I admit it – Yesterday, I lost the faith (13/8)

[Cesc is God]

I didn't lose the faith. How could he lose the faith now anyway? Every game last season was like that!

[stearmaster]

i lost the fu***ng plot wen we scored i went fu**ing mental literly. lol

neway we won...and the faith is still here

[Magic Hat]

I think 4-4-1-1 was forced upon us by only having Van Persie/Walcott and our tall dane as choices for up front. I only saw the game on MoTD so can't comment and yes I do understand the feeling of "We just aren't going to score" but we must trust Arsene and the team to come through, we kept going to the end and while work needs to be done, let us be glad for the win.

[MK Gould]

Against Fulham I too was pulling my hair out - but managed to keep the faith. The reason I was able to do so was that was
1 Both Hleb and Rosicky had shots on target
2 We ere creating chances
3 Warner in goal was playing a blinder
4 We'd had a couple of decent shouts for penalties
5 I don't think our current team understand the concept of quitting.
6 We were not doing it but no one as I recall threw a moody, they believed in themselves. quite justifably in the end.

I think Sammy Mooner sums up how I felt about the performance. We got off the hook at the end, and it wasn't a question of us not finishing them off - more the other way around. But there were quite a few positives to come out of it. Hleb was definitely MOTM - & I'd decided that even before he scored the winner. Eboue & Sagna worked wonders down the right - & this was their first proper game together. Bendtner showed enough to suggest he'll get a few starts this time around. And it was nice to win in spite of Cesc not firing on all cylinders, and when we were missing a number of key players - Ade, Eduardo, Gilberto, Diaby to name but four. Where was Denilson? And why wasn't Fabianski on the bench? I thought he was now our number 2 keeper?

It was also a good atmosphere (Has Elvis become the official anthem?? If so then why not put the words on screen??) and pleasing to see that so few people had left by the time Hleb scored in the last minute.

Remaining concerns:
- Forget Mad Jens "lapse" in the first minute. Nice to get it out of the way in a match we ended up winning. It was the sheer number of chances that worried me. Despite being pleased with our overall performance, Fulham should have finished us off!
- Gilberto - He was sorely missed on Sunday, and yet it looks from the outside as if Arsene thinks he is surplus to requirements. Not sure I'd agree.....!!

[All_Arsenal_1886]

Against Fulham I too was pulling my hair out - but managed to keep the faith. The reason I was able to do so was that was
1 Both Hleb and Rosicky had shots on target
2 We ere creating chances
3 Warner in goal was playing a blinder
4 We'd had a couple of decent shouts for penalties
5 I don't think our current team understand the concept of quitting.
6 We were not doing it but no one as I recall threw a moody, they believed in themselves. quite justifably in the end.

I think Sammy Mooner sums up how I felt about the performance. We got off the hook at the end, and it wasn't a question of us not finishing them off - more the other way around. But there were quite a few positives to come out of it. Hleb was definitely MOTM - & I'd decided that even before he scored the winner. Eboue & Sagna worked wonders down the right - & this was their first proper game together. Bendtner showed enough to suggest he'll get a few starts this time around. And it was nice to win in spite of Cesc not firing on all cylinders, and when we were missing a number of key players - Ade, Eduardo, Gilberto, Diaby to name but four. Where was Denilson? And why wasn't Fabianski on the bench? I thought he was now our number 2 keeper?

It was also a good atmosphere (Has Elvis become the official anthem?? If so then why not put the words on screen??) and pleasing to see that so few people had left by the time Hleb scored in the last minute.

Remaining concerns:
- Forget Mad Jens "lapse" in the first minute. Nice to get it out of the way in a match we ended up winning. It was the sheer number of chances that worried me. Despite being pleased with our overall performance, Fulham should have finished us off!
- Gilberto - He was sorely missed on Sunday, and yet it looks from the outside as if Arsene thinks he is surplus to requirements. Not sure I'd agree.....!!

Yeah i agree with Sammy Mooner and MK Gould
I thought we played well against Fulham, let's not forget they have spent over £20m during pre-season so most of their players were well up for the challenge.
For me Helb was man-of-the-match also solid performances from Sagna, Eboue, Gael, William and Flammini. RvP looked a bit off the pace, Cesc i think has just recoverd from flu so wasn't 100% Lehmann well he turned up 10 minutes late and Kolo and Rosicky didn't play at their best either.
I'm happy about the fact Helb seems to prefer his new role just off RvP, Sagna and Eboue linked well down the right and the fact that we was able to bring on players that changed game around Bendtner and Walcott i thought did very well after coming on.
My concerns are RvP taking one to many touches, if he is going to be Arsenal's top goal scorer he will need to shoot more on sight of goal my other concern is not of the team but referee's and the press, one game into the season and we are being called cheats and divers i just hope this dosen't play on the minds of Refs during the game (although i think it will)
One last thing i would like to say when Helb scored Rosicky's reaction showed how much he cares for the club and the team gathering at the end of the game was a good statement to other teams in the premiership "We are here as a team and will fight as a team right to the end"

[tel]

I thought it was a good result considering the start we had. It was good to see the lads play all the way to the final whistle and very good to see Bendtner prove his class on the big stage. I'm still concerned at the lack of width particularly on the left. Rosicky isn't a left winger and never will be and putting Eboue on the right is clearly another money saving exercise from the club. Why did we play such a negative formation at home? I would expect to see that formation away in Europe to be honest. Not too many early leavers on Sunday although bloke a few rows in front with 2 kids left 15 mins before the end, he won't make that mistake again

All in all pretty happy after an opening game that was a struggle.

[gunners-need-steel]

yeah, I found it a hair-raising experience .. really scary stuff .. especially with my realisation of its significance to the psyche of this relatively young team ...

All in all, it was the first match of the season, and already frayed nerves did not get helped by mad-jens' howler ... so, lets not make too much of that. I also felt like Le Boss was actually assessing his team as well, and may try a few strange things in the next couple of weeks while he finalises the shape of the first team ...

Flamini may not be the most skilled, but he did give 110% .. and in my opinion, that has to count for something .. and besides, he has never really been played long enough at any one position to fully settle into the role .. so, folks should think of that before slagging him off too heavily ...