Arsenal 2 - 1 Swansea

Swansea at the Emirates should have been an automatic multi-goal win.  Instead, the Arsenal defense gave too many chances to the Swans in the first half, and they took one of them.  The second half was apparently (I did not see this game, thanks to NBCSN's new policy of charging for the games not televised) a very different story.  Man-of-the-match Sead Kolasinac pounced on a deflected pass and arrowed it home past two defenders and the excellent Fabianski; then he set up Ramsey for a classy finish just inside the near post.  There should have been more goals, but a great save from our former keeper and some bad misses from our usual suspects kept it at 2-1.  Three points, yeah, but the team we put out there really should have blown Swansea out of the stadium.  I worry that the men are becoming complacent.  It shouldn't be the case, seeing as how Stoke and Watford beat us, the latter outplaying us, and Liverpool wiped us off their boots fairly easily.

It's hard to imagine Red Star Belgrade troubling even our young guys, though you never know.  They are in a battle with BATE to advance and they will scrap for every point.  Why not start Nketiah?  Or Akpom?  Giroud played serious minutes today.  And I will never get used to seeing Elneny as a center half.  He can't like it.

Well, I'm loving Europa League.  Long term, it's good to stay in these "lesser" competitions like it and the League Cup as long as possible, to give the fringe and young players meaningful minutes.  A poor performance against City in our next league clash would pretty much settle the question of whether we can compete for the title, so why not shoot for some other silverware?

Arsenal 2 - 1 Norwich (League Cup)

Wenger changed the entire starting 11 from Sunday's thrashing of Everton.  Although the Gunners had more of the ball and seemed dominant for long stretches, Norwich could very easily have won this game.  They had some golden chances not taken, Elneny could have been given a red when we were down a goal, and Debuchy tangled with a Canary in the area and may well have given up a penalty for it.  But the referee was charitable and it gave Eddie Nketiah a chance to be the hero, scoring two expertly-taken goals, the first to send the game into extra time, and the second (a wonderful header) to win it.  Sweet.

I think we've been rather fortunate that our makeshift back five in the second team have not been shipping oodles of goals.  Elneny as center half?  Odd.  Holding does not look out of place, but Debuchy always seems like a man who knows something awful is about to happen to him.  Nelson and Maitland-Niles aren't wingbacks.  Coquelin seems out of joint.  Jack's all right, but seems a little short on fitness.  Walcott was back to his usual frustrating self.  Iwobi didn't have his best night, and Giroud didn't have the impact we should expect from him. 

Well, a win is a win, and that's what happened Tuesday.  A win.  West Ham is next.  I make no predictions.  Before our season opener a couple times back, I told my neighbor, "We own West Ham."  Of course, it was the Gunners who got owned that day.  If the Hammers can score three on the Spuds to win at Wembley, they can beat anybody on their day.  It'll be up to our second unit to make sure it isn't their day when we meet in December.  I'd like to see us take this trophy.  It may have lost its shine in recent decades, but it's one we haven't won since 1993, before AW arrived.  You know he'll want to win it.

Everton 2 - 5 Arsenal (and Europa League)

First, what a lovely goal to win in Belgrade!  Giroud meant that, 100%, and the buildup was sublime.  It was a great run-out for some youngsters, too.  It's cruise control now in the Europa League until the knockout stages, which should help us immensely in the EPL.  We'll want to finish top, which should be easy now, with the two opponents closest on points having to come to the Emirates.

Everton.  Oh, poor Everton.  They looked completely disjointed.  Every time I see Sigurdson take the field against us I am concerned, but he looked like a man who's abandoned all hope, having jumped from Swansea into an even less promising situation.  I thought Koeman was fine, but Everton's dreadful play is not good evidence for that.  Arsenal's passing was slick and assured (mostly), but we've tried the same tricks and flicks against every other team with far less success.  The Toffees looked awful.  No, they were awful.  So I'm not going to get carried away with this richly deserved win.

We should have been out of sight in the first ten minutes.  But another poor touch from Xhaka allowed Rooney the chance to score, and he did so with an excellent strike.  I don't begrudge him; he's earned his reputation and the ovation he got for that goal for his first club.  The Gunners resumed their dominance and finally broke through when Monreal tucked away a rebound of a Xhaka shot very nicely.  (I know Xhaka has a shot, but he's trying a few too many from long range for my liking.)  Halftime was a welcome respite for Everton.

Alexis was picking out lovely passes all game, and none were better than the ball he served Ozil to head past Pickford.  I don't know how many headed goals Ozil has made in his career, but I don't remember another at Arsenal.  This one, however, was well done.  I was feeling confident, and Gueye's ejection turned it into a rout.  A flowing move ended with Lacazette sweeping in #3, and after Jack entered the game, he put Ramsey in and this time the Welshman finished his chance.  (He bottled an earlier one.)  A comedy goal resulted from a poor Monreal back-pass that Cech was slow to react to; 2-4.  Alexis finally got the goal his performance deserved at the death.

Not to be picky, but Xhaka had another poor game, in my opinion.  Kolasinac is not 100%, but performed adequately.  Bellerin has got to be one of the worst crossers in EPL history.  I love the rest of his game, but he probably could have gotten three assists today.  The back three was very good, though Everton's attack wasn't fearsome.  The mids were good enough.  Ramsey went high so often that he looked like a second center forward.  At least he got a goal today.  I like his confidence, but where does he get it?  The front three were very good, always dangerous, and each got a goal.  I'm convinced that Lacazette is going to knock quite a few in this season.  Alexis is magical.  Given the space he had today, he can tear a defense apart with either his dribbling or his passing, and he can finish too.  Ozil had the right opponent today--they hammered Alexis when they could catch him, but Ozil glided where he wanted to.  Nice stuff.

This game changes nothing.  We still have trouble against a press, we're wasteful in front of goal, and we look fragile, especially away, against most teams.  Everton is imploding.  Cech needs to do some work to at least start anticipating events better; he's lost a step and opposing forwards are catching on.  Xhaka has got to start listening to the coaching staff.  He's killing us.

Ah, well, I feel so much better than I did a week ago.  On to the Carabao Cup game Tuesday against Norwich.  Home games against Swansea and Red Star Belgrade lead into a gut check at Man City on November 5.  I'll take a point, thanks.

Watford 2 - 1 Arsenal

I don't want to hear about the soft penalty the Hornets were awarded.  Watford was the better team on the night and deserved to win.  It could have been worse; we were outplayed by a wide margin in the 2nd half.  There were at least two clear-cut chances when we did counter, but Ozil bottled one and Xhaka (and others) simply wouldn't shoot on another.  What was Ozil on for anyway?  He was exactly the wrong guy.  The midfield needed more steel. 

Well.  This seems to be who we are right now:  a stylish but vulnerable mid-table team with pretensions to excellence.  Why do I watch these torture sessions?  At least DC United doesn't tease me with delusions of adequacy.  They stink, so any wins are a pleasant surprise.  The USMNT is done ruining my international football experience for a while.  If you love something, let it go.  The Gunners can go free range for a while as far as I'm concerned.

USMNT Saves Me a Lot of Time Next Summer

Congratulations to Honduras and Panama for playing themselves into the World Cup.  Fortunately, a family event kept me from watching the game.  From the writeup, T&T was simply better and could have been awarded a couple of penalties too.  I expected better from this US team, but they got precisely what they deserved:  humiliation, some time off, and no doubt an unhinged rant from Alexi Lalas.