Arsenal 1- 0 QPR: Come on ArseZZzzzzzzz... GOALLL!!!!! *insert frantic and unconvincing defending here*

This game can be separated into three parts:

1. The completely dull and uninspired first half.
2. The better second half, which would have ended up 3-0 to us if not for Julio Cesar.
3. Our laughable attempts at defending a lead after we had taken the lead.

1...
If Arsenal were to completely destroy QPR today, they would have needed to score an early goal. Unfortunately, our start to this game was not too dissimilar to our starts to the previous two games against Norwich and Schalke; distinctly lacking in urgency, very few chances being created and certainly no goals.

In many ways, it wasn't unexpected that we started that way. The team's confidence has taken a battering this past week and the increasing anxiety and dissatisfaction of the fans can't be helping much, either.

At the very least, Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna added some fresh impetus to the team. Whenever either got on the ball, they looked to get forward and make something happen; Sagna created a chance for Ramsey with a very good cross and Wilshere was a threat with his positive running with the ball and we caught some glimpses of him and Cazorla linking up in midfield.

Still, a couple of half-decent long ranged efforts and a header hitting the crossbar was the best we'd get in the first half.

2...
Our performance in the second half was marginally better, but still not very good and QPR actually had more of the game. We looked more threatening when Walcott came on, as he was actually winning to put crosses into the box and give the QPR defence something different to defend.

A couple of good chances then came along. First, Walcott played in a peach of a cross that just about evaded Giroud. The ball came out to Cazorla in the centre of the area, but he blazed it way over the ball. It's not the first time Cazorla has missed an easy chance. Not long after, Giroud failed to convert from about three yards after Cesar pulled off his first wonder save on the day.

The goal eventually came when Arshavin left makeshift right back Mackie for dead, played in a great ball that Giroud headed onto the bar (guy can't catch a break in front of goal). The rebounded effort was then saved by Cesar, then needed two attempts to get the ball over the line. Oh, and he was offside, too. But as Arsenal fans, we really don't give a shit at this point, do we?

The game should have been dead and buried, but Cesar decided to go beast mode on us, saving efforts from Ramsey and Cazorla. Then came the final ten minutes...

3...
Arsenal wanted to protect the lead but made a mess trying to do so. Granero should have levelled the game after he broke our offside trap. Jamie Mackie then somehow ran through our entire defence and shot straight at Mannone. Granero had a free-kick that went into the side netting. Overall, we didn't look convincing at all, gave away too many cheap free-kicks and couldn't hold onto the ball. The nerves were clearly evident.

We got there in the end.

Reasons to be positive

Because we've been lacking some positive thinking this past week (understandably), here are some reasons to be cheerful:

1. Wilshere is officially back. Wenger confirmed he was put into the starting eleven today because he wanted to give the team a lift and while it may take a while for him to find true match fitness and form, it's wonderful to see him play again. 66 minutes today is encouraging. If he recovers well, he could play 90 against Reading on Tuesday.

2. Sagna is also officially back. Jenkinson has done superbly well filling in for him, but Sagna is just on another level to him. Today we saw him as if he never left and we also saw what he does better than Jenkinson: get forward and support the attack.

3. Arsenal had 22 shots - more shots than the last two games combined. It didn't look like we were particularly incisive today, but we did create opportunities to score. Ramsey hit the bar with a header, Cazorla missed a sitter, Giroud missed a sitter, Cesar made some very good saves to prevent Mertesacker, Cazorla and Ramsey from scoring... on another day, a couple of those might have gone in and we'd be sitting here talking about a good, solid display.

4. We won the game and kept a clean sheet. Easy to sit here and say we didn't deserve them and criticise the performance, but the fact is we got three points and kept our first clean sheet in 10 games.

Looking ahead
The next six fixtures aren't the best to be going in with our current form:

Reading (a) - Capital One Cup
Manchester United (a)
Schalke 04 (a) - Champions League
Fulham (h)
Tottenham (h)
Montpellier (h)

They're all potential banana skins and you can easily see us dropping a lot of points here. At the same time, it could be the period where we turn things around. It might take some more dodgy goals and scrappy performances, but it would do our confidence a world of good if we can get through to the next round of the COC, qualify from our Champions League group and get good results against United and Spurs.

Holy shit ffs, Cesar saved their ass big time in the second half, but it was still a shit performance, we should have been dominating these guys...

No cutting edge.

Grvinho.

Jack the lion heart.

Arshivan.

Sagna.

Theo.

hell yessss!!!
bottom of the table team and still such nervy moments damn

Things can only get better with the other players coming back from injuries and picking up some form. But the most important thing is:

WE'RE 4TH !!!!!!!!!!! Trophyless for 7 seasons. Please.

Good shift from Arshavin tbf.

Rev wrote:Things can only get better with the other players coming back from injuries and picking up some form. But the most important thing is:

WE'RE 4TH !!!!!!!!!!! Trophyless for 7 seasons. Please.

What we are, is 7 points away from the top of the table. And I don't see us winning any trophies this season either.

Arshavin saved the day.

Awful performance, slow, lethargic, lacking confidence. We won with an offside goal but we will take the 3 points today

Struggled badly till Walcott came on... again

Walcottsenal?

p.s Vermaelen is a joke but he will keep starting because he's "the captain"

urbaNRoots wrote:Struggled badly till Walcott came on... again

Walcottsenal?

Has he signed his contract yet?

urbaNRoots wrote:Struggled badly till Walcott came on... again

Walcottsenal?

1 man team?

srigooner wrote:

urbaNRoots wrote:Struggled badly till Walcott came on... again

Walcottsenal?

Has he signed his contract yet?

I say is not my money give him 100k.

Well we weren't amazing, but we dominated possession and had 19 shots, so outside of some shaky defending and poor finishing it was still decent. Would have been pissed if we had drawn of course, but I'll take this!

Also, not that I wish anyone gets injured, but with Gervinho out, we'll have to play Theo and Arshavin more

srigooner wrote:

Rev wrote:Things can only get better with the other players coming back from injuries and picking up some form. But the most important thing is:

WE'RE 4TH !!!!!!!!!!! Trophyless for 7 seasons. Please.

What we are, is 7 points away from the top of the table. And I don't see us winning any trophies this season either.

Didn't you know? There are 5 trophies we can win this year.

EPL CL Finishing 4th FA Cup and Capital One Cup.

What a relief! By the way great title Jay!

Posted this on another thread.

Lucky boys.

How the ++++ can we be put under so much pressure late on, at home against the bottom of the table...oh, they had 10 men as well. No wins away from home in over a year.

I'm sorry, I know a lot of you love Ramsey but he is not good enough.

We won. That's what matters.

But we have more questions than answers from that.

Mannone 8 Man of the match
Sagna 6
Vermaelen 5
Mertersacker 6
Santos 6 (He was probably our best player in the back 4 surprisingly)
Arteta 6 ( Hint of offside with the goal but who's complaining Very Happy )
Wilshere 7 Started very well and faded. Understandable
Podolski 4 Looks knackered
Cazorla 6 Probed but faded
Ramsey 5 Flatters to deceive. Nice effort near the end but looks weak.
Giroud. 5. Scores loads from headers. We don't do that. Not his fault.

Walcott 6 Added a bit of dynamism. We should play him at home.
Arshavin 7 Made the goal. Always looking for the ball. Got back to help out and made a tackle or two. Shocked
Gervinho N/A

A big talk is needed by Arsene before Utd.

I'm still shaking.

Delighted with the win, disappointed with the performance overall.

You could see we have come into this game on the back of two "flat" performances. Sagna and Wilshere did well overall (Sagna's late foul at the end aside).

Full write-up later.

Great pic btw:

welcome back Jack Wilshere bacary sagna also
good performance from them brings new atmosphere here

with replacing gervinho to arshavin, there is a hope we can score a goal and thanked god it happened

but what we face here is QPR which is far far away from schalke, and they only play with TEN man! TeN really? i dont know what will happen next week when we face MU in old trafford.
hopefully this team is not over confidence

anyway congrats lads

Mark Hughes: "Mbia Red card was hard to take. Contact was minimal."

Samuelj29060 wrote:Mark Hughes: "Mbia Red card was hard to take. Contact was minimal."

He hasnt watched the video i guess.

Done with the first post. An actual write-up today instead of a rant.

I'm just glad the 3 points were obtained, and that Sagna and Wilshere are back.

Good on Arteta for going forward and going for it... seems like he knew no one else would, by that point. I like it... he's not afraid to get scrappy. Glad to see Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla in the midfield. If only we could get our forwards to play with so much spirit.

Missed the match today..
Glad that we were lucky to get those important 3 points.. Next match being trip to Old Toilet, the table could have looked scary..
*
watched Shitty-Swanselona match.. Was really impressed by Swanseas passing, ability to hold ball under pressure and win the balls in the midfield.. They were really looking like the old Arsenal and created many chances but lacked the quality to finish..
Eventhough they lost there was plenty of things for our team to watch and improve.. Our team fails to reach even 50% of their level atm..