And to be honest it had started to look like a pretty dire month, at least until the last two games. Not the beautiful game in anything other than small doses, but two beautiful results none the less. It might be a tad early to start suggesting that the current team is becoming more like a traditional Arsenal team and being just a teensy bit malicious at times. But it has to be said we’ve looked a little more spikey as of late. Though the current Spuds-you-like journo’s salivating over ‘Arry’s latest folly are focusing on the old ‘red card Arsene’ thing, I reckon we can deal with a little adverse publicity. It’s not like it’s anything new.

What of course is new is a goalie that stops stuff, like shots, and headers. Fabianski is obviously worthy of a special commeration DVD now. Oh hang on, it’s not us that does that sort of thing….

The only worry really is that ref’s with insufficient courage and little imagination may start flourishing red with gay abandon as they see things that aren’t there because their expectation is that we foul a lot. Fortunately this didn’t happen on Sunday. Quite why Cesc got booked for being trod on is a little beyond me, I rather liked his rejoinder when asked if he was glad it wasn’t a red.

“I guess it’s one of those things, the other day I make a tackle, now everyone wants Cesc Fabregas sent off. What can I do, I just play football and that’s it.”

I’m not too concerned he’s started talking about himself in the third person, maybe he’s just in touch with Bad Cesc or something. Hmm, maybe I should be worried…

It’s probably not worth mentioning but I will mention it anyway. So far as I can see the only two people who thought the tackle in the Wolves game was red were Hansen and Dixon on MotD. The opposing manager said it wasn’t, the ref didn’t give it and the ref’s assistant didn’t give it. So how come when the FA can’t deal with stuff retrospectively, some idiot revisionist pundits can. Seriously the footie authorities in this country have to get a grip and Hansen needs to remember he is an EX-player and not still hold 1989 against us. Apparently Dixon tried to inject some balance by suggesting the ‘tackle’ on Arshavin was shown. BARP, sorry no time for a balanced view. Thanks BBC. Of course that leaves Cesc one lunge away from a suspension I think. Better make it worthwhile son, save it for someone special.

On a day when we win, the chavs manage to loose at home. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch. ‘Course it was down to not having their most influential players. Hmm. Strikes me the Russian bloke might wonder exactly where his dosh has gone if they lose four players and don’t have any good spare ones. They should try it without eight or more first teamers like we did last year. Please.

It does however go to show that the gap between the top and not so top teams is not as wide as some have imagined. At least not at this stage in the season. It doesn’t excuse our woeful results against lesser teams, but it does suggest that there may be more upsets to come. So long as they are not ours, I fully intend to enjoy them.

Early kickoff on Saturday brings our idiot neighbours to THOF, with their newly crowned super hero. Didn’t he used to be in his own fantasy TV series in the eighties?

Monkey Magic

Is it just me or have the years not been kind to him? Anyways, apparently he is a Gooner, so he knows what expected of him. Same result, or better, than last year will do nicely.

I digress. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we have a team with as greater talent as a whole than any other team. But we still lose to recently promoted teams at home. Doesn’t compute. Is it down to Arsène’s stubbornness in not buying, or playing kids or, or, well fill in your own summation.

To my mind it may have something to do with the way Arsène sees the world. Or at least how he sees the way to winning at football. I was thinking that the Barcodes got their tactics right on Sunday and how with all the sparkling array of talent at our disposal, we managed so little of consequence. It would be easy to revert to calling for Fabianski’s head after one high-profile error in a reasonable run of form. But that would be ignoring the other ten players on the pitch. Yes it was an error, but it wasn’t the whole match. Frankly we didn’t deserve the points.

Take your minds back to what Cesc said about the difference between how Spain prepare versus how Arsenal do. With Spain they looked at the opposition, highlighted their strengths and weaknesses and put together a game-plan with that in mind. That is not done at Arsenal, they just practice playing Wengerball and one assumes expect it to all work out on the night.

It sometimes does, and everybody raves. Sometimes, like the last game it doesn’t and we end up with complete bewilderment. Is this some of the problem? To be able to play the Arsenal way we have to have a team which can think on it’s feet and come up with an alternative if it’s not working. If our more creative players aren’t up for it, or are prevented from playing, then that’s not going to happen. Teams have learnt that if they pack midfield, press us and we’re not moving the ball around as we can, they only have to have one good chance and take it to put us under pressure.

Which brings us neatly to the second potential issue. If the way we play is based on knowing we can out-pass anyone on our day, there has to be an inherent danger of expecting to win, rather than trying to win. If the problem is in the players’ minds then why do we continually fall prey to not learning the lessons. It’s not like we haven’t had experience before.

Why have we not learnt? It honestly beats me, but if it hasn’t gone in by now, surely we have to try something different. Even the ‘mental strength’ we had to come back and win from conceding first seems to have deserted us. On a weekend when the mancs get an injury time winner, we really didn’t look likely to save a point let alone win three. It seems that the psychology at Arsenal is wrong at the moment, it needs to change so that every game is seen as three points to be won. Just turning up has never been an option, and now any team in the league can look at our results and think they have a chance. We need to make teams scared to play us again. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.

On a separate note, it’s been increasingly difficult to find time to post, so if you think you have something sensible to say, get in touch and I’ll consider posting it for you. I’d rather expletives were deleted before you send them or simply not used, cos there’s a good chance they will be before publication.

Had to laugh, in a hollow ironic way, when the media almost to a man swung wildly between dirty, dirty Arsenal and the team with the soft centre. It’s obviously too much to ask the brain-dead, lazy copy and paste brigade to actually make up their own minds and stick to it. For a start it assumes some cerebral function and secondly it depends on who posted first and therefore sets the tone for the rest. And am I the only one who wishes ex-footballers still retired and bought a pub rather than be asked tricky questions like ‘what did you think of the match’?

Anyways, I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but would it have been different if a fully fit Tevez had played the whole match? Thankfully we don’t have to care, because he wasn’t and Adebarndoor had one of his regular days, having shot his bolt the week before. It was however kinda nice to be the beneficiaries of an injury loss for a change.

And another thing. How come Mancini wasn’t vilified for moaning like Arsène regularly is when he claimed the red wasn’t justified? Yes I know he has to try to soften the defeat for his side, etc, etc, but it’s hard to see how the ref could have done anything else according to the law. Whether the law is an Ass or not is another question entirely. Oh and someone tell Cesc that waving an imaginary card is not big and not nice.

Enough ranting, positives were Fabianski who is now according to some close to the greatest goalie we have ever had. Woah there Pilgrim, he was good, very good at times. If we are still saying that when he holds a trophy aloft then fine, until then, one game at a time huh? Hardly needs saying, but Na na na na na na Nasri, what a star. I was worried he’d take a back seat when Cesc got back. He hasn’t, in fact he’s kicked on. Give him the contract extension right now, that’ll tie him down for the immediate future. Yeah right. But he obviously enjoys playing for the club, and that’ll keep him here as much as a contract.

Breaking news, we actually do have strength in depth in the squad when the chocolate legs and other soft appendages get sorted. To be able to bring on Rosicky, Big Game Bendtner and Theo as subs ain’t too shoddy. Soon as we get a couple of centre-backs fit again, that’s going to be a strong squad. I have wondered about Nic, he has swerved between the sublime and the ridiculous in his Arsenal career. The talk that he has rarely been injury free until now and that he’s now as sharp as a very sharp thing, seems to be born out by his little cameo. Great run, great finish. More please. Regularly. Without the games where a white stick appears to be necessary in between.

So now we are second, we’ve put to death one of our demons, at least for the moment. And we have the Barcodes in the Careless Cup. I don’t mind being hypocritical, it’s required of a fan to be myopic in the extreme. That’s what fans do. I hope we win the Careless Cup, it will then be a Great Victory. I hope we win more than that, but at least it will stop the ‘haven’t won any trophy for x years’ so often used to pad out comment. For the moment things are good in the Goonerverse, hopefully they will get so much better. You know I think I may just be catching Arsène’s unreasonable confidence. There was something about the team on Sunday that hasn’t been there before. I think that something was stature. You can see at least some of this team becoming as massive as players we currently look back to in the Invincibles. They are a hard act to follow, but maybe we have the got the compass finally sorted. So long as the Baggies remains a one-off.

However the next few days will give us some kind of pointers. The AGM today will no doubt be carefully managed as will the questions to Arsène. Maybe we will get a few suggestions that we should buy Rooney, or questioning why we haven’t yet bought a ‘world-class’ goalie. If driven by money and ambition the first is not going to happen. We have enough to prove to ourselves before others will take us seriously. The second, I can’t be bothered to go over again. Hopefully we will have confirmed that yes, Arsenal is a well-maintained and tightly run ship, and that yes indeed our primary business focus is still winning footie trophies.

Come Sunday however we will learn something entirely more important. Once more the players are saying that they have to perform, I suppose I’d prefer if they consistently played as well as they talked. If we go to Al Citeh and win then we are putting a marker down and that marker says we are serious contenders. Hopefully we won’t get this season’s broken leg. Since he now seems less fragile than a very fragile thing he once was, I’d like to see a bit more of Tomas on Sunday. He is playing as well as I remember him ever doing, and at least he’s willing to take a shot from further out than six yards. Do the other players never watch old DVD’s or at least YouTube compilations? We’ve always had a few who were willing to leather it without concern at missing. It’s gotta be well past time for a thirty yard screamer surely?

Thing is that though I hate to admit it, it is more than possible to buy success and it looks like Citeh are well on their way. It’s not that I am jealous of their dosh, it just seems unfair that they can spend with no regard as to the consequences. It has been reported that their wage bill is higher than their gross income. Complete lunacy. Who knows if uefa will actually do anything other than speak loudly and turn their backs.

I suppose there’s a lot of little teams that look at Arsenal’s position and think it unfair in the same way. Our defence would be that we have earned a place in the top echelon, not bought it. And speaking of little things, the small-mindedness of Pulis continues to amaze. Give it up man. You’re the one who is keeping the debate going, we moved on ages ago. Likewise with the whole Eduardo thing. No-one in their right mind could honestly compare the Taylor challenge and Jack’s. Both were red cards, but that’s were the similarity ends. The danger with a small club we-never-get-the-breaks-against-the-big-boys mentality is that it can backfire and give your team a sense of inferiority before the game starts. Which means the players go in harder, cause more injuries, get booked more, etc. Self defeating.

Couldn’t possibly finish without a small chortle at the Spuds. I won’t be buying their DVD of their second half ‘win’, but I do expect a certain Welshman to wonder what the rest of the team were doing whilst he played his best. And whether it’s worth doing it in that club week in week out. There may be an opening oop t’North shortly.

Sure they won this thing and that thing and don’t they like to tell you, but over the last couple of days my belief in the inherent superiority of intellect of the supporters of our great club has been restored. First there was the post from the excellent Lady Arse, hopefully putting the Chavs result into some sort of sensible perspective. And then last night I read the guest post on the always admirable Goonerholic. The Goonerholic post in particular seemed to resonate with a whole bunch of Gooners who had inherited their good sense in footie from their dad’s.

And this is the point. If you intend to support a football team for your lifetime then yes, there will conceivably be whole decades or more without the chance to exercise bragging rights. But supporting a team is for the long haul, disappointing as it is, five years isn’t that big a time when you look at it from a broader perspective. Not saying it’s good, at one point I thought we would kick on and be the dominant force in the English Premier League for years. Then some players got greedy, some got old and it didn’t happen. So although it will most likely be ignored or lambasted, my advice to supporters is don’t peak too early. If you use all your energy cursing Wenger, the board, whomever, you’re missing the point. We have a club with history to be proud of, memories worth remembering, and will no doubt have a future to match. Immediate gratification is a modern idea, you don’t have to give in to it.

So anyways, with the Interlull in full effect, we can either dwell on the last result and have a rant, or compose ourselves and think of the facts. For instance we had three players who had barely played six months for Arsenal between them rather than the normally expected six months plus to acclimatize to the English Prem. Two of them were our central defence and the other our main attacker. Kinda core personnel don’t you think? It would have been better if we had not had to play such an established team without our more established players, but we didn’t. We need to get over it.

Even those with relatively short memories can’t fail to recognise that the points margin is not excessive compared to previous seasons in which we made ground up again. The thing is the Premiership is becoming less of a procession in that the ‘lesser’ clubs can now not be expected to roll over just because they are playing the big boys. Break some legs, cause some pain, but not roll over. Even if you take the massive investment in Al Citeh out of the equation, it’s getting harder for the top teams to win. This is good as most are managing it without massive investment though with dubious tactics at times. I honestly think that supporters of all the traditionally big clubs have to moderate their expectations now, though obviously not quite as much as the Scousers. The game has changed, maybe not for the best in some ways, but it means we need to forget any divine right we think we may have. Things may change again if uefa and/or fifa do end up capping expeniture, but to be frank they don’t have a long record of sensible ruling, now do they?

‘Course taking the chances and putting them away wouldn’t hurt in our case. And if anything is worth a rant it has to be that. I can’t imagine that the players deliberately try not to score, but if a couple of our early chances had been converted it may have been a different game. Well the score would’ve been different anyway. I did find myself wondering what may have been different if Eduardo hadn’t been maimed and lost his edge in the box. If it had been him on the end of some of our chances recently…  Although to be fair, if even the current Prem champions defend in depth, you figure maybe we need to get wing-backs who can cross and other players who into the box. And then get the ball somewhere near them. Safe to say going through the middle doesn’t seem to be a percentage choice when the opposition have time to get back.

So whilst the Interlull is upon us, you can only hope that we can somehow get some of Jack’s DNA into some of his more brittle team mates so they don’t break so easy. Or find out what the heck is going on with our medical bods. I think I’d feel better if we checked their bona fides weren’t downloaded from the Internet and maybe a refresher course or two. Cos if it ain’t their problem we need to find out whose it is.

Our property ‘division’ is now debt free and is making wonga on every sale made from here on in. This from a club called the Bank of England during its history. Seems like a healthy state of affairs.

We mashed the Spuds in their own backyard even after our goalie and the officials colluded to take the game into extra time. Seems like a good result.

Then we come to Saturday. Oh dear.

It would be easy to say it’s the worst I’ve ever seen an Arsenal team play, but regrettably that’s not strictly true. There were games in the mid-Seventies you’d have to had post traumatic stress counselling after, if real men were allowed to show what was then considered weakness. For an idea of what was acceptable think  ’Ashes to Ashes’ and you’d be somewhere in the ball park. Thing is, we also won stuff in the Seventies, the 1970 Fairs Cup (uefa thingy) was our first trophy in seventeen years, yes seventeen years, and we got our first double during that decade. So up and down results are nothing new at Arsenal, same as any other club, you just have to stop being so shouty and widen your perspective.

So was the Baggies winning proof of some deep-lying crippling character trait in Arsène that the Told-You-So-But-You-Wouldn’t-Listen’s now claim to have warned us about right from the start? Nah.

Yes we would all have liked someone with two serviceable hands attached to two serviceable arms to be in goal and for whatever reason that’s an issue for the management. In January. Our number one and number two’s (stop tittering) are aptly characterized by their club goalie ranking, but that was hardly the only issue. I don’t want any team to beat Arsenal, ever. But since it’s happened, I’m glad it was a team who took the game to us, even if they found we didn’t have a game when they got there.

So many errors, so little to gain in pointing the finger at specific players. We were rubbish, plain and simple. Whether Arsène generally knows best or not, I’m getting the feeling that he didn’t find the team display anything like acceptable. If you effectively play a 0-0-1-0 formation where only Nasri turns up, chances are something has gone wrong. I’m guessing he may make some changes, especially since Almunia has been ruled out with an ‘elbow injury’ he picked up against the Baggies. You couldn’t make it up. Not playing due to the elbow. Is that some sort of coded message? Don’t break open the champers yet though, that puts the Pole between the sticks. Unless of course he picks up an ‘elbow injury’.

But anyways, with the mancs and chavs both dropping points it ain’t quite as bad as it might have been, but of course we now have Al Citeh breathing down our necks. Unpleasant in all regards, I’m going to try and get that image out of my head now.

On a lighter note, the BBC reports that the enigma that is Ryan Shornandcross is on Juventus’ radar. I think what that really means is that they are drawing a bead on him for the good of humanity and capital punishment will follow.

And finally, Smilin’ Billy has injured himself in training with the Spuds. Out for three months matches so no sitting on the pitch sulking there then. At least that’s one good thing about the Arsenal, it’s never so dark you can’t find something to laugh about with our dear neighbours.

Traditionally Arsenal have been at their best when written off and the whole club, players and supporters have pulled together. We never seem to attract the same expectations outside of the club as the mancs and latterly the chavs. So we are still suspect against teams who are a little aggressive according to some pundits. Obviously if you have watched any Arsenal games this season or last season for that matter, we actually managed to win against such teams, a point conveniently forgotten.

But no matter, I’d rather not have the judgement of the of the half-wits that pass for experts on British TV. You’ll see them change their tune at some point, but for now, I see no point in railing against them, at least until one manages to utter a particularly inane point of view, they are dead to me. If I might make so bold, I suggest you do the same.

Last Wednesday reminded me of why I love watching this Arsenal team so much. We did things again and again that no team has any right to be able to do. The speed of movement and accuracy of (most) passing was a delight and I don’t recall having a smile on my face for so much of a game for a long time. Almost everything clicked, and whilst I am not blind to the things that didn’t, I for one intend to enjoy the good without concern for the less than perfect.

Something does seem to be clicking this season, but as our captain said afterwards, we could have done better and it’s very good to hear him say that. We can indeed get better and if Cesc can motivate the rest of the team to try to achieve that, we could be in for a very special season. And speaking of Cesc, what a game he had. Given more room than any sensible team would offer, his distribution and forward runs were a joy. After all that he was disappointed he hadn’t scored a hat-trick as he hasn’t done that yet. Let’s just be clear, he is someone who always wants to achieve more than he has already, doesn’t sound like someone just marking time until a move to me.

Although you could say our defence will have tougher days, I think it did well, one or two aberrations notwithstanding. The way Squid and Kos are playing you really wouldn’t have thought they hadn’t played together until recently and they are good defenders both. It’s common to hear that a good goalie makes defenders play better as they have more confidence, to my mind the opposite also seems to be true. Almunia seems more confident knowing that he doesn’t have to act as a sweeper, so we may get a good season from him yet.

I do honestly wonder whether Bendtner is going to get sufficient playing time to fit his ego when he does finally get fit again. If Chamakh continues the way he has started, he has to be a better choice than Bendtner. And if RvP gets an unexpected run of fitness, he’s in line before the big Dane. Added to the mix that Vela is currently in a purple patch as well, and all of a sudden we don’t look too shabby in the goalscoring stakes even with ol’ brittle ankles out.

I think it’s possible now to see more of what Arsène’s vision is as the younger guys mature and we keep enough fit for long enough. A consistent style of total football that believes that regardless of the opposition, it has enough to triumph every time. Don’t forget we had the likes of Rosicky on the bench, and I haven’t even mentioned Wilshere yet. Although footie has a funny way of creeping up behind you when you least expect it and coshing your dreams to a pulp, I don’t recall looking forward to meeting the bigger teams as much as I do now. That is the yardstick for us, we can beat the cloggers, we can beat the bus parkers, can we beat our immediate rivals? The next month will make that a little clearer, but first we have to win a fixture that has been problematical more recently. If we play the way we did against Braga, we will win handsomely. As so often now though we will have to beat a team whose main interest will be in stopping us play. In the end that’s the bigger issue, not how well we can play, but how well teams can stop us. Could be quite a ride, but a good win today will put down a marker.

A (brief) trawl around the Internet today suggests that Gooners are either the biggest moaners in the Premier League or possibly the most spoilt. Either way the level of whingeing about Arsenè’s stubbornness, short sightedness, dislike of spending money etc has reached a deafening crescendo.

Get a grip people, yes we’re all dissapointed that we don’t have a ‘world class’ goalkeeper coming in, but the suggestions that Arsenè should have just gone out and got any one of the many goalies that have been suggested is utter nonsense. And using the fact that he didn’t buy as proof of his parsimony is plain ridiculous.

Let’s put it as simply as possible, if you want to buy something, the person who owns it has to want to sell it, otherwise you can’t buy it. Arsenè could not go buy a goalie just because he wanted to. I have no doubt he has the money and equally no doubt he would have spent it if he could have got an agreement on a decent goalie. What he doesn’t have is Al Citeh type money to be able to pay so much over the odds that the selling team agrees to sell anyway. That’s why we couldn’t buy Given, no amount of money would have made Al Citeh decide it was worth it, they have to much cash for money to have talked. And besides they see themselves as our direct rivals, so they wouldn’t do anything to strengthen us.

So please let’s just take a deep breath now everyone has vented and remember we are Arsenal supporters. That means we support the club, the manager and any player he chooses to put out in the red and white. Despite our reservations.

In all the hype and nonsense concerning the transfer window the fine win against Fat Sam’s gang seems to have been lost somewhat. Shame. We were plenty nervous at points in the first half and made some errors, but I thought we learned from them and pushed on in the second. Kos particularly seemed to have overcome what must have been disappointing being skinned for their goal, but quite why mini-diouf was allowed to run through three players unchallenged to score is beyond me. A certain lack of awareness on their part methinks.

However it would be easy to pick out all the mistakes and such, but we took our chance and won. Not sure we would have done that last year and certainly wouldn’t the year before. You may scoff at Arsenè, but that’s progress in my book, so maybe he’s right?

Not surprising Cesc looked a little glum being taken off, apparently it hadn’t been discussed before the match and he likes to play. Nothing to read into it as far as I am concerned. He was beginning to play a bit better having lost the ball an unusually large number of times, but having Rosicky available, in the form he is in, was a great bonus. The way things are going, with a match-fit Cesc, Rosicky and Nasri when he gets back, Arsenè is going to have real selection problems in midfield. Song and Diaby did well and Jack was just Jack when he came on. Short of a significant injuries (did I just say that?) Denilson is going to have a bit of time on the bench as things are going.

So with the Interlull now, hopefully we don’t get too many coming back with injuries. RvP seems to have got his in early doors so one assumes the Dutch won’t have the opportunity to crock him even more. Although it is the other ankle to the one which got badly injured. Hope it’s not the same thing as with Theo when he got one shoulder fixed the other came out (sorry) in sympathy.

So peace and love to y’all and to any Spanish waiter come Morris Dancer who has the fortune to be supported by us. May he regain his former form and stay fit all season so we don’t see our current second choice in goal…

We can only hope it’s not an act and bodes well for when opponents try and get heavy with our defence or goalie. He and Kos are making all the right noises about enjoying the physical side of the game and liking challenges. Nice.

And speaking of goalies, Arsène says we have “four great keepers”. Now obviously he’s not going to say what we all really think, but he does seem to be bending the bounds of credibility to breaking point with that little gem. I suppose if we can’t get another club to sell us a suitable goalie then we’re just going to have to score a lot of goals this season.

No doubt with the goalkeeper in mind he said 

“[It has been] incredibly difficult, I must say. It’s the first year I’ve felt [like this].

“The clubs who had players didn’t want to sell and therefore there was no movement. I don’t know if it’s the 25-player squad rule, is it the money situations? But there is just no movement. It’s dead.”

You only have to look at the small number of seriously big names moving this summer to figure that will trickle down through the less talented and create a vacuum in the market. Still not too late, if Arsene and Ivan have a Squillaci style stare, we may yet be able to get another club to blink first and sell. Much like Liverpool did with Barca. I’m not a huge fan of Mascherano, but he seems a tad under-priced for what they are getting. And Barca didn’t have to find any suitable DNA during their inevitable tapping up campaign. Wonder what Cesc makes of their corporate expressions of undying affection towards him now. Bit flighty, Barca.

Since we’re in the transfer state of mind, we can now give Al Citeh a massive TOLD YOU SO as Adewantmore starts agitating again. Looks to me like his already tenuous grip on reality has frayed a few more strands. What a contrast with Eduardo. He had nothing but nice things to say about Arsenal and was pleased to get the chance to return. Don’t know about you, but I’m betting that when he scores, as he surely will, he will not run the length of the pitch and knee slide at the Arsenal faithful. He’s class through and through and I’m still sad about what Taylor did to him, probably always will be.

So Fat Sam next. It would be really nice to get a comprehensive victory on Saturday, though we’ve not been great at early starts. It’s surely going to be no surprise when Blackburn use their height and size advantage, we are just going to have to move the ball a quick as we did last game and not give away any dead ball situations. Pretty simple really! Let’s hope they plan to play football rather than ‘getting in our faces’ aka ’breaking legs’. I can’t see us not conceding, but I can see us scoring a few if we play as well as we can. Confident? No, hopeful, yes.

I’m quite looking forward to seeing how a fit RvP and Chamakh play together, it’s not a natural looking partnership, but they are both intelligent and mobile to it bodes well. I also have a sneaky feeling L’il Andrey may pull something out of the hat. He’s overdue. With Cesc spraying balls all over the shop their midfield is going to have to be mobile and with Chamakh their defence will actually have to be careful at corners. All things being equal, goalie not withstanding, we are looking a much more balanced and capable side now. I am hopeful we can just pip the Spuds this year and hold back their inevitable rise to world domination for another season….. what are they like?

And what’s more for once all Gooners get to agree on something. Namely that MotD need to get a pundit who doesn’t just talk in cliches and has something sensible to contribute. If you saw the whole game you will know that Hansen, for it is he, picked the few times Theo messed up and majored on them. To my mind a little honesty is required, if he doesn’t like Theo he should say so, because sniping at him ain’t going to help the boy one bit. Time to retire the old git methinks.

I suppose much like the vast majority of Gooners, I couldn’t be more delighted for Theo, not just because he got the hat-trick, but because of the way he did it. I know I’m getting ahead of myself and all, but certainly the last two goals reminded me of another #14 of fond memory. I particularly liked the way that the attackers moved around and swapped positions, it’s something that we should do against all opponents, not just the supposedly ‘weaker’ teams.

At this point I have to mention Chamakh. No wonder Arsène has been trying to get him for a while. He tracked back, ran all over the shop and if he was a little ‘Arsenal’ in front of goal, at least he was getting into scoring positions and didn’t quit trying. Glad he got his reward, there’s many more famous strikers who took a lot longer to do the same. I’m liking what I’m seeing and expect him to score a few more, especially when Cesc starts firing.

I couldn’t help but smile when RvP and Cesc came on at 5-0. There are unfortunately many worse things that can happen to a chap in this world, but you’ve got to feel for Hollaway when he sees that happening. Lucky for him they were a little off the pace and our game stalled just a tad. In fact the enormously effectual Rosicky faded somewhat when Cesc came on. Shame really he’d played a blinder up to that point. We really must find ways to use Cesc together with Rosicky or Nasri more effectively together. Is it me or has Cesc managed to find a few new tricks for his locker whilst away at the World Cup? There were a couple of little slights of foot that were decidedly Spanish.

So yes we can bask in the moment, a lot of things came together at the same time, but as everyone is saying, next game against Blackburn will be a better sign of what to expect this season. I’m guessing they will not try and play too much football against us so we’ll have to move the ball around more quickly and not give them time. It would also help if the game was over by half-time *gazes into past with misty eyes* because that’s when we will know we have something to challenge with.

Reports today that Arsène has nearly signed someone else whose name we will have to cut and paste. He must really hate bloggers or something. Anyways Squillaci looks a perfect fit. He’s French and had an ‘injury ravaged’ season last year. Let’s hope Arsenè’s transfer mojo is still working and he didn’t use it up on Kos and Chamakh. No goalie yet in sight, so we’re going to have to score six every week to maintain a credible title challenge.

For now I am well hopeful that we can last the distance. If players like Diaby and Arshavin can play as well as they did on Saturday against teams who will give them less space, then we have a realistic punt for honours this season. If is a little word with large consequences, let’s hope in this instance it doesn’t come back to bite us.

Apologies if you had difficulty getting to read the last post, I am reliably informed that it was due to a neighbouring site getting hammered and shouldn’t reoccur.

And finally off topic, all the best Josh we’re praying for you and your family. Somethings are ‘way more important than footie.