Okay Okay……. Lets all calm down
even though that was bad, no that was horrible in terms of an Arsenal performance.
Arsenals wretched winless streak in the league at Old Trafford continued for
the 10th year running gunning, our last win over there came
way back in 2006……in the league ooo. That definitely wasn’t the Arsenal we have
been watching this season and even our performance in Paris against PSG was better
than that, at least the second half was….Init?? For once I concur with Mourinho
when he said we Arsenal were the lucky ones. We were totally out gunned (We
should be doing the gunning) and out matched by a more purposeful Man United. Seeing
Jenkinson start in place of Bellerin gave me a lot of cause for concern
initially but I never knew that would be the least of our worries on that early
afternoon. Why because Man United never really took advantage of his weakness
in our backline preferring to attack down their right instead, with Valencia Vs Monereal (No.. it wasnt a Penalty). It does beg the
question what’s so bad about “Debauchy”? it must be really really be very bad for him not to get a sniff at their
team. Jenkinson did perform better than expected, that’s because my
expectations are quite low. How the score line ended at 1-1 is a bit of a
mystery but Cech had a lot to do with whatever was that mystical element. He was
that piece of the gunners’ ensemble that came to the concert, saving when
called upon as the busier of both keepers. It is quite telling that De Gea
never had a save to make all through the match….POOR ARSENAL. Man U thoroughly
deserved that lead having being the one in control, keeping Arsenal under the kosh for much of the play. Özil, Walcott
especially had one of those games to forget with Sanchez being the only one
trying to make something happen but was seeing very little of the ball in areas
where he could do damage to Man Utd. He kept dropping deeper and deeper to receive
the ball. As for Ramsey on the wings….the left wing for that matter, which
needs to stop Arsene. I hate using the word useless for players no matter how
bad they play but Ramsey was this close to that, not his fault though. Arsene
wants to play him with Özil in
d same team by force but not the same spot. Özil is our #10 Ramsey isn’t when Özil is around period.
This brings us to the flipside of the coin, as
there are always two sides to one. Arsenal defended quite well up until that
goal in the 68th minute from Mata even though the gunners offered
little or no threat going forward. The team
should also be praised for not panicking after going a goal down because they
were still in it somehow. The problem with 1-0 leads is, as long as the game is
still on the other team can get a goal. We were the other team, Arsene made his
customary 70-80 minute substitutions, on came Giroud Ox and Xhaka. In one of
our few ventures well forward Ox skipped past Rashford and put in a good cross.
There was Giroud towering over Koscielny and Rojo to thump in an equalizer.
Like I said credit to the boiz for snatching that point from Mourinho which
made the draw sweeter. Our 1st goal against him in the league since
2009…..progress? Naaah!! Whats progress is the fight back put up by the
gunners, they say you can’t play well all the time but you must find a way to
eke out points especially when you don’t play well, that’s what wins you
trophies! Arsene’s boiz did that to become “the lucky ones” in Mourinho’s
words. I worry about our November form though….Just one win in 3 Matches. Not
too bad but definitely not good enough.
PSG comes to town on Wednesday
night for a champion’s league day 5 encounter. I made reference to our
performance in Paris being the nadir of our performance this season, we just
topped that with the leggy performance at Old Trafford. I wouldn’t go into any
detail preview but the team needs to respond. Snap out of it and get the focus
back. Topping the group is number one priority, which means beating PSG at
home. Stamp on the better head to head record against them. A draw wouldn’t really
cut it cuz that still puts on the pressure to win at Switzerland and we could
do well to avoid that. The French champions are now back in their groove after
their early season yo-yo form. 4 wins and a draw in their last 5 league
matches, up to 3rd on the Ligue Un table just 3points adrift of the
surprise team of the League so far…Nice. The gunners have to step it up a few
notches, we can’t soley depend on luck all the time, you have to make yours
sometimes. Arsene shares this view as well talking about the need to show we
can win against a Big team he said
“We
had created a momentum up to beginning of November but we have been stuttering
recently cuz we haven’t been winning games. We want to build that momentum
again. We need to show we can win against a big team, so it’s more important
for us to do the job. It would send out a statement.”
I couldn’t agree more, it’s what
we have being saying about our performance in recent games and I am glad the
manager is calling it out. I hope we go on to heed this by staying compact all round stiffle PSG and give ourselves a chance to win. My preferred line up will be this:
Subs: Sanchez, Adelaide, Gibbs,Chambers, Cech, Ramsey, El Neny
I will be giving Sanchez a bit of rest, he needs it and i worry about that hamstring he has a band aid over, plus Giroud has been banging on the door for a start. Iwobi starts over Ramsey please and Xhaka comes in for Neny. I can't wait for Santi to come back from injury, he gives us something very special. Anyway that's it from us, here's to a clean sheet in the win...... Ciao
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