Kru-el Day for Gooners

November rain brought with it the cold climate that is usually associated with the monsoon season. But tonight it was colder than usual to the extend that it sent chills through mad redo1's spine when Andy Carroll's header rolled gently over the goal-line at the stroke of half-time to give visitors Newcastle United the lead at the end of the first forty five minutes.

It was that 'one of those days' feeling that he felt during the West Ham United's visit last time around. Unfortunately, unlike the match against The Hammers there was no last minute goal this time around as The Toons held on against an Arsenal onslaught to register their first victory at The Emirates against The Gunners.

In a nutshell, Arsenal simply did not really turn up in full for the match and for mad redo1, skipper Cesc Fabregas had a really bad day at the office, playing well below his best. To make things worse his team-mates seemed to be infected by the same virus as they could not sustain the pace that was necessary to break down the Newcastle defence.

While it was true that we hit the woodwork twice and forced Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul into making a couple of excellent saves there was no fluidity in our movements. Put that against an away side that was more determined than most of our players today, we just knew how the outcome of the match going to look like, and it was not pretty, not pretty at all.

Was Lukasz Fabianski to blame for the goal?

mad redo1 would have to say yes but just for a small part of it. When the ball is driven into the area the goalkeeper will be in two minds, to stay on his line and react or to come and take it cleanly. Many would say he should have stayed as Carroll's header was hardly a bullet and he would have collected easily. But you just can never be certain of that as under no pressure the striker could have adjusted accordingly.

Fabianski decided to come. There were two options for him, to take the ball at his highest or to take it at his most comfortable height. The risk of the former was he could be a bit under the ball and it could fall loose which could result in a goal and he would be blamed all the same (or even worse for spilling the ball). The latter's risk was having the opponent cutting in front of you and beat you to the ball, which exactly what happened.

As for mad redo1, he would have chosen the former. if you feel that you are not hundred percent able to take the ball cleanly, at least you could have reached the ball with a hand and just push it away from the danger area, thus taking it out from the path of the opponent.

But that is life as a goalkeeper, any misjudgment could be fatal and if you are not strong enough it could affect your confidence. However mad redo1 believes that would not happen to the Pole as from a similar situation in the second half Fabianski came out again and this time he took the ball cleanly. Based on his performance so far I believe Fabianski would have saved Arsene Wenger from spending money on a new goalkeeper in January.

Every Gooner must accept the fact that Arsenal were poor tonight. Theo Walcott who notched a brace in Toons' country in the Carling Cup match was largely anonymous today while Jack Wilshere could not raise his game in front of the watching Fabio Capello. Marouane Chamakh was a bit hesitant to shoot despite having the opportunity to do so on a few occasions. Samir Nasri had a goal bound shot saved by Krul but he and his replacement Andrey Arshavin were able to show just glimpses of their true ability.

The most important thing is to keep the belief that we have the capabilities to end the trophy drought that we have endured for the last five seasons.

And pray for a huge slice of luck for us for the rest of the season.

Come on Arsenal!


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Ukraine Jinx Continues

Frankly, mad redo1 did not bother to get out from his bed this morning to watch the delayed telecast between Arsenal who were visiting Shakhtar Donestk. But upon checking the result and reading the report on ESPN-Soccernet he found oout that The Gunners failed to win again in Ukraine.

The 2-1 defeat would have put him on a bad mood but this time it was not so bad. Perhaps it was rather expected due to past record there where Arsene Wenger only managed to show a draw as his best result so far. But to give it a positive spin Theo Walcott found the net again with a goal that combined the quick thinking of Jack Wilshere, Walcott's explosive pace and the calm finishing that he executed.


Prior to the match, Wenger had hinted of giving the England international a more central role but if he keeps scoring from the position he is right now by all mean just play him there, especially with the availability of big tall strikers such as Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh that he can feed on.

Another plus point was the performance of Lukasz Fabianski who could not be faulted for both goals and for pulling off a few good saves. Perhaps lady luck was not smiling on him today when Craig Eastmond's head deflected the ball past him as the youngster challenged Dmytro Chigrynskiy's header from a free-kick.


However there were concerns about Gael Clichy and his tendency to put Arsenal in danger with his defending. The French fullback should have cleared when Shakhtar's Darijo Srna put him under pressure. But he went on to lose the ball to the Croatian and from his low cross former Gunner Eduardo diverted it past Fabianski.

Once again credit to Dudu, he did not celebrate his strike.

Putting the defeat in perspective, Arsenal are still at the top of their group and the result means The Gunners have the advantage over Shakhtar if the remain tied on points after all six matches have been played with a better head to head record having won 5-1 at The Emirates during their first meeting.

It was a bit of an understrength side with just four players from the hard fought win against West Ham on Saturday started the match at The Donbass. The confirmation of their place in Round Two could wait, at least there will be something to play for when they travel to Braga for their penultimate group match later this month.

Clearly Wenger was thinking about the visit of Newcastle on Sunday when chose the team for last night match.


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