A Bipolar Round of the Premier League: Aaron Ramsey's Injury and the Return to the Title Race

Since I do not expect to have the analysis for the Stoke match up for a couple days, I thought it best to jump the gun a bit and talk about the two very, very different elephants in the room.

First, of course, is the horrific injury that Aaron Ramsey sustained when Ryan Shawcross, England National Team member and captain of Stoke, drove his foot through Aaron's right leg. I just do not know where to begin. I started watching too late to see Diaby's injury a few years ago, but when I heard that Arsenal has sustained three injuries of this extreme sort in five years, I could not believe it. The similarities between this incident and what happened to Eduardo two years ago where too substantial to ignore. How can this happen at all, to any team, especially to us as much as it has?

If I blame anyone, I blame the English football culture. I do not believe that there is some widespread conspiracy to take out Monsieur Wenger and his foreigners--but I am increasingly irritated by the villainization of our manager in the English press, and the attitude taken toward Arsenal's style by English columnists, bloggers, and commentators of all stripes. Granted, Wenger brings it on himself sometimes. You can support him all you like, but the man is undoubtedly arrogant, and when you combine that with his Frenchiness, it makes him prey for English writers when he does and says anything. When Porto beat Arsenal in the same round that Rooney and Manchester United took down AC Milan, Real Madrid lost a shocker to Lyon, and Bayern Munich beat Fiorentina in a game full of outrageous refereeing, the focus was naturally on Wenger and Arsenal, and almost all of it was negative. Whether it was Wenger complaining about the refereeing, his selection of Fabianski, or what have you, commentators wrote ten stories criticizing Arsenal for every positive piece written about their boy Rooney.

The most constant criticism of Arsenal is that they are not physical, and I tend to agree. But when this viewpoint is repeated again and again, when people increasingly hate arrogant, pass-and-move Arsenal soccer and glorify teams that play a robust "man's game", when "professional fouls" become not only an accepted tactic but something that fans and commentators applaud, somebody, somewhere, gets their legs broken in two places.

Aaron Ramsey, the most promising Welsh talent of this generation, will not play for the rest of the season. If Eduardo's case is accepted as the model, he may not even play next season, and when he does return, he will be half the player that we knew. His career has not been ruined, but it has been seriously compromised. This is the third Arsenal player whose future could have been much brighter if it was not for this muscular, English, anti-prissy-foreigners attitude, and that is not to mention the rest of the Arsenal squad, most of whom are rotating in and out of the squad, missing most of every season because of one injury or another. Already, I am reading about what a good lad Shawcross really is, and how Wenger is whining abstractly about how soccer should be played and how "our boy" should be punished too-harshly. The Premier League should be ashamed.

Most of all, I feel absolutely terrible for Aaron, and I am intentionally calling him Aaron now, because this may be the lowest point of not only his career, but his entire life. Arsenal.com is asking fans to submit short messages to Aaron, so I suggest that everyone please click and send out your sympathies. He was shaping up to be a wonderful young player, and if he can keep focused and positive, he will work all the harder in his recovery and in returning to the player that we will hopefully see one day in the future, in an Arsenal shirt.

And then there is the good news. Arsenal is back in the title race--two points off United, three off Chelsea, in part because of this.

Chelsea loses its first game at home this season. It is their first loss at home in fifteen months. Manchester City breaks a decade-long record of not scoring in Stamford Bridge by putting away four goals. Wayne Bridge does not shake John Terry's hand. Chelsea loses two men to red cards, Belletti and Ballack. Tevez scores a brace, and on his second, Bridge joins the celebration. Bridge is subbed out late in the game, and receives mixed applause from Chelsea fans. I speculate that Abramovic has just about had it with his team's players. THAT. IS. AWESOME.

This, of course, is not to underestimate Arsenal's contributions to get back into the title race, in a display away to Stoke to be really, really proud of. More on that soon.

Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland, or, Eboue Ownage

Imagine if you will a plucky African fullback that heard some rumor that a terribly-misinformed Dunga was in the stands to see him start a game, to see if he's good enough for selection for the upcoming Brazil-Ireland friendly at the Emirates. Surely such an absurd rumor was floating around the Arsenal squad with some credence, perhaps because of a bit of a language barrier. That is because, for this match, Emmanuel Eboue thought it appropriate to slap on his Samba shoes and try out for the Selecao.

And the winning goal that Happy Feet engineered perfectly summed up the game. In the 27th minute, Fabregas lashes a pass to my man of the match, waiting in an advanced position on the wing. His first touch is unorthodox and bounces off his marker, but he gets right back onto it and dashes into a shocking swath of space in the middle. He drives right into the box, dribbling only with his right foot, finds himself boxed in by two defenders at the six-yard box, but drives in a low ball through the half-foot of space between the two across the goal. And, as scandalous fortune would have it, not a single defender had their eyes on our striker, Bendtner, who had sneaked in for the simplest of tap-ins.

Arsenal's did not string together a vintage performance. You get the sense that what worked out would not have worked against superior opposition. However, Sunderland was so abjectly inferior in offense and defense that Arsenal, thoroughly warmed up by recent battles in the Champion's League and against the other Big Four teams, looked calmly dominant.

We should not be too harsh on Arsenal for producing far more than they did in such a game, because the players in the starting XI--Almunia, Happy Feet, Vermaelen, Sylvestre, Clichy, Song, Ramsey, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Bendtner--have had relatively few opportunities to play with one another. Irregularities were all over the field--between the Sylvestre-Vermaelen defensive tandem (though arguably complimentary on paper), and the inclusion of an Aaron Ramsey that has not played terribly much lately, and the starting of Bendtner as the leader of the line with the jury still out for him, and of course, the starting of one Theo Walcott. Miscommunication was very evident at times, and so individual brilliance from the likes of Happy Feet told the story of the game at the end of the day.

Once again, defensive deficiencies that sometimes verged on the ridiculous really should have made this more of a nail-biter. On a second watch, I realized that Sunderland's most successful tactic was the goal kick. Long balls from Craig Gordon bounced fortuitously in Arsenal's half and often ended up in the final third for Vermaelen and Sylvestre to compete for under heavy pressure. That's right--goal kicks. Whether the ball bounced to Song, Ramsey, Vermaelen, Sylvestre, or any other player, those innocuous long-balls put my heart in my throat again and again, and that remains to be unacceptable.

Sylvestre's selection after a rather strong performance from Sol Campbell in my opinion might have been more costly. While not having the worst of games as Arsenal's resident donkey, and even having served up a lovely, Marquez-style long-ball to Walcott in attack, Sylvestre especially made some uncomfortable errors in distribution and defense that could have given the offense ground to make up. In one moment, in the 39th, Ramsey lost the ball very easily in Arsenal's half, and a simple through-ball to Kenwyne Jones cut through our center-back tandem like butter, Sylvestre having failed to track an obvious run. Luckily, Jones missed his sitter, and Arsenal continued to lead. Poor touches by Ramsey such as the one at the heart of this highlight gifted dangerous possession to Sunderland too many times--and uncharacteristically poor touches and passes by Alex Song accomplished the same. Happy Feet, as impressive as he often was in the final third, looked as vulnerable and/or anonymous on the defensive game as he typically is. And again, the unified tracking-back of all players that characterizes the best defenses was not apparent--but granted, we did not have many opportunities to witness it. At the end of the day, it was one hundred poor giveaways by Sunderland that kept Almunia's clean sheet, rather than a true defensive shut-out.

That said, many positives can be said about the defense. Vermaelen had a somewhat shaky start, but played a characteristically solid game, with an emerging feature of his game--good long-balls to the offense--factoring into his overall evaluation. It was his coming out-of-position to make a great tackle that started the first goal--incidentally, Vermaelen had come out of position to save Eboue's bacon, and so Happy Feet was allowed to remain too-far-upfield to create the goal. Good defensive headers, excellent positioning and reactions, and admirable improvisation with his defensive partner were the hallmarks of his game. Clichy had a similarly shaky start, and his bad habit of inadequate clearances still haunted him, but on much fewer occasions than in recent games. Indeed, most of the mistakes I have seen him make in recent games either did not emerge against Sunderland or did so once or twice. He is just beginning to find his way on offense, with lots of good distribution, so I think it is safe to say that Clichy is returning to normal. Song did not play very well on offense, and his positioning was not quite as stalwart as it normally is, but he played as reliably as ever in a supporting role on defense with his chasing, pressure, and aggression. Almunia, without having to make a genuine save, did all the simple things correctly, except for one ill-advised coming-out to fortuitously ricochet the ball off of Darren Bent for a goal-kick (and relief).

The Arsenal offense controlled the game from start to finish, but individually, few players were at their best. Fabregas was the main man, of course, and on paper, he has more moments marked "excellent" and "brilliant" than anyone. Timely runs, great passes of all distances, and the occasional one-of-a-kind skill on the ball almost made it a wonderful performance from the captain, who earned and sunk the last-minute penalty that killed the game. On the other hand, one gets the sense that for all his involvement, he should have been involved even more, and only during a few passages is he really at the center of distribution, which brings into question his off-the-ball movement. This is not to mention multiple shocking giveaways and two eminently finishable counter-attacks that he let down with passes that would make you think he really choked under pressure. Some might say t would be harsh to say that the penalty was a bit generous and that he almost missed, but not me. Ramsey had a very similar game in a different respect. His quickness and aggression allowed him to pick off balls in the midfield and burst forward in attack, and several moments of great distribution and clever passing served his rating well, but multiple giveaways and poor shooting, as well as the missing runs into the box that marked his best games this season, made for a mediocre game from the young'n. The catch phrase for Bendtner is "great eyes", and his teamwork and distribution was nothing less than exemplary throughout the game--how about that cross-field cannonball from the middle to a streaking Eboue on the right? His height is becoming increasingly useful for balls in the air, whether on attack or in defending set-pieces. However, the man lumbers rather than runs too much of the time, and so his touch often lets him down. Like Clichy, however, he is rapidly improving, and at the moment I am tipping him to be next season's emerging star. Even with his bad touch, if he had reacted quicker to balls coming near him, he could have scored a hat-trick.

Then there was the fantastic Samir Nasri. With the quickest feet on the field, Nasri put on a clinic in ball-control, beating his man on the left again and again. Though his crosses are not quite there, perhaps that is a sign that he is better in the middle, because his distribution, through-balls, and one-touch passing in that area were nothing less than superb and should have been responded to better by the receiver. Fabregas could take a lesson from him in off-the-ball movement, as Nasri was part of everything good on attack. Increasingly, he is dropping back in defense when necessary, and pulled off a very good tackle at the beginning of the game. I hesitated very much before labeling Eboue man-of-the-match at the beginning of this post, because Nasri's game was far more complete.

Then again, Eboue was the difference, and justly deserved three or four assists, as well as all the flashiest highlights. He danced around the left side, overshadowing Theo Walcott with his cheeky, unorthodox dribbling that Sunderland just could not handle. Mind you--Theo played an improved game, collecting the most highlights of any game in recent memory, but when he does not receive an excellent pass from, say, Eboue to latch onto with his pace, his touch ensures that he loses every match-up between him and the left-fullback. In any case, poor decision-making (choosing never to hold up the play) and execution (woeful crosses) made sure that he did not get involved with any goals. Eboue did everything Walcott did wrong to exception. Indeed, he earned the right to move into the right-wing forward position when Walcott came off for Sagna, and that is really saying something. Something good. Or something bad--it depends on how you look at it, I suppose. All negatives about Walcott aside, Happy Feet truly earned his nickname in this match with a very exciting display that Arsenal fans, frankly, do not get enough of.

Rosicky, coming on for Nasri (to rest him because he was so good I should hope), put on a similar display to the man he replaced. Though his ball control was not as breathtaking, his should've-been-final balls were much more dangerous looking, and his quickness caused problems for a tired Sunderland defense. Sagna had about 15 minutes to run around, but with all the possession we were racking up, Sagna barely got a pass in edge-wise. Denilson came on right at the very end so that Eboue could get a round of applause, and that was all.

With giant-killing Everton defeating Manchester United, we should feel all the more comfortable with our relatively easy wrap-up to the league. Next comes Stoke, quickly becoming the anti-Arsenal and a team that we have a bone to pick with, at their fortress. A win there would give the team plenty of confidence to continue playing against teams that should be beaten. I will hopefully put that one up before knowing the Burnley result.

Porto 2-1 Arsenal, or, Well, Shoot.

After battling through their three biggest rivals that are also three of the best teams in the world, you might think Arsenal would have been tempered for victory against a team like Porto. You would be wrong.

Some will say that Arsenal deserved to win. Captain Fabregas told an interviewer that "we were controlling the game, we were having chances" until the second goal, but that is questionable to say the least. As a nerd, Champion's League games are wonderful because of a wonderful invention: the UEFA Match Centre. Among other things, the soccer nerd can view the most detailed passing stats around. A sampling:

68% overall passing

71% short passing

71% medium passing

50% long passing

Well that's not so bad, Arsenal completed the majority of their passes, did they not? It is for me. Think about it: for every ten passes attempted toward relatively close players, the average Arsenal player gave the ball away on about three attempts. Those are unacceptable statistics for a world-class team in any game, especially in a CL draw that has to go down as one of the most generous we could have gotten. And this isn't even to speak of the defense, which, by Arsenal's standards, could have been worse.

Once again, a brand new slew of little injuries brought us our 1,562nd never-before-seen lineup of Fabianski, Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Denilson, Fabregas, Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri, Bendtner. With the lineup came a ton of talking points. With Denilson instead of Song in the XI, would we have a disastrous time in the midfield again? How would the rather like-and-like pairing of Campbell and Vermaelen work out, and what would Campbell bring to the team? Would Bendtner take the opportunity to really establish himself without Arshavin? Will Fabianski make a claim for the #1 shirt?

The tone of bad passing was set at the very beginning, when Denilson began to look like his disastrous self by sliding in a funky back-pass behind Sol Campbell, forcing the old man to track back and pull off a brilliant sliding tackle from behind, before promptly turning around and screaming at a very different Arsenal than he remembers. And indeed, after a failed counter-attack, some poor defense on the left led to another chance for Porto, which Campbell and Vermaelen did well to block. And once again, Campbell looked ahead and bit his team's head off--and I thought, isn't it great to have him back? His days with Arsenal were just a bit before my time, but the contrast between his fiery general's mentality and the rest of Arsenal's half-disappointed, half-angry-with-themselves reaction to poor play was very, very refreshing (I'm talking to you, Cesc!).

It might have had an effect, as well, because for most of the first half, Arsenal had not begun to pass poorly or defend poorly most of the time. The team had the great majority of time on the ball, and reached Porto's box quite well. Players like Diaby and, especially, Rosicky showed consummate possession skills and pulled off several perfectly-weighted passes to demonstrate an excellent sense of intent.

A bright start, however, was not good enough to prevent Porto from scoring one of the most unnecessary goals you will ever see. One thing that Arsenal struggled with the entire game was defending a pair of very quick wingers, Varela and Pereira (I belive that was the latter's name). Both Sagna and Clichy were struggling keeping up with their players on the wing. And in the eleventh minute, Clichy found himself out-skilled by Varela, who put in a fairly wayward cross for what should have been an easy-peasy take from Fabianski, who was under no pressure. But alas, he had come out expecting a ball more accurately targeted on the striker's head. The ball flew much closer to the goal, and he dived to get back, only to punch the ball into his own net--and like that, Arsenal is down a goal, due to the second keeper's own-goal of the season. Only Arsenal.

But with that out of the way, the offense went right about its business, and equalized in no time from a rare goal from a corner, and boys and girls, this one was no scrappy set-piece goal. Fabregas flighted the ball perfectly toward the near-post. Vermaelen rose above two Porto players to deftly scrape the ball with the top of his head toward the far-post, where Rosicky nailed it with his forehead right, smack in front-and-center of the goal. Campbell had made the run, lowered his head, and made no mistake. People will look at the stats: "Sol Campbell, with his head, from two yards, from a corner. Not really Arsenal-like", and it wasn't. It was more like Brazil in full-on Samba-style, with a great cross, and three excellent headers--four players, four touches, one goal. You could see it in the celebration from the team, especially Sol's jumping-around like a teenage King Kong, that they knew what a rare goal that was. Just like that, it's 1-1, and the run-of-play was definitely favorable.

But eventually, the giveaways began, and they continued through the whole game. It typically looked like this: Arsenal would reach the box and just not find the final ball, in forgiveable fashion. But then, Porto would find the midfield, spread the field from side-to-side, and defenders would cut out a pass, but the pokes would go right back to a Porto player. This kind of thing is forgiveable a few times, but watch the last 25 minutes of the first half and count how many times this happened.Or, certain defensive players would come forward too early, miss a tackle, and turn on the fire-alarm for the defenders that stayed in position. One of these players was Denilson, but the other, more egregious offender was Vermaelen. A good Arsenal-friend of mine will hang me for this, but Vermaelen caused the team a lot more trouble than Campbell, and he has a history of precisely this kind of mistake. He challenges for every ball, which sounds good in a 5-on-5 pick-up game, but constitutes serious rashness at this level. Vermaelen comes out too early, too far up, and often creates unfavorable situations this way. Sometimes, he forces himself to chase the ball way, way out of position. Even when he wins a header, he often heads it in the wrong direction, sometimes right on toward our own goal. Some people love Vermaelen, and I think he is very good and generally very solid, but these errors have led to goals in other games (see 3-0 Man United). Call me crazy, but I am not so quick to dismiss Grampa Sol, and I thought his discipline really showed in this match.

Then, of course, Campbell committed that most ignominious error to begin the second half and put the game away for Porto. As a poor over-the-top ball came in from the midfield toward our goal, Fabianski came forward to take it as Sol chased the ball, with a Porto attacker just behind him. Campbell touched the ball, promptly began to look panicked, and Fabianski picked up the ball for an indirect free-kick, and Campbell looked ab-so-lutely scuttered. It only got worse, however, when the referee, Martin Hansson, after having taken the ball from Fabianski and presumably giving Arsenal the idea that he would allow a wall to be set, dropped the ball for Porto and allowed a simple pass and a simple tap-in against our team the ball-watchers.

Sounds a bit harsh, but that is life in the fast lane, I'm afraid. As a rule, I do not crow about refereeing decisions. You can count on the referee to make the right decision most of the time, but sometimes, they make a hash of it, and teams have to take the good with the bad. Incorrect offside decisions, free-kick confusion, and yellow/red card controversies have worked in Arsenal's favor in the past, sometimes decisively. This time, it worked decisively against Arsenal's favor, and so be it.

I blame the players, primarily Fabianski, once again. Not to defend Campbell, if it already seems that I am overly favorable toward him, but his touch did look a bit like the mistake of an older fellow who does not have the fleet-of-foot he once had. Fabianski, second-choice (third-choice?) or not, has to know to not pick that ball up. React quickly, and shank it out of bounds to the right, and you can scream your head off at Campbell for a dumb mistake (wouldn't that feel good?). But to see the touch and just pick it up is just nakedly poor goalkeeping.

It is hard, for once, to judge different players individually, because most players had very similar kinds of games. On the bright side, several players looked extremely energetic, and genuinely looked like they wanted to win. Diaby was running his be-hind off, freight-training the ball off attackers and running off to start an attack of his own. Nasri and Rosicky looked more energetic and generally quick in their play than I can rmeember seeing them, with Mr. Clean looking like he was about to break a sweat with his turning on the ball, and Rosicky pulling off the most purposeful, quickly-taken passes on the team.

On the other hand, absolutely everyone on the team missed too many passes, including these three, all over the field. Fabregas was particularly surprising, espcially after Porto scored their second goal, with not a few one-touches missing their target. To his credit, his set-piece crosses were mostly quite good, and smaller defenses would surely have been victimized. Without Song, the midfield lost its reference point, and Denilson looking very ill-composed. Bendtner looked clumsy, to say the least, and balanced a few moments of great vision and passing with hilarious moments of stumbling over the ball, and missing shots, and such (most telling is his shooting stats--four taken, three off target, one on--that was a backwards-header served in by Fabregas on a set-piece, and was almost certainly intended to be a flick for another player).

Sagna, it must be said, had one of the toughest games in literally months. Constantly caught out-of-position, he struggled through the whole game to catch up to his man and block crosses, even allowing him to dance around the ball at one moment in the second half as a sort of brag. Clichy had an equally bad start, but he picked up the pieces with many well-timed tackles, and I am confident he will turn into our mainstay on the left very soon. However, both of them just looked incapable of tackling the ball anywhere but to a different Porto attacker. Both of them were exploited more often as the game reached on.

At the end of the day, Arsenal cannot claim to have asked very many questions at all of Porto's defense, and in the last 20-30 minutes, if Arsenal had ever dominated possession, Porto certainly evened it up to a cool 46-54 by the final whistle. Indeed, at that point, Arsenal failed to string two or three passes together. Substitutes Walcott, Vela, and Eboue came on to very little effect. Walcott's 22+ minutes can be summed up by his first touch: receives the ball in-position, races off, only to be pushed to the ground with a totally-fair tackle. Both Vela and Eboue came on too late to make any difference--though Eboue had two very good moments of getting forward and putting in crosses that just make you think a bit.

So what have we learned? Once again, injuries are the ultimate downfall of Arsenal. Though Campbell's grit and discipline were quite refreshing, though unsustainable, you cannot envision Almunia giving up those two goals, or the same result with Song and Arshavin on the field. This week, it is Diaby the newest member of the physio's table (again) with a medial ligament tear. I never like to hear "ligament" in an injury description, so unfortunately it could be a lengthy lay-off for one of our better players. Second, Arsenal still does not respond well to disappointment. Arsenal looked resigned after the second goal, and played much worse all over the field. Indeed, the prospects for the return leg could have been much worse, as Porto eventualy turned into the better team.

Arsenal has it all to do against a team they should be able to beat, and handily so at home, in a bit less than two weeks. Next is Sunderland, and after the last four matches, regardless of results, it should be eminently win-able.

Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool, or, Big Four Indeed

Yay! We finally won! I was beginning to think that starting a blog may have left some sort of curse on my team, but alas, the boys finally manage to grind out a win against a team that seemingly can do nothing these days but grind out wins. We did not see Arsenal at its flowing best, but a win is a win, and damn does it feel good to see Arsenal score again and enjoy it.

Still, our old demons came out to watch the match with us, and question marks continue to surround the team. Arsenal still appears utterly vulnerable on defense. To start the discussion with, I pose a question to the readers: can anyone really classify the team's defense? Are we a pressing team? At the beginning of the season, critics noticed Arsenal's shift from 442 to 433, and raved about our new "pressing" style. I have not heard very much of that lately, because the team does not press nearly as consistently or as hard as they did in the early stages of the season, when they were the highest-powered offense in the Premiership (perhaps there is a connection there...). Are we a zone defense? Fuhgetaboutit. Arsenal's defense continues to be characterized as a constant shape-shifter, with varying levels of discipline in tracking back and holding position from player to player. Great defenses get the ball back in such a way that the defender who gets the ball, in the end, is the beneficiary of the work of his teammates. Not Arsenal: most of the time, Arsenal players earn the ball back all by their lonesome, through great bits of defensive skill that have to be repeated again and again, or through fouls. Finally, do we man-mark anyone, ever? I do not see it very often...who was man-marking Rooney the other week? Perhaps effective man-marking kept players like Gerrard out of this game, or maybe he just played poorly, as has been his wont this season, not to mention the fact that he played with a brand new teammate and an almost-rookie in lieu of Liverpool's two hottest attackers.

In any case, it is clear that Arsenal does not appear to have defensive roles that the entire team abides by. The rule almost seems to be "defend when possible" instead of "defend when necessary," and so what I see out there is a lot of variation in individual decision-making and uneven shouldering of responsibility by different players. This is all not to mention our continued inadequacy in another vital area--clearances from our box. Time and again, teams all over the table have hammered Arsenal for these inadequacies, and with one sharper final ball, one better finish, and one man in the right place at the right time, Liverpool could have joined the bandwagon with three goals to boot.

But anyway...we won! We won! And after harping on the lack of a real central-striker being a huge part of the cause of our previous losses, Wenger rolls out a lineup seemingly designed for me: Almunia, Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Diaby, Fabregas, Nasri, Arshavin, Bendtner. Sounds like 1) a glimmering opportunity for Maxi Rodriguez, 2) midfield domination for the Arsenal, 3) maybe, just maybe, some goals put into the preferred net? Well, it was not quite any of these things.

The first half was about the most boring half you will ever see from two of the Big Four. And I'm talking, boooorrrING! After all the vigilant, yet futile, pass-pass-pass that characterized much of Arsenal's performance against Chelsea, there looked to be no urgency whatsoever in attack for much of the first half. Liverpool meanwhile, lacking Glen Johnson, Yossi Benayoun, Fernando Torres, and Xabi Alonso (I swear, I've never seen so much damage wreaked on a team by the sale of a single player), could not muster much better. So, the defensive lines and defensive midfielders on each side racked up sterling passing stats, but nothing much happened. With Fabregas' recent goals getting into his head, he went into Don Quixote-mode and decided that he wanted to be a second-striker. This gave Song and Diaby a lot of ground to make up in the midfield, and so very little came through there--just one sign that our midfield is only potentially the best in England, and not the best. If Fabregas wants to play the #10 instead of the captain, that is on him, and comes at the expense of our midfield cohesion.

The brightest moments in the first half came from other sources, namely, Alex Song. While most of the front-six waited for the ball to come to them, The Symphony roved about, finding space to receive passes in the midfield and was in all honesty the only midfielder doing a full-time job, trying to link defense to attack. The man had tackles-galore, and did quite a bit of Gallas' and Vermaelen's jobs for them with his constant tracking-back, and of course, he kept Gerrard quiet as a baby. I would have put his picture up instead of Arshavin's but 1) Song almost always plays this well, and 2) he is such a workman-like anti-superstar that I cannot find a picture of him from this match. He fouls a bit too much, but it is almost refreshing to see an Arsenal player that can wear his yellow cards (is it nine now?) across his belt, like Chewbacca. When you think about it, if Arsenal was Star Wars...who else would be Chewbacca? Anyway.

Andrei Arshavin, the Russian I've been pounding on lately, had a good performance as well, until he was injured in the second half (pure Arsenal, isn't it? Uncommonly good performances often ending with injuries). Bendtner, I'm afraid, had a bit of an absentee-game--when I noticed him, about half the time I thought "what is he doing there?" And he proved that he has not changed much, when he skied his one chance--slipped in to him by Arshavin--way over the bar, from outside the box. BLAM! and put your hands on your head. Oh, Bendy...well, since he is still trying to find his place in the team after a long injury layoff, Arshavin rolled his eyes and found himself drifting into the middle at times--and boy, was he good. Look back at the first half, and witness how all forays into the final third came through good off-the-ball movement from Arshavin that found space and a passing lane for a teammate. Flawless passing, excellent skill to quickly turn and move the ball, and great awareness of of and trust in his teammates characterized a rather un-textbook performance from Arshavin. Even though many of these plays came from drifting "into the middle", perhaps the fact that he was not the guy in between two center-halves accounted for all the space he had to be a wonderful playmaker...just perhaps. In any case, the man really deserved two clear assists (one, Bendtner's BLAM!, and the other, a beautiful slipped in ball to Rosicky that was touched forward once too agonizingly much) and probably a few more. I hope he will not be out long, because now that Bendtner's fit again, we can expect more performances like this.

The second half brought the game to life. Nasri was finally off the field after wandering about, concussed, for about half an hour (dude, get off the damn field), and Rosicky was on. Fabregas still was not dropping back, but he did not need to, because Diaby turned on, and that was the key to it all. After a mediocre first half, Wenger must have given the big guy The Treatment, because he began to play the way he should always play. As if a switch was flipped, he started passing more fluently, completing a few wonderful, peaches of passes, running back and forth like his box-to-box self with aggression and desire, crashing the box, and earning balls back. And just like that, the ball started finding its way to Fabregas (rather than the other way around, and this is a problem), and good things happened.

The goal highlighted some very good things about the players involved. To begin with, Nicklas Bendtner. Now, what I have said so far about him has not been terribly flattering, but what stood out about him in this game was that when he got the ball, he showed off a wonderful pair of eyes. With a one-touch pass completed while running here, and a smart header there, Bendtner proved that he knows which pass and which teammate will be the most dangerous for a defense to deal with. Such was the case for the goal, when, after his cross was blocked, he had the humility to honor a great run from Rosicky and simply lay it off for him--kudos, Nicklas Bendtner. His physicality and goals will come, but he will be able to rely on his brain until he gets there, and developing that part of his game will only make him that much better when he arrives. Then, Rosicky put in just about the best cross you will ever see, the best in some time from Arsenal. On the run, behind the defense, right at Diaby's head, begging to be put away. Rosicky has a bit of a problem to overcome, in that he plays a bit too all-over-the-field for my tastes, but when he can show off this kind of skill, he can do whatever he damn well pleases. And then Diaby put away a real simple goal that, on his part, came from playing on-point. When he turned on in the second half, he became a constant threat in the box. He deserved a goal simply for being the most-improved player.

And so it ended, fairly uneventfully. In all honesty, the team did not create as much as it should have, and the goal was our best chance by a million miles. Better finishing by Rosicky could have nabbed one clear missed-chance, but Bendtner's BLAM! was at a bit of a distance anyway, and there really was not much else. A win is a win, but it was not dazzling. With Liverpool as weakened as they were, I was hoping for a bit more. In any case, four points from twelve on this terrible run is not a good thing, and we are almost surely out of the title race...but wait! Ten-man Man U draws 1-1 to Villa? And Chelsea LOSES to Everton 2-1 (how dare they make us look worse than EVERTON?!?!)? Just maybe...(crosses fingers, Googles where to buy a rosary...)

And now for the rest...

-Almunia looked adequate when he had very little to do in the first half, and did not have anything resembling a save in the second. However, when one ball was lofted in, he punched...shoft, directly over his teammates, and the ball landed right at the edge of the box. A well-positioned Gerrard buries that every day and every night, and then we would have had a 1-1 draw that would have looked quite deserved, and yet needless from our perspective.

-Eboue got his start and showed why he's second-best to the crackingly average Sagna. He does not get caught out constantly, but when he does, it seems to take him forever to get back. His dumb-looking moments in this match included clearly touching the ball out from five- or six-yards away from the touchline and vigorously appealing for an Arsenal throw-in, and covering his face when Maxi's boot came into his personal space. I still like his attacking-mentality, and he has all the qualities of a lovable fan-favorite, but that will not get him into the starting XI.

-Why was Gallas the captain for awhile? Unlike Fabregas, he communicates and looks like a leader. He and Vermaelen had little to do, but both were positionally sound and professional, showing why they deserve to be called two of the best players on the team and certainly our always-starts. Most of the time they made good plays, but each had one or two baaad plays that seem to be habitual for them...Gallas, getting completely fried by Babel, and Vermaelen, acting one of the primary culprits in the Arsenal-can't-clear reputation.

-Clichy seems to be returning to his old self, as he is starting to regain his stamina and prowling up-and-down the left, and so I expect him to only get better. Still, he has an unwelcome, I think new, habit of finding himself on the wrong side of his winger in critical situations--this could have led to a Liverpool goal in the first half.

-Walcott came on for Arshavin after he was injured in the second half, and showed that he is some time away from a starting-spot, unfortunately. On the bright side, he stayed in position a lot more, and so got a bit more of the ball. However, his touch is still appalling, and so he is having a tough time of getting his teammates to pass to him, even when he is open.

-Sagna came on for Bendtner in the last ten minutes and ran around just a bit.

Next is Porto in the return to the CHAAAAMPION'S LEEEEAGUE! It's a wonderful time of the year here on The Arsenal FC Project. Stay tuned...

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal, or, And You Expected Differently?

Excuse the cynical subtitle, because while losing to Chelsea certainly leaves my heart sore, I feel that I can be proud of the way my team played. Unlike the Manchester United horrorfest at home, Arsenal gave a respectable and spirited attacking performance against a team that, in my opinion, has the best defense in the world, just maybe the world's best striker, and beholds one of the world's most formidable home fortresses. While the match was exciting, the result was never very much in doubt, as Drogba scored his early brace, allowing the match to careen, almost predictably, into an Arsenal loss. One almost gets the sense that this was one of the highest-profile foregone conclusions in world soccer. It could be worse: Arsenal could have scored an own-goal.

I suppose one has to start with Wenger and an intriguing lineup-selection. With the standard back-four of Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, and Clichy, the standard goalkeeper, Manuel Almunia and best possible midfield of Fabregas, Song, and a fit-again Diaby (and thank God for him), the front-three certainly looked to be a roll of the dice: Arshavin, Nasri, and the ever-potentially-classy Theo Walcott.

Was Walcott a shocking, stupid, inexcusable roll of the dice, or a deceptively shrewd and experimental roll of the dice? After all, though Arsenal's biggest problem against the biggest teams has to be its rather disorganized and sometimes-soft defense, the biggest problem on the attacking end is the lack of players up-front with a real striker's mentality. Walcott has been tipped for a long time (too long) to be one of England's next great strikers. With Bendtner half-fit, do you give Arshavin another chance to go it alone in a position he, frankly, is not very good in, or do you take a chance and put in the man with the size-14 boots to fill, the man in all your commercials (for now)? Could a player like Walcott make a difference in the team's recent abject inability to put in final balls or finish chances? And, speaking defensively, what better way to shut up English critics accusing Wenger of not putting out an "English"-enough, physical side, than to give an English National Team player a chance to English-it-up? Would Walcott contribute to a more masculine, stiff-upper-lip, beat-the-snot-out-of-you-before-tea-time defense? The experiment didn't work out. Then, the biggest question is, perhaps, should a manager in his position try any experiments in such a big game? Probably not--but let's be honest. Would starting Bendtner be that much less of an experiment? I suppose I can forgive Wenger for a rather thoughtful team selection, but at the end of the day, it is he that must take the brunt of the blame for the team's loss and, in a broader sense, the team's fall from the tippy-top of world soccer.

Well, what can you say. The boys came out quite well, in fact, thanks in part to the all-important efforts of Abou Diaby, and a defense that seemed to have dusted itself off since the previous outing (especially with regard to the left side). It was looking to be an even contest until a pretty soft foul by Clichy outside the area led to a Chelsea free-kick that was headed out for a corner by Walcott. Malouda crossed the ball in to find Terry, who had made a great run from behind a teammate, escaping Diaby. Though he's apparently not a very good person, Terry proved to be quite a player, and flicked it on to Drogba, who (wouldn't you know it?) was left criminally unmarked by Song. 1-0 within ten minutes, and really, that was the ball game.

Arsenal responded very, very well to the goal. Instead of knocking a ball into their own net two or three minutes later in a very similar situation, the boys found cohesion in the midfield. Again, thank God Diaby is back. What a difference he would have made if he was not injured just before the Aston Villa match. With Denilson in the box-to-box role, Arsenal has almost nothing in defense, and very little in attack, with inconsequential passes, giveaways, and just maybe a long-shot threat. Diaby offers the quick reactions, physicality, and aggressiveness that makes Song's day infinitely easier, while providing more passing finesse and off-the-ball movement around the opposing box. Combine that with a flawless Fabregas and Nasri's cleanliness, and for awhile the team showed off the kind of midfield control that, if made more consistent, would make Arsenal the best midfield in England. Between picking up loose balls and passing-and-moving with more quickness and urgency, Arsenal's midfield looked awfully good through most of the rest of the first half, and a lot of the second. Meanwhile, ahead of all that, Arshavin was a live-wire, running about and creating all kinds of trouble in Chelsea's defense, honestly beginning to play a better game than he has played in some time. When Fabregas, in the middle of the team's best spell, dominating the midfield, lays off a vintage over-the-defense pass (haven't seen that in awhile either, have we?) to a streaking Arshavin, only a pretty lucky-cum-classy save from Petr Cech keeps the game from going 1-1. It was that close.

The second goal sums up Arsenal's situation at the moment so eloquently. Arsenal's playing at their absolute best, and when Chelsea has the ball for more than ten seconds, they score on a counter-attack. Our worst weakness prevails against us once again. Arshavin loses the ball inside Chelsea's box, but Fabregas is inside that box, while Song has just wrapped around Arshavin on the other side. The ball is loose and arrives at Lampard's feet. For a moment, Arsenal is confused, as Diaby (behind Lampard) expects Clichy to make a tackle, and Clichy expects the same of Diaby. Diaby starts running only too late, and Lampard runs 1/3 of the way down the field and passes it to the left side for Drogba. Here, Clichy's lengthy lay-off is exposed, as he and Vermaelen just do not communicate well enough to deal with the situation. Drogba smokes the both of them with two touches inside the box, and puts the goal past a flailing Almunia. The typical Arsenal concession, yes, but keep in mind who scored that goal: Didier Drogba. Yes, we hate him, he scores against our team for ridiculous fun, but now that it's been several months since his last bit of sulking, he can be legitimately called one of the world's great strikers. Wouldn't you just love it if he wanted a pay-raise, and came to Arsenal in exchange for five million pounds plus Nicklas Bendtner? Whooooa.

Though Clichy and Vermaelen (and maybe Almunia, anyone?) had blood all over their hands for the second goal, it's curious that Diaby and Song were in the mix for both goals, especially after the praise I've spent much of this post so far showering on the midfield. The first goal. I don't blame Diaby too much for not tracking Terry, because it was quite a good run. Maybe he could have done better, but those flick-ons should not turn into goals most of the time. Leaving Drogba free at the end of that flick-on was unforgiveable, and almost like Alex Song's own-goal. Bar none, that was the worst mistake I've seen him make all year. And though he did a lot right throughout most of the game as far as finding the right positions, putting on the right pressure, and passing well, his execution looked a bit off, as he fouled too many players, or looked to be fouling a player when in fact he was drawing fouls (funny refereeing this game), and just not getting the ball back where he normally would have. The second goal. Here, Diaby looked most "characteristic" of Arsenal's bad defending: he did not track back with as much urgency as he should have. I write it off to cobwebs, particularly his not having taken part in the Manchester United game. That would've taught him, as it seemed to have taught most of the rest of them.

The second half was tougher, as Arsenal never quite recovered the class they showed for those glorious 20 minutes in the first half. Chelsea took advantage of Arsenal's falling-to-expectations by powering through some midfielders and defenders a few times, but overall, Chelsea created no more clear-cut chances, while Arsenal had a few. I was particularly proud of the way the team continued to play with urgency in possession, even having one of their best second-half periods in stoppage time. Nasri almost had a replica-goal of the second one he scored against Man United last year (God, what I wouldn't give for a result like that about now) after orchestrating a decent attack down the left that perfectly demonstrated his mastery of passing-and-moving, but just hesitated to pull the trigger after Song's great return pass. Fabregas had a chance close to the end, when one of Sagna's very, very few good crosses found his head and just went a bit wide.

Walcott was substituted first, and boy did he deserve to be: experiment failed. He was utterly useless on attack. I think only one in every five touches--maybe less--resulted in anything positive. His first-touch was consistently horrendous, and Ashley Cole made him look like a black hole for attacks, completely dominating him (If you're going to experiment, Wenger, then I can defend you--but an experiment vs. Ashley Cole?). His tactical awareness looked conspicuously clueless. At the first hint of a counter-attack, he sprinted down the middle into the box; when he got the ball and actually completed a pass, he sprinted down the middle into the box. Sagna was playing virtually partner-less down the right, and the midfield constantly had to shift to make up space Walcott left vacant. Bendtner came on, but he was not very good. Only a slight hesitation in a run down the middle kept him from scoring from a Fabregas header from six yards out, which begs the question--would he have smacked it right at the goalkeeper like he did all last year? Both of these guys are seemingly in the same situation--coming into the season just a bit too late to be an influential part of it. Bendtner was looking to break the barrier and become useful before he was injured in October. And Walcott, well, last season was his big season to become a first-team regular wasn't it? He will need to become one hell of a player next season if he wants to keep getting those sponsorships.

Then Diaby and Sagna came off for Rosicky and Eboue, respectively. Diaby had started making some poor passes in his last few minutes, so his substitution was rather well-timed, but he played a great game overall. He is a must-start in the midfield now, as neither Ramsey nor Denilson can do what he does when fit. Rosicky, like Bendtner, looked ineffective: Rosicky always looks like an odd-cog when he comes off the bench. Sometimes he comes on and pulls off some one-touches that take your breath away; other times, like in this match, he comes on, makes a few passes, but does not come close to breaking a game. Sagna played very well in his time, and I have to think his substitution was necessitated by fatigue. But though he is probably the team's most consistent performer, it is interesting to see him against Chelsea and realize how average this regular fixture on our side is. Think about it: he's a fabulous workman that doesn't give the ball away often and usually plays the ball smartly, but what can he do that stands out? Despite being one of the only players on the team that crosses the ball, he's terrible at doing so, attacks still come down our right side, and though he's more physical and aggressive than a lot of our players, he's not all that physical and aggressive. A fine player he is, but I can name several right-fullbacks I'd rather have than this man, who is our most obvious choice for fullback on either side. Eboue (God bless him) had some very good attacking moments, and I admire his effort, but honestly, can't he have one game without doing something that makes him look totally inept, like falling backwards in his own box under attack?

Overall, I have to say that I was proud of the team. Though some players were not at their best, nobody was playing really badly. Vermaelen had his big mistake that contributed to the second goal, but he and Gallas played all-man defense for the rest of the game. Clichy had his big mistake as well, but he relieved me to an extent, because he seemed to be getting back to his normal, energetic self. Fabregas was excellent--you will not see him perform much better and not get himself or one of his teammates on the scoresheet. Nasri also had a huge influence on the game, and though Wenger compares him to Pires, does he sometimes look like a second Fabregas to anyone? The way he moves with the ball at his feet, and some of his distributive passes when he drifts into the middle are just so striking. Best of all, not one player quit on the game, and right until the end, the team was looking to get back into the match.

Except Arshavin. After looking very threatening when the team was at its best, he completely shut off after Drogba's second goal. When Bendtner came on, I thought that time on the left would snap him out of it, but it did not. Except for one pass that found Fabregas' head in the box (the one Bendtner left begging), Arshavin was alternately ineffective or invisible until the final whistle. Now, Walcott was terrible with the ball, but at least he tracked back to keep Ashley Cole relatively quiet. Arshavin, stunned after the second goal, quietly let the match slip away. The likes of Fabregas and Nasri can pull strings in the midfield all they like, but if Arshavin isn't making runs or creating space for teammates, Arsenal does not score.

If Arshavin was excellent the whole 90 minutes, and if Walcott showed up, would Arsenal have won anyway? This is a valid doubt. What I said about Fabregas very well may apply for most of the other players--you won't see him play much better. Liverpool is next, and at home, one must say Arsenal has the edge, but Liverpool is not really competing for the title, and at this point, neither is Arsenal.