Top of the Table? Arsenal v West Ham; Match Preview
A London Derby Delight
“With eight games – four at home, four away – left, we are still in the race, so let’s have a go.” – Arsene Wenger. That’s pretty straight forward, isn’t it? So, without looking ahead and the eye firmly on the league prize, Arsenal play host to London rivals West Ham.
Again for Arsenal its facing off against a team that is within spitting distance of the relegation zone but who always plays the Gunners hard. West Ham will likely stave off relegation, thanks in part to Pompey’s 9 point deduction and that Burnley and Hull are worse than they are. However, it has not been the season the Hammers thought they would have. Last season they finishined in the top 10 and had their sights firmly on qualifying for Europe this season.
Unfortunately things don’t go always as planned and thanks to injuries and inconsistency Gianfranco Zola (a good manager) is likely on the chopping block. In fairness it is not all his fault. Mismanagement of the team from the former owners and lack of available funds (bad spending policies) made it near impossible for Zola to fill out his squad appropriately. Throw all that in with the fact that West Ham have only won once on the road this season, and you get their current predicament.
The good news for West Ham is that Carlton Cole has returned from a prolonged injury. The big strong central man always figures large in these matches and there is no doubting he will try to again. Also coming back in time for this match is Mark Noble. But while they return the team loses skipper Scott Parker who is suffering from a leg injury.
While it is likely this match will mean little to West Ham’s relegation hopes – they aren’t expected to win here – they will play a tought game for the Gunners and will do everything they can to frustrate them. They’ve shown they can be dangerous and can score. So Arsenal cannot look past this match and on to other pastures that seem brighter.
When Arsenal last met West Ham, the Gunners sat on a 2-0 comfortable lead for most of the match only to let stupid lapses cause them to let the Hammers back into the match. The result was a 2-2 tie that really began the discussion about the back four of the squad and also whether or not we had sufficient goal keeping to keep us in the title hunt.
All that seems so long ago. The Gunners are shoring up their defence. Even with William Gallas out and the old man of the squad, Sol Campbell filling in the defense has been solid – for the most part. With the exception of the questionable penalty call against Sol in the Hull match – the Gunners have only conceded 1 goal (2 total) with Sol starting. They still limit the shots on Almunia and Almunia has being doing just enough right to see them through.
The Gunners are on a solid run of form having dispacted their last 5 premier league opponents. In those 5 games – even matches they’ve lead with big leads – the Gunners have managed to at least score 1 goal in the last 10 minutes of each match. For their opposition having a draw or a 1 goal lead will not be enough. To put the Gunners away you have to score more than one. THe league’s most potent offence has shown this season that they can score and score to rescue games when the outcome seems so against them. But frankly, that is what it takes to be a winner and dare I say a champion. You can’t always win pretty – sometimes you have to win ugly. You have to dig down and just press on and hope a break falls your way and that you get the goal. That is what Arsenal have done, especially in matches they probably shouldn’t have won. But they did.
Arsene Wenger’s squad will be bouyed this week by the return of Captain Cesc Fabregas. It is likley that the catallan could’ve played last week if it was really deemed necessary, but Arsene and the physios did the right thing letting him rest another weekend and get healthy for the run. Also returning to the squad is Alexander Song who missed the last two EPL matches while serving a two game suspension for his tenth yellow card. However, William Gallas is still suffering from a niggly calf injury and the time frame for his return is unknown.
Overall this is another match that the Gunners must win in order to maintain the pressure on United and Chelsea. The good thing about playing today is that should they win – they get the leisure of being at the top of the table for at least a day and seeing how their title rivals fare. Out of the three teams the probably have the easiest tie. United face off against Liverpool and Chelsea who could be in a fragile state of mind given their CL burn out face off against Bolton.
Still it is a good weekend to be an Arsenal fan. It’s time to sit back and watch the weekend play out.
How the Match Should Play Out:
In their last meeting Arsenal dominated most of the match. Even after West Ham came back to 2-2 Arsenal held the attack and could’ve gone on to win the game. Either Walcott or Nasri will start on the wing (I am going for Nasri) and either of them should create match up issues for West Ham. Walcott for his pace and Nasri for his play making ability. Arsenal are certainly going to be geared up for the match given their recent form, their confidence and what is at stake. Throw that all into a home match and unfortunately things do not look good for the visitors. The good, is that Zola does not preach at “hard” style. He will likely have his team press but they do play a more open style and even in tight corners they could still give Arsenal the space to play. I think Arsenal score AGAIN within the first 15 minutes of the match.
Players to Watch:
Arsenal: Nicklas Bendtner. Okay, I admit it – he is putting actions behind his words. He wants to be the best and he is doing all he can to show it. He has scored 6 goals in his last 3 matches. While he still has some developing to do he has given Arsenal a sorely needed presence in the center of the box.
West Ham: Carlton Cole. Carlton has a lot to play for in the remainder of the season. He is looking to force Fabio Capello to take a good hard look at him when making out his England squad for South Africa. With a chip like that on his shoulder the big man should be more than up for making his presence felt.
Probable Starting XI:
It could work out this way
Injuries/Suspensions:
Arsenal: Gallas (calf) Van Persie (ankle) Gibbs (foot) Djourou (knee) Ramsey (leg)
West Ham: Boa Morte (knee) Hines ( knee) Ilunga (tendon) Parker (leg) Faubert (hamstring) De Costa (suspended)
Recent League Form:
Arsenal: WWWWW
West Ham: LLLWW
Leading Scorers:
Arsenal: Fabregas 17 (14 league) Arshavin 11 (9 league)
West Ham: Cole 9 (9 league) Diamanti 8 (7 league)
Last Meeting: (FA CUP)
Arsenal: 2
West Ham: 1
Match Officials:
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistant Referrees: Phil Sharp & Peter Kirkup
4th Official: Lee Probert
Broadcast Outlets:
US: Fox Soccer Channel and FoxSoccer.TV 1330 EST
UK: ESPN 4 1730 GMT
Online Feeds:
www.atdhe.net
Gameday Chat Will Be Open: www.youaremyarsenal.com/gamedaychat
YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 3
West Ham: 1
257 comments
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I don’t care who gets 4th place as long as they make ensure our path to 1st place. So if Spurs win against ManU and Chelsea but lose to Arsenal, I am all for it. We are not like the deluded Spurs fans who would rather get relegated than see Arsenal win something.
Yeah, I think Spurs fans would take relegation to the Conference if they could guarantee Arsenal finishing runner-up in every competition they entered.
With the injury to Carvahlo… I think things are
lining up for United … just a little.
If they can beat Chelsea, they might be able to run the table.
Of course, without Rooney, that all becomes increasingly
more difficult…
But at least Chelsea AND Manchester United control their
own destiny. If they win their matches, it doesn’t matter
what anyone else does. That is all you can ask for in sports.
At the moment, I am actually leaning towards hoping Chelsea
BEAT United, because I think with their injuries, they might
be more likely to drop points somewhere.
The race for 4th, is one in which I truly don’t think anyone has
a clue who will get to the finish line, as ALL of them are not
on good form… with Tottenham in the pole position right now.
I would want Liverpool to play WELL in the next few matches, so that
their match against Chelsea is IMPORTANT TO THEM.
Frankly, I don’t care who gets 4th… all you can hope for
is Arsenal to have a chance to win the league… and it might
be good for Liverpool to need to play well against Chelsea.
I definitely agree that at this rate, a Chelsea win in their game with ManUre might suit us better than a draw… not 100% sure though yet. I guess I’ll be happy with anything but a United win.
As for 4th, it’s pure speculation, which is fine with me b/c I love sports speculation! Soooo….
Aston Villa are in the midst of playing 5 matches in 15 days. With 4 down and 1 to go, they’ve managed 3 draws and 1 win. I would’ve thought this stretch would have been the nail in their coffin, yet they’re still in it: only 2 pts of City and 4 off of Spurs. (They’re tied with Pool, but have a game in hand.)
Tottenham, despite leading the chase right now, have to play the top 3 all in a row, while making a sustained Cup run. Throw this in with their well-established tradition of bottling, and I think they’ll land in 5th.
Man City look to be in a good position as well, but I don’t see them taking it for some reason. They’ve been inconsistent all year (but then, name a single team that hasn’t been this year). It’s just a hunch, and like I said this is all speculation.
Everton are putting on a strong surge when it matters most, incresing the number in the chase pack back to 5, not too long after Brum dropped out. Watch out for them.
Liverpool have gone to hell in a handbasket. They are toast, Rafa is toast. The story of their season needs no repeating.
So, I think Villa are the most likely, then the other 3, and Liverpool the least likely.
I didn’t realize Spurs still have to play Man U AND Chelsea… that means I have to cheer for them. NOOOOO!!!!
I only wish MLS would’ve allowed Donovan to stay at Everton. He was doing well, and it sounded like both manager and fans wanted him to stay. Fools, the MLS, but I guess he’s probably the most well-known footballer in the USA after David Beckham.
NO WAY.
I don’t want Donovan anywhere near the EPL at this point.
Let him play meaningless matches at home in the US.
We need him for the World Cup to have any chance of a good performance.
I don’t give a rats ass what he does for Everton, its all about the WC for the USA.
Hmmm… I never thought about it that way. But still, I’d rather he have the match fitness. MLS match fitness doesn’t really count when you get to the World Cup. Plus I don’t think staying w/ Everton would result in him being overworked, since he was only there since January, not August. It also might have given him a good deal of confidence, given Everton’s form. But I see your point- significantly reduced risk of injury this way.
Not really STag. Have you watched the MLS? They kick the crap out of people just like the EPL.
He has the same risk of injury wherever he plays.
Yeah but Donovan is good enough to get the ‘star treatment’ in MLS. Akin to Rooney in the EPL, tho Donovan doesn’t seem to be nearly as big of a D-bag.
Joleon Lescott unsettled the whole dressing room early in the season so he could go to Man City. Funny it is that Man City lost their first home game of the season to none other than Everton.
The stupid thing is if he’d stayed at Everton, he’d probably be in the top four right now as well as going to the World Cup. Ironic?
The funny thing about this season is the top 3 – not one seems to be bothered enough to out right win it.
Same thing for that 4th spot – though Tottenham have the spot they still have to play Chelsea, United and Arsenal. There is no way they come through that unscathed.
The fight for fourth is even mroe interesting when you throw in Everton who in my opinion are the best of the lot. They sit only 7 points off of Spurs. Villa isn’t winning any matches, Pool are drowning slowly, City are still a HUGE question mark of consistency, and Spurs – well they are Spurs aren’t they?
I will tell you I am glad we got Everton out of the way when we did. They’d give us a hard time now for sure.
It IS a wild, wacky season and whatever happens here at the business end may set things up for future years. Just when you think it’s money that matters (ManCity) they stumble…And Everton do look strongest, but are they too far back?
Spurs are doing very well–at the moment–despite struggling with serious injury problems of their own. The Eider Gudjohnsen loan deal looks like a genius move based on these last couple of games. And they certainly must be favored (over Pompey) to waltz into the FA cup final. Will the “big three” destroy them and blow up their CL dream or will they have the final say in where the league title is headed?
Certainly they won’t want to hand it to us, but I like that we’ll have that week off before their match (agree that Wigan SHOULD be an easier match on 1/2 a week of rest….)
I’d love to see a comparative run-in for the teams fighting for 4th, but I know I can’t be bothered to do the research myself…Given some of the dire pre-season predictions about Arsenal’s impending drop from the CL spots, I’m glad I don’t have to….(Touch wood, of course…I guess it’s still mathematically possible and we’ve yet to celebrate St. Totteringham’s Day, etc.)
I think if you look at the previous thread (titled “The Run For Glory!!!”) DAG listed each of the top 3’s remaining opponents there.
I was curious about the run in for the teams fighting for 4th….
It’s prolly a good thing also that Spurs play us first (hung over from making the FA Cup final…) before getting back on track by taking points from Chelsea and United….
Talk about not knowing who to root for….
Ah, I see what you meant now. But yes, hopefully Spurs will bottle it against us, then at the very least draw against one of the other 2… but they play ManUre at OT, so it is unlikely. Remember 2 seasons ago at WHL when Spurs managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of life against ManUre, when we most needed ManUre to lose?
yes DAG, I always like this Everton side. Great character, sensible manager. Excellent, underrated, low profile signings.
In fact, I predicted they would finish 5th back in summer (with same old top 4).
Shame is they always started the season in icy cold form. Had not because of their awful start, they would have been the one with a real shot for the top 4 right now.
the more amazing is Everton spent the first few weeks of season in the relegation zone, look at their current points and standing… remarkable!
Yakubu, Saha and Arteta were all injured during the early part of their season. Those being 3 of their 4 best goal scoring threats, Cahill being the 4th.
So Chelsea now only have two first team defenders who are fit to play – John Terry and Alex.
Ricardo Carvalho yesterday suffered an injury that could keep him out for a few weeks or up to the end of the season depending on whether or not he needs corrective surgery.
That would mean Cole, Ivanovic and Ricardo are all out for possibly the title run for the Chavs. Couldn’t happen to a nicer team.
Now if Wayne Rooney’s knee problem could worsen.
Yeah what does it say that were are pinning our hopes on other teams forms. Hey Ic an dream can’t I. Plus I love it when our competitors have misery.
Yeah what does it say that were are pinning our hopes on other teams forms. Hey Ic an dream can’t I. Plus I love it when our competitors have misery.
———————-
DAG,
watch out the response from Stag! ;)
these type of comments always get onto his nerve! for whatever reasons nobody knows.
5-nil win at Pompey notwithstanding, Chelsea are in a bit of bother. United had their earlier injury crisis, We’ve got our ongoing problems but we’re (at least for the moment) below Chelsea on the Physioroom.com list. (And still nobody but me seems concerned about Diouf’s stomp on Ivanovic which has him listed as out for a month with MCL damage…)
To pre-empt/channel Sad n’ Angry, I mean Stag, I would argue that none of the top three deserve to win the title…as they ALL should’ve bought reinforcements in January…(And re-signing Sol Campbell DOES NOT COUNT!)
In fact, the title should go to ManCity for spending the most money….
(Oh crap, I’m going full-retard, er, sarcastic….stop me, please stop me….)
No, you’re thinking of the old Stag. The new one thinks we should be given the title for winning the new EPL, that is, the English Profit League.
:-)
And, as he would say, he’s 100% serious….
On a personal note…I just did my taxes and found that we’re getting a refund! And our overall household income is more than our expenses!!!!! And we even have (god forbid) some savings!!!! WTF are we thinking!?! It’s as if we’re planning for the (dare I say it….) future!!!! Why aren’t we spending more!?! What is the matter with my family?!?
And I’m 100% serious…no sarcasm, etc., etc….
why don’t you sell off your car & fridge to pay down the mortgage!
That is not feasible because that would be against the Arsenal model where savings have to kept but not to pay down the stadium mortgage or to spend on players but for profits and the scary future :)
This is the same scary future that prevents even $500,000 being spent to get a better goal keeper than Almunia yet pays out more than that amount to keep Silvestre in the squad.
So….Birmingham fans to salute Eduardo with a nice, respectful ovation, or with jeers and chants suggesting they want to see him with more broken bones?
Perhaps some of you guys know more about the inherent class of the Brummies, or just how these sorts of things go down….over there. Thanks.
steve,
I too doubt Birmingham fans would have that much class to pay tribute to Eduardo.
Indeed, I would be very surprised should Eduardo or any Arsenal players get chopped down, their fans won’t be singing “Same old Arsenal, always cheating”.
Just some highlights from Arsene’s weekly press junket –
1. Nicky B WILL play this weekend against Brum
2. Eduardo should play too
3. Sol Campbell will be in the lineup against BRUM and will be considered for Barca as well
4. Gallas should rejoin the team on Friday but will be “short” in terms of match fitness.
5. RvP is remarkably fit for coming back to the team – but he is back in the fold and should have match fitness within the next 2-3 weeks. However Arsene cautioned fans not to expect too much from him when he does return.
6. Comments from Arshavin regarding the need to buy in order to win that were in the press the other day are actually quotes from a November interview they were not recent.
Plus AW weighed in on Yesterday’s touch-line fracas between Mancini & Moyes….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/25/arsene-wenger-managers-behaviour
Perhaps he’s suggesting that Arsenal will no longer be pushovers….and it all starts with the manager….
I think more than CBs I would be worried if Bendy doesn’t start on Sat. We need a physical player like him on what is likely to be a not so friendly passing pitch.
Absolutely agree.
I guess if there is any doubt in Nik’s ankle, he will be rested. But for the run-in (league and CL) a point is being magnified.
Arsene will (OR SHOULD) have to rethink Arsenal roster depth. ex. @ CB: Gallas (age), Sol (age), Silvestre (age), Vermaelen and Djourou. NO BALANCED DEPTH.
For most of the season we are missing usually 6 – 9 players ‘every’ match.
Part of season without our top 2 GK’s.
Part of season missing 2 CBs.
Part of season missing top 2 target strikers.
Part of season missing top 2 LB’s.
The success of our season can be attributed to core play of Cesc, Vermaelen, Song and consistent supporting roles from; Diaby, Nasri, Arshavin, Rosicky, Eboue, Bendtner (lately) Ramsey (earlier) , Clichy (lately), Sagna, Gallas, Denilson, and Almunia (lately).
I don’t believe this season will be an isolated – especially with english referee’s wanting to see play uninterrupted and hard tackles accepted as just part of the game only accented in yellow when pressed by home crowd reaction.
During the summer, we will have to observe how our manager views the roster balance.
Agree about the squad depth and the INSANITY of our injury situation. We are absolutely down to bare bones at the moment and, for the Birmingham match, we’ll actually be looking for injuries (Eduardo’s and Ramsey’s horror injuries) to provide motivation! (Pretty ironic, I would say.) Of course we’ll have all summer to argue about whether or not we should “count on” certain players who have been chronically injured or unable to put consistent seasons together.
I was hoping to watch at least some of yesterday’s Blackburn-Birmingham match but it was pre-empted by Everton-ManCity. Maybe somebody else saw it?
B’ham has had a great season and only just recently have faded from the group fighting for the final CL spot. As a newly promoted team, avoiding the drop is priority #1 and they’ve done it.
Young Joe Hart (on loan from ManCity) has secured a WC spot on the back of some great performances and proved the adage that a solid keeper is worth (10? 15? 20?) points over the course of the season.
B’ham also have a core of “committed” British players who make things difficult for the more skilled teams. Combine that with a pitch that needs a big dose of sunshine to come out of dormancy and our passing game is likely to struggle.
That’s a big reason we need Big Nicky B. healthy. AW’s latest statements suggest that Sol will not be rested so we’re looking at the “ageless” duo of Sol and Syl in central defense with Song ahead. Who knows whether Denilson or Diaby will partner Cesc or whether Walcott or Rosicky will get some pitch time? Talk about Eduardo’s injury is starting and I hope he can be useful (beyond the motivational factor) tucking in behind big Nick (as well as allowing Arshavin to get a rest ahead of his big European night).
Bendtner (IMO) simply must answer the bell. We need to play a wider game (not our specialty) and put some balls on his head. (And Nicky SHOULD be motivated to play against his former team…) If he can’t play, then what? Vela hasn’t played since when? (And it seems longer because his outings were so ineffective.) I’m also not excited about Liam Ridgewell getting another crack at injuring Theo, so maybe we’ll see Eboue ahead of Sagna which seems to be an increasingly effective combo.
Birmingham plays a disciplined, well organized game and their forwards (Jerome and Benitez) won’t see a lot of the ball but they remain patient and get into space nicely. But (Arsenal trainee) Seb Larson might be the real key as he’s got a strong passing range and presents a danger from set pieces. We need to shut him down, not resort to desperate defending/fouls in or near our box and play well enough on the wings that they can’t get too many crosses in.
All told, it’s a difficult fixture and we need to hope that their exertions (and bruises?) from the yesterday’s game and the fact that they don’t need the points keep them subdued. Obviously we DO need the points. Also, We SHOULD be motivated to show our collective recovery from the Eduardo injury. We’re saying all the right things about not looking past this match, but the team selection and our performance will truly tell the tale.
why address roster depth?
I have seen on this site how many players we have in each position, and that bringing in MORE, will only push down the young players in the reserves that deserve their chances.
we have multiple players at every position… if we buy more and nobody gets injured, then we’d have so many players there wouldn’t be enough games to get them into…
ARSENE knows his team better than us all, you have to believe he is aware of any problem.
A nice article if you like to analyze team play.
http://arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/how-pep-guardiola-is-looking-to-improve-on-perfection/
The thing that struck me (though extremely obvious) was the extreme mobility of that entire team. Point being – If you’re mobile, if you can keep ball , formations are not that important. That front 6 of Barcelona in that diagram there .. its as crazy as I’ve seen them. And IMHO its a thing of beauty.. coz its fully interchangeable. All of that 6 can move everywhere – much like our own system. Yeah they won trophies ..we didn’t before people begin to moan. Just the systems are very similar. I can see a 1-0 written all over either tie. A beautiful 1-0 though; if that makes sense.
so they won trophies!?!
we play a beautiful style like them, AND we make money.
we have a big stadium debt, and we are lowering that with great speed…
we are in the CL still, and in for a shout in the league…
we have everything Barcelona have, and they probably want to copy our financial style!
I highly doubt there will be any 1-0 score in an Arsenal Barcelona match…
they’ll be firing shots at Almunia left, right and center…
3-2 is a likely score!
it will be pretty, regardless.
Very good article LDE, thanks…
I would love it if somebody, someday, could explain to me how the two Spanish giants work their finances….I guess they dominate the TV rights in a way the big clubs in England cannot and their game-day revenues and merchandise (world-wide) are also very strong. Long term, Arsenal seem well positioned to compete and even exceed their financial power. Of course, if you ONLY live match to match AND in the past, good long-term financial prospects are something that only make you sad and angry….
And, of course, that sadness/anger makes it impossible to talk about playing strategies and individual players. I’m looking forward to a good result vs B’ham (3 pts and no further injuries) and then (hopefully) some good talk about how we match up with Barca, etc.
In the meantime…it seems we’re starting with score predictions…lde says 1-nils are possible, Sad n’ Angry says 3-2…Hmmm, I think it’s very hard to say, but the clean sheet at home seems most important, so it’s different than if these two extremely offensive-minded teams were meeting in a league match or in a cup-final, i.e., likely lower scoring than you might otherwise expect….
Overall, however, nervous as I am, I can’t wait….
There is ZERO chance of Arsenal posting a shut out against Barcelona.
I’d love to be able to bet on that, because I like money, and that would be FREE MONEY.
Which is why I always wished past Arsenal teams (2002-06) had more players that could have allowed them to change things. Instead, there was a time when Arsenal would keep trying the same thing (plan A) over and over.
With the current squad, because of injuries I think different formations have resulted and that has allowed some players to move around quite a bit resulting in a variety of options. On paper, this Arsenal squad has more depth and flexibility than even those past title winning squads. Just injuries, Almunia and the puzzling yet scary presence of Silvestre in the line-up threaten to shatter everything.
Regarding the games with Barca, even if the scores are kept low, I am certain that the number of passes that reach their intended target will be very high. This is the most mouth watering tie and sometimes I wonder if there is a one 0-0 match in there. Although with Almunia in goal and Arsenal’s defensive injuries, then very hard to imagine them shutting Barca out, because Barca have players who love to shoot. While Barca will keep the ball on the ground, I would not be surprized if they will swing in a few crosses Barca as they would want to exploit Almunia’s weakness.
Still really really looking forward to those games.
http://gunnerblog.com/?p=2266
Arsene wouldn’t have appealed TV5’s dismissal if he had faith in his backup CBs!
Crap article. Wenger appealed Vermaelen’s red card because a bad call has cost him on of his starting CBs. He’s already got one unavailable due to injury. Who in their right mind want’s to play a game you need to win with two back-up CBs?
I fear some don’t understand why a ban can be extedned. The laws of the game gives any team the right to appeal a player’s sending off. If an appeal is requested, the board is required to attend an unplanned meeting IMMEDIATELY to rule on the judgement.
Now imagine living in Jacksonville and having to travel to Denver, on what happens to be your son’s birthday, because a club has requested a red card appeal. Now imagine watching a video of Rio Ferdinand blatantly punching a player in the head and listening to his team say why that offense wasn’t worthy of a red card. You’ve just missed your son’s birthday for this.
The board is authorized to extend a ban an additional game if they deem the appeal frivolous. Frivolous is just a lawyer’s fancy word for bullshit. This authority is an attempt to protect the legitimacy of the appeal process. If the process isn’t protected, the board would fly to Denver every week to listen to bullshit arguments.
Ferdinand clearly broke the rules by striking an opponent. Vermaelen didn’t break the rules but it was easy to see why the ref thought he did. Now, if TV5, clearly and deliberately, grabs the player by the shorts pulls him down and Arsenal decide to appeal, then that’s dangerous ground and the player’s likely to have his ban increased. Vermaelen was never in that danger.
Bad News: The Spudz win 3-1 over Fulham to progress to the FA Cup semis. Anything good for Spudz annoys me. And apparently it was David “made it big” Bentley who turned it around for them.
Turning back to the League, Villa drew 1-1 so I think they are out of it for 4th. It’s too bad b/c – needless to say – the other 3 teams fighting it out for 4th are all easy to hate- Spudz, Liverpool, and City.
Speaking of City, today we their first home loss of the season.
The good news about Everton winning is that they are now only 3pts off of Liverpool, having played the same number of matches. Villa are tied with Liverpool, but with a game in hand, and the other 2 teams are already ahead of them. If Everton can nick that 7th spot, it would mean Liverpool fail not only to qualify for the CL, but for the Europa League as well. I want to see them crash hard… to crash and burn! Come on you Toffees!
With the Spurs beating Fulham and advancing to the semi’s of the FA Cup…..
our match with them for 4/10 (Sat) is being pushed back to 4/14 (the next Wed)
This is great news for Arsenal as it allows 4 extra days rest after the 2nd match with Barca. Arsenal have no match that weekend. While the Spurs play their FA semi on Sunday afternoon 4/11.
It balances out. More rest before the Spudz game now, but less rest after it. We play Wigan only 4 days later on the 18th… BUT, to complicate matters further, if Arsenal advance to the CL semis, the Wigan game would be moved ahead one day to saturday 4/17, which would mean only 3 days rest after the Spudz game.
In our run-in, some matches (on paper) are going to give us more problems based on the opposition’s current form & position in the table.
Spurs, besides being a derby and passionate rivalry, are sitting in 4th spot in the standings – so the match has huge significance for them (also).
Not to belittle the importance of Wigan, but the talent level is definitely not the same (as Spurs).
After the 2nd match with Barca, I’d prefer to have a week of recovery b4 playing Spurs vs. the old format of 4 days off b4 playing Spurs.
Just some quick updates:
Everton beat City
Chelsea crush Pompey to move back into 2nd
Oh yeah and Nicky B hasn’t practiced since West Ham – he has a twisted ankle and is 50/50 for the match
David James, England number 1….
No wonder Almunia believes he’s good enough for England.
What a whiff !
That goal turned the tone of the match.
Interesting to see if Bolton will take points from ManU – NOT OUT OF THE POSSIBILITY. How ironic would it
be if Wilshere scored the clincher?
Not sure what to expect with Pompey v. Chelsea.
Regardless of the final scores, I’m fed up with all the spin on ManU taking league title & CL.
Did I mention that Ferguson is my least favorite manager – below Pulis, Big Sam, and gardening Phil?
Ironically, I have a great of respect for Fergie and his accomplishments which rank him up there as the best ever manager, with Mourhino gently snapping on his heels.
I hate him as an Arsenal opponent, but no one can deny his body of work.
forgot about Wilshere. Hope he has the game of his life if he plays against Man Utd and helps down them.
Stag, that’s what ppl been talking about you.
You really love to take a paragraph here and there from a full post to jump to your own conclusion that what people’s view you believe being.
That’s very annoying. Cos you are not responding to other people’s view, you merely twisted their points.
All we been saying are – Eboue and Sagna are capable of filling in the CB position. Nobody ever said they should be playing together there against Birmingham.
why not?
if one can play there, why not both?
come on, live a little…
Both can’t play there, b/c then (as you aptly pointed out above with your quip about Walcott- but which everyone already knew anyways) is that there’d be no one left to play RB.
if Wenger reads this site, maybe we’ll have
Eboue and Sagna at CB against Birmingham!
Sagna can really leap… and Eboue is the wonder-man, he
can play anywhere…
That leaves nobody at right back, but we can possibly
slot in Theo on that side… I mean, its right back…
how hard can it be to play a new position?
Again, you are taking things COMPLETELY out of context. Show me where the hell anyone suggested having both Eboue AND Sagna at CB? Huh? Where? Oh, you can’t find where? That’s because NOBODY suggested that!
Everyone who’s suggested playing one of them at CB has done just that: suggested playing ONE of them at CB… not both. I don’t know why you feel the need to put words in other peoples’ mouths so that you can refute what they never said. The irony of it is that everyone would agree with you that playing both Sagna AND Eboue at CB would be stupid.
So basically what you do is make up an argument that no one would think is a good idea, pretend some one else said it, then act like the genius who comes along and shows everyone else how stupid they’ve been.
Why do you bother responding to him??
This is what I think Arsene will do
Birmingham – Gallas/Song + Syl
Barca (H) – TV5 + Gallas/Sol
Wolves – TV5 + Gallas/?
Barca (A) – TV5 + Gallas/Sol
If Gallas is fit, he will play. If not, it is Sol for the Barca game and others for the other games. Therefore, Song + Syl for Birmingham because TV5 is suspended. For the Wolves game, it doesn’t really matter, we should win anyway.
I’m torn about Arshavin starting in the Barca game. He’s a major defensive liability and we will be playing what is perhaps the most potent attack in world football, one that certainly contains the best player in the world. Yet, we all know what Arshavin’s personality is like, and how he prefers to put more effort into certain games than others. This is that game. This is the type of game that Arshavin wanted to play in when he announced he wanted to transfer away from Zenit. In all his time at Arsenal, this is what he’s been waiting for. So despite his defensive liabilities I think he could create HUGE problems for Barca’s back line, which could end up helping our defense out more than a less dynamic player who doesn’t help to create any pressure on the other team.
Agreed, he will pose the same problems for Barca that Messi and Iniesta will pose for Arsenal.
Not sure Denilson would be a disaster against Barca. In fact, his game is more suited playing against a technical side like Barca than a physical side like Stoke City.
Btw, for our CB problem, I won’t be surprised to see Gallas make a return against Birmingham.
I m not sure if he’s really still injured. His “injury” I suspect may have something to do with his contract negotiation… Anyway, we will find out this weekend.
Denilson is too slow and would be taken to school against Iniesta, Xavi and Messi with their quick 1-2 interchanges.
Granted, playing against other La Liga and Serie A sides he could do very well, just not against Barca. Plus, he would be overpowered by YaYa and Busquette.
I think we can also consider the possiblity of starting with Sol and Song against a slower Birmingham side and with Song and TV against a pacy and skilful Barca side.
I just fear that Barca might expose Sol’s age, messi/alves dragging TV away to the left and then a couple of the others outmanning Sol.
In case Gallas recovers its always a plus.
Also, after the weekend, Diaby + Denilson as holding midfielders dosent look as frightening.
Against Barca I’d be a bit afraid to start with Arshavin @ home, as he would leave Clichy out cold often, and they are stronger on their right side.
For the Barca game, 1st leg I’d prefer
Mooney
Sagna Song/Gallas TV Clichy
Denilson/Nasri/Song Diaby
Fabregas
Eboue Bendtner Nasri/Rosicky
with Walcott for Eboue
Rosicky for Denilson
and Arshavin for Nasri
as planned substitutions, but that would obviously depend on the situation of the game.
No way Song plays at CB against Barca. In that game he will be needed as the DM buffer where he is at his best. Sol is fine there because we have a lot of speed at the back in terms of Sagna, Clichey, Vermaelen and Eboue who can all provide cover for Sol’s lack of speed. We will also eed Sol’s size to assist in containing Ibra who is a giant and can be very physical.
Denilson at DM against Barca would be a disaster and as we have all seen, Diaby is best when going forward and will put pressure on their MF to defend.
If you have noticed, Barca has been playing both Busquettes and YaYa together as co-DM’s with Iniesta pushing up as a forward and Messi more central. By doing this, it puts Messi more as a striker partnered with either Ibra or TH as his strike partner. Result? Messi scoring goals at a record clip.
I agree with CG and Carib, basically both Eboue and Sagna could play in the CB position.
Sagna in particular has a great leap. If u pay close attention, this guy, despite not being tall, can really jump.
But we are talking about a must-win match here, so better play someone who had played there before. That to me is Song.
Afterall, he spent half of the previous match at CB and won the Man of the Match against West Ham. Carlton Cole was never easy to handle with his power, Song IMO did pretty well.
Birmingham is a physical side. So better play two physical guys there – Sol + Song.
No need to rest Sol. We are talking about center back. Apart from keeper, they cover the least of the ground in a match. Plus an one week break in between. No problem there for Sol to start back to back.
No problem for Sol to start on Saturday.
But definitely a problem for him to start again on Tue night against a pacy Barca side.
I think Arsene will go with Song and Syl.
The status of Gallas will heavily influence if Sol will be saved for Barca. I support the choices of Sagna
or Traore at CB options vs. Silvestre.
More important, tactically, we need to have options off the bench that dynamically change our
original eleven. Diaby coming on in the 2nd half of West Ham – gave our midfield new energy. Sagna
coming on allowed Eboue to push forward into midfield. Both created defensive problems for WH.
I prefer Fred’s line up……but CK’s midfield is more likely.
I hate to say this, but Eduardo has looked a shell of his former self this season. He looked a lot sharper when he returned part-time last season but has lost his clinical touch, which was the biggest part of his game.
I would much prefer to see Vela in there for a whole game rather than Eduardo.
Vela is pretty much f&cked, and I think he has accepted his fate. The only reason he is not blowing his top is probably because the Mexico coach has assured him of his World cup slot.
For the Birmingham game, I would prefer Eduardo, because it would be a very tough game to give Vela his first start since …… last year! Eduardo is match fit and has a point to prove at that stadium.
It may sound crazy, but I could also see Eboue playing CB in a pinch. Like the old catchphrase goes “anyone but… [insert disliked person’s name here].” In this case that would be Silvestre.
Sagna has played CB at his old club many times. Although he is not tall, he is strong and and excellent header of the ball.
Move Sagna to CB with Song and Eboue fill in at RB.
My team is as follows:
Almunia (prayers please)
Eboue, Sagna, Song, Clichey,
Cesc, Diaby, Denilson (aaaagh)
Bendtner, Rosicky, Walcott
Having said that, we all know Silvestre will be starting.
Agree.
yeah, lets play Eboue at CB, where he’s never played a single game for our club… in a massive game, in which we can’t afford any mix-ups!
Silvestre will start, as this is why Wenger brought him in, as insurance.
Silvestre and Sol at CB.
I’d be shocked if it was anything different.
Like I said, anyone’s better than Silvestre. You complain about people lavishing attention on the popular players while neglecting to notice the contributions of less popular players, yet you remain an Eboue hater who refuses to acknowledge the progress he’s made this season. He’s not a good CB, I know. I’m not a fucking idiot. But like I said, in my opinion, he’d be better than Silvestre. But, as CK pointed out, there’s an even better solution, which would be to move Sagna over, which would allow Eboue to slot in at RB, both players thus being in positions they’re familiar with.
I can’t see Sol playing on the weekend because of the short turnaround for the Barca game.
Personally, I’ll go for Sol and Traore. Anybody but Silvestre really. Campbell can be the steady brain beside the foolish but speedy guy. Pretty much the same role Sol played with a young Toure. Traore cant be any more disastrous than Silvestre. And at least he is faster and a better header of the ball.
Song should play DM and curtail his attacking forays. Ofcourse Eduardo should start. If he has to break his scoring drought somewhere it has to be here. Arshavin should be rested.
Almunia
Sagna – Campbell – Traore – Clichy
Fabregas – Song – Diaby
Eduardo – Bendtner – Rosicky
Bench of: Fabianski, Silvestre, Eboue, Nasri, Denilson, Walcott, Arshavin.
If we have a suitable lead, Eboue, Denilson and Walcott can then come in to ease the game out.
I hope this is the line-up you’d like to see, not the one you predict we’ll use… b/c there’s no way Arsene’s not going to play Denilson. Hell, I don’t like the guy, but maybe after the last two games he does deserve it, I don’t even know anymore.
So….For Birgmingham City….With TV5 out, I like the idea of Song and Sylvestre at CB with a MF of Cesc, Diaby and Denilson/Rosicky. Up front, Bendtner must play (to show the B’ham fans how lucky they were to have him on loan back in 2006) as must Eduardo, who should get a sustained standing ovation when he takes the pitch….(We’ll see if there’s any class in “England’s 2nd City” ….) Arshavin can come on late if we need a goal and Walcott/Eboue/Rosicky can play on the right.)
Obviously the game is huge. We must remind them that they are leg-breaking, low-life hacks, while simultaneously congratulating them for not needing the points to stave off relegation, having taken so many nice ones off our more direct rivals.
Our squad is so thin….We must get the points, get through with no further injuries, rest our old/tired guys (Arshavin, Sol) and move onto the next (more mouth-watering) match-up…
If it were only as easy as it sounds….
I wholeheartedly disagree with your statement: “I like the idea of Song and Sylvestre at CB”.
I do not like any idea that involves Sylvestre and any match besides the League Cup.
Will Gallas be back for Barca? If not, I guess we might have no choice but to rest Sol. If Gallas can make it back, though, forget it; that Man U wanker should not be allowed anywhere near the pitch.
Firstly, TV5 appeal has been dismissed. So there. I stand vindicated. ;)
Secondly, so Cesc didn’t play for Barca’s first team, so it is not the same situation? Are you telling me that if Arsh didn’t feel like playing against Zenit (because he is a legend out there) or Gallas didn’t feel like playing against Chelsea (because he actually won titles and medals out there), you would be fine with it?
I wouldn’t.
It is one thing not celebrating a goal or feeling sad about it. It is another thing saying publicly that you don’t want to face your old team.
I’d be fine too. If someone says that its obvious there are a ton of memories which are very strong. It matters little what you say – on the pitch if Titi is picked he gives 100% , that is all Guardiola will care about if he picks him. I can take anything anyone says as long as they work when it matters. All this “public” and “private” business is overblown – as long as you’re not slagging someone or washing dirty linen in public I couldnt be bothered.
I agree with what you’re saying here….Not so sure if the Spanish media will agree….
I’m sure most people have read this summary of the Spanish press’ take on a Barca player with whom we should perhaps be more concerned….It’s pretty amusing if you haven’t, and the hype machine is working over-time…
Here’s the link…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/22/leo-messi-barcelona-la-liga-spain
I don’t see there is any problem Titi said what he said neither.
If anything, as an Arsenal fan, I’m very please to read what he has said.
I have read a lot of our former players talking about Arsenal, giving their opinions, telling what Wenger did wrong.
Henry is one of the rare exceptions that, since he left, whenever being asked about Arsenal, he only talked about the affection he has with the club. never pretended he knows better than Wenger on how to run our team.
Anyway, Like Fred point out – at the end of the day, it’s how the manager rates the player which will decide if Titi is gonna play against us.
Well thats that. Appeal fails. 1 game ban.
http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1766_6050041,00.html
League’s fixed. ManU bought the referee ;)
Lets face facts, its an easy decision for the Barca manager to drop Henry. And it has nothing to do with his comments or psychology for the game. Henry CANT get past Sagna – either by pace or dribbling. Pedro can.
Yeah, TH is not having the best season. He’s still an exceptional player, but that’s not necessarily enough at a club that can mobilize enough resources to win 6 trophies in one year.
He has played better recently… but I would prefer he came on as a sub later in the match with us up a few goals!
Don’t say such things about Sagna… ;-)
His straight pace isn’t as impressive as say, Clichy or Eboue, but defensively, for me at least, he rarely seems to put a foot wrong. I’m not sure if it’s positioning or knowing the tendencies of the players he will face or maybe it’s just that he is focused on his defensive duties (at the expense of his offensive game?) but Sagna is one of our players who I think we maybe fail to appreciate as much as we should.
He’s been rock solid since we bought him (for what? approx 10 mil?) and he’s played very well (and improved his crossing, though, in truth, there was no where to go but up…) this season despite fighting nagging injuries.
He also personally sacrificed for the club, playing immediately after his brother’s death in our CL tie in Milan two years ago.
Eduardo’s injury that season (at Birmingham City…Personally, I hope we use it as motivation this weekend) might have been the turning point of that title race, but Bac’s season-ending one, after putting us ahead at Stamford Bridge, with his first club goal, was the nail in the coffin….
I love Sagna and will be wearing my blonde extensions for the Barca matches….And Nobody will get past him…
A few weeks ago I wrote a sarcastic commentary about ‘how I was really enjoying
the season’. Sometimes when you put your thoughts down on paper, its best to sleep on them over night and review your ideas the next day with a clearer head. In this case I didn’t. So I’m sure it upset many and if so, please accept this as an apology.
I don’t fool myself by thinking I know so much about football. Everyday, in reading comments on the sight, I pick up excellent insight from everyone. Many of you have followed the club for so long and grab history to support your views and for this I’m envious.
When the season started, I was craving to see the return of the beautiful flowing form from the 07/08 season. If the form returned, things would fall our way.
Regardless of the season’s outcome, this will be a season ‘none of us’ forget.
Go Gunners!
AS.
no apology is necessary…
I didn’t think the comment was sarcastic! I am sure you are really enjoying the season!
we all pick up information and insight from others on this website… we all watch the game with a different eye sometimes…
having seen a bit of the past success is sometimes a negative… you can compare, and I sometimes envy the newbies being able to enjoy the immediate without being blinded what “was”… (and might never be again!)
I can just imagine following Arsenal when Wenger was 1st hired. The team’s success was probably mesmerizing and magical.
There is no way those memories will escape.
My favorite player was Bergkamp, but I only first noticed him during the ’98 WC; then it was 2005 or 06 when I could find Arsenal matches on cable.
Of the few matches that I caught, I was astounded at the talent of TH and PV. How could any team not succeed with a core of these generational talents?
As I said above, I’m envious of anyone who had the fortune to savor those years and endless thrilling moments.
It’s impossible not to compare later players. You’d have to believe our manager is also longing to find the next TH, PV, and DB.
Players like Henry, Vieira, and Bergkamp… do NOT come along every few years.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing the next any of those…
I don’t see the young players in our squad that will be GREATS like the above 3, except maybe Cesc Fabregas.
But that’s just my opinion.
So Thierry Henry admits he is not looking forward to playing against Arsenal in the Champions League.
If Cesc had said the same thing – Barca is my mother club, so I don’t look forward to playing them – what would be our reaction?
I would be mighty pissed.
Well, first of all, Cesc hasn’t played for Barcelona’s first team, won trophies there, and is not holding the record for most goals in team history… he has no past bond with the supporters…
so it is a COMPLETELY different situation.
As noted before, Henry is a large part of Arsenal’s most successful period in the clubs history. He is a BIG reason that MANY newer supporters are Arsenal fans… (like Bergy brought fans to Arsenal before him)
I think Cesc is pretty damned good, but he hasn’t done shit compared to Henry, especially at his former club.
So, I highly doubt Barcelona fans are “pissed”… I’d imagine they understand.
Say Carles Puyol or some other big name Barca player came to play for Arsenal in his later years (NOTE: I know this would never actually happen). I’m talking about one of the guys whose been there for both CL titles, and all of the League titles in that same era. Now let’s suppose he established himself, maybe not as a regular starter, but as a regular sub, came in maybe for 75% of our matches and did a very solid job.
Now he says he would feel really bad about knocking out his former team, where he is still good friends with many of the players, staff, and manager, and is adored by the supporters- BUT- would nevertheless do the best possible job anyways, b/c he is a proffesional.
I would not be pissed off, he’s just being honest, and if he really is a professional, he will do the job anyways. I like the fact that players still have feelings/allegiances for old clubs. Makes me feel like there’s still some emotion, etc still in the game- not just hired mercenaries.
ON another note – The Mail began releasing its list of the top 40 European players. 40 through 31 were released today – in at #31 Thomas Vermaelen.
Guys all I ever ask – is never get hostile over someone’s opinion. You can all disagree with each other.
There are things Stag says that I don’t agree with but I respect it as his opinion There are things I don’t agree with that Arsesession says but I respect they are his opinion.
And I KNOW there things I write that others don’t agree with but you guys give me the respect of my opinions – just slightly ;-)
On Messi Josh been talking about:
Over the years we have seen so many “New Maradona”. Truth is – no one even came close to be half as good as the originally Diego.
I’m not saying Messi is as good as Maradona. But he’s the “closest thing” the world have ever seen since the real one retired.
His performance on that Zaragoza match is like…. what Henry described “ridiculous”.
But when I saw him dribbling past players for fun from half way all the way to penalty box, I couldn’t help but think –
does anyone think he would be pull off tricks like that at EPL playing against Stoke City, Bolton the likes without his leg being chopped into pieces?
Tevez made some pretty special moves this weekend as well!
YES, Messi would have more difficulty in the EPL, and he won’t be allowed to just waltz thru teams in the World Cup either.
Why would you let a player just dribble by you? Sometimes you take the foul to stop the flow. Vieira was OUTSTANDING at doing just that.
It is part of the game.
I believe the decision will be overturned. Plain simple – NO foul.
Franco basically just dived into Vermaelen’s direction hopeful for a lucky break. To me, that’s unprofessional conduct which should see Franco being banned for one match to the least.
Wenger didn’t make a meal out of it because we won. Let’s face it, had Almunia not making that save and we ended up dropping points like that. It could be a killer blow to our season.
When you think of how all the hard work the team put in all season long could be destroyed by a moment of madness from the referee, it just tell you there’s something really wrong with the current referee system.
Get the man help. Be it extra ref, or TV tech. Whatever. They need HELP. Badly. And urgently.
I don’t think the decision will be overturned.
Even a straight forward thingy like Eduardo diving had to go to such lengths to get overturned.
If the decision is overturned, I will be a little less paranoid about referees and system being against Arsenal. :)
I agree with Andez, I think there is a good chance it will be overturned.
I also agree that when situations like this happen, if the player DIVES, and the defender gets sent off, and they reverse the decision, the DIVER should get at LEAST one game ban.
It has to be treated as cheating.
The bigger the matches get (like WC)… the more diving and flopping on the ground occurs, it is just tedious and ruins a great spectacle.
There’s no concern of the FA deeming the challenge frivolous. The fact is there was no foul. The purpose of the appeal is to try to make a legitimate argument over a possible mistake and have a disinterested board rule on it. At this point, the ref can’t take back the red card.
Rio Ferdinand’s appeal was an example of frivolous as they’ve got him on tape clearly hitting another player. His claim wasn’t legit and was, in fact, frivolous. The worst that can happen to Vermaelen is the FA says that they can understand why the official sent him off and allow the red card to stand. TV5 did look, at first sight, to pull him down and I’m sure that’s what the referee’s report will say as to why he was sent off. The best case is the FA can view the video, see that there was clearly no foul, and overturn the suspension.
Another factor that may play in our favor is that Vermaelen left the pitch without incident and Wenger didn’t talk about how fat the official was during the post-match interview.
Why root for Arsenal?
http://www.football365.com/john_nicholson/0,17033,8746_6046521,00.html
don’t skip the comments…..
I saw this too. F365 always has another excellent article, which reflects just what we’ve been talking about on this thread: the effect of referees’ decisions on pivotal races, whether they be for the title, for 4th, or for survival.
http://www.football365.com/referee365/0,17033,8747_6046199,00.html
Most notable, this NEUTRAL JOURNALIST concludes that Man U caught (yet another) extremely lucky break at OT, and that Vermaelen did NOT commit a foul in our game. So it’s not just Gooners crying foul over the refs… or should I say crying “no foul”.
Stop it, you are being paranoid.
There is no conspiracy.
:)
Two News Items from Today:
1. Arsenal have appealed Vermaelen’s suspension and that will be reviewed tomorrow – 23 March
2. Robin Van Persie IS BACK training with the squad and could figure in the final four matches and if Arsenal were to move on in the CL – he would be able to play in the next round.
I mentioned that we’d appeal that card… its a no-brainer.
No harm in doing so, as it was an iffy sending off to say the least.
The only problem I saw with the appeal is if the FA deem it “frivilous” they can tack on another match suspension.
Frankly, if I am Arsenal I am using Sunday’s United match as my evidence. Similar situations – PK taken – no card shown (or was a yellow shown) either way you can’t have it two different ways.
Plus the Referee didn’t originally make the call – it came from the Assistant Referee.
No penalty or harm to appeal – the foul was not flagrant.
As I understand, frivolous charge only applies to flagrant/violent fouls.
Messi is ridiculous. He scored goals against Stuttgart from nothing. What can you do but hope he has a bad day.
Arsenal have appealed Vermaelen’s red card. We’ll see how that works out.
Sol, surely won’t mind having a week off between matches at his age. Playing every three days would break him off more than he could handle. Maybe our exits from the domestic cups are more of a blessing in disguise.
Just watched a replay of the game and Diaby is incredible. I’ve also noticed he has another gear with the ball at his feet. His vision has improved and it’s affected his whole game. Sure, his passing isn’t as consistent but who’s perfect? Besides, he’s still improving.
I wonder if Arshavin starts against Barcelona, will Wenger opt to stay with him. Alves is going to attack, meaning Clichy will need help. We’ll see.
Ummm… yeah, you can throw out the world “INCREDIBLE” to describe Lionel Messi, he’s been nothing short of amazing of late, but I think you are using adjectives to describe Diaby that are a bit over the top.
Incredible?
I don’t believe I have ever see him play a game where I would describe his play as incredible, though his heading into our own goal was an incredible act on the negative.
lets calm down a bit!
Oh shut up!
This is an Arsenal fan site … we get excited about our own players! Live with it!
On Man U sites, Fletcher is a god, on Liverpool sites Carragher is the best CB in England! Why, if Almunia plays an absolute blinder against Barca, he’ll also earn extensive superlatives too.
OK.
Diaby is INCREDIBLE.
Almunia is AMAZING.
Eboue is PURE CLASS.
I think what Josh was saying is that Diaby has the ability to be a world-class player. He’s not one yet, far from it, but he has the qualities that could allow him to develop into one.
You REALLY need to lighten up. For the past two weeks or so I think you’ve dug up tiny little flaws in just about any predictions/assertions/arguments that anyone has made about anything. I don’t know why you feel the need to be so confrontational all the time.
Notice how Josh said that Diaby is “not perfect” and “still improving”? You can’t just read the parts of his argument that you disagree with and completely deny them, while completely ignoring the concessions he makes along the way. If you look at all of what he said, you’ll see that he addresses the very objections that you raise.
then why call him incredible?
there isn’t anything incredible about Diaby.
Because he has the potential to be incredible. You take things way too literally.
Your response doesnt make a shred of sense. Sarcasm gone awry – by miles.
Stag, you’ve been a bit fruity lately. Fred wrote exactly what I was thinking when I read your reply; Arsenal fansite.
Diaby may not be Messi but who else is? Maybe you forgot as it was three whole days ago but in the second half and down to ten men, we were playing like crap. That was until Diaby came on changed the game in Arsenal’s favor. He played about as well as he could, which in most fan’s opinion, was pretty damn good.
Players like Eboue, Denilson, Almunia, and Diaby may be unpopular but they are making telling contributions that are keeping Arsenal in the race for two trophies. It’s tough enough to win with eleven players so for them to win so convincingly with only ten men, in this fan’s opinion, is incredible.
Understand, I loved the Invincibles too but that era is past. Bergkamp and Lehmann are both well over forty, Ljunberg could only find a team in the MLS, Henry is splitting time with a kid named Pedro, and Vieira is begging to even make the World Cup squad, let alone play.
This is a different Arsenal. I know you used to be an Arsenal fan but are you still an Arsenal fan?
He is a fan of the Invincibles team alone. Do you need to ask? :-)
I know you are a REAL fan… I am not!
Messi better cool off before that CL tie. He has 8 goals in the last 3 matches. Unfortunately, his normal rate isn’t much lower than that: 25 goals in 24 league appearances (absolutely insane) and 34 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions. Incredible. Clichy may not be able to deal with him, but then again is there anyone right now who can?
Speaking of Clichy, anyone else think he is sometimes hung out to dry by Arshavin’s refusal to help out at all defensively? Clichy comes forward to help with the attack- AA should reciprocate, but he doesn’t.
Messi IS on another planet right now.
Clichy has been better the last few matches, as he is becoming more fit and FULLY recovering from injury, which he came back early from because we had no LB.
Arshavin DEFINITELY does NOT track back enough and help out the defense.
When we went on our run in the CL to get to the Final v Barca in 2006, that is what it was BUILT on… the midfield and even forwards TRACKING BACK relentlessly to help the defense.
It was amazing.
Henry does not want to play against Arsenal in the CL: http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6046643,00.html
He says he’ll be a professional, and go about his business, but he won’t necessarily enjoy it. He also said if he were to score against the Gunners he would not celebrate it. Reminds me of when Barca and Celtic were in the same group a few years back. Henrik Larson got the loudest ovation I’ve ever seen when he came on as a sub for Barca at Parkhead, but he looked almost sad when he scored the winner.
That is because Theirry Henry is CLASS. The best player Arsenal has ever had.
He understands & loves the supporters, still admires Wenger and his beliefs on football, and is too classy to celebrate a goal against his favorite club.
I believe I heard an interview where he said he still watches EVERY Arsenal match.
The ovation he will get at Emirates will be a hero’s welcome.
Theirry Henry Theirry Henry Theirry Henry…
it will rain down over and over…
And then we’ll beat them 3-1, and all in the world will be right!
The best teams rise and win when it is most necessary…
In the clutch, when it all counts most.
We have not been so great in that situation in recent years.
But we have the easiest schedule… that’s huge.
We will have to win almost every match.
If you are waiting for United to lose a match, you might
be waiting until next year.
The fact that ROONEY is apparently injured… might be the hope
we have and need. I am sure he’ll be playing, but if is not at
full strength… it will make their task more difficult.
Arsenal still don’t have control of their own destiny, we need help
to win the league… If we can get to the point where we are in control, then it should be smooth sailing to the title.
As I keep echoing my earlier comments, Arsenal success (league run or CL) will depend on role players over achieving.
Against WH, the 3 points can be linked to the outstanding play of Denilson, Almunia, Eboue, Clichy plus Diaby & Song. I throw Song into this group as his play at CB in the 2nd half was dynamic, in addition to the first half.
For me, Song is our player of the year. This young man’s performance has reduced the pressure off our back four and allowed our midfield more liberty to attack.
Commentary has been so energized and positive, its wonderful to see our club playing attractive football
and winning the ugly ones.
Chances of any team (Arsenal, Chelsea, or ManU) running out their matches, nil to very nil.
Look at the season so far. Away matches are all tricky. Momentum can swing on one play or a favorable official call – enough to fuel and energize the underdog. Away draws are very probable.
Without Vermaelen, away at Birmingham is likely to be another nail bitter.
In our favor is the fact that Birmingham is not showing the earlier season good form; plus they have a mid-week clash away at Blackburn. Blackburn dished it right back at Chelsea yesterday – Shawcross tackles were flying in from every direction -so we can expect for Birmingham to be shown the same hospitality and come into our match with some casualties and tired bodies.
Many are leaning for ManU to win their 19th league title, as Rooney is on top form, but again this has been a season of the topsy turvy results. Almost as if Murphy’s Law was the prescription bestowed upon the league.
AS, totally agree.
the so-called weaker sides are getting more competitive this season. And let’s face it, that’s why we got a 3 horses race at the moment.
If other teams are merely walkovers, Chelsea would have already broken clear out of our sight by now.. When we suffered that van Persie injury, and Man U were having an injury crisis at the back early of the season.
So Chelsea drop points, but can still go ahead of us with their
game in hand…
I am hoping Chelsea BEAT United at Old Trafford… I think United
could win every match the rest of the way, if they can beat Chelsea.
Unfortunately, they are ahead of us on Goal Differential by a
fair amount of goals…
so we will have to win all our matches, and start to bury
some teams by 3 goals or more a few times.
The season has so many races … it is just fantastic in virtually
every major league… still!
3 teams even closer at the top of the EPL, and a 4 team race for 4th!
France has 6 teams within 5 points of the top!
Germany is wide open.
Inter give AC Milan the chance to take first place, and AC BLOWS it!
With the World Cup coming in the Summer, this shapes up to be an
absolutely mouth-watering 4 months of football…
Depending on their positions at the time of that match, I too may be hoping for a Chelsea win rather than a draw. We’ll see…
Chelsea drop points through Blackburn’s El Hadji Diouf, who, in my opinion should have been sent off for (what I saw as) his double stomp on Ivanovic’s leg (just before half-time). Perusing the match reports I don’t see anybody else troubled by the challenge, but it looked very intentional and a straight red to me. I’m sure I’m judging Diouf from his previous actions (last season’s late tackle on Almunia, the most recent memory) and it could be construed that he was playing the ball. Ivanovic had to come out of the game and (luckily) Diouf wasn’t able to get sufficient power on his stomps to actually break bones….
Of course it wasn’t a yellow card nor a foul, but the ref gave a (wrong) corner kick, so some measure of justice was served….or something.
It’s good Chelsea dropped points, but something seems deeply wrong with the English game…Maybe if it was a broken leg, he might’ve gotten a card….
(And that’s not even discussing Howard Webb’s blown call at Old Trafford, or the recent decisions against us…see Nipuna’s comments above, etc.)
yes, the fix is in…
that’s where all United’s revenue is going, they are paying off the league and the referees every week, to insure only they win the league.
what’s amazing is that none of the referees talk about it, or write books years later… they must be getting paid handsomely.
No I don’t think there is any fix or the refs are bribed. I just think the refs are not brave enough to make the right decisions at Old Trafford and give into the home team. Or maybe they buy into Fergie’s antics which sometimes start more than a week before an opponent comes to town.
same here. I think the refs just not strong enough.
There’s stats to back it up as well.
We had conceded penalties twice at OT the past 3 years.
Liverpool conceded penalty at OT for two seasons in a row.
Chelsea also conceded a penalty at OT two seasons ago.
Those are only league record for the past 3 seasons. Meaning that in 8 matches against fellow Big 4 sides the recent 3 seasons in the league, there were FIVE penalties awarded to the home side at Old Trafford. A 60% ratio. Impressive.
Over the years, I lost count how many penalties we conceded at OT.
Or maybe it’s just a coincidence. A coincidence I would love to have when we play against Man U at Emirates. Just for once.
Let’s face some harsh realities.
ManU have been the cream of the league 3 straight seasons, this being the 4th, is up for grabs.
When you are the best team, it follows that you are applying a lot of pressure on opponents and defenses…
That is proven out this year by the number of OWN GOALS scored for United.
(or are those players scoring on purpose for United?)
So, some of the penalties are a direct result of the pressure put on the opposing defense by United.
No, not every penalty is a great call, but that goes across the board. It is part of home field advantage. It is FACT that the crowd effects – influences referees decisions… at Old Trafford and just about every place else.
Chelsea dropped points following their CL exit. That’s why many of us always stressed the significance of “MOMENTUM”.
It’s not a simple case that because they have no CL commitment, so now they could focus on the league and therefore have the advantage.
Things rarely work that way, or else no one would have done a “double”.
Fantastic result at Blackburn. Chelsea looked royal pissed! Shame L’pool couldn’t keep ManUre at bay in the second half. Can’t see too man games where ManUre are going to drop points on this kind of form. Let’s hope Chelsea-Manure is a draw.
Meanwhile onto B’ham. Low scoring draw is the most likely outcome based on the stats.
B’ham have scored very few goals at home -15. (Only Wolves and Wigan have scored fewer) and conceded very few too, only 10. (We’ve let in 15 at home.)
7 Wins
6 draws
2 defeats
Of late, they’ve held ManUre, Chelsea and Sp*ds.
So this has gotten 1-1 written all over it unless we bring our A-game and do our last-goal winner routine. Which we will.
Except we’ve got Nicky B to head in a couple against his old team….Hopeful, I know, but why not?… ;-)
First, we have to hope and pray that none of our players’ legs are broken.
ManU didn’t drop points, but Chelsea did.
By the way, I have this terrible feeling that the referees will ensure Arsenal don’t win the title.
Already three terrible things have happened in just four games – Ramsey incident (lack of strong refereeing before the challenge), stupid penalty given at Hull and the stupid sending off against West Ham.
Elsewhere, ManU get their customary help from referees.
Stag may call me paranoid, but Arsenal have to overcome the opposition and the refereeing. It is not easy! :(
Nip?
really… you have to stop!
Again, I’ll reiterate, if you actually BELIEVE the referees are playing a hand in the outcomes of matches personally, then STOP WATCHING FOOTBALL!
There is no fix. There is no conspiracy. Sorry.
It’s not logical.
You are paranoid.
I don’t have to call you it, you know it.
Now, not for a minute do I believe there is a fix or a conspiracy like there was in the Italian league but I can’t help but notice Man Utd get soft decisions going their way at Old Trafford.
Do you think the ref was honest when Rooney dove to the ground in Oct 2004 to stop Arsenal’s 49 game unbeaten run? Do you think the ref was honest when all those kicks were aimed at Arsenal players that day? What about the added time Man Utd have gotten in home games? How on earth did Man Utd get 6 minutes at the Emirates when Arsenal won 2-1?
Yes. I believe the ref called it as he saw it in Oct.2004…
YES. If I thought he PURPOSELY CALLED a penalty to try and stop the Arsenal unbeaten run, I WOULD NOT WATCH FOOTBALL.
The referees do NOT purposely try to change the outcomes of matches.
THAT IS FIXING & CONSPIRACY.
If they find out it happens, I won’t watch the sport any more.
It would be like watching WRESTLING.
which is why I have always thought Arsenal’s titles were far more hard fought. There were few very games where Arsenal could have eased up in their title winning years but there were many games where opponents hardly ventured into Man Utd’s half at Old Trafford until it two late to do anything.
Plus recently it has felt like Arsenal players can be repeatedly fouled while the ref has a friendly brotherly chat with the opponents but the first time an Arsenal player touches an opponent, a yellow card comes out or a penalty or the joke of a red against West Ham.
Yeah. There’s definitely no organized conspiracy against us. But the repeated success of Man U, the massive crowd, their status as the pinnacle of the English game, Fergie’s mind games and MASSIVE influence within English football all affect the refs psychologically.
Compare that to Arsenal’s image of a bunch of southern softies, a squad filled with Frenchman and all other sorts of foreigners, a manager who is easy for outsiders to dislike… well, that also affects referees subconsciously.
I don’t disagree with the crowd aspect, it has been proven, and is part of home field advantage.
Refs ARE influenced by the roar of the crowd.
Makes Arsenal’s unbeaten season and run all the more impressive…
We weren’t soft at all, and did NOT have that image at that point, we had Vieira who BOSSED the pitch, and often got (took) cards.
They used to go on about our abundance of RED cards for hard play.
btw what a gutsy little player in that Korean Park. Gotta be Manure’s most underrated player.
when he first signed, I thought Fergie bought him to sell shirts. But this lad can play alright. Full of energy, full of running, technically solid. Reminds me a bit of Freddie.
Most of all, he seems to be like a clutch time player, always scoring crucial goals, in big games as well. And he seems to love scoring against us.
United do their job…
I just don’t see them losing points against anyone
except Chelsea on the run in…
we’ll see what happens.
Well, so much for that. Man U 2, Liverpool 1. We’ve just got to keep taking it one game at a time.
‘Pool up a goal 5 mins in….Gerrard to Kuyt perfectly weighted then crossed to wide open Torres….who heads home….I think Bendy could’ve made that one…
Great start, but the ‘Pool defense does not inspire confidence…
Sitting in the GDC, hoping for company….
Ahh Geez, Webb points to the spot, gives yellow to Mascherano and Rooney equalizes (on the rebound after Reina blocks…Double Geez).
Webb actually blew the call…the foul was outside the box, possible red card (to Mash) for denying a goal scoring opportunity but then Valencia dove in the box…
1-1 11 minutes in….
Wait, you’re telling me that Man u got a lucky call from the refs while playing at OT? Well, I never…
PK awarded to Manure at OT, surprise surprise surprise! lol
12th man saved the day… again.
Up early today hoping to watch our rivals drop some points….Go Scousers (obviously) and Blackburn away is never easy. (And a fixture we still have to face.) Man City need a result at Craven Cottage after Spurs got theirs at the Britannia. Interesting stuff, and us with our points already secured….
Certainly it was more difficult after the harsh sending off…We love TV5 because he is such an aggressive defender and the high foot was probably a tactical error which allowed flopping Franco to appear just clear of our man. It was very far from a “clear goal scoring opportunity” and if there was contact (I saw none) it was certainly not enough to cause him to go down like that. (Earlier Franco “earned” a dangerous FK by backing into Sol, i.e., not playing the ball at all….)
Strategic “diving” (IMO) has no place in the game, but English refs, for some reason, generally fail to reach for the yellow cards that could stop it, and instead opt to wave off some and point to the spot on others. I’ve gotta side with Stag about Eboue’s serial abuse on this account….Going to ground under violent challenges and forcing the ref into action, however, is another matter, and when referees fail to protect our players I can see the need for it. I watched a bit of the Sunderland-Birmingham City match and I hope we get a bit more protection next weekend than Peter Walton was providing up there….
So, very solid play under a difficult circumstance. Clichy looked good (anticipating trying to guard Messi?), and Denilson stepped up nicely, which is important as we will need him with Ramsey out. Song had a fantastic match in two positions and Diaby looks imperious save perhaps his final ball. We now have a large group of players (Diaby, Walcott, Arshavin and Bendtner) who present real problems for defenders based on what they MIGHT be able to do, opening holes for others to step into. Whether we can convert the potential into (big) results is still the question, but at least we’re asking it. At some point, (1st leg vs Barca might be nice…) the offense might be able to really run up a tally….
The squad is still thin, but (I think) we lost nobody else to injury. It was interesting that neither Walcott nor Rosicky (both of whom will figure prominently vs Barca, I would figure) got a run out yesterday, but the sending off limited some of the subbing options. Are we resting players already? With Vermaelen out, and the desire to get a result AND avoid injuries/rest key players, the B’ham City match will be very tricky re: squad selection.
Finally, a shout out for CSM (clean sheet Manny) who did it again and seems to be gaining in confidence match to match. For better or worse he is our #1 and his focus appears to be steadily improving. Time, perhaps, is helping put the family tragedy behind him and allowing him to “enjoy” the on-field pressures inherent at his position. Playing behind big Sol might be a steadying influence as well…
As far as penalty takers, if you give me a proper Dutch center forward, I’ll have him take every penalty. Just think back ten years. Players like Kluivert, Makkay, van Nistlerooy, van Hooidonk, Hasselbaink, van Persie, Huntelaar, etc. They’re all clinical from the spot.
Bergkamp is the exception as he’s not a proper center forward and lost his mind after that FA Cup miss in ’99.
Fabulous result to hold that nerve and collect all three points with only ten men. This team is coming of age right before our eyes. Many of us have seen it coming for some time. It’s a beauty that others are finally beginning to see it as well.
Denilson has, rightfully, been given a lot of crap about his performances this season. However, yesterday, he was solid. The early goal was key and well taken after a proper 1-2 with Bendtner, he won a few tackles, and how often does a midlfielder complete 100% of his passess over 90 minutes? If he’s been doing that in training, I guess it’s easy to see why Wenger persists with him.
I’ve said for years that if Diaby improves his vision, then the sky’s the limit for how good he can become. Good vision has improved his passing, movement, and defensive positioning. He’s always had everything else. He’s maturing right before our eyes. I predict him being the difference for France at the World Cup.
Eboue has always been good on the ball. It’s not a dive if the defender fouls you. He doesn’t have to leave you in a heap for it to be a legit foul. With his quickness and close control, fouling is the only way to stop him. Good on him. He is a bit dramatic but who cares?
Big up to Wenger on the change in tactics after going to ten men. At the start of the second half, we were just lumping the ball up to Bendtner but he had no support so he couldn’t keep the ball; a lot like Adebyaor got unfairly dogged for doing last year. West Ham started to pose a threat. Taking the target man off and putting some dribblers on forced Arsenal to play football again. More importantly, West Ham had to cope with that. This tactical change allowed Eboue, Diaby, Nasri, and Clichy to shine. Those guys can do things that no one else in the side can do. When players all bring something different and are allowed to express themselves, that’s what makes Arsenal a proper team. Well done by plan-b Wenger.
Good stuff Josh, and a bunch of agreement with my simultaneous post below…(I’m in the AhBooEee cult, but still think he could clean it up a bit…)
Over to the GDC for the United-‘Pool match?…
well said josh. with only one disagreement : I think Diaby does have the vision on where to pass, just his passing is weak the ball failed to meet the target.
agree on Eboue. I honestly didn’t spot any diving from Eboue yesterday neither. He did fall to ground. But he was “fouled”.
He’s one of the rare dribblers of our team. It’s naturally he would get fouled more often when he’s running with the ball.
Personally, I think he was one key reason we won the game yesterday, what with his direct running, always a threat.
2nd half… near the box, DOVE to the ground, replay showed he was NOT touched.
PATHETIC.
If someone touches you, and you fall to the pitch and roll around
like you were shot with a gun… it is not only DIVING, it is CHEATING.
In my opinion, you should get sent off for it, which would end the
cheating immediately. Just like if you injure an opponent like Shawcross, you should be suspended for 20 games, which would END that type of dangerous tackling.
@Ozi,
speaking of Cesc’s penalty. I was worried when he came up against Rob Green. Green had a great record stopping penalties for the Hammers. Cesc’s last 2 penalties all placed it to the right corner. I really fear he would go for the right bottom corner again. As I afraid Green might have studied Cesc’s previous penalties and dive to the (Green’s)left.
As a point you made – Cesc didn’t go for power with his previous two penalties, if the keeper guess it right, there’s a risk it’s gonna be saved.
I kept shouting to the TV screen “smash it into the middle”. Sure enough Green dived to his left. Cesc, however, struck the ball to the Green’s right. Cheeky little Spanish!
And thankfully Manny did study Diamanti’s penalties, who goes the same way every time. Albeit with power.
But Cesc has only recently started taking penalties and hopefully he gets better at them. Smashing it down the middle about chest height I think makes penalties near unstoppable, ironic though that is.
Reminds me of something Matt Le Tissier said some time ago. Can’t remember who he was talkin about but he mentioned how he worked on his penalties so that even though they were pretty much the same every time, they were near guaranteed to go in every time. Didn’t get to watch too much of him though so don’t know how he may have been hitting them. But I suspect they were about chest height so that the keeper in a horizontal position can’t reach them, with power and not so close to the post so that he gets a bit of leeway.
Would love to hear someone actually tell me…
I think smash it with power onto the top corner is the killer penalty – virtually unstoppable.
But few players really be able to do that. Cos it takes a real “striker”, with great “striking” technic to pull it off.
Cos with power, you lose accuracy. With place shot, you have more accuracy.
to be able to strike with power without sacrifice accuracy, it needs a player with a great striking technic.
Not even Henry dare to smash the ball when comes to penalty.
The best PK-taker I ever seen in English game without a doubt was Alan Shearer.
He really smashed it, and always aimed for the top corner. No way a keeper be able to stop that.
At the present, I think van Persie is another great PK-taker. Like Shearer, he’s one of the rare guys who really strikes the ball instead of placing it.
That’s it. But to reduce the chances of missing it, you aim about 1.5 feet under the bar and inside the post. If you get the height correct, that is about chestish height, then a diving keeper is only going to be able to stop it if it is right next to him. It gives the accuracy bit a lot more leeway. Add to it the power, and its going to have to be real close. Lol. I think we might be getting too deep into it.
You’re right. Power and a striking shot rather than a placed shot does a great penalty make (Other than Ronaldinho who can place it bulls eye into the top corner).
Oh and agree about Shearer as well. I had forgotten how good he was at penalties.
speaking of PK shootout, there have always been talks that it’s not a fair way to decide a cup match.
Personally, I love it!
Let’s face it, nothing more exciting than watching a PK-shootout!
Only the losing teams would call it “unfair”.
And it’s not just about sheer “luck” neither.
It’s about execution, and nerve.
Look at Germany, if it’s decided by luck, there’s no way Germany would have had never lost a major tournament shootout since… most of us here hadn’t even born.
While England had gone out of most tournaments by PK shootout.
I personally don’t see Germany is a more “lucky” country than England!
Glenn Hoddle once famously proclaimed there’s no point on practicing penalty as you will never be able to create the match day atmosphere.
but practice does help to improve your shooting technic. Especially those defenders who don’t normally get to shoot the ball often in a match.
England, for some reasons, many of their attacking players tend to lose their nerve to take a penalty when comes to shootout. That left the “braveheart” midfielders, defenders who seem to be more brave to step up. Yet their shooting were awful.
Cashley Gold is probably the best PK-taking defender in England right now.
By the way, about the whole diving being anti-football thing. Poetic justice in the Everton Bolton game. I watched about half of it and didn’t realize it at the time but just seen it on the highlights. Bolton player dived, won a free-kick, Bolton players piled into the area, Everton cleared the set-piece and countered.. Steinsson got caught out, got sent off and Arteta scored from the resulting free-kick.
Poetic Justice!!
It was wonderful to watch. Not so wonderful to watch from the same game was watching Wilshere get muscled off the ball a few times. Not wholly his fault, his teammates aren’t the best at opening up but it is an aspect of his game he is going to need to work on. Shielding the ball better the way Fabregas is so so good at and also developing his upper body strength.
hat stat does not surprise me, Big Al majors on stopping penalties, that’s his thing. He has abetter record than both Seaman andLehman on that respect
———————————————————-
@arthur,
No man, Arsenal’s original “penalty king” was John Lukic. Followed by David Seaman. When comes to penalty shootout, I bet big Dave had a better record than any other English goalkeepers in the past 2 decades. He’s even better than the great Peter Shilton. He was outstanding especially in shootout for both Arsenal and England.
Almunia without a doubt had probably made the most important save of his Arsenal career. But his record is not better than Mad Jens. Remember how Jens sent Germany to WC semi with his penalty saves? The last FA Cup we won I think Jens made another two saves in PK shootout.. And who would forget than last minute in the CL semi a few years ago that sent us to the final.
Almunia definitely didnt’ save 5 out of 8 penalties against us this season. I sure hell can’t recall that myself.
Dez I know Seaman used to save a few and there have never been a good English penalty stopper since Gordon Banks.
But without checking out the stats I would be certain that Almunia has a higher penalty saving ratio than Seaman, I have watched us loose too many penalty shootouts not to notice. Big ‘Al is exceptional at penalties a bit like the Liverpool keeper, Seaman was good but not exceptional.
Jens would have a record comparable to Big ‘Al but I would not be surprised if ‘Al has a better record than him for Arsenal. It would be interesting to see the stats though. I cannot remember Lukic saving MANY penalties though.
According to DanyT, Denilson completed each of the 69 passes he tried today. Quite impressive, even if you do bring up the fact that they may not be as attacking as our other mids. Retaining possession was key in this game and he helped a whole bunch. Credit where it’s due…
that is he’s style – keep it simple, no fuss.
He had intercepted many WestHam possessions as well, but these soft of things he did on the pitch would never make it into highlight film.
He is to me one of the most underrated Arsenal players.
Right, a lot of confusion about how long TV5 is suspended for? 1 or 3 games? Anyone has a solid answer? How bout Wayne or whoever it was that came out of hiding last time we had confusion about the ‘laws’ of the game?
WAYNE, WAYNE, WAYNE
Yeah come on Wayne give us the goods
Hmmm… I’m not so sure about this Fabregas facial hair. Looks kind of weird if you ask me.
He’d be stopped at an airport if he tried going through security like that :P
Denilson AND Almunia are most responsible for the win today…
Nice goal, and a good game by Denilson…
that’s two games in a row he has had a hand directly in our win.
Almunia saved our ass with the PK save, and didn’t have much
else to do the rest of the match.
The call on Vermaelen was WEAK… but that stuff happens. (too often perhaps)…
and the response was a good one from Arsenal. West Ham came at us a bit and we steadied the ship and held on nicely… and finally got the 2nd goal to put any doubt to rest. I think Cesc TRIES to hit defenders hands near the box!
Yes, Eboue played well… but why must he continue to DIVE. If that is not anti-football, then there is no such thing. He has pulled the same shit forever, even back to the Barcelona match in the Finals… which led to our goal by Campbell.
You folks can over-look it if you wish, because he wears Red, but it is exactly what anti-football is… he has talent and skills to burn, (even if he still can’t hit the net from 10 yards away)… and he continues to employ the DIVE every time he can.
I thought Clichy had a good match… and really everyone had their moments and pitched in during this one.
It could EASILY have gone downhill after the red-card and penalty, but
the team stuck together and got performances across the board for the win…
I wouldn’t doubt Arsenal appeal the RED against Vermaelen.
Don’t they wait a match before he is banned anyway? We should try to
appeal or delay until after the Birmingham match, and maybe Gallas will be back… (or the Red could be over-turned).
Let’s hope for a slip up from United or Chelsea… the Arsenal did their part today.
Oh, who predicted 2-0?
;)
And this is not the first time you predicted the right score :) I should just see what you say for the score and then sit back, relax and watch the game.
Quit hating Stag! I cannot recall Eboue diving at all today. If he did so effing what? Fab dived today, so effing what?
I bet you were one of those that overlooked Vieira’ and Pires diving, right? I bet you was also among those defending Eduardo’s dive saying people were overracting and he did not invent diving etc, I will remind you that neither did Eboue.
Pires was a far more effective diver than Eboue, but he will forever be one of my favourites regardless.
And of course we overlook his discrepancies because he wears a red shirt, we are by nature biased we are Arsenal fans.
But I notice you are a little different in the way you “support” Arsenal as you defend the likes of Stoke and their leg breakers against the tag “anti football” but put the label on one of our own players. What a weird way to support “your own” and what a weird definition of anti football.
Dude you need to drink Kool Aid or something!! If it sickens you, well that’s all good too.
Baby steps Arthur. Antifootball finally has been accepted as a term. Now we can move on to it’s different meanings. And I agree with stag. Diving is one of them. (I don’t recall Cesc doing it though… Rose tinted glasses? would love a specific minute so I can go back and see it…)
But yea, not seeing leg-breakers as Anti-football… Hopefully it will come slowly. He’s still an Arsenal fan I think and we should give him a chance to the very end, a bit like most of our players.. Eboue included.
Yeah Cesc did it yesterday Ozi, not as artistic as our man Eboue but a dive nevertheless, totally ignored by the ref he didn’t even ask him to get up. It was so pathetic Cesc didn’t appeal as he knew it was not convincing.
Are you asking me to tell you in what minute he did it? LOL, I will never go to such lengths to criticise my own players. But you are free to watch the game closely and see, if I remember rightly it was in the 2nd half, happy hunting. Rose tinted glasses? I doubt it, just not concerned by every discrepancy committed by your own team.
Interesting finding a definition of anti-football though. I would define it as intentionally using means to stop others playing football as it is meant to be played using either legitmate or illegitmate tactics. I.e being overly defensive or overly physical in order to stop a team playing.
Diving I would not put in that category, diving is unsporting conduct aka plain old cheating. In some senarios it is self preservation trying to avoid injury.
well said arthur!
LOL! I tried to upload a Kool Aid avatar for myself couldn’t get it to upload though.
I want one with the slogan real Hippies drink Kool Aid ;-)
Or maybe if you would rather be a Positive Pete rather than a Negative Nancy drink Kool Aid
How about a before and after Kool Aid vacation. Fred before his Kool Aid break :-( Fred on his return :-D
I should have been a Kool Aid saleman ;-)
Arthur…
if you want to watch the match, and believe EVERYTHING Arsenal and its players do is fair, wonderful and by the rules… that is great.
I watch sports with objectivity.
I don’t have to like the style of play of ALL the players on the teams I support.
You do it your way, I’ll do it mine.
You can believe it makes you a “better supporter” or “real” supporter… whatever you need to do to make yourself happy.
In the highlight package for the EPL, the commentator said that out of the 8 penalties Almunia has faced this season, he has saved 5. Does that sound right? I can remember the save Almunia had against Hull when Geovanni could have made it 1-1, which was in a similar position today when Almunia saved it from becoming 1-1. But that is 2 saves. What were his other 3 kick saves this season?
Sach maybe that includes saves in CL and FA Cup.
That stat does not surprise me, Big Al majors on stopping penalties, that’s his thing. He has abetter record than both Seaman andLehman on that respect.
Yeah I figured it might include all comps but I couldn’t find any pk saves he made this season in the CL or F.A Cup.
Yes his penalty saving record is quite good and what makes it better is that is in a regular 90 min game. It is a different matter if it was in a shoot-out scenario.
Overall, a bit scrappy, otherwise a very encouraging win. We put in a lot of workrate and didn’t really notice being a man down in the second half.
We have just that extra bit of purpose in our play now. Denilson driving forward to take his goal was a good example of that. Bendtner having a pop from distance. Lots of good crosses into the six-yard box – if only we had people arriving to get on the end of them.
Cesc is coolness personified. He takes charge and keeps it all moving. Slots home the penalty without a ripple of nerves.
Song gives us so much more security in midfield. We were stretched a bit today, but we never looked too rattled or lost. And we just keep going. Once again, we got a goal in the last 10 mins.
Looking ahead to B’ham. I see they have one of the worst home defensive records, conceding 15 goals. All very encouraging.
Personally, I’m not overly confident about Cesc’s penalties. They seem to me to be the type that if the keeper guesses right, could easiy be saved. I’d like him to hit them harder and either lower/harder. Sounds kinda b*tchy of me to be complaining about it after he’s scored his wat? Last 3 I think? But I really think he’s well behind someone like Lampard/Rooney/Ronaldo/Van Persie/Gerrard etc when it comes to taking penalties.
Very susrprised at that record from Brum. I was under the impression they were one of the stronger defences around. But they have started leaking lately and we should hopefully take full advantage of it.
Sorry. I meant B’ham have scored very few goals at home -15. (Only Wolves and Wigan have scored fewer.) B’ham have conceded 10 goals at home so far.
7 Wins
6 draws
2 defeats
They’ve held ManUre, Chelsea and Sp*ds of late.
This has gotten 1-1 written all over it unless we bring our A-game.
Okay so if I am reading Arsene’s post match comments right – it sound like RvP could be coming back to training starting next week. (or there abouts).
And after some digging I am right – Robin Van Persie will return to the team to begin training this week.
His estimate return to the team 3-4 weeks.
Basically it means that RvP’s first game back with the team COULD be against City.
That was another soft penalty awarded against Arsenal, and a red card to boot.
The Gods must be crazy.
I can’t even imagine a partnership of Sol and Silvestre, it would be a total disaster.
Denilson, I must admit, played fairly well today but his going to ground and losing the ball in the defensive third still drives me crazy.
he went to the ground less than Cesc AND Eboue today.
Cesc kept getting fouled.. Eboue needs to cut the diving. And I was happy with Denilson today. He got muscled of maybe once or twice at the most but nothing that drove me crazy- it would apply for most of our players of that stature.
By the way with hindsight after a win, I can properly laugh at the image of Wenger, after we conceded our penalty, going over to our dear dinosaur and venting his heart out.. hehehe.
Yes I know the 4th official was right there..
The 4th official is kinda like those who works in customer services – taking blame for someone else’s false.
From the camera angle, at first it did look like Wenger was talking to the dinosaur but I kept thinking the 4th official must be there and finally the camera did reveal him. Although I wish the 4th official was not there because then Wenger talking to the dinosaur would have given me some strange thoughts :)
It wouldn’t have seemed as strange as the man in a rabbit suit in the movie Donnie Darko or people in David Lynch’s Inland Empire but it would have been something.
Heh I remember watching Donnie Darko… Weird movie! And the rabbit suit was all the strangeness of that movie put together in that suit.
Well good you saw the movie otherwise you would not find the strangeness about what I am going to say.
Let’s say the 4th official was not there and Wenger was seen talking to the dinosaur. Would that mean that the dinosaur delivers messages to Wenger like the rabbit suit in Donnie Darko? If so, then I would be perfectly willing to understand why Wenger chooses some players over the other.
Dinosaur: Today, your team will give away a penalty.
Wenger: What should I do.
Dinosaur: Keep faith with Almunia.
Never thought Donnie Darko would ever be tied to Arsenal but anything is possible with this team.
LOLLL! Yup who’d have thunk it. I think 3 comments is about as far as they should go hand in hand though so we stop here.
Bring back the Seinfeld one-liners. I can’t remember who it was that was doing those but they were gold… “Gold Jerry”!
Fancy that Manny and Denilson being our heroes today!
Song was fantastic when he was in MF, outstanding distribution. His quick thinking and distrubution is something that people do not credit him for or do not notice. But he showed what an outstanding player he can be when on… Song ;-)
Another good game by Eboue, he is a very good player although people berated him on his poor form and play acting. As I said Eboue will prove the haters wrong in the long run I just hope Denilson is good enough to do the same.
We will miss the Verminator I hope it is only a one game ban as I have been told, I do not fancy Song in defence or Silvestre. Bendtner looked average again today, still a bit of a worry we do not have anyone in good enough form to displace him.
Anything positive Eboue does is negated by his DIVING.
Which he did AGAIN today.
PATHETIC.
I do not effing care abou t Eboues alleged diving, Vieira dived, Bergkamp was a nasty fouler and Pires was the master of divers. I have seen Eduardo and Jack Wilshere dive on more than one occasion too.
I don’t care if they dive as long as they wear an Arsenal shirt they will always get my backing.
Remmeber you don’t have to support Eboue or Arsenal, you can support that Chelsea team you keep bigging up and the “world class” expensive players that you lust after like JT and Cashley.
Eboue is a effing King whether you like him or not.
he is the definition of Anti-Football.
If Diaby can improve on his passing, i think he has what it takes to become a world class player.
Such an elegant player when he’s on his game. I haven’t used the term “elegant” to discribe an Arsenal player since Titi and Bergkamp left. Diaby’s ball skills just simply classy.
And Eboue, what a season he is having. Probably the best since he joined Arsenal.
Diaby’s turn, run and pass to AA was beautiful and if Arshavin had scored that, that would have been replayed quite a bit.
Just like some movies develop a cult following, I think Eboue is a player who has this potential of getting a cult following. His antics, his improvement since being booed, his runs, his dives and then the incorrect way his name is pronounced by commentators, although the last aspect is not his fault.
I think our move in the 22nd minute, if Bendy hadn’t mucked up the through ball to Cesc, could’ve been goal of the season. To me anyway, cuz I like the pass and move goals where the opponents can feel nothing but helplessness as we cut through them. Unbelievably good stuff to watch.
Missed out on my bet of winning by more than 3 goals though. Bloody red card.. Ah well. We’re top and that’s all that matters.
yup Ozi, the only shame is it’s on Bendy’s left foot, if it’s his right foot he would have found Cesc with his pass.
Sachin, I think Diaby has developed a signature move – that trapping the ball before making a 360 turn. A bit like Zidane’s 360.
But with his towering presence, Diaby’s move is more than just a fancy trick, it’s extremely effective on shielding the ball and pull himself away from a crowd of markers.
I wonder if the game developers would sim this move into their new games next season!
Yea I know what you mean about the move. Very impressive it was today. And with his long legs and deceptively quick acceleration it leaves defenders for dead. Put guys like Theo/AA23/Eboue in front of him when he does this and he can turn sth into an Arsenal counter very quickly. I can see him being very important at Barca and was very surprised he didn’t start today.
Denilson/Clicy/Manny- our 3 men who give us the shudders performed very well today. Hope they keep it up and the opinion against them WILL turn. Holding it together aagainst Barca esp will go a long long way.
Song was the orchestrator of that move, it is a good example of the quick thinking and distribution I was talking about.
It could well have been goal of the season.
I have to see that move again as I can’t recall it, which means I must have missed it.
Definitely find a way to see it. It better be on MOTD!! DLing it right now.
Yeah, Eboue was diving all over the pitch again, wonderful stuff.
THAT is ANTI-FOOTBALL.
Agree.. Makes me cringe. I hate seeing it from one of our own and have done so from the days when the likes of Pires did it. Henry always tried to stay on his feet (his resolve seems to be mellowing though). And Kevin Doyle at Wolves will always get more respect from me than most players I see. That guy REFUSES to go down unless he is physically incapable of staying up (from what I’ve seen of him anyway). I really really wish Eboue would stop.
Good to see you embracing new words in the English Language Stag. Correct context and everything. Keep it up.
Job done. Should be an interesting sunday. Kudos to Denilson for getting that goal, Almunia for that huge save, Song for being himself and Captain Cesc for releasing all that tension. On the replays, looked like Cesc was already smiling as soon as he took the kick as he saw the keeper go the other way.
the concern now is Vermaelen will be missing a few games.
I know. Worried about that. I guess that will also halt TV’s goal tally charge.
I think he will only be missing for 1 game as he was not sent off for violent conduct, so we have to do without him for B’ham trip. Best option would be for Song to drop back and partner Sol and for Diaby to move into DM.
1-0 at halftime. Kudos to Almunia for the save. But that was a very soft penalty. Where was the foul? The guy just collapsed as Vermaelen was going for the ball. Wankers.
Not to worry. We should hold on and maybe even get a second goal on the breakaway in the last 10 mins.
The ref’s an idiot. Franco has a history of diving and with the slightest touch he went down. Useless ref. He lets Behrami get away with a silly late challenge on Cesc and then books Sol with his first challenge. The refs always book Arsenal first, a fact that I can’t understand.
I know! Maybe an Arsenal foul is an indicator to them that the game is ‘getting out of hand’?? But the lack of tolerance for us is ridiculous.
Though I do think IF that is a foul by Verm (and the twat ref did think it was) then the red card by the rules (though illogical and harsh IMO) is the correct call
It is frustrating. Week in, week out.
Can anyone think of any more USELESS people in their profession than the football referees?
F*CK the REF.
Starting XI: Almunia, Eboue, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Fabregas, Song, Denilson, Nasri, Bendtner, Arshavin.
Subs: Silvestre, Rosicky, Eduardo, Sagna, Diaby Walcott, Fabianski
Deni starts ahead of Diaby!
because Arsene probably had a vision that the Brazilian ankle would come in handy in the opening 5 minutes.
I am not very worried, mainly cause this is at home, and we have Cesc + Song back. We tend to do very, very well at home.
except against Chelsea or United!
;)
looks like there is a chance for Liverpool to gain ground on the other 4th place hopefuls!
That is GOOD news!!
Spurs are leading at Stoke.
Edit: I cursed the Spurs. Stoke have equalized.
Spurs lead again!
Villa did already drop points.
and KANUUUUUUUUUUUU has put a hurting on Hull.
Portsmouth showing fight, and trying to drag Hull down with them!
I am rooting Pompey go on some unbelievable run for the rest of the season.
A good show of professionalism. gotta give that to them, the Pompey players.
Or maybe they are just trying to play themselves to the shop window.
Either way, it’s good to see a team with nothing to play for did not just throw in the towel.
They are playing for their lives… the math says they still have a chance, if they keep winning…
and of course, a lot of players will be released, playing for a job in the Prem. next year…
The great fans and the players will suffer from the deduction, and the people who screwed up are long gone.
Make ZERO sense.
I hope they win the FA CUP.
That would be huge for them. A bit of cash to ease the pain. Something for their fan’s to shout about. I hear they won’t get to play in Europe because they didn’t complete the paperwork in time. They’d also get increased prices for their cup winning players which will help. But O’hara and Piquionne are their best men by a long way and they’re both on loan! Which kinda sucks for them. Beyond that I can only really see Belhadj and maybeee Boateng getting bought back into the premiership. Don’t really have much going for them Pompey. Only if manager’s could be sold because I do rate Avram Grant.
today versus West Ham, should be pretty straight forward…
anything less than 3 points for Arsenal is a shock result.
let’s hope we go out and get the job done early and often.
if we can score early, it might demoralize West Ham, and as usual…
the longer you allow a team to remain in the game, the more belief
they have that they can take points…
Not happening today…
2-0 Arsenal.
Should be smooth sailing.
Imagine: if Arsenal paid 18 mil for a midfielder, who went on to make only a few appearances in two years, guess what people would make of it?
Just read Owen Hargraves been talking about his world cup dream, and Fergie asked him to shut up and worry about playing for the club first.
Rightly so. Owen H can go down to one of United’s worst signings, or most unlucky signings. He owes Man U big time, for collecting his wage for 2 years while doing little. Not to mention they actually paid 18 mil for him.
I can imagine how pissed Fergie must be when reading Owen H’s World Cup dream.
perspective.
so, we have folks that say RVP is just “unlucky”… not injury prone.
so, is Hargreaves just unlucky? I guess it all depends on what shirt he wears.
I don’t think there is much doubt he can play … when healthy, but he can’t stay on the pitch long enough to be worth the money he gets.
If Arsenal paid 18 Million for anything, I’d faint!
didn’t I say Owen H was “unlucky”?
you did… some would say he is injury prone, not unlucky!
3-0 would suit me just fine.
Another strong and comprehensive write up DAG. Agree on the line up, with the exception of Nasri
getting a rest and Rosicky starting upfront.
Arsenal should be brimming with confidence and only bad luck could make the match close.
No injuries, 3 points, clean sheet, and a season high goal production: Go Gunners.