Good fightback, shame about the rest...

I have to say that at 2-0 down, the Arsenal twittersphere wasn't a nice place to be. No surprises there then. The important part is we made it to the international break alive and in one(ish) piece with no massive disaster unfolding.

So in case you didn't know, we only managed a point in our recent trip to the Midlands. Two ridiculous goals conceded; the first was terrible defending from a corner, the second was an error from the decision-making of Manuel Almunia. (There's a shocker...) If you haven't already seen the highlights then be sure to take a look on Arsenalist.

Anyways, let's take a looksy shall we. Manuel Almunia in goal; where to begin? Typical Almunia really. Alan Davies summed him up quite nicely in a podcast a few weeks ago. When he's undep pressure and shot-stopping is what's needed he's your man. Look at Barcelona this season, Barcelona at the Grove the season before, United away a few seasons ago in the CL. It's decision-making that's his weakness and he proved it today. Having said that, he is our third (or arguably fourth) choice goal-keeper. Would he be getting this much stick if he were Rhys Taylor playing for Chelsea, Gunnar Nielsen for Man City or Ben Amos for United? I think not. Having said that, any analasis of his performance is pretty much impossible following the almighty hash-up. He came for and caught a corner, that's about all I remember. I have no idea what he was doing running out there though, no idea at all. Squillaci had it under control, he was goal-side of a bouncing ball. Why Almunia thought a stroll out of his area was needed I have no idea. Then he got there... and stopped! He just stood still and then pushed Squillaci.

The defence were... quiet. The Ksocielny - Squillaci partnership still looks shaky. To blame Squillaci for the goal is just scape-goating; Vermaelen wouldn't be blamed if he were in that position as Squillaci was ready to head it back to the safety of Manuel Almunia. Bacary Sagna didn't have the greatest day at the office. He wasn't always in line and quite a few West Brom attacks did come down our right. Gael Clichy was, imperious? He didn't look that shaky at the back, combined really well with Arshavin and got a lot of sexy crosses into the box, proper good ones not just Arsenal ones. Shame they weren't converted.

Denilson. Came off at half-time for Chamakh. Is that because the boss wanted goals or Denilson was sh*te? Wenger rarely brings players off at half-time, could this finally be the end of Denilson getting a million chances ahead of his peers? Wilshere, I might as well copy and paste the same stuff for Wilshere every match, kept on running, kept on driving from midfield, concentrated and did his job well. Showed signs of frustration at times, but then with the manner we conceded the goals; who wouldn't? Aaron Ramsey played in the advanced role but looked to lack sharpness. A bit of rustiness isn't surprising but he lost his man to concede the first goal (admittedly a lot of players lost their men though) and had a chance to score from about 5 yards out but couldn't put it past Carson. While sharpness will come with time, it's encouraging that Ramsey hasn't had any of the set-backs we've seen after the Diaby and Eduardo injuries. Came off for Bendtner after an hour as we chased goals and reverted to a kind of 4-4-2/4-3-3/4-5-1 hybrid.

Our attack started with Arshavin -Van Persie - Nasri. Arshavin had one of those games where he's quiet, working well with Clichy on the left and then all of a sudden he explodes, lashing a shot across the keeper into the top corner and some really good work down the left to get a cross in despite the attention of two defenders which led to the second goal. Van Persie was decent, a bit under-par maybe. Headed against the bar after a lethargic start but woke up and was on his toes to score the second goal before Meite could clear. Chamakh came on for Denilson and looked  industrious. Still lacking in goals, but he combined well, releasing Arshavin for the first and also offered a more physical presence. Bendtner obviously also offered a more physical presence as well, knocked the ball back to Van Persie for the second goal from Arshavin's cross and generally huffed and puffed.

Anyways, the boss spoke to the press after the match saying that he was proud of the spirit and fightback, rightly so. That doesn't the disguise the fact that we were below-par though and performances like that don't win titles.

It seems the bad news just keeps on coming as well as Arsenal U-18s were beaten 3-0 by Watford. Although as I have said previously, they shouldn't be compared to the likes of Wilshere, JET etc. because they're a lot younger than that team was when it did the U-18 double.

Once again many thanks to CescyFabGooner for these videos. Firstly Wenger's post-match presser and also the highlights of the Reserves vs. Liverpuddle last week. Take a peak if you want, it wasn't that great a performance, but at least they're winning, unlike other Arsenal teams... 





Anyways, that was meh. A few rumours around this morning, e.g. Cahill to Arsenal for £15million. With Bartley and Miquel coming through, not quite sure whether that would happen, unless Squillaci were to leave soon...

Thats it for today folks, enjoy your Sunday. :)