My apologies for the site chaos over the last few days. Technically speaking, something very odd is afoot. This is what I tried to post yesterday morning:

ANDREY Arshavin is unquestionably the super-quality player Arsene has been prattling on about signing for nearly four years now. Sometimes you need to sign a star for the sake of signing a star and Andrey Arshavin is a star.

But as well as that, Andrei Arshavin is, with the glaring exception of a decent central midfielder, exactly what we need. Until now we have lacked the cleverness, the guile, the subtlety, call it what you will, to unlockdefences in the first half of games.

It has meant winning games has been desperately hard of late and we haven’t had a comfortable victory for yonks.

The hope is the attack can now lift some of the pressure on the defenece and that weak centre of midfield. The hope is Arshavin will get bums on seats in the first place and then off them when he offers some of the excitement missing of late.

Credit where credit is due to the board. This was undoubtedly anextraordinarily complicated transfer and even if we believe the figures quoted by Zenit, his price-tag looks very decent.

But there is a but. For all the cool assurances from those in the know that this was always a done deal, it very nearly went completely tits-up.

The agent negotiating for Arsenal admitted as much on camera last night and reports of it collapsing with half an hour to go coupled with missing paperwork andan announcement 24 hours after the official deadline show just how easily we could have ended up with nothing.

Countenancing that would have been very hard. Arshavin or whoever elsecame in this January were not icing on the cake signings in the way someone like Jose Reyes was in 2004. They were essentials, minimums. Hoping the existing players would mature in the way they did in the summers of 2001 and 2007 for example was no answer this time. This time we needed an injection of quality into a squad obviously lacking some.

But going back to how close the deal came to collapse, let us not forget just such a thing happened when we played a not dissimilar game right up to the deadline with Liverpool over Alonso in August.

That one we lost.

But simply saying ‘you win some,you lose some’ in these situations is not good enough.

Not when failing to get Alonso or someone of similar quality and experience in the middle has cost us so badly this season. Anyone can see that. So while the fact we have saved a few million (and yes it is in part the fan’s millions) on Arshavin is very welcome, it is worth asking just how many we have potentially lost in terms of damage to league positioning thanks to pursuing such a strategy in August.

Compared to a year and a tiny bit ago, we remain three central midfielders down and now bizarrely one attacking midfielder up.

Don’t get me wrong though, I’m delighted and the Cardiff game can’t come soon enough.

test post

… to postpone Cardiff cup-tie tomorrow night.

No doubt we will spend until 5pm today frantically haggling a discount on the pre-printed programmes that will now have to be pulped.

And it’s not “adverse weather conditions”. It’s called snow.

It may be apparent I am not in a good mood.

12.30: Though the AST are optimistic…

THE site is being very odd and is not properly showing posts. This is what I posted last night about West Ham and Arshavin, obviously before this morning’s depressing developments.

Here goes…

FOR just about the first time since George Graham’s days, we’re
struggling to score goals.

It’s odd and not very welcome. This was a virtual replica of so many
home games recently: domination followed by a massive late scramble to
get the goal.

Defending the decision to rest RVP, the boss admitted it was only ever
going to be that way, saying:

   “When teams defend like West Ham did you normally expect to score
a goal in the last 15 minutes or so and van Persie was on for the last
15 minutes.”

Frankly it’s a risky business relying on late winners. Sometimes they
will arrive, but other times they won’t. The funny thing is that on
Saturday we failed to get one and yet were far more deserving of one
than when we have got them in recent encounters.

Let’s do Saturday’s negatives first before I piss in the wind and try
and convince you lot that there were positives.

The major downer was our lack of creativity. We lack that spark to
create clear cut openings and despite hitting the bar, having one
headed off the line and Adebayor missing presentable chances, there
was simply not enough going on. RVP’s absence was all too glaring.

So I think the need for Arshavin is becoming patently obvious. We need
someone quick of foot who can operate in tight spaces like Hleb did
but also nick the odd goal or two. While I readily accept buying a new
midfield stopper or two would be no bad thing, one of the best
presents we could give the midfield and defence would be the
occasional first half goal.

Right now, especially at the Emirates, they are few are far between.

So, onto the pissing in the wind bit: this was not a bad performance.
In fact in many senses it was our most coherent for quite a while.
Think back to the Stoke and Man City games and so many of the basics
missing on those afternoons were present against the Hammers.

The defence (featuring Gallas and Toure no less) played well, keeping
the inform Carlton Cole completely silent. Abou Diaby had a very
decent second half. Denilson snapped in a lot, Nasri looked fairly
creative, Vela stretched West Ham and even Comrade Eboue was actually
doing perfectly decently until his sudden descent into one of those
innocuous looking injury moments that he so specialises in.

Bendtner saw a lot of the ball on the wing and while not everything
worked, there were far more positives than negatives.

Only Adebayor really frustrated.

The misses were irritating, less forgiveable was the refusal to take a
gamble and run into the six yard box when it was the only possible
ball that was on for Bendtner. There was too much of that kind of
thing.

The subs were a little curious. The way he interchanges playing
Denilson on the right or Eboue on the right at will suggests he thinks
neither any more or less effective than the other. By starting Eboue
it seemed to me he believed both that option and the Denilson one a
better option than Vela. So I was bemused, if pleasantly surprised,
when Song stayed on the bench and Vela came on.

The reorganisation was a little odd. More logical than Bendtner going
right would surely have been Nasri going there. Then when it became
time to introduce RVP, there was nobody obvious to withdraw.

Adebayor probably deserved it but hierarchy sadly held out and
Bendtner was replaced. That meant another reorganisation, with Nasri
finally ending up on the right.

I said at the time I feared it would knock us out of our stride and
after a slightly lacklustre finish to the game, I think it fair to say
it did.

What boos there were were not a lot of people booing a little but
instead just a few people booing moderately. The vast majority
recognised this was a performance where it was more the failings of
the team than lack of individual endeavour that was to blame.

That said, I do look at the likes of Eboue and wonder what Fergie
would make of him were he a United player. Very little I imagine.
Every game of his season is like a new scene in a pantomime, except
the audience are bored and disinterested. More than ever right now we
need a real ethos of hard work and unity to compensate for our
shortcomings. I simply don’t think Eboue or Adebayor are offering
those qualities and the irregularity of the singing of individual
players names is illustrative of what is going wrong.

Until the clock strikes 5pm on Tuesday all eyes understandably turn
towards transfers. I am one of the few people who sympathises to an
extent with Arsene when he bemoans how people obsess over the bringing
in of one new player while ignoring what is already there.

But that said, whether or not Arshavin signs is hugely significant.

Just as you can’t take money to your grave, there are no prizes in
football for not being ripped-off in transfers.

There are many reasons why we should ensure the transfer happens.
Firstly, there is very obvious evidence we do need him on the pitch.
There is also the very real possibility that any extra cash spent on
him would be easily repaid with the securing of a Champions League
berth.

We as a club, also need to sign someone in the window. We are
struggling. The players are not performing as well as they might but
the squad is also patently thin. We need a boost, the players need to
know Arsenal can still compete for the top players and the fans, dare
I say it, occasionally need to be indulged.

I am writing this from the pub just a stones throw from the ground.

It was all hugely frustrating. In many ways it was our best performance for a while with a good opening half hour being followed by second half domination.

And while clear chances were not frequent we still would and should have won but for ade going for a near open goal with his left rather than right peg.

Other chances saw diaby have an early header deflected off the bar and kolo having one headed off the line.

West Ham defended well. Up front they were either terrible or we were brilliant at the back.

Either way it was a fairly sad indictment of the premier league in 2009.

FORGET Arshavin. Surely what we should be talking about is the weather god’s unerring ability to fit spells of extreme cold round Arsenal home games.

A month or so ago London suffered one of it’s coldest fortnights for years. It began with Pompey at home, continued through Plymouth at home and hit it’s most freezing against Bolton at home.

Then the next day it was very pleasant and for nigh on three weeks it stayed that way.

Until now. Temperatures have already begun to dip ahead of the visit of the Hammers today. By the time Cardiff arrive in town on Tuesday, it’s going to be snowing hard.

A FEW very quick points I’d like to get off my chest:

-Besides being five points off fourth, we’re also six points off second.

-When was the last time you held your hand up said a team had scored a genuinely good goal against Arsenal?

While we may have done a little more to stop the cross coming in, the shots in the papers showed how Clichy made a perfectly decent attempt to win the ball, but Cahill just got incredibly high to meet it. A good goal in my book.

-Everyone has been asking where we’d have been without RVP for the last couple of months. A fair question in one sense but a little disingenuous to the boss in another. It’s not some kind of fluke we have him.

Granted, he could very well have been injured. But if Arsene is somehow lucky that he isn’t, where then is the sympathy over the losses of Walcott and Fabregas?

-Does watching without commentary change one’s perspective of a game? I only ask because I watched it on mute with two others and the conclusions we drew from the game seemed a little more positive than those I’ve read elsewhere online.

-Is it now time to give Wilshere or Vela a start on the wing? Neither Eboue, Diaby or Denilson look like any kind of answer there.

-Updated: One more final point: Can people stop moaning that we’re not what we were five years ago. Of course we’re bloody not. If you watched the Invincibles and didn’t realise you should enjoy it while it lasted, all fool you. I was lucky enough to appreciate it.

I’m not making excuses for the current lot. Bemoan the selling of three midfielders and the purchasing of none by all means. Bemoan the lack of effort from some players. But don’t go comparing them at every opportunity to the class of 03-04, who were probably the most complete club side England has ever seen!

Playa Ratings

1 - Almunia, 6.5

One Cahill effort flew off him but otherwise had very little to do. No chance with the goal.

3 - Sagna, 6.5

Generally fine, though was not at his most alert to close Everton down for the cross that led to the goal and did not get forward much.

22 - Clichy, 6.5

Did spark the move for the Denilson chance, but otherwise was quiet going forward and didn't cross particularly well. Defensively fine and could do little for the goal.

20 - Djourou, 7.5

Our central defenders were largely well organised and kept a very sharp Everton attack in check.

10 - Gallas, 7.5

Ditto.

2 - Diaby, 6

I know he was in central midfield, but Vieira drove forward from there and I don't see why Diaby can't either. Like one could with Kanu, one can tell very quickly whether it looks like being his day or not.

17 - Song, 7

Not brilliant initially but really came to life, chased down, harried, positioned himself well and generally looked decent. Unfortunate to be subbed.

15 - Denilson, 5

Whereas Song was unlucky to be pulled off, Denilson was fortunate not to be. Out of position on the right, he was nonetheless slack with his passing, easily shrugged off the ball and wasteful with a really decent chance.

8 - Nasri, 6

Up until just before the Everton goal he was pretty good, getting wide, getting crosses in and looking dangerous. But whereas normally he improves as the game goes on, on this occasion he disappeared and we saw very, very little more of him.

25 - Adebayor, 4.5

Dreadful frankly. Undoubtedly, Everton's defenders are very, very hard to play against. And if things had just not worked out for him I'd be fairly forgiving. But almost all night we had to put up with hands on hips, shrugs and blame games, with a lack of closing down. And while Henry could sometimes get away with it, Adebayor is not good enough to be able to.

11 - van Persie, 8.5

Always looked the player most likely to score and most likely to create. Scoring prowess has been coupled with some Dennis like play-making. Brilliantly taken goal.

26 - Bendtner [Sub], 6

Minimal impact.

27 - Eboué [Sub], 6

Pushed forward but we were getting nowhere on the whole.

It’s inevitable - midweek deadlines require the bulk of the piece to be filed with a fair bit of time still to go.

My interpretation is that because we equalised, we deserved to equalise. This was a game of very, very few chances in which the main men for both teams did their party pieces.

Just as before the game we all knew Tim Cahill would cause us problems in the air, so Everton would have been well aware handling RVP would be their biggest headache.

At the end of an absorbing contest, the pair finished all square. Just.

It was not end to end football or chance after chance that made this exciting. In fact, the game was anything but. But what we learned from it was fascinating.

We witnessed our most disciplined defensive performance for a long, long time. Up until their goal, Everton created almost nothing. After it, there was also little of any substance. When their goal did come, the defending to stop the cross could have been better, with Sagna marking space.

But when it got in the box, Clichy challenged properly for it but could do nothing as Cahill rose brilliantly to divert the ball back into the far corner. Stunning header and exactly what we knew to be wary of.

At the other end of the pitch we were offered further supporting evidence for why Arshavin is necessary. Openings were very, very few - RVP could not convert a delicious Nasri cross and the poor Denilson steered well over with his left foot when very well placed at 0-0.

That was before Everton scored. After they scored there was virtually nothing. Not even the belated (and not quite correct) replacement of Song and Sagna by Bendtner and Comrade had made any real difference. Everton looked impenetrable.

Then deep, deep into injury time, RVP did exactly what David Moyes would have warned his team about. He drifted out left, took a long Diaby ball on his chest and bang, smashed it at goal. Critics will say Howard might have saved it, but in real time it all happened so quickly that in the pub I saw the game in there was a couple of second delay before everyone realised it was in, such was the pace on it.

Even in slow-motion, it flew in.

So at the back we were really pretty good, with set-pieces dealt with comfortably in a back-line where Gallas replaced Toure and Clichy returned instead of Gibbs.

Abou Diaby started in the centre when six weeks ago he would have been shunted out wide. In the event it was a restrained performance. Not terrible, but none of the driving runs that we sometimes see. Next to him, Song got better and better and was unlucky to be subbed.

The major disappointment was Adebayor. Repeatedly shrugged off the ball with ease, his body language was not what we needed. If ever I’ve seen a player who looks like he’s off in the summer, Adebayor must be it.

Had we equalised with five minutes left it would have been called resilience, whereas with 30 seconds left it’s considered luck.

But I don’t think it was. Instead what happened was entirely consistent with our recent stabilising at the back and the form of RVP up front.

The gap widens, but on the plus side if we can beat West Ham at home, come Sunday night we will be either three points behind one of Chelsea or Liverpool or four behind both.

Victory tonight and on saturday and for 24 hours at least we will at most be one behind Chelsea and three behind Liverpool.

It is worth mentioning because Villa’s impressive form of late and stutters from the other two mean we are no longer in a straight scrap for fifth with the Midlanders who at 33-1 look a decent outside bet for the title.

How we cope with the aerial threat will be fascinating. Have we learned anything about marking? Will Cahill run free?

More generally will the less committed of our players be able to match the workrate of Everton? Will be interesting to observe.

The next seven days are very important… And not so much because of who we may or may not sign.

Playa Ratings

21 - Fabianski, 7.5

Very solid and reassuring and never really looked ruffled.

3 - Sagna, 6

Not quite at his best. At least one of the errors was down to bad luck as much as anything, but didn't generally look quite as rock solid as usual and crossing was not perfect.

5 - Toure, 6

Struggled early on but got better.

20 - Djourou, 6

Ditto really. Like Kolo, looked more and more assured the longer the game went on.

40 - Gibbs;, 8

So good that tonight I've even got round to sorting the technical stuff to add his name and pic to the playa ratings list (he wasn't in the first team squad at the start of the season). Really disciplined at the back against a supposedly very decent opponent, got stuck in to every tackle, bombed forward, had a half decent shot and crossed fairly well.

16 - Ramsey, 5

Not his day. Never settled and rarely put a foot wrong. But won't have to play at his old ground every game of his professional career. These things happen.

17 - Song, 7

In slow motion before the break. Dominant once Diaby came on.

8 - Nasri, 6.5

OKish. Got involved reasonably often, had a good second half shot, fluffed his early chance and didn't make as telling a contribution as perhaps he could have. Facially, the resemblance to our last French left-winger is becoming uncanny.

27 - Eboué, 5.5

If for no other reason than the sake of his own career, he needs to go. The talk of a new contract would make me cry, if I was remotely convinced by it.

26 - Bendtner, 6.5

Fluffed his good early chance and missed with a header shortly after, though it looked a lot tougher to me than it did to Chris Waddle. So not the best of days in front of goal, but worked harder than he sometimes does.

11 - van Persie, 7

Once again, the player most likely to make something happen. Denied a couple of times in the second half from close range.

2 - Diaby [Sub], 7

Got into his stride and drove forward, preying on Cardiff's tired legs.

25 - Adebayor [Sub], 5.5

Ok if not spectacular but crucially fluffed his great chance.

19 - Wilshere [Sub], 6

No time to make an impact.

A fair point, though the reality was probably that this was a tough cup tie and as Arsene points out, we’re not the first Premier League side to be taken to a replay in these circumstances.

I was fine with bringing Fabianski, Gibbs, Song, Ramsey and Bendtner into the starting line-up.

It was the continued presence of Comrade Eboue that was more concerning.

On the early Cardiff chances, I was struck by our inability to hold a proper line. The ease with which Cardiff corner was taken short and then swung in was also deeply concerning. Fortunately Fabianski, who looked very assured on the whole, held it.

It may have been a coincidence, but things began to change in the first half immediately after a period where Bendtner decided to hustle and harry the Cardiff players. It was simple, but compared to our early lethargy, it made a real difference.

Nasri fluffed our first chance from a very similar position to last week’s Hull goal. In his defence (and I readily accept I’m more ready to defend him than other players), with the defender running back onto the goal line, he was right to take his time and aim for the area across the keeper. Sadly the execution was poor.

At least his reaction was to immediately chase back and make amends. Which is more than what can be said for Eboue. His start had been a mix of some decent driving runs and bizarre bits of play such as when we got a throw on our right-wing and his only contribution was to stand as far away from the move as possible.

Then from one of those runs he went down in the box. In the first instance I’m going to defend him: there was probably enough there to knock him off his feet and it wasn’t entirely clear he was even asking for a penalty. So the decision to book him seemed a tad harsh.

But such is life. You get up, briefly plead your case and get back in position. You don’t spend an eternity lay on the turf feeling sorry for yourself, especially right in front of the away fans who have travelled for hours to watch you.

And that’s exactly what he did again minutes later when he screwed up what was a very presentable chance.

Talk about making a bad situation that much worse.

Then RVP burst through the middle following a let-off at the other end. He fed Bendtner, who totally messed up the opening. That said, had the ball gone to Eboue the outcome would have been even worse because he’d inconceivably managed to stray offside in the move.

We had been outrun in midfield early on, with Song looking semi-comatose and Ramsey struggling to put a foot right. I meant to write before the game that where the boy seems to struggle is when he dawdles on the ball and that against his old team at Ninian Park he’d get even less time than usual. And so it proved.

His subbing made sense in some ways but I do think it slightly concerning how Arsene will gladly pull-off a youngster before the hour but will never withdraw a more established player (ahem Eboue) until 64 plus minutes. It’s almost being unduly respectful to players (ahem Eboue) who have done little to deserve that privileged status.

And while Diaby deserves praise for his performance, I imagine that as Cardiff tired, Ramsey may have enjoyed greater fortune had he still been on the pitch.

With chances for RVP, Nasri and most notably Adebayor we might have won it but we didn’t and a draw (albeit a scoring one) was probably a fair reflection.

Performance wise, young Gibbs was the highlight.

He looked more defensively assured than I’ve ever seen him, he bombed forward, was neat with his passing and slung in one or two crosses of note.

This was a good, fair cup-tie, where Cardiff got at us without in any way going over the top with their tackling. It all makes for a first evening game at the Emirates in absolutely yonks an that’s not something I’m too distressed about.

The boss, inevitably, is concerned about a fixture pile-up and burn out. Frankly, with the season finishing on May 24th, no Carling Cup semis for us, no postponed games and no league games on FA Cup Quarter final weekend, things hardly look that bad. Sometimes I think you can talk yourself into being tired.