Done in By Drogba 0-2 - But Score Not the Whole Story

Well, it's certainly not the result any of us wanted. But the overall performance was not far off. After getting spanked twice by Chelsea last year, the feelings after each match were of humiliation and disbelief. Those feelings were not present today for me. Instead there was a sense of being so close but not being able to quite do it. Playing a team like Chelsea highlights one's weaknesses. And that's a good thing if one continually looks to improve. We want to win the title and that requires improvement. I think the two areas that were highlighted the most were keeping up with team defense for all 90 minutes and being more efficient with our scoring. We created chances, took chances, but did not finish them. Koz and Chamakh both had chancdes in the first two minutes of the game. We could have been up 2-0, but they missed. We have to stop missing chances because our defense needs our offense to make up the difference caused by errors.

It really became a game of counterattacks as we ended up with more possession overall 52% - 48% and we had them pinned back in our half for several minutes at a time in the second half. Still, when they had a chance a dispossing, they took it and their zipping down the middle and the flanks gave us problems. We knew it would. And wouldn't you know it that He Who Must Not Be Named (Cole) set up the first goal. A powerful low cross found Drogba by the near post - and he back heeled it in with Squillaci watching. Fabianski was not at fault for that goal or the other. In fact - as side note that maybe should be not so much of a side note - Lukacz had a very nice game. He had good saves, was solid on crosses and looked indecisive only once when he made some weird attempt at punching out a cross and put the ball back into the path of a Chelsea player. I think he should take even more confidence into the break. If Almunia is healed up in time for our Birmingham game on the 16th, I think Fabianski has made it a difficult job for Wenger to decide who should start in goal.

Back to the second goal. Alex had a free kick that seemed to have come out of a rocket launcher. Malouda had been in the middle of the wall but pivoted out as Alex struck leaving a hole for the ball to pass through. song could have blocked it but chose to instinctively turn away leaving more room for Alex' missile. According to a very upset Big Z, there should have been someone positioned behind Malouda to tell when he moved and then fill in the hole. An apparent rookie mistake made by non-rookies.

I know that there will be comments that we are not the same without our Captain. That Cesc would have made a difference. I think that's true, but I don't think he's the only answer to our Chelsea problem. Cesc played in both of our losses last season - RVP didn't play last year in either match and I think he's vital to our goal scoring in that he is an instinctual striker who doesn't wait to pull the trigger. He likes to shoot. There was too much passing (as usual) in the final third and players taking too long getting the ball on their foot just right before shooting. Sami didn't attack directly as we needed. Tommy came on and made a difference attack wise but...couldn't finish against Cech. But let's admit finishing against Helmut Head is not the easiest thing to do.

I Know I'm rambling a bit. To clarify, let me close by saying that it was not a Doomsday loss today. I think there's hope. We have to climb back up the mountain, but we have done that before. Instead of losing important players in November like we usually do, we lost them in September which means we should be getting them back after the International Break. Hopefully they'll have matches under their belt and be back to their goal scoring selves by Notorius November. In other words, I think our best is yet to come. Until that happens, hang in there you Gooners...