Southampton preview: back on track

Morning everyone.

Real football returns tomorrow, as the main surprise of the season visits the Emirates. Southampton sit in third place and trail us by only three points after eleven games. It's the kind of opposition that is dangerous to underestimate, especially as their relative success is not coincidental. They have beaten Liverpool and drawn United away from home so anything less than full concentration can see us drop a couple of points.

Thankfully, we have Walcott back in contention, for the first time in two months. He can offer something different to our usual set up, because of his willingness to make runs behind defenders and to generally play a more straightforward game. He's not another flippy-flappy, tippy-tappy midfielder, seeking an opportunity for a perfect pass. He's more goal-driven and for me he's basically a second striker, more valuable for his finishing skills, than for his passing game.

Theo may even provide a genuine alternative for Giroud. Again, his style of play is different to that of the Frenchman, but didn't we bemoan exactly that in several games? So it's definitely good, that he's back. Theo is still more likely to be deployed on the right, but his qualities won't just disappear because of it. Bottom line is, we'll just be able to rotate our midfielders because of Walcott's return.

As for the others injured, things aren't looking that good. The closest to full fitness is Podolski, but he's still the weeks away. The Ox, a month. Diaby, well, never.

Even with these out, we are still much better off than, say, a month ago. Arsene will finally be able to adequately fill both the starting eleven and the bench and this time there will be some genuine options on it. Someone that really can impact how the game unfolds. God we need this transfer window now, before anyone else is injured.

This is a game we can and must take three points from, though. We have the players, we play at home and we need a response to the United defeat. It's a pity we couldn't get one straight away, but where would the fun be in that?

In other news, Gibbs and Szczesny spoke up during this tedious Interlull. The Englishman talked about our (quite obvious) defensive improvement, saying that the whole team takes their respective defensive duties seriously. He also mentioned a high defensive line we adopt in order to retake possession of the ball immediately after losing it. Great, great, but nothing groundbreaking.

The Pole meanwhile, said we will able to challenge for the title even without new additions. While we do need to boost at least our striker options, Szczesny has a point.

He's talking about the spirit inside the team, rather than our transfers. Our mentality of winners, if I may. For the last year or so, our team really looks like a team, fighting for each other, grinding out results in unfavourable circumstances. There one thing, though. Comebacks. We rarely come from behind to win games. Though I hate United, but even last year the best indicator of their strength was the number of comebacks they have pulled off. We need to try and match it, if we want to be successful.

Not sure there'll be a post tomorrow, but check back, in case something pops up.

Until later

Szczesny signs on; the Ox remains sidelined; Bendtner wants to join Real

Hello everyone. It's been quite some time, but not much was happening, to be honest. In a few days time this last Interlull will be behind us and we'll be able to get down to real business.

For now, however, we'll have to contend with whatever bits and pieces the press feeds us. Not exactly the most reliable source, but still, it's something. Better than nothing, I guess. Probably.

The most interesting bit, is that we've signed Szczesny. There were some worrisome reports of the two parties not being to reach a consensus due to the Poles`s salary claims. As I understand, Arsenal have given in and offered Wojciech what he wanted. Which is good, no doubt about it.

Our policy of penny-pinching has become notorious down the years, with Walcott becoming the first player to earn a hundred grand a week. Now Szczesny joins him. I'm not sure, how much we pay Ozil, but it's good to see we can tie down our key players by meeting their demands.

And make no mistake, Szczesny is one of our key players right now. There was a lot of scepticism surrounding Walcott`s new contract, especially as his form dipped right after he put his signature on the dotted line, but Szczesny seems worthy of this kind of money.

Sure, he's young (23, can you believe it?), he still has a lot to learn, but the signs are encouraging. Last season Wojciech became complacent mid-way through the campaign and found himself benched in favour of Fabianski. Fabianski, fresh from injury, who got his first bit of competitive football in a year against Bayern, at Allianz Arena. It sent out a message.

Szczesny grasped the meaning of that message and, as soon as his older counterpart sustained yet another injury, stepped up, gunned and ready. He became an indispensable part of our machine during the run-in, made a string of important saves that bagged us the points and, generally, was near impeccable.

Wojciech carried this fine form into the new season, restricting Fabianski`s playing time to a couple of CoC appearances and making Viviano a third-choice keeper. One of my acquaintances lamented this fact, rightly pointing out at how good Viviano was last season, when playing for Fiorentina. It gives you a clear picture just how good our Number 1 is right now.

Wojciech became focused, goal-driven, yet kept that attitude of his that makes him likeable a person. So we definitely did the right thing by acknowledging his form and paying him top dollar to maintain his services.

In other news, Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a setback and, though he was due back in mid-November, he will now make a return in 2014.

This leaves us in a bad spot. Walcott is back, but Podolski is not, so we only have the Englishman and Gnabry as natural wide players. This inability to stretch the opposition's defence was clearly visible against United, so I think we need to address this matter in January. Another flank player won't hurt, especially taking Podolski's injury record and Gnabry's inexperience into account.

And to end it all on a lighter note, Bendtner tipped himself for a move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona. His humility is really quite fascinating. What a guy.

I'll leave at that. Until later

Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal: not great, but not critical

So, yesterday our fine away run came to an end after we've suffered a defeat at Old Trafford. Ferguson or no Ferguson, this place is cursed.

It was especially painful to lose the way we did, conceding the only goal from a set-piece, the Dutch Skunk converting his lone chance. But first things first.

Right before the whistle it became obvious, that Rosicky and Mertesacker will have no part to play in this game. Both fell prey to sickness of some kind. Arteta and Gnabry were also affected, but both were in the squad.

On the bright side, Whilshere and Flamini recovered from an ankle knock and a groin injury respectively, with the latter starting the game alongside Arteta. Vermaelen, meanwhile, filled in at centre-back.

The opening minutes saw the hosts in control, only to be denied time and again by our organized defense with Vermaelen putting in a lot of effort and not in vain. We would see just one shot on target from United before the 27th minute.

On this minute, Vermaelen would clear the ball for a corner after a dangerous run from van Persie. Rooney crossed the ball, the Dutch Skunk out-jumped Ramsey and headed the ball into the top corner. 1-0.

This changed the dynamic of the match. United stopped coming forward, content to give us the ball and let us come at them. However, we would only have one half-chance before the whistle, which saw Giroud head over from a cross.

A change was needed, and badly, but once again out bench lacked real options. This matter really needs to be addressed during the transfer window. It has already cost us points.

In the second half, Arsenal became more fluid. Ramsey`s shot was blocked, Gibbs had an effort saved and Ozil drove the ball into the side-netting. In an effort to save the game, Whilshere, Bendtner and Gnabry were introduced and our best chance came from the German.

He received a great pass down the right, cut the ball back for Giroud, but Jones was there to mop up. In the dying seconds, Bendtner failed to connect with cross, which would have snatched us a point.

United weren't completely listless during the second forty-five minutes. They had two chances of their own, first when a lucky deflection almost helped Rooney to make it 2-0 and the second when Smalling failed to get a proper head to van Persie's cross from a free-kick. But the overall feeling was that we dropped at least a point.

Arsene was understandably disappointed after the game, saying:

"It's disappointing to lose the game the way we lost it. I felt that we were a bit nervous at the start of the game and didn't play our game against a team of Manchester who was nervous, a bit insecure and we gave them a little bit of comfort by making the mistake at the first set-piece - or the second. After that we lost too many balls and we rushed our game in the first half. In the second half when we played our game we played in one half and they counter-attacked a few times but we didn't find the opportunity to equalise. We had the opportunities but we missed always a few inches to push the ball in the net and they were well focused to defend and defend and then try to catch us on the break - that happened once or twice in the game. Overall it's disappointing to lose the game like that because I think we had the opportunity at least to get a draw out of this game".

Well, he summed it up pretty nicely, but a couple of things are worth mentioning.

First of all, I think the team wasn't able to deliver because of simple exhaustion,  both physical and mental. We played a lot of games, had to grind out results and that comes at a cost. We were just unable to find our game, but thumbs up for the performance all the same. We kept going till the very end, never gave up despite the hard going and basically, dug deep.

Secondly, Ozil. His performance was poor, but the level of criticism heading his way is insulting. He's still a young man and, whatever you think, just can't be awesome in every game. Like everyone else, he can feel unwell, tired or just not in the right mood. He has already done a lot for the team, will undoubtedly do so much more, so getting harsh on him after a bad performance is just stupid.

And one last thing. I know I've already said quite a lot on the subject, but the problem was crystal clear yesterday: lack of squad depth. We know we have a great squad, when everyone's fit, but it's never the case, especially at Arsenal. Not much we can do about this situation right now, but when the time comes, we should not just sit on our bottoms and wait for a perfect footballer. We're suffering from player shortage already and I shudder to think, what it can lead to in, say, March, if we're still fighting on three fronts by then.

As the last (mercifully) Interlull is kicking into high gear, there will be less news, so I don't know, when I'll write next. Check back every new and again, though, in case anything pops up. And don't feel too down about this defeat. After all, we are still top of the league.

Until later

United preview: make it grand

Hello everyone.

Tomorrow we visit Old Trafford and for the first time in years we may be the favorites.

Ferguson's teams are usually hell-bent on beating us at their place just because it's, well, us. They were a cut above Arsenal last year, smashed us to pieces two years ago and, basically, I cannot recall when was the last time we won there. Probably in 2002.

Now, however, the landscape has changed. United is going through all sorts of problems following Ferguson's departure and I think it's the best time to capitalize on it. We're are on a strong run, have beaten two tough teams inside four days and our level of confidence is soaring to new heights all the time. So I say, go for it.

Sure, United has recovered a bit from their atrocious start in the league winning two games a row, but in no way do they seem invincible, and a blunder against Sociedad proves that. They still are finding their game, they are prone to defensive errors and we can make life very difficult for them.

Our run, on the other hand, is no luck or coincidence. Arsenal have become formidable opponents, especially away from home. 14 wins and a draw is as good as it gets. Our team finally functions as a whole, Arsene can now implement his freeflowing brand of football, eh, freely, knowing our defense will provide a decent base to build his team on.  And the number of technical players in our is enough for that aggressive attacking style to work.

Before the Liverpool game if someone had offered me six points from three games, I would have taken them. Today, there is a very real possibility to bag nine. Who would have thought it likely?

It terms of team selection, we have Flamini and maybe Whilshere back. The former is fully available, while the latter will face a late test. There is also a flip side, with Podolski facing another month out of action. Pity, but we seem to cope without him.

No word on Walcott and this may be both good and bad. The bad side is obvious: he won't make in time face United. The good side is, he WILL make it, but the manager is just keeping his comeback under wraps.

If it's the latter scenario, it'll be grand. We'll have another finisher on our hands, who have become much more clinical in the last 18 months. He will be a direct goal threat, much like Giroud.

Theo will also provide an outlet on the right, allowing players like Ozil and Cazorla to exploit his pace. In other words, we'll get ourselves a formidable weapon with his return.

Should Flamini, Whilshere and Walcott all return (and I know it's a long shot), our bench will finally start to resemble that of the league leaders. It's been somewhat discomforting to look at our options in the last couple games, realising we have no one to boost attack with in case something wrong. It was especially the case against Borussia, when things seemed to go not in our favor, to see Akpom and Hayden as our only midfield options.

Our midfield area is stretched to the limit, but not because we have few players there. It's because all our wingers are out injured and this problem looks more acute to me than our need for a striker. First thing we should do, when the transfer window re-opens in January, is buy ourselves a wide player. And then a striker. And offer a goddamn contract to Sagna. I don't care, if he wants to become the highest-paid right-back ever. Just do it.

That's it for today, back later (on Monday, most likely) with a review. In the meantime, have yourselves an enjoyable weekend.

Borussia 0-1 Arsenal: boy wonder

Yesterday we accomplished a very hard task indeed. Some likened this game to our Bayern encounter in March, but I take the manager's side here: yesterday was even harder, because more was at stake. We had to beat Bayern comprehensively to qualify and, while we came close to doing so, it was very unlikely we'd accomplish such a thing before the game. Thus the Germans (from Munich) viewed the return fixture as something they don't necessarily had to win.

Last night, however, both teams needed these three points. Badly, knowing that a loss will greatly hamper their chances, that with Napoli playing Marseille. The pressure was at the hosts to deliver at their turf, though.

Arsene made no changes from the side, that smashed the Mugmashers four days ago. Gnabry was the only new face, recovering from his ankle injury in time.

Borussia started brightly, and though they didn't have much of the ball, their constant pressing high up the pitch (in our half, to be precise), prevented us from doing anything with the ball when we had it. They were constantly trying to catch us on a mistake, but our vigorous defending made it impossible for the Germans to capitalise on mis-hit passes or lost duels.

The first chance of the game fell to Borussia. Arteta, who fouled Lewandowski out wide, conceded a free-kick. Reus (I think) swung the ball in, Bender headed it down but Subotic blasted his chance.

Before the break, Borussia spurned another great chance. Some quick work from Reus saw Mkhitaryan clean trough, only for the Armenian to curl the ball wide of the far post. Arsenal, meanwhile, didn't come up with anything of note, other than a yellow for Arteta.

After the restart, Borussia looked more dangerous. First Reus saw his header palmed away by Szczesny, then Blaszczycowski (Jacob from now on) had a low shot parried. A change was desperately needed, cause our defense looked ready to give way at any moment. And then we scored.

Rosicky passed the ball to Ozil, who held the play up, waiting for Giroud to get into a good position and then crossed it towards the Frenchman, who headed it down for onrushing Ramsey. The Welshman sent the ball home.

Suddenly, the game was alive, with chances created at both ends. We got the better ones and in the 10 minutes that followed could have scored four times.

First Weidenfeller produced a save with his legs from a Ramsey shot following some brilliant play from Giroud. Then the Frenchman himself saw his goalbound effort cleared off the line from an ensuing corner.

The other two chances fell to Mertesacker. He first failed to get his head to the ball from a cross and then fired wide from a free-kick. Had he hit the target, it would have been game over.

But he hadn't. Borussia piled up the pressure, but our brilliant defending averted all the threats. Ozil stood out in the end, winning us a throw, a free-kick and a corner in the dying seconds. In the end, we saw it out.

Here's what Arsene had to say after the game, if you're interested.

Now, a few sidenotes. I really liked how disciplined we were defensively. We were switched on from the first minute to the last and when some genius (like Reus) broke through, Szczesny shored things up. Another well-deserved clean sheet.

Arteta is another guy, who stood out. Got a yellow for a professional foul, continued to defend high and wide despite this, made some really important tackles and interceptions and generally it's his personal accomplishment, that Lewandowski was useless up front. Flamini-esque performance.

And, naturally, Lewandowski. I only have unprintable words for him. There's been a lot of talk of his possible move to the Emirates, and after watching the Pole for two games, it is my sincere hope, he doesn't make this switch. Yes, he's a good striker, he scored an important goal, but his overall cheating behaviour is beyond all rhyme and reason. The ref should have given Lewandowski a second yellow for diving, in my opinion. And his attitude around Arteta (the Pole`s) is especially disgusting. Pity I didn't see his face after the final whistle. Hope he suffered. Hope he cried his eyes out.

Anyway, a great win, hugely important three points and another step towards qualification. Well done.

United is next.