There's the easy way, and then there's the Arsenal way.

It's been a while since I've had to say that, such has been the change Arsenal have gone through this season. This is a team that's now competent at defending a lead; at winning games with grit and determination. Not tonight, though.

Arsenal took the lead after just eight minutes. A Wolves attack broke down and Arsenal sprung a counter attack. Benayoun played a lovely pass through to Gervinho, who managed to round the keeper and score with his left foot. Great, an early goal against an average side. This should be a walkover, right?

Well, apparently not. Arsenal seemed to regress back to the old ways of having plenty of the ball, but not doing anything with it and the conceding a stupid goal. Arsenal really should have taken the initiative and killed the game off in the first half.

Instead, Arsenal chose to flounder about with the ball, creating the odd chance here or there, but not testing the Wolves keeepr enough.

Then at the other end, Arsenal give away a silly corner and concede. Mertesacker let the ball bounce in front of him, and then ended up conceding a corner to relieve the pressure he put on himself. Arsenal then cleared the initial ball in, but Hunt was allowed to get a shot away at the edge of the area. The deflection into the path of Fletcher was perhaps unfortunate, but the defending wasn't great.

The second half was now more difficult then it should have been. Arsenal played that half entirely in Wolves half and did create some good opportunites, but a combination of poor finishing, poor decision making and excellent goalkeeping from Hennessey kept us at bay.

Really, this performance was Liverpool-esque. The chances were being made, but that one moment of decsiveness and quality in the final third was lacking.

Absence of full backs beginning to hurt
It's fairly obvious now that Arsenal really do miss their fullbacks. Though they may not provide crosses or passes, the fact is having full backs who are comfortable in an attacking capacity really imrpoves the way we play. Djourou and Vermaelen aren't comfortable in advanced positions (on the wing for Vermaelen; he's clearly comfortable centrally), Djourou especially. Sagna or Jenkinson would clearly do a lot better in those positions, as would Santos or Gibbs on the other side.

It just wasn't our day
We're all very disappointed that we didn't seize upon the opportunity to go joint third today, but it's important not to get carried away. The chances were there. We made things happen. On another day, van Persie has a hat-trick and we win the game 4-0. Luck wasn't on our side.

It's also important to note that this hasn't happened often this season. We've been good at home against lesser sides. If it begins happening on a consistent basis, then we can be concerned. For now, I think we'll do better in our next game, which is also at home.

As you were in race for fourth
Amazing how in a week where I said the top six should all get easy wins, three of them drop points at home to relegation candidates. Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all drew 1-1, all with similar performances. So in this case, it's as you were. Sure, it's disappointing to not go above Chelsea and level on points with Spurs, but there'll be other opportunities. A top four finish is still very much on.

Player Ratings
Wojciech Szczesny - 6. Had no saves to make all game, bar the goal, which he I think he could've done better on if I'm being ultra-critical.

Per Mertesacker - 6. Made one very good block, then gave away a needless corner. Had a good header saved by Hennessey.

Laurent Koscielny - 6. Hardly had any defending to do.

Johan Djourou - 6. Clumsily got forward well and tried to support the attack. Had a couple of hairy moments at the start but improved.

Thomas Vermaelen - 6. Again, didn't have to do much defending.

Alex Song - 6. Pretty indiffierent today.

Mikel Arteta - 6. Played well; was typically tidy in midfield.

Tomas Rosicky - 7. Classy display. Made some great opportunites, one of which a great cross with the outside of his boot. Maybe he could've been more ambitious and gone for goal more often, but otherwise played really well.

Yossi Benayoun - 6. Provided a very good assist, but otherwise quiet.

Gervinho - 6. Just about scored a goal, but was then typically wasteful afterwards. He beat his man often, but failed to produce that final ball. Touch often let him down, as did his passing.

Robin van Perise - 5. Sorry to say, but he was poor. His usual impeccable first touch deserted him whilst in front of goal, thus squandering two glorious opportunites and he just didn't have much of an influence on the game overall. Was the record on his mind? Maybe. On another day, he'd have scored those chances. Today was just not his day.

------------------------------------

Andrey Arshavin - 6. Did all right when he was on, and had a good attempt at goal.

Marouane Chamakh - n/a.

*bleep*

i don't know what was worse

the fact gervinho played 90 minutes or the fact wenger brought in arshavin to do nothing

Gervinho played well, IMO. He was all over the place.

As surprising as it sounds, RVP was flop of the match. He had 3 clear goal chances let down by poor first touch.

Why isn't Chambo getting any minutes? His situation reminds me of McEachran's this season.

I still don't know how we lost

Even if the ref was a total disgrace , and Rvp wasn't in his usual form , we shouldn't have lost in this way

how was gervinho bad ?

Rvp lost us the match. Simple

@ real

there is difference in being all over

and doing something with being all over

were Gervinho's crosses effective

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What a waste! Disappointing performance yet again. We always ruin our chances when we do have chance to go above our rivals. Last year was the same.

Also every player who has been playing shit against other teams plays thier best performance of thier lives against us.

RealGunner wrote:
Rvp lost us the match. Simple

I only watched the game in patches. What did he do wrong?

I am still in shocked. Lets move on, after I go for a smoke.

Gil wrote:

RealGunner wrote:
Rvp lost us the match. Simple

I only watched the game in patches. What did he do wrong?

not much, but Gervinho had no way to connect to RVP. RVP was clearly marked

the team played shit simple

Gil wrote:

RealGunner wrote:
Rvp lost us the match. Simple

I only watched the game in patches. What did he do wrong?

Had 3 clear on goal chances thanks to awesome through balls let down by Heskey-level first touch. And with acres of space and time to do something. Just wasn't his day.

aleumdance wrote:@ real

there is difference in being all over

and doing something with being all over

were Gervinho's crosses effective

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I do agree that Gervinho's final ball is horrible but he was very good today. You cant judge him by his crosses because very few players in arsenal can cross.

Gil wrote:

RealGunner wrote:
Rvp lost us the match. Simple

I only watched the game in patches. What did he do wrong?

Record is in his head, Was trying to be a poor mans ronaldo rather than a poor mans messi.

Gervinho was like a Walcott v.2 done a great runs , great passes but in the final third he was shit (Even though e was awesome in the 1st 15mins )

Rvp clearly Not on his day - I think he gave to much attention to this record crap

Van Persie, 2012's version of Torres?


Oh and why isn't Chambo getting minutes? Would be a much better impact sub than Arshavin in his current form.

it was the "old" possession based Arsenal team rather than the new one.

Theo was missed. Clearly missed. Ramsey is more important in this system than rosicky. Taking benayoun off was a mistake

I wouldn't say Ramsey is more important. Rosicky was awesome today and made some great chances.

Gil wrote:Van Persie, 2012's version of Torres?


Oh and why isn't Chambo getting minutes? Would be a much better impact sub than Arshavin in his current form.

No idea... Wenger must still have some of that stubborn faith he has sometimes. Denilson, Diaby and Bendtner aren't around, so he has to believe in someone, I guess.

RealGunner wrote:it was the "old" possession based Arsenal team rather than the new one.

Theo was missed. Clearly missed. Ramsey is more important in this system than rosicky. Taking benayoun off was a mistake

True , But still Rosicky was Great today , he setup Rvp with a lot of chip passes but Rvp gave them away every time + the amazing cross to Per

come to think of it, rosicky was excellent indeed. lol

lol

i wish arsha could play in the middle more effective there
song tried to be zidane
hennessey as good as last year but we scored great goals we couldnt do this time
if RVP could cotrol the ball better

rest of my day