Opinion - Arsenal Fans Put Through The Mill By Sam Limbert

Nothing is ever simple with Arsenal these days. On Saturday, the fans were put through the mill as what could and should have been a regulation home win turned into another farcical rollercoaster against Fulham. 

It's now at the point where most fans want to disembark, rather than scream "faster, faster", however, the white-knuckle ride does not appear set to stop anytime soon.

At 2-0 up, the team hadn't played scintillating football, with Fulham controlling the ball for large periods of the game, but they'd been clinical. Arsene Wenger has been critical of the team in recent weeks for the lack of creativity and chances, however there always looked to be goals in the side against Fulham. 

Olivier Giroud was excellent. His confidence is flowing and he is providing Arsenal with a good alternative to trying to slide crafty through-balls into the box. Both of his headers were well taken on Saturday. Theo Walcott also continued to look dangerous and although he didn't score he notched two assists. 

The Giroud-Walcott partnership continues to improve, making the latter's case to play as the lone striker increasingly difficult to back-up because of the way he is linking up with the big Frenchman from out wide. 

Lukas Podolski was able to contribute again with a goal, yet there are still some growing frustrations with the German. He seemed rather anonymous for most of the game, yet reminded the fans why he's highly regarded by finishing well for the second goal. It was a much more Arsenal-like move, and drastically better than the toothless attack witnessed last week at Old Trafford. 

Whilst there was attacking improvement, the defence and the midfield let the side down again; a switch of roles from the start of the season.

Fulham duo Dimitar Berbatov and Bryan Ruiz were constantly afforded too much space and made Arsenal suffer for it. Francis Coquelin struggled to pick them up as they roamed in front of the back four, and then weren't picked up by the defenders when going further up the pitch. On paper, Arsenal's midfield three should have dominated Fulham's two of Baird and Sidwell, yet when Berbatov or Ruiz dropped deep, they were able to dictate play. 

As a holding player, Mikel Arteta has generally had a good season, however due to injuries to others, he's yet to form a proper partnership in central midfield. That makes it difficult as both Arteta and his partner can be unsure of their responsibilities. That looked to be the case on Saturday when playing with Coquelin. 

Both of the first two Fulham goals came from free headers and goalkeeper Vito Mannone seems to be feeling the pressure of Wojciech Szczesny imminent return to the match day squad. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pole returns to the starting XI for next week's derby. Mannone could have kept out the second goal and it was frustrating when he didn't even dive for Berbatov's penalty. 

I was pleased to see Arteta take responsibility as the vice-captain to take the last-minute penalty, and clearly he wanted to atone for his lazy error to concede a penalty himself. It's easy to over analyse a penalty as there's always a chance it can be saved, but with the last kick of the game you just want the taker to smash the shot Julian Dicks style. Arteta went for placement and the risk didn't pay off. 

A successful penalty would not have masked the clear defensive deficiencies, but it would have given the squad a much needed boost before the North London derby. Ultimately, it wasn't the missed penalty that truly cost Arsenal three points, it was the failure to control the game when 2-0 up. 

The front-line are looking good and the goal-scoring feeling has returned. Yet until the defence gets back to shutting teams out, Arsenal will continue to drop points. 

Next up it's Tottenham and if the players can't fully concentrate for the full 90 minutes in that game, then they shouldn't be playing for Arsenal. The fans, who have had their emotions shredded already this season, will let them know it.

Source: ESPN