Where to start?
I think it is more than fair to say that West Brom were written off for this game by fans and the media well before it even kicked off. Maybe however, the Arsenal players believed that too and that was our undoing.
The first half was painful. We were awful, we couldn't pass, couldn't shoot, couldn't talk, couldn't defend...... you get the point. The baggies won a penalty as Almunia committed the foul in the area and picked up a yellow card for his troubles. Brunt stepped up with glory in his eyes which was wiped away as Almunia made a good save low to his right.
Second half was just as bad as West Brom outplayed us and deservedly ended up 3 - 0 ahead. Almunia is going to get slated today from every angle and you could argue that the second and third goal were both down to him thanks to a ridiculous fumble and then an indecisive rush from his line followed by a sudden and costly change of mind which left him stranded in no mans land leaving the goal empty for a tap in. However, we can not lay the blame for this result solely on his shoulders, if you look back at the first goal our entire defence turned to stone and let the West Brom players weave in between them, it was Koscielny's man that scored the goal and he was nowhere to be found, also on the second goal Koscielny was nowhere near close enough to the opposition striker who in fairness should not of been able to get the shot away in the first place. I'm not trying to pass the blame from Almunia to Koscielny, I'm just pointing out that although Almunia will be the scapegoat for many Arsenal fans, he was not the only player to make mistakes and in all honesty probably made less than any other player in an Arsenal shirt.
The important thing from this miserable Saturday is to try and pluck some positive thoughts and I could only think of two words, 'Samir' and 'Nasri'. Super Sam was a bright light on a miserable weekend and although the embarrassment of the defeat will overshadow everything else, both of his goals were taken brilliantly.
Arsene Wenger, usually such a defender of his team admitted that he "didn't recognise" any of his players and hopefully will make every player watch that tape over and over again and we learn from whatever it was that happened.
I set out planning to make this review as positive as possible and apologise because I've struggled to to get even close. So, heads up Gooners, it's just one game so let us all just forget that Saturday 25th September 2010 ever happened and look forward to another high scoring win in the champions league on Wednesday night then prepare ourselves for our trip to Stamford Bridge and for a truly positive note, as was pointed out on twitter in 2001 Charlton Athletic beat us at home 4 - 2 and our keeper had a nightmare - We won the double that season.
Just to add another positive point, Jack Wilshere's old mates at Bolton got a draw with Utd so just remember the weekend could have been better but it could have been a lot, lot worse.
Goonerfish.
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