the last few matches decided to be selfish.

In my view he should have set up either Nasri or Fabregas who were ready with their support. But given the amount of effort he put out, it was understandably that he could not make the right decision.

I fell down on my knees as if I was the one who scored the winning goal upon hearing the final whistle from Howard Webb.

Hopefully we will pick up steam from here and turn our season around.

...

Stoke City 2 Fuller, Olofawhat?
Arsenal 1 Glichy

As an optimist Arsenal fan I would say the latest defeat at the Brittania Stadium came at a very good time, as it is still early in the season. But this was our third defeat and they all came against sides that were not really up there in 'our league', or so we thought.

But if we cannot beat teams that are from the lower league, then are we ready to compete in our own league then?

As it is, we are still just three points off the pace, a bit of gratitude to the boys in white tonight who clearly benefited from our generosity on Thursday morning (Malaysian time that is). Chelski's mauling of Roy Keane's Sunderland meant they went to the top on better goal difference than Liverpool.

Back to the match against Tony Pulis's Stoke City, we started without the injured (allegedly) William Gallas. Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott found themselves on the bench with Nicklas Bendtner, Abou Diaby and Alex Song replacing them in the first eleven.

But watching Arsenal play you could not believe that this is a team who has not won anything since 2005. They lacked the hunger and drive to play the match with a fast tempo, something which I really think was urgently needed in order to get past the ageing Stoke defence.

Then we fell behind when our defensive frailties were exposed again. For the goal I really think Manuel Almunia should have came for the ball as it was travelling right at him, or at least he would have squeezed a foul from the referee with Ricardo Fuller backing into him.

I would have expected that we would show more creativity and pace in search for the equaliser but there was none. Manu Adebayor's body language clearly showed that he did not wish to be there.

Come on! You are a six foot plus striker but did not strike any fear at all to the opposing defenders who are just happy to hassle you into making mistakes with your poor first touch and lately clumsy jumps. The less said about your finishing the better.

I do not think I have ever said this before but seeing Adebayor going off was perhaps my highlight of the match. Last season I was all out defending the Togolese poor finishing, that he would have to have quite a number of chances before finally finding the net. I was proud doing that because Adebayor seemed to give everything he got.

Unfortunately, his transfer episode during the summer has completely turned me against him and I would rather have the millions from Milan or Barcelona than having to see him giving half hearted performance such as the one at Stoke just now.

Credit must be given to Pulis as he maximised the strength that his side has and the home fans deserved to go home with all the three points. It was rather unfortunate that the hunger and drive which was lacking throughout the match from the Arsenal players only came during time added on.

Congratulations to Gael Clichy for scoring his first senior goal with a pinball effort which gave Thomas Sorensen no chance at all. But it came all too little too late.

Arsene Wenger must be counting his woes as Walcott and Sagna went off injured. I really must say that a straight red card for van Persie was rather extreme by Rob Styles and the most the Dutchman should have got was a yellow card.

But as an optimist Arsenal fan, I really believe that there is a silver lining somewhere in the clouds for us Gooners. So just be patient and hope we will see it soon.

Really soon.

...

ARSENAL 4 Silvetsre, Gallas, Adebayor, van Persie

SP*DS 4 Bentley, Bent, Jenas, Lennon

Two goals lead with just a minute to go against your local rivals, the sensible thing to do? Shut the shop and pull down the shutters.

But what did Arsenal do? Continue operating normally and look to increase the profit which eventually was wiped out at the end of the four minutes added time.

It was so disappointing thinking we are capable of making that kind of defensive errors which let opponents back into the match. It shows that this season perhaps we are not really title contenders yet. But football is a funny old game so I would not be giving up hope just yet.

I have always believe there is something special about David Bentley and this morning he showed that I am not wrong by scoring the goal which topped the ones he scored for us against his current boss Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth back in 2004 in the FA Cup.

We responded well after going behind and it was good to see Mikel Silvestre scoring his first Arsenal goal, an effort that many Arsenal fans have not seen with enough frequency lately, scoring from corners. It was truly a wonderful header and he nearly repeated the feat a while later.

Then just after break we went ahead with another header from a set piece. This time skipper William Gallas connecting well with a Robin van Persie free-kick. The Gunners went two goals ahead when the Dutchman precise pass released Samir Nasri who beat Gomez with a delicate chip. It was already on its way into the net but Manu Adebayor touched it to make sure.

But Sp*ds cut out the lead when Manuel Almunia failed to get up quick enough to prevent Darren Bent from getting the rebound past him. The Spaniard had earlier failed to hold Tom Huddlestone’s fierce drive from outside the box.

But van Persie restored the lead as Arsenal capitalised on an error by Allan Hutton. Adebayor latched on to a weak pass from the Scottish full-back and found the Dutchman at the far post. Unlike earlier chances when he tried to shift the ball to his stronger left foot, this time van Persie took it with his right and Gomez had no chance.

It should be game over but somehow Gael Clichy’s error presented the ball to Jermaine Jenas who scored with a wonderful curler which gave Almunia no chance at all.

One thing about Glichy is that he is a good defender with a powerful engine that enables him to run down the flanks all day. Unfortunately, he is also prone to this kind of lapse of concentration where he failed to do the simple thing which led to critical situation.

One situation that immediately came to my mind was the match at St Andrews last season when Eduardo suffered the horrific injury. It was almost identical, Arsenal were leading 2-1 and Glichy lost the ball near to the goal. He made a wonderful tackle to win the ball back but the referee deemed it was an offence and awarded Birmingham a penalty which they scored.

Arsenal never recover from that.

If only the young Frenchman did the simple thing and just hoof the ball out.

This morning match also was not a good one for Almunia. He conceded four goals at the Emirates for the first time. A slight deflection took Luca Modric’s shot away from him, which hit the post and rebounded for Aaron Lennon to equalise in the last minute of the added time.

How I wish we just play ugly once in a while and just bring the ball to the corner and wait for the referee to blow for time. Thierry Henry and Robert Pires used to do it, why can’t we do it again?

Hope this will be another lesson well learned.

...

WEST HAM UNITED 0
ARSENAL 2 Faubert OG, Adebayor

The trip to Upton Park is never easy and last night it was the same story. In front of their own crowd, West Ham gave everything their got and were nearly rewarded but to their credit Arsenal displayed their resilience to ensure they would leave with all the three points.

Nicklas Bendtner started the match together with Robin Van Persie upfront but the lanky Dane showed he lacked the match practice that is needed to perform at this level. But his talent eventualy came good later when his pass found substitute Manu Adebayor who beat Robert Green in the fourth minute of added time.

Before that, Green was having a very good game by denying the Arsenal frontline time and time again. It was not unique for the goalkeeper though, who seems to save his best against Arsenal. However he could do nothing when his own defender did the favour for the visitors by deflecting Adebayor’s shot which was going wide into his own net.

Throughout the match, I kept thinking that Arsenal would eventually come through but at the same time there was this sense of vulnerability that things could go wrong and we would suffer our third defeat of the season which would seriously reduced our hope of being a serious title challenger.

But in the end I was very thankful for the points which kept us within touching of Liverpool who played very well to end Chelski’s four and half year unbeaten run which began after we became the last team to win there back in 2004.

Now another London derby awaits, and this time it will be more interesting as the Sp*ds come avisiting the Emirates on Thursday morning Malaysian time.

…

FENERBAHCE 2 Silvestre OG 19 Guiza 78

ARSENAL 5 Adebayor 10 Walcott 11 Diaby 22 Song 49 Ramsey 90+4

A trip to Turkey is never easyArsenal took the field against Fenerbahce with an untested back-four with Alex Song and Mikel Silvestre partnering one another for the first time and Gael Clichy and Manu Eboue on the flanks.

A five man midfield comprising of Cesc Fabregas, Abou Diaby, Denilson, Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott was designed to keep it tight while providing the opening for Manu Adebayor who operated as a lone striker.

Manuel Almunia skippered the Arsenal side with William Gallas and Kolo Toure being side-lined with injuries.

Despite being left alone upfront Adebayor put Arsenal ahead after a wonderful through ball by Fabregas in the 10^th minute.

Then barely a minute later another through ball by the Spanish midfielder put Walcott through and the English youngster found the net with the smallest of margin to put the Gunners two goals ahead.

Arsenal fans were in dreamland.

Then the home side snatched one back from a typical Arsenal weakness, that is the free-kick. Guiza volleyed the long free-kick from the left and the loose ball was deflected by Silvestre into his own goal.

Then Arsenal restored their two goal lead when Diaby latched on to a pass from Fabregas and shrugged off three Fenerbahce defenders before shooting past Demirel from quite an acute angle.

Just after the half an hour mark Dani Guiza put the ball into the Arsenal net but his effort was correctly ruled out for offside. Arsenal did not look comfortable defending.

Song who was earlier booked for obstruction was given a lucky break by the referee when he committed a similar offence on Roberto Carlos. In the 40^th minute Guiza was put through again but his low shot just missed the target by mere inches.

In the 41^st minute Fabregas put Walcott clear again but Demirel managed to cut out his low ball from reaching Fabregas. At the other end Almunia had to pull off another important save on one to one situation to deny Fenerbahce from reducing the gap.

Two minutes into the second half a sight every Arsenal fans did not want to see when Nasri went down clutching his left leg. From the resultant free-kick, comedic defending gave the opportunity for Song to get his name on the scoresheet, his first in European competition.

Almunia steady handling prevented an Alex’s free-kick from going in after Diaby adjudged to commit a foul outside the the penalty box just under the hour mark.

Again the Spanish custodian in the 67^th minute came out on top on one on one situation though it needed a collective effort to prevent the ball from ending up in the back oof the net.

Diaby exited in the 73^rd minute to be replaced by Aaron Ramsey, who scored a spectacular goal against England in their U-21 European Championship play-off match last week.

Finally Guiza managed to put his name on the scoresheet in the 78^th minute when a defensive error by Song put him through and he lobbed Almunia with ease to give the home fans some hope of a comeback by their team.

Johan Djorou came on for Walcott with six minutes to go. Carlos Vela followed Djorou a couple of minutes later in place of Adebayor.

Ramsey in the last minute of additional time opened his European account with another cracker from just outside the box which hit the post before going in.

It was five on the road for the rampant Gunners!

...

ARSENAL 3 Nasri, van Persie, Walcott

EVERTON 1 Osman

As the referee blew for the interval, the thought that the first match that I am goinng to talk about is a defeat crossed my mind. The direct football deployed during the first half certainly did not pose much problem for Everton at all.

Thinking a change of ritual would bring some good luck, I decided to hang out the laundry which earlier had been put into the machine.

Somehow, it worked.

I came back just in time to witness Cesc Fabregas’s corner which eventually ended up in the back of the visitors’ goal after a cool finish by Samir Nasri for the equaliser. We pressed forward and the enforced change that saw Theo Walcott coming on for the injured Kolo Toure saw a more menacing attacks on the Toffees goal.

Manu Adebayor who had been the target of my long distance abuse for not properly getting himself into the match during the first half finally did good in my book tonight. He managed to create the opening for Fabregas’s shot which was intially saved by Tim Howard.

But Robin van Persie was on hand to head home the rebound which put us into the lead for the first time during the match. After seeing the Dutchman failed to make much headway during the first forty five minutes, it was good to see him finally putting one over the line for his 6^th goal of the season.

Then a sight that all Arsenal fans did not want to see. Nasri hobbled off the pitch and my preference was to see Mexican forward, Carlos Vela for a like for like substitution. But I was no Arsene Wenger, who brought on Abou Diaby for the lanky player first match back from injury (again!)

It turned out to be another shrewd move by the Frenchman when Diaby found himself free on the right after Walcott found him with a short pass. It was a delayed ‘one-two’ and the young Englishman’s first time effort gave Howard no chance at all with a low effort which went through his legs.

The three points collected was really valuable as Chelsea had earlier thrashed Middlesbrough 5-0 at the Riverside. Liverpool posted another remarkable comeback against Wigan at Anfield, coming back from 2-1 down with ten minutes to go to win by the odd goal in five.

But most importantly was that the first Arsenal match review that I typed using my brand new HP Notebook was a character building comeback win.

So, another laundry on Wednesday?

…

Arsenal 1 McShane OG
Hull City 2 Geovanni Cousin

Many were expecting a cricket score when Hull City came a visiting but I did share that view. Not after a good start made by Phil Brown's men that saw them in the top half of the Premier League table rather than the bottom.

But then again, I did not expect us to lose either.

On the 12th anniversary of a certain Arsene Wenger officially joined Arsenal it should be a week of celebration. Results from previous matches against Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United indicated the Gunners would be too much for the Tigers to handle.

However, Brown did not spend years under Sam Allardyce at the Reebok Stadium without picking up a thing or two from the big man when it comes to playing Arsenal.

There was a quote from Brown that to come away with anything from the Emirates is to catch Arsenal on an off day. It was certainly that day.

The first half was largely a forgetable affair with neither goalkeeper has to make any serious save at all. Then suddenly everything clicked into one fluid movement with Theo Walcott finally found his groove and a lucky deflection later Arsenal finally broke the deadlock.

A collective sigh of relief by many at the Emirates.

But it was not for long. A moment of magic by Geovanni brought things level again. The Brazillian was allowed too much time and space by the Arsenal players and there was nothing Manuel Almunia could do but grasping thin air as the ball whizzed past him.

A goal of the season candidate for sure.

Things got worse a bit later. Arsenal had conceded two goals from set-pieces this season and tonight they conceded another. The way Daniel Cousin scored his first goal for Hull indicated that we still need a big tall centre-half who could take charge from this kind of situation.

Neither William Gallas nor Kolo Toure could rectify the situation. Clearly, we are still looking for the next Tony Adams.

One thing about the match last night was that many Arsenal players looked like they were fasting. They were lacking the urgency required to match the pressing game that Brown instructed his men to carry out.

I am getting tired of seeing the two Manus, Eboue and Adebayor.

We played quite a number of high balls into the box but with Robin Van Persie being not the best player with the head, it would make more sense if Nicklas Bendtner was given the slot to partner Adebayor up-front.

I would play Walcott on the left and Van Persie on the opposite flank so they could cut inside and the more damage with their right and left feet respectively. A bit predictable but there would be variety and physical presence up-front especially against a team which has this never say die attitude that we were sadly lacking during the match.

Carlos Vela should have been given the nod sooner, especially after we fell behind in order for him to make a meaningful contribution. He was quite unlucky when the ball fell too near to him from the Gallas header.

As always, the question of luck would always come in after a defeat and it is no different this time around.

We simply did not have much of it tonight.

...