DEFENCE OF THE REALM

With RVP's form, the return of Henry,Chamakh's poor form and the lack of clarity as to Young's ability, attack is very much a discussion point, but let's consider defencive issues for a moment.

Cygan, Stepanovs, Squilacci, Silvestre a string of barely adequate defenders that we have seen at The Arsenal in recent years. Senderos, Luzhny and Upson hardly set the defensive world alight either. Keeper wise we’ve seen Almunia, Fabianski, Mannone , Shaban and Wright; all of whom where/are nowhere good enough. Defence being a vital part of the game you would not be overly impressed by this roster of players. Even though some of these guys lifted a trophy or two, I don't think it's unkind to rate them as not being exactly top class.

Any team that goes 49 games unbeaten needs a good defence and in the case of Cole, Campbelll, Toure and Lauren Arsenal certainly had that along with Lehman as a reliable fulcrum.

It seems to me that we have struggled to cement a defence over the years and now for the first time we look like we have a decent back four and goalkeeper, only for injury to rear its ugly head again. A back four of Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny and Santos, with Szczeny in goal, looks like a good unit and hopefully that unit will return soon.

We’ve missed having proper full backs and this has impacted on Theo and Gervinho as they have had to drop a little to compensate. The overlapping doesn’t take place and therefore opportunities are less; which means decisive finishing is more important than usual.

Defence, and its importance, should never be taken for granted and like many a thing in life you miss it most when it’s gone. Luckily for us it will return. Let's have a victory tonight that takes us through to meet Villa; with Man City out of the cup and Liverpool or Man utd going out in the next round the FA cup is up for grabs with a touch of fortune you never know. But first things first; Leeds are by no means a formality and a good defensive display will be as important as how we do offensively.

Oleg Luzhny celebrates winning the FA Cup

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Reasons to be cheerful?

So November arrives with cold weather and grey skies. Arsenal sit in 2 nd place with a great chance to make progress in the Carling Cup with a home draw against wigan Athletic. Poised to win our Champions league group and with six months of the season left have 3 of our five tougher away fixtures out of the way, having taken a respectable 4 from 9. I say respectable as, the Man City away trip aside the draw at Anfield on the occasion of Hodgson’s first game was a good result and the Chelsea game I don’t think anyone can really speak of any injustice. That leaves away games at Old Trafford and Sp*rs (who as we know raise their game for this fixture). With injured players gradually returning and the Polish goalkeepers showing signs of optimism, we’re in relatively good shape. Or so you’d think. Yesterday at the Emirates West Ham were put to the sword late on after some stout defending, a good performance from Robert Green and a couple of missed opportunities. The level of indign...

"IF WE BEHAVE LIKE THEM, THEN WHAT IS THE POINT IN WINNING? "- John Connor

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HATE

Then Now Earlier today Captain Kirk sent me the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG1f-v88-kU&sns=em To say it is both disturbing and upsetting is an understatement. We see the beautiful game as something of a mirror to society and try to look on the community of supporters as a positive force. A set of human beings with some values borne out of an understanding of what this great sport of ours can give us. However, it takes a certain amount of myopia from the Football Authorities to proclaim that all is well. The issues that were amplified over the weekend at Old Trafford cannot be trivialised when we see the full extent of hatred; in any form. The violence is shocking as we see people attacked on a basis that is a result of flawed thinking, and the powers that be proclaim all is well; all is not well. So when I look at those images, I have to ask myself this… http://youtu.be/6RVDQgVxprE

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