Fozzy 
Friday’s piece by Elliot Segal entitled Arsenal reach a fork in the road was very apt. It constantly played in my mind on my way to Ashburton yesterday afternoon. Were the players on display going to show mental strength or was our season going to fall apart completely?
With the usual suspects filling in for our missing players, I felt that the outcome of this game was going to rest on:
1. A good performance by The Arse;
2. Not having an atrocious ref;
3. Their keeper not having the game of his life.
As it happened, none of these three outcomes occurred.
Our first half display was probably as soporific as it could possibly get. Somehow we made a poor team, like Sunderland, look rather useful. Two defining moments before half time summed it all up. Firstly, Diaby, who had an absolute stinker of a game, was instrumental in leading a break out, and with players running into space all around him, instead of a quick through ball, he suddenly stopped still to gaze around him, and the break fizzled out. Then, his partner in crime, Deckchair Denilson, who yet again could not see a forward pass if it hit him in the face, whilst standing on the edge of his penalty area, treated us to his umpteenth back pass of the match. The only problem was that he didn’t look and the ball rolled out for a corner to Sunderland.
It seemed so obvious to everybody around me that Messrs Deckchair and Diaby do not possess the ability to play at this level, yet Weng keeps selecting them. Very strange. The penny must have dropped after an hour because Weng replaced Deckchair with Chamakh, an unusual tactic for our manager as he normally waits until 70 minutes before making a change. Diaby was next to leave the field of play, fortunately not as a result of a red card. He was replaced by Rosicky, but Aaron might have been a better bet. However, with more bite, we created more chances, but alas it didn’t happen.
We now move on to the second of my three points. The referee was atrocious. Remember the name, Anthony Taylor. Stats show this was the first time that this man has officiated The Arse. I sincerely hope it’s the last. He was incompetent to the extreme. I am sure the TV highlights will dwell on the key decisions that he got wrong. This man is a product of lower league football, and I just hope that he returns to that level very quickly.
Finally, why do opposition keepers have a nasty habit of playing blinders against us? Full marks to Simon Mignolet, and whilst we are on the subject of keepers, full marks also to Mr Chesney for keeping out a Welbeck scorcher.
Although our defence held firm, our only creative players who had any wits about them were Jack, Sammy and The Dwarf. Sorry chaps, not nearly good enough.
