Getting worried for TV5, Ipswich (a) preview, Reserves disgrace the Arsenal shirt

Thomas Vermaelen has suffered another "setback." This injury saga is starting to take the same form as that which afflicted Rosicky. When Vermaelen first suffered the injury we were told he'd back in days, just like Rosicky. Ever since then we have been fed the same old lines, right up until today when Wenger announced that Arsenal were seeking out specialists all over the World for advice. The fact is that Thomas Vermaelen has a very serious problem with his achilles and nobody at Arsenal has a clue how to cure it. I had already written the Belgian off for the rest of this season, in spite of Arsene's claims over his imminent recovery (every few weeks), but I am now starting to fear for his future as a player at this level. Any injury to the achilles is notoriously difficult to recover from and this is proving to be no exception. As a result of this latest problem, and the diagnosis of Squillaci's injury, Arsene Wenger has confirmed he is looking for a centre-half. We have to live in hope that we don't sign yet another unknown Frenchman on the cheap, but that we go out and get someone with Premier League, or European, credibility.

Ahead of the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final tomorrow night there is very little news about. In terms of team news the official website is carrying nothing. We know that Eboue will almost certainly continue at right-back, and I think Gibbs and Szczesny will also keep their places. Koscielny will surely come in to the back-four, but will Djourou continue or be rested in favour of Ignasi Miquel? I would be annoyed to see an untried youngster make his debut in what is such a big game for our Club, having not won a trophy in six years. In midfield I don't want to see Denilson or Arshavin or Rosicky after what we put up with on Saturday, but I fear all three will keep their places. I also expect Nicklas Bendtner to find himself out wide and getting slagged by the uneducated once more - he's not as good as he thinks he is, but perhaps if he played at centre-forward he would look a little less awkward. The other thing with Bendtner is that he is rarely lacking in effort on the pitch which is more than could be said for people like Arshavin and co. My personal preference would be for a full first-team tomorrow night in order to get the job done and win by three or four goals. Wenger won't do that so I reckon the game might be a bit tighter than Chelsea's cup-tie with Ipswich on Sunday. Sadly I will have to employ the Sky+ to watch the game when I get home from work on Thursday morning - the only problem with my shift system is that it doesn't lend itself to arrangements around cup-ties, though this might become an issue for the majority of home games for me over the next few months.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post the Reserves were playing at Aston Villa last night. In the absence of any centre-backs at the Club there was a rather unsuited combination in Arsenal's back-four, for the first-half at least, before Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was moved back to "help." Arsenal Reserves (admittedly down to ten men early on) conceded five goals in each half and lost 10-1. Such a result is a disgrace to the Arsenal name and an embarrassment to the Arsenal shirt, no matter what the level, or the team selection. James Shea, the Arsenal goalkeeper, seems to have been pretty blameless throughout but the result will haunt his career wherever he goes - he was, and is forever now, the Arsenal goalkeeper that let in ten goals. Every one of the young men involved should be ashamed of what went on last night and so too should Neil Banfield. I have no doubt that the result might be the final nail in the Arsenal career of a number of the youngsters involved and, perhaps, rightly so.

More on Thursday with a review of the Ipswich match. I'm hoping that we can look forward to a relaxing second-leg, safe in the knowledge that we're off to Wembley at the end of February. I won't hold my breath though, if it's all the same to you.

Stupid boy Theo, Arsene to sign someone we hope, Allardyce shows his colours, Southgate joins cretins, TH14 back at Arsenal

Lots to get through this Monday so let's get to it straight away with "Honest" Theo Walcott. You silly boy Theo. Nobody had noticed any semblance of a dive (perhaps indicating that he is damn good at it) so there was really no need to come out and admit to it - especially as we didn't get a penalty for it anyway. If Theo felt a need to come clean to the Manager or his Arsenal colleagues then fine, but why tell the press? If I was a referee I would be loathe to ever give him a decision again for fear that he was trying to con me. The only reason he hasn't been hung out to dry by the press is because he is English - can you imagine the fallout had Cesc Fabregas come out with something similar? Dimitar Berbatov, who clearly dived yesterday (the only person "fooled" was Howard Webb MBE - remember him?) has kept his mouth firmly shut. Let the public decide if you've dived and never give the opposition any ammunition. Incidentally I have just read that Ryan Babel has been charged by the FA for a Twitter outburst at Webb after what happened yesterday - typical of the FA to punish a player while allowing the (at best) incompetent referee to get away with another season defining error.

Arsene Wenger says he may be forced to sign a centre-back due to a hamstring injury to Sebastien Squillaci. It's unfortunate for Squillaci if he has a problem but, frankly, it's the best news Arsenal could possibly have. I doubt Wenger would be going anywhere near the transfer market if he didn't have to, but if this forces his hand then all the better. Squillaci and Koscielny appear well short of the required standard right now, so a bid for someone with Premier League experience would do me nicely. Phil Jagielka has been mentioned but regular readers will know I prefer Gary Cahill. With Carlos Vela wanted by Bolton on loan, and them being short of money, I would like to see Arsenal make a decent bid for the England man. If it costs £10 million then so be it - if we win the Title then the money is more than worth it. Keep your eye out for the latest on that situation.

The situation that developed at Liverpool on Saturday was very interesting. The Liverpool fans now have their wish and Kenny Dalglish is back in charge and giving unintelligible TV interviews. When he fails I fully expect him to walk away and leave someone else to take the blame - though this time it won't be Graeme Souness (in fairness it won't be his fault this time, but nor is it Roy Hodgson's). At times when a manager is sacked there is always much hand-wringing and genuine sympathy for the departed man. Indeed, Dalglish was generous in the compliments he paid Hodgson. Unlike scummy Sam Allardyce. The northern, walrus-faced toerag sat there on ITV yesterday and said how Hodgson had to go and how it was the best thing all round. There's nothing like standing up for your contemporaries is there? This kind of comment sums up prats like Allardyce who fail to realise that the only reason they are on TV, rather than in a dugout on FA Cup 3rd Round weekend, is that they are shit at their job and are currently unemployed having won nothing. Ever. To me it seemed a blatant attempt to ingratiate himself with Liverpool FC and their supporters, praising them to the hilt for their decisive action against Roy Hodgson, in order to put himself forward for the job. Had he put on a Yosser Hughes wig and moustache he couldn't have said "gissa job" any more clearly.

Talking of failed manager's ITV's other "expert" yesterday was Gareth Southgate. Steven Gerrard was correctly sent-off (give Howard Webb a round of applause for getting a decision right) but Southgate chose to excuse the disgraceful two-footed jump by the Liverpool captain. According to Southgate the foul was made "out of frustration" and, following an aborted (albeit similar had he gone through with it) tackle by Raphael, that "he wasn't going to have his players tackled like that." What utter drivel. It was on a par with Carig Burley dismissing the sending off of Tiote at Stevenage on Saturday night for something almost identical. The fact is that Gerrard has been getting away with these challenges for years and it's about time he suffered some of the consequences. The comments from Southgate are typical of the sycophantic rubbish dished out by studio pundits with regards to those players who get in the England team.

Finally in today's marathon is Thierry Henry. It probably surprises nobody to learn that he is training at Arsenal before he heads back to America for the MLS season. I have no problem with this arrangement whatsoever - the likes of Bendtner, Chamakh, Emmanuel-Thomas, Walcott and co will learn plenty from training alongside the master. To be honest, I'd ask New York Red Bulls if we could loan him for six weeks - he'd do a damn sight better job than people like Arshavin or Rosicky, even if he is well over the hill. Henry's reputation would be enough to scare the life out of defenders in the Premier League - imagine the panic in an opposition defence seeing him appear on the touchline twenty minutes before the end of a game.

The Reserves play at Aston Villa tonight but God knows what sort of line-up they will have out with the Carling Cup semi-final to be played on Wednesday and numerous players out on loan. There's live text commentaryof the Reserves at www.arsenal.com, and I'll be back tomorrow with a preview of the Ipswich game.

Wenger gets what he deserves

Cesc and Theo - rescuers of Arsenal today

Arsene Wenger very nearly got his wish today. Thankfully Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott had other ideas as they came off the bench to salvage a draw. As it happens, Walcott and Bendtner both missed chances to have seen Arsenal get a late and undeserved win. Wenger talked yesterday about sacrificing the FA Cup and the players out there today (with one or two notable exceptions) certainly seemed to take his lead. I'm writing this as I watch the second-half of the game back again and nothing I'm seeing on TV is making me think I missed something while watching in the flesh.
I'll deal with those notable exceptions first. I thought that Johan Djourou was once again outstanding this afternoon. The Swiss was quick, strong and dominant in the air. Becchio constantly fouled every time the ball came forward and the referee did nothing about it. Djourou stood up to the physical battering - which included a blatant elbow I've just seen in close-up for the first time and it looks even worse on the telly (Andy Townsend glossed over it, just as he did the clear penalty when Bendtner was tackled from behind by O'Brien). Alex Song was excellent again in the midfield and it was a joke to see him replaced by Fabregas while Denilson and Rosicky stayed on (more on those two idiots below). Theo Walcott came on and his pace immediately rattled Leeds - I had a text at half-time from a Leeds supporting friend who told me Walcott would turn the game if he was introduced. Wojciech Szczesny might have saved their penalty but more than made up for that with a stunning reaction save from a header shortly after. Then there is Cesc Fabregas, who came on and dominated the match. Leeds had no answer to the little genius and some of his passing was on another planet to everyone else on the pitch. He also took a very calm penalty, almost Laurenesque in its execution. In terms of firm positives that's about it.
Now for some significant negatives. First of all the formation adopted again saw Nicklas Bendtner out on the wing. He has taken his usual slagging both at the game and on the internet. Can these fools not see that Bendtner is being asked to play so far out of position? Don't get me wrong, Bendtner is no world-class striker, but he was noticeably better when he moved in to the middle in place of the ineffectual Chamakh. Yes, he missed a great chance at 1-1 but don't forget his superb ball inside the full-back that led to the Arsenal penalty. Another annoying thing with the formation is the fact that Arsenal refuse to change it - poor Carlos Vela touched the ball only once in his ten minutes on the pitch, so isolated was he on the left-wing.
Regardless of the formation this Arsenal team should have still had enough about it to win. The attitude was wrong and it was all-pervasive in some of the players. Emmanuel Eboue is regressing at a significant rate. He has returned to the diving and his play with the ball at his feet is as bad as it has ever been - is it a coincidence that he signed a new contract a couple of months ago and now sits in the comfort-zone? Eboue was not the only one. I won't talk about Arshavin as there is nothing to say that hasn't been said before. I will talk about Rosicky and Denilson though. Rosicky is finished, there is no doubt about it. There is no pace about the man anymore and his football is an embarrassment. Then there is Denilson. The Leeds goal was his fault. Quite apart from his foul which was completely awful, the whole situation was down to his abject laziness. It was obvious that Eboue was two-on-one but Denilson stood there and watched as Leeds played their way in to the area. It was a disgraceful bit of defending from Denilson but was merely symptomatic of his entire display.
Arsene Wenger did not want a replay, but it is actually exactly what Arsenal deserve. Leaving out the likes of Fabregas and Walcott has backfired as they had to be brought on to save the tie. You can't tell me that Fabregas didn't have to expend just as much energy today as he would have had he started, simply by virtue of having to chase the game. One day Wenger will realise that it's much better to get out there and win the game early, then rest players in the second-half, rather than causing ourselves problems like we did today. It's all very frustrating, but at least the replay should be live on telly.

There will be more on Monday I hope - sadly, work calls once again tomorrow as my search for that elusive lottery jackpot continues.

FA Cup 3rd Round Preview

Changes galore for Arsenal tomorrow, I just hope those coming in will do better than they did at Wigan. According to Arsene Wenger we will not be seeing Samir Nasri or Robin Van Persie, while Carlos Vela, Kieran Gibbs and Aaron Ramsey all return to the squad. Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny will be on the bench, at best, and Bacary Sagna will be replaced by Eboue. I also expect Fabianski to get a day off.
With a home game against a team from a lower division the changes shouldn't matter. Whether Arsenal win or not tomorrow will be dependant solely on their attitude. With that in mind I hope someone has placed a firework up Andrey Arshavin's arse by kick-off tomorrow. Leeds went to Manchester United this time last year to play a similarly depleted side, apparently with bigger fish to fry elsewhere. What happened was a poorly prepared Manc team went down 1-0 to a motivated Leeds.
Arsene Wenger is again talking about priorities and is ready to not take the FA Cup seriously. He blames the FA Cup semi-final defeat in 2004 for the failure of the players to beat Chelsea in the European Cup a few days later. Wenger uses his rather selective memory by stating that "all" the same players played in both games and left him thinking he should have sacrificed the FA Cup. The facts of those defeats are somewhat different - the in-form Henry and Reyes were left out of the FA Cup tie, coming on with ten minutes to go, only to return for the Chelsea game when much of our momentum had been lost - you will recall Henry and Pires dragging the rest of the team to a 4-2 home win over Liverpool the following Friday when the players looked set to throw it all away at half-time. After six years without a trophy Arsenal are not in a position to "sacrifice" anything. We still pay our money to watch the team all over the country in all competitions so Wenger's comments are an insult to the supporters. The FA Cup still forms part of your season ticket, so to hear the Manager saying these things is disrespectful to those who pay their money. I would hope that the Board are willing to kick his backside over such disdainful remarks. If the Manager wants to "sacrifice" a competition then I shouldn't be expected to pay money to watch the side playing in it.
As I've said, employing the right attitude will see Arsenal win comfortably, but when the players hear what the Manager has said they could be forgiven for thinking they need not bother trying - after all, they'd be doing the boss a favour by getting knocked out early. I think the side tomorrow will look a little like this, though it's not easy to predict:
Szczesny - Eboue, Squillaci, Djourou, Gibbs - Denilson, Eastmond, Rosicky - Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner. The doubtful player there is Eastmond - an in-form Song should continue to start in my opinion and, if we get out in front, he can be rested later in the game.

Elsewhere in the FA Cup Dover Athletic are travelling to Huddersfield Town with at least 1200 supporters. There are some big Arsenal connections in this tie with Dover being managed by Martin Hayes and including the Cup's leading goalscorer Adam Birchall (a former Arsenal trainee) and Nicky Nicolau (another Arsenal youth). Playing up front for Huddersfield is Benik Afobe, on loan from Arsenal and scoring goals in the Football League. I can't see Dover's defence being able to handle Afobe's pace and power, even though he is just 17 years old, especially if he comes off the bench late on.
Dover have been extremely unfortunate to not be rewarded with a big tie following their greatest ever FA Cup run. They've beaten two Football League sides in Gillingham and Aldershot, but I can't see them making it three. It's a disgrace that they haven't had a live TV game with the attendant income that brings to a small club, but if they could get a draw tomorrow afternoon, they must surely be shown live in a replay. Good luck to Dover, I think they're going to need it.

Arsenal 0 - 0 Man City

Reading through the comments on message-boards today I can see that those who don’t ever watch a game in the flesh talk some complete bollocks. Even those who occasionally attend a game seem to be afflicted after last night. As you may have noticed over the past six months I am given to a little Arsenal-bashing when I feel it warranted, but the amount of loathing I have found today leads me to think that they are the comments of Spurs fans. I thought Arsenal were tremendous last night and created really well, particularly in the first-half. To say that Manchester City rode their luck would be an understatement. It is unfair to say that Arsenal were not good enough to break them down because the boys did just that on numerous occasions. City’s tactics, from a Club that has spent so many millions of pounds on attacking players, were scandalous. They didn’t attempt to score a goal at any time in the game, but their defence was far from impregnable – as you would expect from a back line including a past-it Kolo Toure. A lot of criticism is being made of a perceived failure by Arsenal to get the job done when dominating the game again last night and that is, I suppose, an understandable conclusion. Having said that, it’s not one I agree with – not many goalkeepers would have saved Wilshere’s early effort or Van Persie’s second-half screamer, not to mention the woodwork saving City twice.

Unusually, following a failure to win a home game, I can not fault the Arsenal players last night (with Arshavin being the exception – another quite disgraceful performance from the Russian who had inexplicably replaced Theo Walcott). I’ve always said that if the players show the requisite effort then the fans will appreciate it, regardless of the end result. Last night the football was superb and the workrate was once again outstanding. I would have like to see more pressing of their centre-halves when they were content to prod the ball around, but in midfield Alex Song played the best game of his career and dominated the match. In the past three games he has played, Song has reverted to the genuine defensive midfield role, using his forays forward to much better effect as the situation dictates. His tackling last night, and his passing, were first-rate. I was amazed to see that the subscribers at arsenal.com had voted Robin Van Persie as man of the match. That is not to say that RVP performed badly – far from it in fact – but I have to question what game these people watched (albeit on their TV screen in Nigeria or Japan or wherever they may be). I must make mention of the outstanding (again) Johan Djourou who put Tevez in his pocket (he may still be there for all anyone knows) and Gael Clichy who put in his best game, for me, since we played away at Barcelona last year – it also included a tremendous cross in to the box that nobody reacted to.

I thought the atmosphere last night was excellent. The fans really responded to the players efforts on the pitch and continued to get behind the boys despite the frustrations of not getting a goal. The only player who did not get encouraged at every turn was our tiny Russian. I have already mentioned the paucity of his performance last night, but I am still angry about his contribution. The lazy back-heels and flicks which ended up with us losing possession every time had the crowd howling at him by the end. Wenger’s substitutions again were bewildering with Walcott replaced, and Bendtner playing wide-left was a complete joke – unfair on the big Dane (who actually performed pretty well) and unfair on the paying fans. Even worse was the decision to move Nasri in to a role alongside Song, rather than pushed up alongside Fabregas, upon Bendtner’s introduction (the sending off saw Nasri finish at right-back).

It seems that a match review will no longer be complete without some words on the awful officiating – so here we go. I believe the gentleman in question last night was a Mr Jones. I don't recall him from any other Arsenal matches which would indicate that he ias had a quiet game if and when he's taken charge of us in the past. Last night changed all of that. First of all I will state that I felt we should have had a penalty for handball as Kompany's arm was raised above his waist in order to make himself bigger to block the cross. The main gripe though surrounds the fact that he failed to get a check on City's time wasting and then sent off two players (Sagna possibly deserved it but it was hardly on a par with what Birmingham's players got up to on Saturday) when a booking each would surely have sufficed. The time wasting in the final half-hour alone has been shown to account for more than eight minutes (though Sky claim Theo's substitution took twenty seconds longer than that of Jo!) As the incident that led to the red cards happened the fourth official was raising the board to show four minutes of injury time (already not enough) and play did not then re-start for three minutes. Less than two minutes later (which also included another City substitution) we got the final whistle. Talk about being short-changed.

More tomorrow (today now as we are past midnight!) with a preview of the Leeds game.

My view on Aaron Ramsey's return

Aaron Ramsey played his final game for Nottingham Forest this afternoon and returns to Arsenal as of now. We already knew this was to be his last game at Forest after Le Boss announced the loan would not be extended at the end of last week. Aaron completed ninety minutes today which must be an encouraging sign. Obviously the December weather blighted his loan spell slightly and restricted the amount of action he was able to see, though that might not have been such a bad thing as he comes back from his broken leg. I am concerned, however, over some of Arsene Wenger's remarks about the boy.
At his press conference Wenger said that Ramsey would return to Arsenal as Abou Diaby would be out for three weeks. He followed this up by saying that Ramsey wouldn't be ready to take part in a Premier League game until February. It could be that Wenger isn't too good at reading the calendar but three weeks from last Friday doesn't even get us near to the end of January. I am very worried that Ramsey is about to fall victim to what I call "Stephen Hughes Syndrome." Those with a reasonable memory will remember Stephen Hughes as midfielder of some promise in the late 1990's when he was understudy to Emmanuel Petit. The only thing Hughes lacked was a yard of pace, though he was a very good passer of the ball and an excellent finisher in front of goal. Towards the end of his Arsenal career he had a few injuries and we kept hearing from Wenger that Hughes had to "get match-fit." Ever since then there have been people who needed to "get match-fit" - people such as Lauren and Freddie Ljungberg for example. What it has meant in reality is that those people were finished at Arsenal.
I hope that Ramsey is able to prove me wrong. It may well be that Arsenal are being extra-cautious with his recovery, maybe feeling they made some errors with Eduardo when he was coming back. However, there are other players (albeit with lesser injuries of course) who seem to come back in without ever needing to "get match-fit" - the aforementioned Abou Diaby being a prime example - often having been out for months. Unless Vermaelen's injury is a chronic one that will put an end to his time at the Club you can be sure that he will return immediately, possibly after a brief run-out with the Reserves, or behind-closed-doors at the training ground.
When Ramsey went on loan I said that I thought he might return to the matchday squad for the FA Cup third-round. Arsene Wenger's comments would seem to make that scenario unlikely. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rambo warming the bench on Saturday, and what a boost it would be to the fans and the squad if he was there.

I have to work tomorrow afternoon/evening, and again on Wednesday morning. If I get a chance I will post a Man City preview before I go tomorrow, otherwise you won't hear from me again until Thursday morning.

Scummy manager's breed scummy players - even the ref couldn't help them

Samir Nasri - stood up to Birmingham's bullying

Big performance. Big win. Massive three points. With the other contenders that played today all winning before we kicked off the pressure was on Arsenal tonight. Wenger reverted to the same starters that dispatched Chelsea on Monday - the presence of Koscielny and Sagna in each game this week makes a mockery of the ridiculous wholesale changes on Wednesday night. What we got was a performance of similar energy as that on Monday night and a performance of utter dominance over a team that reverted to type by trying to end Arsenal player's careers.
Early on Roger Johnson (an underrated player in fairness) tried to "do" Cesc Fabregas. I thought he had done some serious damage to the skipper as he went over the top of the ball on him. It was not dissimilar to the foul on Eduardo three years ago and could have resulted in serious damage to one of the best players in the World. The referee's reaction? Yellow card. Mr Walton should be asked for what he booked Johnson. By virtue of dishing out the card he admitted he had seen the challenge, so why did he not produce the red one? And so it went on. Towards the end of the first-half Cameron Jerome deliberately stamped on Laurent Koscielny in the Arsenal penalty area. The replays show Jerome look down at the grounded Koscielny and plant his foot on the leg of the Frenchman - the linesman and referee were both close to it, and both chose to ignore it. Then we come to the odious Lee Bowyer. Lest we forget Bowyer should still be doing time in a Yorkshire prison for his behaviour in Leeds city-centre a few years ago. If he had perpetrated the assaults on Bacary Sagna tonight out on the street, rather than the football pitch, he would surely be heading for a cell as we speak. The stamp on Sagna's thigh was scandalous, and the FA must act. I can forgive the referee for missing that one as the ball had moved on, though the fourth official was about six-feet away. Later on he did the same to Sagna's ankle and the referee waved play-on!
ESPN have chosen to focus on the "potentially game-changing" (Ray Stubbs is such a twat) penalty decision that went Arsenal's way when Van Persie clearly handled the ball at 1-0. This fails to recognise of course that Birmingham should have already lost Johnson by then, and should have been reduced to eight players by the time we reached the hour. I know that we are biased because we are Arsenal fans, but we must surely be forgiven for developing a complex with regards to the anti-Arsenal nature of the media. Craig Burley has just tried to dismiss the Johnson tackle on the grounds that he has "seen worse" and that "Fabregas was okay." The fact is that a Manager, with form for this kind of thing remember, sent his players out with the sole intention of hurting those playing for Arsenal. Everything Danny Murphy said a few months has once again been proven correct and it is only by the grace of God that we are not counting a serious cost again tonight. Alex McLeish is a no-mark of a Manager, having been a no-mark of a player in the mickey-mouse league in Scotland. Arsene Wenger would have been justified tonight in coming out and stating some facts, safe in the knowledge that sour-grapes were not on the menu.
Before I move on to the rest of the game, and Arsenal's ability to frustrate and delight all at once, I have to talk about the reactions of our players. When Fabregas was on the floor in pain nobody really reacted in the rest of the team. When Koscielny was assaulted, nobody reacted. When Sagna was stamped on, twice, not even Sagna reacted. Could you imagine what state Lee Bowyer's leg might have been in had Martin Keown or Steve Bould or Patrick Vieira been on the pitch? The players have to show this kind of scum that they will not allow themselves to be treated that way, and if that means dishing out a few slaps of some kind then so be it. If Wenger wants the team to show some togetherness then they must hunt in packs against these talentless scumbags in the same way that Man Utd and Chelsea do - and that also means getting around the referee in numbers and letting him know what is going on. Intimidate the referee in the same way that Ferdinand, Vidic, Lampard, Terry, Gerrard and co all do. The only players who seem to want to stand up for themselves at Arsenal are Nasri and Wilshere.

On to the good stuff. Arsenal's performance tonight was magnificent and Birmingham were never really in the match. I thought, when we kept missing chances early in the second-half, that we would end up paying but the players got the goals they deserved. Well, they got some of the goals they deserved. With the way Birmingham went about the game I really wanted to see Arsenal humiliate them. Arsenal were so dominant that I found the closing stages frustrating as the players started to showboat and try to walk the ball home. Birmingham deserved to be ground in to the dust tonight, such was their attitude on the pitch. Maybe I am being churlish, but I have a lingering sense that we could have sent out a message tonight with a deserved six or seven goal victory. Those extra goals, that the approach play surely merited, may yet come back to haunt us come the end of the season in what is still a very tight division.
Robin Van Persie got us under way from a free-kick - deflected off Bowyer's hand (though I doubt a penalty would have ensued had the ball not hit the net). ESPN are claiming RVP dived to win the free-kick despite the visual evidence showing he was clearly tugged back by the defender (who wasn't booked, so another question for the referee). Apart from that Van Persie was awful. He missed chances to have scored at least three more goals and was incredibly frustrating. Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas performed superbly from midfield and their combination for the third goal, unfortunately an own-goal in the end, was amazing. With Wilshere and Song sitting in front of the defence - Song again stayed where he is supposed to throughout the game - and Walcott providing the out-ball time and again, Birmingham had no answer to Arsenal going forward. Walcott played well again and delivered some decent balls in to the penalty area, only to see the chances go begging - Jack Wilshere missing a particularly great chance after fine work from Theo and Nasri.

If I'd been offered 3-0 before the game I would have taken it like a shot. My frustration, therefore, is probably unfair on the players. I suspect my frustration is increased by the stupid draw on Wednesday - the eight changes cost us dear, as did the refereeing. On the subject of refereeing we are now at four in a row where the officiating has been a disgrace - and the pro-Man Utd performance by Chris Foy at the Hawthorns today was equally scandalous. The only thing to be said tonight is that Birmingham should have had a penalty, but had Peter Walton been doing his job properly the game would have been long finished by then. I've no doubt the press, directed by McLeish, will focus on that incident over the next couple of days, while forgetting entirely the disgusting tactics employed by his team, and allowed by the referee.

We have another big game against Man City on Wednesday and I hope the Manager doesn't cock around with the team again. He can make his changes next weekend for the FA Cup game with Leeds. I won't be able to blog tomorrow as a return to work is on the agenda following a lovely Christmas break - unless my numbers come up in the Rollover tonight. That being the case, there will be more on Monday.