Delapped at The Britannia

Stoke City 2 Fuller, Olofawhat?
Arsenal 1 Glichy

As an optimist Arsenal fan I would say the latest defeat at the Brittania Stadium came at a very good time, as it is still early in the season. But this was our third defeat and they all came against sides that were not really up there in 'our league', or so we thought.

But if we cannot beat teams that are from the lower league, then are we ready to compete in our own league then?

As it is, we are still just three points off the pace, a bit of gratitude to the boys in white tonight who clearly benefited from our generosity on Thursday morning (Malaysian time that is). Chelski's mauling of Roy Keane's Sunderland meant they went to the top on better goal difference than Liverpool.

Back to the match against Tony Pulis's Stoke City, we started without the injured (allegedly) William Gallas. Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott found themselves on the bench with Nicklas Bendtner, Abou Diaby and Alex Song replacing them in the first eleven.

But watching Arsenal play you could not believe that this is a team who has not won anything since 2005. They lacked the hunger and drive to play the match with a fast tempo, something which I really think was urgently needed in order to get past the ageing Stoke defence.

Then we fell behind when our defensive frailties were exposed again. For the goal I really think Manuel Almunia should have came for the ball as it was travelling right at him, or at least he would have squeezed a foul from the referee with Ricardo Fuller backing into him.

I would have expected that we would show more creativity and pace in search for the equaliser but there was none. Manu Adebayor's body language clearly showed that he did not wish to be there.

Come on! You are a six foot plus striker but did not strike any fear at all to the opposing defenders who are just happy to hassle you into making mistakes with your poor first touch and lately clumsy jumps. The less said about your finishing the better.

I do not think I have ever said this before but seeing Adebayor going off was perhaps my highlight of the match. Last season I was all out defending the Togolese poor finishing, that he would have to have quite a number of chances before finally finding the net. I was proud doing that because Adebayor seemed to give everything he got.

Unfortunately, his transfer episode during the summer has completely turned me against him and I would rather have the millions from Milan or Barcelona than having to see him giving half hearted performance such as the one at Stoke just now.

Credit must be given to Pulis as he maximised the strength that his side has and the home fans deserved to go home with all the three points. It was rather unfortunate that the hunger and drive which was lacking throughout the match from the Arsenal players only came during time added on.

Congratulations to Gael Clichy for scoring his first senior goal with a pinball effort which gave Thomas Sorensen no chance at all. But it came all too little too late.

Arsene Wenger must be counting his woes as Walcott and Sagna went off injured. I really must say that a straight red card for van Persie was rather extreme by Rob Styles and the most the Dutchman should have got was a yellow card.

But as an optimist Arsenal fan, I really believe that there is a silver lining somewhere in the clouds for us Gooners. So just be patient and hope we will see it soon.

Really soon.

...