As far as the performance goes from last night, well… it’s all been said. Our goalkeeping situation is nothing short of shocking. I know for a fact that both Almunia and Fabianski are better than what they’ve shown of late, but for some unknown reason… neither of them are stepping up. Can Arsenal afford to wait any longer to do anything about it?

As for the shit officiating… are we surprised? I’m not. At least he was consistently bad on both sides of the ball. And, have you ever seen so much diving? It was worse than playing a pack of Italians. I don’t believe that video review during a game would be a good thing. It would slow the game down. But, why can’t we have post match reviews for blatant cheating? We have some review for spurious goals and such, so why not video review after the fact when someone dives? Fucile could be given a nice three game ban for trying to deceive the official.

But, there’s another situation brewing that concerns me deeply. Cesc Fabregas. As a player, I love him. He’s not on his absolute best form just now, but as an attacking midfielder, there’s very few who could fill his shoes. My concern is over him as a captain. I get the feeling it’s not going so well. I was as happy as anyone when he was given the armband, and I really do want him to stay and be successful with the club. Yet, on several occasions now, I’ve seen him show his displeasure with the team in a most un-captainly way. Of course, the team has given him plenty of reason to be upset of late. But to me, an extremely important quality of a captain, in my opinion, is to inspire. And a side being beaten and making mistakes all over the pitch needs that inspiration more than anything. Yet, I don’t see it coming from Cesc. Actually, quite the opposite. The latest example was last night, after a blown corner from the left, Cesc’s reaction toward Bendtner said it all. Did he offer advice? Did he try to encourage? No. He berated Bendtner, who I might add probably had a better game than Cesc, like he was a child. And the manner in which he did was the furthest thing from inspirational. He was petulant, derisive, condescending, even insulting. Those are not good qualities to have in a captain. You’re certainly not going to get your best performance out of your players that way. Especially not when they’re already on the backfoot. And, Bendtner is one of the few players out there who seems like he really wants it! He’s running his ass off trying to make something happen, and he gets shit from Cesc. Where was this sort of reaction when Wutang popped two goals into our own net for Porto? Maybe he just doesn’ get on with Bendtner? Perhaps it’s a sign of his own immaturity? Perhaps, and rightly so, he’s a bit frustrated and dreaming of his triumphant return to Barcelona. But, why belittle your teammates? By all means, get angry at them, show them how pissed off you are and how much you require them to turn things around. But condescension and schoolboy reactions won’t get that out of anyone. Lead by example, and grow up a bit first.

It’s going to be an interesting summer. *sigh*