Celtic 0-2 Arsenal Thoughts

Hello all, two posts in two days, bit crazy isn't it? It's lucky I'm in a good mood, probably because Arsenal has put me in a constant good mood with their performances. We had another win yesterday, 2-0 over Celtic in Glasgow, which is a great result. We've been to two very tough venues this year already, and we've won both fairly easily. It's fantastic. Today I'm just going to give you all my thoughts on the match yesterday, and my thoughts on whatever else pops into my head as I'm writing, because I can't very well write just about the Celtic match for thirty minutes.

I thought we controlled the game for the most part. Song was once again fantastic, winning the ball back over and over without fouling, and his distribution was pretty good as well. He'll never be a passer like Cesc, but he's good at getting the ball to the attackers quickly and winning it back when we lose it. Vermaelen was once again immense in defense, and I think almost 100% of the Arsenal supporters have already fallen in love with him. When he tracked back for that Celtic counter attack when it could have been an easy goal for Scott Brown and made the tackle, I cheered out loud I'll admit. He looks like a great signing and like Wenger said, it's interesting having someone left footed back there and it really makes a nice contrast to William Gallas. I also really love the way he isn't scared to smoke fools and light up chumps in the tackle. He's all business when he's going for the ball. I wanted someone on the team that kills people, and he sure does that. Love the Verminator already.

On the attacking side, we weren't great. RvP, Arshy, and Bendtner did ok at times, but I didn't think any of them really stood out today. Arshy eventually came off for Diaby, who didn't really have a great game when he came on, except for one shining moment of brilliance where he evaded the defender and fed the ball to Clichy who crossed for the own goal. It's typical Diaby, he has a rare moment of brilliance then he loses the ball because he dwells on it too long. I think he's one of the weakest players in our squad honestly.

The weirdest thing this season so far (yes it's still really bloody early, but still) was the goal from William Gallas off of Cesc's free kick. He tried to duck to get out of the way of it, it hit off of his ass and into the net. But nobody complained, the away goal was important and the second was even more so. It means Celtic have to score at least 2 goals without reply to even force extra time at the Emirates. It's a great position to be in, and I'm supremely confident that we'll be going through to the group stages. That was crucial, and we got the job done.

Bakary Sagna had thoughts on the atmosphere, saying:

"I think the atmosphere is one of the most amazing in Europe and it was great to play in front of those fans. It was hard to stay focused on the pitch. It's difficult to play against this kind of atmosphere."

"It is one of the most amazing I have ever witnessed. But we did quite well with it. The danger was to come here after such a good win and take it easy but we stayed focused and defended as a team and played as a team."

And that's the bottom line, is that our defense is playing well and we're playing as a team. We look dangerous. It's early and I don't wanna set my expectations too high yet, but God it's exciting to look this good so early in the season isn't it? When you think of how we still have Walcott, Nasri, and Rosicky still to return, it's just scary.

That's about all I've got for the day. If you have a facebook and you like the blog, click here to become a fan of it. I'd appreciate that. Cheers all.

Arsenal 3-0 Pompey Report

Hello all. Nice match yesterday wasn't it? It's great to see some of the younger players get a chance to play in the league games, especially when they take full advantage of their opportunities and we get a win. With everyone focused on Manchester United on Tuesday, this match had been pretty much forgotten about by most of the Arsenal community. It wasn't really a game we had to win, but win we did, and with some style.

The lineup was an interesting one.

Fabianski
Sagna-Song-Djourou-Eboue
Ramsey-Denilson
Walcott-Arshavin-Vela
Bendtner

The bench was all reserves as well, with the likes of Coquelin and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the bench and no sign of Adebayor, Fabregas, Toure, or any of the regulars. You could definitely tell that the focus was on Tuesday's all-important match by the lineup.

We pretty much dominated the match throughout, and while Portsmouth had chances to score, Fabianski did well and Pompey's finishing was dreadful. They had several chances but none came that close to going in. Attacking, though, was where we were at our best. I thought Vela and Arshavin were outstanding, their movement and passing was great fun to watch, and Bendtner also had a good game, netting a header and a penalty.

Eboue looked really good attacking down the left and pretty assured in his defense, even though it is not his prefferred side. Having watched him at fullback a few times the past couple of weeks, it makes you realize what a mistake it is playing him in midfield. Eboue is a very good fullback who knows when to get forward. He is, however, a terrible midfielder, with no end product whatsoever and a poor decision maker. I wouldn't mind seeing him play left back against United. That's right, I'm supporting starting Eboue against United. Even though Gibbs has played pretty well, I think it'd be the right choice to go with.

After we were up 3-0 in the second half, we got to see the likes of Randall, Bischoff, and Fran Merida come on. It's a few players we haven't gotten to see a lot of so it's nice for them to get some experience in a real Premier League game.

Fabianski will be thrilled to have kept a clean sheet after the disatrous game against Liverpool, and I was really happy for him. With young keepers, you really need them to get confidence and keep it, because it really can affect them long term. With that said, this clean sheet will go a long way to helping his confidence and I really do think he can be a future Arsenal number 1. The way Almunia has been playing though, it could still be some time to wait, so lets hope he's ok with being the number 2 for a while.

Man of the match for me though was Carlos Vela. What a player that young man can be. I'm really surprised we don't see him come on more often than he does. He brings an added dimension of cleverness that not a lot of our current squad have with the ball. The goals he scores are usually spectacular, and his movement and strength is really good for being so young. Arsene certainly showed good vision signing him a couple of years ago, even though he couldn't get a work permit right away. It's looking like it's going to be well worth it.

We really miss Arshavin in the Champions League games. It's been said before, but his experience and quality is something we've desperately been needing. If he was eligible we could have played Cesc in his prefferred central midfield role and played Arshy in that support striker role, which he loves playing. Getting to see him next year against those European clubs should be a real treat, but we'll have to make do without him on Tuesday.

Ok that's it for today because I've got to go to work. I'll get up a Manc scum preview tomorrow, and some additional stuff the day of the match. Leave your thoughts on Vela, Arshavin, Ramsey, Fabianski, or anything else you want to discuss in the comments section. Cheers all. Have a good one.

Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal, Eboue Costs Arsenal Again

Another North London Derby, and another draw. While not nearly as traumatic as the first match against Sp*rs this season at the grove, this one was no more fun to watch. Eboue is once again to blame, as he was sent off for two yellow cards in the first half. The second one was just a stupid, stupid thing to do, as he tried to trip Modric when Modric tripped him. They were both booked and Eboue was sent off. He's a clueless cunt that has no place in top flight football, and I really wish he would never play for Arsenal again. Every time I see him in the lineup I know it's going to be almost like playing like ten men, and this time I guess he just wanted an early bath or just wasn't feeling like playing a match at all. I can't stand him. He's a diving, cheating, mindless wanker who I wish had never stepped foot into Arsenal Football Club. It's hard enough to win derbies as it is, and having ten men for an hour of the match doesn't make it any easier.

Adebayor went off injured as well in the first half which meant Bendtner had to come on. While Adebayor hasn't been in great form, he still scores a ton of goals (8 in 8 matches) against the scum. Clichy later went off injured when that cunt Darren Bent thought Clichy's head was the ball and smashed his head into it. He went off bleeding and Kieran Gibbs came on for his Premier League debut.

I don't have time to spell out everything that happened in the match line by line, but I will point out a few things.

I thought Almunia was fantastic today. After the collapse of the defense and the goalkeeping last time against Sp*rs it was great to see such a good performance from Almunia today. I've been saying that we don't need to buy a keeper and I still don't think we need to. I think Almunia has earned his spot and see no reason why he shouldn't keep it. He hasn't gotten to play behind a great defence since he began starting between the posts, and yet he has a pretty good record. Big ups to Manuel.

I thought the defense was good in general as well. While Tottenham certainly had some chances, they were mostly long shots or half chances. We also defended the corners pretty well, which as we know is our weakest spot. Any time you keep a clean sheet after being down a man for so long, you have to say it's a good defensive performance. Kolo and Gallas may have finally found some kind of a working system because it seems to have worked well the last two matches. Let's hope it continues.

Alexandre Song, for me, stood out. When I saw him starting in the midfield next to Denilson, I'll admit I was a little bummed to see him in there. Our options in the center were limited though, so Song it was, and he did not disappoint. I thought he broke up a lot of attacks well and generally did a good job protecting the back four, but I was most impressed with his work rate. Every time I saw him he was running try to make a play, and it's something we haven't seen enough of from this team this season. If you've read my blog very often, you know that I have not been the biggest fan of Alex, but if he continues to play the way he did today, then I will be more than appreciative of his services. I think without him today we would maybe not have been able to hold on to the clean sheet, so full credit to Mr. Song.


While our attacking was certainly not what you would hope for, it's understandable in a way seeing as we are without our best player in Cesc, our true right midfielder in Theo, Adebayor went off injured in the first half, Eboue gets himself sent off, and Arshavin was not match fit yet. At eleven on eleven, we probably score the goal that gets us three points today. With Theo or Cesc in, you certainly would have liked our chances. Even if Arshavin had been ready to come on I think we may have scraped it. Nasri was good today, but there just wasn't a lot in our attacking and it's somewhat easy to see why. I think as Eduardo (who was on the bench today, woohoo!), Theo, Cesc, and Arshavin work back into the squad you'll see those goals start to pile up for us. Let's just hope the defense can stay solid when that happens.

I think, due to Eboue's absolute retardedness, that we have to count this as a point gained instead of two points lost. We're four points back of Chelsea with thirteen games to go, so it is certainly not an insurmountable deficit to get to 4th spot. That 4th spot is absolutely critical.

Leave your thoughts on the game, Eboue, or anything else. Cheers.

Hammering Porto, Just What The Doctor Ordered

Morning all. Happy times again. After being embarrassed by Hull we really needed a good performance and three points at home against Porto in the Champions League, and that is just what we got. A 4-0 and a great performance will lift everyone's spirits.

The changes Arsene Wenger said he was going to make didn't really materialize, and the only change ended up being Nasri in for Eboue. I was kindof hoping to see a more changed lineup I'll admit, but I certainly can't argue with the result this lineup produced.

Porto had us a couple of times early, and one I specifically remember was when they got us on the break and had a 5 on 3 and managed to hit the post. Luckily we were only bending and not breaking and managed to keep them out until we opened the scoring.

It was Robin van Persie who got on the scoresheet first, after some great work from Adebayor. Ade made a good run into the box with the ball that Cesc had played to him, made the keeper commit to coming out for him, then cut it back for the on-rushing van Persie who easily finished into the open net. A nice team goal from our strikers and they worked well together all night. It was good to see from them because I think there styles compliment eachother perfectly when they are both fit and on their games. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Adebayor got one of his own next from a corner, taken of course by Robin van Persie. Adebayor rose up to meet it and headed into the ground and it bounced over the keeper's head and in. I think Adebayor does that almost better than anyone I've seen play the game. When he rises up to meet corners and free kicks it is like he can hang in the air for hours. Not to mention he is tall and gets higher than almost everyone. I really think we should use him more from set pieces because he is almost impossible to defend. 2-0 to the Arsenal was the score at the half.

The second half was all Arsenal. Porto definitely seemed to realize they weren't getting back into the match and Arsenal ran the ball up and down the field on them, creating chance after chance. Walcott had a good effort, RvP got another goal, Nasri had a chance and it really could have been about 6-0 at this point.

Some substitions were made, with Bendtner and Eboue coming on for RvP and Nasri. Bendtner won a penalty and Adebayor made it 4-0 to the Arsenal. Vela came on for Walcott after that and he really looked good I thought. Man he is an exciting player. Such quick feet and he's so skilled on the ball and with his runs that he will always be a thorn in any defenses side.

So I predicted 2-0 to Arsenal, but you have to double that to get the final, 4-0 to the Arsenal in a great performance.

Man of the Match: Emmanuel Adebayor - 2 goals and an assist make a pretty complete day for Ade. I thought he was brilliant and he really looks like he's getting back to the goals like last year now.

Needs Work: There isn't much you can say needed work in this particular game as I thought everyone played pretty well. So my needs work for this match will be the criticism of Manuel Almunia. I don't understand why this man takes so much shite. He's a bloody good keeper. People say he doesn't win us matches but I've seen him make several good saves this year and last that have either given us a win or at least kept us from losing. Keep it up Manuel!

So it's back to the league again but it's good to get a good performance and three points in. Cheers and up the Gunners!

I Blame Gallas, But Not Only Gallas...It's Effort Too

Ok so it's been a busy weekend and I haven't had a chance to post. I had to coach my team on Saturday, then go to the FSU-Colorado game, then Sunday I had the Jaguars-Texans game so I didn't get a chance to do a match preview. My bad. And maybe I'm bad luck because we lost...to Hull City...at home. I'll admit I didn't get to see the game, so I won't bother going into a match review or anything like that. I have seen highlights (if you can call them that) and got to read a lot of other match reviews, and by the sound and look of it, it seems that the team went out and played like they did against Fulham, without effort or passion. Hull have had a good start to the season no doubt about that, but when we play a recently promoted team at home you expect a win by a good couple of goals no matter who they are.

I think our main problems are what they have been for the last year or so. We don't have a natural partner for Cesc and our center backs are not compatible. Gallas, as I've stated over and over again, should not be in the starting eleven. The reason he is of course is because he is the captain and essentially has to be played. The problem with that is that he and Kolo Toure are very similar and it throws both of them off when they are in there together. Remember how good Kolo was when he was next to Sol Campbell or even Philippe Senderos? Hell, we set a Champions League record for not conceding with Phil and Kolo at the back. What has Gallas done to earn his spot in the starting eleven? Last I checked being over 30 doesn't automatically qualify you to be given a starting spot and the captaincy, but in Gallas' case it appears to be just that. Unfortunately, we don't really have any options but to leave him in there. We got rid of big Phil and our only cover is Djourou and Silvestre. I wouldn't mind giving Djourou a run in the side alongside Toure to see how they operate, but I can't see it happening, again, because Gallas is the captain. It's like a problem where everyone sees that there is a problem, but the solution can't be obtained even when you realize what it is. Gallas has not earned a thing at Arsenal in my opinion. I don't think he plays well for us as a defender, and I don't think he has shown the leadership to be captain of this club. Even Thierry Henry lead the team better than this clown, and I don't think anyone would say that Henry was the best choice of captains.

The whole of the blame though can't be placed on Gallas. Our strikers have been on and off, Cesc Fabregas hasn't gotten up to the form we need him to be at, and we don't really have enough options off the bench to make an impact when we need it. We have been playing some great football lately. Newcastle was a great performance, Bolton and Blackburn were both quality victories, but when you see results like against Fulham and against Hull, you have to wonder what is wrong on those days. And I don't really know what the real problem is. Do the players just think it will be a walkover and they don't have to give full effort? What is it with proffessional players where they don't feel like they have to try all the time. Isn't that what they are payed for?

If only all Arsenal players were all Arsenal fans like we are. I couldn't imagine myself playing for Arsenal and not giving 110% every time out there. Why? Because I live and die by Arsenal's results. I feel like it kills me much more than it kills say, William Gallas, when we lose 2-1 at home to Hull City. Obviously it isn't possible to field a top level team of all Arsenal fans, but as fans I think we all want to see more passion for the club than what we see from the current crop. Arsenal is different than say Chelsea. We can't put out a whole different starting eleven of equal quality if our first choice eleven doesn't show effort. Maybe the "first team" is growing complacent and feel like they don't have to work as hard for their starting spots. As a fan though, and I'm sure most of you agree, we just want to see the players give it their all when they are out there.

I'm definitely bummed about the result, but there is still a lot of season to go and it is not the end of the world. We need to play better certainly, but the good news is there is a lot of time to turn this around. Like the Fulham loss, we'll need to see how the team responds to this defeat. We've got the Champions League midweek this week and that will give us a good chance to rebound from the loss before our next league match. Let's pull together and get a great result that we know we are capable of. Porto are a good team but it's a game we need to win after the draw in Kiev. Nasri is back so hopefully that will help.

I'm sure a lot of you Gallas defenders will come out of the woodwork and call me all sorts of things for blaming him, but you can't say he has lead this team well. It's time to try something new. Like I said though, this isn't a gloom and doom post, this is a "I want to see us put in more effort and turn it around after this result" post. So don't tell me I'm not a fan or whatever because that will make you sound stupid. Plus I really couldn't give a shite what you think. My opinion is that Gallas is a bad captain and not a great defender either. Deal with it.

I'm going to try to do a podcast today, since I haven't done one in ages, but I can't promise one since I don't know whether I'll have time or not. Let me know your response to the Hull match though, and Gallas, and the lack of effort and all that. Cheers all, and up the Gunners!

One last thing, I have an interview on Gun Diary, a Russian Arsenal blog. You can check it out here. The first part is in Russian but the second part is translated to English so you can all ready it.

Burgenland 2-10 Arsenal Match Report

So it was a much better performance than all of our previous friendlies, and while it was against far inferior opposition, it was nice to see Arsenal be able to get into the flow of a game and work their pass and move attacks.

The lineup looked like this at the start:

Almunia
Sagna-Hoyte-Hoyte-Clichy
Wilshere-Ramsey-Denilson-Traore
Vela
Bendtner

So it was a side almost unchanged from the last friendly but Walcott was on the bench instead of starting this one. It didn't take long for the scoring to begin.

In the 1st minute, Armand Traore ran down the left side and crossed the ball low into the box. Aaron Ramsey got a touch on it but it fell to Jack Wilshere who decided to lob it into the corner and the ball just got across the line. So 1-0 to Arsenal and we were off to a flyer.

Not long after that Bendtner got on the score sheet in the 15th minute. It was a screamer from the edge of the box that really had a lot of power on it. Before that goal Bendtner had wasted several chances and didn't look confident at all, so it was good to see him get on the score sheet early on.

The third goal was almost right after that and it was Bendtner again. Wilshere cut inside from the right wing and sent a great through ball to Bendtner who slotted it coolly home. The pass was just as spectacular as the goal and Wilshere had an absolute cracker of a game.

Goal number four saw Carlos Vela get on the score sheet for the first time in an Arsenal shirt. A great goal from him and it was good for him to get off the mark for Arsenal.

It was still less than thirty minutes into the game when we scored our 5th goal. Bendtner got his first half hat trick when he was sent through and sent the ball into the far corner and beat the onrushing keeper.

Vela got another shortly after to make it 6-0, and Bendtner made it 7-0 before the half. So we went in up 7 at the half and we really could have had 3 or 4 more at least. Vela probably should have had a penalty that the ref waived off because the score was so embarrassing and as I said earlier, Bendtner missed a couple of chances that he probably should have put in. Armand Traore picked up a slight knock and had to come off before the half and was replaced by Henri Lansbury.

Half time changes were as follows: Clichy, Denilson, Bendtner, and Almunia off. Mannone, Randall, Walcott, and Simpson on.

Vela scored again shortly after half time to make his hat trick, which was very impressive and made it 8-0 to Arsenal.

Wilshere got the 9th goal. He made a darting run into the box, dummied the defender and went by and was fouled on the way past. The referree gave the penalty and Wilshere stepped up to take it himself. He struck a perfect, collected penalty into the bottom right corner.

Walcott got his first goal of the match late in the game after he received yet another assist from Jack Wilshere and hit it past the keeper. So that made it 10-0 and we had reached double digits.

Then you could tell Arsenal sort of took off the gas and Burgenland decided to try to mount a comeback. They scored one off of a corner kick that was scrambled around in the box and put past Mannone. That made it 10-1 and while it was disappointing to concede a goal, the game was so out of hand that it didn't matter. They scored another shortly after to make it 10-2 but Arsenal weren't really playing at that point.

So the final was 10-2, in a brilliant performance.

Man of the Match: Jack Wilshere, shortly ahead of Bendtner. He made about five assists and scored two goals and was overall outstanding. I know he's only 16 and you shouldn't build up the youngsters so much but I can't help but be excited every time he touches the ball. He has great vision, great dribbling ability, and is just a smart player. I can't wait to see what he can do in a few years.

Needs Work: Well, the two goals at the end shouldn't have happened, but I won't really fault them for losing a bit of concentration after being up 10-0.

So that's about it for this match. Stuttgart on Wednesday should be our first real test, and Arsene Wenger confirmed that Samir Nasri WILL PLAY in that match. So that's something we can all look forward to.

Hope you all enjoyed the match. Cheers!

Arsenal 2-1 Barnet Match Report

Our first preseason friendly is done and dusted, and while it certainly wasn't Arsenal at their best, we did get the job done eventually. It was great to see so many youngsters along with some of the veterans, plus our new signings Ramsey and Coquelin on display. Carlos Vela was not included in the squad, presumably due to some type of injury.

In the first half we went with the more experienced lineup, and also saw Aaron Ramsey make his debut in midfield. The lineup looked like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Nordtveit-J. Hoyte-Clichy
Lansbury-Ramsey-Denilson-Traore
Bendtner-Walcott

It was good to see Sagna back after his injury and while he didn't have his best game he did get forward a lot and provided crosses but we just couldn't convert any of them.

At the start of the game Arsenal had a lot of the ball, and we had a chance pretty early when Ramsey played a great ball through to Bendtner who really should have done better with the chance. He took a bad touch and tried to play it back but couldn't get anything behind his pass.

This seemed to be a continuing theme throughout the first half, Bendtner getting chances and just not being able to put any of them away. His whole game really looked to be off as his passing wasn't very good either. Walcott didn't give him much help though as he seemed drift in and out of the game.

In the fifteenth minute Arsenal gave away a free kick in a dangerous position because of a foul I believe against Havard Nordtveit. Barnet took the kick brilliantly to beat the wall and Manuel Almunia to give Barnet a surprise 1-0 lead. They certainly hadn't had much of the possession and the goal was against the run of play, but they took advantage of the chances, which Arsenal hadn't done so far.

Aaron Ramsey looks to be a wonderful signing already. He completely controlled the midfield for the first half, showed great awareness and ability on the ball. He always seemed comfortable, even under pressure, and his passing was precise. He looks like he could be (forgive me for the reference) the new Cesc Fabregas. I'd say he was the best player on the park for the first half. After the game however, when asked about Ramsey's performance he said simply that Aaron "looked tired but works hard in training." He must not agree with my thoughts on his performance.

Unfortunately though Arsenal were unable to create much in the way of chances in the first half and went in at the half 1-0 down.

The start of the second half saw us make 11 substitutions, so I'll try to remember them all.

Mannone
Ogogo-Rodgers-G. Hoyte-Steer
Wilshere-Randall-Coquelin-Barazite
Simpson-Fonte

So it was a complete change to the side and it was a team full of youngsters, plus the debut of another new signing in Francis Coquelin.

The youngsters started a bit sloppily at the beginning of the half, giving some passes away and looking a bit shaky sometimes in possession but they got into form soon enough. Jay Simpson for me looked particularly impressive, making good runs and mixing his passes well.

It wasn't long before we had equalized. Jack Wilshere, who was brilliant (he's the type of player that I get excited every time he gets the ball) fed a beautiful pass to Jay Simpson, who was making a run into the box. Simpson hit it first time and sent it into the back of the net. It was a great shot that the keeper would have done very well to save. 1-1 was the score and Arsenal were looking for more.

The second goal also involved Wilshere. He fed Jay Simpson running through the middle who sent a perfect ball across to the left side of the box which Nacer Barazite met first time and sent into the bottom right corner of the net, past the onrushing Barnet keeper. 2-1 to the Arsenal and looking much better.

The rest of the match was pretty uneventful. Arsenal were content to keep the ball and Barnet didn't really have much going forward. They did have a free kick right outside of the box with about 8 minutes to go but they wasted it.

So the match ended 2-1 to Arsenal and while it wasn't the best performance by the regular starters, the youngsters came in and got the job done, which was great to see.

Man of the Match: Jack Wilshere, closely followed by Jay Simpson. Wilshere is already a master of the pass even though he is the youngest player on the pitch. His awareness going forward and willingness to run at defenders is exceptional and he's a player that is very exciting for the future. Hopefully Arsene will keep him grounded so his potential doesn't get to his head, but I'd expect to see him in some Carling Cup games this year.

Needs Work: Just the team's sharpness as a whole. Bendtner and Walcott looked extremely rusty but that will come with time.

Arsene's Post Game Comments: He is VERY adamant that Emmanuel Adebayor will not be leaving. He said after the match that his is a very different situation than Hleb's was and will not be leaving under any circumstances. So it would be a good time for Adebayor to start rebuilding the ties with the team. Arsene was asked about which players were likely to be included in the first team squad and would only say that "a few of them" would be included but gave no names.

I'm really looking forward to the next preseason game. It's quite exciting to see all the youngsters get to play. Lots to talk about so let's hear your comments about the match and Arsene's comments. Cheers!

Adebayor Destroys Derby

Morning everyone, what a game that was yesterday. It had me ecstatic when taking the lead first, then pissed off that Derby could possibly score on us, then thrilled when we put five more goals past them, it had everything.

We started off with almost the lineup I had predicted, it went like this:

Fabianski
Toure-Gallas-Song-Clichy
Eboue-Gilberto-Denilson-Walcott
Bendtner-RvP

So it was a weakened side from our usual starting eleven but still a strong enough squad that I expected us to beat Derby comfortably. However, it didn't start out that way.

Derby really were fighting for it and kept us on our heels at times during the first twenty minutes. They had a shot deflect off of Alex Song that would have gone in if it had been two feet to the left and they had a good low cross that nobody could really get a foot on.

Our first goal came a bit against the run of play I'd have to say. We weren't looking all that much like conceding but we certainly hadn't looked like scoring either. Bendtner got the ball off a horrendous pass from the Derby defender and played a quick one two with Nicky B who slotted it into the corner through Roy Carroll's legs.

Robin van Persie should have made it two just a few minutes later as he was fed by a beautiful pass from Walcott but he somehow managed to miss with no defenders anywhere near him inside the box. You have to say that it was a shot he would have made last year or the beginning of this year.

Just a bit later though Derby got back into it. Alex Song gave away a free kick out near the sideline which Robbie Savage took. There was a goalmouth scramble a little bit and eventually it wound up in the net to make it 1-1. Probably not the best defending or goalkeeping examples on that play, it was just poor all around.

We got back on track though a minute later, when Kolo Toure played an absolutely perfect ball over the top to van Persie who made no mistake and volleyed it in. It was a wonderful goal and it reminded me of Dennis Bergkamp a lot. So we went in to half time up 2-1 and while I didn't think Derby looked like coming back, you can just never tell with our shoddy defense.

The second half brought the introduction of Emmanuel Adebayor, our savior of this season, due to the injury Robin picked up. They said thigh strain but we'll have to wait and see after they check him out. Just a shame he's always injured.

We had a couple of good chances to start the second half. Walcott made a good run into the box, avoided a challenge the squared for Eboue, who flopped around and somehow the ball came to Adebayor who of course scored. 3-1 to the Arsenal and it was looking much more comfortable.

In the next few minutes Kolo Toure had a couple of shots that blazed just over the bar and Bendtner led Theo through for one that he shot from outside the box when he probably had more time. He hit it low to the corner with some spin on it like Thierry used to do but it just didn't have enough spin and it went outside the post.

Next thing you know though we had conceded another goal. Rob Earnshaw got by Gallas and finished it nicely past Fabianski to make it 3-2.

We got back on track right away though. Gilberto played a pass across to Theo who ran into the box on the left, cut inside of a defender and quickly fired a curling effort that there was no way Carroll was going to stop. Great goal by Theo and we were up 4-2.


Adebayor felt like a bit more scoring and he got on the end of Clichy's cross first time and knocked it in the net to make it 5-2.

The last goal was really nice though, Cesc played Adebayor through who outran the whole defense, calmly nudged it past Carroll who was charging out, then fired home from an acute angle to make it 6-2.

So it finished 6-2, and while our defense was shaky, our offense got in full flow, especially in the second half where we really could have made it about ten goals.

Man of the Match: Emmanuel Adebayor. The man has thirty goals this season. Not one person out there predicted that and yet he still gets crap every day from people who say he's no good. Where would we be without Adebayor this year? Our next highest scorer (Cesc) has thirteen goals. People should really give Ade some credit because he has kept us near the top all season.


Needs Work: Defending, yet again. Mostly just central defending though. Gallas looks more and more shaky and while Clichy and Toure I think played well, the second goal Derby scored was just too easy and it came down to poor central defending. It needs to be addressed.

And that's your match report. Feel free to check out the new forums section and add your input! I'll be back tomorrow with lots of transfer news and looking ahead to our game against Everton. Cheers!