Derby winners Gunners should be too much for Leicester

Howdy.

Had a busy couple of days, hence there was no fully-fledged Spurs review from me. Well, there was no review at all, to be exact. Seeing as now our next game is on Saturday already and the last was on Wednesday, I’m now facing the prospect of trying to cram both the review of Spurs and the preview of Leicester in one article. Gives me all the more reason to be concise I guess. So here we go.

Spurs review

Well, whatever I expected, this was not it. It’s a rare occurrence when Flamini scores a goal, when he scores twice inside one game...it’s unheard of. Literally. I don’t think he scored twice in one game for us.

However, if there was one player I desperately wanted to do well from that starting line-up, it was Flamini. Barring Wilshere and maybe a couple of other Englishmen (Gibbs, Ox, Theo), Arsenal players nowadays don’t really differentiate between a derby and any other game. They mostly don’t get why derbies are special because they were not born in this atmosphere of mutual rivalry (one which brilliantly described by Tim Stillman here). I do not claim I do either, but it’s still nice to see a player, who does, succeed. Witnessing Flamini demonstrate skills of a predator for the first and then finish the job with a sumptuous volley for the winner before running to the away fans’ section and pounding the chest, brought a tear to my eye. Well done, Flam.

However, not all of our players had a similarly good game. Wenger really did give fringe players another chance, making ten changes (only Ramsey kept his place. Played the full game too, what an engine). Gibbs and Chambers were very good, the former making a vital clearance off the line, the latter getting stuck in all over the place. Calum was really unlucky to have another own goal attributed to him, though I do wonder whether Ospina, who had the cross covered, gave Calum a shout. But overall Chambers had a second consecutive strong performance. Bodes well for him.

Others weren’t equally impressive, though. Debuchy in particular was beyond atrocious, and it was down the right that Spurs had most of the joy. Mathieu was caught high up the field time and again, forcing Chambers to cover for him, and didn’t offer much going forward. Campbell should shoulder some of the blame for this, as he rarely tracked back to help out Debuchy, but it’s safe to say the Frenchman isn’t getting his place back anytime soon at this rate.

I also wanted to single out Oxlade, because the Englishman had yet another unconvincing performance. On one hand he basically set up Flamini for the first by showing some nimble footwork. On the other, his passing seemed way off, with roughly 70% of his 26 passes finding their intended target. Campbell was even less impressive in this regard, attempting a mere 15 passes in the 66 minutes he was on the pitch.

I don’t think either will, or indeed should, play ahead of Ramsey on the right. Whatever his faults may be, the Welshman is generally a sound passer and helps keep the ball in circulation.

The aftermath

It was a deserved win for us in a match where neither team really seemed to care about the outcome for the first 25 minutes. Tottenham had their moments, we had ours and the difference was Mathieu Flamini. An unlikely hero, but here you go. The 4th round will see us travel to Sheffield Wednesday on a Tuesday (ahem), while City takes on Palace and Chelsea faces Stoke away.

Leicester preview

The bit of news that had everyone worried was Coquelin’s unavailability:

“He is progressing well, but he will not be available for Leicester. He has a scan today but the evolution is quite positive. He might start practice tomorrow. He has a little chance for Tuesday, and a bigger chance for Man United. It is very difficult to be definite today”.

Our other loss is Gabriel, who was banned by the FA for one game after having been found guilty of improper conduct. It looks like a bit of farce really, for a player to receive a ban for overreacting to a red card which was subsequently overruled, but here you go. Guess we should be grateful he is not doing 4 or 5 games while Costa walks free and pushes grannies with a walking stick.

However, we should have Cazorla back, while both Mertesacker and Chambers had good enough games in midweek for us not to be sweating over Gabriel’s ban. Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky remain unavailable.

The squad

Cech, Bellerin, Monreal, Koscielny, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis and Walcott should all come back in. The questions Arsene will have to solve is who partners Kos in defense and who plays alongside Cazorla at the base of the midfield.

I think Mertesacker will keep his place, though Chambers’ form and fitness may give Arsene something to chew on. Who will partner Cazorla is the more worrying dilemma for me.

I saw some suggest Wenger should be bold and play Ramsey alongside Cazorla and I have to say this idea has something about it. I didn’t particularly like how Cazorla dovetailed with Arteta against Zagreb.

Flamini might be a better option, not so much because of his midweek heroics, but rather because his style of play is closer to Coq’s. We shall see. In case Ramsey becomes the missing part of the jigsaw, I fully expect Oxlade to slot in on the right.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Bellerin - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Flamini - Cazorla - Ozil - Ramsey - Alexis - Walcott

The verdict

Leicester are not the ones to underestimate. They actually sit above us in the table with 12 points after 6 matches and are yet to lose a game. They have only lost once in their last 15 league games, racking up 34 points and right now they are top scorers in the Premier League with 13 goals, 8 of these coming at home. First Pearson and then Ranieri did a wonderful job with the team, so we’ll have to be fully switched on to beat The Foxes.

However, Arsenal has a pretty good record against Leicester, losing none of the last 17 matches and drawing only six. I also think it’s about time Sanchez scored, so the team should have what it takes to do what is necessary tomorrow, get a win and protect the achievement of going the entire campaign unbeaten.

So come on you Gunners.

Back with a review

Spurs preview: we need to win, but not because the cup is of importance in itself

So, it’s a North London derby in the first round of the Mickey Mouse Cup to keep us entertained. For the last couple of years we have persistently been getting rather tough opponents in the opening rounds of both cups: Southampton last year and Chelsea before that in CoC, Hull and Spurs in FA Cup. All the while teams like Chelsea and City get Walsall, Carlisle, Peterborough and whatnot. Just our luck.

I would say “I’m not fussed, it’s only Spurs” but that last week taught me humility. The problem for us right now is not the opponent, but rather our form, attitude, mentality or whatever. And shit refs, don’t forget shit refs.

On a side note, you do know Mike Dean the inept twat wasn’t punished in any way for the atrocious performance he produced? He was even picked to referee Spurs vs Norwich next week. I feel for both teams.

Also, while Costa was charged with violent conduct (proof there really is a God), Gabriel faces further charges of improper conduct, while both clubs were charged with “failing to control their players”. Additionally, Cazorla was issued a warning for basically calling the ref a wanker when leaving the field. We are ought to be building a statue for the Spaniard, not charging him with some weird shit.

So, in short, for one good decision, the FA made five wrong ones. Well done. Oh and, by the way, if Costa really is banned for three games, I would like to make it perfectly clear this punishment is insufficient, especially if Gabriel gets a lengthier ban. For one, the aggressor should always get a longer ban than the victim. Secondly, Costa made THREE separate offenses on Koscielny, while also flicking a foot at Chamberlain, diving and scratching Gabriel’s neck. If all this only gets him a three-game ban, well… But then again Shawcross only got 3 games for breaking Ramsey’s leg, Terry got 4 for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, so hoping for a bit of common sense from FA is stupid. Naive, even.

Back to Spurs, however. They haven’t exactly produced a flying start, with 2 wins (both 1-0, late goals against Sunderland and Palace respectively), 3 draws (Stoke, Everton and Leicester) and a loss to United on the opening day. Kane is off the pace at the moment, having scored none in 6 games, while their second-best outfield player (Eriksen) has only just returned from injury and only made a substitute appearance against Palace. The rest of Spurs squad is, excuse me, poverty (barring Alderweireld and Lloris). I’ve honestly tried watching them play a couple of times and wasn’t impressed at all.

As for us, well, let’s start with the usual team news.

Team news update

Cazorla will obviously be unavailable and I’m not holding my breath Gabriel will. Yes, Arsenal are trying to rescind/reduce his ban, but it seems unlikely we’ll succeed, especially with new charges being imposed.

Coquelin, with a swollen knee, will also be sidelined, but his injury doesn’t seem to be serious. The good news is that Mertesacker is finally back and I expect him to slot back in alongside Koscielny.

As for Tottenham, they will be without Bentaleb, Dembele and Mason, all of whom are carrying different knocks.

Squad and approach

Will be tough to guess our squad for this one. Arsene said he’ll go for an experienced side with 1 or two youngsters. On who the youngsters may be, your guess is as good as mine, since Jeff is injured and Wenger was somewhat elusive on Iwobi.

Maybe he was talking about Bielik? We haven’t seen so much as a glimpse of our January signing (unless you are watching U21s, that is). Apart from Bielik and Iwobi I genuinely can’t think of anyone, seeing as all the usual suspects were loaned out.

Apart from these “1 or 2 young players”, I guess the squad will be pretty much the same that faced Zagreb. A mere week after that debacle the squad players are likely to get  a chance to put things right. Besides, rotation is inevitable, we can’t have our regulars playing three times a week and the Leicester game should be of more importance.

So I expect to see Ospina in goal, Debuchy and Gibbs on the flanks, Mertesacker for Gabriel, Arteta for Coquelin, Ramsey alongside our captain and Oxlade with Campbell on the wings. Also, with Mertesacker back is it possible Wenger plays Chambers at the base? Doesn’t look likely to me, especially since that would mean using all our centre-backs at once, but you never know.

The two really important questions, however, are these: who plays up top and who plays behind the striker?

Do we persist with Theo or does he need a rest? Personally, I’d keep him if possible. He looks to be starting to grow into the role of a lone forward, so more the practice he gets and the more goals he scores, the better. However, both him and Giroud enjoy a goal vs Spurs, so I have no qualms with either.

Playing someone different to Ozil under the striker may prove difficult. Firstly, we don’t have any of Rosicky/Cazorla/Wilshere to do the job. Secondly, Ramsey showed against Newcastle he is not really a playmaker. Finally, Ozil is so unique I wouldn’t drop him out of simple fear we won’t be able to fashion chances for our strikers. If he can take three games a week, I would start him tomorrow.

Predicted line-up: Ospina - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Gibbs - Arteta - Ramsey - Ozil - Oxlade - Campbell/Iwobi - Giroud.

The verdict

I don’t really care about the Mickey Mouse Cup, but this game is a must-win for several reasons: it’s a derby and it’s a chance to put an end to our losing streak. Both these make the clash more important than it usually is.

Here’s hoping we end our unlucky spell and no referees get in our way.

Come on you Gunners.

Back with a review

Update: Gabriel's three-match ban has been rescinded by the FA with immediate effect. Charges for improper conduct remain, though these will be contested no earlier than Thursday. At least until then Gabriel is free to play, so it'll be interesting to see whether Arsene picks him or Mertesaker. I think Mert is due to start anyway, the man needs some minutes

Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal: atrocious Dean gifts Chelsea the win

Initially I had no intention of writing the review. Not because I was fuming at the result (I was, though), but because the game was lost courtesy of a highly incompetent Dean. Why write about something so trivial and done to death already? I mean, how many times can we say Mike Dean was horrible?

After giving it some consideration, I decided to go ahead and write the review. After all, despite Arsene being almost exclusively asked about the referee’s performance in the presser, there were some other talking points.

The first half

It was a game with little between the two sides. Chelsea dominated a bit more, but it looked as though we allowed them. Knowing for them a win was a must, we had the luxury of sitting back and playing on the counter.

Wenger seems to have picked his team with exactly this point in mind. And it worked. Walcott looked lively, we tried to get the ball to him as quickly as possible, all the while remaining cautious at the back. We didn’t leave space for Chelsea to exploit, Gabriel and Koscielny snuffed out any danger emanating from Costa and Bellerin pocketed Hazard. The stage was set for us to win the game in the second half. But for one thing.

Gabriel’s sending off

After another lost battle in the box, Costa twice used his hands on Koscielny’s face. Deeming it not enough, the Spaniard then pushed Kos to the ground. Inside I was gleeful. I thought “This is it. We got under the fucker’s skin, he committed a blatant act of unsporting behavior. No way he’s staying on the field after that.”

All of this was based on the assumption the referee, Mike Dean, will follow the rules and send Costa off. A brave assumption, as it turned out. Dean only flashed Costa a yellow, while showing Gabriel a booking too, for standing up for Koscielny.

It seemed the incident has run its course, but unfortunately, it didn’t. Costa immediately got into Gabriel’s ear, the Brazilian flicked a foot at the aggressor and got a straight red from the ref. The ref who didn’t even see the incident and seemed to have given in to Chelsea players’ demands.

Now, after some thinking, Gabriel did exactly the thing Arsene warned about: he reacted. He was stupid to do that, however, the simple fact remains Costa should have left the field before Gabriel flicked his foot.

I also didn’t like no one from our players talked Gabriel down and got him away from Costa. The red might have been avoided if someone did. However, none of Cazorla (our captain), Monreal, Koscielny or even Cech calmed down Gabriel. It hints at the lack of leadership and it’s not the first time I level this accusation at our players. Perhaps the situation would have been avoided had Mertesacker been on the pitch, or even Arteta, but neither of them were and Gabriel saw red.

Chelsea’s goals

Both were shit goals, to be honest with you. First was from a free-kick, one which was wrongly given by Dean, the other was from a heavily deflected shot in the 92nd minute. After we went down to 9 men, that is.

Oh, by the way, about Cazorla’s sending-off. It was every bit as absurd as Gabriel’s (I kid, I kid, nothing gets more absurd than that). It was absurd enough, though. Santi is not a malicious player, certainly far less than Costa or Ivanovic. He got the first booking for a tactical foul and the second for going for the ball and mistiming his tackle a bit. However, I was not surprised to see the Spaniard sent off for the only two fouls he committed all day. By that point, I was convinced beyond any reasonable doubt Mike Dean was an incompetent prick. On a side note, are there any Fabregas lovers left after yesterday? Asking for a friend. You see, Cesc did everything in his power to get Gabriel and Cazorla sent off.

Back to Cheslea and after seeing their almighty struggles against 10 men yesterday, I’m convinced the Blues are going nowhere this season. They were far from their best yesterday, but  think it is clear for anyone with a working brain and a pair of eyes attached to it. They dominated territory and possession, sure, but Cech was hardly troubled. If it takes you an undeserved free-kick and a wild deflection to score twice versus ten men, you’ve got problems.

What’s next

For us, it’s recuperation. The players shouldn’t beat themselves up for the loss, the game was ruined by the referee. Our only concern will be bouncing back midweek against Tottenham, something we’ll have to do without Gabriel, Cazorla and Coquelin. Coq sustained a minor knee injury close to the half-time mark.

It’s also worth considering whether we should give a rest to Sanchez and Ozil. The latter to avoid a burnout and a subsequent injury, the former seems way off his best. Alexis was yet again sloppy in possession, overcooking a lot of situations, spurned a brilliant chance to equalise, his cutting inside has become too predictable and easy to defend against and, finally, he didn’t help us defend after we went down a man. Here’s hoping a bit of R&R will help him get his mojo back.

However, I’m more interested in what FA should, and must, do. First off, they should impose a ban on Costa, maybe even fine him. The man was at his dirtiest yet again and he will do it again next week and the next and the next. He deserved a red for the push alone, however, I counted at least four other separate, and bookable, offenses: a push and a hit on Koscielny, a dive and a flick at Oxlade-Chamberlain. Not all of these are red-card punishable, but the cumulative effect could have seen him sent off three times yesterday.

The FA should also contemplate what they with Dean, or, how I will call him from now on, the inept twat. In his usual “By The Numbers” section, @7amkickoff focuses solely on how Arsenal play when the inept twat is the referee and the numbers look grim. Check it out. However, even the highly below-par performance yesterday should give FA food for thought.

Last, but not least, I believe Gabriel doesn’t deserve a three-match ban. One game maybe, purely because he retaliated, but three is harsh, especially if we take into context what Costa did and the fact he stayed on the pitch despite that.

Luckily, there was a silver lining to our loss yesterday, one that considerably cheered me up: City lost at home to West Ham. That means we slip to fifth, but we are still only 5 points behind City, which is a lot better than 8. So kudos to the Hammers.

Right, that’s it for now. Back with a preview of our now absolutely crucial midweek game.

Until then

P.S. Bravo to Koscielny and Chambers, by the way. Koscielny handled Costa's disgraceful behavior with the professionalism which wasn't lauded enough afterwards and Chambers put in a massive second half in defense. The own goal wasn't his fault in the slightest.

Chelsea preview: banish the ghosts at Stamford Bridge

Our first big game of the season has finally arrived and it’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

This will probably sound smug, especially in the light of our midweek demoralising defeat, but I don’t think we’ve been better suited to beat Chelsea in the league for a long time. The reason is simple: their atrocious form.

You do not need me to tell you Chelsea only garnered 4 points in 5 games. You also don’t need me to tell you the Blues currently sit 17th in the league. Or that they have, indeed, conceded 12 goals. You also surely know Chelsea suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in God-knows-how-long.

What you probably don’t know is that Chelsea conceded most shots on target this season: 38. In simple terms, they average almost 8 shots on target (against) per game. Barring Azpilicueta, there is no defender on form right now. Ivanovic, Terry, Zouma and even Cahill are far from their best. Same can be said about Matic, Cesc, Hazard, Costa etc. etc. It’s easier to count those who are on their game, but it looks like two of those will miss the clash: Willian and Pedro.

But I got a bit sidetracked here. The point I was trying to get across is not so much Chelsea’s bad form overall, but rather their horrible defensive record this season. Arsenal, meanwhile, has one of the best offensive records.

Before you scream at me: “But we only scored three goals!”, I’ll elaborate on what I meant: we are poor finishers (for now), but excellent creators. We top the league in chances created (87), big chances created (17) and shots taken from prime positions (33) (these stats courtesy of 7amkickoff). Finishing is the easiest problem to address, so I’m sure we’ll get better in this regard as the season progresses.

But what’s even more interesting is that Arsenal has one of the best defensive records, with just three goals conceded, while also restricting opposition to 3 big chances and only 9 shots from prime positions. We are third in the league, which is about where we deserve to be, however, it’s easy to see where, how and why we have the potential to improve. And now onto the game itself.

Team news update

“We have no injuries and we left Ramsey and Bellerin behind [for the Zagreb game]. They integrate into the squad again. Mertesacker may still be a bit short, I have to decide that today (Friday).”

That’s that, basically, though I regret dearly we have neither Welbeck nor Wilshere to shake things up from the bench at least. This is especially relevant since Arteta, our only midfield option, played 90 minutes against Zagreb, while Oxlade and Campbell hardly grabbed their chances to stake a claim at the starting spot.

I also wonder whether we can find room for some youngsters on the bench, strange as it may seem. Not necessarily tomorrow, I’m talking in general. Shame we don’t have Akpom or Gnabry at hand, but we do still have Iwobi and Jeff. The former looks a particularly tasty option for me, as I was hugely impressed with him energetic display against Lyon. Iwobi looked powerful, fast and every bit as able as the seniors who surrounded him. Hope we’ll see him in action against Spurs in the cup.

Squad and approach

Cech, our full-backs, Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin will, and should, all come back straight in. Apart from maybe Debuchy, their stand-ins did little to convince they are worthy of a starting place.

From where I am standing, there are only two real dilemmas for Arsene Wenger: Mertesacker/Gabriel and Giroud/Walcott. Regarding the German it looks like he’ll be a bit short, so I personally wouldn’t risk him. No need for him to have the first game of that intensity after a month’s break, especially since Gabriel is performing admirably. However, Wenger was full of praise for Per, something that may hint he’ll return sooner rather than later:

"He has a lot of class on the pitch and after the game. He is well respected, also in the dressing room, because he is always 100 percent committed and gives everything for the team.

Every day he works with 100 per cent commitment. They are typically German qualities but even more typically Mertesacker.”

As for striker, Arsene said he’ll make a late decision on that front:

“At the moment I must say that is a decision I still have to make tomorrow morning. I try to use the best solution that gives us the most efficiency offensively.

Every game is different and that is why I don’t deny at all the quality of Walcott. I am very happy that he scored so many goals in so many starts. He shows as well that when he comes on, he can score as well, which he did in Zagreb.”

Might he be playing little bit mind games with Mourinho? Oh the sweet suspense. Mourinho is probably pulling his hair out as we speak, not knowing which central defenders and approach to use because Giroud and Walcott are so vastly different. But then again there’s a suspicion lurking at the back of my mind Mourinho wasn’t being honest regarding Pedro’s and Willian’s availability, so we are going to see whether he likes the taste of his own medicine.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Bellerin - Gabriel - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Alexis - Ramsey - Walcott

As for our approach, it’s difficult to say what we might do. We are used to dominating possession and space against The Blues, but that’s because they allow it, knowing we are unlikely to hurt them this way.

However, we showed willingness to cede possession in the Community Shield. We started brightly, dominated the game, scored the goal and then gave the ball away. This approach proved efficient in the extreme, as Chelsea failed to break through our organised defense, while we got brilliant chances to make it 2-0 right at the death, catching Chelsea on the counter.

And I suspect we might adopt this approach from the off at Stamford for several reasons:

1. Chelsea need a win much more than we do. For us a draw would be an acceptable result, even a good one in the grand scheme of things
2. Chelsea are suspect on the counter. Rediscovering their defensive nous when parking the bus is easier, doing so when playing in the opponent’s half with gaps between midfield and defense is harder
3. Our usual domination tactics may not lead to anything against Chelsea, but we have the perfect counter-attacking weapon in Theo, with Cazorla perfectly able to supply him from the deep

However, knowing Arsene Wenger, I won’t be surprised if he adopts the usual domination approach.

The verdict

Zagreb game may be a different competition and it may not hugely affect what we do on Saturday, but it was still our last game, one which we lost. Thus we need to bounce back. A win is probably the only way to do that.

As always, I believe we have what it takes to win. This feeling is somewhat reinforced by Chelsea’s recent league travails, but only so much. It is the Premier League, it’s Chelsea we are talking about, they will be hell-bent on beating us and they also have the quality to do it. They are the reigning champions, after all.

Here’s hoping we can what needs to be done. Come on you Gunners.

Back with a review

Zagreb 2-1 Arsenal: mental collapse proves costly

After a loss I almost always swear and say I won’t write a review. The truth is, I will. I’ll even go as far as to say you are more likely to see a review of a defeat from me than a review of a resounding win. I’ll explain why.

A little over two years ago I started a blog, which served a dual purpose of relieving my relatives of constant babbling and keeping my English alive. I wrote posts almost every day (definitely every two days). Their quality was, let’s just say, below par. I didn’t care at the time: I knew I was just a novice learning his trade, I didn’t have a lot of readers and I mostly wrote them for myself. It was my outlet, a place where I could express everything I wanted, my grief included.

Fast-forward two years and a lot of things changed. The quality of my posts improved, my audience grew (thanks, Dave) and I’m, in fact, now writing for a website, not just for my blog. But one thing remained: I still use my posts as an outlet, as a means of expressing anger, joy, sadness, frustration or whatever else is on my mind.

Which brings me to my original point: I’m more likely to be here after a loss because this is a place where I can speak my mind freely and know my thoughts will resonate with people. The fact I can share my grief or, at the very least, just put all that bothers me in writing, helps ease the burden. So here goes my review of our yesterday’s debacle.

The rotation

Wenger made six changes to the side that dominated Stoke. Ospina, Debuchy, Gibbs, Arteta, Oxlade and Giroud all came in.

After the defeat Arsene was accused of rotating too much. I presume the same people would have chastised the Frenchman had he put out our strongest squad, especially if these players looked legged against Chelsea.

That’s not the important thing for me, however. The important bit is that the players who came in should have been more than capable of beating Dinamo Zagreb. Just look at who came in: all, bar Ospina, were starters a year ago. The Colombian, meanwhile, was a part of a team which had a storming end to the season.

The problem

“The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude to the problem”.

Our yesterday’s problem was not Dinamo Zagreb. Our problem was that of mentality. We didn’t turn up. We expected to walk the game. We thought Dinamo would be easy prey given their Champions League travails. And we were wrong.

I always fancy Arsenal’s chances in any game as long as we fulfil two simple requirements: turn up with the right attitude and play 11v11. It’s when we fail to meet either problems arise. Yesterday we failed to meet both.

I’ll return to the subject of Giroud a bit later and focus my attention on our mentality for the time being. It’s the second time we turned up with that attitude this season and the second time we lost. You see the simple connection? Twice we were overconfident and twice we were punished for our arrogance. Yesterday we were immobile and pedestrian and not only the new faces were to blame. Bar Gabriel, Koscielny and probably Ozil, everyone underperformed hugely (Theo gets an honourable mention for a well-taken goal).

Alexis was invisible all night (only 2 shots, both off target, only 36 attempted passes), Cazorla went into hiding (0 shots, only 2 chances created, both from set-pieces), leaving Arteta to mop up the mess, Gibbs ducked for the second (he fucking DUCKED), however it was Oxlade who is my pick for worst performer. His numbers in full:

1. 40 touches (in 60 minutes). Ospina had 30, for comparison’s sake
2. 1 shot (blocked)
3. 17/22 passes. Only 17 completed passes in 60 minutes
4. 1 chance created
5. 0/4 crosses
6. 2/4 successful dribbles
7. No tackles or interceptions (even attempted). Remember, he was supposed to help out Debuchy
8. One runner he failed to track
9. One own goal

Yes, I know the own goal itself was an accident, however, Oxlade should have done better before the ball rebounded off him into the net.

The case of Olivier Giroud

He didn’t deserve to be sent off, simple as that. Two bookings for dissent and a flailing leg respectively were as soft as it gets. Yes, I would like Olivier to be less articulate on the whole and more cautious when already on a yellow, but I think we know he would not have been sent off for these things in the Prem. As much as we like to moan about Premier League referees, their standard isn’t as low as it currently is in Europe and definitely not as low as that of our yesterday’s official.

However, what I liked far less then the sending off was the reaction of our fans. Olivier was immediately accused of every cardinal sin the fans could have come up with and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

For starters, he actually had a very good period prior to being sent off. He forced the keeper into a spectacular save from a corner, hit the post from the only chance Oxlade created that game and did everything in his power to drive the rebound in. He held up play as usual, battled up front on his own with no help from teammates and movement between the lines, so labelling him a donkey for the performance is lazy and inaccurate, to put it mildly. I’ve dealt with the sending off above.

We also shouldn’t forget that out of the three goals scored in the League, two came from Olivier Giroud. One he created himself with a beautiful shot, the other was from a big chance. Ollie only took one big chance out of five in five games, but before you start moaning he’s a bad finisher, I’ll say that:

1. He is actually at 20% conversion rate (which is not at all bad for a Prem striker)
2. Theo fluffed 4 chances out of 4 against Stoke ALONE, yet didn’t get half the critique the Frenchman got

So get off Giroud’s back. If we are to be successful this season, we need Ollie on top form, which can only happen if he knows he has our backing.

The aftermath

We knew from the beginning topping the group wouldn’t be easy. Topping any group with Bayern in it is not easy. In that sense yesterday’s result hasn’t changed much. I’m pretty sure we’ll still qualify. If we want to qualify from the first spot we still need at least 4 points from two games against Bayern. What changed is that we no longer have the luxury of slipping up against others.

Now we put ourselves together, get our regulars back into the starting XI and go to Stamford Bridge with the right attitude, Cordon off the area where our Champions League memories reside and focus on the Prem. We are on a decent run there.

That’s all from me for now. Back with a preview.

Until then