Arsenal find the net at last

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After four frustrating games, the Arsenal find the net again against Blackburn… and with regularity. Seven times in fact.

I’m sure the fans, like me, were beginning to wonder if the players had forgotten what the nets looked like. All except van Persie off course. He has not forgotten and seems unlikely to forget, getting three more past the Blackburn goalkeeper. And thank the fictitious gods for that.

Wenger is fond of telling us that his team showed great spirit in losing after every disappointment. Yes, there’s great spirit in those pretty passing moves, but we’d prefer less spirit and more hunger. Hunger to convert the pretty passes into goals.

Perhaps it’s time for Wenger to teach his players to find that great big hole between the uprights with more consistency; surely they’ve mastered finding the holes between defending players.

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On a more cheerful note, Theo Walcott played more good football in this one game against Blackburn than he’s played for the entire season. Good on ya lad; more of same please.

Thierry Henry also managed to get on the score sheet, returning to play for the Arsenal after five years. That was certainly a real groovy feel-good moment for the fans and history of the club; no less for Henry himself, I’m sure.

If Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has raised a few eyebrows in his few first-team appearances prior to the Blackburn match, he’s got everyone howling to see him as a permanent first-team pick in the Arsenal team from today. The youngster was extremely impressive in scoring his first brace of goals in the Premier League.

Things are looking up. Let’s hope they continue to do so.

Gunners love scoring goals…

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Even if it’s for the other team…

I mean WTF is going on! I tried to be critically nasty towards Arsenal and when that seemed to be, well…too nasty, I tried to be accommodating. That seemed to do the trick as Wenger actually bought some new players – players who could potentially arrest Arsenal’s decline over the last few seasons.

I tried to be positive when they leaked 8 goals against United. I sucked up the derisory taunts from the ManUre faithful after that debacle. And then I was overjoyed when Arsenal got their first win in the Premiership and drew in the Champions League.

I really thought they were going to score some good goals against Blackburn yesterday – give them hell-for, show the world what the Gunners are really capable off….I really wasn’t expecting us to score for the opposition, almost as many goals as we scored for ourselves.

Wenger’s synopsis that the team are “just not defensively solid enough,” is an incredible understatement. The reality is that Arsenal are defensively clueless. That’s harsh, I know; but it’s unfortunately the truth.

The other harsh reality is that Arsenal are lazy in the in-goal area, on both sides of the field. The players are just too lazy to give that extra 10% to reach for a pass in order to score; the players have become inured to receiving the ball at their feet. It’s perhaps the one drawback of that precise passing game that is so pleasing to the eye.

As much as I hate to say it, perhaps we need a new coach who is more attuned to the demands of the modern game. Wenger has without doubt been an excellent manager/coach, but maybe it’s time to admit that his talents may be better served in the area of the club’s finances or in the boardroom.

Unless he makes a radical change to his approach off course…