4th, 3rd, 4th, Repeat...

That I named my last blog post just over two weeks ago "Predicting the Unpredictable" all seems fairly ironic now. What seemed to be an unpredictable end to the season from an Arsenal perspective has an air of inevitability about it in retrospect. Two weeks and three games later, Arsenal remain in the title race only in mathematical terms. The same old problems have resurfaced, and yet again we face a fight not for the title, but for the coveted 3rd and 4th places. It's all quite depressing really, and overanalysing the results and performances of the last few months seems futile.

Certain themes, however, have emerged in the last few months at Arsenal, and I think there are two big reasons the title won't be coming to (the right side of) North London.

1. We need to talk about Danny...

Before I go on, I want to put it on record that I am a fan of both Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck. I think they are two good, solid players who certainly offer something to the Arsenal squad. However, as much as I might like them, what this season has shown more than anything is that you simply cannot win the league without a top striker. It's no coincidence that the top scorers in the league this year are the frontmen for the two title challengers. Both Kane and Vardy are likely to reach 25 goals in the league this year, and I fear it is time to admit that neither Giroud or Welbeck are ever going to be 25 goal a season strikers.

Do I think they should be sold? Not necessarily. As options from the bench, or even to partner another forward, they are more than good enough in a title winning squad. That said, with the need for a world class forward greater than ever, I would be surprised if someone were to come in to see both Giroud and Welbeck still at the club in 2016-17. So, that leaves two questions.

Firstly, which one do we keep and which do we sell? I think this partly depends on the interest in both players from other clubs. However, I think the obvious player to go is Giroud. Whilst he is possibly the more regular scorer, he hasn't been consistently scoring since Christmas really, and the trouble is that when Giroud doesn't score, he can't offer a whole lot more to the side, whereas Welbeck's movement and range of passing can cause problems for the opposition. The Frenchman's record for Arsenal is 76 goals in 178 games, which isn't bad, but for a lone striker in a side that creates as many chances as we do, I would suggest a top return would be 100+.

The second question then is who we should have our eyes on to get this sort of goal return. This is a question more for Arsene than me, and I am vastly unqualified to answer it. Of course, I would also only be speculating about possible targets. There are two players that have caught my eye, and whilst neither might be realistic, I think this is the calibre of player we ought to be considering. These two are:

1. Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang. Not much needs to be said, Dortmund's star man has been scoring goals for fun this season. He's quick and a handful to any opposition, if we could get him at a reasonable price this would be an absolutely top signing, no doubt about it.

2. Romelu Lukaku. To me, Lukaku is an improved version of Giroud, with more movement and better finishing. His goal return in a poor Everton side has been stunning (25 goals in 36 appearances this year). However, his hefty price tag could put off any club that isn't called PSG, I fear.

2. The Fans

This season more than any I can remember the atmosphere at the Emirates has been toxic, and when things go wrong I can imagine it is not a pleasant place to play your home football. Watching Leicester games at the Kingpower in recent weeks has really illustrated what a difference good support can make: those fans are behind every one of the players 100%, whether they are winning, drawing or losing.

Now I can't say that i've always been delighted at some of the football and some of the results at the Emirates this year. I can certainly understand the fans' frustrations when, in the middle of a title race, we turn a winning position at home to swansea into a loss. However, I find it very difficult to then start heaping blame not he players for our poor home form. It is a two-way thing, and if you don't back your team and spend your whole time booing and producing unhelpful 'Wenger Out' banners, when the home results start to dip you simply cannot be surprised. The players and management are certainly not blameless this season, but I can't help thinking that with full support and backing from every fan inside The Emirates, some of these home results may have been slightly different, and who knows where we might be now.

So here's what I think. If you are an Arsenal fan who wants Wenger to go, by all means make your voice heard at the end of the season. If you're so inclined, do it after the last game, that's fine as well. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and whilst I am still firmly behind Arsene, I can understand that not everyone is so convinced. But if he is still there for next season, the minute the first game kicks off in August, wouldn't it be nice if every fan united in support of our team for the new season, even if things start to go wrong at times? At the end of the day, the one thing that unites every Gooner is that we all want the best for Arsenal FC, even if we differ on what we think will bring this result. A unified fanbase who really gets behind the team might just make an important difference.



Anyway, that's about as much Arsenal talk as I can handle for the time being; the wounds are all still a bit fresh. To finish, I thought I'd have another crack at predicting the final games of the season in a title race that now doesn't involve us. Obviously I am desperate for Leicester to win it, given how unpalatable the alternative is, but I will try and take off my goonervision and predict it objectively...

Leicester (73 points)

Swansea (h)  WIN
Man Utd (a)  LOSS
Everton (h)   DRAW
Chelsea (a)   DRAW

PREDICTED POINTS: 78

Sp*rs (65 points)

Stoke (a)   WIN
WBA (h)   WIN
Chelsea (a)   DRAW
Southampton (h) WIN
Newcastle (a) DRAW

PREDICTED POINTS: 76

How nice. It's very hard to predict, but I still think one way or another Leicester will win this title. However, anything can happen in football, so if Ranieri's men would hurry up and clinch it before the nightmares of Kane lifting the trophy kick in, that would be just swell.

Till next time.

Predicting the Unpredictable: The Return of the Blog

Hello, hello. After a blog-less spell stretching back almost three years, I think the eve of what feels like a critical weekend in the most exciting title race for years is a good time to start up again. So here goes!

I'll start by saying that, as will be obvious to those who don't know me from the original title of the blog 'Let's Talk Arsenal' made by my 15 year-old self, I am an Arsenal fan. In fact, that's probably understating it. I am mad about all things Arsenal- every win puts a gleaming smile on my face, every defeat ruins my week. And, as is often the case with Arsenal, I could discuss what's gone wrong at the football club this year endlessly. But I don't want to do that.

Most years, I would have no problem doing it, particularly when the alternative is discussing Chelsea walking to the title under Mourinho, or United winning it under Ferguson, as has been the case in recent years. But the same old problems are coming to the surface yet again in North London, and it feels about as counter-productive discussing them as bringing Mathieu Flamini on in a big Champions League game against the best team in the world.

What I will say is this: I am strongly against the huge criticisms levied at Arsene Wenger in recent weeks. Whilst I don't agree with every decision the man makes, he has done a huge amount of good for Arsenal, and I still firmly believe he is the best man for the job. Much of the criticism that Wenger gets is something along the lines of 'He should've signed a striker in the summer'.

Firstly, what Arsenal fans and fans of other clubs often don't consider, is that perhaps the player to improve what you already have just isn't out there and available. If you are listing strikers who are better than what we have (Giroud) you will likely list players in the ilk of Cavani, Benzema, Kane and so on. But why would PSG, Real Madrid or Tottenham sell these players to us? Secondly, I think Arsenal fans in particular can be very naive in believing all the media 'hype' about how much money Wenger is given to spend. How often when it comes to the end of a season, near to season-ticket renewal date, will you see a headine in a newspaper reading something like:

"WENGER TO BE GIVEN £70 MILLION TRANSFER KITTY TO SPLASH CASH IN SUMMER"

Sadly, I think this is often far from the truth. I cannot buy that a man as intelligent as Wenger is given these ludicrous sums of money to spend every summer, and rarely spends a penny (in net terms). Whatever is going on behind the scenes, I think you'd find that Wenger is far more restricted in what he can and can't do in the transfer market than people give him credit for.

Anyway, enough of that. Far too depressing. Given we're heading into the home straight in the title race, I thought i'd give my predictions and analysis of what might be to come, starting with the dark horses* themselves...

ARSENAL (Current Points: 55)

WATFORD (H) WIN 
WEST HAM (A) DRAW
CRYSTAL PALACE (H) WIN
WEST BROM (H) WIN
SUNDERLAND (A) WIN
NORWICH (H) WIN
MAN CITY (A) DRAW
ASTON VILLA (H) WIN

PREDICTED POINTS: 75


SPURS (Current Points: 61)

LIVERPOOL (A) DRAW
MAN UNITED (H) WIN
STOKE (A) DRAW
WBA (H) WIN
CHELSEA (A) LOSE
SOUTHAMPTON (H) WIN
NEWCASTLE (A) DRAW

PREDICTED POINTS: 73


LEICESTER (Current Points: 66)

SOUTHAMPTON (H) WIN
SUNDERLAND (A) DRAW
WEST HAM (H) DRAW
SWANSEA (H) WIN
MAN UNITED (A) DRAW
EVERTON (H) WIN
CHELSEA (A) LOSE

PREDICTED POINTS: 78

My final top three therefore reads:
1. Leicester (78)
2. Arsenal (75)
3. Spurs (73)

A brief word on this, then. The first thing to note is that, despite being pretty harsh on Leicester, if anything (draws away at Sunderland and home to West Ham particularly) they still come out on top. Many are touting this as a two-horse race, but, when you look at it, it really is Leicester's to lose now. And if the pressure does get too much for them, I certainly don't see it as a given that Spurs will be the team to capitalise. Not only have Spurs got a really tough looking fixture list, it's also worth bearing in mind that Spurs always do find a way of finishing below Arsenal (at the time of writing it's been 7627 days since the unthinkable last happened).

Finally, here are my other key predictions for the final league standings:

4th place: West Ham- they are in magnificent form, and with some very winnable home games to come against Swansea, Palace and Watford, I see them sneaking into the Champions League before moving to the Olympic Stadium. Watch this space.

Bottom 3: Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Villa. Firstly, I see Sunderland making a relatively early exit, with one or two games to spare: for me, their squad severely lacks the quality that will be needed. The final place is a toss-up between Palace and Newcastle, but because I see Benitez getting some decent results in his return to English football, I am going for a bit of a shock exit from the top division for Alan Pardew's men.

That's all for today- hopefully not for the next three years though!

What a mess.

I considered posting on the transfer window before the Villa game, but I was reluctant to get sucked in to the mindless gossip and unfounded rumours that circulate the internet before the season has even begun. What was obvious, however, was that we were going to spend some of that £70 million that Gazidis had raved about so publicly. Oh.

Having not spent a penny all summer, Wenger knew he would have plenty to answer for if anything went wrong on Saturday. But, in all fairness, I think it is unfair to say that 'something' went wrong on Saturday. No. Everything went wrong on Saturday. Losing the match was one thing, and that was a pretty disastrous way to start a new season. When you add to that four or five fresh injuries, including one potentially very long-term one to the Ox and a sending off to Koscielny meaning he will miss the Fulham game next week and you get one very, very bad day for Arsenal Football Club.

For me the worst bit about it was none of the above things, but the fact that it could so easily have been prevented. The fact that we finished the game with Ramsey at centre back and Podolski at left back is, quite frankly, a disgrace. Our bench yesterday consisted of:

Fabianski
Jenkinson
Frimpong
Gnabry
Cazorla
Podolski
Sanogo

Now let's have a look at Manchester City's bench for tonight's game against Newcastle:

Milner
Nasri
Negredo
Kolarov
Garcia
Rodwell
Pantilimon

Ambitious club? Really? And if you think that City have an unusually strong bench, have a look at Man Utd's v Swansea here.

Here's the thing, and I know that many fellow gooners will disagree with me here: I don't have a problem with our starting XI. Sure, it could do with improving, and given that huge pot of money we supposedly had that seemed very feasible. But with a much more solid defence than in recent years, largely thanks to the Mertesacker-Koscielny partnership that saved us last season, as well as a fit Wilshere and Giroud having had a season in the Premiership under his belt, I do believe we are a strong side. The real problem is that beyond our starting XI, even with everyone fit, we are horribly thin.

Wenger did one thing very well this summer; he got rid of a lot of the deadwood at the club, generating around an extra £10 million in the process. I think we were all very happy to see the back of most of these players, and the club did that very efficiently and well. But why, why, why have a squad clear-out like this and then don't replace any of them? It baffles me, and judging by the reaction of the fans on Saturday it baffles them too.

The AST has called for Wenger's contract talks to be put on hold until we make forward step in the transfer rmarket and consequently better results on the pitch. I wholeheartedly agree with them- that is not to say that Wenger's contract should never be renewed; but the man needs to be shown for once that his job is not invincible. Yes, we don't want to become the club that chops and changes managers like boxer shorts, but there is a difference between doing this and allowing a manager to settle too much. The board must get this crucial difference right.

There have been all sorts of rumours today about which players we may or may not be in for, the main story being our rejected bid for Newcastle midfielder Cabaye, but to be honest I'm not convinced that anything we do now isn't a panic spree. I've tried to make sense of what happen (or didn't happen) this summer and I just can't. Neither do I buy Wenger's comments asking 'who' he should buy; if you look at all of the players that have moved to the top clubs in the Premiership this year most of them would have improved our squad.

I'm bored of this whole situation now, to be honest. As a season ticket holder who pays (or who's Dad pays!) a lot of money for every game I think the way we have all been duped into renewing by Gazidis is criminal. If you aren't going to invest money into the team, why should the fans pay the most expensive season tickets in the Premier League?

As much as Wenger might protest, we are the thoroughly unprepared for the new season, and I do wonder whether our inability to compete in the transfer market yet again will, finally, come back to bite us come the end of the season. Yes, there are two weeks or whatever left of the transfer window, but are we really going to get the top, top, top players that Wenger says we need now? Will they really want to come to us if they are even available?

We go up to Turkey on Wednesday night for a tough (and crucial) qualifier and I struggle to see how we are even going to be able to field a team. But by all means we absolutely must win the tie. Failure to do so could be even more detrimental to us in the transfer market and beyond, so let's hope that what is left of the Arsenal squad pick themselves up and pick up a good result on Wednesday.

Oh how I missed the football season.

A sense of inevitability, but...

Good evening all. As it's been a long while since the last post, there is plenty to talk about from an Arsenal perspective.

So where to start? Well, one obvious place would be how the season went. Now I could ramble on about the fact that we failed to mount any kind of challenge for a trophy...again. But I don't really see the point. For several years now it has been the same story and I find it remarkably uninteresting listening to grumpy fans moaning. No one wants to hear "wenger out- no trophy for 'x' years" time and time again. We get the picture.

No. Where possible I like supporting my team to be a hobby, and as such where possible I feel we should draw more upon the positives. Of which, believe it or not gooners, there are some.

People forget that, after the defeat at White Hart Lane we sat in 5th place, 7 points behind Spurs.  Given this dismal position we found ourselves in with just 10 games to go, I do believe that to get to where we did come the end of the season took quite something. I am also of the firm belief that this squad of players is the weakest we've had in my memory as an Arsenal fan (so 13 years).

How, then, did this squad put on the storming run at the end of the season to pip Tottenham to the Champions League spot much to the despair of this man. I reckon two things were in play here:

1) The Mertesacker-Koscielny partnership:

After Wenger dropped Thomas Vermaelen, amongst others, after the Spurs game in March these two formed a formidable understanding and partnership that we haven't really seen at Arsenal for years. This formed the basis of our solid defensive displays in the superb run. That Vermaelen, the (admittedly off-form) club captain was unable to get back into the team says it all really.

2) Wenger's tactic change
All season prior to the second Bayern game Wenger had been attempting to deploy the same tactic with this team as he has with his others of recent times: how ever many you score, we'll score one more. That tactic was fine when we had goalscorers such as van Persie, Adebayor (yes, he was actually a reasonable footballer at one stage) and Henry. But, and as much as I like Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski; I think they were good additions, so far neither are top goalscorers.

So, Arsene changed things up eventually. The tactic changed to a mentality that existed primarily on the foundations of 'we will not lose'. In doing this, Wenger realised that you do actually get credit for 'not losing' a game, even if you don't win! Amazing!

This change in mentality was evident throughout the team, from front to back everyone was defending. Take the 1-0 scrap down at Loftus Road or, memorably, the 1-0 victory at St James' that secured 4th place for us. Ahead of Tottenham. Again.

So, what now? Well, if this was a post at the beginning of the transfer window, when Gazidis took the bold move to claim we could compete with 'any club in the world' over signings, I would say it's obvious. We go out into the transfer market, make 3 or 4 quality additions to the squad, sell some of the deadwood and we're very well placed to challenge next season. Alas, sadly this hasn't happened, yet.

More to be followed on the transfer window front tomorrow...

Have yourself an enjoyable Wednesday. MH

Reality Check

I've decided that given the business end of the European Championships is upon us, now would be a good time to reintroduce my blog. And what better topic to write about than the wonderful and glorious England National Team. Always promising, never delivering. I am sorry to burst your bubble, fellow Englishmen, but we all need to be brought back down to earth. The normal English fan's stance of 'England really have a chance this time, we could win the *Insert Game/Competition* was replaced by the rather clever strategy (often mine when it comes to Arsenal) of playing our chances down. The rumour that the FA had booked the plane back for England after the last group game, though of course ridiculous, emphasised the pessimism surrounding England's chances before their first game. 

So here we are, a day before our nerve-racking Quarter-Final against Italy. The bitter pessimism has changed to optimism that maybe this could be our year, maybe this group of players won't let us down as they so often do. But let me ask you, what has changed? I thought about this question long and hard after our final group game against co-hosts Ukraine and have seriously struggled to come up with a reasonable answer. So let me break it down into the three games thus far that have got us into this position.

1) England 1-1 France

This result may have surprised a lot of people; especially those who watched the game. England started brightly, creating a few chances, most notably with James Milner rounding the keeper only to skew wide in front of a gaping goal. 

When Lescott headed in after the half hour mark everything seemed to be going well for England, too well in fact. And from this point onwards, we were outclassed by a decent, but not by any means fantastic French side. This is evident when you see that France enjoyed 65% of the possession and 7 shots on target. Fortunately for England; they were wasteful and only managed to convert from Na$ri's shot less than 10 minutes after we took the lead. 

We managed just one attempt on goal- Lescott's goal, of course.   We got a point, allbeit in an ugly fashion, but a country full of pessimistic England fans was prepared to accept that. 

2) England 3-2 Sweden

A captivating encounter- but should it have been this close? Just days before this game there were reports of unrest in the Swedish camp, with their own manager Erik Hamren even brandishing them 'cowards' after their encounter with Ukraine. The way I see it they are very much a one man team (though I don't think Ibrahimovic's ego needs feeding any more) and even he has his off days.

 On another day we could easily have lost this; and yes, I know that is an extremely negative way to look at it, but a team that only just manages to beat the unusually poor Swedish side deserve all of this praise? And this is not mentioning the dreadfully bland and uninteresting football that we played (and really, I know people will say it's not about the style of football, it's about the winning, but I think watching your national team play your favourite sport should be an enjoyable experience and this certainly wasn't).

3) England 1-0 Ukraine

This is what summed up our tournament thus far for me. Our inability to pass the ball 5 yards coupled with the sheer domination that Ukraine had over us in the first half shows just how poor this England side is. People say we defended well in this match, and indeed throughout the tournament, but i'm afraid I don't see it. Yes, Terry did well to clear the ball (even if it was behind the goal-line) and yes, we kept a clean sheet, but is this down to our defending or Ukraine's poor finishing? I put it down to the latter. 

On reading this you may think that i'm being harsh on a passionate England side- and that I will give them. But ask yourself if this England side even gets close to England sides of the past and other top sides in this tournament. Would a single England player get into the Spain team? Or the Germany team? If so, certainly no more than a couple. Are players such as Jordan Henderson, Martin Kelly and Stewart Downing in the same league as the Spanish subs (Fabregas, Navas, Busquets)? If you don't agree with what i'm saying, compare the starting XI tomorrow with the starting XI in the 2002 World Cup. I think you will be surprised. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel though, my friends. We are in the Quarter-Final (though I think anything less than this in the group we were in would have been criminal). We do have a chance of beating Italy (a bigger chance, for example, than Chelsea beating Barcelona). And there are some players performing very well indeed- for me Steven Gerrard is the standout player of the tournament to date, heavily criticised in an England shirt but he can be proud of his tournament whatever happens tomorrow. Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hart, Terry and Cole have also put in their shifts. 

So let's get behind the England, there's no shame in losing tomorrow; but let's go out with a bang. And if we win, there is a large helping of humble pie waiting for me...

Just What the Doctor Ordered...

I think it's fair to say that we, collectively as Arsenal fans, feared the worst ahead of Sunday's face-off against our darkest rivals. It had been dubbed the 'most important derby of Wenger's reign' and some were talking about the 'switch of power' between the two clubs. Of course, none of us would openly admit that this was the case, even if we had been on the receiving end of this amazing scoreline. However, I do feel as though this is one of, if not the most important wins under Arsene.

It wasn't just the 'win' that made it so satisfying, although a win was of imperative importance. It was the manner in which the deed was done. Coming from two goals down in any situation is tough, but it does not get much harder than this.

We started the way many expected us to, on the back foot. Tottenham were playing their usual (for this season, and this season alone) passing, flowing game, whilst we seemed unable to play a two yard pass. Experienced players like Alex Song, Tomas Rosicky and even one of the stars of our season Laurent Koscielny had lost their basic footballing abilities, and it was shaping up to be a very depressing afternoon indeed.

All too predictably Sp*rs took the lead four minutes into the game. They saw what seemed like kilometres of space in the middle of the Arsenal defence, and played Louis Saha through. In typical Tottenham fashion, he then blasted the ball which deflected via Thomas Vermaelen's foot and looped over Sczcesny's helpless head. Tottenham do get lucky breaks against us, don't they? (Think the Kyle Walker, Danny Rose and David Bentley goals, as well as Rafael Van der Vaart's handball 'goal' in the return leg earlier this season). Lucky breaks aside, you make your own luck in football and all that.

We looked fragile, Sp*rs looked dangerous. It would have taken either a very brave man or an extremely optimistic Gooner to predict an Arsenal win from here. The next 15 minutes was a period of intense Sp*rs pressure, and although they never really threatened Woj's goal, they were cutting our defence open far too often for my liking. I could single out any one of those defender's for their defending for the first goal, or the next 15 minutes, but I don't feel this is down to individual errors. No, it is something far more worrying than that, it is the defence as a unit. This needs to be sorted fast, and it seems to have crumbled (defending as a whole) ever since Mertesacker got injured. I'm not saying he is the perfect defender, nor has he fully adapted to the English game yet, but he is the organiser of our defence and that is something which he does extremely well.

From this point onwards, the game belonged to Arsenal. We were starting to pass the ball vaguely accurately (Hurray!) and we were actually looking a bit more creative around the Sp*rs box, particularly when Yossi Benayoun was involved. Which is why the second Sp*rs goal was all the more cruel. Bale took the ball from just inside our half and charged at our defence, revealing the pace, or lack of it that Gibbs has. He got into the box and Sczcesny charged off his line, and took him down. Wait, no he didn't! There was no contact whatsoever! Bale was booked for the third time this season for diving, and it was a freekick to Arsenal inside our own box, no problem. Sadly not, as we all know Mike Dean does love a penalty or two in a game, and sure enough it was given. Adebayor then hammered it home past Sczcesny from the spot, ignoring the 55, 000 jeering Arsenal supporters and sensibly deciding not to celebrate.

So 2-0 Sp*rs after just 34 minutes, it was all looking pretty grim for Arsenal. If a win was looking unlikely before, near impossible now. I for one could barely watch anymore, and the supporters around me were actually voicing their discontent (when Arsenal fans are making noise, something terrible/brilliant has happened). It took a bullet header from Sagna just six minutes later to give the Arsenal fans something to cheer about and some hope, and the task became somewhat more feesable.

You could see by the players' reaction to this goal that they were hungry to get back in the game, and we actually saw, first hand, some of the spirit and grit Arsene so often talks about when questionned about this team. Three minutes later, in the 43rd minute, came our equaliser. And what a way to do it, van Persie turning around three Sp*rs players before curling one past Friedel from the outside of the box. A peach. Tottenham players deflated, Arsenal ones uplifted.

If there was one player that still wasn't getting those simple passes and control right, that is young Theo Walcott. In fact before we got back into the game, the Arsenal fans, including myself, made it clear to him what they thought of his recent performances. It's fair to say that he responded to this criticism in an extremely impressive manner after Wenger decided to keep him on after half time for the 'quality of his runs'.

Half time wasn't really welcomed at the Emirates, we had our rhythmn and at that moment it seemed like anything was possible. However, the half time break did not change a thing, and we emerged from the second half even better than we ended the first. Surely enough, six minutes into the second half, Tomas Rosicky capped off an excellent arsenal move with a poachers finish and a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down against our biggest rivals was complete. Calls of 'We want you to stay 'Arry Redknapp' echoed around the Emirates towards the Spurs fans, and '2-0, and you fucked it up!'. Nothing else seemed to matter by this point, the defeat in the FA Cup, the thrashing in Milan, even the other Sp*rs game, because this was really quite special. Finally this Tottenham side were being taught a lesson, and as one banner at the Emirates stated, "Class is Permanent".

We weren't done yet, though, oh no. 15 anxious minutes later, Robin van Persie found himself in akers of space down the left wing, and when both remaining Sp*rs defenders came to him, he drove the ball to Theo Walcott, who simply ran into the box, taking an extremely poor touch on the way, but chipping over Friedel and into the net to make a quality goal. He may have had an extremely poor game, in fact many extremely poor games, but for this split second, all was forgiven. And you could see how much it meant to him.

The icing on the cake came three minutes later when Theo again popped up in space, making an excellent run into the box and squeezing the ball into the corner out of Friedel's reach to make it a fine, fine day for any fan of Arsenal Football Club. (The rest of the game passed without many talking points; Parker got sent off a minute from the end after a hack at Vermaelen's ankle gave him a second yellow- Vermaelen looks to be out for Saturday's trip to Anfield as a result).

How important was this win then? Well, for one, it reminded the rest of the Premier League, and the Arsenal supporters that this team does have some quality, does have some belief, and does have some desire to win football matches, particularly against Sp*rs. The question does have to be asked, though, why we couldn't play this sort of game more often this season. I'm not calling for us to put five past every opponent, though that would be helpful given the amount of goals we concede. I'm asking for us to do the simple things right. The defeat at Sunderland epitomised what we need to be doing, pressing, busting a gut to win the ball back from the opponent, getting those all important tackles in, and defending properly.

Because we did defend properly against Sp*rs, other than the first 15 minutes or so. In fact, as Arsene so rightly puts it, we got the perfect balance between defence and attack. Think what would have happened, where we would be if we had played anywhere near this standard in Milan or Sunderland. Even think back, if you can bare it, to defeats at the hands of Swansea, Fulham and Blackburn. All games we really ought to be winning, and had we done the job properly in them we would currently be ahead of Sp*rs in the table.

One can probably now say that if we do finish above Sp*rs, we have qualified for the Champions League, so is this a realistic aim? Yes, I believe so. With 12 games left, seven points is attainable, and with Sp*rs still having to travel to Chelsea, Everton and Sunderland, and play Man Utd at 'three point lane' next weekend, 3rd place is all to play for. It would be very like Arsenal to throw it away to mid-low table teams, though, so it most certainly is not going to be easy.

Tricky looking games at home to Chelsea, City and Newcastle and away to Stoke City are all winnable, and we must set out with a positive attitude that we can gain full points. Champions League Qualification is vital, one feels to achieve it we must be winning at least 2 of the above mentioned games. If we don't we may be looking at losing some of our stars: van Persie, Sagna, Walcott and Sczcesny have all been targetted by other clubs, Champions League clubs.

Victory against Sp*rs was blissful, but we mustn't revel in it for too long, Anfield awaits...

Man of the Match: Tomas Rosicky

And Another Season Collapses...

Sunderland 2-0 Arsenal

This is becoming all too familiar. Within the space of 4 days we have, effectively, crashed out of two competitions. Where does it leave us? Well, it almost certainly means we will go yet another season without winning anything. But this is not what bothers me the most. I can accept going out to better opposition, I can even accept bowing out to a team like Sunderland, who are clearly on a high and working extremely hard for their manager, Martin O'Neill. What I cannot accept is being outplayed by inferior opposition, and showing no desire or grit to get back into the game. Quite frankly had that second goal not got in I still don't think we would have equalised; we were just not winning any of the individual battles in midfield, and even the simple, short passes weren't coming off.

A one-off, bad performance? No, not really. The truth is we have become more accustomed to seeing that Arsenal team this season than the one we would all like to see. It's quite sad, really. So what's the problem? Well, in my eyes, there are two main things.

1) We simply are not the team we used to be. We have sold top quality players without replacing them, and we are now beginning to see the result. I have said this time and time again, players like: Arshavin, Walcott, Rosicky, Squillaci, Djourou, Ramsey, Diaby, Denilson, Chamakh, Bendtner etc are NOT good enough for a top four club. We lack any real depth in our squad and even our first XI misses a few quality players.

2) There's a lack of true desire in the club. Some of the players at the club are overpaid, and don't look like they even want to play for Arsenal. If you compare the work rate of someone like Vermaelen, or Oxlade-Chamberlain to that of a Squillaci, or an Arshavin, you will see that there is a huge gulf. Arshavin has even said that he does not like England, and I doubt Squillaci's having much fun being our 5th choice centre back. The wages we are paying these players, in particular someone like Chamakh, who we got on a free, could be the difference between keeping van Persie and selling him.

So long-term, what's the solution? What's the point of qualifying for the Champion's League? To get the money that we won't spend? To qualify for a competition that we won't win? Or to attract those top quality players that we won't buy? I honestly believe that the best thing for Arsenal Football Club is for us to miss out on fourth place. Then there will be no excuses. There's no way Wenger can then turn around and tell us that we've had a successful season. Because a top four finish is a successful season in his eyes, no matter what else happens.

enger has even said that he would change his philosophy in the transfer market if we did, in fact finish outside the top four. Whether he stays or goes, things will change if we don't qualify, and it will force the board to act and give us the funds to buy some quality. And may even force a squad overhaul, similar to the one I have so long been pleading for. Who knows.

ne thing I know for sure is that I am completely fed up of seeing this crap every season. It has only been getting worse year after year and something drastic needs to happen. Should Wenger get sacked? I don't know. I have always been his biggest fan, but I am struggling to see where he goes from here. The problem is there is no clear candidate that isn't already at a job to replace him. And no, we will not get Mourinho, whether we would want him or not.

So I regretfully finish this post looking ahead at a particularly bleak season, wondering how it could possibly get worse than this. With Spurs coming to the Emirates next week, I've found my answer...