Wednesday, December 29, 2010

"We'll see how costly this is come May." Arsene Wenger

Last night Arsene Wenger took the Gunners to the DW stadium on the back of an emphatic victory over London rivals Chelsea, and what does he do...? Instead of sticking to a winning team or at least a winning defensive combination, he makes 8 changes to the team. Seriously Arsene??


Its almost as if Wenger wants the Gunners to end fourth this season.


The Gunners went to Wigan with a chance to put all the ghosts of last season behind them and arrive on the scene as serious title contenders, but instead Wenger treated this game as he would a Carling Cup fixture. And all our great leader had to say was: "We'll see how costly this is come May." Unbelievable!!


As far as I am concerned the Chelsea win has now been nullified by a draw at Wigan.


In my opinion if you want to rest key players ie. Wilshere, Nasri, Walcott... let them start the game and sub them out at half time, hopefully by then we've sealed the victory already.


Fabianski can be happy with his performance, made a few crucial saves in the game after the clueless Squillaci did what he does best. Squillaci even managed to score Wigan's equalizer.

Squillaci and Koscielny are njust not the right combination at the back in my opinion, I would like to see Djourou and Vermaelen partner in the centre of our defense. Koscielny fouled N'zogbia for a penalty and the first goal, and Squillaci scored an own goal to hand Wigan the equalizer.

Eboue left huge gaps on left side of our defense last night and definitely was not the right choice to replace Clichy.

Sagna was brilliant as he always is, going forward he provided another option, it would have been great to see Sagna and Walcott operating on the right from the very beginning of the game.

My midfield for last night's game against Wigan would have involved all the players that played against Chelsea bar Fabregas.

Somethinng like this: Nasri(left), Wilshere, Song and Denilson, Walcott(right). I believe these five players in the midfield could have got the job done with Chamakh up front.

Instead Wenger opted for: Arshavin(left), Diaby and Denislon, Rosicky(right) and Bendtner and Chamakh up front.

If it hasn't occurred to Wenger by now that Rosicky is struggeling with form then I don't know anymore. He insists on having him replace Fabregas and makes him the captain everytime.

So as a Gooner supporter, I take comfort in the fact that only dropped two points last night and not three. My hopes are still high... but if we want to contend for the title we are going to have to put our strongest team forward at every opportunity. United are unbeaten in the league and Spurs and City are looking really good.

Come on you Gooners, lets take Birmingham and then City and put our names down as one of the favourites to win this title.

Preview: Wigan v Arsenal - Burying the Wigan hatchet

Tonight sees Arsenal traveling to the DW stadium, where they take on Wigan Athletic on the back of an emphatic home victory over Chelsea. Despite the convincing nature of the Gunners victory, there still remains unanswered questions on their ability to go the distance with the likes of the trophy-laden Manchester Utd. And rightfully so one could argue, since despite their current league position of 2nd, we have already seen the similar inconsistencies to their previous campaign, with the surprising home defeats to West Brom, Newcastle and Spurs.

Tonight's match provides the Gunners with an opportunity to bury the hatchet which effectively killed off their 2009/2010 title challenge. The Gunners lost this fixture last year 3-2, and they will recall with painful memory the fact that with 10 minutes of the 90 left, the Arsenal were cruising 2 nil, and some how they contrived to concede 3 goals to surrender the 3 points which would at the time have taken them to within 3 points of the eventual champions Chelsea.

Fabianski (often referred to as Flapianski) particularly will feel the need to banish the memory of his league debut for Arsenal at the DW, as he gifted Titus Bramble the equaliser when he dropped what appeared to be a routine corner.

Eight months have passed, and the Pole has established himself as the #1 in the poles. By all accounts he has dealt with the psychological damage of the previous encounter at the DW, but he still has some convincing to do before the Arsenal faithful start singing his name from the rooftops!

We never know what to expect from this Wigan side, but then neither do we know what to expect from the Gunners? The one thing I do expect from this fixture is goals, if the Gunners can win by 5 they will go top on goal difference ... right now all I am hoping for is the 3 points!

Come on you Gooners, bury the hatchet!