Gooner Woe, Maxi Steals the Show.

What a game last weekend.

It had everything. Good football(Arsenal), magnificent defending and counter-attacking(Us). Controvery on the pitch, injuries, teenagers throw into the heat of battle,loads of injury-time drama and of course a Manager spat! Brilliant!This is why we watch they Premier League. It may not be the most technical of football, but it gives so much more in other ways. You can shove your pedestrian Serie A nonsense and your basketball-esque La Liga. I will take the PL everyday.

So unsuprisingly Fab Aurelio broke down again and young Jack Robinson was thrown in. I did fear the worst, I have watched Jack a few times for the Reserves and the Youth team. He looks decent at that level. Coming on to face Walcott and company is a different matter. I have to say I was extremely impressed. He was ably assisted by Lucas and Spearing and Meirles when required. But England's mercurial winger did very little against him. When Carra went off after a clash of heads with Flanaghan, I again feared the worst.

They put us under pressure without creating too much. They were most dangerous against us when they played the early diagnals from fullback into the channels. They did this successfully against Blackpool the week before but failed to use it enough really. It is just me or has the pace Arsenal play at dropped significantly? There doesnt seem to be the same urgency from them that used to typify their play. Its still pretty to watch but the end product is dropping off. Only Gooner who stood out for me was Djourou, he hardly lost a header against Carroll all day and always seemed to be in the right place.

If there was one player who didn't deserve to finish on the losing team it was little Jay Spearing. He was everywhere, tackling, closing down intercepting, covering, passing intelligently. I am glad to see he is finally getting a extended run. He gives 110% everyweek. It was therefore a bitter blow that he conceded a pen deep into injury time. At that point you think its all over but Lucas wins a free kick on the edge of the box. Arsenal then take 2 minutes to sort out a wall after already taking another 2 after they scored. Is it any wonder Mr Mariner added the best part of 4 miutes on top of the initial 8? Eboue proved why he is generally on the fringes at Arsenal with his rash bundling over of Lucas for Kuyt to calmly slot home.

Eboue has always been a strange part of the Arseal squad, very rarely 1st choice,the wrong side of 30 and hardly technically gifted. I doubt he would be the right back at any of the teams in the top half or so of the PL. Wenger would normally have moved him on by now. Perhaps he has pictures of Wenger with animals or indeed watching replays and actually seeing what happened!

That brings me onto his reaction to us equalising, I have generally had a lot of respect for the myopic Wenger throughout his time at Arsenal. Mostly because he winds Sith Lord Ferguson up no end. His unsportsmanlike attitude to defeats and indeed he unwillingness to offer Dalglish a hand shake at the end shows the arrogance and ignorance of the man. For Kenny to dismissively wave him away with a 'Piss Off' tells you all you need to know. Wenger and his team are uravelling. They subsuquently threw a comfortable 3-1 lead away against Spurs on Wednesday night in another magnificent game and with it their chance to win the league. They are a squad which lacks leadership and characters.

So onto yesterday and our 7 year hoodoo against Birmingham. We certainly put that one to bed. 5-0, a hat-trick for Maxi and another sound set of performance from the 3 yougsters Robinson,Flanaghan and Spearing. I do like the Kuyt/Suarez partnership, it seems more mobile than when we play Carroll. Both are happy to drop off and work the channels, that allows Maxi and Meireles to go beyond them and join the attack. I think long term if Carroll is going to start every week we need a couple of wingers to really exploit his attributes.

Newcastle next, time to avenge the 3-1 reverse at St James'. I would stick with what we have for that game. If Carroll is fit then leave him on the bench, he can always come on as a sub and would you really want to expose him to the abuse he will get. Lets see if we can get anyone else fit before then, although Johnson and Kelly know they have some serious competiton for the fullback roles now!

We are closing in on Spurs and if can win all our remaining games I think we will nick 5th. A remarkable achievement considering where we were in mid October (19th with 6 points). Spurs have a tough run-in and hopefully they will do their usual and capitulate under pressure.

And for Christsakes give Kenny the job!!!!!

YNWA