Playa Ratings
1 - Almunia, 7
Despite plenty of Fulham attacks and half chances, I don't remember him having much to do other than look sound from crosses, which he largely was.
3 - Sagna, 6.5
Getting forward plenty at the moment but could work on his crossing. Seems to either just scoop it in or just put his foot in front of it and hope the pace already on the ball will do the trick.
22 - Clichy, 6
Short of confidence at the moment and as good a reason as there is not to boo: lacks nothing for effort but just doesn't trust himself to do things instinctively. There were some good moments in fairness, but like Sagna, the crossing can improve.
5 - Toure, 7
The rear end shows no sign of deflating but the sluggishness does seem to be less than it was. A tough test against Fulham, but he did OK.
10 - Gallas, 7
Ditto really. There was not too much arguing with Fulham's forward play but apart from a spell in the second half where I feared they were turning the screw, we never really looked like conceding. In the air we simply look far better organised. Not sure why, but we do.
2 - Diaby, 5.5
Poor frankly. The handbrake was on and what came so simply on Tuesday now took a whole lot of effort. Seems incapable of stringing a decent run of form together.
15 - Denilson, 6
Part of a midfield that just seemed overrun at times, despite Fulham playing 4-4-2 instead of 4-5-1. Did OK and intercepted some things but this was not the stuff of Tuesday night.
12 - Vela, 6.5
Faded later on and was deservedly subbed. But looked lively on his first Premiership start initially and was stretching Fulham a fair bit. But like the others, shy in front of goal.
8 - Nasri, 7
Quieter in the second half when moved to the wings but did keep things ticking over nicely when behind RVP. One of the few players to harass Fulham, he was nice to watch, if not explosive.
11 - van Persie, 6
Paid to stick away chances and while he was unlucky to hit the post, the first half header and shot should really have ended up bulging the net.
26 - Bendtner [Sub], 6.5
Offered something different, which was welcome, but you do look at the likes of Johnson and wonder why Bendtner can't run like them.
27 - Eboué [Sub], 7
A good cameo, driving forward and taking on players.
23 - Arshavin, 7
Clearly still not fit and flits in and out of games at the moment. But uses the ball very neatly, set up great RVP chances and looks unafraid to shoot.
FROM GOODPLAYA AT THE EMIRATES
I LEFT the Emirates yesterday thinking one of four scenarios must have occurred:
a) We simply don’t try hard enough.
b) Our physical conditioning is abysmal.
c) Fulham are world beaters.
d) A combination of the above.
The latter seemed the most probable.
I readily accept it is only human nature to rouse oneself for our biggest challenges and to sometimes struggle to overcome life’s more mundane hurdles. To perform at 100%, 100% of the time is not human - it’s robotic.
But that said, I still can’t reconcile the yawning chasm between what we saw on Tuesday night and what we witnessed at the Emirates this weekend, last weekend and seemingly every other weekend.
How readily we reverted back to type - jockeying instead of tackling, stopping instead of going and hesitating rather than chancing.
At times late on Fulham, yes Fulham, made us look embarrassingly ordinary. Knackered after Roma? How on earth these precious souls will handle a trip to the Midlands with just a two day break, I don’t know. Had we played above ourselves on Tuesday one could more easily accept this dross.
But Roma was just a reflection of what we are very capable of delivering.
Instead, game after game, we are playing below ourselves.
So as we slip inexorably towards a diet of (if we’re lucky), the Europa League and the knock-on listless Sunday afternoon Premiership duals, for the first time a part of me pondered if the boos that rang out at the final whistle might actually not all be a bad thing.
Could they finally lift the team from this terrible slumber? Could they shake these guys to the core, strip them of some of their ego and cliched as it sounds, take us back to basics?
After all, it’s not as if management or players seem to have any ideas.
And make no mistake, it is now a dreadful run we’re on: points wise our last five games have been WORSE than winning two and losing three, our last 11 games have been WORSE than winning six and losing five. Some undefeated run.
But the answer, as I discovered over the course of one of those rare Saturday nights where Arsenal DID impinge on my overall mood, was no, booing is not the answer. For a start, as this Online Gooner piece suggests, my hunch is that those who boo are of impure hearts themselves.
If they sung with gusto from 2.55pm to the final whistle and then vented their frustrations, fine. But the suspicion remains that the booing is the loudest they have got all day.
I also realised that equally, as Gunnerblogger alludes to, that something else is at play. We may well be lazy, but it’s got to the stage where we have developed a perfectly understandable nervousness too, particularly in front of goal.
And it is a nervousness that booing will only make ten times worse.
So while I’d love to grab each of them by the neck and shake them some urgency into them, booing is clearly not the way.
Against Fulham, we were frigid in front of goal. Everything felt so forced, so unnatural.
Of course, there were chances. But whereas RVP was previously sticking them away, his radar is now off. Where would we be without his goals, people asked after Everton. Now they know.
The chances came and went, but rarely were they part of a sustained, coherent passage of play. Instead they formed small spells where we spluttered into life.
We were at our best at 4-5-1 with Nasri flitting around, joining things up and oiling what was otherwise a slightly clunky machine. Arshavin was more peripheral, though his contributions were often telling and it was only poor RVP finishing that denied the Russian two assists.
Fulham were enterprising right from the off and had (mostly half) chances which to my mind came about largely through decent attacking play rather than poor defensive organisation. It was in the middle of the park where we struggled. Denilson was OK initially, but you can often tell so much from Diaby’s first contribution. It was poor and things got little better.
Removing Vela for Bendtner felt right, but it did us little favours. Arshavin faded and Nasri, who at least played with some bottle, looked isolated on the right wing. Despite a comedic winning of a free-kick with his first touch, Eboue was very good when sent on as a more attacking version of Sagna.
But ultimately you simply can’t argue we had a never say die spirit.
Rarely, if ever, were we left wondering how a player had managed to win a ball. At the other end Andy Johnson worked tirelessly for the Cottagers - take note Bendtner.
I’m in the States for a wedding for the Burnley and Blackburn games and right now it feels like if I had to miss anything, us trying to score at home in the league for the first time in ages against Allardyce of all people does not feel like a bad moment to be absent.
Before then, it is West Brom, where you sense things will either get very bad or else we will enjoy a bit more freedom away from the Emirates crowd.
And that’s yer lot - thanks for reading, it’s been a long one. It’s moments like this that remind me why I write this blog - a privileged opportunity to have loads of people share my ecstasy and agony.
PS. Hundreds of you have already responded to the Goodplaya survey. It’s good fun, doesn’t take long and you could win a six month subscription to ArsenalTV online. Take the survey here.
