Arsenal Light Blues

A disappointing loss to Man City 1-0 today, but not the end of the world. I assumed we would drop all three points here, but really did have a chance to pull a point. The loss might be good for us in the long run, as I hope it shows Wenger the obvious -- we are at least three players away from competing with the top teams in the world. Our problems at the back, brought on by the injuries to Sagna, Gibbs, Santos and Jenkinson, showed up here as Djourou had to go out early and Miquel gave a decent effort but hurt us overall. We did show that we are stronger defensively than the beginning of the year and did only give up one goal to one of the best offenses in football, but didn't look great going forward and missed our few real chances. One thing that is clear is that we need our fullbacks to come forward effectively, and that didn't happen enough today. The result was a more clogged center, a lot of errant passes and a harder time maintaining possession. The good news is Wilshire will soon be back, as will Sagna and hopefully Gibbs. A report card ...

Van Persie: not his best game by any means, but not given sufficient service from my perspective. He had one really nice opportunity and scuffed it right to Hart, was offsides twice (once very questionably) and didn't do much else.

Walcott: not a great game for him. Didn't provide the threat out wide he has been of late, gave the ball up and disappeared for long spells.
Gervinho: much more active than Walcott, but still often dribbles too much, slows down play and misses his opportunities in front of the net. He did provide the best service to Van Persie on the scuff. Was looking wonderful a month ago but really needs to up his game a little in the last few games before the African Cup.

Ramsey: not terribly impressed with his performance today. He too often tries trick passes when they are unnecessary, doesn't finish well and needs to get back on the form we were seeing a few weeks ago, where he gets the ball in dangerous positions for Walcott and Van Persie.
Arteta: a decent effort, but nothing spectacular. In my estimation, didn't enough to control the center of the field.
Song: solid as usual.
Vermaelen: Solid as usual, although could have done better on the goal. He continues to show his danger going forward, almost providing a late equalizer. Unfortunately, a little better of an effort would have gotten us a point.
Koscielny: A decent performance, but not as comfortable coming forward once he was pushed to the fullback position and I believe this hurt us.
Mertesacker: looks better and better to me and no real complaints, though the best strikers can get around him a little too often for comfort.
Szczesny: several nice saves, though he could have done better on the goal, as he spilled the ball into a dangerous position and Silva took advantage

Miquel: came on in a tough spot and had some problems, but not a bad performance. I think he has a really bright future.
Arshavin: terrible. It is time to offload this player who clearly doesn't want to be here anymore. He gave the ball away, had a terrible effort on a decent goalscoring opp and just looks lost and unworthy of the squad.
Chamakh: same with him. He just disappears on the field when he's there and I really wish we could get rid of him.

Wenger: I don't understand why he brings on Arshavin and Chamakh when we still had a decent chance for a point. He has often been charged with continuing to turn to players that don't perform and this was too obvious a case to ignore. Why not let Chamberlin get a shot in a game like this? Or Park? I still don't understand why we signed him, to be honest. I just hope he finally wakes up and buys in the winter window. We clearly need another striker, a creative midfielder and a defender (who can play fullback).

Officials: a number of really questionable calls including a terrible offsides, missed offsides on the other side, some missed free kicks and a couple of potential penalty claims. Every time I see Phil Dowd in a game we are playing, I get worried, though he didn't directly influence this game, unless you really think the Richards play was a penalty (maybe???)

P.S. Our bad luck in the Champions League the past few years continues with a draw against AC Milan. I think we can take care of them, but would have been nice to have an easier road forward.