Real 0 - 1 Arsenal

First of all, let me say this. I was so damn proud of our players. Amazing!! Speechless!! We defended and counterattacked like the good old unbeatable Arsenal. They could have come up and play with fear but NO, they were enjoying themselves. This young bunch of players had no fear for the galacticos. One of my best moments as an Arsenal fan. Not that Real are THAT amazing as they got beaten very often in their league but considering the fact that we were playing with such a young squad. And who was that little boy who dominated the midfield like a veteran would? His name is Cesc Fabregas, you better remember that!

'Kay, now let's try to look at it more objectively.

Having watched the first half, and TH's goal, it was obvious that these are two teams that play football with almost similar style. Short passes, one touch passes. Technique over physique, speed over strength. Lovely to watch. Of course Real has Beckham who adds variety to their attack with his crosses and deadball mastery.

In that game, Real have at least two players who can do wonder: Robinho and Zidane.
Arsenal have one: TH.

But Robinho was attacking the wrong side of Arsenal. On the right flank, we had the excellent Eboue and Toure, much much stronger than Flamini and Senderos. Robinho couldn't do much against our two Ivorian towers.
Zidane was also very much subdued by our compact midfield. Gilberto was for once visible and did his duty well in covering the gaps. Cesc was up and running, passed the ball around with confidence. He is not as good as Leo Messi but he is definitely a very very very very good player.

TH's goal may not have happened had he played against Liverpool. Gerrard won't trail behind like Guti and Carragher won't give TH space the way Sergio Ramos did. But it was still not easy at all. You can see his determination as he worked his way to the box. He had no intention to look for foul, pass to someone or whatever. From the moment he started that run, his only intention was to put the ball behind the net. Now if only we could see that kind of TH in every match.

Reyes was tormenting Cicinho but he still lacked in his finishing. Freddie did really really well. I thought he was working really hard to prove that he is still good enough for Arsenal. I have no intention to belittle our players' performance but you got to realize that they could play that well only because we were given so much space by Real. They weren't half as compact as Chelsea or Bolton. I think there isn't a team in this world who can afford to give Arsenal that much space without getting themselves punished. We had so many clear cut chances that 0-1 score was in a way, unfortunate.

Defensive wise, it is clear now that we have got Lauren's replacement. Did you see Eboue's energetic run as he brought the ball into the opponent's half? Magnificent. Flamini was doing really well to cope but I see him as the next Grimandi, a great squad player. Great to have Kolo back. He was majestic!

How we wish that we are playing against such technical team every week but the truth is we are going against yet another bullish team come this Saturday. Let's not talk about the second leg. There is important mission for us and that is to overtake the 4th position.

It's Real tomorrow, but I'd rather not think about it

Is Hleb a misfit? I don't think so. I think Hleb's main strength is his instinctive play, creative passing and dribbling skill. Post injury, he has somewhat lost his confidence in his dribbling. I thiink he watches Pires on training too many times. But that confidence will return. What about his sloppy passing? It's amusing how the supposedly one of the best passers in the team has now turned out to be this sloppy. But we forget that almost all Arsenal's players have suffered with their passing this season. Though not everyone manages to go as low as no.19 could, thank goodness.

The problem is there is no more dynamic and fludity in the team. Opponent's close marking disrupt our movement and with so many disillutioned senior players and inexperienced young players around, we tend to go forward for the sake of going forward at times. While Cesc is notably always trying to move into a good position to receive pass, so often the other seem to make useless run into difficult position to receive passes. Also, there is this urgency in the team to pass the ball quickly, as if they are afraid to get tackled if they hold onto the ball for a bit longer. It's fine to play one-touch passes but only if your team is full of good passers with good teamwork. Otherwise you are just giving away possession. Just ask no.19.

On top of all that, Hleb has been getting so little playing time to adjust himself during his first season. After all, he is so clearly a centre midfielder with flair so why force him to play winger and expect him adapt immediately? To me Hleb is quality and it is Wenger who does not use him in the right way. Not that Wenger doesn't want to, but he couldn't do so.

Wenger has and maybe, will always get his team to play for Henry. He doesn't buy strikers to form partnership with Henry, he buy them to play for Henry. He doesn't retain good crossers such as Pennant for he knows such players can't help Henry. The whole intention, when Arsenal move forwards, is to give the ball to Henry. Once the maestro receive the ball, it's up to him whatever he wants to do. This season and many times in the previous seasons, such strategy backfired because Henry isn't always fully interested in the games. He loves Arsenal and the fans, that I am sure. But he is just human with flaw, a genious with flaw.

You don't count on a striker who, when playing to his 100% potential, is the number one in the world. You don't count on one player to make differences season after season. But you have to count on a team consisting of quality players who can and want to work for each other. I like Henry to stay but he really needs to stop acting like a bigshot and respect his teammates.

I say, if Henry still hasn't signed come May 2006, Wenger should sell him instead of persisting with his faith. Pires should just pursue what he wants and move to Spain. Ljungberg is keen to stay but it's sad that he is just not good enough to carry on. The determination is there, and I respect that. But he may not be good enough for Premiership, let alone CL come next season. Campbell could probably be the one that has better chance to recover and rediscover his form.

And now we come to the remaining two senior players whose replacement should also be considered. Lehmann has been great but he will be 36 next season and unless Almunia is the person Wenger has in mind as the successor, the new keeper should really be bought before the start of next season. The next person is no.19. I think he will be useful as a squad player. There is no need to sell him but there is a need to replace his position in the first eleven with an established holding midfielder. Yaya Toure or Didier Zokora can fit the bill.

So it seems that 2006-2007 will yet be another season of transition.

Liverpool 1 - 0 Arsenal

Not that I expect us to win 4-2 but seriously.. we are far from convincing. Wenger's response has been worrying lately. Sometimes I wish he would show his rage, telling the rest of the world that he thinks his players' performance was simply not good enough. Lehmann, of course, is the exceptional case last night.

Next up, Real Madrid. That name surely sounds familiar.

No hattrick for Bolton

Seeing us getting Bolton-ed for the third time in one season is the last thing I want so I would say thank you to no.19 for taking the responsibility of a striker by moving into a goalscoring position and hit a perfect firsttime from Cesc's cross on injury time. That was a great goal though Nolan's goal was even better. I couldn't believe that, seeing them scoring from open play.

But Bolton are starting to get into my nerve. And I can hardly bear Big Sam's face, his face says it all. I don't mind seeing them excelling in all kind of setpieces and i don't mind seeing them playing physical. That's ugly but they need to survive and that's fine. They have inferior quality after all. But they are getting more and more into the dirty part by trying to get freekicks near the box, and they try that by all means. And as Wenger rightly pointed out, they have also mastered the time wasting technique. The refs.. what a joke. So when Arsenal's players go down it was because we were inadequate physically but when the opponents' players go down it was because we were fouling them? Why don't you just give them the points and spare us the frustating 90 minutes?!

I am afraid the only way Wenger can tip the scale towards us is by signing some strong players to change our public image of being soft.

It's such a shame that Nakata plays for Bolton, such a team. I am an Asian and I like Nakata. I still remember that day he first played for Perugia, against Juve, where Nakata really impressed me despite Perugia losing 4-3. Good player, bad team.

On the team's performance, I thought Pires did well with some shots on-target. Bergkamp in particular was a threat with his perfect passes that put Adebayor into good position but the new Kanu is no Shearer. Cesc was also doing really well while I would like to remind Wenger to stop that stupid move of playing Ljungberg at rightback in search for goals. Against top teams, that can really backfire, badly.

Anfield tonight. Liverpool's strikers are not exactly the sharpest ones but their defense are seriously first class.

Birmingham 0 - 2 Arsenal

When was the last time you felt that tense upon watching Arsenal playing away against relegation battler? When was the last time you jumped and shouted like mad when you realized that we have just won that game and kept a clean sheet? It really was such a moment to savour. Winning is not a default anymore. It's something to fight for this season, no matter who we are up against.

Birmingham made their intention clear from the start by deploying two physical forward, Heskey and Sutton. Their approach was direct but their midfield wasn't overly physical. Their marking wasn't particularly tight, thus giving us some space to play our passing game at times.

My thought on each player..

Lehmann - Arsenal's best player of the night for me. His commanding presence and alertness, including a superb save from Jarosik, ensured the clean sheet.

Senderos - Played reasonably well though looked unsure at times. Still, I believe he needs another 2 seasons before he grows into a mature defender with enough quality as Arsenal's first choice centreback.

Djourou - Lively and good positioning. Did well in covering for Flamini and was never afraid to tackle. Once skinned by D.J. Campbell but all in all, a good performance by the youngster.

Seb. Larsson - Arsene converted two of his undersized centre midfielder into fullbacks. But Larsson did quite well in marking the dangerous Pennant and distributed the ball with his good passing skill.

Flamini - Julian Gray was not as dangerous as Pennant fortunately. Flamini was really trying his best to play in that unfamiliar position but he was quite out of place. At times he simply threw his body into tackle and when challenging for aerial ball he would often got blown away by the opponents. Poor Flamini.

Diaby - Doesn't tackle as hardly as Viera did but contributed more to the attacking moves, involved heavily in the first goal. Held up ball and brought the ball forward with total composure. Played with great enthusiasm. Promising indeed.

No. 19 - Had a slightly better performance but still didn't look convincing to me.

Cesc - Ensured that Flamini was covered well and made a great assist for Henry's goal. Not a great performance by the Spaniard but was good enough considering that he played out of position.

Reyes - He seems to get bulkier. A great midfield engine as usual, producing some great passes including the one Adebayor wasted away. With his great vision, he was many times the starting point to launch the trademark Arsenal lightning counterattack, Reyes will be vital to Arsenal's revival.

Adebayor - Bad haircut, great physical and aerial presence. His first goal shows that he is an opportunist, which is great. Doesn't possess van Persie's technique and finishing but is better at decision making.

Henry - Quiet most of the times but took his chance well. I didn't really enjoy his gesture after scoring his goal but if he can keep on scoring I think I can't really complain, can I?

Hleb - Disappointing, lack of confidence. Didn't do much when he came on.

Overall, I think we still need Kolo and Lauren to return to the side. I can't be bothered to think about Campbell. That big guy doesn't seem to be ready for this final lap as he is still struggling with his personal issue.

A good three points away and a good team effort by these bunch of youngsters. Wenger deserves to be proud of them.

Nothing Is Wrong When Your Timing Is Right

And nothing is ever right when your timing is wrong.

Wenger has had problem with his timing this season. It's true that we need to sell PV sooner or later, but not this season. He should have sold him a season ago or a season later. Why did he sell his most influential midfielder when he himself knows that it is not easy to buy good player a year before World Cup? But let's forget about PV.

Let's talk about Bentley and Quincy.

Many people think both of them are not good enough to stay at the club. Bentley, who was never given proper chance to play with this team, was deemed not good enough based on his performance with Norwich and Blackburn (at least before he scored hattrick last night). Let me tell you something. If it was Reyes who went to play with Norwich, he would not turn out better either. And had we sent Henry to Blackburn, he would all the same suffer with his performance. How can you judge Bentley's performance based on that? He is, above all, a technically gifted player. He is suitable for Arsenal and not Norwich or Blackburn.

What about Quincy? I have watched him playing for first team quite a few time and I agree that he was full of tricks but lacking in final product. But so was Joe Cole for so many seasons, and so was Christiano Ronaldo during his first season. Those players need time and strict coaching to mature. But the talent is definitely there. Quincy was always one of the best talents in the youth tournaments he participated with Holland.

If Wenger could bear with watching Reyes playing so badly at times, and could still give Hleb chance to play despite his poor form at the moment, why could he not give these both players chance?

And why sell them now? Do you seriously think that Ljungberg is far better than Bentley at the moment? There were time when we had to play Ljungberg upfront due to lack of attacking players. We are now severely depleted and a not-so-good player is better than no player, isn' it?

Don't talk about Vela or Walcott because the former is now still loaned out to Spain and the later is a 16 years old who haven't got Premiership experience. Did Wenger not want to have some experience in his squad? Well he got Bentley; he used to anyway.

I often wonder why Wenger always wants to have thin squad and then complains about his squad's lacking in depth. And why did he fill his firstteam with technical players and then complain about other's physical approach? He is a bit naive sometimes.

One of the reasons Arsenal grew complacent almost every season after they won the Premiership was probably due to the size of the squad. These players have no one in the reserves to challenge for their spot and they could afford thinking "Now that I have helped the team to win the Premiership, my position in the team is 200% safe. Wenger likes stability and even if he wants to meddle with the team he doesn't have quality players in the reserves to do that anyway." Okay, I made up that theory and of course may not be true.

The only logical reason why they were sold was that probably Wenger had secretly offered them a new deal which they rejected.

I have nothing to say for last night's game. Campbell stormed out of Highbury and Wenger, as usual, defended him with good words. This Arsenal team, you just get the feeling that they would concede in one way or another.