I didn’t see us beating Bolton 4-1

"From the two games against Blackburn and Bolton, two years ago we would not have taken six points.”

- Arsene Wenger, pointing out the improvement in the Arsenal

I'm pleased to say that I was wrong. In the end, we beat Bolton quite comfortably 4-1, with goals to Koscielny, Chamakh, Song and Vela. It wasn’t as comfortable as that scoreline suggests with the last two goals being scored in the last twelve minutes, but still, it’s a good result and one that I’m very pleased with.

Since as I slept through it, I’m not going to comment about it.

However, I am going to comment about Wenger’s aforementioned quote. I actually attended Blackburn away and Bolton away during the 08-09 season. We won both games 4-1 and 3-0, or something similar. I remember we were great going forward, but we were terrible going back. In Blackburn away especially, they played right through our midfield and sliced us open. It was a case of the Arsenal being great at the things that Wenger is passionate about, but terrible at the things he dislikes.

So, have things really changed? We’re still good going forward. We’re probably a lot more effective going forward now that we’ve converted to a 4-3-3. But we’re still unsteady in defence. I remember watching the Blackburn match from a couple of weeks ago, and I was genuinely fearful whenever the opposition had the ball. I don’t trust the defence, I don’t trust Song when he’s roving upfield, and I definitely don’t trust Almunia. There are just too many liabilities for me to ever feel comfortable with this team. Without some sort of defensive tactical discipline, I always think we’re one slip-up away from conceding.

Okay, we showed a bit more resilience. Song and co. are 2 years’ more experienced, and that shows up in their play. They don’t crumple in games “up North” when things go bad. They score more late goals. They try harder when the mood suits them. All these things are a natural consequence of having played 60+ more league games.

But is that enough?

I’d feel more confident in the team if we got ourselves a goalkeeper. And if we could nail Song down in front of the defence. And if I knew we could trust Koscielny and Squillaci with the centre-back positions for the rest of the season. And especially if we could stop conceding weak goals from corners, set-pieces and fast breaks down the flanks.

I’m probably being a bit harsh. We’ve got 10 points from 12, and we’re second on the league. We’ve played two of our bogie teams and got 3 points from each. We’ve played Liverpool away and got a point from that. So we’re not too bad. We could definitely be in a much worse position.

So on the 225th last day of my 20s, I had deep, serious thoughts about buying an iPhone 4. I have an embarrassingly old phone which serves my needs quite well, and which is virtually indestructible. I don't really use it, other than for SMS and the occasional call.

And yet, I was playing Veggie Samurai on a friend's iPhone this afternoon, and I realise I really want a phone which would enable me to dice numerous digital vegetables as fast as manically possible. I want a phone which would enable me to access youTube videos on the go, watch highlights from Premier League matches, check Facebook and email every five seconds. I want something sleek and black and coated in shiny, cool glass.

I realise it's just irrational, but I don't seem to get over Apple-related tech-lust. The last two times I had it, I succumbed to a MacBook and an iMac respectively. There's something so seductive about Apple products. You know that they're expensive, that Steve Jobs is probably evil, and there are cheaper, more effective equivalents out there, but still… there's nothing on the market that's as cool as an Apple product.

I’m going to try to register with newsnow

On the advice from Stewie from a couple of posts ago, I decided to apply for entry to newsnow.co.uk again. I tried once before when this blog was called “Fucking Arsenal”, but they decided to reject me... for reasons unknown. I figured that I might have a better chance this time around, with a new name and more polite language. I’m a bit apprehensive because what I write can only be loosely defined as “news”, and probably more accurately described as "snippy, cowardly insults directed at men I wouldn’t have the guts to insult in real life”, but I’ve never found the website that catalogues those type of blogs.

So wish me luck. It’s going to take a while because I have to register with a website tracker called Alexa first, but I’ll get there. And then, maybe I’ll become famous on newsnow.

I was looking at the the newsnow.co.uk editorial standards, and came across something funny:

Conform to a reasonable standard of the language in which they are written. They must meet high standards of spelling, grammar and punctuation, including but not limited to:

• Correctly differentiating between "there" and "their", "its" and "it's", "1" and "one" and "Liverpools" and "Liverpool's"
• Ensuring sentences and paragraphs are not overly long;
• Using appropriate, correct punctuation and grammar.

I’m left wondering why they decided to single out Liverpool supporters? Is there an abundance of poorly-written Liverpudlian blogs out there, or are they just the more dire? Or is there some sort of English snobbishness at play, something too nuanced for me to pick up?

Oh, and we’re playing Bolton tonight. I don’t think I’ll watch the match because I would like to sleep. It’s going to be a difficult match. Vermaelen’s out, which means we’re sending two unprepared Frenchie centre-backs up against one of the standard bearers of clod-hoofing Ingerland. And van Persie and Walcott are both out as well, which means we’re left with Chamakh as our lone striker and Arshavin and... (blank) as supporting wide players. So goals will be hard to come by and our defence will be shaky.

It’s going to be a tough match. I’m wondering why, in only the 4th match of the season, we’re suddenly down to our last centre-back pairing and our last genuine centre-forward? Why do we always get injuries to the same players, at the same time, for the same reasons? Has the curse of the Arsenal Medical Team struck again?

Arsene Wenger thinks that we can do it, though. He said:

"Bolton are a good side if you look at the players they have on the pitch, but I believe we have enough quality on the pitch to beat them and that's what we want to show. We've had a satisfying start to the season with two difficult away games with Liverpool and Blackburn and we have done well so it is important we build on from that.”

But then again, he’s hardly going to say that we’re fielding two inexperienced centre-backs, one inexperienced centre-forward, and a liability in front of goal, and we’ll be lucky if we can get away with a win, is he?

Let’s go Arsenal. Let’s win this one for the injury list.

3-1 to the Arsenal

We are Fabregas

And we are fabulous

- the Arsenal away stand in the stairwell after the game. 

Spent last night in Bolton. Didn't mean to; I wanted to get a bed in Manchester and commute to the game, but there's some Labour Party Convention in the city. Apparently the Prime Minister here's getting caned for banks going bankrupt, the credit crunch and all the other things that have kept me entertained in hostel lobbies this past month. 

I watched the Arsenal for (probably) the last time. Reebok Stadium is a very pretty ground, which is in complete juxtaposition to the fare on the pitch. It's got this white lattice framework that holds up four, vast arched stands. Very nice, much prettier than the corporate Emirates, I'm afraid to say. 

We played okay, I thought. You have to do alright, to win 3-1. Eboue had a really good game on the left wing. He made quite a few damaging runs in the first half, and was very effective when cutting in and driving down them middle. But we started with a midfield of Eboue, Song, Fabregas and Densilon, which was a but muddled. With Eboue's propensity to cut in from the left, and Denilson's inability to go around his marker, it made for a very narrow formation.

And it showed. 

We didn't really get into the match until after they scored (off a corner, of course). And we didn't really click as a team until Theo Walcott was brought in in the second half. Straight away, he gave us a boost in speed, width and directness. His run down the middle set up the third goal. It's amazing how his stature has grown over the past month. He's not the finish article yet, but he's very, very important to this Arsenal side. 

Yorkshire and Northumbria next. Got to see about a bus or a train or something.