November was a month to remember as Arsenal continued the form of October with a good run unbeaten run that was ended by a defeat in the hands of Manchester City. Arsene Wenger’s men began the month with a nervy 0-0 draw against Marseille and this was followed with a scintillating performance against West Brom.
Robin van Persie inspired a 2-1 win over Norwich City with a brace and he continued his hot streak with another brace against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Thomas Vermaelen was left red-faced when he scored on the wrong end of the pitch when Fulham visited the Emirates but he atoned for his error with a commanding header on the right end of the pitch to salvage a draw for his team. The month ended with an unfortunate 0-1 loss to Manchester City in the Carling Cup quarterfinals.
I made a series of polls on the blog and I also engaged my followers on Twitter as well as the fans on Facebook and a voting sequence took place for some special Gooner Daily awards and the winners have emerged.
SAVE OF THE MONTH
Arsenal played six games in the month of November and conceded four goals. In terms of goalkeeping personnel, Lukasz Fabianski was reduced to just one Carling Cup game against Manchester City while Wojciech Szczesny kept in the remaining five.
The nominated saves Wojciech Szczesny’s save from Loic Remy’s shot when Arsenal drew with Marseille, Wojciech Szczesny’s save from Moussa Dembele’s shot when Arsenal shared the spoils with Fulham and Wojciech Szczesny’s save from Nathan Pickington’s free kick when Arsenal beat Norwich.
The results were:
Wojciech Szczesny from a Loic Remy shot (Marseille) (01.11.11): 47.73%
Wojciech Szczesny from a Nathan Pickington free kick (Norwich) (19.11.11): 29.55%
Wojciech Szczesny from a Moussa Dembele shot (Fulham) (26.11.11): 22.73%
Szczesny in action against Marseille
ASSIST OF THE MONTH
Arsenal smashed in 13 goals in September and went one better with 14 goals last month but the goals dried up a bit in November as the Gunners recorded only eight goals. The nominated assists were Alex Song’s cross to Robin van Persie when Arsenal beat Dortmund, Theo Walcott’s cross to Thomas Vermaelen when Arsenal drew with Fulham and Song’s pass to van Persie when Arsenal beat Norwich.
The results were:
Alex Song’s cross to Robin van Persie (Dortmund) (23.11.11): 84%
Alex Song’s pass to Robin van Persie (Norwich) (19.11.11): 5%
Theo Walcott’s cross to Thomas Vermaelen (Fulham) (26.11.11): 3%
Lionel Song
“…Arsenal got the breakthrough in stunning fashion. Alex Song invoked the spirit of Lionel Messi and singlehandedly took on five or more defenders showing quick feet before sending a cross that was headed home by van Persie”
Culled from Arsenal 2 Dortmund 1: Arsenal shows their English counterparts how it’s done
GOAL OF THE MONTH
Arsenal banged in eight goals in six matches in November and the goals where shared amongst three players; Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Mikel Arteta. The nominations were Mikel Arteta’s placed finish when Arsenal beat West Brom, Robin van Persie’s impudent chip when Arsenal beat Norwich and Thomas Vermaelen’s strong header when Arsenal drew with Fulham.
The results were:
Robin van Persie’s chip against Norwich (19.11.11): 65.22%
Mikel Arteta’s placed shot against West Brom (05.11.11): 21.74%
Thomas Vermaelen’s header against Fulham (26.11.11): 13.04%
“Van Persie scored what proved to be the winner when he chipped the ball over the goalie after receiving a carefully-weighted pass from Alex Song.”
Culled from Norwich 1 Arsenal 2: Van Persie leads Arsenal’s charge up the table with a brace
MATCH OF THE MONTH
Arsenal won three games in the six they played and the nominations where Arsenal’s commanding 3-0 victory over West Brom, Arsenal’s impressive 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal’s away 2-1 win over Norwich.
The results were:
Arsenal 2 Dortmund 1 (23.11.11): 66.67%
Arsenal 3 West Brom 0 (05.11.11): 21.43%
Norwich 1 Arsenal 2 (19.11.11): 11.9%
“At the sound of the final whistle, the crowd that had a certain Thierry Henry and Roger Federer watching celebrated as Arsenal were heading straight to the knockout phase as the leaders of the group so Platini won’t be able to pair the club with Barcelona till the quarter final at least.”
Culled from Arsenal 2 Dortmund 1: Arsenal shows their English counterparts how it’s done
WORST MATCH OF THE MONTH
There were some games that disappointed the Arsenal faithful in November and the nominated games where the stalemate against Marseille, the disappointing 1-1 draw with Fulham and the 0-1 loss to Manchester City.
The results were:
Arsenal 1 Fulham 1 (26.11.11): 56.1%
Arsenal 0 Marseille 0 (01.11.11): 31.71%
Arsenal 0 Man City 1 (30.11.11): 12.2%
The Verm atoning for his error
“Arsenal’s draw against Fulham has dented the impressive run that saw the Gunners win eight of their last nine games. It’s true that players are meant to rest in some games but Arsene Wenger of all people should know that you should never change a “winning team” especially when they are all fit.”
Culled from Thomas Vermaelen cleans up his mess
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE MONTH
October has been a month were many Gunners stepped up the plate but three Gunners improved more than the rest in November.
The nominations were Laurent Koscielny, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The results were:
Laurent Koscielny: 51.11%
Theo Walcott: 31.11%
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 17.78%
Koscielny didn’t play against Marseille, he had an 8.0 rating against West Brom, 7.5 against Norwich, 7.5 against Dortmund, rested against Fulham and 7.5 against Manchester CIty thereby earning a Gooner Daily average rating of 7.625.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
The usual suspect Andrey Arshavin was nominated again for a place in this position but he had the likes of Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey to keep him company.
However, the results were:
Andrey Arshavin: 82.5%
Aaron Ramsey: 10%
Gervinho: 7.5%
Arshavin had a 6.0 rating against Marseille, he had no rating against West Brom, an unused sub against Norwich and Dortmund, had a 5.0 rating against Fulham and no rating Manchester City thereby earning a Gooner Daily average rating of 7.625.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
My pick of the bunch, the prestigious award given to the best Gunner of November. Three Gunners were in blistering form last month but a certain Gunner was the best by a far mile.
The nominations were Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie and Alex Song and the results were:
Robin van Persie: 60%
Alex Song: 25%
Thomas Vermaelen: 15%
Van Persie came off the bench against Marseille, he had a 9.0 rating against West Brom, 8.0 against Norwich, 8.5 against Dortmund, 7.5 against Fulham and he was rested for the Manchester City game thereby earning a Gooner Daily average rating of 8.25.
I want to reserve special thanks to everyone that participated in this exercise. I believe that my end of the season review as well as season awards will be fun to write knowing fully that my esteemed readers had a hand in it.
You can see the awards for the previous months of August and September in the Awards category of this blog and you can also knock yourself out with last season’s review and end of the season awards.
Let’s do this again at the end of December.
Sayonara
