I don’t know where to start, so this might be quite a disjointed ramble. It’s supposed to be the season of goodwill, but I’m not feeling it. Not one little bit.
Once again I don’t intend to give a detailed account of a game you have all seen and who all know enough to form your own opinions of what went right or indeed wrong. So I’ll just give you a feel of how I felt.
Before kickoff I had some good news, Tomas Rosicky was to start. Now, anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge for of the little Mozart. Well he didn’t let me down. He was my man of the match. I thought he and Santi were subline.
Sanchez got MOTM from Alan Smith and at times was unplayable. At other times he was annoying and wasteful. It was clear that Santi was the designated penalty taker and that Alexis pushed him into the shadows and stepped into the limelight. He them proceeded to do an impersonation of Mesut Ozil taking a penalty and rolled the ball to Green. He and Ozil might be our best two players, but neither should be allowed near a penalty kick again. Frankly, it was a pathetic attempt.
Had we gone one up in 7 minutes , the way we were playing, I am convinced the floodgates would have opened and Arsene would have been in a position to make early substitutions and saved some legs for West Ham.
Instead, with only a one goal lead at half time, a moment of utter stupidity in the second minute of the second half, saw Giroud leave the field and the game changed. Now it became more of an even contest and we ended up working hard to the very end.
However, despite the incompetence of the referee in giving a penalty against Debuchy for making an excellent tackle, we won. With 10 men for half the game and some third choice players on the pitch.
Once again despite winning, the usual twitter experts when into meltdown. Moaning that we should have scored double figures and talking bollocks about “in-game management” and poor substitutions.
The thing is that had it been me, I would have left Debuchy at right-back and had Chambers sit slightly in front with Flamini. But that does not mean I think that is what should have been done, I just think thats what I would have done.
It seem to me that no matter what Arsene does, these know-it-alls say he got it wrong. Even if he does what they would have done, they claim he should have done something else.
The bottom line is WE WON. And I cant think of a single player who had a bad game.
Its our job to support the team, not manage it.
Positively Arsenal 
https://mobile.twitter.com/Squawka/status/549505417198718977/photos
Song didn’t have as poor a game as some will say, though there was that moment of distraction in the build up to Welbeck’s goal. At the end of the day both him and Francis are useful footballers, both of them would’ve been looked at by the same team of coaches before being brought in to AFC.
Same as with Koscielny and Vermaelan, before the former skippers first big ankle knock: I disagree with those who feel Tommy was never consistent or savvy in the role. Rash no doubt, but he came to the club after having been Ajax captain (I think) which tells you all more about this player then I can, and Vertonghan has never reached the levels in the PL that we saw Tommy play at, and he didn’t lose over a season and a half to injury as an excuse to justify his unfortunate habit of pulling opponents shorts after heaving been burned or passed.
So I’m happy to trust the same team of scouts and coaches* who dug up these two quality CBs. That won a trophy in May (shush! It’s a secret!), to find a CB who can possibly cover that LCB role to the standard required. Watching the development of Smalling it’s clear that AW is not the only one who’ll try and avoid playing a good young player at CB. Smalling is a good player (allegedly AFC were in for him, more then once we’ve heard), but I think Chambers is going to be or already is the BFG’s understudy, with games at RB to help his development (this is just idle speculation btw!).
*can be critical too! Allegedly Nathaniel Clyne was passed over by some AFC youth scouts because they thought he was too small! Unforgivable to hear an AFC scout said that! Fortunately it’s safe to say we know those aren’t the same scouts selecting squad players! And there have been changes in that department too of late (Jonker etc.).
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Clyne is out injured? So, alongside Schneidy that means the Saints will be missing two of their Key players? If Rosicky is good to go that’d be sweet! Will both Chamberlain and Rosicky be available for this key game? How about some applause for the astute handling and rotation of Rosicky and Chamberlain by all coaches and physios (private and from the club!) when both needed to be handled with care through the tricky Xmas fixture crunch, with so many others out? *applauds*
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Interesting choice of word from the gaffer in the post match presser speaking on Podolski he said that the returning Özil offered further competition for the “forwards”. No idea what this might mean, but I understand this to mean that Özil will play some games at least in that LM/LF area, until he’s got some sharpness and fitness back. And then we shall see!
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yes, we need a CB, but Monreal and then Debuchy have been filling in… what is a squad for, not to fill in? you want to buy hummels and then bench him when kos is well and you don’t pay man city wages? would be highly welcome, but how feasible is that?
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Well, TS, Arsene thinks we need more cover at CB so (as PG says) we do.
I can’t imagine Hummels coming to sit on the bench somehow. Ron Vlaar is a posibbility – maybe he’d like the opportunity of CL football, especially as Kos’s injury could be repetitive until he’s had an op. Must admit that until the last World Cup, I always said, “If Ron Vlaar is the answer, you’re asking the wrong question” but he impressed for Holland. And if he came, I’d adopt the view of a former US president and say, “Yes he’s a lumbering galumph, but he’s OUR lumbering galumph.”
As for Calum Chambers, having an extra CB would free him to learn the DM role where I think he’d be excellent with a bit more pace. Don’t really understand why these giraffe-legged players like BFG are so slow and tiny little buggers like Theo and Santi are so quick. You’d think that if the long-legs were moved faster, the player would run quicker, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. Anyone care to enlighten me?
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New post is up. http://wp.me/p37nXa-18S
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