PLAYA RATINGS

JENS
The mistake, sadly, was all too predictable. When will he learn there is no need to come for these balls? His later save was ok, even if he hardly palmed the ball to any great safety.5

EBOUE
The man is lazy - always looking for whatever option requires least effort on his part. Neither can he defend. And nor does he get forward anything like he used to.5.5

KOLO
Fairly solid on the whole today, though continues to persist with these free-kicks that even if on target, never come close to going in.6.5

GALLAS
Some decent covering but also some sloppiness at times too, including one fairly casual attempt at a tackle.6.5

CLICHY
There was the usual 100 per cent effort, though I thought he got caught out defensively a little more than usual. A couple of decent crosses, which was pleasing to see.7

GILBERTO
Unspectacular on the whole, though in the second half the Gilberto of last season threatened to rear his ugly, couldn’t pass water, head, which is something nobody wants.6.5

CESC
Excellent during the first half, pulling the strings, pinging the ball and getting forward at will. But then his influence lessened, particularly so when Denilson came on and Cesc was forced to go out wide.7

HLEB
In the first half there was some really decent stuff, including a few very well judged pull-backs. In the second half he was less effective and there were a few of the old cock-ups. But kept going and got the penalty. Unlike some of his team-mates, he worked very hard, more than once turning a disapointing first touch into something that came off just by virtue of keeping going.7

DIABY
Like most fans, I like Diaby. But there is a problem. In short, he is lazy and I wonder if that is why Arsene refuses to blood him in centre midfield. Today he did nothing like enough for a player of his power, not harrying enough, not going in properly for the tackles and just not having that certain oomph that Vieira exuded. Don’t get me wrong: he was not bad. But he can be much better.6

ADEBAYOR
Missed one glaring chance at the start of the second but otherwise was pretty good. Great work and cross for the opener, he worked very, very hard as usual and took the second well.7

BAPTISTA
Yes, he took the header for the goal well. But taking one out of four presentable chances just ain’t good enough. His build-up play was utterly shocking too, including decision making so bad at times you could barely believe your eyes.
5

SUB: DENILSON
He never really settled and more generally, his introduction left things looking very unbalanced. Not his fault, but true.5.5

Arsenal 3 Fulham 1
From Goodplaya at the Emirates stadium

NINETY-NINE per cent of the time it is the points rather than the performance that matter.

Yesterday was different. Yesterday a scrappy win where we played badly was of no value. What we wanted were signs of progress, hope for next season. And there were good things:

1) We scored an early goal.
2) We played well in the first half.
3) We created a host of clear cut chances despite the absence of numerous players.
4) At 1-1 we had the character to pick ourselves up and win the game.

Yes, he really did score.

Sadly, there was badness too. You probably think I’m about to bemoan all the missed chances. Certainly, they are highly annoying. But on the not unreasonable assumption that next year instead of dropping at the feet of Julio Baptista, they will be presented to Thierry Henry or Robin Van Persie or anyone else in the whole world for that matter, things should get better.

No, what really pains me, what really, really, really annoys me, what left me so distraught and so furious that I could barely muster any enthusiasm for our second and third goals, was our bloody defending.

The fact we had not played well in the second half mattered not. That happens to lots of teams. But they hold on, muddle their way through and grind out the 1-0 win.

But not us. Oh no. We are absolutely bloody incapable of going a single game without conceding. It’s not even as if we’re under the kosh for ten minutes and finally crack. Instead, in an instant we concede. Of course, it’s always a great finish. But how often does Petr Cech get beaten by these great finishes? Not very often.

And this is an enormous worry, even more worrying than our profligacy in front of goal. Look at these stats: We have conceded in 25 of our 36 league games. In all but one of those games, we have conceded either the opening goal or an equaliser. In short, they are crucial goals, not irrelevant consolations.

Forget our failures in front of goal: No team can possibly challenge for the title conceding crucial goals in 24 matches. What the hell was Jens thinking? Whatever it was the outcome was so utterly predictable and completely depressing.

Performance wise, there was a half second of disbelief when Baptista headed in Adebayor’s cross after just four minutes. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the front of the Guardian sports section. Baptista can be seen wheeling away after scoring, but in the background the crowd are not jumping up and down. A few people have their arms up, but the rest just seem to be looking quizically, wondering whether that had just happened.

And why not? Not only had we got ourselves an early goal, not only had we taken the lead, not only had Baptista scored but he had also taken it rather well. It was just the kind of moment you thought would do his confidence the world of good.

Did it fuck. A minute later he spooned a chance that though it flew only a couple of foot wide of the near post, was actually a million miles off where it should have been because he should have gone across goal. He stuffed up a couple of others too and generally made the very easy look remarkably difficult.

Midway through the second half Baptista was replaced. Which was some achievement given we were 1-0 up and there was no attacking option on the bench to replace him. Yes, he was that bad.

Sadly the introduction of Denilson screwed up our shape, with Diaby looking lost up front, Cesc looking lost in right midfield and Hleb looking lost in left midfield. With Henry, RVP, Rosicky, Walcott, Ljungberg and presumably Aliadiere all injured, you can have some sympathy with Arsene on this I suppose.

A word for Adebayor, who in a season where injuries to our forward line have been so frequent that Jeremie bloody Aliadiere’s fitness has counted as ‘good’, the man from Togo has kept going, plundered away, done fuck loads of donkey work and scored some crucial goals. And all in his first full season. Well done sir.

But the main, most important point is that our defence is an utter shambles. And it’s really depressing to watch.

Reports that David Dein is in talks with our man from across the pond should be no surprise. More interesting is Danny Fiszman coming out to deny dealings with any potential Russian investors.

I guess it’s welcome news, though the word I hear is the Fiszman, after committing so much time to the new stadium, would not be adverse to selling soonish. Though that said, he and Dein are hardly as pally as they were back when Fiszman got involved in the club all those years ago, so whether he would be prepared to sell-out to Kroenke, we don’t know.

Moving on, I was fairly critical of William Gallas when recording this morning’s Arsecast. In hindsight, I’d temper my comments a little by saying that if he wants to stay, knuckles down and finds some form I’d be delighted because he’s obviously a top defender.

And I think it’s fairly obvious that the Real Madrid link is little more than baseless speculation at the moment. But the sad reality is that so far, Gallas has only proved Jose Mourinho and his detractors at Chelsea right. We’ve read more from him in the papers than we’ve seen on the pitch and that can’t be right.

Our attack (or lack of it) has been rightly savaged this season. But our defending has been equally, if not more, shocking. Forget the 33 goals we have conceded. Instead look at the mere 11 clean sheets (the lowest in the division) and the fact we have conceded first in 20 out of 35 league games. That’s as bad as Watford.

Granted we have had injuries and the fact we have only scored during the first half in 14 of our 35 games tells it’s own story. But with Jens, Kolo and Gallas (who was admitteldy injured), you have three players who went 40+ league games without defeat not so long ago.

The frustrating thing is that when we have scored first we have won 13 out of 14 games, with only Micheal Essien’s howitzer at the Bridge denying us a perfect record. For me, while the attack have at times been poor, they have shown massive character too to at least get five wins and seven draws from losing positions.

Anyway, I digress. Here, however, is a list of what I have written about William Gallas this season:

… and rather than retort ever so poshly: “F*ck off, B*ll*cks your majesty, you’re a c*nt”, it appears the Queen took her mother’s advice and is a Gooner. To be honest I only really mentioned it because I reckon my headline beats the Sun’s effort of Gunn E ii R s.

There really is very little else Arsenal related to report this morning. One thing I am a little concerned about is the autonomy Arsene appears to have on appointing a Director of Football. Of course, he and Arsene should get on. But do we really want a ‘yes’ man? Would someone who could occasionally stand up to Arsene be such a bad thing?

And could anyone appointed by Arsene ever properly do that?

Staying on the subject, James Lawton calls for the restoration of the Wenger-Dein partnership as soon as possible. A fair point. But there was another one from Matthew Norman in yesterday’s Evening Standard. Norman did not claim it to be anything more than idle speculation when he floated the idea that Arsene must have known and approved of Dein’s sacking… because otherwise the board simply wouldn’t have done it. An interesting point.

Going back to Lawton and he not unreasonably paints Dein as Arsene Wenger’s “perfect sort of football chap”. Maybe, but as someone who has met David Dein a few times remarked to me last week: “their’s is a funny friendship. Dein is a real show-off in many ways, not Arsene’s natural kind of man at all.”

WELCOME to a pretty wide-ranging Monday morning update here on Goodplaya.

We’ll start with the takeover and for me so much of what we are reading at the moment is speculation. But one thing it is hard to escape is the conclusion that Arsene is not exactly furious over the decision to oust Dein. Sad, certainly. But I’d also say understanding of why the board did it.

For what it’s worth, I think that on the one hand we must be pragmatic. We should not become so entranced by an instinctive moral prejudice against outside ownership that we end up only spiting ourselves. Equally, it would be so foolish to become enslaved by the notion that outside ownership and the money it brings will equal success.

Moronically, Ian Wright last week claimed our league failings this season was testament to our lack of investment. Were only that true it would offer an easy riposte to crowing United and Chelsea fans. In fact, the reality is that irrespective of money, we just haven’t played anything like as well as we can.

And that is why, to an extent, Arsene is quite right when he plays down the chances of us signing new players in the summer. Of course, I expect we will end up with two or three. But by saying what he is saying, he is putting the responsibility for success squarely on the players we already have. And that is no bad thing because the reality is that five new signings and the rest of the squad having a repeat of this year will make minimal difference.

But just two new signings and a vast improvement from the players we already have could affect massive change. I actually wrote the previous two paragraphs last night, before Alan Smith said essentially the same.

The timing of it is funny because Dein’s departure may inadvertently usher in the new blood off the pitch that an increasing number of supporters believe we need. Opinions may differ on whether it should be an assistant manager with fresh ideas or a deal maker with a novel perspective, but there is no mistaking the call for something new.

On the Arsene for England rumours currently circulating, there is something quaintly absurd about them. For sure, England would like him. But that has always been the case. The question is whether after years of insisting international management would be boring, Wenger has suddenly changed his mind? The evidence is non-existent. And that’s not just me saying it, it’s France Football journalist Phillipe Auclair when asked on 5 Live. And if anybody really knows Wenger, it is he.

On Jens, Arsene was unusually critical of his behaviour at the corner, saying:

I think there are two things to say here. The first is to say Jens does over-react and irrespective of whether he is right or wrong his lapses in concentration cost us and that is nobody’s but our problem. But in saying that, I am loathe to let the one-eyed, verging on xenophobic myopia of seemingly the entirely commentariat and wider footballing world go unnoticed. Not once in four years have I ever heard anyone admit that what basically happens is drill their studs straight into his toes.

It happened very, very obviously with Berbatov on Saturday and yet you can bet your life the FA will do nothing. It’s utterly ridiculous and while as I said it is Jens’ job not to respond to it, we should not indulge everyone else who can not take a balanced view of what is going on.

Finally, onto the video of the day. And it’s been away so long I’m going to serve up two. The first is Robert Pires with a classic first-time finish for Villareal against Barcelona. If only we finished like that. The second is Pires being sent-off for Valencia quite hilariously against Athletico Madrid. The dive by the guy he supposedly fouls is something else. And yes, I’m aware of the irony. Just please, for the sake of humanity, nobody show James Lawton.

Tottenham 2 Arsenal 2

PLAYA RATINGS

JENS
Ignore the morons in the commentary box: he was very harshly booked when all that happened was Berbatov stood on his toes. Blameless for the goals

GALLAS
Terrible first minute header but after that very solid with Toure.
6.5

KOLO
Hit the post, then scored and defended better than recently.

CLICHY
Not as good as recently for the first hour but was then excellent, bombing forward, putting in a great cross for Adebayor and fighting like a terrier in defence.

EBOUE
Excellent. Defending was much improved and attacked again properly. Was even actually injured when he claimed to be. Welcome back the real Eboue.

GILBERTO
Positionally excellent. Still can’t really shoot properly, but we’ll allow that.

DIABY
Vieiraesque. As I said in the copy, combined attacking with the nitty-gritty of defending.

ROSICKY
Less involved than Hleb, but more penetrative when he was. Not sure why he came off.

HLEB
Vastly improved. Sure, the final ball is sometimes lacking. But some of the passes really deserved to turn into something really good - like the one for the offside goal.

ADEBAYOR
Great spirit to keep going after the frustration of hitting the bar and having one chalked out. Gargantuan header for the goal. Tremendous workrate at the end.

LJUNGBERG
Great flick for the offside goal and generally did his best in a position which is not made for him

SUB: CESC
You could tell the Spurs fans were bricking it when he came on. And unsurprisingly he was excellent. Two excellent deliveries for the goals. See what happens when you miss the first man?

SUB: CESC
You could tell the Spurs fans were bricking it when he came on. And unsurprisingly he was excellent. Does he work best in a three? Maybe, maybe not.

SUB: BAPTISTA
Did some things well. Messed up other things. Including his great headed chance.

SUB: SENDEROS NA

Arsene should be optimistic. Jol less so.

ASSUMING fourth place belongs to us, then this is one draw that feels like a win. Sure, three points would have been nice, but imagine they had come from a repeat of that Villa game a few weeks back? In terms of optimism for next season, this was far, far better.

We wanted a performance. And following Freddie’s replacement by Fabregas, we got it. Admittedly, up until then we had not been up to much. But other than their goal and a chance gifted to Berbatov in the first minute by Gallas, all they had really done was restrict us to just one very well worked move that ended with a goal but was adjudged offside.

However, from around when Cesc came on, we were virtually flawless, irrepressible and well deserving of a victory. You could blame the profligacy of Baptista for us not getting the win but far more responsible was some wretched luck and a freak (not fluke) goal. Spurs really barely had a kick until the 94th minute howitzer that we could do nothing about. Given our recent form, you know things are on the up when we concede blameless goals.

In a way what was so impressive about the turnaround was that even after the dodgy offside goal and the three strikes against the woodwork made it seem for the all the world that this was not going to be our day, we kept going. I suspect I was not the only fan thinking our unbeaten run against Spurs was over. But not the players. They persisted. And they were rewarded.

Everyone was excellent and it was a tantalising glimpse of what we are well capable of doing. This is what we should be turning in week in, week out. Jens, though lacking confidence, was calm (after being very harshly booked in the first half when Berbatov persistently stood on his toes), Clichy got better and better, Gallas and Toure had little to do but did it without fuss and it was no surprise that Eboue leaving the theatrics at home coincided with a far improved defensively display and a gigantic attacking contribution.

In midfield, Gilberto swept virtually unnoticed, while Fabregas conducted, pinging balls, left, right and centre like he was playing five-a-side. Rosicky, though quiet at times, penetrated to the core of Spurs when he did get the ball and won the crucial free-kick (which was a 100 per cent foul) for the equaliser.

And on the right, Alex Hleb scavenged and probed and was involved in many of our best moments. Yes, you read that right. Up front Adebayor ran and ran and more than anyone kept his head, quite literally, up when things were going against us. Without a goal for yonks, it would have been easy to shy away after having a top finish ruled out and a header hit the bar. But he persisted and it was a terriffic header to put us in front.

And what of Diaby? He was, quite simply, Vieiraesque. I had pondered whether he could combine the swashbuckling attacking abandon with the positional sense, hard work and tackling needed to emulate the man from Senegal. Today he did. It was an awesome, box to box performance and all that was really lacking was the obligatory second yellow card Vieira probably would have picked up.

Of course, we should not get carried away. But the point about this team is that while we could do with a few new faces, what we lack most is playing how we can. We have massive potential but too often we don’t see it. Today we did.

That the 11 on the pitch for the second half today are unlikely to be the same next season matters very little. Tweaking the formation matters but far more important is the general concept of playing well as a team, irrespective of who is playing and where they are playing.

Today, we played very well. We showed real character to come from 1-0 down to 2-1 up away to Spurs and with the woodwork against us. More of the same please.

PS: Even the draw ensures today is St Totterinham day. And the Champions League place is all but confirmed after defeats for Everton and Bolton