Goal of the Month & Review - February 2012

Firstly, my apologies for not contributing this bit to our forum in the past few months - blame it on a hectic professional life and my examinations. I have time to do this bit for February, but again, I am not sure of the time I will be able to contribute to this in the coming month-ends.

Anyhow, we have come to the end of a tough tough month. The month was the epitome of our inconsistent season and one can't help but feel that we could and should have done much better. The month was pretty pathetic except for those two high scoring games at home.

COMPETITION	. HOME/AWAY .	. OPPONENT .	. GF .	. GA .
EPL	Away	Bolton	. 0 .	. 0 .
EPL	Home	Blackburn	. 7 .	. 1 .
EPL	Away	Sunderland	. 2 .	. 1 .
UCL	Away	AC Milan	. 0 .	. 4 .
FA Cup	Away	Sunderland	. 0 .	. 2 .
EPL	Home	Tottenham	. 5 .	. 2 .

Arguably, we played well away at Bolton and deserved to get a win. But credit to Bolton for keeping a clean sheet. RvP hit the woodwork a couple of times and Szczesny made a crucial save of Mark Davies to ensure a clean sheet for us.

This was followed up with a beautiful exhibition of the beautiful game at the Emirates against a team which handed us a shock defeat earlier in the season. An RvP hat-trick, a brace for the Ox, an odd goal for Arteta and Thierry Henry's last goal at the Emirates summed up a forgettable night for the Rovers.

The EPL clash against Sunderland seemed destined for a draw till King Henry stepped in to score a late late goal and bag us three points. His short stay at the club was still very successful as he grabbed a few goals and contributed massively to the dressing room mentality while here. The younger players learnt a lot training with him. Thank you, Titi. You are truly a legend! The horrible pitch ensured an awkward, but season-ending injury to Per Mertesacker, who, for all his flaws, had become a strong pillar of support for our defense. And with this also ended our good start to the month.

The match at San Siro was important for many reasons. And we had been looking forward to it from the day the tie was fixed. Some expected us to breeze past the old tired legs of Milan, while others looked forward to a mouth watering clash. But what happen that night at San Siro was something nobody would have expected. The team selection seemed to be inclined towards experience, as Gibbs started at LB with Rosicky on the wing ahead of him. The players did not turn up and we lost 4-0 on one of the most forgettable nights in Europe.

In my opinion, this was as bad, if not worse, to the 8-2 loss at Old Trafford earlier this season. The loss was exacerbated by the fact that we played most of our first team, unlike the Old Trafford match with a depleted squad. Some people chose to blame the pitch again, and I found the timing of the 'relaying of the pitch' on the wide areas as a definite negative approach from Milan. But that does nothing to assuage the poor performance and the lack of a single goal from us, while Milan romped 4 past us. We lost both in terms of passion as well as tactics. If we mess up just because a pitch was unfavorable to our style of play, then god save us.

The next match was another trip to Sunderland. The result, this time, was expected (at least by me). We lost as we failed to score again and Sunderland put 2 past us. And within a week, we were effectively out of the CL and dumped out of the one competition we had some chance of winning. Say hello to the next trophy-less season.

The final match of the month saw us entertaining the clowns from across North London at the Emirates. Half an hour into the game, I was certain that this February was probably worse than the same period last season which saw us mess up everything. Arguably, we are still reeling from the impact of that period last season, which could be considered a precursor to the players leaving in the summer. 2-0 down after a defensive mess up of our shape and a dubious penalty, converted by none other than our darling lad, Adebayor [may he rot in hell].

But we turned it around. A header from Sagna epitomized our team's desire to win the derby, followed by RvP's brilliant brilliant goal. We took the game by the scruff after these goals as we put in 3 more past a hapless Spud defense, and finished with arguably our best game of our season so far. The fact that Spuds played like shit and 'Arry messed up his tactical game plan does nothing to take away the masterclass display put in by Rosicky and the team, as the Little Mozart showed signs of his pre-injury form in a Man of the Match performance and a goal.


A special section this time, just to honor our little Russian wizard. Lack of game time made him opt for a loan back to Zenit in a bid to make it to the Euro team. He left with a promise of coming back better, though how much he could contribute when he comes back older is debatable. But what won me over is the love he showed for Arsenal when he left, with his statements - despite all the ire he has drawn for his lazy performances this season. We know it was a dream move for him when he came to the Emirates, and apart from a little flirting with statements of Barca being him dream team [ugh!], he remained a gunner in his time. I wish the very best and would love to have him back [as long as he can contribute ].

Oh, and to all the worshippers of Godolski - the good news coming out of Germany, though from dubious sources, is that God is coming to Arsenal next season and has agreed personal terms. Its obvious that he is leaving Köln and is unhappy here. But whether it is North London he comes to, is still up in the air. Fingers crossed!

Other mentions - Matias Suarez, Lucas Biglia, Eden Hazard (!!).


March starts with a game away at Anfield this weekend, where we play against the League Cup winners of 2011/12 season. 1 point is what I expect, but 3 would be nice. Chances are, we will lose this.

Following this is our match against Milan at home. We need 5 past them to qualify, and letting them score even a single away goal would be effectively end our CL journey. No hopes here either.

The next three games would be Newcastle and Aston Villa at home (both of which we should win, given our recent home form - 12 goals in 2 games) and a trip away to QPR, which would be a tricky fixture.

The target for this month is obviously comsolidating 4th place and attempt at overhauling Tottenham at third place.


I will try and put in some video later today, or tomorrow. Meanwhile, these are the goals:

vs Blackburn : van Persie (2, 38, 62), Oxlade-Chamberlain (40, 54), Arteta (51), Henry (90)
vs Sunderland : Ramsey (75), Henry (90)
vs Spuds : Sagna (40), van Persie (43), Rosicky (50), Walcott (65, 68)

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/42252/february-goal-of-the-month-vote-now-