Still Happy & A Bit Proud

 It was a bit harsh to lose to Manchester City if we're honest, but lose we did. After the draw on Saturday with Fulham and now this, I feel like I should be a bit more concerned or disheartened than I am now. But to be honest, especially after last night, I'm a bit proud of the team.

Saturday against Fulham was a match we all expected we'd sort of cruise through; but Fulham came out with a solid game plan incorporating a compact defence and quick counter attacks and overall it worked. Arsenal were missing that bit of class and creativity I thought. Vermaelen's own goal was unlucky and didn't really reflect his performance, which I thought was impressive. He atoned for his error of course by levelling the score and preventing an embarrassment at home. Overall, we were perhaps a bit tired after a mid-week fight in the Champions League, but we fought back to get a draw whereas in previous months we likely would've lost.

When yesterday came round I was quite honestly hoping for the best and thinking that perhaps we might just be able to snatch a result, but it was always going to be a difficult one. Man City started with a decently strong squad selection, and ours was more like our usual Carling Cup lineup. There was class in our side to be sure, but none of the regulars. I was a bit worried, but nevertheless confident, realising that this would be a massive game for the young guns.

Well sure enough we were the better side. Our passing was more incisive, our defending was frankly superb - I loved the way we hassled and hurried the City players, giving them no time or space in which to work - making it very difficult for the blues to score, and there were some standout players for Arsenal, especially Oxlade-Chamberlain. The boy was fantastic, absolutely everywhere, worked hard, had a few decent shots, and looked very much the part.

Theo Walcott better be in the form of his life in the next dew weeks if he's to keep this lad out of the first team, because he was very impressive.

Our midfield duo of Frimpong and Coquelin were strong and solid, and even our back line of four central defenders did decently. It was a great performance. But in the end, City got the lucky break, and their £359,623,942.23 attacking force applied the finishing touch better than we did. Not the result we deserved.

So we're out of the Carling Cup and we lost a game we could've won. Nevertheless I'm proud of the lads: I didn't really expect too much out of the game, so when our young side went out there and thoroughly impressed as they did against a side which could've possibly dismantled them, it made this gooner a bit less upset about recent results. We're still on good form at the moment, and surely come Saturday we'll be back to the winning ways.

Be sure to check out our Facebook and Twitter pages to "Like" and Follow us! Till next time,

Fab 4

Song & Van Persie Take Us Through

Fantastic result at the Emirates tonight as Arsenal defeated Dortmund 2-1, which means we're through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. And it was Alex Song and Robin Van Persie who saw us through.

Van Persie had the goals (who else?), but the man-of-the-match for me was Song. Our excellent defensive midfielder put in a world-class performance tonight. One minute he was covering the back four and winning and excellent tackle, and the next he was slithering past defenders with ease and setting up Van Persie to score.

I thought the first goal was superb. Following an outstanding piece of individual talent from Alex Song, he lobbed the ball perfectly-placed onto Van Persie's head and our captain fired home an excellent header. It was the strike of a centre forward really, the header pointed straight for the ground, always the hardest place for a goalkeeper to defend.

The second goal was good as well, with Vermaelen nodding the ball back to find Van Persie again, who finished with aplomb. Dortmund's goal back was unfortunate, and did reflect their excellent first half, but we really deserved the clean sheet as this was a game where we actually played quite well defensively I thought.

Of course, much of the credit for our good defensive display has to go to Alex Song who cleaned up excellently again and again, but really every one of the back four played well. Perhaps Andre Santos ventured forward a little to much, but he tracked back decently. Mertesacker and Vermaelen were excellent.

So overall it was a great performance for the lads tonight. Dortmund did well to try to shut us down with their pressing game, but the team responded with a bit of grit and determination, and as soon as we found ourselves in front the game was never going any other way. This is the kind of performance that's going to take us places this season, especially in the second half.

And I can't say enough about Van Persie. We're still a month away from Christmas and RVP already has 17 goals in all competitions! Shades of Thierry Henry perhaps? Certainly seems so to me. We're fortunate to have Europe's top striker leading us to victory match-after-match, and may it long continue.

The result should give us a bit of confidence and a feeling of strong momentum heading into this Saturday's clash with Fulham at the Emirates. I'm excited: the team's actually performing really well right now. What a turn around from the beginning of the season, eh?

Be sure to check out our Facebook and Twitter pages in your spare time and follow us! Till then, good job Arsenal.

Fab 4

Van Persie's the Man: Norwich Review

In form and on target again, Van Persie's the man right now for Arsenal. It was a nervy 2-1 victory over Norwich City today, but the important thing was that we came away with all three points. And yet again it was our captain, RVP, who was the one who led the charge and inspired the lads to victory this afternoon.

I can't say enough about him; Van Persie is world class and is surely right now one of, if not the best striker in Europe. I only worry what will happen should he get injured. He's becoming very much a Thierry Henry-like figure in the team right now. When the Invinvibles began to leave in the years following the unbeaten run Henry remained, became the captain and was of course always the top goalscorer. But after a while the whole team would rely on him to the point that they almost couldn't play without him. I worry that this might be beginning to happen with Van Persie.

For his second goal Alex Song had a great pass into Gervinho, but (luckily) passed to Robin, who put it away with aplomb. But It capped off what I noticed as a bit of a reliance on Van Persie. Maybe I'm just over-analysing it...after all, who wouldn't pass to the most in-form striker in Europe given the choice?

And thank goodness we have him. He was of course the man of the match for me, and he compensated for the poor defensive performance we put on. Sure, Mertesacker was at fault for the first goal, but his major mistake wasn't the only expression of a poor defense.

We were standing way too far off the Norwich players allowing them all the room in the world sometimes. Koscielny at right back did the best he could, but he looked uncomfortable. Andre Santos I liked; I like how attacking-minded he his and how he gets involved in the attack, but every once in a while it's required for a left-back to defend. Vermaelen was excellent, but he was the only highlight of an overall lacklustre defensive display. I only hope that we can somehow shore up the defense before the Manchester City tie in December. Playing the way we did today we'll get ripped apart by the excellent Man City attack.

Nevertheless the defensive problems are nothing new, and it didn't take too much away from the fact that the lads put in a determined performance today, showing a bit of grit despite the wastefulness at times in front of goal and the poor defending. Van Persie was excellent, our attacks cut through Norwich like butter, and we've got three more points than we did yesterday. It's just one more step towards the top four, and it's now five wins  in a row.

So fantastic win today really. Sure, there are things to be improved again, but I'll take the three points. Two months ago we probably would've dropped points here today, but now the squad seem much more determined and able to mount a challenge for the top few places in the league.

Now it's time to turn our sights to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday. Till then,

Fab 4

Welcome to The Polished Arsenal

It's official. As part of the major overhaul of Fab 4 Arsenal, we've changed the name and address of the blog. Fab 4 Arsenal has now become The Polished Arsenal!

We're still the same blog, with the same refined and polished look at all things Arsenal. You'll still find expert commentary, unique views and analysis, and all the things you loved about Fab 4 Arsenal before, but now with a new name.

You'll find that all our old posts are here, as is almost all other content from before. In the coming days and weeks there will be more features added and changed over from Fab 4 Arsenal to this new blog, so like we've said before, there's lots to come.

Thanks for supporting and viewing Fab 4 Arsenal, and we hope you enjoy The Polished Arsenal.  Feel free to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds to http://polishedarsenal.blogspot.com! Until next time,

Fab 4

Norwich City Preview

Club football returns to action this weekend as we travel up to Norwich to face the Canaries at Carrow Road. I'll have to agree with Arsene Wenger in saying that it's been a been a bit of a surprise that they've performed well enough to be ninth in the league after already eleven games considering they've only just come up from the Championship this season.

Will Norwich provide any sort of challenge for us however? I'm not really too worried about it, but if I'm honest there's always that little bit of doubt.

Yes we're on a strong run of games right now: four straight wins in the Premier League and a record of 9-1-1 in our last eleven games in all competitions. But anyone who's not been under a rock for the last five years knows we always have that tendency to drop points against little teams that we should easily be putting away. We were, of course, quite painfully reminded of that tendency at the end of last season in that collapse that costed us a chance at the Premiership title.

Norwich have a decent side, though nothing we can't handle. It seems like we made it through the International break in alright shape, perhaps Carl Jenkinson being the only loss that might be felt in the starting eleven. So with a team pretty much intact after the break we need to keep the momentum and focus if we're to win tomorrow.

With a little hard work, determination, and flowing football that we love to play we should come off conquerors tomorrow without any major difficulty. I personally can't wait to see Arsenal on the pitch again and see if this resurrection of sorts we've been seeing lately can continue.

I'd sure like to rub it in the faces of those who wrote us off by challenging for the top two or three by the new year. After this fixture, which as we've decided is certainly winnable, we have three Premier League matches lined up against teams who are currently 16th, 20th, and 17th in the table respectively. Barring any major re-collapses we could be on quite the winning run by the time we travel to Manchester City on December the 18th. We'll surely need the confidence such a run would bring.

So here's hoping for a win on Saturday. I'll have a bit of a review afterwards of course, so look out for it. Also, we're working tirelessly behind the scenes right now to update and overhaul in a way the blog in the next few weeks. Big and exciting changes are on their way, so stay close to us in the coming weeks to be a part of it all. Till next time,

Fab 4

Fab 4 Arsenal Is Back

Hey. Fab 4 Arsenal is finally back in operation. It's been a long absence, and there's been lots that's happened since the last time I wrote. But I'm excited to be back.

Right now Arsenal seem to be bouncing back from the terrible start to the season. For me it a came to a head when we lost 8-2 to Manchester Utd. It was a horrifying day, one which I'd rather we didn't repeat for a long time to come. But thankfully, thanks in part to the attitude of the deadline-day signings and the hot form of our new captain Robin Van Persie, we're back on course to being the Arsenal we all know and love.

I'm excited to be back and involved again, bringing you a refined and polished look at all things Arsenal. In the coming weeks and months you're going to see several big changes to the site that should change things up and add a little more excitement, giving you a more entertaining and engaging experience. I'm excited, and I sincerely hope our dedicated readers will stay with us as we take the blog to the next level.

But enough about the blog, it's all about Arsenal, as we all know. To be honest, I don't believe we're going to win the title this year, but I believe we'll definitely be in the running for automatic Champions League qualification. And speaking of the Champions League, we could even win that with a bit more hard work and determination from the lads.

We'll see what's to come. It all continues this Saturday in Norwich, and we'll be here with the build-up to the game, an important one after this long international break.

It's great to be back. Thanks for sticking with us, and we've got lots more to come. Till next time,

Fab 4