Pleasant Hangover

Most of us Arsenal fans are still gloating over the 5-3 victory at Stamford Bridge and quite a few others have been asking us not to get carried away. You know who? The people who got carried away themselves after Arsenal lost by that unmentionable scoreline at Old Trafford. In any case, for the record, we're not getting too excited as we very well know there's still almost 30 games to play. We know.

Others have been joining Alan Hansen in crying out loud about the sloppy defending from both Chelsea and Arsenal. While there is a little truth in that claim, after a great game that kept you on the edge of wherever you were sitting, with some decent attacking football, if the only thing you can talk about is the bad defending, you must be a really sad kind of character who fails to enjoy the good things in life.

Arsene Wenger was not one of those people and he was quite chuffed about the "big win". On being asked about the performance of his players he said, "We played a very technical game. Normally we drop a bit physically and mentally in the second half. This time we did it in the first half. That's how we fooled them." 

So what was said in the dressing room at half time?

"I don't want to comment on what was said. All I can say is we had enough petrol for the second half, which Chelsea didn't know about." 

What did you think of the Chelsea defence? 

"I thought our defending has been little bit shit, but today we saw that others can be shit too. Like John Terry."

Should Szczesny have been sent off? That could have changed the game.

"Should Joey Barton have been sent off in our first game? That could have changed little bit our position in the league table."

Talking about slip ups, I remember a couple of years ago, in the Arsenal - Man United Champions league semifinal, we conceded the first goal when Gibbs slipped and provided Ji-Sung Park with an easy opportunity which he duly buried. Wenger was crucified by the usual suspects, who claimed incidents like that were a result of inexperience in the back four. I wondered at the time, how someone slipping on the turf could be equated to inexperience. John Terry has so much experience and has had so much time in that Chelsea back four that he even got to know and bed his mates' wives. Anyway, I think you get my point.

In other news, Robin van Persie has not got a nomination for the Ballon d'Or, which is surprising. Even though he was out for a long time before January, his form ever since definitely merits a nomination. Looking at it in a different perspective, it makes sense. If he was nominated, it would mean FIFA made a sensible decision, which conveys the wrong signals. Now that they haven't, at least we have continuing proof of their "clownsmanship".