Arsenal moved 6 points clear of Sp*rs after a 0-0 at the Emirates against Chelsea today.
Arsene Wenger made three changes from the team which started against Wigan. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Benayoun, Ramsey came in for the injured Arteta, while Kieran Gibbs started at left back.
And while there were some encouraging early signs with good possession and a Rosicky shot which drew a save from Cech, and a Walcott free kick which van Persie should have tucked away at the back post, Arsenal had a poor first half. We looked careless and sloppy with the ball and Chelsea counter-attacked well and but for poor control at key moments might have punished.
Until the final few minutes of the half the most interesting thing that happened was Thomas Vermaelen deliberately shouldering John Terry in the back as he challenged for a header, leaving football’s biggest cunt on the floor.
Late on though Arsenal sparked into some kind of life. A Robin van Persie free kick found Laurent Kosciely unmarked in the Chelsea box and his header beat Cech but came back off the bar. Then Alex Song found van Persie in the Chelsea box but the angle was tight and his shot was straight at the keeper.
The second half wasn’t much better although Arsenal had the better of the chances without really troubling Cech. Inevitably chances fell to Robin van Persie but the skipper’s relatively poor run continued as he either delayed his shots too long, or took them too early when a bit more composure was in order.
Arsenal made changes. Gervinho for Walcott, who rather worryingly seems to have pulled him hamstring making him a doubt for the remaining games, Diaby for an ill Tomas Rosicky, and Santos for Oxlade-Chamberlain who was very quiet again.
The Brazilian looked to make things happen but with Chelsea practising for Tuesday by parking the bus and then parking another bus on top of it, it was tough going. They looked to counter and were helped by some sloppy passing from Song and Koscielny in particular, but failed to trouble Szczesny with their £50m striker.
Overall somewhat disappointing but a draw against Chelsea is not a bad result and with three winnable games left this season, we’ve got to focus on those now.
Cashley getting tackled and spun by Song and then trying to kick his ankles out was hilarious. Knob.
“Thomas
Vermaelen deliberately
shouldering John Terry in the
back as he challenged for a
header, leaving football’s biggest
cunt on the floor.”
talk about kicking racism out of football. Sorry i added it near the top but couldn’t resist.
Come on QPR!
We are making it hard for ourselves.
Yes we are, but that’s a result of losing to Wigan, Fulham, Swansea etc. Not through drawing today with the Chavs.
yes but I’d rather have the points than the 2 games in had at this point. As long as we can win our next 3. Terry is a cunt
Don’t be silly. We should of taken chance today against at tired team. Was wasted opportunity. Forget past today we should of won.
Spinglovin, did you go to the same elocution lessons as Harry Rednapp?
Clearly both teams didn’t want to make the “first” mistake.
Yet I was a bit surprised we weren’t that determined to push for a win as it would have (almost) sealed third place. There was definitely a lack of midfield magic though.
We better work on our goal difference in the next games.
1-0 wins will do me mate
I guess I cant really complain.1 point is better that none. We are still above sp*rs, and John Terry is still a cunt.
I slip when I want
I slip when I want
JT and AC are real cunts.
unitbrowsingwa
*unibrowsingwa, shit spelling is so fucking hard
Spelling is hard. Shit spelling is easy,
not a very good game. thought we lacked intensity.as we did when we played qpr and wigan. when that happens you know we’re not going to win. when that happens you just feel relieved when we don’t lose. think these arsenal players deserve a good smack in the face for not showing at this point in the season.
*showing up. and further, you could see why wenger hasn’t really been playing the ox. wasn’t quite up for the challenge. nor was theo. his injury might just( and i know fans will hate me for this) be a good thing for us. On the bright side, as well, thought Gervinho was lively and our best player alongside Santos after they came on. Gibbs had a good game as well. Robin Van ‘post-hit’ missed 3 times when he should have scored.
The passing in the final third is atrocious. Not just for today’s game but it has been all season long and it needs to be addressed…
Not sure how I feel about that one. We can now max out at 74 points, same as Spurs, so we need them to drop points. I feel we should claim 3rd if we beat Stoke and nobody gets killed playing against them.
we didn’t do bad.gibbs coming in.clean sheet is good.we were unlucky hitting the bar.santos and gervinho were good.
But,i really feel the chamakh spot in the bench is such a waste.we are paying a guy to just fill up that spot on the bench.we could really do with a back up on the bench to make a difference.
in these type of games when it is clear that RVP is struggling.we could just put him back in second striker role and use a target man.
i can’t believe that game ended goalless
I saw your spuds logo and was going to say some choice words….but then I saw it was stamped on some shit tickets, so I laughed.
ramsey and rosicky don’t play well together, when rosicky came off ramsey started playing much much better, and gervinho didn’t look as bad as he had recently, also nice to know that diaby is alive
Ramsey slows the game down too much and then gets in possession.We are
really missing Arteta.
Stil rather have the points than games in hand
Caught in possession
Not sure why the thumbs down for this comment. Any one watching would have noticed Ramsey losing possession. That said, I think it’s a function of him being low on confidence and not being entirely sure on what he’s going to do next. One might argue that the evidence is there. Taking a look at his last five games, he’s taken 1.3 additional touches each time he’s had possession in the defensive third of the field. The additional touches may not seem like a lot, but with Arsenal’s style of “up-tempo” play, it becomes critical. There’s also a noticeable difference… Read more »
spot on. the three players in midfield didn’t click and because of this, Rosicky, Walcott, Ox were nobody in the first half. Ramsey is definitely a good player but sometimes he’s just lack of awareness of his surrounding, too many additional touches and must not be afraid to go forward. Rosicky hardly got the ball because he had to cover Ramsey. Yes stats show Ramsey did well but it was frustrating watching him at the stadium. He lost the ball when it matters the most and slow down the game when we could have done something with it. and I… Read more »
Wow that was up quickly and well written too. You must have squillaci and almunia making good use of their free time.
Good to se Gerv sparkle again, think he did very well. And Diaby seemed promising aswell as Santos on the LW.
i never saw ramsey in the field. but when i did, he just lost the possesion
Yes he did [a lot], but I didn’t find him as unimpressive as usual.
arseblog keeps backing him. but i find it hard to support their view when the player is atrocious game after game. Having said that, i think his attitude is good. but I also think he isn’t suited to arsenal. he’d better off somewhere else. he’s more of a ‘make a run’ midfielder. he’s poor in possesion and poor defensively. he needs to learn to pass the ball if he wants to stay at arsenal
He’s back from an injury that have ended players careers he’s only 21 and is bound to have a confidence issue when getting slaughtered by so called fans like you and you also want to send him out in loan to futher have him lack belief, I think it’s a confidence thing with him at the moment he was a smashing prospect before his injury so try get behind him and hopefully next season he comes back stronger
Ramsey got caught twice, then a third time but won it back straight away. He also worked really hard, put in a big defensive shift and set up that volley for van Persie.
And for me Song’s passing was much worse, esp that one late on when he gave it away trying a cute pass in midfield when he should have spread it wide to the left back.
yes, for his workrate i do give him credit, one of the best in the team
Song is one of our most consistent performers( i mean in a good way). Ramsey is also very consistent. consistently poor. As for your point about Song’s misplaced pass: he was trying to play the ball forward wasn’t he? he’s guilty of trying to play that killer pass too often. but there’s the difference. Ramsey gets caught when he’s trying to achieve nothing; misplacing passes and being dispossed whilst dallying in possesion. he was also caught day-dreaming a few times when somebody(can’t remember who) was trying to play a pass to him. It all goes back to the same thing… Read more »
have to agree with Song giving it away many times but then again a lot of the team were sloppy passing the ball around despite the fact it was at The Emirates on a perfert pitch, with no other competitions to distract us etc etc…
That pass could have cost us the game when there was a much more simple option open, which could have launched an attachk
I think it says more that we haven’t won a league game when Mikel Arteta hasn’t been in the team
I remember defending Denilson after the 08-09 season after everybody seemed to blame him for all dropped points. Got to the point when he couldn’t do anything right, even when others around him played worse. I’m starting to get similar vibes about Ramsey these days, and just like with the Denilson debacle, I felt it was a result of poor management. Ramsey hasn’t been great this season, but Wenger persists in using the PL and CL as a training venue. Yes, once in a while you get a Fabregas or Wilshere who can play consistently at a young age, but… Read more »
yep, he is too slow in react. i have less heart attack when koz dribbles/passes rather than ramsey does.
whats so wrong with this comment? wont be critical of ramsey this week, cant speak for the rest but he’s limitations are obvious but we dont have anyone else since the artetas injured, song can be frustrating when he tries to do rosicsky job more often than he should.
didn’t you call him a mother fucker last week?
and call for him to get injured?
don’t think you opinion counts for much here tbh.
To be fair, I think Ramsey put in a decent shift – those few times getting robbed of possesion aside (although I think that when a young player fills in, the more experienced heads around him should give him the “man on” shout….). He did seem to get better as the game went on, notably after Rosicky was subbed off, and was pinging a few decent passes out wide and kept the ball moving better later in the game. I did like to see his work rate though, he ran hard, and effectively at times, harrying Torres in particular stands… Read more »
He dwells for too long on the ball and passes it careless very often. But I think it’s more of a confidence thing. He’s not that shite as his latest performances suggest.
I think he needs a rest and only come on as a sub till the end of the season. I hope Coq can make it in the first team. Looking forward to seeing him getting a run of games in his original position.
at this point i think coq is far better than ramsey
Your correct CT he does dwell to long on the ball……… but careless passes? A 97% passing success rate tells a different story.
“at this point i think coq is far better than ramsey” Given the game time that Ramsey has had relative to the injured Coq, I don’t think that this conclusion can be made with any degree of fairness.
Ramsey gets back on D nicely, has great stamina, but other than that, it is hard for me to be encouraged by him. My gut reaction when he gets the ball is ‘Please don’t lose it.’ With most other players, I just want them to make the smart decision, not necessarily the safe one though. He has been nothing short of awful in front of goal too. He is still young though, and to give up on him would not be smart. But if Wilshire is healthy, then I do not see how much playing time Ramsey would see, and… Read more »
Disappointing to say the least, especially when you consider Chelsea’s lineup. Arsenal looked the more tired team throughout in my opinion. If Koscielny had scored, there would have been no way back for Chelsea.
Well, 3rd is still in their own hands. And can someone tell Song he is allowed to shoot? There are times when I’d like to see him take a pop but opts to pass.
Totally agree with point about Song
rvp should have tried to find his team mate more when he was in difficult angle rather than forcing his shot
or he could have just shot with his chocolate leg
Believe it or not, I was actually relieved we got a point!
Stoke away is going to be tough, but this Arsenal team seem to prefer doing things the hard way!
Terrible display, defence and rosicky apart the rest just not good enough today. The midfield was a joke, not going to jump on the bandwagon but Ramsey is clearly suffering and is probably better for him to be rested. The lack of a striker on the bench is just fucking scandalous and was always going to bite us in the arse. This board needs to sort this shit out for Next season and the fans need to decide if you want to win somethin or just stay a possible top four club because if things stay the way they are… Read more »
How very true, all that is.
Chill out son, have a bit of optimism. Lets get 3rd sorted, because like it or not thats the best we can do this season now, then i can see good things happening next season.
by number in advance
1 – point in 2 games
6 – point different with newcastle and spuds
2 – games on hand for both club
wow that is so in depth
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-dont-say
just saying http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/trollface-coolface-problem
More like 3 points to Newcastle at the moment . . .
good job middle foot.
now back to the cellar…
not too disappointed with the result.. disappointed with the level of energy, and it seems our pressing doesn’t work without Arteta, why we didn’t do it as much i feel..
all together, was that a crap game or what.. 🙁
Arteta’s a big miss, no doubt about it. Noticed in the games he’s not played, the team seems to go totally out of shape.
It’s like the others look for him and know where they should be in relative terms. Without him we look a bit positionally ill-disciplined.
that chelsea left back has learnt stuff from his senior, drogba
monkey see monkey do
A bit racist there me thinks. #justsaying.
i didn’t know there was no such proverb in your country. you are what you think. i never have that racist thought.
I can live with this result. Hope Walcott is alright tho. Song looks tired during these last few games imo.
This game was an outright slog just to watch midfield found it hard to take any control on the game Rocisky who was our best midfielder on the day taken off because of the illness he suffered during the week. Aaron Ramsey well another shocking game caught in possession so much and had no real impact on the game. I know people say we’ve got to give him a chance but he had over half a season before his leg break and then we sent him out on loan to a Cardiff who were fighting for promotion to find form.… Read more »
This was boring, boring Arsenal. I dont get Wenger sometimes. Walcott useless and not replaced until he got injured (is that what it takes?), Diaby for Rosicky is just wrong. The only player on the field with some spirit and he gets changed for a unfit Diaby who really lacked match fitness. The Ox for Santos was ok but even the “gay” fellow lacked the usual spirit and craziness.
The only conclusion is that Wenger was happy with a draw and to let spuds and Newcastle back into the race.
Rosicky has been ill all week and went straight down the tunnel, clearly not well.
Ok didn`t know that but it still was strange subs. And if Rosicky was ill in the week why did he play? He shouldn`t start a game this important if there was no way he could finish it. Diaby should start and Rosicky come on as a impact sub when he broke down.
Strange management non the less.
Rosicky hasn’t been well. Probably why he came off.
In relation to Diaby, with Wilshire and Arteta out, who else would come on for Rosicky?
I must admit, I am surprised that Walcott was not taken off the first time he tweaked his hamstring as a precaution. It seems he has made it a lot worse by playing on.
Passing stats:
Ramsey 63/65
Song 49/58
Kos 46/55
how many crosses song and kos? ramsey probably only pass sideway. yes, one cross to rvp, but that’s all.
and again, number of dispossessed?
Blogs, can you please start a new post just for cygan’s middle foot to slate Ramsey?
well, i mean it’s good to be positive, but come on, it doesn’t take a game or two or even 20 games to have a bad impression to a player. anyway, let’s agree to disagree that ramsey sucks this season.
i do hope he improves his speed and strength next season, and most importantly, finishing.
if that volley from van persie went in….
…I would have creamed myself
it would’ve been goal of the season
Fucking dreadful game. Chelsea looked like they thought that were still playing Barcelona and were defending a one goal lead. Seeing as one point wasn’t any use to them, their tactics were bizarre.
So now we are effectively level with Spurs and Newcastle and fighting for fourth spot. Well done, lads. It looks like yet again we could manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the end of the season. That shite performance against Wigan has now really put us under pressure.
A win at Stoke is now an absolute must.
Well you just answered your own question, they were clearly practicing for Camp Nou.
Except the spuds have only won something like 1 in 10 of late, so you’d hardly put everything you own on them getting the maximum out of their games in hand.. Or would you?
level with the spuds? how?
don’t count your pessimistic chickens mate.
Not a disaster, as Newcastle still have City while Spurs have QPR away but still quite disappointing as this was Chelsea’s second string. But more importantly, playing without Arteta is looking more like a worrying trend. I really hope we can somehow crawl our way to the finish line this season and next season get a few signings and obviously some LANS will be back which will all be a great boost.
hopefully ryo scores vs spuds
he doesn’t play for QPR. but glad that you keep up to date with our loaned out players.
currently at Bolton. but lets hope he scores anyway.
After checking the table I am about to say something I hoped I never would have to…
Come…….on….*swallows some sick*…Stoke.
*shoots self*
Balls.
Balls x2.
On a sidenote, Newcastle have a really good team….sneaky moneyballing bastards
Only three things you can rely on with Stoke:
1. They are a bunch of knuckle dragging, leg smashing, long throwing cunts, managed by a complete and utter cap wearing cunt.
2. Don’t matter what happens against other sides, they’ll do their upmost next week to injure as many of our players as possible, en route to try and turn us over.
3. See 1 above.
Balls x3
A scoreless draw is like kissing your sister. But we can all still hope for the Spuds to go down.
I’m getting pretty pissed of with how Ramsey’s being targetted. You could not have asked for more effort and to be honest more of pop could have and should have been said about Song today.
I don’t think he is being targeted. It’s just frustration at the fact he got robbed of the ball 3 times in nearly as many minutes. He played a lot better in the second half.
…to be fair, everyone seemed to have forgotten how to pass. A truly poor game of football.
Disappointed but we knew Chelsea will park the bus, and although we were guilty of wasting golden chances, it worked for them. I hope Chelsea finishes out of the top four and lose in the CL. They showed their true colours by playing like Sunderland– ah, Sunderland is bigger club than the Chavs.
We have 3 finals remaining, and unless we collect 9 out of 9 from these games, we’re in trouble.
Forget about Sp*rs, Newcastle, which is already 2-0 up vs Stoke is more dangerous.
C’mon you fucking gunners.
i prefer newcastle to go champion league rather than spuds and chelski
True… They were more professional since that twat Barton left them, and any team that overtakes Chavs and Sp*rs will get my support, even if they’re managed by Sam Alalalalardyce.
On todays game
1. Thank goodness for vanpersie’s shitty performance, maybe suitor teams will back of now and he will be doomed to stay with us forever.
2. Tap running dry For rvp perhaps??, plus his calmness infront of goal seems all but lost.
3. Gervinho should definetly start ahead of chambo. Kid’s got much to learn, but would do well with a cameo off the bench.
4. No stick for ramsey today, direct that to rvp, trust me he needs it.
5. Kos the boss.
*and Song. The lad has been losing possessions for weeks now.
Yeah there’s that too. He seems to get most of the balls infront of the area, sees the goal, gets scared to shoot at goal and decides to lose possesion!! Coz no one’s in the penalty box to recieve his ‘killer cross’. Nkt!
‘Is putting in a good’ shift enough at this stage of †ђε season?
We are in a mini dip. I just can’t see anyone in our side making the difference. Stoke away is make or break for where we finish this season and I’m not optimistic.
Wenger has just mentioned the fucking handbrake again!
Somebody should throw the fucking handbrake somewhere in the north. C’mon Arsene, this handbrake thing is not funny anymore.
saw wengers post-match on the bbc website, I nearly smaked myself in the face when he brought up the handbrake, cut the wire wenger, we don’t need a handbrake.
“Ramsey had second-most touches and passes today after Sagna, 97% pass accuracy and joint-most tackles…but was dispossessed four times.”
This is going to be a crucial one indeed!
Compare benches today…..thats why we couldn’t win.
yeah, I was a little scared when Mata came on, then I don’t think he even had a touch…
Average performance by both clubs.
Chelsea were second team were for taking and we never looked really dangerous.
It was almost like 0-0 is good enough for both clubs.
Might be for them,cos they are still in FA Cup and CL,but for us this was like FINAL..and we just failed to perform.
Newcastle are now FIRM favorite for third i am afraid!
newcastle play Man city and Chelsea, I’d tip them for fourth. But I also think Arsenal could implode at any time, gifting third and fourth to whoever steps up. come on QPR -1-0 at half time.
Ramsey is turning into a Denilson type case now! At least Denilson would score here and there. But the only reason why we don’t hear much about it, is because he is British! Arseblog can defend him all the want, but it’s plain Obvious!
Banal comment.
Everone blames ramsey but what about song? Always looking for the champagne ball, too many fouls, gives the ball away and then strolls back. Nobody mentiond the wave of the leg attempted tackle in the box right at the end which just about summed him up. Coquelin wil be better option.
For me Song is not disciplined enough to play as defensive mid. He holds onto the ball for fat too long sometimes in dangerous positions. We all know Wenger likes to create ‘total’ footballers (take Wilshere playing in a deeper role to aid his footballing education) but to be honest we need him or any defensive midfielder playing to do their job and accept anything extra such as making assists or scoring goals as a plus. This is not a rant at Song. I’m very appreciative of every assist he’s made this season. Added to that, it’s not like we… Read more »
*far
Blaming Ramsey has gotten out of hand but, finger pointing in general is very annoying. It’s a team sport and no individual errors cost us the game. I also get the impression that some people think that they only way to relieve the furor Ramsey receives is to throw someone else under the bus. The ‘Ramsey issue’ will be solved by the player himself and he will do it on the pitch. “Champagne balls” How many champagne balls did Song attempt? How many were really poor? Yes he takes risk, but two of those created very good goal scoring opportunities.… Read more »
Frustrating game that, considering its importance, a few of the lads seemed a bit sleepy, maybe it was the early kick off. Was good to see Ramsey recover his composure as the game went on, we are desperate for midfielders at the mo, and a bit of confidence will hopefully help his form.
Andre was great when he came on, great penetration, he’s the gay that keeps on giving! 😉
Get well soon Supertom!!
BTW, did anyone notice that John Terry is a right cunt?
Damn. We absolutely had to win that. We’ve dropped too many points now, it’s really not looking as rosy as it was before the QPR game. One more draw or loss and that’ll be us out of the CL next year, I’m afraid – and even by some miracle we manage to pick it up and win the last three, we still have to tonk in some goals, and considering our main striker seems tired, our pacy winger is out and our creative midfielder is also out, I don’t really see where the goals are going to come from. Damn… Read more »
Koscielny is the master of tackling. Now I know what we missed against Wigan.
Kosch is a master of hong-kong-phooey style, a secret ancient martial art.
He’s now trying for Jackie Chan Dan, so he can hang longer in the air at corners 😉
In recent years Wenger has moaned about us bring tired because we play so often yet the team to me looked tired today and we are playing just once a week. Where is the passion and the fight? On a positive note-great welcome foe Cashly WANKER
Massively disappointing. Don’t get why Wenger was talking about Chelsea ‘locking the game’. We were awful anyway. Saw the same thing at Wigan – theo standing right in the centre, back to goal, surrounded by centrebacks, shuffling from side to side. Why? We lacked pace down both flanks. Have totally run out of ideas going forward. Our form and especially creativity is extremely fragile, when missing such a key player as arteta, it throws the whole team off. so much side to side passing, and going all the way back to Szcz after that corner! Very un-arsenl. 3 wins from… Read more »
I’m just wondering whether Bennayoun in the deep lying midfield role would better option than Ramsey. Ramsey’s best moments came when he was in the attacking third rather than having to consider the passing options when bringing the ball out from defense.
Ain’t it amazing how rvp said this was a must win for us to cement third place yet he did nothing to make that a reality.
You continue to live up to your handle. Why don’t you bugger off back to your Sp*rs site?
is there anything you love about arsenal football club?
are you john terry’s lovechild?
I would like to stick up for ramsey a little here, i know i was screaming at him for losing possession a few times but he stuck around to win it back and was still looking for the ball in 90th minute despite the vicious shit he has had to listen to or read about recently, he is a good young player and will become an integral part of our squad i’ve no doubt. A worry for me today was actually a common pattern with our last defender on counter attacks always backing away no matter who it is in… Read more »
Arseblogger, i usually don’t comment, just read what others say and thumb up or down. But I think every Arsenal player should receive praise or criticism equally. Ramsey isn’t ready for a team that should be challenging for titles. I think that’s what most guys are trying to say. Just like Denilson, Vela, Senderos to name a few. If there’s a better option, that’s what Arsenal should use. Example is, Rosicky or Arteta. Ramsey is not quick, can’t dribble and not very good defensively. In fact, the reason he looses the ball so often is beause he gets muscled off… Read more »