Punished by Milan and goodbye Henry‏

What a terrible loss. For the first 10 minutes we knocked the ball around nicely, demonstrating some of the calm that is needed when the volume is cranked up and the curva sud is holding up a banner that reads "7 Coppe Dei Campioni". But the way Arsenal wilted after Boateng's goal revealed a team with fragile self-belief. Rarely has Thomas Vermaelen looked so susceptible, partly to blame for two of the goals. Theo Walcott was so ineffective he was removed at half-time. Van Persie was isolated in attack, frustrated by the lack of support. Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey looked one-paced and, as if things could get any worse, we also lost Laurent Koscielny to a knee injury in the first half. Kevin-Prince Boateng fired the Italians ahead on 15 minutes with a sublime strike, before two goals by former Manchester City frontman Robinho and a penalty from the impressive Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the tie beyond the Gunners. Arsenal never really settled and were punished for some careless possession – and not even the introduction of Thierry Henry in the final game of his loan spell from New York Red Bulls could spark a fairytale comeback in what was a record European away defeat for the Gunners. Milan had not won any of their last 7 meetings with English clubs, yet they trashed us in heart breaking fashion. Wenger said we have a 2-5% chance of advancing in the Champs league. I don’t see us scoring 5goals in the second leg though. So we’re almost certainly out of the Champs league, that leaves us with only the FA cup in which we can still save this horrible season and get some much needed silverware. As far as the premier league, I think we can stay on that 4th spot, if we keep V.Persie fit, work really hard on the brittle defence and have some confidence. And who knows? If we beat Spurs next week we could still challenge them for 3’d place. It’s a long shot I know but I really believe we still have that 7-1 winning fire in us. Sunderland is the next hurdle we need to cross, they are strong and a well improved team, we have no Henry to get the winning goal but big G will be back for that match (I think ). Never give up on the Gunners, we could still get something out of this seemingly nothing season.

Laters. TheGhost.