International Break…

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Newcastle 1-3 Arsenal: Taylor-made penis

So I’ve been gone a while…

Sorry for the lack of posting readers, it is purely down to Uni work as it I am coming to the end of handing my final year project in.  Oh the joys.

In my absents we have beat Hull in the FA Cup (up yours Phil Brown, you Cock), and we beat Blackburn 4-0 in the Premier League.  I watched the Hull game and with the game coming to an end I was becoming very fustrated at the prospect of us not getting to Wembley.  But we pulled the game around with a Van Persie goal after a cut back from Arshavin, and Gallas scored a header from an offside position to set up a Semi Final tie against Chelsea.

The Blackburn game was a rout, as so should it be against a poor poor Sam Alladyce side and we have never heard of one of those have we?  Andrei Arshavin’s goal was the highlight of the game with him scoring a sensational individual goal (similar to one he scored for Russia)  where he jinxed down the left wing with the defender expecting him to cut inside on his right foot but he continued to go down the left along the touchline and being one on one he lifted it over fatty Paul Robinson.  The other 3 goals were an own goal which Arshavin almost took credit for and the other two were scored by the goal machine Emmanuel Eboue. 

Now to yesterdays game.

We played Newcastle at St James Park and won 3-1. The game did not get started to the second half , I only remember a Van Persie shot blocked by Steven Taylor and a disgraceful forehand in the face of Arshavin from S.Taylor.  Oh yeh and some bloke called Martin missed a penalty for them.

We started the second half like we were the only team that was going to win the game.  When we earnt a free kick on the left wing when Ryan Taylor twice pulled back Gael Clichy.  Arshavin whipped in the freekick and Nicklas Bendtner stetched all his 6ft 4inches and headered a lovely header. 

Before I realised and got my stream back working, they had scored an equaliser after a defensive mix up by Gallas.  It wasn’t the best defending, but we will let Gallas have that one because he is actually playing very well at the moment. 

Five minutes later and Diaby played a ball to Van Persie, who then saw Diaby running into space left by S.Taylor who left the field to recieve some treatment and Van Persie passed the ball back to Diaby who ran directly into the box and suberbly finished high into Steven Harpers goal. 

Three minutes later Van Persie set up Samir Nasri who hit a clean strike past Harpers left hand. 

All round it was a good performance.  We are scoring goals again and not just one a game.  Bendtner played well again, he is showing good form and showing maturity older than his 21 years with good team play and a good work rate.  Its good to think that Adebayor will have a bit of competition when he comes back into the squad.  Which is what Adebayor needs because before his injury he showed little effort in his game and it was like he wasn’t worried that his place could be taken in the team at any point and showed that he really didn’t care about Arsenal FC (as you can tell I am not the biggest fan of Adebayor). 

Another positive from the game was how Diaby played.  He was always thought of being the next Vieira for obvious reasons.  But to me, he draws more comparisons Alexandre Hleb with his footwork.  However, he is much stronger and can tackle pretty damn well.  We do have some good competition in centre midfield with Fabregas coming back, Denilson playing well, Song showing quality in that holding midfield role, Diaby and Ramsey who is young and learning his trade as a centre midfielder.  I know people will say they are all young and inexperienced but hopefully they can all what to better each other and develop as players.

Finally, Im going to vent my anger at my game today.  We played one of the teams that could over take us as at the top of the league.  They have about 7 games in hand on us and can overtake us if they win their remaining games.  So today we had to win if we wanted to scumper their chances of overtaking us.  We went 1-0 down in the first half when they broke from our corner and beat our two defenders to score past our keeper.  For the rest of the half we were on top and scored when a free kick floated over their keeper hit the angle of the goal and one of our players followed up to blast it into an empty net.  For the rest of the game we continued to play the better of the two teams and create a few half chances.  Then…in the last min they won a corner the ball floated over the back post and their player to knock it over the line.  Then game the feeling of FOR GODS SAKE I was absolutely gutted.  We did not deserve to lose to a bunch or ego filled twats.  Apparently we have a month off for the other teams to catch up with us. What will I do with my Sunday mornings now?

Anyway that is my post over.  Good night

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When in Rome…make all your fans poo themselves

What a night, Arsenal go through to the quater finals of the Champions League. 

The game was apparently a boring boring game, I only caught the first half and the penalties.  So if i get things wrong please excuse me if my match report is rubbish.

So we started the game with our new european formation of 4-2-3-1  with our normal back four. Diaby and Denilson in the centre.  Bendtner on the left, Eboue on the right and Nasri supporting loan front man Van Persie. 

From what I remember not alot happened up until 10 mins when Roma played some neat football down their left crossed a low ball in with Gallas running back to intercept in the direction of Kolo. Gallas left the ball as he would have cleared it for a corner to Kolo to clear up the pitch.  In leaving the ball Gallas confused Kolo and he missed his clearance then…it went through Clichy’s legs and it found Juan who knocked it in at the back post.  It really was awful defending.  Kolo and Gallasleaving responsibility to one another wasn’t what you want in your own 18 yard box.

So, we were 1-0 down with 80 mins to score a goal to make Roma have to score two.  For the rest of the half we were awful, I can only remember one chance and that was a weak Diaby header straight at Doni in the Roma goal.

I watched the game with my friend Jamie in the pub due to the fact that we had a game of 6 aside at 8.50. Throughout the game the people behind us were moaning at several of Arsenal’s down falls, from Bendtners so selfish to theirs no one in our team that can head and the average height of our team is 5 ft 6….now…..don’t get me wrong, each fan can have their opinion and that but jesus.  Does he know know that Bendtners about 6ft 4, Diaby 6’2″, Kolo and William about 6 ft, Van Persie and Sagna perhaps just below that.  Some people just don’t have a clue.  The final straw was when one of them had to explain that Julio Baptista used to play for Arsenal…

So half time came and that signified me and Jamie to leave the pub, much to the delight of us both due to the poor match and the the worse fans.

So we went to 6 aside with the hope that we would come away from the match and hear that Arsenal had gone through.  At 6 aside we played the 2nd best team in the league.  They needed to win 13-0 to win the league. That wasn’t to say that they weren’t up for the game.  We won the game 2-1, with a first half  curler by Hadley after being set up by myself.  They scored early in the second half.  Then Jamie got free and down the left wing  one on one, and running out of space and (with eyes in the back of his head) pulled the ball back to me to slot it in under the keeper. It finished 2-1.  End of the season and we finished 5th.  Next season starts in a fortnight so bring it on.

So the game finished and I heard that we were 10 mins from penalties so I ran home and got a stream to watch the pens.  First up came Eduardo who came on in the 85th min for Bendtner, he placed the ball on the spot, looked confident and his shot to Doni’s right was saved.  Roma scored their next pen, then Van Persie his, next to Vucinic who tired to be cockey and place his ball slowly down the middle, but Almunia simply stood still and he kicked the ball away.  All square again, some neat penalties were taken and it went to sudden death.  Kolo, Sagna and Diaby comfortably put their spot kicks away. Now for the miss, it was Tornetto the roma left back who skied his spot kick over the bar.  Arsenal win. 

Wenger hailed the character of the squad for over coming the early goal and recovering from missing the first penalty.  He was right, we did show great character in the penalty shoot out through some nicely taken penaties.  We deserved to go through, even tho we was awful last night.  We have not always been on the right side of luck when it is handed out this season.  But today we got that luck we deserved and won the game.  Thank you.

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We’ve only got one Song

As you can tell from the title after watching the Arsenal v Burnely FA Cup I was impressed by the performance of not Eduardo, not Carlos Vela, not Eboue but Alex Song.  Don’t get me wrong I never knew why we brought this cousin of a former Liverpool player.  After having him on loan for a season, we decided to pay Bastia £1 million for him. Which I was confused at because I thought he was awful in the time I saw him.  However, after some impressive displays at center back in the Carling Cup, I grew to like him and to some degree wonder how he did it all.

He was not the tallest or the fastest, but he kept winning the ball in the tackle on the floor and out jumping some tall strikers.  But still I was not fully comfortable with him in the side. Untill this season…Wenger has shown faith in him and often played him center midfielder.  Looking at some stats, he has played a total of 30 games this season which is 5 more than the player who always seems to be in the team Denilson.  He truely is reaping the rewards of playing so much football.  In the position he plays, he is never going to get the headlines (except mine) but he has put in some top class displays this season, including today and from what I remember he had a very good game in our win at Chelsea and our 0-0 with Spurs, when Eboue got sent off  he was seen supporting the only striker in the 80th min. 

Like I said he is not the tallest yet he out jumped Emile Heskey several times in our game against Wigan this season.  He is great at timing and being strong in the tackle and I don’t think its possible for anyone to say at the end of the game that they have seen Song being bullied  in a game.

 His lazy looking attitude can be annoying towards Arsenal fans and other fans alike, but it is just the way he plays. His passing is the only thing that has let him down, sometimes a 10 yard pass to a team mate is not completed. 

You’ll struggle to see him getting any assists Woops…Today saw Song create two assists. 

So today saw Arsenal again boss a game in which they should do.  The first goal came after 25 mins, when Andrei Arshavin gained control and played a ball to Carlos Vela.  Vela with his first touch put the ball through the legs of the on coming Steven Caldwell and  beat two Burnley defenders for pace, one of which had his shirt, and then cheekily lobbed the opposition beast of a keeper.

The second goal came when Song played a lovely ball over the top of the Burnely defence and Eduardo timed his run perfectly and then somehow hit a volley with the outside of his left foot and it nestled in the far top corner. 2-0 on 51 mins.

Theo Walcott started the game on the bench and left it on 71 mins to play upfront with Van Persie who also entered the game from the bench.  Walcott created a chance for RVP but Robin mearly swung his foot and sliced the ball wide.  Walcott was then put through by Arshavin and Theo could not find a way past Jensen in the Burnley goal.

In the 84th min Gallas played a ball through to who was on the egdge of the area and produced a magnificent back heel to the ‘third man running’-Emmanuel Eboue and as I was screaming ‘don’t put your foot through it like you usually do and it goes over’- well i wasn’t really I was nearly thinking it.  He took it in his stride and put the ball in the bottom corner.  3-0 Full time.

Positives from the Game include:

• Alex Songs performance
• Another goal for Eduardo
• Carlos Vela showing the finishing he showed earlier on in his Arsenal Career
• Theo Walcott getting minutes under his belt, ahead of the game against Roma in which he could play a vital role from the bench if we are chasing the game

So we won the game and if we beat Hull at the Emirates  in the next round we go on to play Chelsea at Wembley.  Lets not get ahead of ourselves but it will be good to see Arsenal at Wembley again.

A long post so Im not going to go into my two weekend games in which we lost the first 4-1 (should have been less) and then today I lost 3-1 in which I have to admit their second was my fault. But it was only a cup game and they are in the league above us, so not the end of the world.  Thats all folks.

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Bendtner and City brace’s puts Villa under pressure

My 3-1 prediction for the Fulham match was of course meant for the West Brom game…

I watched the game from the comfort of my bed via a stream on my computer. We bossed the game from the start and withing moments of me sitting down to watching the game we took the lead through a corner which was cleared to Denilson on the egde of the box, Bendtner backed out to the far touch line to find the space and recieved the pass from Denilson.  He then saw himself one on one with a West Brom player, cut inside and then placed a lovely left footed curler into the bottom corner. 

Within 2 or 3 mins we gave away a free kick on the area  and Chris Brunt, whose last name reminds me of something similar to what i believe him to be, hit it through our ‘wall’ and into the bottom corner.  Whether he meant it or not is hard to work out but whatever he meant, it meant we were now drawing 1-1 with 7 mins of the game gone. 

You could’t really see West Brom scoring any more goals as we took control from early on.  Bendtner had another chance at a goal when Eboue played a ball through to Bendtner in an offside position and with no linesman flag in sight he put his effort wide.  Arshavin, who again started, completed another 90 mins and impressed, saw a left footed shot go wide of the target.  He then flew in a well floated free kick from the left hand side and Kolo Toure (skipper for the day) headed in after some poor marking from West Broms defence (as usual), making it 2-1.

Kolo added to his goal with an assist.  It was a long ball which I always shout ‘No’ at the screen when I see his right foot swing back.  However things were different this time, his pass found Nicklas and he controlled it expertly on his knee and with the ball running wide he shot from a acute angle to blast it through Scott Carson. 3-1, game over.

We did create some more chances to make it more, with a chance for Arshavin being the stand out  chance with Nicklas geting through the West Brom defence and laying it back to Arshavin and he hit it straight at Carson. 

The victory but is 3 points behing Villa with them playing Man City the next day.

They of course lost that game thanks to Elano and SWP.  So now we are 3 points behind Villa in the chase for forth spot.  What did I say about Villa losing their form.  Hopefully they will continue their poor form with Spurs, Liverpool, Man Yoo, Everton and West Ham next up for Villa.

We have Blackburn, Newcastle, Man City, Wigan and Liverpool so Im sure both us and Villa will drop points and we can all hope that we get 3 more points than then. It’s gonna be tough, so the players need to knuckle down and want this Champions League spot. If not we better go out and win the thing.

Just a short one on my 6 a-side game last night, we haven’t had our normal keeper for about 2 weeks now, so we have to try and find a different goalie each week. So this week we looked long and hard for one and we couldn’t find one so…we played LBD in goal, with his skinny frame being our little presence in a little goal. The game started and he got his first touch out the way with a pass to me, with no one around i pass back to him and he goes to put his foot on the ball to stop it, which is a stupid way of trying to control a ball and should only be taught to 3 year olds learning football, and the ball runs under his foot and I get an own goal to my name.

Not the best start and it kind of set the tone for the rest of the game, we went on to lose the game 2-0 to a group of 40 year olds. If we were Arsenal they would be our Bolton. We just can’t ever beat them. So on losing the game we went out and got quite drunk dressed in tights as Superheroes, but hey thats another story.

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Arsenal 0 Fulham 0, well I was a bit wrong

So yesterday saw Arsenal draw yet another game 0-0, with our failure to put chances away coming back to haunt us again.

I only got to see the 7min or so Match of the Day highlights last night and from previous experiences of watching the full 90 mins live to then watching the MOTD highlights, they have been very different and you wonder why the hell they aren’t showing ‘that’ chance.  But from the highlights we seem to create a fair few chances, 18 shots in total with a half finding the target.  Most of the chances I saw on MOTD seemed to be headers from Van Persie, which is good to see I guess with us not known for scoring headed goals. 

We started off with a similar team to the one that I suggested yesterday however, Vela replaced Bendtner and Arshavin replaced Eboue.  I couldn’t tell from the highlights but I think Nasri played in his new position of behind the striker, which I like him in as he gets in that little gap inbetween the defence and the opposition’s midfield. I had thought Arshavin might have played in that position due to his experience, but it shows Wengers faith in 21 year old Nasri to keep Arshavin outwide and let Nasri stay centrally to ‘make things happen’.

Arshavin looked class again in the highlights, with his knowing of ‘when-to make-a-pass’ ability ability absolutely outstanding yesterday, he also had a shot near the end of the match which i thought was Clichy due to him looking so comfortable with it on his left foot.

So overall not the best  result  as we should be beating teams like Fulham, Hull and Sunderland but we just can’t seem to beat them.  Im sure the goals will come and I hope they will soon, because Villa seem to be dropping a bit in form.  They lost last week to Chelsea and today they drew 2-2 after being 2-0 up.  I hope think their form and luck has started to change.

We have West Brom on Tuesday night, who are rock bottom of the League and look like going down.  They have gone through the season with a mission statement of wanting to play football and if they go doing down doing that then they deserve to go down, so they like to play football.  We play our best football and seem to get our best results against teams that like to play football and not just sit 10 men behind the ball and defend all game. Not that im comparing West Brom to Man Utd and Chelsea, but hopefully the result will be the same as it was in our opening game of the Premiership against them (well maybe better than 1-0, as I want to see us scoring 3/4 goals a game again!).

Speaking of 3 or 4 goals, I played yesterday for Stanton again and we lost 4-2. We went 2-0 down and to be honest at that point all players in our team head’s went down, and I thought that there was no chance in getting back in the game, but we brought it back to 2-1, then 3-1, then we scored again and got it to 3-2 with us on top of the game we then decided to bring on LBD…Yes LBD had somehow got an invite to play in the game. 

He turned up apparently going to start as a centre back with me, without the manager seeing him play.  So come to warming up/kicking the ball about the manager and other people see that he cant even lift a ball and he has to take about 10 seconds to think and make a pass.  So come naming the line up LBD was dropped to the side line and my new centre back partner was named.  In being told he was lines man he decided to stand in line with our midfield on the wrong side.  Great footballing knowledge there!  Im sure you will come to know that my expectation and appreciation for LBD are really not that high.  Luckily we keep him out the way on Wednesday nights and just have to cope with his poor passing and moaning all game…joy.

So we ended up losing the game 4-2 to a team that was better than us.  Not the end of the world, its only a game and all that. 

One bad note for the day, after training today for my Sunday 11 a-side team (and table toppers) South Wonston, I do seem to be getting shin splints, so maybe a big helping of pain killers before my game.  Hopefully the drugs testers don’t make a suprising visit on Wednesday night at 6-a-side.

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