Done in by Dudu as Arsenal Lack Potency

I hate watching a recorded version of a match instead of watching it live.  I have to stay away from Internet all day and will email online streams to my brothers warning them not to text me updates or the final score as "I am watching it later".  Then to watch it late at night - and we lose?  Not a great ingredient for a sound sleep.

Arsenal need to learn to win with their Captain.  We are experienced enough at all positions that compensating for injuries should not be as hard as we are making it.  That's the bottom line.  When Nasri and Tommy can't pull together enough to create, knowing they are helped by Wilshere, it boggles my mind.  Shakhtar basically tried to take good care of the ball in their end, press us, and then sit behind the ball in the final third.  Breaking down that style of defense for us looks like it's tougher than breaking into Fort Knox.

The defense had their share of problems last night also.  The two most culpable for the Shakhtar goals were our two full backs - Eboue and Clichy.  Eboue made a poor tackle leading to a free kick which Eastmond did or did not help to deflect into the goal.  The left side was open several times also as he surged forward and left Squillaci alone in the counter attack (which he did okay on).  He likes to run around like crazy but I have consistently maintained that defensively, Sagna is more solid.

Clichy's pattern of freezing up mentally once a game led to Eduardo's goal.  After dispossessing the ball from Srna, Clichy stood there momentarily doing what?  Daydreaming?  I don't know.  I know what he wasn't doing - clearing the ball.  He allowed Srna the ball back whereupon he crossed it into the box where Eduardo came along and calmly, clinically put it into the back of the net.  Those were two defensive errors (three if you count Eastmond heading the ball toward the Arsenal goal) upon which two goals were capitalized. 

On the plus side, the rest of our defense seemed to click together okay.  Fabiasnki had another good game despite the two goals.  He had a couple of fine saves and again looked confident during set pieces.  Djourou seems to be improving every match and although is still not as quick or speedy as I would like him to be, does a great job in the air and was the master of clearances last night.  Squillaci seemed, well...solid.  What can I say?  He's not flashy  nor does he seem especially charasmatic on the pitch.  I think he quietly goes about doing his job and trying to help organize the back.  He gets up well in the air offensively for corners and should have made that header last night.  I don't speak The Language of Love fluently but I'm pretty sure that what I saw him mouth after he saw his shot easily saved was some very Frechie-type explicative.

Overall, we played the possession game well but did not capitalize.  Our possession was 55.5% to their 44.5%.  The problem was, they did not make as many mistakes as we did.  They were not the team who fell apart at the Emirates and allowed us to run amok and score at will (which is how it felt).  They were focused, confident, and troubled us at every moment.  They were the winners.

Sunday brings us a home match against Newcastle to continue our run of nine matches in November.  I do want to note that in my post that addressed this month's notoriety,  we had eight matches scheduled as there was no Carling Cup listed for this month.  Since then, however, a Cup match has been added as we drew Wigan in the next round and play them on the 30th.  I say  - terrific, as RVP will need a run of games to help sandpaper off the oxidation on his limbs and get his terrific feet - the left and the chocolate - ready for goal scoring opportunities.  The word is he has been called up the a Dutch Friendly which is ludicrous and leaves Wenger apoplectic.  I sincerely doubt he will play.  Only a desperate egomaniac of a coach would play someone who is in no way fit for a game of checkers let alone a game of soccer.  I'm not all that familiar with the Dutch coach...does he fit that bill?  Hmmm...

So, onward I say.  Let's leave behind the Ukrainian defeat and focus on the EPL which is in our cross hairs for the next four matches.  Four matches in 13 days.  That's a lot of football.  Love it.  Have I said that before?

I'll be back tomorrow or the next day with a preview of our game against Newcastle.  Until then Gooners...