Heart. Passion. Effort. These are three simple things I as a fan ask from anyone who is fortunate enough to wear the Arsenal shirt. These simple values should be given IN FULL whether we are playing Barcelona, Man Utd, Newcastle, West Brom or Acrington Stanley.
Yesterday against Newcastle our players attitude was wrong from the start, we didn't seem to have any hunger, there was no bite to our game and more importantly we seemed to almost except defeat as soon as Carroll scored. I saw no evidence that we are title contenders and I would love to say that it must be a one off but I said that when we lost to West Brom at home so in the sense of the term itself it can no longer be a 'one off'.
Please don't get me wrong, I am an obscenely optimistic Gooner but even I have to say that our current attitude stinks and I have to say that no-one portrayed that attitude yesterday more than our captain. Again, I am a huge fan of Fabregas but every time you saw him in the game yesterday he had his head down, he looked like he was complaining or sulking the entire 90 minutes and for once misplaced more passes than he completed.
This was a game that Arsenal fans expected to win, the problem however is that the Arsenal players did too. We started the stronger team and as normal held most of the possession. Walcott struck the woodwork and Fabregas hit the bar from a free kick and then Samir Nasri demanded a fantastic save from Krul in the Newcastle goal after a Fabregas cut back.
I said in my preview that Carroll would cause our defense enough trouble to either score or create a goal for Newcastle and he did so just before half time from a Joey Barton free kick. Fabianski came, he flapped and he missed. The keeper played a big part in their goal but was not the only reason we conceded and he is certainly not the reason we didn't finish any of the many chances we had to score. But please lets not restart all the scape-goating and hate campaigns against our keepers.
In the second half, in fairness, Newcastle played very well, kept us out and frustrated us, even if it was the keeper taking 4 hours to take a goal kick. Our day got rounded off nicely a few minutes from the end when Koscielny got turned by his man on the touchline and responded by pulling him down and received a red card for his troubles. Now, Kos was given his marching orders for preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity, I repeat, a CLEAR goal scoring opportunity, he was about 45 yards from goal and Squillaci was about 20 yards away, the math doesn't lie it was a rushed decision and in my opinion, a wrong one.
Hopefully we will appeal so that he does not miss any more of this vile month. All in all, if you reflect on the game honestly, Arsenal did not deserve to win the game.
Some people will tell you that the defeat doesn't matter as much as it could because Chelsea. YES IT DOES. The likes of Chelsea and Man Utd will not drop many points and we need to take advantage when they do. If anything it is more important to win games like today so we do not land ourselves in positions where we have to take maximum points from the big teams because as much as we want to, we cannot expect to.
It was not all negative though and as I said, I am a positive Gooner. Jack Wilshere looked really up for the game and showed that he is still improving his game, today it was his tackling that showed, in my opinion, quite significant improvement. Arshavin came on in the second half and he worked his bollocks off. If the Russian Meerkat can add that sort of work rate into his normal game then he will become close to unstoppable. The biggest plus sign from a miserable day was the return of Robin Van Persie. Our Dutch number 10 played just over 30 minutes and with almost his first touch showed some lovely skill by the touchline to beat his man. He is still some way off match fitness but it's fantastic to see that he's getting closer.
Minds have to turn to Wolves now and our players need to sort out their attitude quickly because if we face the game the same way we did against Newcastle we will drop points again and frankly we cannot afford to drop any more.
Till next time Gooners, keep it positive,
Goonerfish.
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