Wigan and FIFA's ineptitude is killing the international game

So it was a pretty solid win against Wigan as most of us would have hoped would be the case before the game, in all honesty with some slightly sharper finishing it could have been an extremely decent scoreline. The big positives must include another solid performance from the young Pole in goal (what a rhyme), RVP not getting injured and producing some nice touches, and good defensive showings from Djourou and Gibbs. The missed chances of Vela and Bendtner were sort of expected given their lack of games, but still a tad disappointing, the two did combine rather nicely for our second goal though.

The amusing thing for me is the fact that the media seem to think we're taking the competition so so much more seriously than we have done in previous years. Actually very few of our Carling Cup starters started at the weekend, Wilshere and Koscielny were the only two I think. The strong side is more a reflection of our deeper squad than our taking things massively more seriously. Still, we're through to face Ipswich in the two legged semi final, we must have a good chance of getting through that tie and making the final.

Now to the item at the top of everyone's agenda at the moment, FIFA and the decision to give the 2018/22 world cups to Russia and Qatar respectively. Firstly anyone who blames the BBC for this decision is just plain stupid. The BBC's program may not have been well timed but frankly so what, the media are perfectly entitled to expose rank corruption whenever they want, the fact that FIFA have so much dirty laundry is what people should be focusing on, this all links in with the corrupt and nepotistic voting system that has handed the world cup to Russia and Qatar. I would urge everyone to actually watch the BBC's program before criticising it, this criticism should be going in FIFA's direction.

FIFA are a joke, they are useless in all they do, their president Sepp Blatter is as corrupt as they come, many others are as corrupt as Sepp, if not more. FIFA also consistently stands in the face of progress, video technology is still not in use in the game despite virtually all other big sports having incorporated it into their games in a way that has reduced error and helped out officials. If the BBC program did affect the votes then this only goes to prove just how overly sensitive various FIFA committee members are, probably because they are as corrupt as they come.

The decision to hand the world cups to Russia and Qatar does appear a rather political one, it would also not surprise me if certain FIFA committee members were getting some kind of kickbacks for their votes. Whatever actually went on behind closed doors, it is clear that the FIFA voting system is the opposite of being objective, it is archaic and susceptible to clear manipulation. In my opinion Russia is not in Europe and the handing of a world cup to Qatar is beyond a joke.

The sad fact about all this is that international football is dying, it is becoming more and more dreary in comparison to the vastly superior club game. The Champions League produces the best football, the domestic European leagues produce some of the most exciting stuff after this, the international game lags sadly behind. The international game has become more and more boring in comparison to the club game in recent years, and the game's governing bodies are doing nothing to address this, FIFA look after only themselves, UEFA are doing little for the international game too. FIFA needs to be reformed badly, the IOC has been reformed recently to the great benefit of the Olympic bidding process, the chance that anything similar will happen to FIFA appears rather remote, FIFA are completely unaccountable and everything they do is the opposite of transparent.

I'm not the biggest England fan in the world, I do admit, but a world cup in England would have been vastly superior to one in Russia, and a comparison with Qatar is laughable. It's such a great shame that the 'people's' game is being killed by such a corrupt bunch of cronies who are looking after their own vested interests and not the interests of the game of football. FIFA are using the world cup as a money making device to feed their own corruption, the demands that FIFA put on the governments of host countries are beyond a disgrace, no wonder the world cup is being given to compliant corrupt countries like Russia and Qatar, they are happy to dance to FIFA's corrupt tune, what a sad state of affairs.

Attacking side to face Wigan

So here is the side with RVP as captain:

Szczesny, Eboue, Koscielny, Djourou, Gibbs, Denilson, Wilshere, Walcott, Bendtner, Van Persie (c), Vela

I wouldn't be surprised if Vela is to play on the left flank, Walcott on the right, with RVP slotting in just behind Bendtner, making this formation resemble more of a 4-4-2 than a 4-5-1. There will certainly be an emphasis on Vela and Walcott tracking back, and if they don't we may well get a tad overrun in the midfield.

I am extremely pleased to see Szszesny playing, a big opportunity for the confident young Pole. Gibbs and Djourou also have a chance to push for first team slots. Of those on the bench, I hope JET gets at least twenty minutes or so, he is a really exciting talent.

Improved showing sees off Villa but doubts remain

Overall, definitely a shade or two superior to last week's showing against Tottenham. Villa were previously unbeaten at home and to bring home all three points is quite an achievement. Psychologically surrendering another decent lead would have been a hammer blow that I don't think we could have recovered from. The game wasn't safe until Wilshere headed home after an excellent dinked centre from Chamakh, 4-2 the final score, although Villa pushed hard at 3-2 we generally defended a bit better than on last Saturday.

The first half was one way traffic, although the goals came late, they did look likely, the outstanding Arshavin finding the bottom corner via Friedel's hand and then Nasri drilling in with good technique on the volley from a corner. In between those both Nasri and Chamakh were very close to adding further goals. Arshavin was looking back to his best, quick, lively and alert, everything good about the little Russian was on show today, while Nasri continued his excellent form. Two nil at half time did not flatter us.

The second half was tighter than it should have been, partly down to the gross incompetence of the officials and partly down to a second Villa goal that I feel Lucasz Fabianski should have done more to prevent. Clark hit a great shot from the edge of the box, but Carew was right in front of Fabianski and quite blatantly blocking his view, so much so that Fabianski was bending his neck to look around the left side of Carew. This meant Fabiasnki was not only unsighted but also slightly out of position, how on earth the ref Clattenberg didn't disallow this goal for a clear offside I will never know. This goal gave Villa hope. Shortly afterwards Rosicky played Chamakh clean through and he then toed the ball past Friedel, our two goal cushion was restored.

The second Villa goal came from a set piece and it is from set pieces that we looked vulnerable all day long. Dunne won the header from the corner, it looped back across the goal, it looked a ball that the keeper should have claimed in my opinion, Fabianski stayed rooted to his goal line, Clark flicked the ball in off the bar, 3-2 it was and our nerves were jangling again. In all honesty we played fairly sensibly from this point and defended pretty well, Villa created nothing clear cut from this point in. The fourth goal on the break then sealed things nicely.

Overall some very good performances and a good result, job most definitely done, but some doubts still remain. Arshavin was magnificent, hungry for blood from the off, devastating with the ball at his feet, an end product with everything he did. Nasri and Rosicky were imaginative and tidy. Chamakh was excellent, great link play and a good goal. Song was efficiently effective, Wilshere fought hard and used the ball extremely cleverly. Clichy was far more solid than I have seen him for a while, Koscielny intercepted and read the game well. The main doubt I have at the back is Fabianski's ability to deal with the high ball, mainly regarding crosses and set pieces. There's no doubt he's a great shot stopper, but can he dominate aerially? Personally I think not.

Certainly some lessons appeared to have been learnt. Song seemed to be stuck a bit deeper today, there was more discipline in his game, this does look very much like something Arsene must have done in response to out recent capitulations. Wilshere's presence definitely made a difference in the midfield, he mucks in and is never afraid to make a tackle. The forward play was generally outstanding, Villa were on the rack time and time again, the movement and pace of our passing game was simply too much for them. Arshavin was the player that we all know he can be at his best today, I hope we see this as a regular feature for the rest of the season.

Starting eleven vs Villa

So here it is: Fabianski, Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny, Clichy, Rosicky, Song, Wilshere, Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin Subs: Szczesny, van Persie, Walcott, Denilson, Djourou, Gibbs, Bendtner

Not the eleven I would have selected but then I am not the Arsenal manager. Will we have enough width and will we be exploited in our sweet centre? I hope not and am looking forward to being proven wrong, fingers crossed.

Brainstorming: should we return to 4-4-2?

I don't think there is any denying that there is something wrong with the way in which we are defending as a team. We have conceded too many sloppy goals, we let leads slip too easily and we are just a bit of a soft touch at the back. These are a few brief thoughts I have had in this regard:

Formation. The way we play with a 4-3-3 is too attacking a lot of the time. We often have five attacking players and one defensive player. The balance needs to change. I would be keen to return to a more structured 4-4-2 system.

Song. He is a very solid defender when he defends, but recently he appears to have been given a license to roam forward a bit too much. Song needs to be redeployed as a defensive sitter in front of the back four, his primary strength is his ability to shield the defence and this needs to be reinstated.

Fabianski/Clichy. The latter of these two has not been on form, many of us would like to see Kieran Gibbs given a run in the side to see if he can do better. There is no doubt that Lucasz Fabianski's form has been much improved of late, he still has a lot to prove and must show he can dominate in the air.

Defensive organisation. The first goal we conceded against Tottenham was a great example of the lack of organisation that is present at times. The fact that Squillaci/Koscielny/Song were all so far up the field that they could not help repel the attach spoke volumes. We need to be coached and organised better at the back, I do not know enough about the ins and outs of our current defensive coaching to know how this needs to change. Maybe the likes of Keown/Bould need to be involved with our defensive drilling.

Consistent centre back pairing. It is not easy for the centre backs when the pairing is different every week. We need a first choice pair and this needs to be stuck to for a period. Djourou has been on fine form of late and should not be left out in my opinion, especially given his aerial ability.

There are many other things that could be said but this is just what sprung to the surface of my mind. I would be interested to hear some more constructive comments from readers. Interestingly Aaron Ramsey has gone for a short loan spell to Forest to build up his fitness, a great idea, he wouldn't be able to do this in the Reserves.

We need to get at absolute minimum of a point at Villa this weekend, arguably all three. Cesc is hamstrung, so hopefully Nasri will play a bit deeper with Wilshere staying in the midfield with Song. Personally I would like to see a 4-4-2 system this weekend with something like this eleven, it would be great to see RVP and Chamakh together up top:

Fabianski
Sagna Squillaci Djourou Gibbs
Walcott Song Wilshere Nasri
RVP
Chamakh

On the slide, defending to forget (again)

We had won three games out of three in the Champions League, we were playing well and one nil up at Shakhtar, let's hit the pause button there for a minute. One would have thought it would have been impossible to throw away this group, but we are pushing this assumption a little close to the wire.

I know we should have had a penalty at 0-0, it was a clear foul on Vela, what the useless cretin of a referee was doing booking Vela was beyond belief. UEFA's stupid system of extra officials does nothing to prevent errors, the officials are still crap. The referee also allowed a lot of rough stuff from Braga in the second half that should have been dealt with far more severely. But remember, Braga are no stars, they are a mid table side from Portugal.

Anyway, back the main point, since being one nil up at Shakhtar we have now conceded four rather sloppy goals from a defensive point of view. This puts the Tottenham capitulation into perspective, our defensive organisation is quite frankly pants, we are a shambles at the back and it is now getting beyond a joke.

It was nil nil before Braga scored their first, if we could have kept a clean sheet then we would now be through, we could not and things will now go down to the wire when they really need not have done. Obviously we should beat Partizan at home, I almost dare not think about a failure to do so.

What has become abundantly clear this season is that something is badly wrong with the way our team is setup to defend. I think the problem is a mixture of problems, the 4-3-3 formation does not help, the lack of discipline and defensive cover from midfield is a big problem, the defenders are also far from blameless in all this. We need to go back to basics and fast.

Arsene's surrender monkeys: my dissection

Having had more time to reflect upon Saturday's events I have come up with a few points that I think are key in understanding why we threw away a comfortable two goal lead against the spuds. Firstly despite what some stupid and deluded spuds fans say, this was a game thrown away by Arsenal, Tottenham were average at best and extremely lucky to have been gifted two extremely cheap goals to level things up.

This is no one off, the parallels with the 4-4 game were all to clear as just one example. Our ability to grind out clean sheets and to hold leads has been distinctly poor for sometime. Pretending this was a fluke or an isolated event is not honest. We have conceded so many sloppy goals already this season and we have let a number of significant leads slip in recent seasons. The question is why does this happen and what can be done to rectify it?

Take Tottenham's first goal. We lost the ball high up their pitch, it shouldn't have been a dangerous situation, the ball was booted hopefully long and the following defensive play of the team was quite pathetic. It is easy to jump on bandwagons and blame individuals, this is the easy option, but it is far harder to see the reality of the bad defending which is more of a collective problem. There was no midfielder challenging for the header, so Clichy moved forward out of position and the better positioned Defoe flicked the ball on. Maybe a bad decision by Clichy but where were our midfielders and centre backs? Notably Cesc and Song were nowhere near play, Koscelielny and Squillaci were also way out of position.

The flick on was then allowed the time to bounce without a challenge, Sagna though about it but there wasn't much cover around so he eased off, Denilson was trying to keep pace with Bale but few can, Van der Vaart then played in Bale who finished expertly. The story of this goal tells a lot of the problem we have in defending as a team. It showed that we were possibly slightly naive in letting Squillaci and Song go so far forward when already 2-0 up, it showed that we have a real lack of aerial ability in our side, this is evident particularly in the midfield, Song is the only one who can win a header.

It also showed rather fundamentally that there was a lack of defensive organisation of the team, we were all over the shop in terms of numbers and shape, the manager must take a degree of responsibility for this chaotic shambles. If any individual is most to blame it is Cesc Fabregas. The free kick was never a free kick, another great dive from the spuds, but the raising of his arm was so utterly stupid and indefensible. There was no excuse for it.

Some people have put a lot of this down to our concentration, or lack of it, and a complacency of sorts. There is a small element of truth in this for me, but I should emphasise the small in this. There was no lack of effort when Tottenham scored their first, there was more a lack of defensive organisation and the correct balance in the side needed to defend a lead. Personally I agree that the problem is deep seated, but I do not think it is correct to blame the mental attitudes of individuals. The blame for this defensive problem should lie at the manager's door primarily, he has assembled this group of players and the defensive balance amongst them is simply not tight, and has not been for a long long time.

The defensive lapses are more the manager's fault in my eyes because they are a recurrent problem that is down to the imbalance of attributes in our squad. It is not the players' fault if the manager puts out a small technically adept side which doesn't have the muscle to defend a lead, it is just inevitable that this kind of side will play pretty football and let leads slip from time to time. As Martin Keown says, it was the defensive lapses which cost us and the lack of leaders in our side is part of this very same issue. Obviously the absence of the key leader at the back Mr Vermaelen has played a part, but this is but a small part of the jigsaw. We need more fighters, more talkers and more motivational personalities.

Wenger may have teared into our players and maybe this makes some of you feel better, however an element of this rage must be down to Wenger unfairly taking out some of the anger he should be directing at himself, for assembling a squad of players that play beautiful football but are defensively light on balance.

We have a goalkeeper that will never dominate aerially. We generally have only medium sized centre backs, Djourou not included, who are more proficient on the ground than in the air. The only midfielder who can defend well is Song, granted Wilshere can do his bit too, while the squad is littered with technical attacking players who are not the best defensively and are weak in the air. The balance of our squad is all wrong and this has been obvious for a fair old while, I am sure part of the problem is the newish 4-3-3 system which can see the back four left horrendously exposed if the front and midfield three are too attacking in terms of personnel, Song's drifting forward on too regular a basis does also not seem wise. Generally I don't think the main problem is individual errors, it looks much more like a collective defensive one to me. The collective lack of leaders, fighters and motivators links in with this, we need to grind out results better, fight better with our backs to the wall.

Having said that we still created enough chances on Saturday to have won the game convincingly, we played some excellent football for periods, we had far more clear cut than the spuds, there are positives as well as the obvious negatives. It must not be forgotten that our inability to defend as a team is a chronic collective problem that the manager has not done enough to fully address.

Let's not get carried away with blaming individuals or mental attitudes, after all if one fielded a team of nippy skillful dwarfs then would one question their lack of commitment when they lost a game to 99 headed goals? This problem needs addressing but it will take a decent amount of time to tinker with the squad to put things right, it will also require the sacrifice of a little of our attacking flair for a bit more defensive stability, not forgetting some better defensive coaching as well. The key question is, is the manager willing to do this in order to win some trophies? Arsene Wenger needs to be thinking along these lines otherwise future similar surrenderings are an complete and utter inevitability.