I am home! It's been 8 months abroad and I am happy to be back for the next 3. Still trying to finish up my post of Debt but I'll do a much easier topic to write on, football of course. It's been a tough November for Arsenal, we were almost winless at home.
Are the signs good? It's been very mixed...very indeed. We should have qualified for the knockout stages in the Champion's League a couple of matches ago and but we are needing a final game to progress. Our games against Shakhtar and Braga have been disappointing and it has done us no favours. We are likely to end up 2nd which technically is not a favourable position. On the League front, we had 2 big away wins against Wolves and Everton, which at that time was a big step forward after the unexpected defeat to Newcastle. But after that was a very hard to swollow defeat to great foes Spurs. Being an Arsenal fan, there's no worst team to lose to other than Spurs. We have had an impressive streak of unbeaten games against Spurs over the years but to finally surrender it under such circumstance (being 2-0 up) was really hard to take. It was huge London derby where we could have been top of the table that day, but unfortunately Spurs had the better half and outscored our first half heroics. It was a day that also saw the return of Gallas which had a hostile reception as well as Spurs announcing their intent on make a challenge for the title. With the likes of Defoe, Bale, Van der Vaart and Modric, Spurs made the most of their very talented attacking artillery and made the comeback. We Gooners would need to live with this defeat and the fact our bitter rivals may be finally showing they mean business after years of unfulfilled promises (overtaking Arsenal). I personally admit I could see Spurs progress since last season when they beat Chelsea and brought the title race all the way to the final day. They then qualified for the Champion's League and now they have even qualified for the next phase.
Now a critical analysis of the team. The defence remains the biggest worry for the team. We have kept very few clean sheets and conceded some silly goals. Goalkeeping hasn't been impressive either and for me it is an unsolved problem since the start of the season. As much as I would like to think Almunia or Fabianski is good enough to stand in goal, they certainly have made too many costly errors. Fabianski has shown he is a good shop stopper but he really struggles dealing with crosses and physically tall attackers. I am still adamant we need a better keeper. Djourou, Squillaci and Koscielny has shown promise in some of their appearances, but there's still room for improvement and hopefully that learning curve is not going to cost us more points. More clean sheets is the very next priority.
For the midfield positions, Nasri, Wilshere and Song has been outstanding so far. Nasri is having his best season so far, is scoring goals and making a big impact in games. Wilshere has done some deputising in the place of Fabregas which probably is the most important position for Arsenal. With Cesc struggling with various niggling injuries and threat of playing too many games, this has limited his appearances. Wilshere has stepped up big time for the team, he passing and plays has been really outstanding. Looks like the three match ban has made him an even better player! Song is going to be a sought after player with his performances these days. He not only does the defensive work, he sets up attacks and even scores some goals. Walcott and Denilson has only started to come back their injuries and hopefully things will pick up in December. Arshavin has been a major disappointment this season, he has scored some goals but overall he has only been a shadow of the player he really is. But, he did show a good display against Villa and was the player on that day, a sign of improvement? Cesc and Diaby look to spend the next few weeks on the sidelines, we need to step up in a very important December.
Chamakh has ruled in the scoring department. With Bendtner and Van Persie only just returning from injury, Chamakh has taken on the responsibility and what a debut season he is having. Chamakh's height and speed has really contributed to many of his goals. Plus giving "200 percent"will inevitably bring more goals.
There's an extremely important final game for the CL group stage coming, plus a visit to Old Trafford and a home game against Chelsea in the upcoming fixtures. It's going to be a hectic fixtures list in January as well. Let's move to the next gear Gunners!
~deyao~
