December is going to be MASSIVE for the Arsenal

You Don't Know What You're Doing...

So I was at Villa away last Saturday with a couple of mates and there were people behind us singing the above - something I most certainly didn't join in with. Fair enough, bringing Coquelin on for the last few minutes did seem baffling but Giroud looked knackered, and in the 10-15 minutes prior to going off he didn't look like he had anything left in the tank. Think he took him off to change things up a bit, something different I suppose, but that's the positive person in me - still wouldn't chant what some people did! What is it with some Arsenal fans hey? Both the boss and Aaron Ramsey came in for a lot of stick from our travelling support - Ramsey was probably our best player! The Ox made worse mistakes and never got anywhere near as criticised as Rambo, which just makes me think he is a target for the boo boys, a scapegoat even. Even at home games I've heard him get criticised for less than others. I appreciate that you as fans/supporters etc have paid your money and want to air your views there and then, but what the boy/team needs at that time is your SUPPORT - I for one never boo when we aren't playing well, because its not going to do any good in my eyes. But hey, that's me, up to the thousands of people who've paid there money to say/do as they wish...

Its a Results Business 

I admit that two draws away to Villa and Everton aren't what we needed, I would have taken 4 points out of 6 beforehand but we just couldn't break down a poor Villa side. 1 shot on target really isn't good enough for the calibre of player we have (that was Ramsey by the way!) and at times we seemed to lump it up to Giroud - which we really shouldn't be doing. Think it goes without saying that another striker on the bench would have been useful as like I mentioned above, he seemed knackered in the last 10-15 minutes of that game. If Chamakh can't even get on the bench for Villa away, I wonder what the boss thinks of him...clearly not much! 

As for the Everton game, I managed to get a decent stream and from what I saw we were better than against Villa. It was evident we missed Theo at Villa and wasn't a surprise he scored (I had a cheeky quid on him to score!) - his pace really is an asset when we are looking to attack on the front foot against teams (on a side note, I do think he will leave us). For their goal we made a couple of errors, Sagna's pass was a bad one and I think TV5 could've closed down Afroman a bit quicker, or gone in and made a crazy Koscielny style block, but he backed off a bit and the form Fellaini is in he scored. We had a couple of shots in the second half but it could well have gone Everton's way too, 1-1 was probably the 'correct' result but not the one we needed. 

December really will be a massive month

As I said in my first and previous blog entry, December I feel will hold the key as to whether we can match the 3rd spot or be there or thereabouts when it comes to the top 4 at the end of the season. With respect to Swansea, West Brom, Reading, Wigan, West Ham and Newcastle, we really should be looking at getting a minimum of 15 points out of 18, especially considering our start to the season. If by new years day when we play Southampton we haven't climbed up in the table from where we currently sit at 7th, I really will surprised (and disappointed too). 

We've also got Olympiacos away which will determine whether we top the group (its not as big a deal as in previous years as I think the Champions League is stronger than ever - the likes of PSG, Valencia, Juventus, Shakhtar, AC Milan and Real Madrid could finish second) - our record there is pretty poor so I'm not holding out masses of hope in that regard. Bradford away in the league cup should in theory be straightforward, but then again I was at the Madjeski for the last round and we all know how that turned out! Hopefully a safe passage to the semis - hopefully this year we can bag this trophy that hasn't really been kind to us in the last 5/6 years in terms of finals!

January and that window...

Arsene has teased us a couple of days ago by saying we have money for 2 players - and for once I actually think he will go out and spend. #1 on my hitlist would be a striker to compete centrally with Giroud, and #2 well we could take a player in most positions I reckon so that remains to be seen. Not entirely sure either on Henry and if he will come back - I have mixed feelings on this. He is a legend after all, but at the same time does he still have it to perform at the highest level in what will be a tough 6 weeks? He had a good MLS season, that's for sure, but whether or not that is sufficient I'll let you all decide. All I do know is, regardless of what happens with him, he will always be a legend!

Come On You Gunners!

Time for me to end this piece by saying lets back our boys later against Swansea and for the rest of the season, they're going to need our support! I for one will be singing from the lower tier tomorrow despite the best efforts of Mother Nature! 

As ever, feel free to post any comments on here or directly to me on Twitter (@MishalDattani) - always happy to receive feedback and engage in debate with fellow gooners.

Mish