By Ben Harrington

I haven’t written anything recently due to being unable to attend any of the games over the festive period, but I felt compelled to share my views on the festive log jam.

I think you can title this period as one of missed chances, well a shitload of them in all honesty. Dropped points at home to Wolves and Fulham away are simply not what was required against two inferior teams on paper. We also managed two laboured and highly unconvincing wins over Aston Villa and QPR.

The things that stand out for me the most in all of these games is the missed chances and the bum deal we get from referees. Theo has gone so far off the boil he is swimming with the penguins in the North Pole and Gervinho seriously needs to practice his shooting because he will probably end up with a statue depicting his “hands over face whilst on knees after another missed chance pose”. I am aware it is his first season, but the clear goal scoring burden on Van Persie is starting to show its strain on the skipper.

RVP looked in desperate need of a break in the second half against Fulham, but then again he was so starved of service in the second half he could have had a sit down at any point. The sight that scared me the most over the past fortnight was Almunia and Squillachi on the bench, those two have obviously had to be unchained from Wenger's dungeon in this time of injuries. I can only hope we get a couple of players back before the Leeds match as a side containing those two is a tad scary.

The standard of refereeing in the Premier league has taken a huge nose dive this season, it does seem like we are getting the raw end of most decisions recently, I wont dwell on this subject as in the two games we dropped points we had more than enough chances to bury both games before any referee intervention, but how much longer will the FA allow these sub standard performances to continue?

There has been a bit of transfer news as well, some bloke called Thierry Henry is on the verge of re-joining. I have seen a lot of peoples takes on this loan deal, but mine is although I am delighted he is coming back even for such a short time, his legacy should be left intact as I can see the Tweets and headlines IF he was to have a few poor games or miss some easy chances. I like most would prefer the boss to make some permanent signings to boost numbers in certain positions. A left back and a striker have to be top of the priority list as once Thierry returns to the USA we will be in the same position of having Chamakh and Park as cover for RVP’s chocolate legs.

I am delighted that Frimpong has gone out on loan to Wolves for the rest of the season, I really hope that it has the same effect it had on Jack and he comes back a better and more complete player.

That’s about it from me this time, counting down the days to my next live game which should be Manchester United at home.

Hope to see some of you there!

Until next time…

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