Arsenal 2 Tottenham 3

The presence of the reverred Thierry Henry in the stands proved uninspiring enough for the eleven men in red and white down on the pitch. The vibrant mood of both the crowd and the occasion proved inadequate.
The incentive to go top of the league and finally earn some respect for this team and this squad remained inadequate.
Not even a dream start in the 9th minute was enough cushion to build on and deliver a resounding win over fast-developing Tottenham.
We capitulated in the most-spectacular of styles on an early winter afternoon as we yielded bragging rights in North London to the visitors who taught us a lesson in perseverance in adversity.
After two earlier defeats to West Brom and Newcastle, we need discovered in the most unbelievable of wasym that something drastic need to be done to turn our fortunes around - at home for starters.
It’s actually painful and needless recounting the events that afternoon. It is quite pointless. Because the outcome of the match only really deserves a post-mortem. That is the only sort of response that befits such a stinker of a game, because something must have died in all Gunners who witnessed the events of last Saturday at the Emirates. The manner of that defeat; in front of over 60,000 adoring fans; after such a positive start; to Tottenahm of all teams in the world; must have killed the spirit of Gunners everywhere like nothing else.



Can't watch this...Wenger suffers on the sidelines

Only the ratings deserve any kind of analysis and they follow below: • Fabianski (6/10) – Couldn’t be blamed for all of their three goals, which included a penalty kick and a headed freekick. They say a goalkeeper is often as good as the defenders in front of him and this game bore perfect testimony to that. All his good work and performances for us in the past six weeks were flung out of the window in 45 minutes and you must feel sorry for him. What can be said about him though is that, he has made a name for himself and saved us aplenty in the past weeks and this result takes nothing away from him.
• Clichy (6/10) – Did his stuff very well in the first half andtried to drive us forward in the second after the Tottenham response. Unfortunately as a defender, he had a lot of ground to cover before troubling the Tottenham defence especially as he had to do most of the work required of Arshavin after the latter was substituted.
• Squillaci (6/10) – Still did well in the light of all the mayhem at the back. Stood up well to the Tottenham attackers and I remember vivivdly one moment in the first half when he robbed Pavlyuchenko. He however was badly let down by both his mates in defence and where he was bein glooke dupon as the leader at the back, it never happened.
• Koscielny (5/10) – Returned from a two-game suspension to slot in beside Squillaci and after an efficient first half, even he would have been shaking his head in disbelief on how it all could have gone wrong in the next 45. He missed a sitter of a header late in the game that would have salvaged something for us and for that, there’s no excuse whatsoever. Still not to blame individually for the collapse at the back.
• Sagna (6/10) – Arsene Wenger’s explanation that the midweek internationals accounted for the fatigue of some key players must bhave applied to him directly. After a dream first half where he pocketed the dangerous and celebrated Gareth Bale, he seemed to run out of steam in the second half as Tottenham seized the initiative. He wasn’t culpable of any individual errors, except that Bale eventually influenced the match by simply switching positions and escaping the clutches of Sagna.
• Song (6/10) – Did his best to commandeer the midfield and effectively kept the ball from the Tottenahm duo of Jermaine Jenas and Luka Modric in the first half. It was to be as good as it go though. His unfortunate and wrongly-called foul on Modric at the edge of the box led to the freekick which Van DerVaart hit and was blocked by Fabregas’s arm , thus resulting in a most-needless penalty. Bad luck all round on a thoroughly luckless day.
• Denilson (6/10) – Did very well as a shield for the defence and allowed Song to excel in the latter’s new-found love for roaming forward. Dished out tackles with gusto and clearly overshadowed the Tottenham midfielders in the first half. He seemed high on adrenalin from the Everton game where he fashioned out the winner and it showed in his high energy levels and confidence.
• Fabregas (7/10) – Despite his mistake which brought about the Tottenham penalty and second goal, it would be unkind to accuse him of causing our defeat. This is due to the fact that he drove the team forward in the first half and supplied the ball that Nasri tucked away for the opener. He was his effervescent and crafty self until Tottenham woke up and events contrived to had them three goals. Fabregas almost scored himself with a latre curler that Heurelmo Gomes turned around the post spectacularly. The captain never shirked all through and fought gallantly to the end.
• Arshavin (7/10) – Funny enough, for someone often accused of a lack of effort, he put in a fine shift Saturday afternoon. He took up threatening positions all afternoon and provided the assist that Marouane Chamakh scored for our second goal. He continually took on the defence of Willam Gallas and Kaboul but as with Sagana, the midweek exertions for his country finally caught up with him deep in the game. Made way for Walcott in the 70th minute.
• Nasri (6/10) – Got us off to a dream start with a goal of sheer perseverance in the 9th minute and celebrated with true passion. His runs were almost unreadable and was never afraid to run at the Tottenham defence. Tired visibly in the second half and ran out of steam after playing almost the netire game of the France-England friendly in midweek.
• Chamakh (5/10) – Our Moroccan target man weaved his magic again by scoring our second goal but he will want to forget this game in a hurry. Another one who played a full game internationally in the midweek, it showed when he meekly lost an easy one-on-one with Gomes ball in the 60th minute from where Tottenham launched a counter attack that ended with a goal. No surprises that he was immediately substituted and must take a large measure of blame for the eventual mayhem that inspired Tottenham.


Substitutes
• Van Persie (5/10) – Came on for a knackered Chamakh but couldn’t inspire us to a much-needed win. His flighted freekick almost proved fruitful but Squillaci’s connection was rightly ruled offside.
• Walcott (5/10) – He replaced Arshavin as we went for a desperate search for goals. Didn’t have enough time though to influence proceedings and apart from a hurried shot from the right late in the game that Gomes caught, he did little else.

Where to go from here now? Chamakh, one of the biggest culprits on this day of infamy provides an idea:

"It will help us to forget the Tottenham game and we must focus on Braga and get a victory. The group is tight, there are three teams going for top spot so we know we need to get a win over there.''

Fingers crossed, we'll see how quickly words can be turned into action.