Norwich 1 - 1 Arsenal

An opportunity to go joint top with Leicester and City went begging, and two more crucial injuries have put Arsenal in a difficult position in their domestic and European campaigns.  The game was similar to last week's, in that Arsenal had most of the possession, shots, and shots on target.  But in fact, it's Norwich which will rue opportunities missed.  They could easily have had four today, counting a PK that Flamini could have been called for.  Ruddy had less to do than Cech despite the shot discrepancy.  The Gunners looked punchless; crosses seldom came close to the target.  Monreal and Bellerin had chances to set up teammates but simply didn't produce.  No one had a great game, although Ozil played his part with his very well taken goal from Alexis's wonderful steal and quick pass.

The worst part was the two injuries.  Koscielny went down with what looked like a hip flexor tear, and Alexis did his hamstring.  Seriously, why would Wenger even play Alexis today?  He said he had hamstring problems.  Well, when one of your top two scorers has a hamstring problem, you don't play him.  I have no idea what Wenger is going to do in Athens now.  Stupid.

The refereeing wasn't terrible, but once again, gratuitous thuggery went unpunished.  The worst was an entirely intentional shove of Alexis into the camera pit as the touchline.  It reminded me of Arnautevic's vicious foul on Debuchy that messed up his shoulder.

Dreadful day, and more will come now that half a dozen starters are out injured.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Dinamo Zagreb

I'll confess to a few anxious moments after the game remained scoreless through its first quarter, but Arsenal always looked comfortable against a side that played in a spirited manner but knew it was outclassed.  The goals were really nice.  Ozil scores with his head off a Sanchez pass?  Bizarro world was almost a reality when they nearly did it a second time!  I loved Monreal's deft interception of a clearance in the box and his quick squaring pass for Alexis's first--he's become one of my faves.  And Joel Campbell gets an assist!  He could have had more, too, his passing was that good.

So the Gunners go to Athens yet again for a final ECL group game.  Usually, it's with first place in the group on the line and they lose.  Now, it's win by two (or one if we score four or more!) or trudge grimly across the steppes of Eastern Europe in the Europa League, picking up injuries on frozen tundra against defenses that know they can't beat us without a whole lot of fouling.  I'm guardedly optimistic.  Let's hope we're healthier.

Speaking of which, the best part of yesterday's romp was seeing Aaron Ramsey galloping about the pitch with intent.  Boy do we miss him when he's not in the side.

Is Flamini the solution to Coquelin's injury?  I'm not convinced.  I'll be the Pro from Dover and solve this one.  Here are some options:

1)  3 - 5 - 2.  Yes, that's right.  Mert in the middle, Kos on the left, Gabriel on the right.  Bellerin and Monreal, or perhaps Gibbs, are wingbacks, more mids than fullbacks.  Giroud and Alexis up front.  Santi and Ozil are central, with the latter more advanced, as now.  The spine is stiffened with Flamini or Chambers (though he's a rather unconvincing midfielder).  Ramsey and Campbell are the wide midfielders, although with those wingbacks, this is a very fluid setup.  Ox and Walcott will replace Campbell when they're fit, with Theo up top if he's in, pushing Alexis wide again.  I would love to see how Norwich deals with that!

2)  Gibbs.  He's fast enough, he can defend one on one, he gets tons of interceptions at full back.  Why not?

3)  Chambers.  I really don't like this, but apparently Wenger does.

4)  Koscielny.  I really think he can play this position.  Who would be better at protecting Mertesacker and Gabriel?

Well, enjoy that turkey.  See you Sunday!

WBA 2-1 Arsenal

Francis Coquelin hurts his knee and Arsenal's title pretensions are exposed.  I've seen games in which the dominant team, the more talented team, lost in more inexplicable ways; DC United's defeat of Montreal springs to mind here.  But this was pretty awful.  Mikel Arteta will have to focus on his coaching career, because he's a liability out there for Arsenal this year.  I love the guy, but this was a nightmare outing for him.  Unfairly penalized for a perfectly good slide tackle that led to the first goal, he inadvertently netted for the Baggies trying to hustle back to atone for losing his man in the buildup.  Then he got hurt and was replaced by Flamini, who actually was an improvement.

Where to start...OK, defense it is.  All four starters were fit and played reasonably well, but we saw what happens when even a relatively poor offensive side attacks them without Coquelin in front of them.  Compounding his loss, there were some uncharacteristically bad decisionmaking from the likes of Mert and Kos.  The wingers all wanted to "help" on defense but the commitment was not there.  When West Brom is down a goal, at whatever stage of the proceedings, they should lose, full stop.  The ball should not be easily coughed up, and men should be marked.  West Brom could have gotten more, too.

But let's place the blame where it really belongs here:  missed opportunities.  Campbell's stands out, of course, as does Cazorla's comical PK.  (Tell the truth:  did you expect him to make it?  I didn't.  It was just that kind of game.)  But there were others for sure.  Myhill didn't have to do anything an EPL keeper isn't expected to, because those missed opportunities sailed over the crossbar or dribbled into the path of a defender.  I was happy Ozil got another assist, but that offensive display was shocking, against a hardworking but not particularly good defense.

What really sticks in my craw is that this game was a throwback to the Arsenal of the Fabregas era:  soft and easily bullied.  Tony Pulis always sends his guys out to kick Arsenal and dammit if it doesn't work.  The referee wasn't calling the game tightly and it didn't hurt them--it hurt us.  Even the ridiculous putting off of Cazorla on the PK went unpunished and it worked.  This was a disheartening loss that could reverberate through the rest of the season, especially if Coq's injury is serious.  The Gunners are better than this result, but you don't get points for that.  Contrast this with Man U's earlier gritty performance in assuring three points from their game with Watford.  They're just as injury-riddled as we are, but they took care of business against an inferior side.  We did not.  Wenger has to accept his responsibility for not preparing his side to hold a lead.

Three points punted away, and with it perhaps the season.  There are too many good teams in the hunt this year for a soft Arsenal to outrun.

L'Equipe's Interview of Arsene Wenger

Le Professeur est le philosophe aussi.  Really, you have to read this interview, translated in Arseblog.  Is it any wonder his men will do anything he asks?  I've long admired his outlook on the game and his obvious respect for his players.  Just look what he did for Kolo Toure when he was in trouble for having a banned substance in his body.  He volunteered a plausible innocent explanation--though Toure had left for Manchester City some time ago.  He still kept in contact and still tried to help him.  Former players don't speak ill of him and he doesn't speak ill of them.  This interview doesn't go into that, but it sheds light on the workings of one of the finest minds ever to manage a football club, and a truly impressive intellectual who just happens to have devoted his life to football.

New York Crimson Cows 1 - 0 DC United

What a limp exit from the season.  Would we even be in the playoffs without Hamid?  Benny is the guy, but the payroll has to increase if DC is ever gonna win trophies again.

The NLD

Fair result, I thought.  Tottenham is pretty darned good now.  I was happy to see that Campbell and Debuchy weren't the defensive liability I feared (although Campbell should have pressured the ball on that pass that sprung Kane).  Their goal was way too easy.  I cringed when the replay showed Kos keeping Kane onside and then taking himself out of the play trying vainly to get the call.  That was most un-Kos-like.  Both teams missed golden opportunities for more goals than they got.  The game was wide open and a delight to watch (or would have been had I not been so wrapped up in the result).

Before the start, I told myself I expected a 1-1 result, with the goals coming from Kane and Giroud.  If I'd missed the game and you'd told me that Gibbs scored a goal for us, I'd have figured it was a laugher and Gibbs got a breakaway as a defensive replacement.  I was very happy for him.  He needed this.

I haven't seen the blogs yet, but my impression was that all the players on both sides gave a good account of themselves.  If we can play this well carrying all those injuries, we'll be OK this year.

Shad, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us?

For several months, it looked as though Shad Forsythe, the American trainer we hired from the German national team, had found the secret to keeping our players fit.  We had a preternaturally long period in which injuries were at an acceptable level.  Suddenly, that is no longer true.  The Arsenal official site lists ten first-teamers out.  Some are marginal, like Arteta and Rosicky, but some are vital, like Koscielny, Ramsey, and Walcott.  Fortunately, half those guys have a good chance of being back right after the international break.  But we won't have them for the NLD, and important players like Welbeck and Wilshere probably can't play until January.

Bayern Munich 5 - 1 Arsenal

I'll look at Arseblog's player ratings a little later and they'll all probably be 4s and 5s, but I don't have a problem with how our guys played today.  Munich was just too good.  I wish Alexis had passed the ball sooner a few times and our defenders had not tried to play their way out so often, but I can't point to anyone and say he played poorly.  The goals were all quality, and Cech made a couple excellent saves.  If he's smart, Wenger will emphasize that this game shows how far we can improve, and not let it crush confidence.

Olympiakos won, meaning that we have to hope Bayern beats them, and we have to beat Zagreb at home and Olympiakos by two goals in Athens (the tiebreaker is head to head, and with three away goals, the Greeks are in the driver's seat).  Giroud's petulance in Zagreb and Ospina's howler in London may have put us in too deep a hole.  I don't even know what happens if we get the parachute into UEFA Cup.  Is there another group round?  Or just more knockout stages?  I don't want to think about it.  I suspect Wenger will tank the UEFA competition if that's where we end up, prioritizing the league.

Spuds play Anderlecht at home tomorrow, so they'll have even less rest than we'll get.  Kane's already saying how he's confident they'll beat us.  Let's show them how far they can improve.

DC United 0 - 1 New York Energy Drinks

The Red Bulls were simply better than DC on both sides of the ball.  Only Bill Hamid's fabulous work in goal kept this one from becoming a rout.  DC didn't have a single shot on goal (the first time an MLS playoff home team was that toothless) and completed barely more than half their pass attempts.  A draw would have been an unjust result.  Now DC has to go to a place they lost badly twice and hope to score at least twice (it isn't going to end 0 - 1 and go to PKs).  Thing is, there are players on the team who can make that happen.  But I doubt that New York is going to allow that.  You never know...a red card, an own goal, a handball in the area could tip this our way.  But DC will have to show much more going forward for anything good to happen.  Much more.

Swansea 0 - 3 Arsenal

A perfectly dreadful first half was not punished because Cech bailed us out once again.  Gomis's inept finishing helped too.  Arsenal turned it on in the second half and easily outclassed the Swans for a deserved three points.  Some points of interest (to me anyway):

Giroud showed why he's so important for us.  His hold-up play was superb.  The header was exquisite.  I love the way he used Mert's jersey to sling himself around him and get away from his marker!  Yes, he missed a golden opportunity on his left foot in the first half, but let's forget about that first half.  My heart was in my mouth when he clutched his knee and writhed on the turf for a few minutes.  He seemed fine in the second half, and disappointed at being taken out for a defensive replacement.

Fabianski.  I have always liked him, but never more than yesterday when he dropped the ball at Koscielny's feet so Kos could sweep it into the vacant goal.  Well done, Lukas!

I was convinced that Joel Campbell would never really be an Arsenal player.  In fact, I think I wrote that in my last post.  But he stepped in and did the job, all over the field.  He did not look out of place.  On a day when Alexis was not looking much like Alexis, and Bellerin needed a lot of help containing Montero, it took a lot of energy and confidence to contribute the way Campbell did.  It was great to see him score near the end.  He will need to turn in more performances like that in the coming weeks.

So, we got the result we needed most.  We kept pace with City at the top of the table (!) and pulled within four in goal difference.  Man U dropped another two points in another dreary 0 - 0 draw.  I still don't get Leicester, but until Jamie Vardy cools off I guess they'll be contenders for Europe.  West Ham looked more like the West Ham I know and lost to Watford.  I can only hope that Tottenham comes back to earth.  The NLD looms large now.  I'm not expecting much in Munich, but we could get lucky, I guess.  A point would be fantastic.