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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Late Song of Joy

As expected the London derby between Arsenal and West Ham at The Emirates turned out to be a nervous affair for many watching Gooners around the world. On paper Arsene Wenger's men should not have much difficulties in disposing the bottom side but this being the Premier League, one is never certain of the outcome of any match.

Wenger's Arsenal were on a four match winning streak and were looking forward to making it the fifth. Of course, West Ham being West Ham, they just would not lay down and play ball. After creating a few openings the feeling was we would be celebrating an Arsenal goal soon.

Unfortunately Robert Green in the Wet Ham goal had other ideas. Why it is always against Arsenal that goalkeepers tend to show their best? (with the exception of Tim Krul on Thursday) Green performance should catch the eye of Fabio Capello in the stands saving from Cesc Fabregas and Sebastien Squillaci.

Based on this he should be back for the next England squad for the friendly against France. Another player who should be in that squad too is Theo Walcott. His introduction after 67 minutes caused more concern for the visitors and many Gooners thought he had scored soon after coming on but his attempt despite beating Green hit the post and the loose ball went safely into the goalkeeper's hands.


Earlier Samir Nasri had hit the bar with a long range effort and this had the fans thinking this could be one of those days. Nasri who had a good scoring run coming into this match would likely to be in the French squad facing his team-mate Walcott during the friendly.

If this was a drama, the scriptwriter could not have written it better. With just minutes before normal whistle was blown a cross from Gael Clichy found it's way into the six yard box and looked like it had evaded everybody until Alex Song stooped low to divert the ball past Green.


It was cruel for the goalkeeper but as a Gooner I was glad to be cruel just as long the three points were safely on the board in order to keep up the pace with other contenders.


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A Depressed Gooner, I am

Man City 3 Ireland, Robinho, Sturridge
Arsenal 0

It is not a good title by any mean but the way things are going for Arsenal at the moment, the cloud of depression will be looming for a long, long time just like the monsoon clouds hanging over Kuala Terengganu at the moment.

The news that William Gallas has been stripped off his captaincy was received with a bit of joy but the French defender is not the only reason that we have performed so poorly as the display at the City of Manchester Stadium indicated.

It is like almost every single Arsenal players have gone off form with the names Gael Clichy and Denilson immediately came to mind.

Clichy gifted the goal against Sp*ds, could have headed past Manuel Almunia against Manure, finally completed the task against Aston Villa and last night's comedic tangle with Mikael Silvestre presented Steven Ireland with the opening Man City goal.

Denilson perhaps was asked to do a job that he is not really ready to do, yet but against Man City he was terribly poor, to put it mildly. There were numerous errors that I really wished that Arsene Wenger would take him off midway through the match.

Nicklas Bendtner had another poor game and perhaps Steve McMahon of ESPN-StarSports is right after all when assessing the Big Dane as a terrific Championship player but still not good enough to play in the Premier League.

With big matches coming up against Dynamo Kyiv and Chelsea it is very important for Wenger to get his thoughts right and come up with a good solution to the mess that we are in right now.

Being optimistic, I do feel that we are still within a shout with the rest of the table toppers but things really have to turn around in order to ensure we keep our place in the top four again this season.

Perhaps Arsene should go British again to be at the heart of his midfield and the player who would fit the bill is Aaron Ramsey who made Arsenal looked much livelier when he came on for Gavin Hoyte.

The recently capped Welsh international could be alternated with Jack Wilshere partnering Cesc Fabregas. Both of them showed a lot of quality and perhaps their British hearts could fire things up for Arsenal.

If you really believe in youth, give this suggestion a try, Arsene!

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