Written by Mean Lean on Saturday, 17 September 2011 11:02

Apologies for the late post today, I am somewhat worse for wear today due to a very late night on top of a combination of alcohol and kebab. Not at all fun and I am not actually sure if any of this will make any sense today but hey ho.

Instead of a proper match preview I am going to have to do preview deadline day last minute scribbles. You shouldn't be reading this anyway, you should be getting yourself prepared for the 90 minutes. Look for those lucky socks or pants and cross fingers that everything goes our way.

Obviously first thing is first, I want those three points but I also would love to see our attacking game click because it hasn't so far and many Wenger teams are built on the momentum of our play, if that does not function then we stutter. Fluency is the key, quick combination passing takes time to get right, especially when you have to incorporate new players into the set up.

Andre Santos starts at left back which is very exciting, exciting because I do not really know what to expect from him. Will he be conservative in his first start for us or are we likely to see that Brazilian flair, bombing on from full back?

Aaron Ramsey has been restored to the line up after missing Dortmund through injury and Andrey Arshavin replaces Walcott in the line up after also not featuring in Germany.

Szczesny

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Santos

Song

Arteta Ramsey

Gervinho van Persie Arshavin

The left side of our team looks worrying weak defensively but offensively interesting. I would imagine that Song will be instructed to cover that side of the pitch when Blackburn do break on us.

Gervinho should start from the right today, instead of the left while hopefully Arteta can have a better game in the final third.

Ok, time to quickly find those lucky pants.

COME ON THE ARSENAL!!

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Comments (26)

• 17-Sep-2011 11:32 | | babasola tokoya lagos nigeria  - arsenal perfect first eleven
  

  this is the best eleven of arsenal with only vermaleen coming in when fit as walcott is not consistent and has only speed as his asset and gibbs give too much space for his opposing wingerarteta is good defendively than fabregas and should step up with his midfield creation role and instints ramsey should imrove as frimpong benanyoun and daiby are lurking arond while daiby should release the ball quickly to free strikers without allowing opposing defenders to regroup i am anxious to see park play cos chamakh has been disappointing of late

• 17-Sep-2011 12:37 | | Man United Killer
  

  Impressive performance here.We need to stay calm and ruthless!

• 17-Sep-2011 13:20 | | Ed  - We are shit
  

  What a mess we are in!! We do not look like we could win any game at the moment. Lucky against Swansea, lucky in Germany and very wasteful today. We need to start protesting for change, where is silent Stan? Where is the direction?
  Its piss poor at best, i sick of watching dross we are Arsenal we should be the best not being done by shite teams

• 17-Sep-2011 13:22 | | John  - Pathetic
  

  Ml. You can now take your head out of the sand and live in the real world. That is, the reality at Arsenal, a complete shambles. Even you ml cant b positive with this display.

• 17-Sep-2011 13:39 | | Man United Killer
  

  Oh!..and I thought we had this...

• 17-Sep-2011 13:46 | | MeanLean
  

  John,
  
  What do you want me to do? Not support Arsenal anymore? Is that what you think I should do? There were in fact many positive points to talk about, you will pretend that it does not exist but obviously we were shambolic defensively today. I don't know why that is but it happened. I am fuming that we didn't win a game that we dominated for the most part.
  
  I cannot just switch off and say that I hate my team. Sorry I cannot do that. If that is what you want to do then go for it.
  
  I am angry and upset but this is my team regardless.

• 17-Sep-2011 13:47 | | MeanLean
  

  So did I. Too many stupid stupid mistakes.

• 17-Sep-2011 14:51 | | CHGooner  - Title challenge
  

  Do you still see this ML? Sad thing is we have cleared out some utter dross like Denilson and Eboue, the idiot Bendtner, and bought Arteta and Santos who are both improvements and solved our goalkeeping problem (although God help us if Chezzer gets injured) yet still we can't defend, allow ourselves to lose games we should win easily and generally look as tactically strong as a Steve Bleasedale outfit. Wenger is the cause of our problems. Straightforward. Get him out and we can win something, keep him and we can't.

• 17-Sep-2011 15:18 | | richie  - This zonal defending ain´t working in the prem.
  

  One for Muk;
  I´m holding my hands up. I always thought Djourou was o.k..................... I never thought he was the worlds greatest defender but I thought he was good enough to do a job for us. After watching his school boy defending error, over commiting himself when all he needed to do was stay on his feet. I have to say his decision making process is faulty. He puts in the effort but, sometimes that ain´t enough, today it certainly wasn´t. He now needs to step up or ship out, because this is becoming a habit.
  
  Like everyone I thought we had it too. School boy defending errors and 2 dubious offside´s shouldn´t paper over the cracks. Going forward we had our old fluency back, but the defending was attrocious. I´m loath to say it this early on but as I feared before we bought him Mertasaker is too slow, and he´s now another player that needs to quicken up.
  
  5 in and already we are way off the pace. Battered by Manuer, outplayed by the Pool, beaten by Rovers, only managing a draw with the Toon, and flattered by Swansea. Its no good to keep saying this just ain´t good enough. There are positives to be taken, we didn´t look so ponderous going forward, but its the same old storey our defense is all over the place. There´s no one to come in and wave a magic wand but there is a lot of work to be done on the training field.
  Its all far too similar to last season its like an orchestra without a conductor out there. Bottom line, someone needs to organise our defense.

• 17-Sep-2011 15:41 | | Man United Killer  - correction
  

  This is NOT your team ML.This is OUR team !

• 17-Sep-2011 16:02 | | Man United Killer  - Richie's Reply
  

  We were great going forward--for once in a long time,I was pleased with the flency of our attack.I think Gervinho has added a lot of attacking power though he is only one individual.His willingness to run at defenders is pleasing to the eye indeed.So there are a lot of positives I as far as attack goes.I only hope the attack can build on this from game to game.
  Now speaking of the defence, I dont know where to start from.Our defending is shambolic.And Game in game out, our defensive defencies are exposed.All our attacking successes are nullified by our defensive frailties.Shocking!I'm Speechless!

• 17-Sep-2011 16:16 | | piers  - ostriches
  

  piersmorganPiers Morgan
  
  The blind deluded non-critical devotion to Wenger by so many #Arsenal fans is one reason we’re in this mess. Heads up, ostriches.
  ———————————————–
  Fucking spot On! Wake the fuck up Gooners. That old fool has to go!

• 17-Sep-2011 16:16 | | Man United Killer
  

  Annyoying? No..Not any more..Frustrating? Definitely that!

• 17-Sep-2011 16:34 | | richie  - "Zonal Defending" a contradiction in terms?
  

  It can´t just be all our defenders! Its got to be the system. Our players aren´t marking a man each they are guarding an area (their zone). On a free kick or corner we´ve got 2 banks of 4 players lined up, but as soon as an attacker peels off and runs round behind our boys who are still marking their zone, they don´t pick him up running into their zone until he gets a run on them and out jumps the defender. It keeps happening.
  
  Today Song distracted by a player running into his zone from outside his zone panicked and let the ball bounce off his legs. Zonal defending works on the continent because they don´t keep pumping balls into the area over the top. The game is played on the ground. Head tennis of the EPL variety is very rare. You might be speachless but our defenders look clueless employing this defence.

• 17-Sep-2011 16:38 | | MeanLean
  

  Very balanced MUK. Agreed

• 17-Sep-2011 16:40 | | richie  - up to speed
  

  You´ve already left! The old fool pier´s now has a programm in the states.

• 17-Sep-2011 17:12 | | Man United Killer  - Deep dive assessment to defensive problems
  

  True, good points with which I agree.I recall that one of the reasons why Liverpool perfomed poorly in the league but so well in the UCL during the days Rafa was their zonal marking strategy.Thinking about your post makes me wonder what kind of defensive training these players go through.Is there any reason why we cant vary our marking methods to suit different games? Let me say this-though it is true that our defensive prowess is nothing to write home about, I am not sure if the tactics is partly to blame.433?Would we be better suited to a 442 in the EPL? I dont know but these are questions that must be answered.
  After todays game, in my attempt to fathom what might be wrong with the defence, I took a closer look at the midfields contribution to defending and I have to say it has improved a great deal (as compared to last season).This makes the solution to the problem more complicated.You cant troubleshoot properly if your possible causes are not clearly defined.We have a big problem on our hands.The problem is bigger than it looks on the outside IMO.

• 17-Sep-2011 17:21 | | Uti  - Agree wit ya
  

  I strongly agree to this. Our players always tend to do the zonal marking thing. It seems they take their eyes off the ball most times paying attention to the man instead of the ball else why shud you concede 2own goals? Kocielny's goal seemed so real to me I'd believed he was paid to do it. Barca always get the lion share of possesion not cos they are all excellent passers but becos they are hungry for the ball when they dont have it and they go for it. Simply put, Wenger has lost it.

• 17-Sep-2011 17:45 | | Man United Killer
  

  sad to say..but it seems Wenger has truly ran out of ideas.same tactics for every opponent-both home and away? Really?

• 17-Sep-2011 18:02 | | Cosmos
  

  @ CHGooner - Title challenge. I totally Agree with u that we should get Wenger out and bring a more serious manger. Wenger has been the cause all these trophiless years, Now we dont have a better cover up for Sagna and also per is only better than Squillaci. We need a defender who is stronger than Kos in to solve our defensive problems. Per cant help us, he cant even take advantage of his height. WENGER SHOULD GO

• 17-Sep-2011 18:05 | | redboy
  

  WENGER OUT FOR F**K SAKE HE AINT GOT A CLUE

• 17-Sep-2011 18:42 | | pika
  

  lol..relax people..its still bloody september ..and we are with new players and a very low confidence ..

• 17-Sep-2011 19:47 | | Man United Killer  - funny?
  

  what is so funny?

• 17-Sep-2011 20:43 | | JuniorMeanLean  - The Match
  

  I watched the match from kick off till final whistle. Arsenal played a good match and should have won, but didn't because of two own goals and a blind lines-man. If the lines-man saw the off side then the score would have been 3-3 but even then the score should have been 3-1 to arsenal but Song and Koscielny had to score for the wrong side and, eventually, make us lose the match. On a happier note, the first half was a good half and I was pleased about the score. I said to myself 'Arsenal played that half well and, I can tell you now, there gonna score' and BAM!!! they did.
  
  But Final score 4-3 i'm not a happy fan

• 18-Sep-2011 09:12 | | pika
  

  your overreactions are funny ..thats what.
  
  
  you lot act as if the scanario of our first crop getting burnt from the wight of expectations was never on the cards ..well people it was always on the cards, alwasy a possibility and in fairness the most realistc of possibilities. we went from a team with real world class players and a colony of french world cup winners to a group of untested and inexperienced younsgters. did u lot think it was going to be easy?
  
  so which one of you has the stomach for it?

• 02-Oct-2011 13:39 | | selix  - performance
  

  arsenal are no more improving 2day matches we must win it use our best defender midfieders and strikes

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