My season review of the players continues today with a rundown on how I think the season went for another batch of players.

Firstly I'll start with our first choice goalkeeper Almunia and the season he had. There are suggestions that he will get a game for England when he gets his passport but I don't think he will get near their team which tells us the level he is at as England don't have a wealth of goalkeeping talent at the moment. He is a very good shot stopper but his command of his area is still poor and he still hasn't learned when to come for a ball and when not to. In my opinion he is not a top notch goalkeeper but he is the best we have at the moment. I would love to see the boss sign a world class keeper who can control his area and instill confidence in the defence. Almunia did have his moments and he played very well at Old Trafford in the Champions League semi final first leg and to be fair to him he didn't do too much wrong last season but I just want a better keeper.

Almunia's understudy this season was Fabianski and he had a very up and down season when he got his few chances in the first team. He played well in the Carling Cup and the FA Cup up until the semi final at Wembley against Chelsea. Unfortunately his desire to come out quickly from his line cost us the game and after that he seemed afraid to come off his line in other games. At times we had the ridiculous sight of defenders shepherding the ball back to him but he didn't want to know about it and stayed on his line in Almunia fashion. He needs to find a happy medium and make his mind up at the right time. Mistakes made by goalkeepers are always exaggerated as they are so costly and nobody is perfect but I can see real potential in Fabianski and I hope he continues to progress.

The next player to come under the microscope is Sagna and after he had a fantastic first season for us he didn't quite live up to that level this past season. He suffered a bad ankle injury late last season and he hasn't quite regained his form since. In particular his delivery of the ball into the box when he has gotten forward has been very poor and that is something he needs to work on for next season. He made a comment at one stage during the season that the defenders were concentrating on defending more after the poor start we had and it did seem that our full backs didn't get forward as much as usual in the second half of the season. I think he is a top class full back and if he can get back to his 07/08 levels of performance there is not a better right back in the league.

At left back we had Clichy for most of the season and again he is a player who failed to match his levels of the previous season. As with Sagna his delivery into the box was poor most of the time and he also needs to work on that for next season. Unfortunately he suffered from what appeared to be a crisis in confidence at times during the season and his decision making was poor at times. It seemed that every mistake he made was magnified and cost us a goal. Again as with Sagna I hope he can regain his form from 07/08 as he is one of the top left backs in the league. His injury towards the end of the season gave Gibbs a chance to show us what he could do.

Young Gibbs got his chance to impress towards the end of the season and it seemed to be going well for him. He performed very well under a lot of pressure at Old Trafford in the CL semi final as he got sod all help from Diaby in the first half in particular. Unfortunately in the return leg at The Emirates his slip cost us an early goal and he found it hard to regain his composure after that. It did highlight our lack of leadership on the pitch as RVP was the only person who tried to have a word with him as he was clearly upset after his slip. To his credit he came back into the team for the remainder of the season and performed admirably and he looks like a real prospect for the future and he will push Clichy all the way to make the left back slot his own next season.

The final player for me to run the rule over for today is Kolo and again he's another player who didn't quite play at the level that he has done in the past. He caught malaria when he was on ACN duty and his form has not really returned since. I have always said that Kolo and Gallas are not a good combination in the centre of defence as they are too similar and they both perform better when the play alongside a traditional big stopper. At the turn of the year Kolo put in a transfer request and it appeared his conflict with Gallas would cause him to leave the club as Man City came calling for him. However the boss decided to keep him and it appears he is back in love with Arsenal again. If we get the big stopper we need and Gallas stays he might find his chances limited next season and that may cause the love affair to fade again.

In other news today there is more talk of us making bids for Yaya Toure and Dzeko again today and a new name mentioned is  Cristian Zapata  of Udinese. There are also more rumours of the 25 going to a number clubs and if we do sign Dzeko I wouldn't be surprised to see him go. I wonder if Dzeko could be the player we need to strike up a partnership with RVP. I'm going to leave it there for today as I have to go Go Karting this afternoon and then on to my brother's stag party. Actuallty the karting is the start of the stag. I hope I'll be in a fit state to blog on Sunday but that remains to be seen.

Here's a clip of a good goal from young Gibbs for the reserves.

LINK

And to finish today's title track from The Cure.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.

The title of today's blog is aimed at our manager as I sometimes think he does things just to traumitise me. I couldn't understand the team selection against Chelsea with the exclusion of Arshavin absolutely baffling. What was he saving him for? Was it tonight and the hope of beating Liverpool or is he saving him for next weekend and our home game against 'Boro? Surely our best chance of a trophy was the FA Cup or did the manager sacrifice it for a shot at the Champions league and Premiership stability. It would only have added 1 more game to our scheudle. Arshavin was our freshest player as he can't play in the Champions league and most importantly I had bet on him to score first. I also bet on a 3-2 win for Arsenal and I got the 2 part for Chelsea right at least.

On to tonight and I will believe the manager does want to hurt me if he again plays a weakend team even if it is only slightly weakened. Our defence is so short at the moment that we have virtually no options but at least there is a chance Sagna will replace Eboue who was caught out of position too often last Saturday for my liking. The real concern is that Liverpool will lump the ball over the top for Torres to chase and Silvestre will be left for dead. I think Kolo has to take charge and make sure Torres is his man and Silvestre can attack the ball. Liverpool will have Torres on his own so it means that Silvestre can attack the ball and Kolo can drop off to make sure he doesn't get in behind us. It will be interesting to see if the pitch will be well watered as that would cause the ball to run through to Fabianski rather than hold up for any attacking player as it did at Wembley on the poor surface.

I expect Liverpool to come out of the traps like a greyhound tonight and go at us like they did Real Madrid. We need to concentrate from the first kick and defend well. We will get chances to take them apart and with the right team selection we can cause them real problems. When a team throws the kitchen sink at you it takes intelligent players to counter that and to my mind Cesc, Arshavin & Eduardo are the most likely candidates for us. Eduardo is in the squad I think but I don't know if he will start and it will probably be Bendtner on his own up front(with both Adebayor & RVP injured) with Arshavin or Nasri playing off him. I don't think Bendtner is quite up to the task yet and I would prefer a team of footballers out there who can keep the ball and use it. If Diaby plays we can expect Liverpool to do what Chelsea did and double team him every time he gets the ball as they know 9 times out of 10 they will get it straight back. I would have found this difficult to say earlier in the season but on current form Song must start alongside Cesc. The boss has to remember that we have to play our way and not concentrate on how they play too much. Having said all that I am predicting a 2-1 win for us with Arshavin & Theo scoring. It is important for both of them to come in towards the back post when we attack from the opposite side to the one they attack from. That's how Theo scored on Saturday and it's how Bobby Pires scored most of his goals for us.

Ahead of the match the boss said he didn't see our famous win there in 1989 because English football wasn't shown in France at the time. We will be wearing our '89esque jerseys but unfortunately we can't win the league this season. What we can do is almost hand it on a plate to United with a win tonight and close the gap between ourselves and Liverpool. The boss has said that it is so close at the moment that the best team will win the league but who that is at the moment isn't too obvious I suppose. Liverpool have nothing else to play for and will be fresher than us and we have to make sure that we don't descend into one of our infamous collapses having lost a long unbeaten run. The boss also said that we missed some chances at the weekend and both teams went for the game. I must have watched a different game because our chances were few and far between in a fairly negative game in my opinion. He also said that the Wembley pitch was poor and it is hard for any team, including England, to play on it. He couldn't understand how the pitch wasn't the first priority when the FA built the stadium as our pitch was when we built ours but the difference is Arsenal built the stadium for the club but the FA built theirs with money as their first priority. He also said that the mind games between he who shall not be named and Benitez are nothing new but they're not for him anymore and they're a bit like advertising as you don't really know the impact of them.

In other news our very much under strength under 18s won 4-2 at Birmingham at the weekend as Steve Bould rested players for the second leg of the FA Youth Cup semi final against Man City tomorrow night. Appearently there is a big doubt over Jack Wilshere playing in that game and I hope he makes it as he is a real star of the future.

Almunia has declared himself fit for our league game against 'Boro on Sunday and win, lose or draw tonight a win against 'Boro will bring us very near to sealing 4th spot. We are again linked with Wellington of Fluminese who appearently had a trial with us last December and scored 4 goals in a youth game against Norwich. I'll be watching the game in the supporter's club again tonight and my other half is getting a little peeved at this stage as we are on the TV twice a week every week at the moment and I make the inevitable trip to Bray. I will be driving tonight so I'll be home early and if we lose her father will be waiting for me as he will be watching the match in my houseand he supports Liverpool. Let's hope I don't have to face that as he has been waiting for some proper revenge since May 26th 1989 when he collected the 2 of us from a night out after his shift work had finished and I may have mentioned a match that went on that night.

Here's a little bit of that match again.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQmO3S2eLPE

And to finish today's title track from Culture Club.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQVWH9u8Xo

See You Tomorrow.

The title to today's blog comes from a song by New Model Army. The line in particular that I recall goes something like this - "Don't ask any more stupid queations that you already know the answers to". Now I'm no expert but when the transfer window closed in August I, for one, asked why we had not brought in the player or players to replace Flamini/Gilberto/Diarra. I said we would pay for it by struggling and that I hoped we could get 4th spot in the league, have a decent run in the Champions League and, if we got lucky, win the FA Cup. Here's my stupid question for today - If I could see all of this why could our manager not see it ?

I'm not calling for his head or anything like that but I'd appreciate him taking his head out from up his arse and doing whatever is necessary to get that 4th spot that is vital to the future of the team. If we don't get it who will leave in the summer ? There are stalled contract talks with RVP already and Theo's deal has not gone through yet. I'm sure Arshavin didn't join us to play in the UEFA Cup or Europa Cup or whatever it's going to be called next season. Adebayor just wants an excuse to leave and to be honest no top class player could be blamed for questioning the club's ambition. I know these players have got us into this predicament but they can't influence who the manager has or has not bought. If we get lucky and make the top 4 it will be an insult to the fans not to pursue the players that this squad & team needs.

Appearently we are hoping that Roma will come out and play against us tomorrow night as we are finding it so hard to open teams up at the moment. I don't think we will be adventurous in the way we play and the manager will probably settle for a 0-0 draw as we will still have a chance when we go over there and they will attack us then in a game when we should have some of our injured players back. Last season 0-0 was enough at home to Milan and although I would love a win a clean sheet is vital also. Speaking of which Sagna has said that we are now defending more than we did last season. It would certainly seem that there is more of an emphasis on defence during our unbeaten run(?) and he says that is 1st priority now is to defend and he doesn't get forward as much as he used to. The lack of time the full backs have attacked has certainly been a feature of recent games and so has their seeming inability to cross the ball when they do get forward.

The only player we can welcome back from injury for the home leg is Diaby who was given a clean bill of health for now anyway. He still has to make it home today, in tomorrow and he has a warm up to go through so he must be about 50/50 to be available. Speaking of players available - we knew Arshavin wasn't eligible when we signed him but I can't understand his lack of match fitness. His club had a UEFA cup match during the week and they managed to play so why wasn't he at the same level as the rest of them. Did he quit training completely while the negotiations went on and if so wasn't that a little short sighted to say the least.

The boss says that he gambled as much as he could at the weekend but he had no forwards on the bench. He had Vela who is a striker and got just over 20 minutes after a good game on Monday night. He also had creativity available to him in Ramsey and he chose not to put Wilshere on the bench.  Our ladies beat Leeds 3-1 in the FA Cup 1/4 final and their reward is a semi final against Everton. It should make for a good game as both teams still have a 100% record in the league. Our team has been weakened recently with the departure of 3 of our top players to play in the new professional league in The States. I hope things go well for them over there and I hope we can maintain our fantastic trophy winning record without them. Finally for today it has emerged that Arshavin was too shy to go ahead with his initiation at the club which involved him standing on a table and singing or making a speech or something similar. I saw a clip of him singing on Russian TV and the players got off very lightly there.

Here's a clip of how we managed to overcome a 0-0 at home to Milan in the last 16 last season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS5UUyeleIQ&feature=related

And to finish today's title track from New Model Army.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIxtlldn-pM

See You Tomorrow.

To anybody going to the game I hope you have a great time. 

"Tomorrow's just another day" as Madness sang in the '80s or is it. To all Arsenal fans it's a chance to gain revenge on The Spuds for taking a point from the league match at The Emirates earlier in the season. Our team won't be as strong tomorrow but all we need is for them to attack us and we should be able to score enough goals to win. After today's results we find that Chelsea would appear to be the most vulnerable team in the top 4. Villa won their seventh away league match in a row and while they may not have played brilliantly they have to be admired for their ability to get results. Hull did us a great favour by getting a 0-0 at Stamford Bridge and a win tomorrow would leave us 3 points behind Chelsea. I have just seen the Liverpool starting team against Portsmouth and with Gerrard injured their increasingly mad manager has left Torres on the bench. When you see their team without those 2 players you can see how ordinary they are.

The manager has said that one of the main reasons for the recent better performances of our defence has been the form of Sagna. While we have still been a bit dodgy at the back we are a little bit tighter than we were. The player himself has said that we need wins at the moment and that performances don't matter. I do agree with that but I also think that wins with style do a huge deal for the confidence of the players and the fans. RVP hopes to agree a new contract with the club very soon or so he says and he also says that it's a team game. He's right there but every team needs stars and he has stepped up and taken the limelight in the last few months. According to his doctor Cesc might be back sooner than expected and the player himself has suggests he might be back for the Roma game. I hope it's true but I think it's wishfull thinking on his part. That's it for today.

Here's some good Arsenal goals against The Spuds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KowVDUF0H0Q

And to finish the title track from above by Madness.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSlHSq3cFAg

See You Tomorrow.

There is very little Arsenal news about today and that is a good thing in a way. I can only imagine the amount of flak the club and the manager would be getting if we hadn't signed Arshavin after what Gazidis said were 33 days of negotiations. So today we can indeed "Enjoy The Silence" as Depeche Mode once sang and look forward to our league match away to The Spuds on Sunday at 1.30 pm. I will be watching that game in the company of The Wicklow Gunners in The Strand on Bray seafront and I hope we have a big turnout for our 2nd game of the season against our local rivals. I know a rival is probably supposed to be someone who would challenge you but that is not to be with The Spuds as their only victory against us in 10 years was against our second string in The Carling Cup last season. They are so desperate for results against us that they put the DVD of their 4-4 draw at The Emirates, earlier this season, on sale the next day. While that was a disappointing result for us, to say the least, we have a chance to make amends on Sunday. We may be missing Cesc, Theo, Rosicky, Eduardo & Diaby(suspended) and possibly even Eboue(injured) but we are still good enough to beat them. I don't think our new shining star will play but stranger things have happened.

Anyway on to other things Arsenal related. Villa have denied that they will complain about our appearent late capture of Arshavin. Some reports have suggested that there will be a struggle between Inter & Juventus for Eboue this summer as he will be out of contract. I don't know about the status of his contract but if it is up for renewal I hope we don't offer him another one as  I really don't rate him at all(except possibly as cover for Sagna) and his presence in the team is holding some of our youngsters back in mt opinion. Our new CEO says that he thinks there will be a Premier League casualty in the current financial crisis as it is a "Wild West" type enviroment. I can understand what he means and there must be a few clubs who are perilously close to going into meltdown. Chelsea & Man City are exempt as long as their benefactors are happy to lose fortunes but if that changes it could be curtains and all the aggro at Liverpool over money is happening at a very bad time for them. That doesn't even bring West Ham & Portsmouth into the equation and they can't be too stable either. 

Finally Arshavin has said he joined us because of our manager, some of our players and to win The Premier League and The Champions League. Let's all hope he doesn't have to wait too long for 1 of those 2 trophies but it would be nice to start with the FA Cup for the moment I'm sure.

Here's a clip of some Arsenal goals against The Spuds.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG3sXtDHlDk

And to finish today's title track from Depeche Mode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncvx8OVWaqg

Things change all the time in life and football. What we are going through at the moment may well be a "natural progression" for us and we might end up a better club at the end of it. It is a dangerous game that the manager is playing though and our progression could also be a downward spiral but I hope not. Every time I watch Arsenal play at the moment I hope they win and I know they are capable of winning any game but I rarely expect them to win any more and that scares me a little. Gone are the days when we scared teams and battered them from the first minute of a game. Now we seem to play a slow game in the first half and pick it up a little in the second half. We need our drive and pace back right away. I know we are missing Cesc, Theo & Rosicky but the manager had to think that we would have injuries at some stage in the season.and plan for it. I hope we will end up in the top 4 this season and maybe win the FA Cup but it is only a hope now and not a belief.

Anyway enough of my doubts. Both Nasri & Diaby have said today that we can still win the league and I admire their optimism. The boss said that he thinks the Arshavin might go to the wire. Why do we nearly always do this with transfers(recently anyway). I liked it when Sagna & Eduardo were signed out of the blue and all this haggling over a few million is very annoying.  Appearently we have applied for and received a work permit for him so the deal is all set up. It's just about money now.

When asked today the boss said he had made no bids for other players besides Arshavin but that he made enquiries. I presume he was told that these players weren't available and he left it at that. That's how we do business I suppose. In transfer speculation City are supposedly about to up their bid for Kolo. He is our current captain with Cesc out and we would be crazy to sell him. It was bad enough that we dropped him on Wednesday night. Rui Fonte has gone on loan to Crystal Palace for a month and I hope it works out well for him. Our Youth team won 4-0 away from home in the FA Youth Cup at Sunderland tonight and they are in the last 8 now. I think they can go all the way and win it this year. That's the lot for tonight. I hope to get a chance to post tomorrow while I m at work but if I don't I am going for a 1-0 win for us against West Ham with the magnificent RVP scoring our goal. It won't be easy as West Ham are in very good form at the moment.

Here's a good clip of the abilities of some of our youger players(aren't they all young?).

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=SxheLjqrX00&feature=related

And to finish the title track from Aswad.

 http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=GUTGOm7BTVU

Last night I ended up being happy with a point from a game that we needed 3 points in. We were very poor throughout virtually the whole game and RVP's equaliser only papers over the rather large cracks. He has become our saviour since Cesc got injured and if anything were to happen to him right now I think our season could implode entirely. Besides RVP not too many other players excelled themselves although I thought Gallas had a fairly good game for the most part. Sagna was subbbed during the second half and I hope he isn't injured. The starting team was more or less what we expected with Gallas in for Toure for some strange reason and Denilson, Diaby & Song in midfield alongside Nasri. Does the boss really think that we can win the Premier league with that midfield.

He said yesterday that we are in a healthy position in the league, Champions league and FA Cup and we are contenders in all 3. Does he still think we can win the league today with a 5 point gap to the cherished 4th place never mind United being 8 points clear with a game in hand on us and 11 clean sheets in a row. As I have said from the close of the transfer window in August we have to try for 4th place and also aim for the FA Cup. That 4th spot is looking more and more difficult by the week. I know we are unbeaten in 9 league games but we are still totally unconvincing when we play. We have a tough game at home to West Ham on Saturday as they are playing very well at the moment and we then have Cardiff 3 days later in our FA Cup replay. These are 2 more must win games for us but I really don't know if we can do it.

The boss said a few weeks ago that other teams have survived not qualifying for the Champions League such as Milan and Bayern and it really looks like he is setting us up for impending massive disappointment. I think has been fantastic for us over the last 12 or 13 years but I am questioning him this season more than all the others put together. Some of our players are not good enough and some more look like they don't care about the plight of the club at all. Forinstance Adebayor seems totally disinterested at the moment. He makes statements in the press about needing to believe and so on but he barely tries a leg at times on the pitch. We all know who the players who aren't good enough are but they seem to be favourites and they play week in and week out regardless.

In other news the boss has appearently said that the Arshavin deal is 90% done but I have serious doubts at this stage. I think we are playing hardball with him and Zenit over price and wages and I think it will backfire but hopefully I am wrong. It has been reprted that Theo will sign a new long term contract soon and that is just about the only good news today. I'll leave it at that and I hope against hope that things will improve from here on in.

Here's the goals from last night with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/ukbox/football-update/everton-1-0-arsenal-premiership-highlights/

And to finish the title track which is in honour of the player we all thought was another sicknote but is proving to be our saviour at the moment(it's from The Stone Roses).

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=e6QnK0yql8s&feature=related

Yesterday's game was very strange to say the least. While watching Arsenal go 2-0 up a friend said to me that if we won it would only be papering over the cracks and I agreed with him. Nobody was confident that we would hold onto our lead and once Gallas stupidly gave away the penalty there was an impending sense of doom about the place. Sure enough in injury time we were outnumbered at the back yet again and the ball luckily fell to Davies and he put it away.

During the first half it was embarrassing at times to watch Arsenal because they were so bad. I thought Song had his worst game yet and Silvestre was terrible too. Kolo came in when Djourou got injured in the warm up and he had a poor game by his standards. His touch and passing seem to have deserted him altogether and I hope Djourou will be back for the home game against Portsmouth. We will have Adebayor back and hopefully Clichy will return too because even though he has been poor recently he is still streets ahead of Silvestre. I lost count of the amount of times that Nasri had nobody to pass to as Silvestre just didn't back him up. I can't remember seeing an Arsenal, under Wenger, team pass as poorly as we did in the first half.

Denilson played quite well and he did very well to make his goal for himself and suddenly we started to play. Our second goal was absolutely fantastic and Diaby and Eboue did exceptionally well to make and take it between them. To be honest though it didn't make up for how poor they had been for almost all of the first half. The confidence ran through the team and we looked very well and RVP even hit the post but that all disappeared when Villa got their first goal back. I can't understand how we can play with confidence at 1-0 and devoid of it at 2-1. Are these players so brittle that 1 goal against them makes them fall apart ? 

Before the game I would have gladly taken a draw but in the end it was a disastourous result for our league position and the players' confidence. There were few positives from the game but I thought Sagna was back to his very best and played superbly. He kept Ashley Young very quiet. I thought Denilson played well and Rambo did quite well when he came on. RVP tried with all his might and almost scored 1 but he didn't get much service. Gallas looked to be having a good game until his schoolboy error cost us the penalty and that just isn't up to the standard required. Besides that there was very little in terms of effort, skill or commitment from the rest of the team. Nasri was OK but no more(he failed to track Milner at one stage which almost cost us a goal), Almunia still won't or can't command his area and I've mentioned the others already. Surely we could have had Nasri on the right and Vela on the left. How does the manager pick Eboue ahead of Vela. He may have made our second goal but he is not good enough to play for us.

Ahead of the Portsmouth game we should be without Song due to the injury he picked up and at least that is good news. I get the horrible feeling that Eboue will play again though.  We have been linked with Yaya Toure again today and I think we could do a lot worse. He would certainly improve our team if he played instead of Song in a holding position. We need to buy players who will improve our first team at the moment as we simply are not good enough. We do not need squad players as we have a squad almost full of squad players. With Cesc injured there are probably only 5 or 6 players out there who are at a levelthat is good enough to compete in the league. We need to sort that out nowwhile we still have a chance to finish 4th. There is a lot of potential in the younger players but these are the players who aren't getting a chance at the moment anyway. That's it for today and I'll preview the Portsmouth game tomorrow.

Here's the highlights of yesterday's game with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

 http://www.boxofficefootball.com/index.php?s=aston+villa+v+arsenal

And to finish the title track from The Cardigans because I am "Sick And Tired" of this team letting us down time and again.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8paAUN6lC3I

See You Tomorrow.

ps - I have to go to the pub again tonight. Damn you Christmas.

Well our Sunday afternoon date with league leaders draws even closer and everywhere you can read articles by various players and/or experts(?) telling anyone who will listen that we are in disarray(Ferguson) or that we are physically weak(Cech) or basically fairly crap. We may have had a bad November so far but a win on Sunday would go a long way towards repairing some of the damage. We know we can play well against the big teams and if Chelsea let us play it will cause them a lot of trouble. I hope they go into the game believing what it says in the papers because if they do they are in for a shock. We have Adebayor, Nasri & Sagna back from injury and I expect all 3 to start. I think the boss will play 5-4-1 with Diaby off Adebayor and RVP on the bench. I hope he puts Nasri wide right and Vela wide left with Cesc & Ramsey in the centre. The defence more or less picks itself and I feel this team would have a real chance if we play at a high tempo with full concentration. One thing is for sure, I don't think Song should play at any stage as he isn't up to it.

PHW has said that we have money to spend in January if the manager chooses to do so and with the new C.E.O. in place it's all set up nicely for Arsene to spend, spend spend(I hope). Arsene has said how he admires Scolari and he tried to sign Kalou in the summer. He had a lot to say today and you can read it all on the official club site as I couldn't be arsed going into all the details. The club have said that V.A.T. will be reduced, in line with the new 15% rate in the U.K, on tickets and merchandise and other items where it is possible from Monday. That's good news for me as I'll be over there next week spending my hard earned money at The Emirates. Speaking of which I have to work tomorrow to get the days off for the trip and then on Sunday my daughter has a dancing exhibition and prize giving ceremony at 3.30. There is a bar in the hotel and I can imagine myself making numerous trips to the bathroom to catch a glimpse of proceedings at Chelsea. Which is why the blog has it's title of course as Sunday is like every other day as I won't see my beloved Arsenal(at lest not properly). Not going is not an option by the way as I promised her a long time ago that I would go and she has won loads of dancing trophies already this year. That's the lot for today.

Here's a clip of the third goal in Kanu's great hat trick in our 3-2 win at Chelsea a few years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ElUULaEFmw

And to finish the title track from above by Morrissey.

After yesterday's dismal display against an Aston Villa team who thoroughly deserved to beat us the manager is going to have to think long and hard about the team selection for our next game away to Man City. Not only that he will also have to get his scouts working very hard and find us some top class experienced players to bring to the club in January. I also think that we are getting out thought tactically by our opponents too often. For instance we have played 2 teams who are strong and physical at the back recently in Stoke and Aston Villa and the manager has played bring strong centre forwards against them. Surely we should be using Vela or Walcott

or even Simpson up front against them to try to play the ball on the ground or in behind the defence. He got the tactics right for the United game but too often he has got them wrong recently. At various stages this season we have had Adebayor and Bendtner up front together and that just isn't Arsenal. The manager has to think long and hard about his tactics and team selection ahead of each individual game. I thought he would play 4-5-1 against Villa and I was right. Maybe if he showed some balls and played Vela from the start we might have played better football.

Almunia has called for changes today but obviously he won't say who he thinks should be out of the team. I thought he did OK yesterday but after saving a penalty he was somewhat at fault for their second goal and he could be involved in the changes he has called for. Cesc will be suspended for our next league game at Man City and it will be interesting to see who takes his place. Will we see the usual option of one of the regulars or will the boss be brave and play Rambo or Wilshere. Maybe he'll play them both but I'm worried that he'll leave our wide players out again and play defensively. We will get plenty of chances against City if we attack them or play on the break and we need players in the team who will score them.Yesterday again both Cesc and Nasri were poor and Cesc's form is very poor at the moment and Nasri seems to be a bit up and down to say the least. Some players seem to be immune to being dropped though. I would play Rambo, Fabianski, Djourou & Vela at City if it were up to me. RVP will be back from suspension but I would leave him on the bench to teach him to behave like a grown up. Appearently he reacted to Sorensen calling him what every child in a playground calls every other child or what The Spuds fans call Sol Campbell. Ahead of that game Sagna will be out for a few weeks and I think Kolo has looked good at right back recently so I expect him to start there.

Back to yesterday's game and our complaints about Villa's goals. Sagna was down injured when they scored their first but it is up to the referee to stop the game and Villa were well within their rights to play on. It wasn't like Martin Jol telling his players to play on against us a couple of years ago. We need to be that ruthless ourselves at times. If the referee blows then stop but otherwise play on regardless. That goal came from a cross in Sagna's position with Gallas covering the fallen player and Clichy covering Gallas. His luck ran out and the own goal he almost scored last week, he did score this week. As for the second goal it seemed to be fairly obvious that Vela was taken down but again the referee didn't blow and Villa took advantage. Gallas was done for pace and strength by that lanky git and Almunia stayed on his line for too long. The luck we got last week went the other way this week with their goals but make no mistake they fully deserved to win. I haven't mentioned the performance of Bendtner yet but I was disappointed to say the least. As a target man the ball didn't stick to him and his first touch was poor. He's had a chance in the last few games with RVP and/or Adebayor out but he hasn't played well in any of them.

In other news we have been linked with Diego of Werder Bremen but it would be pointless to sign him as we have Cesc, Rambo and Wilshere and we have also been linked with Joe Ledley of Cardiff but nothing can happen until January obviously. RVP has appearently agreed to sign a double your money new contract. The manager is turning down loan requests for for the youngsters every day appearently. Our Ladies beat Forest 5-0 today to continue their fine league form.

The question being asked everywhere is - are Arsenal out of the race for the league. I firmly believed that we could not win the league at the start of the season with the squad we had unless we strengthened in the 2 obvious areas before the transfer window closed. When we didn't strengthen I said we had to play for 3rd or 4th and try to win the FA Cup and sadly I have been proved right. Make no mistake, this squad is not good enough to win the league and the players we bring in when we make changes only make the situation worse(Eboue & Song). We need more strength and more flair. The flair is at the club but the strength has to be bought. I would love a 6' 5" centre back who kicks or heads anything that moves and a central midfielder in Paddy Vieira's mould. I know they won't be easy to find but we need them now. That's my rant over for today.

I'll leave you with the highlights(or lowlights as we should call them) of yesterday's game with thanks to boxofficefootball again.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/index.php?s=arsenal+v+aston+villa

And to finish some Music from David Bowie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3vxEudif8

See You Tomorrow.