It's not the end of the world, Tierry Walcott & Stupid Dutch FA.

Morning Gooners,

I'm still feeling a bit fragile from Wednesday night, the last bits of disappointment are just seeping out of my
body so I can start preparing for the Newcastle game.

Arsene Wenger pretty much wrote my review of the game for me in his interviews after the game. He said:

"I felt we moved out of the game altogether and moved into the game altogether so it was more of a team problem, a kind of complacency problem more than an individual problem."

"We had a good start but after we lost our urgency and let Donetsk come into the game too much. We lost concentration in the duels"

These sorts of comments are coming out  a little to regularly for my liking, we had similar comments after Sunderland and West Brom. We need to stop treating supposedly weaker teams as easy wins an actually follow the old cliche that there are no easy games in football. It seems to me that players come out expecting to win and seem to be sure that they don't need to make the effort because "we're Arsenal, how could we lose?!" We play the best football in Europe on our day but need to treat every game with the same urgency otherwise we will lose silly points in games we should be winning comfortably which will cost us points and inevitably will cost us silverware.

If we were going to lose the game then it was inevitable that Eduardo was going to score the goal but it was the fashion of the goal that disappointed me most, Clichy was inexcusable, that ball should have been punted up field or at the very least put out for a throw but even after that, the organisation in the box was dreadful and Wilshere just let Eduardo jog into the space.

It's not the end of the world though, we lost to a team who are unbeaten at home in over two years, we had eleven players missing, we're top of the group and a point against Braga will see us through, a win will see us win the group, if that was the situation in the Premier League and we needed one win from two games to secure the league title then no-one would be complaining.

Lets not forget the positives either, Jack Wilshere's passing range was superb, Squillaci was solid, Fabianski had yet another good game (a run of good games that have seen him recalled to the Polish national side which will only add to his confidence) Djourou showed he is getting better with every game he plays although I am still worried by the amount of times he gives the ball away in our defensive third of the pitch and Theo Walcott's goal was frickin awesome.

No one else in our squad could have scored that goal, the pace, the control, the composure and the finish we're all perfect and will only add to the comparisons being made between him and Henry. I don't really want to add to those comparisons because Theo still has a way to go before he is on that level but it was a very Henry-ish goal.

Wenger has talked about Walcott moving into the central striking position for a while now and it seems those days are getting closer with Wenger saying he's not far off being ready and Walcott himself is excited about the prospect saying:

"I will play anywhere for the Arsenal, but it is nice to know the manager has got different hopes for me playing up front because for me personally I am a striker,"

"hopefully in the next couple of years you will see me be up front and I am looking forward to that."

I love that attitude from players, makes a change from players moaning that they're being played out of position. Walcott also talked about his goal count so far this year:

"It is nice to get within the goals because I have tended to miss out at times - I am trying to catch up a bit of time."

Theo is in great scoring form this year, his goal on Wednesday made him our joint top goal scorer in all competitions with Samir Nasri.

Talking of Samir Nasri, we need your help Gooners. Super Sam has been short listed for player of the month and needs your votes. Fans votes only count for a part of the process but we need to do what we can. Please follow the link here and vote for Samir (bottom right of the page)

My last note today is used to solely throw abuse and insults ant the Dutch FA. Robin Van Persie has been called up to the national side despite Wenger bluntly saying he is not fit, therefore not available. Wenger has stayed political in the situation saying he is "surprised" they would call him up, I however will not be. How can they be so f*****g stupid? If RVP was anywhere near fit, do you not think that we would be using him? A fit, match sharp RVP is one of the best strikers in the world why the flying f**k would we leave him out if was able to play you stupid dopey f**ks!!!! If he plays for you and aggravates his injury and has to spend more time out of the Arsenal side then I have a good mind to fly over there and smack each one of you round the head with a f*****g clog!!!!!

*breeeeeeeeath*

OK, on that happy note I'll leave you to the rest of your day and start looking forward to the Newcastle game.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Drooling as options start to outnumber injuries

Evening Gooners,

I still can't get over how much I've enjoyed the past week and the good news just keeps coming in. Arsene Wenger has announced that both Robin Van Persie and Aaron Ramsey should be back in training by the end of next week. He has however stressed that Ramsey is still much further away from a first team return, he said:

"Van Persie and Ramsey are very close to coming back to full training now,"

"They should be back in the group at the end of next week. Of course we should not set the same [recovery] time to Ramsey as Van Persie.

"Aaron will need a longer period to be completely match-fit. But Van Persie is not far away now."

I still can't believe how big and strong our squad is going to be once all these players return. Lets not forget we still have Vermealen watching from the sidelines too. Van Persie has always been one of my favourite players in an Arsenal shirt and I still maintain my view that if he had a full season without injury he would be proven as one of the best strikers in the world. You only have to look at his contribution to the team when he is involved, we went through a spell of about 6 weeks last season where Van Persie either created or scored every goal Arsenal scored. Chamakh has offered a huge amount to our team but I still cannot wait to see a fully fit dutch master filling out number 10 shirt again.

Ramsey is an entirely different case. Last season was supposed to be his introduction to the Premiership, playing in the Carling Cup and possibly a few sub appearances and if he really impressed a start or two in the league but this quickly turned into a season that our young Welsh wizard started to build a real reputation in the footballing world as not only a player with potential but a player that already could hold his own in a very competitive league and do it with grace, power and skill. I am really excited about Ramsey's career, especially when you imagine him playing alongside Wilshere in years to come
*drool, drool, drool - wipe mouth clean*

On the negative side of the injury world Kieran Gibbs will again miss "a few weeks" with a knee injury. It seems to be a strain rather than anything more serious so hopefully he should be fit again for the Carling Cup quarter final at the beginning of December.

Competition for places is really strong in our squad at the moment and I can't remember a time in recent history where our squad was so strong. The only players that Wenger doesn't have to think about putting on the team sheet when we have a fit squad are TV5 and Cesc, every other position has quality options and that can only lead on to good things.

I can't wait for the West Ham game to see some of these options take the field to destroy the Hammers but I'll cover that in the preview tomorrow.

Till then Gooners I'll leave you all drooling over the thought of a fully fit Van Persie returning to destroy the Spuds in a couple of weeks time.

Goonerfish.

Don't forget you can follow me on facebook and twitter too for more random rambling.