Ugh!

Work is really ruining my desire (and willingness) to write on a very regular basis. Last night, after coming home at 11:00PM, watching the match till 2, all I wanted to do was go to sleep for the next 6 hours before going back to work. Do you know what's interesting about indenture of mortgage documents? Nothing, nothing at all. Plus tomorrow I'm going to be assigned to a new matter, and while the client involved is huge (and famous), I can't divulge the name on account of confidentiality even though there's a good chance that I'm going to be in office till pretty late.

Okay, enough whining about being a lawyer (it's actually pretty cool. Not Suits cool, but definitely cooler than being an accountant or something), and onto things Arsenal. The match last night made me yawn a little, drive some insects out of my room, and every so often curse Giroud on twitter. I like our HFB, but he's neither match fit, nor has he ever been clinical. Not that the rest of the team was much better. Nor was Besiktas' team for that matter. 

Ba missed the chances that he did get, and was owned by Chambers for large parts of the game. Our very own Giroud missed a fair number of chances, and kept flicking the ball into oblivion. Look, we all enjoyed the goal against Norwich, it was great. But it's been a year, get over it and pass like a human again. Sanchez offered plenty of drive and seemed most likely to create a goal, but there was still some end product missing from his game. Though it has to be said that it was a huge step up from the match against Crystal Palace and he seems to be growing from match to match. Santi Cazorla had another very, very poor match. I don't know what's wrong with our little Spaniard, but for the past two matches he's been a peripheral figure, only seen when there's a free kick to be taken or something. On the basis of his recent performances, I'd rather play Chamberlain. He of course wasn't the only guilty player and Aaron Ramsey's red card in the 80th minute seemed to sum up our attacking performance.

For the past two games, we've somewhat lacked creativity and the ability to create chances. Our goals against Crystal Palace came from set pieces, and the last night's match had barely a handful of chances. Which makes me glad that Ozil is going to be returning soon (hopefully against Everton). For all the shtick that he got last season, he still is one of the few players in the team that can literally create a chance out of nothing. With him on the team, Sanchez could possibly concentrate on scoring rather than creating, and we wouldn't be as dependent on Giroud's finishing ability (which is wildly inconsistent).

It wasn't really a dull match though. Not hugely entertaining, but not boring either. Defensively we were pretty sound, and Chambers really does seem to have a wise old head on his shoulders. Other than a slip which allowed Ba to go past him, he was solid for most of the game. Considering he's 19 years old and has never played in the Champions League ever before, it was a really great performance. Definitely worthy of the Man of the Match. While I'd be a little cautious in pronouncing him as the next great defender, he does seem like an astute buy from Wenger, and definitely worth the 16 million we paid for him. 

In the end, the match doesn't really put us a terrible position, it does leave us slightly uncomfortable in terms of where we want to be. We're going to be worrying about the away goal rule, which is never really nice, and it would have been that much more simpler if we'd just scored one or two goals. The team looks as if it's still gelling from an attacking point of view, which is rather strange considering that Alexis is the only new player to join the first team. Hopefully, we'll have learnt the lessons from last night and shall put them to good use against Everton, which is no easy feat even without Ross Barkley. In all likelihood, we'll also get to see our Germans for the first time this season. Maybe they can spur our team into action again? There's nothing that cannot be solved by a good ole BFG yelling. 

That's it for now. I'll try writing sooner next time, work permitting of course. 

Cheers