Porto await

A few blades will certainly be sharpened should we not respond to the Hull defeat in convincing fashion, making an important game against Porto even more crucial. Nasri is expected to return, while a hip niggle keeps the impressive Alex Song out of the action.

Wenger has some interesting decisions to make. Does he move Eboue to his favoured right and Nasri on the left? Or does he keep Theo involved and drop Eboue? He could even leave Nasri on the bench but I doubt that. Our lack of strength in the centre of midfield means that Denilson and Fabregas will continue there.

There are also choices up top and at the back. Should Arsene stick with the erratic and lethargic Adebayor and RVP? Or should he plunge either Bendtner or Vela into the mix? While at the back many of us would like to see Djourou play ahead of Gallas, but Toure is the more likely to be dropped, so will Wenger make a change in this department?

Choices, choices.

Arsene admits - we are too small

There has been a lot of reaction to our recent defeat to Hull, most of it pretty sensible, even if some of it has been a little over the top and out of perspective, that's only in my humble opinion after all. Arsene has had some strong words to say and even admitted that he was made 'physically sick' by the performance. Maybe Arsene is referring to his hangover that was forced upon him after losing to the not so mighty Hull City FC, maybe not.

"What we delivered today was not good enough and we know that. What was the most disappointing is that we were 1-0 in front and still lost the game, after having struggled in the first half to score."

I agree that the delivery was indeed not good enough, we created plenty of good clear cut opportunities which we should have done better with. I'm not quite so sure about the next bit:

"We were not at the level we should have been. I believe that's more down to the mental side than anything technical. If we had had the same level of commitment as Hull, we would have won the game, as the technical advantage is with us."

If the thirty yarder had been a little less accurate and if we had decided to put away a couple of our sitters then would that have made our commitment so much greater? I am playing devil's advocate I know.

"I don't know if they were complacent, it's difficult to say. Are they subconsciously thinking, 'It's OK, we will do it.' It can happen. But where we are guilty is after a difficult first half, we went 1-0 up and then let it go again."

Here I am starting to agree with Arsene, once we were one nil up it appeared that the players thought they had the game won, they wrote Hull off. How wrong they turned out to be.

"I believe that we have more a size problem than quality in our defending problem. Our centre backs are not very tall. I don't know what we can do. It's not only centre backs who defend. As a team we are a bit short."

What a statement, especially the 'I don't know what we can do' line. This is something that has been eminently apparent for a long time now, it it not a problem that has cropped up overnight. Gallas and Toure have been our first choice centre backs for quite some time. Something could have so easily been done in the close season about this obvious lack of size.

As some have said, would it not now be sensible to drop Gallas and throw big Johan into the mix? Ted also observed that Song's appearances have coincided with a bit more solidity in the side, I'm sure that's more than coincidence. It's a bit of a shame that a hip injury keeps Song out against Porto, hopefully he'll be back soon. One also wonders whether the front two need to up their game, as there are some rather bright striking talents waiting to pounce.

The problem is that Gallas cannot be dropped, this is because Arsene has made him club captain and signed him with the promise of playing regular games at centre back, what an error this now looks in retrospect. I hope the reaction is positive against Porto, fingers crossed, but I suspect that our lack of size will remain a problem all season and the only cure is a radical Gallasectomy.

Complacent and unfortunate

It was by no means a great team performance yesterday, but I have seen us play much worse and win, and it was certainly nowhere near the low of the Fulham away game. However we still contrived to lose three points to a rather average side by giving away a hard fought one goal lead, there are certainly some explanations for this slightly sloppy capitulation.

One should still see the defeat in perspective though, we were incredibly unlucky to lose the match, we had countless excellent chances and Hull did not threaten our goal to anything like the same degree. The first half saw Hull create nothing at all, while despite not flowing as we can, we still created a few good clear cut opportunities. Adebayor had goal strangely ruled out, for what I am not quite sure, Walcott had three excellent chances, one he fluffed, one he took too long and the other he allowed an excellent recovering challenge to nip the ball away from him when through one on one. RVP and Ade didn't really work hard enough all day, and this was especially so in the first forty five.

So in we went nil nil at half time, it wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't great. It still didn't excuse the rather petulant and almost Manu like behaviour of a small minority of fans who seem to think that their incessant moaning helps, why not support the team? We are supporters after all.

Theo burst down the right and caused panic in the Hull box and the ball somehow squirmed over the line, fortunately the lino's size able belly didn't prevent him from observing that the ball had definitely crossed the line, one nil up we were. We should then have gone on to bury Hull, but we did not, so what were the reasons for this?

Certainly a lot of supporters seemed to think that going one nil up meant that we had won the game, chants of 'You should have stuck to the Rubgy' and others demonstrated a slight lack of awareness of Hull's several remarkable comebacks from a goal down so far this season. We also had a few great openings which we did not take advantage of. RVP in particular looked more lively, but he did not have his shooting boots on, he was also far too selfish on a couple of occasions.

Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up to a great goal as well, and Hull's first came from a position that didn't initially appear that threatening, Giovanni cutting inside from the left wing position to fire home an awesome thirty yarder that left Almunia without a prayer. There was not enough pressure on the ball, however those do not often nestle in the top corner.

Hull's second came from a set piece, a good whipped corner from the right was expertly headed home by Daniel Cousins, our man on the line didn't appear to do much. It was rather worrying that Hull looked so very dangerous from their set pieces, we are a very small side and there is just not getting away from that. Toure is our only defender or midfielder who is remotely tall, the rest are medium sized at best, it just leaves us so exposed to set plays and the long ball.

We continued to huff and puff, Fabregas forced a great save, Gallas looked a better striker than defender as he headed against the underside of the bar, while a few other efforts flashed just wide. It finished 2-1 to Hull, fair play to them, they were organised at the back and despite riding their luck, got their tactics spot on.

I'm not sure I completely buy the comments from Arsene after the game, I agree that we were a tad complacent in some ways, especially with our slack finishing and the wasting of so many gilt edged chances. Personally I don't think Hull defended that well, if we had finished well then we could have had at least four or five goals, it was our sloppyness rather than Hull's excellence. There was also not quite enough movement, especially from our strikers, however I did think that the rest of the side looked pretty motivated.

One aspect of Arsene's explanation does not wash with me, as regards conceding from corners (again):

"It is a weakness in our team but that’s as well linked with the level of concentration. You can work for hours on the training ground but if you don’t attack the ball on the day of the game it will cost you. We were caught already the corner before when the guy got infront of Adebayor. I believe that's more down to how much you want the ball."

There is an element of lacking concentration here, however if you have such a small side then no matter how motivated and determined you are, it's still very hard to outjump a much bigger side. In particular a lot of this problem is rooted in the Toure-Gallas combo, and personally Gallas is the weaker link for me. He was completely outmanoeuvred by Marlon King yesterday, who is at best at average top division player. He routinely lost the aerial contest, even when he was in a stronger starting position. Gallas is a very good defender, however a strong back four is made by having four players who complement each other's games, Gallas does not complement Toure's game.

Our back four does not look right and this has been apparent for a while. Gallas was great for Chelsea when playing at full back or when playing alongside a beast who could win everything in the air, however he has never been an aggressive centre half who will dominate the aerial challenges, he is a clever mopper upper of danger and needs players around him to make up for his weaknesses. Gallas left Chelsea because he wanted to be a permanent fixture at centre back, it seems that they realised what we can see now, that Gallas is not really a true centre back.

In perspective we should still have dispatched Hull, even with our problems at centre back, and we must improve our finishing if we are to sustain a challenge for the title this year. I still don't think it was an awful performance, we created enough to have won; I certainly don't think the small minority of Arsenal fans who indulged in taking their frustration out on certain Arsenal players help the team and they certainly don't make the game more enjoyable for the majority of loyal fans around them. We do have some problems, but please let's see them in perspective and let's try to be constructive rather than behaving like small children who didn't get the Christmas present that they saw as their divine right.

FA - muppet mayhem

I suppose if referees made less mistakes then we wouldn't have quite so much to talk about throughout the football season, the shocking refereeing on show this season has certainly left plenty of room for improvement for the rest of the season.

Unbelievably the FA have had the gall to charge Watford's boss Aidie Boothroyd for having the audacity to be angry when a goal was awarded against his side instead of a corner. It really has to be seen to be believed just how bad this decision was, have a look here.

So on a weekend we have blatant dissent from the likes of Ferdinand which goes unpunished, then in the week we see yet another shocking leg breaker get off with just a three match ban, while poor old Adie Boothroyd is hauled up in front of the FA for having the nerve to be pissed off when a referee makes an inexcusable error.

Mind you if you thought that refereeing error was bad, then have a look at this one, again it has to be seen to be believed with the ref waving play on despite the fact that the ball cannoned into the old onion bag and then out again due to the ferocity of the shot. Maybe the manager concerned was punished for daring to get a tad angry at this incompetence.

Elsewhere the delightful Platini has admitted he was 'too hard' on Arsene, there appears to be no sign of a proper grovelling apology then. Platini seems to dislike the fact that Arsene signs up young talent, quite legally I may add, at the age of around 13 or 14. Perhaps he should concentrate on criticising those who actually routinely break the rules of the game with their illegal tapping up of players, or on those clubs which threaten the sustainability of the game with their reckless spending. It would be too much to expect a proper apology from this arrogant self obsessed half wit, no wonder the game's not moving forward with this kind of muppet at the helm.

Platini, Pogatetz and double standards

Firstly what a fantastic performance last night, it seems unfair to highlight individuals in what was a magnificent team display. Even the youngsters on the bench are great talents, it really does demonstrate what magic Wenger has done over the years in developing our youth. Those who like to blame Wenger for England's woes would do well to notice the fact that Wilshere, Gibbs, Hoyte, Randall, Lansbury and Simpson are all English.

Moving on to other controversial matters, the lovely selfless Platini has been spouting yet more manure without engaging his brain. Platini is either very jealous or has a remarkably small wanger:

"I like to talk about football, him (Wenger) about business. We must stop with Wenger and all that," Platini then said he hoped video assistance would never come into football, adding: "It would make me happy that Arsene Wenger never sees it."

Later in the interview, Platini again targeted Wenger when asked about his thoughts on Romanian side CFR Cluj's unexpected victory over Roma in the Champions League last week.

"That is what makes football so great," Platini said.

"It is what people like Wenger do not want, little clubs beating the big clubs, because they want their business."

The LMA have quickly stepped to Arsene's defence, quite rightly, it is quite appalling that someone in Platini's position should stoop to such a level in launching such a bitter personal attack, not only are his words irresponsible, they are also completely inaccurate and lacking coherence. The LMA rightly point out that a majority of people are for the use of video technology and the likes of Platini in their ivory towers are the ones losing touch with reality. Arseblogger nails Platini as only he could.

Amazingly the Sun has hit the nail on the head in pointing out the completely pointless pretence at action that is the FA's 'respect' campaign. Not only have their been numerous shocking examples of violence and ill discipline to far this season, but the FA have yet again failed to act and punish these incidents retrospectively, all they have done is let John Terry off a red card for a rugby tackle. Kevin Nolan's words are a disgrace and make Megson's denial of intimidatory tactics appear nothing but a blatant lie:

“I have never seen anybody as quick as Theo Walcott in my life. I said to Jlloyd Samuel ‘Give him a little kick and see if he comes back at you!’

“At the end of the day, it is a physical sport. We don’t want to be like basketballers. We are in the gym four or five days a week to build ourselves up to try to stand up to challenges like that.

“We are in danger of losing that side — the roughing up of people.”

If we are in danger of losing that Kevin then I am not upset at all, because it is precisely this kind of medieval approach to football that enables donkey-like thugs like yourself to prosper. I really wonder why England struggles to produce skillful technical ball players, it couldn't be anything to do with this routine thuggery that we have yet to stamp out.

Pogatetz was guilty of committing a very bad tackle last night against Manu, it's interesting to note the media response to this and compare it to their reaction to Davies' very similar tackle on Clichy from the weekend. Contrast the reaction of Gareth Southgate to that of Gary Megson, Southgate must be commended for not attempting to defend his player, while Megson is a disgrace. I'm sure we won't see Alan Shearer and Mark Lawrenson laughing at Pogatetz's challange in the same way that they guffawed at Clichy's injury. Double standards me thinks.

The Kids are Back in Town

Great news last night with the Gooner Kids putting six unanswered goals past Sheffield Utd.

However, when you bear in mind that Gallas and Almunia practically double the average age of the rest of the first XI, and that Bendtner, Vela, Song, Ramsey and Djourou are already full internationals for their countries, its clear that these kids are a class act, and are very close in standard to the other kids who play for the first XI.

Still, its good to see players like Jack Wilshere, Kieren Gibbs, Mark Randall , Fran Merida and Carlos Vela get a proper run out for the team and do well. Its a massive feather in the cap for AW and allows us Gooners one of those nice days when you can gloat at anyone you see and say something condescending about why Arsenal didn't need to replace Flamini, Hleb and Senderos over the summer because of the talent coming through.

And for today at least, its 100% true.

This is England

For anyone that's seen the film, you'll know what I'm on about, for those who haven't read on and I shall try to explain. This is 'good old' English football and it's not for 'jessies' as the grinning Shearer and Lawrenson love saying. This is 'good old' England where we just laugh as the reckless straight legged tackles fly, where we just get on with it as the tibias crack, where we don't see leading with a swinging elbow as a foul, where our regressive and violent game holds technical football back, where we blame those nasty foreigners for holding our cultured game back, after all it's much easier to live in denial than admit to yourself that you're just uneducated and xenophobic. This is England, be proud, support the BNP, drink nasty fizzy lager and read the fucking Sun.

As you can see I didn't agree with the ignorami on MOTD, Kevin Davies' tackle was shockingly bad, it was completely reckless and out of control, I'm just thankful Gael Clichy's bones are intact this morning, how on earth the moronic Shearer and Lawrenson can label it 'fair' on MOTD is beyond belief. It was irrelevant that Davies made contact with the ball, the ball doesn't matter when you show that much malice in the challenge, it's just typical of weak referees like Steve Bennett to bottle that kind of decision by failing to show the red card. It is this kind of limp refereeing that holds English football back. It wasn't the only decision the over sized gnome choked, Davies' nasty elbow on Toure was completely ignored as well, I'm sure Alan Shearer was proud of that kind of 'old fashioned' centre forward play; no wonder Bolton tried to bundle Almunia into the goal, Bennett was refereeing as if it was the 1920s, apart from giving free kicks for Bolton's theatrical dives that is.

Having got that out of my system, it was most enjoyable to hammer Bolton in such convincing fashion, I can't feel too much sorrow for one of the most negative and violent teams in the land, who else would comically reduce the size of their pitch in such a manner? Our youthful side did very well to stay strong and refuse to be intimidated by the typically over physical Bolton tactics. Bolton got their goal in the only way they know how, by fouling, firstly Almunia was barged in the back to win the corner, then Davies climbed all over Toure to win the header, lovely stuff Bolton, what lovely football.

The response to Bolton's finely crafted goal was breathtaking, the passing was suddenly incredibly direct and crisp, only a pitch one metre wide would have saved Bolton. First Adebayor hit the inside of the post when clean through one on one, then Song hit the inside of the post with a solid header from a corner, then the first goal, the direct Eboue slotted home nicely from a neat through ball. The second goal was the pick of the bunch, a brilliant little network of passes in midfield led to Denilson breaking through into the box in the inside left position, he then squared for Bendtner to slide it in from the edge of the six yard box. We looked comfortable until half time, Bolton did rally after the break, and were considerably helped by the inept Bennett who ignored numerous hacks from behind and flying elbows from Bolton. It's strange how the likes of Kevin Davies are happy to fly into tackles with studs up and a straight leg, but when tackled themselves they go down as promptly as if someone had left their pork pie on the turf.

So unlucky Bolton, maybe without a referee you might have had a chance, but with a decent one you'd have been looking a much fairer and more embarrassing scoreline. The most encouraging thing for me was holding things tight in the second half when Bolton had a fair bit of the game, the defence held firm, Almunia led well from the back and the midfield worked hard to keep Bolton under pressure. Song and Denilson are getting better with every game, while Eboue seems to have been reborn this season, Bendtner must be pushing RVP very close for a regular starting slot and Theo is simply sparkling. I hope we can keep this kind of performance coming, we need to stay motivated and if we are to work this hard every week, who knows what may happen come May.