Same Old Same Old

Is it just me, or do you see a waltz going on here?

On Saturday evening, we got to see the Walcott and Eboue that we're used to seeing. No more of this end product nonsense that has become of them lately. It was a welcome return to good old fashioned wastefulness. Granted Walcott set up the goal (although annoying in terms of Fantasy Football, the assist went to Adebayor, who more got in the way of the ball than passed it), but He should have done so much more with the good possession he got.

Fabregas had yet another less than convincing game, but he delivered two exquisite balls into the path of Walcott, only for the young whippet to either miscontrol the ball or choose the wrong option. Eboue, facing one of the leagues worst defenders, managed to do sod all in the entire match. I mean if you can't give Paul McShane much trouble, who can you give trouble to?

By the last half an hour of the game, Arsenal had to resort to crossing the ball into the box time and time again. With only Adebayor acting as a real arial threat, this was not the way for Arsenal to get back into the game. In fact it rarely ever is.

This wasn't quite down there with the performance against Fulham, but in some ways it was worse, because this was a game Arsenal should have won comfortably. Of all the teams in the big 4, Arsenal need to pick up as much points as possible from everyone outside the big 4, because I think they will struggle to get much from their clashes against United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

I expect Wenger to make some changes up front, possibly bringing in Vela instead of Walcott, and maybe introducing Nasri if he be fit. Both these switches would significantly improve the Arsenal first team in my opinion, and despite their good starts, I think the less Arsenal fans see of Walcott and Eboue the better. Walcott will always be a threat, but I think the bench is actually where he is most threatening for now. Bring him on after 60 or 70 minutes and he will run tired defenders ragged. The bench is also where Eboue is most threatening to the opposition, provided you don't bring him on at all.

This may sound like a knee-jerk reaction to an overall profligate performance, but out of 6 league games, Arsenal half been abject in 2 of them. With their kind fixture list, Arsenal should really be on maybe 16 points, if not the full 18. To make amends, the Gunners will need to first of all beat Porto (which I think they will do quite comfortably, though I only say that as a pure hunch), and also do better than expected against the big 4 in later games. In order to do these things however, decent players need to be replaced with better ones. Vela is of course unproven in the league, but he needs to be given minutes to show what he's capable of. And Nasri needs to stop getting injured, because he's without doubt Arsenal's most accomplished winger that isn't suffering from a long term injury (see Rosicky).

I'd like to say well done to Hull, but when you admit that your game plan is to get half a dozen corners and free kicks, I find it hard to applaud that style. Still though, a win is a win, so who am I to judge a team for doing so by whatever means necessary? Well, I'm a person who likes watching good football, that's who (I bet you thought that question was rhetorical, didn't you?).

Awfunal

("Damn you, ground!!")

The above title is a mixture of the words 'awful' and 'Arsenal', a la 'Bennifer' etc etc. I'm referring to Arsenal's performance against Fulham in Craven Cottage, which was -- you've guessed it -- awful. About as awful as the Olympic Final was boring, and that's saying something. Where do you even begin?

Before the game, Wenger was talking about how his team needed to be focused and all that, but focused is pretty much the opposite of what they were the entire game. Clichy and Sagna both had shockers on the flanks. The worst I've seen either of them play in an Arsenal shirt. Miscontrolling the ball, sloppy passing. In fact you could use those phrases about everyone on the team...except Bendtner. He actually went one better and managed to not touch the ball when he came on after 60 minutes. It was actually quite impressive now that I think about it.

The central midfield was non-existent. I hardly remember hearing the name 'Denilson' followed by 'Eboue' from the commentator, because they just could not/did not pass it to each other. Moreover, they could not/did not pass it to anyone - or at least anyone on their own team anyway. Bullard and Murphy just over ran them, eventually reducing Arsenal to either going long or pumping balls in from the flanks, few of which were any good.

Up front, Van Persie on a good day could have scored a hat-trick. This was not one of those days however, and he wasted most of the good chances Arsenal had, all but one of which came from outside the box, highlighting just how unpenetrative Arsenal really were. His partner in crime Adebayor faired slightly better, hitting the post in the first half, but his general play was poor at best, leaving me feel vindicated in thinking that a 25m move to Milan or Barca in the summer would have been very good business for Arsenal indeed, provided Wenger didn't blow it all on inexperienced toddlers.

Speaking of inexperienced toddlers, I must not forget young Theo Walcott, who pulled a Frank Lampard and was practically anonymous for the 60 minutes he managed to stay on the field. He was brushed off the ball on a number of occasions, and for all his blistering pace, he almost never troubled the Fulham left-back. This will not be the year Walcott comes of age. I can all but guarantee that. He may yet become a good player, but right now he's not good enough to play on a big 4 team, and I don't think he will be for a few more years. Once Rosicky and Eduardo come back, Walcotts appearances will be few and far between. If it were up to me, Vela would be ahead of him on the pecking order, but it's not up to me, so who cares?

The one half-decent player today from an Arsenal perspective was Samir Nasri. He had a pretty brutal first half, but he definitely posed a threat in the second, showing good pace and strength down the wings. Like all of his colleagues, he gave the ball away cheaply at times, but even after todays shocker from the Gunners I still saw signs of him being a very good signing for them.

Take nothing away from Fulham of course. They out fought Arsenal, and out played them for large spells too. Had they been more clinical on the break, it could easily have been 3-0. As I said, Bullard and Murphy were immense in the middle, but it really was one big team effort, with everyone putting their all into winning this game. Simply put, Fulham wanted this win more than Arsenal, and they got it. That makes me happy.

Where to for Arsenal now then? It's obviously early days yet, so I don't want to read too much into things. They have problems though. Big, midfielder-shaped problems. The real Denilson is not the player he was today, but I think he's still not ready to be adequate back-up for Fabregas, not to mention his midfield partner. Eboue is just rubbish and needs to be beaten and then sold, or just given away. So in my opinion, him starting in midfield is not an option, to put it mildly. I like Song, but he hasn't got enough experience to be the new Flamini. But then I guess Flamini didn't quite have the experience to be a Flamini either, but that didn't stop him from being a big player for Arsenal last season.

When all is said and done, Arsenal desperately need at least one midfielder. But even if they get Alonso or Inler or whoever, I still think they're short a body. As it's plain to see, when Fabregas is out Arsenal stop ticking. Now of course losing a player like that would hurt any team (except Barcelona), but you must have a back up. Either have a guy come in who's similarly creative, or have an experienced guy come in who won't do anything silly and will keep things tight. Arsenal don't seem to have anyone who can do those jobs against an in-your-face team like Fulham were today, and they'll suffer the consequences until they do.

While having Fabregas back will be a massive boost, it will only temporarily cover over the cracks, just like Ronaldo's phenominal goals tally covered over the cracks in Man Uniteds attack last season. I genuinely fear for Arsenal over the coming months, because I think they had their chance last season and missed it. Will players like Fabregas, Adebayor and all be able to raise their game to last years heights again? Will they have that same hunger and desire? Or will they just drift through one more year and then move on to Barcelona come next summer?

Like I said, we're only two games in so you can't read too much into it. I'll be very interesed to see how Arsenal respond to this loss next week when they face the high-flying Newcaste United, and more pressingly, I'll be very interested to see what goes on in the transfer market, because that needs to be Arsene Wenger's first stop before he shakes hands with KK and bitches and moans on the sideline.