Not bad considering the Gunners were playing with 10 men. Denilson was simply useless. They probably could have scored a couple but Fulham played well enough to earn a point. Thank God for Villa's pucker job at home today.

Villa is sliding

Quote: Originally Posted By therock14 on 3/04/2009Villa is slidin

Shipping two goals in the final five against Stoke really hurt. Arsenal must continue to pile on the pressure by winning and see if they'll crack. Villa doesn't have a deep squad and we're going to get Adebayor, Walcott, Eduardo and Rosicky back soon for the run in.

nice game today, eboue played very well (finally), eduardo's goal was brilliant, Vela's goal was also very good - arshavin applied constant pressure with very nice passing

they pressured Gibbs very early in the game for what seemed like 5 straight minutes, he was able to survive and had a very nice game

against a better offensive team, they would have been beaten up the middle tho (song/gallas/djourou)

Quote: Originally posted by tracyr on 3/08/2009nice game today, eboue played very well (finally), eduardo's goal was brilliant, Vela's goal was also very good - arshavin applied constant pressure with very nice passing they pressured Gibbs very early in the game for what seemed like 5 straight minutes, he was able to survive and had a very nice gameagainst a better offensive team, they would have been beaten up the middle tho (song/gallas/djourou)

Eduardo looked like he hit that ball with his heel. Amazing stuff.

Djourou didn't look at all convincing today, but I thought Alex Song was excellent, both in mopping up trouble as well as supplying a nice chip for Eduardo's volley and a lovely backheel for Eboue to smash in.

Gibbs did look very strong.

What do you make of Fabianski, Rob? Looks like a decent shot stopper and he looks decent on crosses, but his distribution looks little wild.

yeah, i dont know what he is thinking - almost like he has never been taught where to go with the ball - i think i like his net coverage better than Almunia

for as cool as Song's backheel was, the ball was oft times bouncing off his shin to the opponent - i'd rather not be constantly frustrated by that for the occassional flash of brilliance

Don't get me wrong -- I'd love to see Song perform that well against Premier League and Champions League sides and he's not done the business consistently against better opposition. It's easy to look good against Burnley, which I suppose was the point of your original post.

Every time I've watched Yaya Toure at Barcelona this year, I've thought "What the hell was Wenger thinking about?!?!?!?!" A couple of beers usually calms me down (although my wife threatened to cancel GOL TV after one particularly cracking Toure performance against Sevilla), but it's depressing to contemplate what might have been had Wenger signed him rather than letting him go to Greece and then letting Monaco sign him before Barca bought him. No way we'll get him -- Manchester City has him on their radar and, like Chelsea did with Essien, will price him right out of our reach.

But enough depressing talk. We look good going into the second leg at Roma. Eduardo and Walcott may be passed fit and de Rossi is out for them. Adebayor should certainly be back for the next round and both Rosicky and Fabregas are now training. I still think we've got as good a chance as any club in both the FA Cup and Champions League and seem ready to pass Villa for fourth place. Things are looking up!

A terrible but not unexpected performance by Arsenal. When you have passengers for long stretches, as we did tonight (Denilson, Nasri, Bendnter), that's going to happen.

Roma deserved to win the match and the tie, but for the missed penalty at the end of the first half and Baptista's tangled feet near the end of the second half. Of Arsenal's players, only Diaby and Almunia emerge with any kind of credit from this match. Nobody, and I mean nobody who watches this match will fear us in the final eight.

We can consider ourselves very fortunate. Hopefully we'll see Eduardo, Walcott and Adebayor available for the XI for the quarterfinal tie.

i disagree

A much more reassuring performance today against Blackburn and we probably could have scored six or seven after Wenger's adjustment at half time to shift Nasri from the flank to the inside seemed to loosen up the Rovers. A fantastic second goal by Arshavin, worthy of a 15-million-pound transfer fee.

It was the best performance we've mustered with Song and Denilson playing together in the centre of the park. All that said, Blackburn were very poor. Hopefully, other clubs decide to try to play a high line about 15 yards in front of the penalty area and don't press the ball in midfield.

Playing a high line against Arsenal is suicidal and Bendnter -- who came in for some barracking for missing several chances -- actually created the first goal by playing a great through-ball to Walcott.

I never realized how much Nasri looks like a 16 year old til the Roma tie...

and plays like one for 90 pct of the time

Quote: Originally Posted By tracyr on 3/16/2009and plays like one for 90 pct of the tim

Yeah, he still drifts out of games way too often, particularly away from the Emirates. Definitely a "home show." Rosicky's return to full training has -- surprise, surprise -- been delayed for a couple of weeks so Nasri will definitely be a part of the next round of Champions League fixtures.

A better performance in the second half after looking really wobbly in the first half. We were helped by Bassong's injury, which really seemed to unsettle their back line.

The bigger disgrace, though, was Halsey's non-call on Taylor's forearm to the face of Arshavin that was deliberate (judging by the glance Taylor gave prior to sticking it into Arshavin's face). Sol Campbell walked for less after an elbow to Skolsjaer's face. Good thing Halsey didn't give out a yellow -- the FA should charge him for that. It'll be interesting to see whether Taylor is charged.

Welcome back Manu and Cesc! Looks like Wenger decided to borrow a page from Capello and go 1-3-2-4 for today's match against City, with Fabregas pulling the strings in the centre of the park flanked by Arshavin and Walcott.

We finally got an 80k performance out of Adebayor, who seemed to feast on the service provided by Cesc, who teed him up with a great free kick to nod in the opener and then a delightful chip to skin Richard Dunne for the second. Now he's got to repeat it against better centre halves.

To be fair, City were dreadful and seemed to roll over after the second goal, but the signs were very promising. Hopefully Fabregas regains his puff in the next couple of matches in time for the trip to Anfield. Our best players are back and should be fresh for the run in. No gooner would be unhappy with a Champions League/FA Cup double, would they?