Like most people who reach the very top of their chosen professions, Arsene Wenger has an unshakeable confidence and self-belief that extend far beyond the results of an individual match. That vision has paid off in the past in bringing in and bringing along relative unknowns and wily veterans from the continent to fashion two very distinct Premiership-winning teams.

While Wenger has changed very little after more than a decade at the helm, English football has, both on and off the pitch. Many rivals have banished the laddish culture that predominated when he arrived in England and adopted his reforms in nutrition and training. They've aped his scouting networks outside the country. But the bigger changes have been financial and in the media. Roman Abramovitch arrived at Stamford Bridge with an endless supply of petrodollars to buy the best talent around the globe, hastening the end of Wenger's aging Invincibles and forcing him to build the present side probably a little earlier than he wanted. And the expectations of supporters have changed in the 24/7 nature of media, where stinkers like today's performance at Craven Cottage will be replayed and rehashed.

The speculation and second-guessing will begin and the windsocks will be out, flapping on about Wenger's decision not to buy, blah, blah, blah.

The nature of football, particularly a derby, is they will occasionally serve up these kind of results. The result was disappointing, but not nearly as terrible as the performance. Outside of a bullet header from Adebayor that beat Schwartzer but not the post, it's a struggle to think of a great scoring opportunity generated by the Gunners. Without Fabregas, they resembled an orchestra without a conductor. The pairing of Denilson and Eboue in the centre of the park probably won't get repeated. After Fulham opened the scoring on a set piece notably only for Captain Billy's mistake in failing to pick up Hangeland, Arsenal seemed to shrink from the challenge. Some spiky challenges from Fulham deserved cards, but the truth of the matter is Fulham was full value for this result, which painfully exposed Arsenal's reliance on Cesc Fabregas.

Is it the end of our title challenge? Of course not. But it does serve as a wake-up call for Wenger and his youthful squad, especially as this is the same Fulham side who served up a putrid performance against Hull City only one week ago.

As for the Cottagers, they will be pleased about taking three points from one of the Big Three. Given some of the results early on, particularly Stoke City's stunning win over Villa, Roy Hodgson and his players cannot rest easy. Not every visitor to Craven Cottage will be so courteous and genteel as the rudderless Gunners were today.

Good win for Fulham

Looks like Philippe Senderos is off to join Mathieu Flamini in Milan on a one-year loan deal.

He seemed to lose Wenger's confidence after reports that he was crying in the dressing room following the Champions League quarterfinal exit to Liverpool, where he was culpable for a couple of goals. When Alex Song started against United in the crucial title decider at OT last year, the writing should was on the wall.

A lot of gooners will be celebrating the departure of a defender whom they see as the heir to Pascal Cygan or Igor Stepanovs. That's a touch cruel on the young Swiss defender, who showed a lot of promise as a young international. As I recall, Arsenal beat out Milan, Inter, United, Liverpool, Juventus and Real Madrid for his signature.

Senderos didn't seem to be the same player after getting abused by Didier Drogba in the Carling Cup final. That seemed to shatter his confidence and he struggled to regain it and his form. Adversity makes some players and crushes others. He seems to be in the latter category.

He does have enormous talent and Italy may well be the place to realize it. The Serie A is far more technical brand of the beautiful game that relies less on pace and power, which seems better suited to the slow-footed Swiss defender.

sorry i haven't responded earlier, i was so disgusted by their performance i could not put it into words

this article (which by the way is REAL journalism) sums it up best for meArsenal sometimes seem more like a religious order than a football club. Zealous in their collective endeavour to act in a pure and correct way, Monsignor Wenger's disciples foray on in a belief that one day their methods will receive proper reward. When each summer a few lose the faith, seduced by the material world, the master replaces them with younger idealists and continues the sermon.

Possession, passing, pure football - the Arsenal way of playing will ultimately conquer all and the leader's faith be vindicated. An unusual way of operating, yet like other religions often beautiful to observe. Not yesterday. Not as the heathens from the banks of the Thames broke the Arsenal creed with simple fundamentals. Fulham did not need to kick their opponents out of this game, fitness and organisation were sufficient. Relentless in the pressure they placed upon the visiting defenders, straightforward in the way they cleared their lines, Fulham broke Arsenal down and exposed the weakness in the Arsène Wenger mantra that his team is on its way to a Premier League title.



this is Duncan Castle, who, if he moved to the US and started writing, would automatically become the best sportswriter in the country

Quote: Originally Posted By tracyr on 8/26/2008
sorry i haven't responded earlier, i was so disgusted by their performance i could not put it into words

this article (which by the way is REAL journalism) sums it up best for meArsenal sometimes seem more like a religious order than a football club. Zealous in their collective endeavour to act in a pure and correct way, Monsignor Wenger's disciples foray on in a belief that one day their methods will receive proper reward. When each summer a few lose the faith, seduced by the material world, the master replaces them with younger idealists and continues the sermon.

Possession, passing, pure football - the Arsenal way of playing will ultimately conquer all and the leader's faith be vindicated. An unusual way of operating, yet like other religions often beautiful to observe. Not yesterday. Not as the heathens from the banks of the Thames broke the Arsenal creed with simple fundamentals. Fulham did not need to kick their opponents out of this game, fitness and organisation were sufficient. Relentless in the pressure they placed upon the visiting defenders, straightforward in the way they cleared their lines, Fulham broke Arsenal down and exposed the weakness in the Arsène Wenger mantra that his team is on its way to a Premier League title.



this is Duncan Castle, who, if he moved to the US and started writing, would automatically become the best sportswriter in the country

Well, everybody is entitled to their opinion, Rob. I spent more than a decade as a REAL journalist before being seduced by the filthy lucre of the oil industry. Duncan Castles is very lucky to get paid to cover the Premiership. It is one hell of a lot more glamourous arena to work on rather than pounding the beat on the police desk or at city hall.

It was a disgraceful performance by the Gunners, probably the worst I've witnessed in a long while, but how much weight should supporters -- let alone a pundit -- assign on an individual performance in August? It's a little early for the windsocks to start flapping just as Liverpool supporters should be cautious about taking too much heart about their two wins. If you remember the start to Manchester United's campaign last season, there were some very uneven performances at the start and were sitting near the bottom of the table after their first three matches. Can we wait until the end of September before pronouncing last rites to Arsenal's title challenge?

no offense was meant to you - being a programmer/statistician/researcher for all the sports leagues - i am unfortunately forced to give info to reporters to stupid to understand whether what they ask for has any relevance - i was more referring to his style, not the giving up on the season part - most american writers follow this format

a happened
b happened
c happened

my opinion is that c was because of b and b was because of a

no descriptive writing whatsoever - unbelieveably bland and often times full of complete crap - many times comments based on no fact whatsoever

Rob,

Sorry, I'm a little irritable, likely from dealing with a misguided troll who displays a very stubborn learning disability.

Castles does write beautifully and incisively -- the monk imagery was very appropos to describe the cult of personality surrounding Wenger. For game coverage, Henry Winter and Paul Hayward take a similiar approach. They aren't as consistently good as Castles.

Are you watching the Twente game? 3-0 to the good guys. Liverpool apparently is struggling mightily against Liege, whose back line is being anchored by US international Oneywu.

Actually Will, Liverpool has had some great chances, but either scuttled them or can't seem to finish. Gerrard has missed 2 in the last few minutes.

Quote: Originally Posted By jcarver67 on 8/27/2008Actually Will, Liverpool has had some great chances, but either scuttled them or can't seem to finish. Gerrard has missed 2 in the last few minutes

Didn't see the match, jcarver, so I was relying on the pBp provided by the Guardian, which seemed to suggest the Reds were struggling. Did they show the game on Setanta? If so, I might catch the replay. Otherwise, I'll have to make do with catching the highlights tonight on Fox Soccer.

Don't know whether it is believable but this story went out on the PA (the English version of AP) so take it for what it is worth, gooners.

Arsenal would be willing to spend up to £30million before the end of the transfer window if manager Arsene Wenger found the right player, according to director Danny Fiszman. Fiszman was responding to suggestions that the club's fans were uneasy with the Gunners' summer transfer dealings, which have seen the likes of Alexander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto leave the club and a distinct lack of big-name arrivals. Samir Nasri, who already has two goals to his name, is the exception, arriving from Marseille for £12million, but there have been calls from supporters for more established stars to augment Wenger's youthful squad. Fiszman, though, insists the board are willing to fund any targets the Frenchman identifies. 'There were great expectations and hopes that we would buy heavily this summer,' Fiszman said. 'It's not our decision who he (Wenger) spends money on, nor will it ever be our decision. 'If he said to us, 'I want this guy and he's £30million, can I buy him?', the answer is yes. Absolutely yes. 'We totally back him, it's his decision. If Arsene found the right player he would buy that player, but at the moment his hasn't.' Fiszman also admitted the situation may not change between now and the end of the transfer window. He admitted: 'There's a dual problem for him. If we buy star names, you are talking about relatively mature players who need to be integrated into the way Arsene plays - they don't know our style and it also impacts on the youngsters who have been brought through.'

Rob,

Thought you'd appreciate Duncan Castles' lede in wrapping up Arsenal's trouncing of Blackburn.

If belief is the big issue at Arsenal these days then a result like this nourishes the faithful. Arsène Wenger often likes to remind us that Arsenal get the wrong kind of kicks up north; victories are far harder to come by. The FA Cup, European Cup and 14 precious league points all went astray upland of Birmingham last season, but there was no northern exposure here.

The rest of the story is here.

yeah, read that

outscored opponents 11-0 in 3 games since the failure vs Fulham - a relief of sorts

i will be seeing 3 Arsenal games in December (Liverpool home, Aston Villa away and Portsmouth home) - staying in London for 2 weeks that month - gonna try and sneak in the Fulham-Tottenham match as well

That's a nice trip, Rob. I'm taking my son over next August to catch a match at the Emirates. Do you book your tickets through Arsenal.com?

As for the win at Ewood Park, it was another attractive performance at a traditionally tough venue, but there were a couple of troubling signs. There was some pretty ragged first-half defending in front of Almunia that gave them three clear chances to equalize before Adebayor finished that beautiful 27-pass sequence by nodding home the cross. Gallas was culpable on at least two occasions and I'm convinced he's slipped rather than suffering through a dip in form.

BTW, one of the papers are mooting an eight million pound bid in January for Barcelona's Yaya Toure, who would presumably come in as the defensive midfielder.

Arsenal, so often praised for their style, receive little, if any, credit for the steel that is growing in the young lineup assembled by Arsene Wenger. That gritty determination, along with their dazzling technique, were both on display at the Reebok, where they put one of their bogey teams to the sword with a 3-1 win. A second convincing performance in England's northwest, long considered a graveyard for the north Londoners, is a very positive sign for gooners.
And, truth be told, the stars were aligned for Bolton to administer what pundit Alan Hansen called another bloody nose to Arsenal's title ambitions. After pinging the ball around at speed, Arsenal conceded a needless corner met by an unmarked Kevin Davies -- who managed to lose William Gallas -- and were a goal down. The response to adversity was impressive. Arsenal grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and simply wore down the Wanderers with their pace and passing, ripping wide openings in the Wanderers back line. Both Adebayor and Song touched up the woodwork before two goals came in rapid succession from Eboue (who was offside) and Bendtner, who finished a fine passing move. It could and should have been four or five before Davies scythed down Clichy at the end of the half, earning himself a yellow card. Clichy went to Bolton General and was replaced by Djoureau.
In the second half, Bolton got tighter and Arsenal flagged, possibly from their exertions in Kiev on Wednesday. Bolton had a couple of good chances to equalize before Denilson finished another fluid counterattack by belting Ade's cross into the net and easing the frayed nerves of their supporters.
The Arsenal prognosis remains positive if guarded. Both Denilson, playing out wide, and Song had particularly good games. The Cameroon international may not have Flamini's distribution but he seems up for the jousts with more physical teams. The one warning sign is Gallas, again, losing the plot on a corner, which cost Arsenal dearly at Craven Cottage. That has to get sorted out or it will kill the Gunners against better teams.