Opinion on Arsenal performance in the BPL in the 08/09 season

This year is one of the most competitive season in the BPL. So far what has happen is Chelsea unbeatable home record of unbeaten run has been put to an end by Liverpool. Manchester United is shaky but still on the tailcoat of Chelsea and Liverpool. ( Liverpool is doing very having beaten both Manchester United and Chelsea)

Not only at the top, the gap between the bottom club and the middle table team, is a gap of only 8 points. Therefore if any of the bottom team is able to string a few good results, they will immediately be out of the relegation zone.

However there is one team from the big 4 which has been the most inconsistent is Arsenal.


The below is a screenshot of the league as of the 18th of November.

Arsenal this season has been blowing hot and cold. They are able to beat Manchester United but are losing to teams like Stoke and Hull city. Stoke and Hull City are teams which in previous seasons, Arsenal will outplayed these teams and beat them convincingly. In this season, the Arsenal team seems to be lacking a cutting edge in the final third. They are still maintaining their high standard of intrigue passing and fast movement in the midfield and defence but once it goes to the opposition half, there seem to be something lacking.

In my opinion, Arsenal is crossing more often in the box especially if Walcott is in the team which is something some commentator has criticized them previouslyas lacking width. However, there is usually one player in the box when the cross come in. As a result, the cross is wasted. Their main striker Adebayor is usually not in the penalty box. It can get frustrating at times when you see the sole target man is not in the box but is on the flank. Whether this is intentionally setup in this way so that like Henry previously the main striker will cut from the flank and cause problem for the opposition, however in my opinion Adebayor is not the same type of player.

Therefore in recent matches his effectiveness is less apparent. In addition, the defense of Arsenal seems to be shaky in the last few games. They have been conceding quite a lot of goals. It seem strange that now Toure is on the bench when he was outstanding in center defence in the last few seasons. Gallas has been caught out for a few of the goals.

Arsenal really have a great youth system and there is talent abundance. However in the current condition, they are too inconsistent to last a title race and they do not have a plan B once their silky football is unable to make a breakthrough unlike Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Arsenal will always entertain the fans with their play but are unlikely to win a leagu title unless they add some steel into their team to lead the team when the going gets tough. All the other teams have such a player, example Chelsea has Terry and Lampard, Liverpool has Gerrard and Manchester United has Gary Neville, Giggs, Rooney.

Taking everything into consideration, Arsenal is only a bit behind Manchester United so it is not all gloom.

The future is bright for Arsenal but whether the fans can tolerate a fourth season without any silverware remains to be seen.

This should be a very exciting race for the title.

Visit to Shin Kushiya ( Japanese food)

The below is a review of the Shin Kushiya outlet at Vivocity.
It is supposed to specialised in the grilled style of cooking but they also offered a whole range of other selection such as tempura/ramen/sushi.

Screenshot of the menu

We decided to order a mixture of their offering and of course we also ordered some of their grilled items to try out.

The below is the salmon sushi and a wasabi octopus salad.
For the salmon sushi, the salmon was fresh and the sushi was just prepared as the rice was a bit warm so the combination of the salmon and the rice went very well.
For the wasabi salad, it was quite spicy till it cause a numbing effect but it combined surprising well with the chewy octopus bits and the cool vege which was mixed together.

The next item is the soft shell crab temaki. It is very well prepared and freshly served once it is done as the rice is still warm and the soft shell crab was very crisp. The combination of the crisp from the soft shell crab and the dried seaweed with the warm and soft rice in the center is a delight.

The below is the salmon sashimi. It is raw salmon with an accompaniment of wasaba.
The below is a sample of the grilled items.
We had the grilled squid, prawn, mushroom and the chicken.
I liked the grilled squid the most and the most disappointing is the grilled mushroom as I had tried better ones at another Japanese stall.

The below is the tempura prawn. It was good but nothing outstanding to stand out from its competitors.
The chicken teriyaki below was one of the best we had. It was very tender and the seasoning was very yummy. Thinking about it is making me hungry.
The below is the BBQ squid in Japanese style. It takes about 20 mins to prepare it. It was chewy and very full of flavour. I liked this dish a lot.
The last item was some noodle dish with tempura prawn.
In conclusion, the dishes in general are very nice with some outstanding items. The only downside is the pricing as it is more on the expensive side comparable to sushi tei. Therefore cannot go often as it is a bit pricy :)

Visit to Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao Outlet

These photos are taken a very long time back. Some of the dishes shown below seems to have been modified by the restaurant recently.

Anyway the below dishes are some of my favourites when I last visited the restaurant.

The first dish shown below is the fried eel.
It is fried to a crisp and it is coated with a sweet sauce. The combination of the sweet sauce and the crisp texture is a wonderful combination. Usually I will order this dish if I visit the outlet.


The next dish is the jelly fish appetizer. Unlike majority of places where usually the jelly fish is prepared in a sweet sauce, the preparation for this dish is to tossed in the jelly fish in a slightly salty sauce. It is quite nice.

The next dish is the sliced fish cooked with black fungus and spring onion. The fish meat is very tender and has a melt in your mouth sensation. The sauce is also very good to go with rice.

However in my recent visit, I do not seem to be able to find this dish in the menu. Maybe they change the name of the dish.

The next dish is a Sichuan dish. It is called 回鍋肉 in mandarin. In English, it can be termed as a twice cooked pork dish. This is because the pork will be cooked firsly by boiling and after which it will then be cut and stirred fried with some vege as shown below.

They also served some pancake to go with the dish. However personally prefer the dish to go with steaming hot white rice.

The last dish is also another Sichuan dish. It is Ma Po Tofu. It is tofu which is cooked in a spicy gravy with mince pork in it. The version offered here is not so authentic as it is supposed to have a numbing effect when you consumed it but i do not felt it :(.

However it is a great dish to go with rice. The silky texture of the tofu with the rich flavor of the gravy with the mince pork in it is really wonderful.

As can be seen, I am a rice lover hence the dishes I recommended are best to go with rice.