Newcastle United 4 - 4 Arsenal: Absurdity

This is the moment my soul died. Pic via Guardian.

Newcastle United 4: Barton 68 (pen), 83 (pen), Best 75, Tiote 87
Arsenal 4: Walcott 1, Djourou 3, van Persie 10, 26

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea how to write this recap, because I still haven't really been able to completely wrap my head around what happened Saturday. I'll start by revisiting some things I said in the Everton recap from this midweek: "Do you know what worries me the most about the aftermath of this match? ... Arsenal have a knack of disappointing once the talk around them gets too hyped. ... We all know Arsenal isn't the most consistent side in the world. I guess that question will be answered Saturday on Tyneside."

Yes, yes it was. And I have the feeling that the ramifications of this match will be felt for a long time, in any number of possible directions.

Arsenal made two changes to the side that beat Everton on Tuesday (and my predicted XI was, again, correct) as Abou Diaby replaced the injured Alex Song in midfield and Andrei Arshavin, fresh off a goal and assist performance started as Tomas Rosicky dropped to the bench.

What a start it was, right? Andrei Arshavin put Theo Walcott through in the first minute and it was 1-0 Arsenal. Johan Djourou won a header in the box in the third minute and it was 2-0 Arsenal. A Walcott square ball found Robin van Persie in the tenth minute and it was 3-0 Arsenal. Then a Bacary Sagna cross found van Persie again, and it was 4-0 Arsenal. It was brilliant. Newcastle started mounting a threat after about half an hour, but on many plays in the box, Laurent Koscielny was there to clear. He was truly having a great match from the start, and everything was lovely at halftime.

It's quite astonishing how quickly a game can turn, however, and the big blow came immediately. Within five minutes, Johan Djourou was limping, having injured his knee; he could not continue and was replaced by Sebastien Squillaci, making for a much more unstable central back partnership. Then, Joey Barton's aggressive challenge on Abou Diaby made the Frenchman livid. He grabbed Barton by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground. Straight red card, all the way. Now, nobody is going to argue that what Diaby did deserved the red card. What is confusing is that Newcastle got away with a number of bookable offenses during the course of this match and Kevin Nolan once got away with doing exactly what Diaby did.

Those were two big reasons why Arsenal began to unravel. Now, I refuse to watch the highlights of this match, so my memory of the specifics in Newcastle's comeback are a bit hazy. The Magpies were given a penalty after the hour mark that was fairly soft, but was the type that you see given. Barton converted, then Wojciech Szczesny attempted to stall by picking the ball up first. This is when Nolan through him to the ground (and did not get sent off like Diaby) and somehow Szczesny was booked first. 4-1, and the tide was turning.

Newcastle certainly deserved their second goal as Best converted a cross, but the third was the most absurd. I'm not positive which player got the call, but it looked like either Laurent Koscielny or Tomas Rosicky were called for attempting to win a header. Barton converted again, as Szczesny this time got a piece of it, and things were getting painful. Then, a soft foul call on Rosicky, Arsenal clears the danger out to Tiote, who fires a wonder goal from 30 yards. Crushing. All the more crushing: Robin van Persie's injury time winner called offside (which I could not really tell from the camera angle but have heard it was a bad call.)

I don't really want to talk about this anymore. By now, you know what happened and you've made up your mind about Phil Dowd (who, FYI, has been dropped from this week's schedule.) It's time to move on.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: A convicted criminal, with some help from the officials

Carling Cup: Ipswich Town 1 - 0 Arsenal: How Many Wake Up Calls?

Arsene Wenger is very disappointed in all of you. Pic via Daily Mail.

Ipswich Town 1: Priskin 78
Arsenal 0

Arsenal entered yesterday's Carling Cup Semi-Final at Ipswich Town likely thinking it would be a walk in the park. Their effort, in the end, was a mix of some complacency and a lack of sharpness. And as a result, Ipswich Town will go to the Emirates in two weeks with a deserved 1-0 lead in the tie. This is not acceptable, Gunners. To be fair, the majority of the credit in this result has to go to Ipswich Town for playing well and not to how poor Arsenal's performance seemed.

I don't think you can blame this loss on just complacency, though the mere fact that you ever can needs to be unacceptable as well. There are certainly players on this team who are giving 100% without getting results because of those who are not. And it doesn't help when the players who are giving it their all have a bad night simultaneously, as Cesc Fabregas did last night. And, Ipswich, on their night, took advantage.

Arsene Wenger made four changes to the side that needed a late lifeline to force a replay with Leeds United on Saturday, and somehow, I had nine of the starting XI right in my match preview (I think that's one of the only positives I had yesterday...) Laurent Koscielny returned for the injured Sebastien Squillaci in central defense. Jack Wilshere got the start over Alex Song in the midfield. And, Wenger recalled two big names in the attack as Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott started while Tomas Rosicky and Marouane Chamakh dropped to the bench. That move pushed Nicklas Bendtner to the central forward role (where he is slightly less useless but still fairly useless.)

Arsenal had a fantastic first... three minutes or so, and looked like they had about three chances to take a 1-0 lead in the first 90 seconds, but could not capitalize. Then, as the match settled down, Arsenal fell out of any rhythm it looked like the were building at the start. The first half progressed much as the first half went on Saturday. At halftime, I tweeted, "This is just like Saturday, except Arsenal is wearing yellow, have a stronger squad starting, and are playing worse."

The difference between Saturday and yesterday was that the chances were going the other way. There was a point in the first half when a statistic flashed on the screen that both sides had one attempt on target. But, it was Ipswich that had seven chances, compared to Arsenal's three. Even with Fabregas in the line-up, the offensive force just was not there. And, it was worse for most of the second half.

Some players looked like they were just having off nights: Fabregas, Walcott, Wilshere, Johan Djourou, and Kieran Gibbs spring to mind. Laurent Koscielny continues to play himself out of position challenging in one-on-one situations, which also continues to make things harder on his central partner. Emmanuel Eboue has a penchant for being burned at right back. Denilson and Andrei Arshavin just look like they can't be bothered at times; Arshavin is running out of passes on this if he hasn't run out with you already, Denilson surely needs to go. And, Bendtner just continues to be what we all know he is: an impact substitute at best, as long as he can play central forward and the opposition can't win headers.

Tamas Priskin put Ipswich up 1-0 in the 78th.
Pic via Guardian.

In the 76th, Arsenal should have taken the lead. Kieran Gibbs swung a cross from the left flank that just missed the head of Chamakh, the substitute, and caught an unsuspecting Fabregas on the right knee or thigh, on the six yard line, with a wide open net. And over the bar it went. Ipswich got out of jail there and took advantage, almost instantly. Tamas Priskin broke through the defense as Arsenal played a high line, fired low past a diving Szczesny, and put the Tractor Boys up 1-0. Yes, Priskin was offside, and yes, it should not have counted. But you can't say they didn't deserve it.

This match felt a lot like the loss at Braga did in November. Poor performance that looks like it's going to stay 0-0, then the opponent pings a goal, and Arsenal's desperate search for an equalizer goes wanting. Theo Walcott had two chances that were saved excellently by Marton Fulop, the goalkeeper who went to Manchester City on emergency loan last spring and allowed the goal that sent Spurs into the Champions League.

The moral of the story is that, while Ipswich deserved this win, you have to ask questions of Arsenal as to why they showed up with this performance. As my title asks, how many wake up calls does this team need before they stop getting complacent? Arsene Wenger blamed fatigue for the second half performance. That doesn't make any sense, since the players on the pitch largely haven't played much this year. And the players you could argue were fatigued weren't the ones who played lazy.

The tie hangs in the balance going back to the Emirates a week from Tuesday. I believe the lack of an away goal only comes into play after extra time (a 2-1 Arsenal win in 90 minutes would force extra time, not give the tie to Ipswich on away goals just yet.) In any case, let's move forward, bring back the A Team on Saturday, and take three points from Upton Park. Please?

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Tamas Priskin

Champions League: Braga 2 - 0 Arsenal: The Downward Spiral

Yeah... Pic via Guardian.

SC Braga 2: Matheus 83, 90+3

Arsenal 0

After the debacle that was Saturday against Spurs, this match was time for Arsenal to get back on the proverbial horse, and in the process, secure their path into the next round of the Champions League. Instead of getting back on the horse, what actually happened was the horse kicked Arsenal while they were down. So now, Arsenal is still stuck face down in the mud with things spiraling out of control very quickly.

Arsene Wenger, judging by rotation, seems to have no desire to win the Champions League

The amount of squad rotation in the past two Champions League fixtures have boggled my mind. There were seven changes to the side that lost on Saturday. Bacary Sagna was on the bench. Samir Nasri was on the bench. Alex Song was on the bench. Marouane Chamakh was on the bench. Andrei Arshavin and Robin van Persie were left in London to "rest."

During the month of November, the squad has been treating European competition like it's a glorified, multi-national version of the League Cup, which is a disturbing thought if you spend too much time thinking about it. Shakhtar Donetsk was not the time to field a B team, and after losing there, Braga certainly was not the time to do it again.

This team has, offensively, run out of ideas

Unless Cesc Fabregas is in tip-top form, this team has lately been playing like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. Fabregas was at the top of his game in the first half on Saturday, but has been invisible at best and noticeably detrimental to the team at worse since. This happened against Newcastle as well, and it's thanks to his recurring hamstring injury (which recurred again and will likely keep him out for at least two weeks.) When Fabregas is playing hesitant, the entire offense suffers.

Unfortunately, without Fabrgeas on the pitch at all, the offense will still suffer. This is because his replacements have not yet built up the instinct to pick out that perfect pass in the final third that Fabregas is so damned good at. Samir Nasri will probably be close to there in time, but he's not right now. Arsenal essentially had no threatening chances on goal from open play yesterday. Crosses are sent into the box and nobody is there but the other team. Once Arsenal starts losing, they start hoofing the ball long, forgetting that they don't have the personnel on the other end to win those long balls anyway.

The squad does not have a straight-up holding midfielder and it makes the back four look worse

Without the injured Thomas Vermaelen, the Arsenal back four have exposed themselves this season as lacking experience and prone to break downs that lead to goals conceded. How on Earth did one Braga striker beat three Arsenal defenders twice yesterday? Once Eboue was injured forcing Arsenal to ten men, the back line never reorganized themselves. But, even with all of the problems the back four have had, they have not been helped by the fact that Arsenal's holding midfielders haven't exactly been natural for the role this year.

Arsenal have deployed four different players in the holding role section (the 2) of their 4-2-3-1 formation this season: Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, and Denilson. Diaby is currently hurt, having been hacked at the same ankle twice this season, but he's more of the creative offensive type anyway, and was playing the Fabregas box-to-box role as of his last appearance at Chelsea. The same essentially goes for the young Jack Wilshere; he's not the type you want just hanging back at the halfway line when he offers so much to the offense. Denilson, we've been saying for years, does not have the size and body type to fill the role adequately anyway.

This leaves Alex Song, who has been pushing way too far forward this season. Song was on the bench yesterday (this goes back to my rotation point above, of course), but it's been an issue all year. Paraphrasing a bit from various sources, a holding midfielder's job is: "screening the defense, covering for those who push forward, retaining distribution nearer the defense, directing distribution forward, and forcing the opposition offensively into more difficult areas of the pitch." Basically, you can't do any of that if you find yourself caught forward on the attack. This, in turn, exposes the back line.

The holding midfielder needs to be someone who floats back around the halfway line ready to deflect pressure away from others. If caught out of position, as Song has been so many times this year, the consequence is added pressure on other players whom you are supposed to be helping.

Nicklas Bendtner, for all his talk, is useless

For examples, see yesterday and November 3 at Shakhtar Donetsk. That is all.

Arsenal lacks the mental resolve to win anything

This is troubling. I've talked a lot recently about the differences between Dominant Arsenal and Complacent Arsenal, who are seemingly two completely different teams. At Everton, Dominant Arsenal played 70 minutes and built a 2-0 lead, which Complacent Arsenal did not have enough time to fuck up. Against Spurs, Dominant Arsenal played 45 minutes and built a 2-0 lead, which Complacent Arsenal had plenty of time to fuck up. Yesterday, only Complacent Arsenal appeared. You can't win trophies like this.

Arsenal had most of the possession through the match (about two-thirds, I believe) and yet never seemed to be threatening on the attack. There's something seriously wrong there. This is a team that was just days ago embarrassed in the second half at home against a bitter rival. The proper response to that is to go out and thrash a legitimately weaker opponent (Braga is 10th in Portugal and had lost three of four.) Despite losing to West Brom, despite losing to Newcastle, despite losing to Spurs, all at home, you get the sense that this team still finds themselves too comfortable in games they "should" win.

That means they 1) lack a killer instinct to take advantage of situations where they could put the opposition down for the count and 2) are incapable of pulling themselves up when the going gets tough, as evidenced by repeated losses in the same pattern. That's going to lead you nowhere fast in these competitions.

I am legitimately worried where this season might end up going

With everything that has happened this month, I'm starting to find my normal, ever-lasting-until-mathematically-eliminated optimism fading fast. Suddenly we're possibly a draw against Partizan away from the Europa League. And playing as Arsenal has this month is a fast track to a fifth place finish and, you guessed it, the Europa League next year.

Football can be a cruel and unforgiving game. If you spiral out of control for too long, it becomes nearly impossible to rectify the situation. If next month continues as this month has, then who knows what competitions this team will be going for next year.

Just ask Liverpool.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Matheus

Arsenal 2 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur: Dominant Arsenal v. Complacent Arsenal

What the hell are you doing, Cesc? Pic via Daily Mail.

Arsenal 2: Nasri 9, Chamakh 27

Tottenham 3: Bale 50, van der Vaart 67 (pen), Kaboul 85

Lest I fly into a bitter rage, something for which 6:30 a.m. on a Monday morning is far too early, I'm going to keep this recap short, for obvious reasons. After last week's win at Goodison Park, I said there were two Arsenal teams on display. There was Dominant Arsenal, who controlled the play and scored two beautiful goals. And then there was Complacent Arsenal, who got too lackadaisical at the back, conceded late, and was forced to hang on for dear life. Against Everton, Dominant Arsenal built up a lead for a long enough period of time that Complacent Arsenal wasn't able to blow it. That was not the case on Saturday.

Laurent Koscielny returned from his suspension to slip in for Johan Djourou in central defense (Koscielny then proceeded to pick up his fifth domestic yellow card of the season, which I believe will bring on another one match ban and force this switch again next Saturday) and Denilson got the start over Jack Wilshere in one of the holding roles.

This match was, clearly, a tale of two halves, but what a beauty of a first half that was, wasn't it? For the first 45 minutes, there was only one team on that pitch and they were wearing red. Nasri's goal from the byline took forever to roll across that line and Chamakh's side footed deflection of Arshavin's cross was pretty cheeky, but both were beautiful. Arsenal was unable to go for the jugular, however. Cesc Fabregas missed a brilliant chance to make it three when the Spurs defense parted like the Red Sea for him, then Chamakh was clear through on goal before inexplicably stopping and looking around for help. It should have been at least 3-0 by halftime and the dagger would've been more firmly planted.

Spurs made a tactical switch at halftime by playing more compact in the center of the pitch, knowing how hard it is to beat Arsenal wide. Lucky for them, Complacent Arsenal came out for the second half and put up one of the worst performances in years. What the hell happened at halftime? Did they all get prematurely drunk in celebration? (If every blogger on the Internet is going to come up with an excuse for what happened in the final 45 minutes, I may as well have my reason be utterly preposterous.)

As soon as the comeback began for Spurs, even while still up 2-1, Arsenal looked immediately incapable of handling the pressure. The porousness of the back four, and the ease with which they become lackadaisical at times, led to Gareth Bale's goal just five minutes after the restart. From there, Arsenal looked unable to win this game. Spurs looked deadly on every counterattack. The holding midfielders were no longer winning everything at the halfway line. Dominant Arsenal never left the dressing room after the interval.

And then, the build up to the equalizer. Alex Song whistled for a foul, leads to a free kick in a dangerous area, and Arsenal sets up a pretty good sized wall. Rafael van der Vaart takes the kick and Cesc Fabregas inexplicably, while standing in the box, lifts up his arm to block it. He got away with this at the end of last year's 1-0 win against Liverpool at the Emirates when Howard Webb didn't see it hit his arm. But that time, he at least wasn't standing in the box and it would've just been another free kick. This was just plain stupid. Van der Vaart's penalty was taken perfectly and suddenly it was 2-2.

Arsenal looked like they had a winner a few minutes later, but the assistant was correct, as the play from Robin van Persie's free kick saw at least two players blatantly offside. I don't remember many specifics about Kaboul's winner five minutes from time, as I refuse to watch the replays, and also, we all did shots immediately afterward.

So, where do we go from here? Well, Braga tomorrow, for starters. But on the whole, if Complacent Arsenal still exists and shows up from time to time, then this is not a title-winning side. And that flat out comes down to leadership. Tom Vermaelen, come back soon.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Rafael van der Vaart

Arsenal 0 - 1 Newcastle United: Srsly?

Well, hey, Chelsea lost! Pic via Guardian.

Arsenal 0

Newcastle United 1: Carroll 45

After Wednesday's loss in the Ukraine, there were many who said they would rather lose that match than lose on Sunday in the league. I think everyone feels rightly distraught now that they've actually lost both. And yet again, Arsenal fails to capitalize on a Chelsea loss (though, it's probably a blessing of some sort that Arsenal does not find themselves waking up this morning eight points off the pace.)

There were two changes made from the side that beat West Ham a week ago (I'm not going to compare the side to the rotated squad that played in Donetsk mid-week.) Jack Wilshere returned to his holding role from suspension, meaning Denilson dropped to the bench. In form Theo Walcott got the start on the right wing, pushing Samir Nasri to the left, and dropping Andrei Arshavin to the bench. Robin van Persie made a surprise return to the bench after only one full training session on Friday.

Arsene Wenger blamed complacency for Arsenal's Champions League defeat this week and said in pre-match interviews that, after already losing at home to West Bromwich Albion, the team would not be caught like that again, that the lessons had been learned.

It didn't look like it. This was, for sure, Arsenal's worst performance of the season, and I'm hard pressed to think of any performances at home that were as poor as this from last season. Now, I'm running too late this morning to wax poetic on this disaster, so here are the dirty details of this one in bullet point fashion:

• It is apparent to me that Cesc Fabregas is still injured, at least enough to make him completely ineffective. The offense cannot run if your playmaking attacking midfielder is struggling to complete passes. An uncharacteristically high 16 of his 60 passes were unsuccessful. It's even more worrying to me that Samir Nasri picked up a knock, too.

• Newcastle's goal came courtesy the Lukasz Fabianski we're more used to. Wenger blamed "over confidence" on his coming out for a ball on which he did not have to, which is kind of a laughable excuse. What really happened was Fabianski hesitated, jumped late, and even more inexplicably, he jumped behind the attacker, Andy Carroll, who had already been lost by Chamakh marking him. 100% on the Pole, probably for the first time in his recent run in the side. So, let's buy in January, okay?

• In two of the last three home league matches, Arsenal have conceded a goal on their opposition's first legitimate chance on goal. Birmingham City and Newcastle United both opened the scoring with their first shots on target.

• Wenger made his substitutions earlier than normal, in desperate times down a goal, with the first two coming before the hour mark. Andrei Arshavin did essentially nothing, while Robin van Persie was clearly not ready to play 35 minutes. So, even though the changes were made early, they didn't work.

• I don't see why Jack Wilshere was removed at 73 minutes for Nicklas Bendtner. Wilshere is a work horse and can always give you 90 solid minutes. Why one of Arsenal's better players on the pitch was removed baffles me, aside for tactical reasons which ended up failing anyway. A holding midfielder was replaced by a goal scorer while down one, I get it, but the result was an increasing inability to win the ball in the midfield to get it to the goal scorer anyway. Of course, tactically speaking, hindsight is 20/20.

• Laurent Koscielny's red card, which he picked up for a professional foul, will likely be appealed. The foul was called by the linesman, in such a position where Mike Dean was forced to show red. The appeal needs to prove that it should not have been a foul in the first place, as I don't think we're going to get around Koscielny being the last defender and the attacker being through on goal. Wenger claims that Squillaci was covering, but I didn't think so at the time. As soon as the whistle blew, I knew it was red.

• Arsenal's league form at home: Two losses, two unconvincing wins, and two convincing wins that were aided by their opposition ending the match with ten men.

Okay, there's no time to dwell and sulk about this one, as Arsenal travels to Wolves on Wednesday for their first midweek league fixture of the season. Let's hope some consistency and focus makes the trip, too.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Cheick Tioté, who outplayed Fabregas in the midfield.

News Roundup 4/20/10 - The Horse's Head Edition

Lukasz Fabianski insists you read The Godfather, but his performances are all of the dark story lines we can handle right now. Pic via Daily Telegraph.

• Lukasz Fabianksi talks about reading The Godfather to relax, as part of the Premier League's Reading Stars program. There's nothing like a good story to forget about how you ruined your career at Arsenal on Sunday! [Daily Telegraph]
• Transfer madness! Lot of talk about a Gael Clichy (or, Glichy, as per the Mirror typo) move to Barcelona. Who wants to guess how many former Arsenal players will be playing with Barcelona and Manchester City combined in three years time? I'm going with six. [Guardian, Daily Mirror]
• Seriously, start getting those Chamakh chants ready. [BBC]
• To quote a new chant we were working on here in New York on Sunday morning: "He's tall! He's black! We're gonna buy him back! Sol Campbell!" [Daily Mirror]
• Traction building for the rumored £20-21 million deal to bring Arsenal season-ruiners Hugo Rodallega and Charles N'Zogbia to North London from Wigan. Then again, it's only gotten real press in the Mirror and Mail. [Daily Mail]
• And how about more on the Joe Hart in goal rumor? Shield your eyes from the mention of Ryan Shawcross in this article, please! [Guardian]
• So, talk about the whole "five years sans silverware" thing is coming up again, as expected after that thrilling display of passionate football on Sunday:
• Here's Arsene Wenger on the progress that has been made. [Daily Telegraph]
• Here's Samir Nasri on how winning titles isn't the only thing in the world. Really? What else do you get parades for? Best pitch? Because the Emirates has that down. [Sky Sports]
• Shield your eyes from this too, so don't blame the messenger: referee for Saturday's visit to the Emirates by Manchester City will be the unmitigated disaster that is Mike Dean. [Refworld]

Happy Birthday, Lukasz Fabianski!

Hipster Gooner would like to wish Lukasz Fabianski a very happy 25th birthday!


Now please kindly leave the party.

The Blame Game: Further Analysis of Porto's Winning Goal

If you're an Arsenal fan with any Irish heritage, now you really hate Martin Hansson. Pic via Guardian.

So, in the 51st minute of last night's first knockout round first leg between Arsenal and F.C. Porto, somebody fucked up. It's now time to figure out who.

The Build Up

In the 50th minute of a 1-1 game, Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky was taken down inside the box and Martin Hansson, the Swedish referee, did not award a penalty. This isn't anything new for the Gunners. Ever since Eduardo was murdered by the European media for "simulation" in Arsenal's Champions League playoff against Celtic in August, Arsenal has been awarded one penalty kick in all competitions over the span of 36 games. But, this is a digression, so let's move on...

The Tap

Law 12 states: "an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area, ... touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate." The key word in this definition is "deliberately" leading to the question of whether Sol Campbell intentionally tapped the ball back to Lukasz Fabianski. The tap of the ball came from Campbell's toe and was exceedingly clumsy. It is arguable that it was not deliberate. As Arsene Wenger said, no defender, especially one with as much experience in the game as Campbell, would ever intentionally pass the ball with his toe.

But in the end, here's the situation: Sol Campbell did hit the ball with his foot and then Lukasz Fabianski picked it up with his hands. I don't think you can fault Hansson for awarding the kick in the first place.

The Reaction

Okay, so the indirect free kick has been given, and the ball remains in the hands of the keeper. The referee asks for it back. What do you do? One assumes that, in good sportsmanship, the referee will allow the defending team time to reset themselves. You see it all the time. The referee gives the keeper time to set up the wall, then he blows his whistle, and the attacking team is then allowed to take the kick. Take it too soon and the referee can blow his whistle and say "no, do it again, and wait for my signal." But, he doesn't have to. There is nowhere in the rules where it says the referee has to wait a specific amount of time for the defending team to prepare. It's just kind of assumed that he will.

It's not guaranteed, so the argument is that Fabianski should have held onto the ball, to allow the Arsenal defense to get back into the box. He would have been booked for this, but who cares? He's not going to be playing in the second leg, most likely, so it's not like it's a huge deal that he'll be playing on a yellow card and risk suspension.

But, in retrospect, Fabianski did the worst possible thing he could have done: he turned away from the ball, away from two Porto players, and the referee that actually made the decision so he could yell at the assistant on the touchline. That was a fatal mistake because yes, Hansson should have given Arsenal time to prepare, but it's not like Fabianski used the few seconds he had wisely anyway.

The Block

In the few seconds of confusion, Sol Campbell ended up behind Martin Hansson (see the picture) and could not get into any sort of position to defend Porto's quick kick. Where does the fault here lie? Probably with Hansson, though not entirely because he was standing there. Yes, he should have gotten out of Campbell's way before allowing the kick. But this just goes back to his decision to allow the kick to be taken so quickly in the first place. If you're going to let Porto take that kick so fast, then you should at least make sure you're not obstructing the other team.

The Quick Kick

The conversation I had with Casey immediately after the goal was allowed (and after resetting myself after my mind exploded with what had just happened) was about whether or not it was sportsmanlike for Porto to have taken that kick so quickly, and my conclusion was that it's not Porto's fault that Hansson let it happen so quickly. Hey, look, Arsenal has done this before, against Chelsea in 2004.

The ultimate decision on quick kicks is, in my opinion, as such: it's probably unsportsmanlike for them to be allowed in the first place. But they are, so you'd better be ready, and you can't cry about it afterwards.

The Aftermath

Sol Campbell, brought in for his leadership and experience at the back, blamed the referee for blocking him. Cesc Fabregas, el capitan, took the high road, and backed Fabianski afterward, but also excoriated the defense in general for letting this happen in the first place. Arsene Wenger blamed Hansson as well, for everything involved, as he should, as Wenger has always been known for defending his players in these situations.

The Decision

Yes, Hansson made some odd choices, but was perfectly within the rules to make them, with the slight exception of ruling Campbell's pass intentional. But that is a judgment call and a gray area. Campbell made the mistake of taking a poor touch in the first place, then did little to prevent the situation from getting out of hand. Fabianski errored in his attention to the situation unfolding behind his back.

In the end, everyone involved made a mistake somewhere, but the biggest error of all was Fabianski turning his back to the ball, the referee, and the Porto players to yell at an official that wasn't involved as far as I could tell. In a span of ten seconds, a ton of people made mistakes, but it was Fabianski, by a slim margin that should feel the most blame.

Champions League: Porto 2 - 1 Arsenal: Well, That Answers That Question

Lukasz Fabianski stares deep into the net, as he's only just started ruining the game at this point. Pic via Guardian.

Porto 2: Varela 11, Falcao 51
Arsenal 1: Campbell 18

I'm kinda glad I get to use the "disasters" tag I created yesterday. Oh wait, no, I'm pissed... Also, I got to create this "total idiocy" tag.

Hey, remember that time yesterday when we said, "Almunia's absence will prove that either his time is past or that he's the best we've got." And then I also said "Fabianski ... hasn't exactly covered himself in glory in big games past." Yeah...

Lukasz Fabianski left Gooners all over the world screaming at their televisions after two horrendous blunders led to two F.C. Porto goals in a 2-1 Arsenal loss in Portugal tonight. Let's analyze them, shall we!

First goal: Yes, Varela gets around Clichy, which isn't surprising, but then hits a weak low cross that Fabianski hits the ground to handle. But, instead of catching it, it bounces off his hands and careens to his left. Into the net. Varela was given credit, but that's generous. That was an own goal all the way.

Arsenal was very shaky at the start; perhaps not surprising given the number of injury-forced changes in Arsene Wenger's side. It was a lot like the start at Standard Liege in September, except it was 1-0 in 11 minutes and not 2-0 in 5 minutes. Minor victory?

Arsenal pulled one back seven minutes later, scoring off a corner kick, when big Sol Campbell got above the rest of the pack to head one home. There's that height Arsenal has been lacking on set pieces all God-damned season long!

From that point on, both teams decided they had no desire to play defense. Arsenal blatantly missed the services of Alex Song as a holding midfielder, as Denilson and Abou Diaby did not get the job done in stifling the Porto attack. The rest of the first half was wide open, swinging back and forth like a pendulum, but no goals were scored, and things sat 1-1 at halftime.

That would not have been a bad result for the Gunners, with five new injuries, on the road. Things would be even going back home for the second leg, with an away goal to boot.

Oh, but Fabianski wasn't done. In the 51st minute, Sol Campbell tapped the ball back to Fabianski, who inexplicably picked the ball up with his hands. Brutal mistake to begin with, to set up an indirect free kick for Porto in the box. I've mentioned before that with time to set up a wall, those kicks never work. Instead, Arsenal decided just to let Porto score, essentially...

Fabianski handed the ball to the referee, turned, and argued about the call to the assistant referee on the near touchline. Arsenal's defenders walked slowly back into the box. The referee put the ball down as the Gunners continued arguing and walking. Tap, shot, 2-1 Porto.

Casey and I had a short discussion about this immediately afterward. Was it unsportsmanlike for Porto to take a quick kick? I said no. It's on Arsenal to pay attention and get back in position. It's on Fabianski or Campbell to stay near the ball and not let Porto shoot before they're ready. It's on Fabianski not to let this situation happen in the first place! Just a brutal mistake and a heartbreaking result.

Arsenal found themselves off the pace for a while after the goal, had a few chances, but never took a shot on goal, as far as I remember in the second half. Tons of headers over the bar. Tons of corner kicks that sailed over everybody. No major threats from the Gunners.

So, now, the second leg at the Emirates on March 9. Arsenal has an away goal in their pocket and a goal to make up on aggregate. Not a disastrous result, in terms of fixing this in the second leg. But oh, what a painful match it was.

FYI, I'd prefer to see Mannone start against Sunderland on Saturday.

Yep, We're Pretty Much Cursed This Year

Elaborating on Casey's post earlier, here's an updated look at Arsenal's squad going into tomorrow's Champions League tie in Portugal, with my guesses, of course, in italics:

Fabianski
Sagna - Campbell - Vermaelen - Clichy
Fabregas - Denilson - Diaby
Nasri - Bendtner - Rosicky

Subs from: Mannone, Silvestre, Traore, Eboue, Ramsey, Vela, Walcott
Out: Almunia (finger), Song (knee), Gallas (calf), Arshavin (hamstring), Eduardo (hamstring), Merida (ankle), Gibbs (foot), Van Persie (ankle), Djourou (knee)

Casey brings up a great point: Almunia's absence will prove that either his time is past or that he's the best we've got. Let's bear in mind that Fabianski isn't any more decisive than the Spainiard and hasn't exactly covered himself in glory in big games past. Vito Mannone is probably too inexperienced to take the reins now, at least in huge games, and Arsenal's supposed star goalie of the future, Wojciech Szczesny, is on loan at Brentford for the rest of the season.

Little else to talk about news-wise, so we're probably going to bounce around this topic a ton today.