Arsenal

Today I witnessed another abysmal result from Arsenal.

In today's footballing world, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger's philosophy stand out like a sore thumb. Yet it is refreshing at the same time. No big-money-bought victories and financial prudence and youth development remain an integral part of the management and success of the club.

However, Arsenal is not playing like Arsenal, at least not at the moment. Yes, they still pass the ball around. But nobody pulls the trigger. A typical Arsenal game goes like this - pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, lose the ball. Repeat indefinitely. It's like the players don't dare to shoot for fear of some grave repercussion. I could almost hear the thoughts in their heads - Oh my, I have the ball, better pass to the next person quickly.

From a fan's point of view, I have some suggestions.

1) Arsene, please field the players who deserve a run.

Theo Walcott has been the livewire of recent games. He deserves a first team position. Even if you can't play him at his demanded centre striker role. I am sure the first team position would do well to persuade him to sign the new contract. He is at his peak. If he still gets treated like a fringe player, I don't blame the lad for wanting out. A footballer's shelf-life is too short. It will be only downhill from here.

Chamakh's goals at Reading during the League Cup proves that he has the skills and ability to score goals. Since his arrival, he has only played so many games and frankly, at a time when the rest of the strikers are not working, why not give him a run. His style of play is also that of a target man and a out and out fox-in-the-box, something we seem to lack at this moment.

Arshavin, someone once so integral to your attack has also been frozen. I don't support forever using old guards, so some other red-shirted teams. It stifles the young ones and prevents them from having a chance to have a go and blossom. But he still has some juice and he should be used more often. I enjoyed seeing his runs at defenders.

2) Arsene, please drop players if they are not performing at the moment. You have no lack of quality players.

Good job on dropping Gervinho. He was ineffective and selfish.

Ramsay is no doubt a good player, and young too. But he is average in our team and has not been pulling the strings in midfield like he should. There is no reason why he should be ahead of everybody else all the time.

3) Please work on your defence during set piece. I cannot even begin to count how many goals we have let in from set pieces. Every time the opponents get a free kick or corner, my heart skips a beat.

We are not the biggest, but we are by far not the smallest squad in the league. There should be no reason why we are losing out on every single header, every where on the field.

4) Yes, passing football is beautiful. There's nothing more entertaining than a team who can string their passes together and keep possession, then open up the opposing defence to draw the blood. But that is not the case at the moment. See second paragraph.

I am sure the players have enough shooting practice during training. Please get them to shoot. At least there's a chance of scoring when the trigger is pulled. Current there's nothing. You won't score if you don't try.

5) Please knock some sense into Giroud. He is a good player, I have no doubt, but he is just not playing to his strength. He is easily Arsenal's biggest and strongest player on the field but he is playing as if he is Santi Cazorla or Theo Walcott, like a player with lean physique and a small build, and he is running around like a headless chicken. I admire his work rate and his willingness to chase after the ball, but he should really be using his strength to take on and hold off defenders.

Today, during the Fulham game, I finally saw ONE single glimpse of him getting it right. He received the ball, turned, took on his marker, and simply shrugged the defender off even though he was being tugged and pulled. Then he unleashed a screamer. Although it didn't go in, it wasn't far and it really showed how defenders are useless against him when he plays it right.

Arsenal is a top team and I am proud to have supported for over half my life and since I started watching football. But last week when I watched them against Manchester United, it felt like watching a Championship side take on a Premier League team. We can do beter.