Songs of Farewell

Sometimes the transfer period can become a little over-intellectualised, so for those who want to know in simple terms the players leaving this summer Hipster Gooner's useful chant guide is a must.

Eduardo

"He went to them when Maroaune came Eddie! Eddie!
He scored twenty goals less than Darren Bent Eddie! Eddie!
He broke his leg and he won't be back,
but Darren Bent will still be cack!
Eduardo Silva! Shaktar Donetsk's number nine!!!

[In Ukrainian accent] lalalalalala etc."

William Gallas

"William Gallas isn't our mate! Isn't our mate! Isn't our mate! William Gallas isn't our mate! He hates Arsenal!"

Mikael Silvestre

*silence*

There are some songs that are just unbearable to consider:

Cesc Fabregas

"Oh Cesc Fab-re-gas, you were the love of my life!
Oh Cesc Fab-re-gas, I let you shag my wife!
Oh Cesc Fab-re-gas, you're Barcelona through and through!"

They've got Cesc Fabregas,
They've got Cesc Fabregas,
They've got Cesc Fabregas,
They've got Cesc Fabregas..."

Arsenal 4 - 0 Fulham: Bronze

Arsenal celebrates remembering how to score goals. Pic via Sky Sports.

Arsenal 4: Arshavin 21, van Persie 26, Baird 37 (og), Vela 84

Fulham 0

And a Happy St. Totteringham's Day, everyone, though it's belated by a day at this point.

After Arsenal lost 2-1 to Spurs in mid-April, the title was effectively out of reach. All Arsenal needed was a win or two, however, to at least secure third place in the league table, and with it, not just a guaranteed spot above Tottenham, but automatic qualification to next year's Champions League group stage.

Then, Arsenal blew a two goal lead at Wigan in ten minutes and lost. Then, an uninspired 0-0 draw with Manchester City where City never tried to score and Arsenal tried at most three times. Then, another lackluster effort, and a 2-1 loss at Blackburn.

Suddenly, a loss on the final day of the season coupled with a Spurs win against already relegated Burnley would've pushed our hated rivals into third place. No, things have not been very happy in Arsenal-land for the past month.

Thankfully, Arsenal's opponent at the Emirates yesterday, Fulham, have a more important game to worry about this coming Wednesday; they're in a European final against Atletico Madrid for the Europa League title. As such, Fulham clearly did not intend to put in their best effort in this London derby.

Arsenal struck first, as they have so often lately. This opener came in the 21st minute, as Chris Baird's back pass to Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was met with a heavy trap from Schwarzer, right into the path of Andrei Arshavin. Arshavin carried the ball to the line as Schwarzer tried to slide back into position. The diminutive Russian's fancy footwork brought the keeper out of position yet again, and Arshavin pounded the ball into the goal.

Arsenal extended the lead to 2-0 five minutes later, as Bacary Sagna found Theo Walcott breaking with a through ball, putting he and Robin van Persie in alone on goal. Walcott's pass to RVP was perfect, but the shot hit Schwarzer in the leg and hit the crossbar. But, as there was no luck for Fulham on the day, the rebound careened straight back to the Dutchman, who fired the ball into the net, all the while having four Fulham defenders scrambling back into their positions.

The Gunners extended their lead to three at halftime thanks to a little more misfortune for Fulham. Walcott's cross into the box was this time met by Emmanuel Eboue. He attempted to back heel a pass to a marked van Persie behind him, but didn't get enough of a heavy touch on it to reach him. It did, instead, reach the defender marking van Persie, Chris Baird. The ball took a strange bounce off Baird and into the net for an own goal. 3-0 Arsenal at half time.

Fulham barely pressured all game and every Lukasz Fabianski touch brought sarcastic applause from both sets of fans at the Emirates. Arsenal closed out the game and the season with one more goal in the 84th minute. Samir Nasri's through ball came to Carlos Vela who calmly flicked a chip shot over the outstretched arms of Schwarzer. It was Vela's second goal of the year, with the other coming in the Carling Cup. 4-0 to the Arsenal.

Two other appearances to note, in the form of substitutions in this match: Johan Djourou, out all season with a knee injury suffered on international duty in August, came on at the hour mark, replacing Mikael Silvestre and Henri Lansbury, having just returned from a loan spell at Watford, made his Premier League debut for the match's final twenty minutes.

Arsenal 0 - 0 Manchester City: Pippi Longstocking

Emmanuel Adebayor was all smiles quite often in his return to the Emirates. Pic via City Newspaper.

Arsenal 0

Manchester City 0

Everybody had the feeling that this was going to be a tumultuous affair. Emmanuel Adebayor was probably going to do something stupid, especially if he, God forbid, scored a goal, and emotions would be running high as Arsenal looked to lock up third place and City looked to move back into fourth. Likely, this would be a high scoring encounter, as both sides are a bit shaky on defense.

And then absolutely none of that happened.

The most interesting thing to talk about in this match was, of course, Emmanuel Adebayor's pigtailed hair and orange boots. As for the rest, here are the highlights:

• There were six shots on target combined between the teams. I remember one of them, Nasri's in the first half.
• Van Persie's free kick that just went wide was kind of crushing. Watching the instant replay was depressing, seeing how close it was to 1-0.
• City did nothing offensively all game. Like, at all. Which was great, given Fabianski's track record in goal.
• I thought Silvestre played really well. No, seriously.
• You know, if you're not going to even try to utilize his height in the box, why even use Bendtner as a lone striker and drop Van Persie back?
• It was definitely a lot more comfortable to watch this match knowing Alex Song was back and in control of the holding role.
• Shay Given's injury is really bad news for City. I enjoyed that the back-up keeper was named Gunnar. I thought that would help us. It didn't, really.

That's really about it. Every recap you will see of this match will use the word "boring." Anyway, two matches to play and the odds of not finishing in third are, I believe, less than 1%. It would be nice to lock it up next Monday at Blackburn, but it really does seem like they're just coasting to the finish line now.

Wigan Athletic 3 - 2 Arsenal: Watch Me Make Three Points Disappear

This means we get revenge next year, right? Pic via Guardian.

Wigan Athletic 3: Watson 80, Bramble 89, N'Zogbia 90+1

Arsenal 2: Walcott 41, Silvestre 48

For significant periods of today's match, your beloved Gunners played like a team comfortably sitting mid-table; not necessarily playing for anything in particular, without a care in the world. They took a 2-0 lead against a team toward the bottom of said table and looked to walk away with three points. Then, the opposition remembered they're fighting against relegation and pulled a goal back. Suddenly, your heroes were shell-shocked and incapable of defending the major offensive powerhouse that is Wigan Athletic (no disrespect meant to N'Zogbia, Rodallega, and Moses, by the way.) A crucial error and some more lacakadaisical defending later, it's Arsenal walking out of Greater Manchester with nothing to show for the trip but a bloodied ego.

With the line-up Arsene Wenger selected, what did you expect from this game? For me, I expected a nil-nil game at halftime despite mostly comfortable possession and a 1-0 win thanks to a cameo appearance from Robin van Persie off the bench in the 70th minute.

Lukasz Fabianksi, of picking-the-ball-up-at-Porto fame, got the start in place of Manuel Almunia, who has an injured wrist (likely due to the amount of activity on his probably fake Twitter account.) Denilson, who suffered a groin injury at Spurs on Wednesday did not feature either, and was replaced by the young Craig Eastmond, making his second start of the year (the first was at Bolton in January.) Campbell and Silvestre started in the central defense, as expected after Vermaelen's injury on Wednesday. Robin van Persie started on the bench, still not at 100% match fitness after his five month layoff. 18-year-old midfielder Conor Henderson was named to the bench as well (meaning Eduardo was conspicuously absent) and he doesn't even have a Wikipedia article about him yet.

My first half prediction was completely wrong: Arsenal lead 1-0, thanks to a Theo Walcott goal after breaking through the defense and pushing a shot just under the keeper's arm as he hit the ground, but Arsenal never really had control of the play. At times, it feels like with Fabregas and van Persie on the pitch, the Gunnres appear allergic to both touching the ball in the box and shooting. The defense was solid, but found themselves under pressure far more often than they should have.

Arsenal extended the lead to 2-0 early in the second half after a Mikael Silvestre header coming from a corner (no, seriously, stop laughing, it happened.)  That is about when it appeared that the Gunners assumed that the three points were theirs and they started coasting. Arsenal was unfocused and Wigan started to command more of a territorial advantage. With ten minutes to play, Wigan pulled a goal back, when Arsenal's defense allowed Watson to take an uncontested sidefooted strike to the corner of the goal, a solid shot, I must say.

Then, Arsenal was stunned, and off a corner with a minute to play before injury time, Fabianski's attempt to catch the ball was fumbled directly into the head of Titus Bramble three years in front of the net. Wigan will never score an easier equalizer.

Suddenly, a subsitution to use Robin van Persie was necessary, but the Gunners had already stopped playing. N'Zogbia picked up possession 20 yards out from Rodallega and pounded a beautiful shot off the post and in. That's about when I couldn't feel my legs and face and had to sit down motionless for ten minutes on a bar stool.

If I hadn't pulled myself out of bed at 7 a.m. this morning to make it to the bar and see it for myself, I would not believe what happened. One day after Chelsea faltered once again to open up another glimmer of hope for the title race, Arsenal threw the chance away. This is now four times Arsenal's title hopes have ended this year; this time, it's for good.

News Roundup 4/9/10 - The Dramatic Return Edition

Here's Robin van Persie, with two guys who don't play for us anymore. Pic via some random wallpaper site.

• Arsenal.com came out with a great interview with head physio Colin Lewin, on the team's rash of injuries this season. Here's what we learned:
• Cesc Fabregas will be able to play for Spain in the World Cup.
• Aaron Ramsey will make a full recovery and be back by autumn.
• Defenders Johan Djourou and Kieran Gibbs will resume training soon...
• ...as will Robin van Persie!
• Here's more on van Persie's return from the Guardian. The Daily Mirror suggests that van Persie could return to action Wednesday at Tottenham, given how crucial the match is for Arsenal's title hopes. It's not like a tabloid would ever exaggerate, right? My assumption would be that he'd return on the 24th against City, maybe next Sunday at Wigan if he's lucky. The last time we rushed a guy back from injury, Gallas re-injured himself in 40 minutes and is done for the year and France is pissed. Learn from our mistaken gambles or go all in? 
• Strong words from the blond dreadlocks: Bacary Sagna says Arsenal "plays too much" and is more concerned as a team about playing pretty rather than winning. Considering the source on this article, ESPN Soccernet, I'm sure they've twisted things to blow it out of proportion.
• The Daily Telegraph blames the Premier League's "culture of debt" on their crashes out of Europe before the Champions League Semi-Finals. Actually, it was Bayern Munich's president that said it. Again, grains of salt available for those interested.
• Hey look, transfer rumors! Of course, nothing is official until the window opens in the summer, but here's some more from the Daily Mail on Marouane Chamakh's move to North London. I know they're a tabloid too, but there's a quote from Chamakh about the move.
• More from the Telegraph, this time on Arsenal's well-documented need to buy central defenders in the summer. Actually, I'm totally comfortable with Silvsetre. If this wasn't text, you'd realize that I can't say that with a straight face.
• Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia on how important it is to rebound from Tuesday's loss with a win at Spurs.
• That match at Spurs on Wednesday will be broadcast in 3D by Sky Sports. Arsenal has lost all one of their matches that have been broadcast in 3D. I don't like those odds.

News Roundup 3/24/10 - The Doubt Edition

Arsenal needs more clockwork bunnies, says Arshavin. Pic via Guardian.

• Andrei Arshavin is pretty sure Arsenal doesn't have enough players and depth to win the league. His web site, however, quotes him as saying "we should win all remaining games." Make up your mind, Andrei. He then finally offered an exhaustive explanation of ideological anarchism. [Guardian]
• Denilson, however, believes that the team's past experiences have left them in a stronger position than ever before. Yes, this is the kind of thing you expect to hear from your players. None of that Arshavin doubt crap. [Sky Sports]
• The Telegraph has an article about Wenger's selection problem at center back for this Saturday's match at Birmingham, which I talked about a bit yesterday. Somehow, they arrive at the conclusion that it would be Campbell Saturday, then likely Silvestre against Barcelona. No. That is not okay. No. No. No. [Telegraph]
• Manchester United's Paul Scholes keeps saying they're going to win the rest of their games too. Like this is the third time he's said that this month. You know, Paul, too much hubris can result in bad karma, like a loss at Bolton on Saturday, or something. [ESPN Soccernet]
• Stoke manager Tony Pulis said "moaners like Wenger just want to shoot us down." Hmmm, I wonder why a team like Arsenal would think Stoke City is a bunch of bullies... Pulis's comments came after yet another Stoke player was sent off at the weekend. [Daily Mirror]
• Arsenal have made some progress in contract talks with William Gallas. How about some progress on that calf injury, okay? [Daily Mirror]
• Nice striker (the team in France, though I'm sure he's a wonderful guy too) Loic Remy has revealed that he still wants to come to Arsenal, despite a January deal failing due to Nice's high asking price, which wasn't very nice of them. I'm sorry for that. [Daily Mail]
• Internazionale is preparing a £36m offer for Cesc Fabregas, offering U-21 star Mario Balotelli in the exchange. Sky Sport Italia has reported that Inter has even placed Fabregas under their insurance already, suggesting a deal is done. Cesc's representatives have stated that there is no contact with Inter, let alone a deal in place. [Daily Mail]

News Roundup 3/23/10 - The One Match Ban Edition

Well, this Saturday should be difficult... Pic via Guardian.

One bit of (huge) news today. Yesterday, Arsenal chose to appeal Thomas Vermaelen's red card to the Football Association.

The FA has just announced that Arsenal's appeal has been dismissed:

At a Regulatory Commission hearing today, a claim for wrongful dismissal from Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen was dismissed.

Vermaelen was shown a red card for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity during Arsenal’s match against West Ham United on Saturday 20 March.

He will now serve a one match suspension with immediate effect.

With William Gallas still injured and a Champions League tie with Barcelona four days following this Saturday's clash with Birmingham City at St. Andrew's, the center defense position looks exceedingly shaky for the Gunners. Sol Campbell probably cannot play both games given his age and fitness level. I'd expect to see Mikael Silvestre and Alex Song start on the back line Saturday. But, I could be dead wrong, we'll see.

In addition, this is a horrible call. West Ham's striker by no means even had possession when he was brought down. Can someone please tell me how a player can have "an obvious goalscoring opportunity" when the ball is floating around his shoulder and the defender's?

Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley: A Little Bendt Out of Shape

 

 Not even close, Nicklas. Pic via Guardian.

Arsenal 3: Fabregas 34, Walcott 60, Arshavin 90+4

Burnley 1: Nugent 50

They sure do like to keep it interesting, don't they?

There was some interesting talk in the ladies room of Nevada Smiths after the match, says friend of the blog Gloria. I don't remember the story as it was relayed to me exactly so I won't quote it here. Basically, the gist was it involved Nicklas Bendtner and his inability to score.

Not hard to find things to gripe about in this one, but three points are three points, so I won't harp on them. We've said it before, in our Top 100 lists, that there must at least be one hundred goals that would have been scored if Robin van Persie were healthy. Bendtner missed at least five brilliant goal scoring opportunities yesterday. Eduardo missed another. Andrei Arshavin missed two (I blamed his rustiness coming back from his hamstring injury) before scoring. That's eight golden opportunities that went by the wayside. This could've been 11-1.

There was plenty of restlessness at the Emirates yesterday, especially after Burnley equalized. Arsenal took a first half lead on a really first class goal from Cesc Fabregas, putting the ball through Brian Jensen's legs after a brilliant lofted pass from Samir Nasri. But then, a few minutes later, Fabregas was pulled for Abou Diaby, after re-aggrivating the hamstring injury he first hurt in December. EVERYBODY PANIC!!! He's highly doubtful for Tuesday's Champions League tie against Porto. Thankfully, Alex Song's suspension is only for domestic play.

Burnley's equalizer came in two steps: on a long ball lofted to the center circle, Bendtner made no effort to challenge for possession, and the Clarets lofted the ball deep in the other direction. Then, the central defense, which I never trust with Mikael Silvestre on, tries to trap David Nugent, on loan from Portsmouth, but fails. Nugent is clear and chips the ball over a helpless Manuel Almunia.

From that point on, Theo Walcott took over. Yes, that's right. Theo Walcott played with tremendous skill, poise, and pace in the second half. Once Burnley brought themselves level, Walcott realized it was time to stop crossing it to Bendtner and time to finish one himself, which he did with a striking left footed shot to the far post, ten minutes after Nugent's equalizer. It was Walcott's first goal five months.

But the lead never felt comfortable until Arshavin buried the game with seconds to play. The Gunners inability to finish off golden scoring opportunities was a little worrying. But as it stands, though Chelsea has a game in hand, the table reads 63-61-61. Hard to complain when you've won four straight in league play. But we were this close to starting a Robin van Persie chant after each of Bendtner's misses.

News Roundup 2/25/10 - The Destiny Edition

 

Motivation via Despair.com.

• "There is destiny and I am sure this is Arsenal's one and I am sure we will celebrate at the end," says Bacary Sagna. "As long as we are in it, we will fight until the end," says Mikael Silvestre. Yeah, Silvestre. JUST GIVE US THE TROPHY NOW! [Sky Sports on Sagna, Sky Sports on Silvestre]
• Eduardo hopes to return to the squad at the weekend and is also prepared to put his injury hell behind him. The Daily Mirror article refers to his "two-week layoff." Saturday's match at Stoke will actually mark exactly one month since he hurt his hamstring at Villa Park. I know numbers are hard, Mirror. [Daily Mirror]
• Transfer/Always-Listen-to-Dennis-Bergkamp News: Arsenal is now tracking Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen, thanks to a tip to Arsene Wenger from Bergkamp. Arsenal have also given a trial to 17-year-old Ingolfur Sigurdsson from Iceland. [Guardian via Daily Mirror]
• In-Maybe-We-Should-Talk-About-Taking-Things-From-Barcelona News: No, Yaya Toure is not coming. [Daily Mail]
• Get your best Scientology chants ready: Thomas Cruise has signed a contract extension. [Arsenal.com]
• Stoke City v. Arsenal preview to be posted later this afternoon.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Sunderland: Boring, Boring Arsenal?

Easiest goal ever? Pic via Guardian.

Arsenal 2: Bendtner 27, Fabregas 90+3 (pen)

Sunderland 0

What is there to really say about the result in this one? It was by no means a win for the time capsule. Arsenal did what they do best. They dominated possession, set up a ton of pretty opportunities, and scored just enough to take three points from a side that now finds themselves firmly in the relegation conversation, purely because they have forgotten how to win.

I can't say this was a particularly fun game to watch, though in actuality, it was for me for a variety of reasons that I don't need to get into here, they're irrelevant in this discusssion. I'll stick to the basics of what happened from strictly a football analysis standpoint; Arsenal was once again maddening on both sides of the ball and the Guardian recap puts it better than I ever could: "Such is the nature of this red and white beast, with its lack of ruthlessness at either end."

With Robin van Persie hurt, the Gunners lack a dominatingly ruthless striker, capable of putting fear in the hearts of defenders like Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney can. Add Andrei Arshavin and Eduardo to the list of injuries and suddenly Arsenal nearly has nobody capable of finishing. If only Nicklas Bendtner was as good as he assumes he is as putting the ball into the net.

That being said, Bendtner did have the decisive goal, as easy a goal as he'll ever score, set up fabulously by Emmanuel Eboue, who started on the left side in place of Bacary Sagna for the purpose of maintaining a quick pace against a struggling Black Cats side. It was a lot like the only goal I scored in middle school soccer: a goal line tap in during a blowout win over Delaware Valley. I did nothing and got all of the credit. The kid who set up the situation was pissed on that day (and for the entire season). I don't think Eboue was quite as upset on this occasion.

Arsenal only really had that one opportunity, plus several others blown in classic Arsenal fashion: too many passes leading to an eventual clearance by the defense when one pass finally goes astray. Shockingly, Arsenal did put the game away thanks to the benefit of a penalty kick awarded in second half injury time; it was Arsenal's second penalty kick in 37 games since Eduardo was called out for simulation in August. With Van Persie hurt, it's now Cesc Fabregas's job to take the spot kicks, and he buried this one, unlike his first attempt on the year against Stoke City in December.

But let's not forget this came right after a golden chance for Sunderland with a free kick right outside of the box that ended up hitting the wall. One got the feeling watching this game, especially after Wednesday's disaster in Portugal, that Sunderland was always one simple Arsenal blunder away from bringing the game level. That mistake never happened; Manuel Almunia had a solid, if unspectacular game in goal, injured finger and all (he only had one questionable clearance where he punched it out instead of clearing, and it ended up setting up a break for Theo Walcott anyway) and Mikael Silvestre was by no means as good as William Gallas is at center back, but you'll notice that I don't have anything damaging to say about his performance either.

Aaron Ramsey got his first start in ages, in place of the injured Abou Diaby, but all the Welshman did was further the stereotype that Arsenal is just a bunch of fancy passes and no shooting skill. Theo Walcott started on the wing (for speed purposes, as was the aforementioned case with Eboue, plus England manager Fabio Capello was in the stands watching) but he did what he does best as well: bring the ball forward quickly and then either pass to nobody in particular or shoot wildly wide of the net.

All of this being said, it can be boiled down to this: it wasn't pretty but Arsenal got three points.

News Roundup 2/13/10 - The Injuries Never Stop Edition

The Diminutive Russian's classic facial expressions will not be on display in Portugal. Pic via Daily Mirror.

• Last night, I drunkenly injured my knee exiting a subway turnstile because I was preoccupied with worry that Chelsea might win the Double.
  
• Andrei Arshavin has confirmed that he will not play in Arsenal's Champions League knockout round tie at F.C. Porto on Wednesday, after picking up a hamstring injury against Liverpool. Alex Song is also a "major doubt" with a medial ligament knee injury. Eduardo and Samir Nasri should both return to fitness. [Daily Mirror, ESPN Soccernet]
• With no room for error, Arsene Wenger knows Porto will not be a pushover. [Sky Sports]
• Mikael Silvestre is pulling a Philippe Senderos and is upset he was not selected to the squad Wednesday against Liverpool. He now wants to quit Arsenal. [Daily Mirror]
• Bordeaux confirms that striker Marouane Chamakh will join Arsenal this summer. Meanwhile, they've apparently "gone cool" on defender Stefan Savic. [Daily Mirror]
  

A Treatise on Arsenal's Defense's Ability to Drive Me to Insanity

As we quickly approach an absolutely critical point in the season, I have to ask: would we be having this conversation if Johan Djourou didn't destroy his knee on international duty in August?

Gooners, we're on the brink of a month of hell, starting a week from Sunday. Just two matches, both against Bolton, separate us from:

• Day 1: FA Cup tie at Stoke City
• Day 4: at Aston Villa
• Day 8: vs. Manchester United
• Day 15: at Chelsea
• Day 18: vs. Liverpool
• Day 21 or 22: Potential fifth round FA Cup tie
• Day 25: Champions League at FC Porto

Who scheduled that? Bastards!

Anyway, surviving that stretch with any chance of still winning the league will require a few things: a squad that's healthier than it is now AND remains healthy, a few dependable goal scoring options, and most importantly, a defense that can clamp down on some of the top offenses in the country.

Now, Arsenal might have drawn a break for one of those matches with a rash of injuries hitting Anfield yesterday, but with that match still around four weeks away, Steven Gerrard should be back by then as well as Yossi Benayoun (thankfully, Fernando Torres will not).

The team certainly is getting healthier: Cesc Fabregas is back this week, Gael Clichy is just about fit, and Nicklas Bendtner should be available soon as well. Alex Song would be back from the Africa Cup as late as the Chelsea match (is it wrong to root against Cameroon in the hopes that he'll return faster?) This leaves the defense as the wild card.

Sol Campbell is back! But what exactly does this mean? Are our title hopes hinging on a 35-year-old? Certainly he has the experience to carry the team through a stretch like this, but aside from making sure the rest of the team doesn't freak out with pressure, what else is that going to bring if he can't keep up? Of course, we don't know yet if he can't keep up, and Arsene Wenger has praised Campbell's fitness. So, here's what we do know:

• William Gallas isn't 100% fit. He's also not hurt enough to sit out yet, but the situation is a lot like playing with fire. Without a back-up plan, the team could get burned. I'm not exactly sure what a good back-up plan would be when playing with fire... maybe keep some extra fire extinguishers around. This is probably the worst extended metaphor I've ever written in my life... how am I gonna get around this one?
  
• Sol Campbell is, therefore, an extra fire extinguisher (there, I did it!)
• Bacary Sagna has been dependable on the right side, as has Tom Vermaelen in the middle.
• This has all led to Philippe Senderos to lean toward jumping ship. With Campbell likely out of the picture again at season's end, this means a desperately needed signing in the summer.
• Gael Clichy is on his way back and Armand Traore has been serviceable on the left side in the absence of Clichy and Kieran Gibbs (who is still out for a while with a hole in his foot).
• Johan Djorou is done for the year after knee surgery.
• I would not trust Mikael Silvestre against Man U, Chelsea, Villa, or Liverpool.
• Extended to goalkeeping, the defense at the present time, clearly no longer trusts Manuel Almunia, and I don't blame them. Any cross into the box... is he gonna catch it? Is he gonna punch it right to the other team (Kuyt's goal at Anfield in December)? Is he gonna collide with as many people as possible while the ball rolls away (post-Rosicky's equalizer against Everton on Saturday)? Every cross is a game of Russian Roulette now.
  

So, what does this mean? Best case scenario: Gallas stays fit, Clichy returns, and everyone magically stays healthy. And Almunia becomes suddenly decisive. Worst case? Another rash of injuries and a few reserve call-ups to stabilize?

It's going to be a nail biting month, isn't it?