5 positives to take out from the Chelsea defeat - repost

Although we lost last night, there were a lot of positives to go with the negatives in the match. Here is what I thought were the good things that came out from last night's match:

1) I thought the defense had a good game taking care of the twin terrors; Drogba and Anelka. I know he scored but the Drog was relatively quiet throughout the game while Anelka was so well contained that he went into his sulking mood. We know our defenders couldn't match the Ivorian for speed or strength so the entire defense made it theirs to help each other out when in trouble. Sagna, in particular was tremendous. He made a couple of saving tackles when the central pair was in trouble. Really top class.

2) The intensity that we played was much higher than anything we have seen this season. For the start, we pressure the Chelsea players and they couldn't find the space they normally would. It was clear that Arsene had learned something from the two defeat last year and tried his keep the team as compact as possible.


3) Putting Diaby in front of the opposition defense was a masterstroke on the manager's part. He did work his socks off in chasing the ball down from the front together with Chamakh denied both Terry and Alex room to move of the defense. Also we did not see much of Cole and Ivanovic bombing down the flanks as they typically would do. The flank forwards Nasri and Arshavin made sure of the threat was neutralized for most part of the game.


4) We are now starting to be a threat in the air, from crosses and set-pieces. I don't think we have seen Arsenal score so many headed goals over the past few years. With Chamakh so good in the air, we really have a new dimension to our strategy. He managed to win the ball over Terry and Alex a number of times in the match. Also, both centerback Squillaci and Koscielny are proving a handful for defenders during corners and freekicks. Koscielny should have really scored early in the game and who knows the result who be different.


5) To round it up, I would just like to compliment two individual performances last night. Jack Wilshere is really showing his potential. I really like his composure and how he always there to receive the ball and distributes to the right player. He reminds me of a young Fabregas and is definitely capable of taking over from our Spanish captain should he leave for Barcelona. The current Wilshere is by no means the finished product so we should be very excited for him. Lastly, a good word for our keeper Fabianski, I know I said that if he plays we would lose (and we did!) but he can't be faulted for the loss. It's true he might have done better at the freekick but overall he played much better than expected. Kudos to you Fabianski.

Tomorrow I'll address some of the negatives that are still in the our game...till then