Arsenal vs. Blackburn: The Gunners in Shambles Losing 4-3 to the Rovers

Arsenal went to Blackburn Rovers in the early kickoff yesterday looking for a victory to continue their rebuilding process of the last week. With Blackburn sitting on the bottom of the table, it was an opportunity for Arsenal to put their previous away defeat to Manchester United behind them and put three more points on the board.

Unfortunately, the Arsenal team defended terribly on the day, and they lost despite scoring three times away from home.

The manner of the defeat was almost unbelievable, as Arsenal twice led in the first half, but shot themselves in the foot at vital moments. They managed to put the ball into their own net twice, as well as conceding a marginally offside goal that undid all of their good work at the other end.

Arsenal has now conceded 12 goals in their last two away games in the Premier League, and it simply isn't good enough.

The manner of the defeat would be unbelievable for any other club, but the present Arsenal team continues to astound their fans on an almost weekly basis. It doesn't seem to matter which players are playing, as they fall to pieces once things go against them.

For me, this defeat was as bad as the 8-2 defeat to United.

There were excuses made after the United game that Arsenal had a reserve team out, and they were short of quite a few players. They still had six players who could be considered first-team regulars in that game, and it was enough to have performed much better. Far worse teams have gone there and been competitive, but they approached those games with much better tactics than Arsenal did that day.

The Gunners had what could be considered their best team available yesterday, with the exception of the injured Jack Wilshere and Thomas Vermaelen. If anything, it was Blackburn who had the worst injury problems on the day, as they were short a few of their first-team regulars.

Anything other than a win for Arsenal yesterday would have been a bad result, but to lead twice and still lose was nothing short of shambles.

Arsenal is the laughing stock and standing joke for every other top Premier League clubs' fans. Unless something changes drastically, their season will immediately be over before it has gotten a chance to begin. The club had the whole summer to bring in the players needed, but they only arrived at the last minute, and Arsenal is paying the price.

It cannot be easy for players to attempt to find their feet on a team that has now only won three of their last 16 Premier League games since the Carling Cup final defeat to Birmingham City in February. It's a record that would see the dismissal of managers of less standing than Arsene Wenger, and he needs to put it right or he will not last much longer. The sentiment of the fans for his past glories can only last so long, and the present and future need to offer some hope.

In the game itself, Arsenal completely outplayed Blackburn in the first half, but they looked vulnerable on the rare occasions that Blackburn did attack. Goals from Gervinho and Mikael Arteta gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead at halftime, but a Yakubu goal in between them gave Blackburn some hope.

The Gunners missed other chances to increase their lead, and as long as they played the same way in the second half, there was only going to be one winner.

However, the second half was a completely different game, as Arsenal showed their vulnerable side, and Blackburn punished them. The Rovers scored the next three goals and took a 4-2 lead into the closing stages. Arsenal, in fact, scored two of those goals for them, as both Alex Song and Laurent Koscielny put the ball through their own net.

Arsenal eventually woke up and went at Blackburn again, and they pulled a goal back through a great header from substitute Marouane Chamakh. There were four other good chances for Arsenal to equalise in the last few minutes, but Per Mertesacker and Chamakh missed headers, and Robin van Persie had a good chance saved by Paul Robinson. In the very last minute of added time, substitute Theo Walcott was taken down by Robinson after he clipped the ball over him, but the referee chose not to give a penalty to Arsenal.

Of course Arsenal was a little unlucky yesterday with two own goals and an offside goal against them, but they made their own luck with poor defending. Their second-half display was simply not good enough, and they paid the price for it. The players were unable to concentrate for the full 90 minutes, and the manager seemed unable to influence them from the bench.

The loss of Bacary Sagna to injury with the score at 2-2 was a real blow, as he was replaced by Johan Djourou, who just cannot play at right back. Andre Santos made his debut at left, and he was not the player Wenger said he is. Hopefully he will grow with the team in time, but his debut was far from impressive, in my opinion.

Where Arsenal goes from here is difficult to know, as their confidence is so brittle. They will play a reserve team against Shrewsbury Town in the Carling Cup Tuesday night, and hopefully the first-team will have a week together to practice their defending. It's Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League next weekend, and they are one of the few clubs below Arsenal in the league.

It's a tough time to be an Arsenal fan, but that's when the true measure of a club's support can be seen. The blow-ins will soon disappear if Arsenal falls too far from grace, but the true fans are going nowhere. I count myself as a true fan, and I will never stop supporting my team and my club no matter what.

That's it for today.

Here are the highlights (lowlights) from yesterday's game.

See you tomorrow.