I'm back at it again after giving yal the silent treatment over the last few days. Nyhoo I'm sure you are all doing quite well after the win yesterday. It does feel really good to get a win under our belts and also a clean sheet, it also helps in getting that horrible feeling out of the pit of your stomach.

It was a rather facile win yeterday, with Reading being just off the drop zone. I missed the first half, but caught the whole of the second. It finished 2-o, both being scored goals scored in the first half. The first was a well taken goal by Ade, he was put in by a fine ball by Kolo Toure and then handsomely slotted past Hahnemann. The second one was through Gilberto . Playing in place of an injured Flamini, Gilberto's shot from outside the box got a lucky deflection and nestled in the back of the net. Our luck seemed ti be turning, and for the better this time. From the first half highlights it looked like we had quite a lot of possesion , and controlled the game. The Arsetard however told me that we were playing like a pub team. But that was prior to the goals, so I'm guessing we stepped on the gas a bit after that.

The second half was all us, but with some luck and maybe a little more co-ordination we could have had a more convincing scoreline. RVP's freekick hit a combination of the bar and the post but still stayed out, while Theo had his left-footed shot from inside the box cannon of the bar. We were a lot more assured in this game, and put in a fine performance. It was all passing and movement, but still I would saythat we lack a little more penetration in the final third. But it was super performance overall, and a great way to get back to winning 3 points.

Fab had more verve, RVP looked close on getting back to his best, Gilberto had a more solid performance, and Theo was all energy and quick feet. The backline included Song , who had one or two sticky moments in the second half, but recovered to put in a decent performance.

There's not a lot left on offer for the boys, but Arsene calls it rightly when he said after this after the game yesterday-

"Yes, we responded well after massive, massive, massive disappointment. We responded quite well, I must say I was worried after last Saturday over how we could finish the season, the disappointment was so big that I was not sure we'd be capable to respond, so on that front we did very well. Overall you could see that there is a strong link in the team to play the quality of game we want to play. We have shown some pride and some mental strength not to get ourselves down until the end of the season, and that is very important. The next season starts now and we want to finish as well as possible - you never know. We can make 83 points, it will not be a shame for us, and that is still reachable."

Wenger continued his praise saying he wants to win with style, saying-

"Yes, I think the collective technical display is the best we have played in the last twelve years, I would stand for that, but we have not been... If you look a little bit back with distance you could say that at the start of the season we had nothing to lose. When we came under pressure in March maybe we were a bit unlucky, we dropped some points because every problem we had to face we lacked a little bit of maturity, but overall there is a lot of hope because if you see the game today, what kind of quality football we can play, I believe this team has to stay together and to win - to convince completely people. We want to win but with our own style."


I agree wholeheartedly with Arsene when he says that the next season starts now and that we should win with our own style. I'm sure that we will be able to do this. We've been a patient lot waiting for Arsene to deliver success, and with style, lets hold on to that patience for a while longer, we are getting ever so close now.

While we are on about next season Cescy rubbishes stories of him moving from North London saying-

"My future belongs to Arsenal, and it is the truth.I do not know why [it was brought up]. It is always the same with my situation, always putting my name in another team."

"I have always said I want to play for Arsenal, it is the best team I can be at, the best club for me. Before I even say anything, people put me in another club and I don't understand that.

"But I have always wanted to play for Arsenal."

Good lad Cescy, stay right here, you are well on you're way to being an Arsenal legend that is if you aren't one already. While Wenger says Cescy could have 'one or two real quality' teammates next season, and you can read all about it in this one here.
Arsene also pointed out that he would not be looking to sign Valencia star David Villa in the summer. More ineteresting though in the piece Wenger hinted that he might not strengthen the attack, saying he has enough faith in his young strikers, preferring to strenghthen the back instead. I will say this much- that the back end of the pitch needs a lot more work than the front. Hopefully the strike force we have will gel well next year, that is if indeed Arsene does not buy anymore attacking players in the closed season.But who knows the mind of Le Prof?

One player we need to hang on to, (and it's getting very repetitive now, but it's looking grimmer than ever) is Flamini. Wenger has given him till the end of April to sort it all out. It' looks alike an absolute deadline and that's about 10 days away, fingers are so crossed right now that they are almost gnarled!

And that will have to do. My most discerning readers will notice that I have been quite irregualr with my posts the past month or so while it reached a real crescendo of sorts or is it an anti crescendo, or whatever it is over the past week where I did not break my silence for about 3 or four days.Well it's all down to me switching jobs, and err... getting a bit tied up with the proceedings in the office. Will definitley try and keep this going as regular as possible and will keep try and keep it at a post a day.

So long folks and thanks for putting up with me, a Good Sunday to you all!