Manchester City 2 - 1 Arsenal

For the second game in a row, Arsenal has been outhustled and outplayed by a team that was simply better.  This time was a more thorough butt-whipping than the last, and accomplished the same way:  the opponent gave us no space.  Our goal was very well taken but a total aberration--after that waltz through a wide-open City defense, they tightened up and gave us nothing the rest of the way.  At the other end, we were under pressure constantly.  When City's attack broke down, we gave it right back, as City replicated Barcelona's style and we seemed unable to make a pass.

I'm not going to recap the game.  It's too painful.  We stank.  Walcott scored the goal but was largely anonymous the rest of the way.  Ozil seemed uninterested; I hardly could tell he was out there.  I don't fault our defensive six except for their inability to clear properly or find the offensive players--not that they did anything good for the last 88 minutes of the game.  Alexis worked his socks off as usual, but had to be daydreaming towards the end about where he wants to be playing next year.  Iwobi couldn't make a pass when it counted.

I was very confident before the Everton game, but didn't think we were going to pull this one off.  No Aguero, no problem for City, who actually buy strikers when they need one and have plenty.  Do you remember when with much fanfare we re-signed our "British core" of Gibbs, Ox, Theo, Jack, Aaron, and Jenko?  The two fullbacks are little-used subs, the wingers often start but are seldom effective, and the central mids can't get on the team here or in Bournemouth.  Ramsey looked like one of Europe's best attacking midfielders for a few months in his career.  Shawcross aside, injuries are part of the game and all six of those players have had more than their share.  Our core was and is soft.  Our best players, in my opinion, are Kos and Alexis this season.  They and Ozil have been healthy.  We can bully inferior teams but as in prior years we flop against our closest rivals far too many times.

I'm going to try to forget this abortion of a week.  We're dropping like a stone in the table, and deserve to.  Our best chance of making next year's Champions' League may be to win it this year.  Yeah, I know what the chances of that are, if this is how we play.