Musings on Arsenal vs Portsmouth, the bloody media and a Blackburn Preview

So the Liverpool game was called off which was a pain in the arse for everyone concerned. It would have been a good run out for Rosicky, Baptista, Senderos, Hoyte and Lauren who are all lacking match practice and an opportunity for Traore and maybe Denilson to gain some experience.

Plus there's the issue of the fixture list which is looking more congested by the day. Not to mention the poor fuckers who travelled up there. I for one, salute you!

However at least the likes of Toure and Walcott get a bit of a rest and we can move on to the Blackburn game with no new injury worries.

After the initial annoyance at the 2-2 draw against Portsmouth I think there are some positives to take from the game which could help us come the end of the season. The one thing that still bothers me is our inability to score a late goal when we have come back from a goal or two goals behind.

Once you have scored a late goal you start to believe you can score a late goal and I know at Highbury we often scored late and I always expected a goal in the last 10 minutes even though it didn't always come, we more often than not created a clear cut chance.

Whereas at the Emirates we seem to be letting teams off the hook and not turning our dominance into goals in the period when the opposition is at their most vulnerable. Maybe that will change come Saturday?

Wenger is frustrated and have total confidence in the team to kill teams off and in time I am sure that will come, we looked pretty good in an attacking sense, albeit when we were 2-0 down, against Portsmouth and things are starting to come together. We showed a bit of character which has been missing when we have gone 1-0 down before, but these things don't happen overnight.. This is the first period when we have been able to get some morale in the camp. Vieira left, then Henry flirted with Barcelona and an unhappy Ashley Cole fucked off too.

As a side rant, what the fuck are the media on? Wenger got a bit angry at a poor decision which led to goal at a crucial time. I wish they would just report fact rather than opinion. If they have nothing to report just put 'Sorry no news today'. No wonder everybody hates journo's!!

On another note, We have Lauren to come back in, Diaby to come into the squad (not necessarily the 1st team straight away) and Walcott and Baptista still to make an impact, plus a fit and hungry (hopefully) Henry to come. I don't think Wenger needs to make any new signings in January and that we will improve over the second half of the season.

Blackburn at home on Saturday, they got a deserved win at Reading at the weekend and will be a tough test, however with Adebayor back in the side and Cesc, Van Persie and Hleb having a week off and Rosicky coming back I expect us to be a bit sharper than against Portsmouth.

I am not sure what AW will do re 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, will he have the courage to play Walcott and Van Persie as he did against Portsmouth or will he opt for the more defensive 4-5-1? I would like to see a 4-4-2, however if he opts for the latter I would like to see Rosicky start in the centre instead of Flamini.

Arsenal Squad vs Blackburn

Lehmann, Almunia, Hoyte, Eboue, Clichy, Senderos, Djourou, Toure, Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Rosicky, Van Persie, Adebayor, Baptista, Walcott, Flamini, Song

Foul mouthed 'fan', Jose, IQ victim Terry and Fat Frank sum Chelsea up

An entertaining and intense game ended with Arsenal hanging on a bit, but still earning well deserved draw. It could have been even better had it not been for a Essien stunner which crashed in off the post..

It was a perfectly placed rocket.. Lehmann surprisingly almost getting a hand on it.

We dominated the opening 15 minutes or so without creating too much but also keeping Chelsea quiet.

We lined up with a 4-5-1 and Chelsea with a robotic looking 4-4-2, far from the fluid system of the Pires, Bergkamp era we have employed so well over the last 7 years or so.

We proved we are as fluid, mobile, techincal and counter attacking as they are strong, efficient, disciplined and long ball deflected goal merchants.

You cannot argue that Mourinho has an excellent home record and his team are efficient, strong and consistent. But sadly they lack any class or aesthetic value.

The game was evenly balanced without any gilt edge chances and appeared to be heading for a draw before we scored through Flamini's side footed effort following a flowing 11 pass move.

Then Cole fouled Hleb and Essien scored a wonder goal. On the balance of the 90 minues they deserved to score (how many times have we deserved to win and yet only won a point?) and a draw was a fair result.

During the game John Terry, the England captain, harrassed the referee all game, moaning about every decision that went against them or every time a yellow card was not brandished against us. I know there is a lot of pressure on these games but there is no excuse for this. He is supposed to be a role model.

The FA are spineless and so it is up to the individual ref's to just have a word after the first time and say 'If you continue to whinge about every decision I will put you in the book for dissent' and then everyone would get on with it.

Mourinho is just as bad putting his arm around Alan Wiley after the game and having a word. Managers should not be able to talk to referee's until half an hour after the game.

Then he had the cheek to moan we had come for a draw. We were 6 minutes away from a win. Logic and rationale is lost on Mr Mourinho I'm afraid.

Last of all we come to the Chelsea player I despise the most and whom Jens Lehmann has come out to criticise.. Fat Frank Lampard. Lampard started hurling abuse at Lehmann asfter Gilberto had taken the ball off of Drogba's toe in front of goal with a glorious sliding challenge and Fat Frank has scuffed it back into Lehmann's hands.

The guy is classless. He is a deflected goal scoring bufoon who has never lived up to his billing in the national side and was distinctly avergage in this game. He, like Chelsea is good in England yet will never prosper in Europe as he has no pace or attacking nouse and like the racist fan who also abused Jens is quite simply not intelligent enough.

Frank in 4 years time will be past his best and on the decline just like Chelsea will be, whereas we will be just about to hit our peak. Enjoy it this season boys cos you ain't built to last.

Arsenal will not be champions of England this season, but at least they have a young side who are improving and play good football in the right way with a highly intelligent manager. They also have the respect of neutrals and other teams throughout the world. Sadly for Chelsea that is not the case.

Arsenal F.C. Class without criminality.

Discipline and support vital in Chelsea test

One thing that was lacking from the Porto game, apart from excitement, was support for an isolated Adebayor. We posed zero attacking threat, which given the circumstances wasn't a crime.

However I did notice Flamini, Clichy and Eboue failing to track runners and not get close enough to the opposition when there was an obvious ball on to them. This is not acceptable and is the type of thing that Chelsea capitalise on.

Chelsea are unlikely to blow us away, they are a highly efficient, fit and strong unit who are hard to break down and prey on mistakes and laziness. They are likely to score from a set piece or a deflected drive but not from a mesmerising move of instinctive passing.

That is why we must stay disciplined, play our football and hit them on the break. We have to do the boring things that don't make headlines, track runners, clear the ball when in doubt and mark up on set pieces.

In order to get a result we must get more support up to Adebayor who has shown that if given the service he is a man for the big occasion with goals and excellent displays against Man Utd and Sp*rs.

We can get a result there, there's no doubt about that we just must not allow ourselves to be bullied by Terry, Drogba and Essien and take our chances when they come.

I would like to see Gallas and Djourou both play but it's looking likely and Senderos has proved he gets himself up for the big games as well so we must be positive. Ljungberg must play centrally if he plays at all. His days as a winger are gone, he has lost at least 2 yards of pace and can't beat a man for toffee but as a continuity player and for work rate is better than flamini at present.

Therefore we must line up (assuming Gallas is not fit and Djourou is)

Lehmann, Eboue, Senderos, Djourou, Clichy
Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Ljungberg, Van Persie
Adebayor

Then we have Baptista, Walcott and Aliadiere to come off the bench if needed.

For some strange reason, probably as we have already been written off, I am looking forward to the game.

Diaby the man Wenger is banking on?

Henry's absence for the Bolton game was certainly not a blessing in disguise as I suggested. It was me trying to make the most of the situation and put a positive spin on it.

His re-appearance against Fulham was hardly inspiring as we slumped to a second defeat, which was a third consecutive away defeat in a row. Worryingly we only slightly woke up after conceding a couple of abysmal goals (from a defensive point of view).

We outplayed Tottenham on Saturday with the help of a couple of dodgy penalties, (the first goal was onside I thought) although we did deserve the win as they deserved nothing with what was in truth an inept performance.

Henry is now out for up to 6 weeks and surely Baptista will be given a game up front sooner rather than later as Adebayor cannot play all the games over the Christmas period.

Wenger has said that he will not buy during the January transfer window and that he is happy with the current squad. I can see the benefit of doing this as he is proving his belief in his team by telling them they are good enough.

If that is the case then we still need to address the balance of the midfield in terms of strength and tackling ability. As Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Flamini and Rosicky away from home is too weak.

I believe Wenger sees Diaby as the long term successor to Vieira in terms of being a hard tackler and setting up counter attacks. His long legged play and all action style will add some much needed steel and dynamism to at present a somewhat methodical midfield. He and Walcott can make an impact in the next 12 months and give our side a real boost with some pace and power.

Diaby and Fabregas could cover a hell of a lot of ground and would allow us to switch back to a 4-4-2 with Hleb / Walcott and Rosicky / Ljungberg on the wings.

This would allow Baptista, Van Persie, Adebayor and Henry to play as forwards with Baptista also being able to play alongside Fabregas / Diaby in a 5 man midfield away from home in Europe and against bigger teams in the league.