Arsenal Vs Man United (Another Chance to ignite this Season)

 

 Hi folks, here's a Short preview ahead of our Monumental clash with United later in the day. Look there isn't much to say about this game other than both teams desperately need 3points. The present outlook of the season for both teams  going into this game is not encouraging to put it mildly. Both are not in the title race as their current league positions will suggest and their Squads are terribly thin no thanks to injuries.

Confidence isn't also a quality  available in large quantities in both sides as their form has been very patchy. In their last game Arsenal lost away to Swansea after taking a 75th min lead while United only manged to win against Crystal Palace 1-0 after a largely poor showing. Prior to that game they had lost to rivals City, a game which exposed their defensive worries in no small measure.

Both teams will no doubt serve up a very open game. They both just don't know how to be conservative. Van gaal has suffered in his job by way of not exactly being able to tie down a playing pattern for the Red devils. Up front injuries to Falcao and RVP's poor form have not helped matters. Di maria who seemed a class apart early on seems to have cooled. The manager has tried to find the right formation repeatedly upfront with Di maria wide left, Mata in the Hole and Rooney in a free role with RVP as spear head. Contrasting Results have trailed this combination, and the manager has been quoted to say he expects to improve the efficiency upfront with a more fitter squad but Time is running out.

In Arsenals' case, injuries have also been our bane but even worse is our complete inability to protect leads when we get our noses in front in games.Dropped points against Leicester, Anderlect, Hull, and recently Swansea have been harsh lessons to this Arsenal side on their need to close out games better. We must be the side with the most points dropped from winning positions this year and that is unacceptable. Sanchez aside, the entire team seems to be carrying a lot of passengers who as a matter of Urgency need to step up their game to help the team. Ramsey, who was last seasons hero has been well below par. World cup exertions cannot be used to excuse his rather worrisome form, but he ranks high amongst those the team will be looking up to find some form.

Just 1 win in 11games for Arsenal in this fixture is humbling statistic. And its up to the players to turn that around. Talks of us having a mental block against United will never go away as long as we continue to bottle it against this Old rival. Last season they were League fodder, but we still contrived to pick a paltry point out of six against them. The entire team will need to defend better and play for each other, We know that United regardless of their form have outstanding individuals capable of turning a game around in a second. They still have rooney who has a great scoring record against us and not forgetting Van Persie who has notched a goal against us every time our paths have crossed. 

It'll be a fun game to watch, but anything other than 3 points will mark another nail in this seasons coffin for Arsenal.

When it rains it pours...

Another cruel end to a game we really should have gotten something out of if we had our thinking caps on. When  we were once known as a young and naive team a few years ago, we were constantly inundated with the slogan that you'd never win anything with kids. And so it proved as our barren years without silver-ware stretched and culminated to the exodus of a few names i wont bother to mention. In those years,we played at the best of times with an attacking swagger that was as irresistible as it was potent...make no mistake it wasn't always successful by way of  guaranteeing we destroyed all that stood in our path, but it was certainly our style and we were proud of it. Back then, i recall we regularly suffered from counter attacks from swift and intelligent opponents who understood that our flair and penchant for attacking football was also our Achilles heel. All they had to do was sit back soak pressure, try not to concede and hit us when we lose concentration by giving away the ball (which was always bound to happen). Inexperience, the rawness of youth and all that Crap were given as excuses for those times we threw away games under those circumstances. But fast forward to 2014, almost all the presence of youth has disappeared from Arsenal but yet we play like we are a bunch of Academy recruits.

1-0  up with less than 15 mins to go and nobody in an Arsenal shirt could rally the troops to do what any top class team should be able to do in those circumstances. Not Cazorla, Not Per, Not Flamini not anyone! There's supposed to be Experience in this squad, but regretfully they are not bringing their leadership role to bear at all. Anderlecht was supposed to be a lesson, but in hindsight it seems that it was actually a symptom of a more festering problem with this team this season. Swansea did not overwhelm us on Sunday, but they mugged us big time. While stupidly throwing men forward going for what was supposed to be a second goal, we had 8players in their half, then as expected we lost the ball and found ourself outnumbered on the counter. Gibbs waited and waited but then finally decided to bring down Barrow.  Before Sigurdsson did the rest from the resulting freekick. How on earth did weget so naiive ? Last season we showed better tactical nous in dealing with slim 1-0 leads, but this season we look all over the place on all fronts.


Not going to pick the bones too much off this loss. Its up to Arsene to address this embarrassing defensive capitulations one way or another. What our trophy targets are following this setback is anybody's guess. 12 points behind league leaders Chelsea tells its own story. In the interim, Games will continue and will meet us either prepared to defend like professionals or like kids. So as we weather this terrible storm, the only solace i can muster at this point is that Alexis plays for us not Balotelli.

will All be lost with a bad result at Swansea?....

Returning to this forum after a hiatus always reminds me of how difficult it is to combine your work and the passion you hold so dear. Away for months due to a transfer at the work place, travel upheavals and settling down in the new environs have combined to silence my thoughts on this forum. Over a year ago when i began this Blog i reveled in posting entries twice a week. How time flies & how things change.However, the show must go on as they say and no matter how long i'm away from this Blog, i'll always come back.

A lot has been happening since the last time i was here, we've stuttered in some games, impressed a little in others and absolutely sucked in quite a few too. No use picking the bones off some of those games. The thing about any season is that games come quickly so there hardly is any time to lick wounds after a poor showing. And lets be Honest, the showing against Anderlecht  especially after we conceded the first goal was rather shocking.We showed No fight, No character, No balls... It typified our disjointedness and apparent low confidence currently that in our own ground, in front of adoring fans, 3-1 up we had absolutely no clue on how to close-out a game.We looked set to win and book a sure place in the round of 16 but we choked big time.


There are issues at the back, perhaps we even have issues as a team as a whole. You just get the feeling that the recent under-performance isn't entirely down to the injuries we are experiencing but to a more mental deficiency we are experiencing at the moment. Wenger has said many times that the only cure for mental blocks is to go on a run of games where you keep winning. With Swansea standing in our way Next, It wouldn't be out of place to demand maximum points from that game to start that therapeutic regime we need to get our season flying again.

We sit 12 points adrift from league leaders Chelsea with a game in hand and you'd be an optimistic person indeed to count us as title challengers if we lose at Swansea Sunday. Our capital one cup aspirations ended abruptly in Sept. and with only the League and Champions league (don't laugh) as the only Trophies left that can set the heart of fans racing, nothing is left to play for. (I deliberately didn't count the FA cup as a target).


We have to get some players who are flying at half mast back on fire again: i.e Cazorla, Ramsey, Flamini, Mertasacker (to a lesser degree). Their performances have ranged from average to piss poor. Cazorla looks uninterested and we know when he is on he can be deadly. Ramsey is forcing it, as opposed to letting it come to him. Per is missing Koscielny and its showing in his decision making and as for Flamini, the ''Bull in a china shop'' analogy doesn't even quite describes his game right now.

Walcott should provide some added pace in attack, which i believe will suit our man of the moment Sanchez. I hope the Anderlecht capitulation would have stung the team to remember their collective defensive duties. I'm just going to watch the Swansea game with an open mind. I certainly don't want our season to be over by November..So fingers crossed we get the win we need.