The bottom line is this–not good enough. Those results are not good enough and this team is not good enough. I love Wenger for all he has done and all he is doing for the club, but it’s gotten to the point where serious questions about his approach have to be asked, even for die-hard Wenger apologists like myself.

I became particularly alarmed recently when Wenger said he would not spend “magic money” in the summer, because he would not “kick out a quality young player like Walcott, Fabregas, Diaby or Bendtner.” And that, to me, says it all. When I watch Diaby play, it’s all I can do to keep from screaming at the television “Go out and buy someone to replace him!” Wenger watches him and apparently has the complete opposite reaction.

Now, Wenger has been right where I have been wrong before, many times. In the fall, I couldn’t understand what Wenger saw in Eboue and Song, but both players have started to repay Wenger’s faith in them by becoming important contributors in the spring. So I suppose it’s possible that Diaby will become a good player, although I personally don’t see it.

I guess my biggest complaint is that Wenger’s theory of developing young players seems fundamentally flawed to me. His idea seems to be that young players can only develop into good players by playing all the time. And I’m just not sure that’s true. Just to take one example that pops into my head–did Denilson develop more this year by playing all the time, or would he have developed a lot playing the understudy/occasional substitute role to an experienced vet like Gilberto? It seems to me that there’s some value in having veterans around not just for their presence and ability on the field, but their role as mentors and quasi-coaches to younger players. One need look no further than a team like Manchester United, which has both a veteran presence and promising youth players, for evidence of that. And that’s something Arsenal just doesn’t have in the squad at the moment.

However, Wenger is correct that we shouldn’t just completely abandon our system and go to the Manchester United approach. Because the fact is that we currently have a bit of a competitive advantage when it comes to getting young players to come to the Emirates. We don’t have as much money as the other big clubs. If us, United, Chelsea, and Liverpool are all interested in the same young player, we will not be able to outspend those clubs to get the player. But where we do have an advantage is that the player knows he’ll get a chance to prove himself and play more and sooner with us than any of those clubs. And we’ve seen that make the difference a couple of times–Walcott and Ramsey both chose Arsenal over other big clubs largely because they knew they’d be given a chance to play without having to apprentice for 5 years.

I just think there’s a way to incorporate the presence of veteran players, and specifically bringing in veteran players in the transfer window, into our approach. Arshavin is the perfect example of how bringing in a veteran player can (a) improve the team on the field and (b) improve the atmosphere around the club. And whose development has he hindered? Granted, Vela and Bendtner may not get to play as much in the first-team as they would if we hadn’t bought him, but you will not be able to convince me that showing up to training and games with a player of Arshavin’s attitude and skill doesn’t help them by setting a good example that will help, not hinder, their development.

Now, I do still believe in Wenger and still believe in this group of players. But as I wrote recently, I think at the moment the club’s transfer policy is that Wenger has to raise money to spend money, and I’m becoming convinced that that’s just not going to cut it. Wenger seemed to confirm that he was working with very limited funds available when he said recently, “[a]t the moment I do not know what funds will be available. I will be told by the club.” Even a relatively small transfer kitty (£10 to £15 million) would make a huge difference in the on-field product, I think.

This was supposed to be a match review of the Chelsea match, but you’ll forgive me if I really can’t muster up too much to say about it. Maybe I’m just too depressed by the whole thing, or maybe it’s just hard for me to get too wound up about it given that we were going to finish in 4th place anyway.

And maybe I’m as delusional as Wenger (although I don’t still hold out hope of our winning the Champions League this year), but I didn’t think Sunday’s game was quite as bad as the scoreline. I’m not being a sore loser, and not taking anything away from Chelsea, but I thought we came out and were playing pretty strong at the beginning of the match. We were controlling possession, playing in Chelsea’s half, and putting the ball in and around the box.

In a way, this game was symbolic of Arsenal’s last few seasons. We held the ball, we showed some talent and created some chances, but lost our composure and couldn’t finish any chances we created, and were completely shambolic at the back whenever we were under danger. In contrast, Chelsea’s defense held together well, and whenever they did create a chance, they finished it. Full credit to them. In the end it wasn’t even that close. Until we figure out how to make our “beautiful football” turn into goals and wins, we’re going to keep seeing this kind of result against elite opponents.

So that’s pretty much that. Chelsea just need one point from their remaining matches to seal up 3rd place. We will, once again, finish 4th, and the trophy cabinet at the Emirates will remain empty. Despite all the promise of this season after last year’s run, we failed to even make a final for the second consecutive season. It’s simply not good enough, and unless our approach changes, I fear it never will be.

Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Toure, Silvestre, Gibbs, Walcott, Nasri, Song Billong, Diaby, Fabregas, Van Persie.
Subs: Mannone, Denilson, Ramsey, Djourou, Adebayor, Bendtner, Eboue.
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Anelka, Drogba, Malouda.
Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Ballack, Kalou, Belletti, Mancienne.

Full strength for Chelsea, there can be little doubt of that. They’ll be out to avenge their perceived mid-week injustice. Kickoff in ten minutes. As usual, leave your thoughts during and after the game below. Come on Arsenal

Current Position: 3rd, 22-8-5 (74 points, +38 goal differential)

Away Form: 12-2-3

Recent Form: WWDWW

Last Meeting: Arsenal 1-Chelsea 2 (4/18/09) (neutral site)

Well, the Chelsea rematch is tomorrow. It’s kind of a “rubber match” of sorts with our London rivals–we beat them 2-1 at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, and they beat us 2-1 at Wembley last month. “Best 2 out of 3,” I suppose.

Regardless, this game feels strangely anticlimactic to me. Neither team can win the league at this point, and both teams will be extremely demoralized by what happened this week–Chelsea because they played good enough to win but didn’t, us because we didn’t play anywhere near good enough to win.

What about 3rd place, you ask? As I’ve said before here, there’s a big difference between finishing 3rd and 4th this year because of the change in the Champions League qualifying rules. But frankly, I just don’t think we can catch Chelsea. We’re 6 points down, and they’ve got a big lead in goal differential. So, practically, we’ve got to make up 7 points on them in 3 games. Even if you assume we beat them tomorrow, we’ve got to make up 4 points in the remaining 2 games against United and Stoke. Chelsea, on the other hand, has Blackburn at home and Sunderland away. If they win either of those games, they lock up 3rd. I’d love to be optimistic about it, but I just don’t see it happening.

So I think both teams will be kind of emotionally exhausted and burned out from everything that happened mid-week. There’s nothing really to play for other than pride. But pride is important–to put it simply, it’s always a big game when Arsenal plays Chelsea, even if nothing is tangibly on the line. I won’t get too negative, but if you read this regularly, you know I don’t like Chelsea. I think they’re my least favorite team in the Premiership. I don’t like the “outspend everyone” team-building strategy, I don’t like their style of play, which is effective but unappealing, and I don’t like the way they carry themselves, with the diving and constant harassment and bullying of the officials. So even if it won’t win us any trophies or ultimately improve our league position, I don’t like them and I want to beat them. I hope our players feel the same way.

We’re playing at home, which is an advantage for us, although Chelsea have actually been much better away than they have at home this year. I’m really interested to see how the teams respond. How do we respond to being soundly beaten and embarrassed at home by one of your biggest rivals? How do they respond to being in control of a match for 180+ minutes, only to see it suddenly evaporate at the last second? Both are devastating, in different ways, and it will be interesting to see mentally how the squads come out. Wenger said “it’s down to the team that deals best with disappointment.” I think that’s right.

Bad news for us is that Arshavin may be out with the flu (presumably of the human, not swine, variety)–hopefully if he can’t play he’ll climb into his tiny bed and take a thimbleful of medicine and be ready to come out and give United some problems next week. Probable lineup:

Almunia

Sagna-Toure-Djourou-Gibbs

Walcott-Fabregas-Song-Nasri

Adebayor-van Persie

Here’s hoping we can come back with a stong performance. It’s always nice to beat Chelsea and we could do with a win over a quality side to boost our confidence after the terrible performance on Tuesday. Gibbs, in particular, could use a good performance to wash the bad taste out of his dreadful mistake on Tuesday out of his mouth. If nothing else, the game’s an excuse to drink on Sunday morning.

Come on Arsenal.

Current Position: 14th, 9-11-14 (38 points, -15 goal differential)

Home Form: 7-3-7

Recent Form: DDWLD

Last Meeting: Arsenal 1-Portsmouth 0 (12/28/08)

Chelsea Watch: Fulham

Back in action tomorrow as we travel down to the coast to play Portsmouth. First off, make no mistake–this is not going to be an easy win. Not at all. Portsmouth have actually been pretty good at home this season, and since Paul Hart has taken over, they’ve been playing very well, and have only lost to Chelsea and United during that time. Furthermore, they’ve got a lot to play for–they’re playing to stay in the Premiership next season. A win tomorrow would basically seal it for them, and don’t think they wouldn’t love to do it against a big team in front of their home fans.

As for us? Well, not so much. We’re 10 points ahead of Villa for 4th place, and have a far superior goal differential. So, basically, to overtake us, Villa would have to win out, and we’d have to either lose all four remaining matches or lose three and draw the remaining match. I think we’re safe. The only thing we really have left to play for in the league is trying to overtake Chelsea for 4th place.

We’re 6 points behind the Blues with 4 to play. One of those is a head-to-head at the Emirates. Even if we assume we will win that game, we would still need to make up 3 points in 3 games. Chelsea’s 3 games over that span: Fulham, Blackburn, at Sunderland. Meanwhile, we have: at Portsmouth, at Manchester United, Stoke. Based on what we saw Wednesday, you’d have to say it’s unlikely we’re bringing 3 points back from Old Trafford. If we don’t, that means Chelsea only has to get 4 points out of its remaining 3 games to finish 3rd, and it’s hard to see them not doing that. Look, stranger things have happened, but . . . not many. Frankly, 3rd is a pipe dream at this point, and our focus really needs to be on trying to put out United on Tuesday.

Because of this, I expect we’ll see a LOT of squad rotation tomorrow. I really think most of the key players will be rested. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d expect to see Denilson, Bendtner, Vela, Eboue, Ramsey, and maybe more get a start or see some significant time on the pitch.

As I said, Portsmouth has really come together and has been playing well. David James is a solid if overrated keeper, Glen Johnson is a very good right-back, and Peter Crouch is the kind of tall target-man type striker that can give us a lot of problems on balls into the box. They’ve got a solid backline anchored by Sylvain Distin and former Gunner hero Sol Campbell. They play a single striker formation, and will be looking to keep us from dominating possession and trying to nick a goal on the counterattack. The key for us will be to keep them from picking out Crouch around the goal.

As I said, there’s going to be a lot of rotation, so who knows who will suit up tomorrow. Because of that, trying to predict a lineup is a pretty futile exercise. But futility hasn’t stopped me from wasting thousands of dollars on women throughout the years, and it won’t stop me now:

Almunia

Sagna-Toure-Djourou-Gibbs

Eboue-Fabregas-Ramsey-Denilson

Bendtner-Vela

I could be completely wrong–maybe Wenger will put out a stronger side than that, but as far as I’m concerned, our one and only focus at the moment needs to be preparing for United on Tuesday. We shall see.

In lighter news, Chelsea revealed their new home shirts for 09/10 today. And…well, see for yourself:

I know The Offside is a friendly blogging community, so I don’t want to go overboard trashtalking other teams, but I have to say: what the hell? What are all those little lines that look like the outline of a sports bra? That looks ridiculous. Not to nerd out on you too bad, but it reminds me more than anything of the undershirt/overshirt combo that characters on Battlestar Galactica wear:

Very questionable. If I was a Chelsea fan I wouldn’t wear this, and wouldn’t be happy that my team was wearing it. I’m no fashion expert, but the lines that only go on the shoulders and the bottom of the sleeves are pretty stupid looking as well. And are those zippers on the collars–are they going to be unzipping a little after the game to show off some chest hair? And, last but not least, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that I find the mini-”popped collars” to be an exquisite touch. They should have just gone all out with it:

+1 to whoever designed this. Seriously, Chelsea fans, if you’re reading this, what do you think? I’m not trying to go out of my way to pick on you, but this shirt is really bad, right? Or am I just crazy and bitter because you knocked us out of the FA Cup and are going to hold us off for 3rd place? Why do they always have to go and mess with this stuff–what’s wrong with the classic Chelsea blue and white shirt?

This post has gone a long way off course since it started, and I have no idea how to end it. Oh, right, I remember:

Come on Arsenal.

Enjoy. Or ignore them. Sad day to lose another chance at a trophy. It was a bad performance that resulted in a deserved loss. Can’t really add more to what Martin already said.

The knee-jerk reaction from a lot of fans may be to blame Fabianski, who possibly could have stopped the first goal and came out too early and got beaten by Drogba, who tucked the ball into an empty net. The young Pole had a very bad day. But Fabianski plays very aggressively in the Lehmann style, and comes out and gets loose balls–against Villareal, it worked brilliantly, as he was kind of a “sweeper keeper” that never allowed Rossi to catch up to any loose balls. Today, it worked out terribly–Drogba very nearly headed a loose ball over Fabianski’s head into the net early, and beat Fabianski soundly to score the winner.

The bottom line for me is that that is Fabianski’s style, and he’s used to playing against lower-level competition, where coming out in that situation works most of the time. He’s got to learn that while you may be able to do that in the Carling Cup against Championship sides, you need to pick your spots against the Drogbas of the world. And the only way to learn that lesson is to get beat a couple of times. It’s just unfortunate that this “teaching moment” occurred in one of the biggest games of his life. And if he hadn’t come out, Drogba would have been through on goal with the ball, so I’m not even necessarily convinced there’s much he could have done to prevent the goal. The real culprit, as far as I’m concerned, is Silvestre, who Drogba outran and outmuscled to get to the ball.

Now, Wenger has forgotten ten times more about football than I’ll ever know, but I have to admit to having a “WTF?” moment when they posted the lineups–as did Travis in the game thread. Given that he was rested and motivated, Arshavin seemed a certainty to start somewhere, but was benched. Robbie started on the left wing, where as far as I can remember he’s never been that effective. And instead of sticking with the partnership of Song and Cesc that had been so effective in the last couple of games, Wenger stuck Song, our most physical holding midfielder type, on the bench in favor of Diaby and Denilson. Very puzzling decision, I have to say. And Diaby and Denilson both played further back in a holding role, pushing Cesc forward behind the forwards, where he’s never looked all that comfortable.

It is, of course, impossible to say whether the outcome would have been any different had the lineup changed. At the end of the day, it’s down to the players to go out and play and get a result. And today, we just didn’t do that. Toure had a solid game, and Eboue and Gibbs again looked good at fullback. Walcott was by far our most dangerous player, and it was only fitting that he scored our lone goal. Other than that, no one really distinguished themselves. Diaby was absolutely dreadful all day, giving the ball away like a cheap, unwanted gift. All the Arsenal fans were loudly hoping Song would come on at half-time or shortly after for Diaby, to no avail. And while in the last couple games Adebayor has reminded us that when he puts the effort in he can be a world class striker, today he reminded us how bad he looks when he doesn’t. In fairness, he wasn’t getting much service, but his first touch was nonexistent all day and he couldn’t hold the ball up at all.

Mostly it’s just disappointing because the team, and the players, seemed to be on such a high these last few weeks. It really seemed like we had turned a corner and were a threat to win trophies. But every winning streak has to end, unfortunately, and ours ended today. Now there are only two things to focus on for the rest of the season–try to scrape our way up to 3rd place, and win the Champions League. The real danger now is that the team gets demoralized at the loss and loses the good form we’ve been showing lately. We’ve got a league game against Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday, and then host Middlesbrough on Sunday morning. Good performances there will basically sew up 4th place, but we can’t afford to slip up and give too many points away, because we don’t want to be too concerned about holding off Aston Villa and/or Everton as the season winds down.

So a bad day for the club, but here’s hoping we can put this behind us and move forward, as we still have our opportunities to make this a very successful season.

Arsenal: Fabianski, Eboue, Toure, Silvestre, Gibbs, Walcott, Fabregas, Diaby, Denilson, Van Persie, Adebayor.
Subs: Mannone, Nasri, Vela, Ramsey, Song Billong, Arshavin, Bendtner.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Lampard, Essien, Malouda, Anelka, Drogba.
Subs: Hilario, Carvalho, Di Santo, Mikel, Kalou, Belletti, Mancienne.

Our backline will have its hands full with Anelka and Drogba. A 4-4-2 from Wenger with Arshavin, Song and Nasri all on the bench. What are you playing at Arsene? Leave thoughts below, before, during and after the match, as well as any streams if you are watching online.

Gallas–out for season (knee)
Almunia–out 3 weeks (ankle)
Clichy–out 2 weeks (back)
van Persie–possibly fit for Saturday (groin)
Eduardo–possibly fit for Saturday (groin)
Rosicky–”not close to coming back” (hamstring)

That is ummm….not good. In case you needed reminding, Saturday marks the beginning of a brutal stretch of 4 games in 11 days–away to Wigan, home to Villareal, Chelsea at Wembley (FA Cup), and Liverpool at Anfield. The importance of these games cannot be overstated–a good run will see us in the CL semis, the FA Cup finals, and firmly in fourth place in the table with a shot at third. A bad run will leave us without a trophy for the 4th consecutive season and in a dogfight to hold off Villa and/or Everton for next year’s final Champions League spot.

As I said yesterday, I like our substitutes that will be pressed into action (Djourou, Fabianski, and Gibbs), and I’m optimistic that they will hold the fort until we return to health. But with 4 games in 11 days, fatigue is going to be a real issue for our defenders, and the only other healthy defender we have is Silvestre. I hate to say it, but we’re only an injury or two away from a nightmare scenario of going into a big match having to play an out-of-position Alex Song at centre back or Eboue at fullback, or even calling up someone from the reserves to play. Ugh.

As for our strikers, it’s good news that van Persie and Eduardo are nearing health again. Groin injuries are notoriously difficult to treat and easy to reaggravate, so, given that Adebayor, Bendtner, Vela, and Arshavin are healthy, I say let van Persie and Eduardo sit out the Wigan game, or at most use them as late subs if needed. Maybe it’s arrogant and I’m overlooking Wigan a little bit, but we really will need them both against Villareal, Chelsea, and/or Liverpool, which are all much more important games.

All this is concerning, to say the least. But despite all the ups and downs, this team has definitely shown itself to be a resilient group of young men this season that never gives up and can never be counted out. Here’s hoping the lads will get through this and do us proud. Wigan preview coming tomorrow.

I wish that I could be a more optimistic person – especially when it comes to supporting Arsenal these past few weeks. But I feel like my standards have lowered. I go into games expecting much less than before, so when results like this one come my way, it’s a pleasant surprise. Going into yesterday’s game, I had the same sort of feelings. I didn’t think that there was anyway in hell that the starting XI Arsene threw out on the pitch would be able to come away with a result against Chelsea. Just look at the midfielders: on our side, Fabregas (world class), Nasri (solid), Denilson, and Song (both who are question marks); Chelski had Ballack, Deco, Lampard, and Mikel, all who are great players. As the game progressed, and Djourou obliged to turn a Bosingwa cross into his own not, I let out a slight groan. Thinking about how Chelsea had conceded just four goals all season – something very remarkable – I wondered where the offense was going to come from. After all, this was a side that hadn’t scored a Premier League goal in the past 200 minutes. While they had threatened early on in the second half, it didn’t seem all to likely for the impenetrable Chelsea backline and keeper to be bothered.

Maybe Arsene said the right things at the break. Perhaps he knew the buttons to push to get our Flying Dutchman, RvP, going again. Whatever someone did, please keep it up. Along with that, also please have a little chat with the refs, because Van Persie was offsides. By a longshot. I am not going to complain about it, but I will trust the official because it went our way. For whatever reason, the flag stayed down on Denilson’s through ball, Van Persie controlled it and smashed it in with his right foot. A beautiful shot, and all of a sudden we were level. Meanwhile, I was expecting a second Chelsea go to come at any minute; but the desperate defending of Clichy and Djourou meant that Almunia didn’t even have to make a save in the second half. Credit must also go to William Gallas and Bacary Sagna; all four defenders did well.

After the equalizer, the winner was not far off. Cesc loft a free kick towards the penalty area, Adebayor headed it down towards Van Persie who swiveled and launched a quick shot past a diving Cech. Unbelievable winner – at least in terms of it shocking me – and from there it was time for a nervy half hour. Except that Chelsea never ventured into that territory. They seemed to have the energy sucked out of them, something that I didn’t remember seeing. Their aura of inevitability was not there as it had been in the past. For example, a couple years back a Flamini goal had given us a 1-0 lead at the Bridge, only for Michael Essien to score from 35 yards out with an absolutely stunning goal. There wasn’t any moments like that. And for once, as a supporter of the Gunners, it was time to celebrate a win at Chelsea, and for a short while, an induction back into the title race. Seven points off the pace rolls off the tongue in a much nicer way than 13.

Going forward, we’re in a similar situation after the United victory. Spirits are high and visions of a title are dancing around in our heads once again. It’s time to enjoy that, but also be wary about the next few weeks. This result will be ruled null and void if performances at Man City and against Villa are repeated. Imagine if we’d come away with victories in those two matches. We’d be one off pace. So while it is delightful to bask in the glory of a win at Stamford Bridge, to really mean the most for this squad, more victories must follow. I’m tired of dropping points.

Match of the day highlights are after the jump, thanks to our friends at 101greatgoals. And please be so inclined to share your view.