Arsenalist

Marouanne Chamakh 1-0: Watch :: Download

The illegitimate son of Carles Puyol 1-1: Watch :: Download

BONUS! Michel Bastos Freekick against Celtic

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Theo Walcott 1-0: Watch :: Download

Jay Thomas 2-0: Watch :: Download

Marouane Chamakh (pen) 3-0: Watch :: Download

Vela 4-0: Watch :: Download

Vito Mannone Penalty Save: Watch :: Download

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They lost the game, and he looks a little silly in that shirt, but we love him:

Clichy’s bad season continued:

Then Domenech showed his true colors. Again.

New Zealand tied Italy, the Swiss beat Spain, Serbia beat Germany, Algeria held England, and North Korea gave Brazil trouble in the first half. More and more we’re seeing determined defenses have success against what are considered potent attacks. Lot of the commentators and pundits are criticizing the favorites for not putting forth the effort in these matches, this is especially true of the English press which has been very harsh on England so far in this World Cup. This criticism has been mainly undeserved, at least on the basis of effort.

Watching these matches, it is evident that the teams are putting forth a tremendous amount of effort and playing with a sense of urgency (except for France), yet they can’t seem to find a way to goal. The cold hard fact is that for a team that has decided to defend for 90 minutes, it is easier to absorb pressure and stand your ground than it is for the other team to break them down. It requires real quality and teamwork to score against a set defense, and as Arsenal fans we should be the first to know this. Week in and week out we see the likes of Wigan, Birmingham, Stoke City, Hull City etc. put 10 men in the box and hold us for 75 or so minutes. Once the mind and body get tried, that’s when Arsenal tend to score because they are consistent with their quality and have experience in these situations.

That experience and quality is too often missing from the national teams, who don’t get a chance to blend together as a team but are picked by a manager and asked to play together without the needed training time, which happens very infrequently. So to ask Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney to break down an Algerian team that has its heart set to defend, or asking Spain to crack a Swiss team that only knows how to defend is not an easy task. I don’t doubt the effort level of the Spanish or English players in these matches, simply put, the task in front of them is difficult.

The same could be argued the other end, shouldn’t defenses run into the same problems of inconsistency and unfamiliarity as attack? Yes, but defending has more to do with will, determination, focus than with actual talent. It is no doubt that talent is involved in defending, but not to the degree as it is in midfield or a forward position.

Big Nick had a pretty good game.

It wasn’t a goal, but the first Arsenal-related scoring play saw Robin Van Persie control the ball in the box before squeaking it up to Wesley Sneijder whose shot was too hot to handle for the goalie.