Up for the Cup??

March 12, 2011

Lucky Arsenal? This season we have drawn Newcastle and Spurs away in the Carling Cup, Barcelona in the CL, and now Man Utd away in the FA Cup.  I can only imagine Mr Wenger has spent the season walking under ladders and crossing the path of black cats. No-one wanted this fixture, neither Arsenal who are coming off the back of an emotional defeat at Camp Nou nor Man Utd, who are facing Marseilles in an important contest on Weds.

And yet neither manager will give up on this game. In my opinion both will put out as strong a team as injury permits, pride will dictate their actions. However, we are without (I hate writing this …) Vermaelen, Walcott, Fabregas , Song, Fabianski and Szczesny, and United are without Nani, Ferdinand and Park.

The loss of Szczesny has brought about the situation that (almost) all Gooners feared – a run of games for Almunia. Many point out that Manuel had a fine game in Spain and it would be churlish to argue. However, there is a reason why two Poles under the age of 23 are ahead of him in the AFC rankings and that is because Almunia is notoriously inconsistent. It was said at the start of the season by most pundits that Arsenal cannot win the league with Almunia, unfortunately we are about to find out. That said, I am sure he will give his all for the cause (and promote his flagging career). He must be given 100% support.

Having a more reliable defence will give Manuel confidence. We have tightened  to the point where there appears to be some understanding at the back; something missing since Sol left. Who would have thought that Djourou would be the man to come to the fore (apart from GG, and yours truly)?

We still have the midfield creativity problem in Cesc’s absence. Many have called for Nasri to take Cesc’s role, which make much sense. He has the vision and pace to push the team forward and has been given the Captain’s armband (though Almunia will take it tomorrow) which indicates he has the character to lead the team, and character he will need because at OT Fletcher has the licence to kick anyone off the park. Song is a big loss – Diaby plays better when he has the security of a strong defensive midfielder. Will Mr Wenger dare to start Ramsey rather than Denilson? I would take the risk but this is more a reflection of my opinion of Denilson. The Brazilian has much to recommend him, but not at a team at the level of Arsenal. I am sure he will be a huge success in Malaga, Mallorca or Juventus but not at the Grove – sorry.

Up front Van Persie will be chafing at the bit after his infuriating red card, he is playing as well as any time during his Arsenal career.  Bendtner will be desperate to show that with more than 10 minutes on the pitch he can score, but if Nasri and Arshavin are to start I see no place for him. I expect Nik to leave in summer (and I will be sad to see him go), if I was him I would be fuming that having played in most rounds of the Carling Cup and being one of the main reasons we got to the Final, he was dropped for RvP.  Vidic is back for MU which is a huge fillip for them, and a negative for us. Time for Arshavin to rediscover his shooting boots.

Man Utd have been an anomaly; at no time have they looked a title winning team and yet they have led the Premiership for most of the season. With a dull but effective midfield they rely on power rather than guile. What would they give for a young Bobby Charlton? In losing their last two big games they have seen that Giggs and Scholes fading powers are useful but not dependable. Expect a buying spree from SAF this summer –  a GK, a left back (who wants the lamentable Evra?), 2 creative MF’s, and a CB –  Modric, Rodwell, Bale, Cahill, Neuer have all been mentioned. Valencia has suffered from injury and can perhaps become the Giggs replacement, but MU have yet to replace the brilliance of Ronaldo. What they have replaced is Ronaldo’s penchant for acting with an even worse cheat in Nani. – fine player, shame about the histrionics. Rooney has flickered all season, capable of the brilliant but then petulant and obnoxious – once again his career has been boosted by SAF’s influence at the FA. . Berbatov is the PL’s top scorer and yet remains as unreliable as ever – another capable of brilliance or anonymity. His place is under threat from Hernandez who looks a fine signing –  that valuable fox in the box.

Mr Wenger has continually stated Arsenal will fight on all fronts this season, and I expect him to put out his strongest available 11.

My team:

Personally, I expect us to lose; we are not playing with fluency nor with confidence; we usually go down at Old Trafford and we will be forced to play against 14 men (11 players and the officials). Arsenal have yet to score more than one goal in a game at Old Trafford in the PL, so we are unlikely to see a goal-fest. To win we need to score first and force Man Utd to come onto us, thereby allowing Arsenal to play on the counter-attack. And above all, we need a good and fair performance from the referee, Chris Foy.

It is the final game of the season against Man Utd on Mayday which is more important to me and I imagine to both managers –  this is just the Hors d’oeuvre. I would give the Claret- nosed Caledonian (Thank you RL) the win today in exchange for the 3 points at the Grove.

COYRRG

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Who is the bar steward in the black?

March 11, 2011

Written by Red Arse

As a dyed in the wool Gooner, I have become so enraged by appalling refereeing decisions, in game after game, that I realised it was becoming a serious health hazard.

The incandescent fury that descends upon me, at the perceived injustice, causes my face to mottle and go purple, like an over-sized plum, and my eyes to bulge like demented headlights on stalks, while my hand, of its own volition, spasmodically throws at the screen anything not tied down. My girlfriend has narrowly escaped being hurled like a spear at the set when sitting innocently besides me reading her astrological stars. Bet they did not forecast that, eh?

So, who are these satyrs in the black? These sylvan refereeing beasts whose revelry seems to lie solely in infuriating all fans, especially Gooners, at every turn?
Why do they choose, in their goat like obstinacy, to turn a deaf ear to our appeals for justice, or whose dim mole-like eyesight prevents them from seeing the blindingly obvious, while displaying an incredulous incomprehension of the basic laws of the beautiful game?

Well, believe it or not, it seems they are not satyrs nor devils nor simply just bad eggs, but just a cross section of the human flotsam and jetsam that we all belong to, with all the virtues and vices that are inherent in our species.

Why then, when they don the black garb of the referee, do they so frequently behave in an inexplicably arbitrary, confrontational and controversial a manner?

In part, at least, it is a battle between human frailty and technology.

Let us have a quick look at the human aspect. The human brain is itself a wonderful computer, but it has limitations as we shall see, and we are expecting it to work at maximum efficiency in a hostile and physically stressful environment, under the baleful glare of hostile managers!

What is the science behind the brain/technology that causes the problem?

Light travels at 186,000 mps in a vacuum, or about 671 million miles per hour.

Einstein’s theory of relativity shows that we never really see moving things in the “now” because of the space/time laws of physics. Our brains have had to evolve a predictive capability to adjust for the lag in our perception of movement.

When a player kicks a ball, light strikes it and is projected onto the referee’s retina. By the time the brain processes this image, the ball has moved at up to 65 mph away from where the referee “saw” it. In effect, the brain of the referee, and those of the observers (fans), is continually “predicting” where the ball is going to be, rather than where it was when the image was first projected onto his retina.

This parallax applies to all objects, including players, and makes the interpretation of the Offside, Law 11 into an extremely complex calculation, taking into account the distance the ball has or will travel, while also allowing for the movements of a group of jostling players, who may, or may not, be fouling each other, or who may, or may not, have already been in an offside position at the exact moment the ball was kicked.

Ludwick Fleck, the famous doctor and biologist, showed that a person’s subconscious belief can alter his observations. That is to say, the ‘human confirmation bias’ leads a person, with a particular belief, to see things as reinforcing that belief, even if another observer would strongly disagree.

Therefore, a referee will observe what he expects to observe, until shown otherwise, and his beliefs will therefore inevitably affect his observations, and his subsequent reactions, in a self fulfilling way.

Mark Clattenberg, in the Wigan v Manu game, did not give a red card to Rooney, despite almost everyone else’s perception of a deliberate elbow into his opponents face. This was compounded by a smile and an arm around Rooney’s shoulders.

This a perfect example of the human confirmation bias in operation. Clattenberg may have thought of Rooney as a ‘good’ guy; and an England player; and a much maligned sporting hero, not capable of committing such a dreadful foul, and therefore he does not see it. He simply saw what he expected to see, and not what had actually happened!

This human confirmation bias applies to us all, from victims of the con artists ‘three card trick’ to witnesses who give wildly contradictory statements of what happened at a bank robbery or accident.

Television technology has simply heightened our ability to compare what the referee thinks he saw against the reality of what the unbiased camera actually sees, using slow motion playback.

For myself, I will probably just carry on, irrationally, hurling abuse at the men in black, when I think they have transgressed against my beloved Gunners.

But, in the back of my rational mind, I will know they are just normal human beings doing their best, subject to both the laws of physics and human psychological conditioning.

It would seem that referees are not, after all, the cheating, incompetent, sporting pariahs that we sometimes believe them to be!

Who would have thought old Einstein with his theory of general relativity, as well as Dr Fleck and his philosophy of scientific sociology would play such a part in our very own beautiful game of footie!

Arsenal for the Double!!

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

A Thierry Henry hat-trick saves our week – April 2004

March 10, 2011

Some serious cheering up needed today. There’s no shame in going out of the Champions League at the hands of Barcelona although having to listen to how Arsene Wenger sent his team out to park the  bus and play negatively is almost beyond the pale. Anyone who watched the game will know that we hardly touched the ball and that was because they didn’t let us. We’ve done that to countless teams and now we know how it feels. Ouch.

Waking up, though,  to find that our arch rivals have progressed to the quarter finals is more than upsetting. I’m in two minds whether I wish Barcelona on them or not, to have them crowing about entertaining Barca at the lane or them playing at the Nou Camp is asking a lot. I’d rather they got the chavs really. Spiteful, moi?

I turned to the fixture list after the disappointment of Tuesday night to see when I could next be called upon to cheer and encourage my beloved Arsenal only to find that we don’t have a home game until 2nd April – thats still another 3 weeks away! How cruel the fixture list is sometimes, just  when you want to be there to prop up the team you find they’re going to have to play without you.

I reminded myself of a week not long ago when we went out of the FA Cup on a Saturday to the manks and then out of the Champions League to the chavs on the following Tuesday. We were playing Liverpool at home on the Friday of that week, it was Easter and Thierry had picked up a back injury and wasn’t starting. The disappointment of the weeks previous results was pretty crushing and I was desperate to get to Highbury to cheer the team out of the tunnel. For some reason I was worried that the crowd would hold back on their support, how foolish of me. The noise that Highbury created that day when the team ran out brought tears to my eyes, to a man we stood and cheered them until I thought we would burst.

The game started off badly and by half-time Liverpool had definitely scored 2 goals and I think we’d scored 1 but in the second half Thierry came on and scored a hat-trick and the tears rolled again.

It was 2004. It was the eighth game before the end of the season, the season where we would go unbeaten. I believe Theirry Henry saved our unbeaten run on that day, coming off the bench with a back injury and single-handedly winning that game, but he was always my hero anyway.

This team have 2 difficult away games before I can take my seat and be part of our history but from the comfort of my couch I will be shouting loudly in my support and just hope its enough. We still have a double in our sites, lets go and grab it.

Written by peachesgooner

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Corruption or Incompetence?

March 9, 2011

Well, that was without doubt that most bizarrely awful refereeing decision I have ever seen.

Robin van Persie is put through on goal, the ref whistles for offside, a second later Robin shoots.

The referee gives him a second yellow for time wasting and he’s off.

I was watching with some Arsenal fans and some who support other teams. Every single one of them thought it was a disgraceful decision.

In the excitement of a Champions League game, in a crowd of 90,000 where the home fans always whistle loudly when the opposition has the ball, the referee decided that Robin heard the whistle and ignored it. All within a second.

The first thought that came into my head was “have they bought the ref?”

I discounted it equally quickly.

Notwithstanding some glaring examples to the contrary (like Bernard Tapie’s Marseilles regime) I don’t believe there is much corruption in football.

So it’s just plain incompetence, from an official who allowed himself to be influenced and intimidated by the crowd all through the game (witness all the Arsenal bookings in the first half, while Barca fouls, particularly on Nasri, went unpunished).

Whatever, it killed the game. At the time of the sending off it was 1-1 and Arsenal were on course to qualify.

Barcelona, as we have come to expect, had most of the possession and occasionally played some breathtaking football. But Arsenal were defending with great determination, clearly wanting to keep it tight until we could open up in the final 15 minutes when our superior fitness would reap dividends, as it has done before against Barca.

Would we have qualified if RvP had stayed on? We’ll never know, but I suspect we would have been in with a damn good chance. But trying to play with 10 men against the best pass-and-move team in the world was never going to have a happy ending.

So here’s my match report, such as it is:

First half, we defended really well and restricted Barca to very few clear chances, even thought they dominated possession. I’m sure many a heart was a-flutter when Szczesney went off with an injured finger to be replaced by Almunia, but Manuel did really well throughout the game and can’t be faulted for their goals.

When Barca did tiptoe their way through our defence, usually Djourou or Koscielny was there to clear things up. It was nervy, no doubt, but it reminded me of Parma 1994.

Then, in added time in the first half, Cesc made a stupid, stupid mistake, trying a fancy back-heel on the edge of our box. I doubt he would have tried that at The Grove, but he was having an anonymous game and maybe wanted to try and prove a point with some fancy play at the Nou Camp. We lost the ball, a couple of quick passes later and Messi was one-on-one with Almunia and scored at the second attempt. Half time 0-1.

Second half, we carried on soaking up pressure. It was a dangerous game but we were working hard, closing Barcelona down and occasionally riding our luck. Almunia was called on to make some great blocks at the feet of the Barca attackers. Then Nasri won a corner and when it came over a huge leap by Diaby was enough to confuse the Barca defenders and the own goal went in off the head of Busquets. Cue pandemonium among the Arsenal faithful.

Barca almost created a goal from the re-start but then we regained our shape and continued to defy them. I was thinking that if we could just hold it at 1-1 until around the 70th minute we would start to step up a gear and maybe even get a second.

Unfortunately it was at that point that the Swiss referee decided to hand Barcelona the tie.

Down to ten men, the Barca onslaught was inevitable. Their second goal was a classic Barcelona move rounded off by Xavi – a really great goal. Their third was a soft penalty (Koscielny adjudged to have fouled Pedro) which was calmly slotted home by Messi.

We had one great chance to steal the tie, when Bendtner was clean through in the final minutes, but everything that’s wrong with the big Dane was evident in his clumsy first touch and the chance went begging. Would Robin have converted it? Very possibly.

In the end, all those who said it’s better to go out now than in the semis or the final have been given their wish. And the manner of our defeat – the blatant injustice of Robin’s sending off – may help drive us on in the other competitions. Time will tell. But I was left angry and dejected by it all.

No question Barcelona play sublime football, although some of their play-acting and cheating lets them down. I would like them to go on and win the competition simply because their style of play deserves to be successful.

I hope Arsene plays the strongest team possible against Manchester United on Saturday. This is not the time to have our ‘cup team’ take another spanking at Old Trafford.

RockyLives

Player Ratings

Szczesney: Digitally challenged. No score.

Sagna: Picked up where he left off in the Carling Cup, unfortunately. His form has suddenly gone off in the last couple of weeks. He did OK, but his ball use was poor as was some of his decision making. 6

Djourou: Good game from big Johan. Tracked the Barca players well and made some great interceptions. 7

Koscielny: Also did well, particularly given his early yellow card. Like many of our team he occasionally flirted with danger by over-elaborating having won the first ball, but overall pretty good. 7

Clichy: A bit wayward positionally at times but got forward well when he could. Decent effort. 6.5

Fabregas: Anonymous and caused their first goal with a stupid back-heel. 4

Diaby: Out of his depth in this quality. Tried hard but always needed a second longer than he ought to have done on the ball. 5

Wilshere: Always working, always trying, another really good effort from Jack. Showed his inexperience and naivety at the death by taking a short free kick in stoppage time when he should have waited for everyone to get in the box and then just hoofed one in. 7

Rosicky: Closed down well but overall pretty anonymous. 5

Nasri: Worked hard down the left flank all game long and looked our most promising outlet. Was consistently fouled without any protection from the ref. 7

Van Persie: Very difficult for him as the lone striker, but kept running and kept showing for the ball until his disgraceful sending-off. 7

Subs

Almunia: Outstanding game from the Spaniard. Blocked countless on-target attempts. No chance for the Barca goals.  MoTM 8

Arshavin: Looked busy and dangerous as we chased the game.  7

Bendtner: It’s all about that terrible touch when he had a chance to get us into the quarter-finals. His skills sadly lag way behind his ego. 4

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Posted by RockyLives

BRING IT ON!

March 8, 2011

What do you expect from tonight? Will we estacionar el autobus? Will we start gung-ho, try to score early and then work on the counter, or try to play keepball and settle slowly? Or do you expect Barcelona to blow us away early and give us a lesson?

All my non-Arsenal friends are predicting that Arsenal will get a hammering tonight and that we were fortunate to win at the Grove. To them I say “ Pish Tosh and a bottle of Pinosh”. Beating Barca was one of the great Arsenal performances and I see no reason why we cannot progress at the Camp Nou.

I have read the suggestion that we would be better off losing tonight; that we cannot win the CL because there are too many English teams in it and it is less shameful to lose to Barca than, say Chelsea. Again I say “pish”. We have beaten the Chavs on aggregate this season, thrown away a win against Spurs and were unlucky at Old Trafford. We are better than Bayern. In fact, the only fear I have is Real. We can win this Cup.

But first we have to get a result tonight ….

One of the key questions to be answered tonight will be which team is most affected by their missing players? Will we be able to take advantage of the absence of Piquet and Puyol without our most effective strike force? How damaging will be the loss of Song? (he is 50/50 as I write, and I am assuming he will not be risked.)

Should Song be out, who should take his place as our defensive shield? In a perfect world it would be Ramsey or even better, a fit Vermaelen. As it is AW has to decide between Denilson, Diaby and Rosicky. I expect Mr Wenger to take a safety first stance and play Denilson, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rosicky get a start in place of Nasri or Arshavin. AW must have been hoping for more from Diaby, who would be ideal if he could just play with more intelligence. Diaby is without question the most frustrating member of the squad; tonight should be a night where he showcases his huge talent but I doubt he can be trusted in so important a fixture.

Wilshere established himself as the coming man at the Grove – I hope he can keep his cool at Camp Nou. His booking for what appeared to be dissent on Saturday was a worry and hopefully not a portent of a young man developing arrogance. Self confidence is an absolute in a player of JW’s undoubted skills, but the glare of the media on one so young can turn heads. I hope AW can keep him grounded. One thing for sure is that Barca will not take him so lightly again.

Our defence is solid at the moment and I am delighted to see Sagna return (though Eboue did well in the first game). This is the best back 4 we have had for 5 years; youth, experience, physical power and ability on the ball. Have we ever seen our CB’s propel the team as we saw JD and Kos do on Saturday?

Upfront we have problems.  RvP is in the squad, but is unlikely to start. In his absence and on the evidence of Saturday, I would play Chamakh as a lone striker. I love Nik but it appears he requires more time than the Barca defence will allow him (though he has scored at Camp Nou). Chamakh has been publicly praised by AW and I expect him to start. The news has just been released that RvP is travelling with the squad – I wouldn’t risk him, but what a sub!  With 20 minutes to go at the end of a tight game, Robin could make a huge impact.

Our most important players? Fabregas and Szczesny. Fab will be so excited about tonight, the opportunity to show his wonderful talents in his home town stadium.  He will control the tempo of our game. What a night for our 20 y.o. GK. To play at his age in what is the glamour tie in World football is unimaginable. He seems to be unflappable which he will need to be. There is no question that he will be by far the busier keeper and should he perform to his highest ability we have a chance. If he freezes, we are sunk.

My team:

My fear is that should we be 2 down at any time in the game we haven’t the weapons to get back into the game. Without RvP in the starting line-up we lack bite – we need a big night from Nasri and Fabregas. If we score (and have the luck) we will win.

Barcelona is home to many interesting chaps.  Picasso, Dali, Jean Miro`, Gaudi, Jose Carreras, Montserat Caballe`, Pablo Casals, Victoria de los Angeles among others, but does not appear to have any proper Rockers. Perhaps it is a weather thing?

Will I be nervous tonight? Will I be envious of Brigham who is at the game tonight? What do you think?

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Fergie’s Had a Punt on Arsenal to Win the Title

March 7, 2011

Something very, very fishy is going on (and I don’t mean David Platt’s increasing resemblance to a grouper).

In a season which promised to be the most competitive in recent memory, the top clubs seem locked in a battle to NOT win the Premier League.

It didn’t start out this way.

Chelsea began the campaign exactly as they finished last year, slipping into their rhythm as smoothly as a well-soaped mobile phone slips into Ashley’s, er, back pocket.

United embarked on an unbeaten run that, although unspectacular, had some mug pundits talking about them challenging the record of the mighty Invincibles.

Manchester City unveiled a gazillion pounds worth of human bling.

And even the Tiny Totts were rattling a few doors and windows after accidentally discovering that their non-scoring, under-performing, unwanted left back was actually the very best player in the world ever, honest.

And then the contest to NOT be champions kicked in.

Chelsea started mislaying points like a blind darts player; United were about as successful on the road as a hedgehog with no legs; Citeh were stymied by their ultra-cautious Italian manager parking the bus for tough games like Wigan at home; and the Spuds found that their new hero Bale was less of interest to Real Madrid than to anthropologists searching for the missing link.

The only consistent team were Arsenal, who were, to use the cliché, consistent in their inconsistency.

It’s at times like this that you can rely on a manager and a team who have done it many times before to take the thing by the scruff of the neck. And, sure enough, for a while, the claret-conked Caledonian and his boys looked like they were going to claim the title without any serious challenge.

But that’s when the weirdness started happening.

Arsenal, having slowly and oh-so painfully emerged as the most likely challenger, started to shoot themselves in the foot.

First, away at Newcastle United, we romped to a four-nil half time lead… then collapsed in the second half to draw four-all. Fans, players and manager were all on the floor, while the media hyenas played tug of war with our corpse. You couldn’t imagine what it would take to lift everyone up again.

We needed a knight in shining armour and, that very same weekend, along he came. Sir Alex of Sozzle duly managed to engineer a first defeat of the season for his team, against bottom placed Wolves no less.

What had seemed a disastrous, dispiriting two points dropped for Arsenal suddenly became one point gained in the race to catch United.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Arsenal are on a good run and morale is high. Even better, the first trophy for nearly six years is surely just a formality: turn up at Wembley, batter the Brummies and the Carling Cup will be ours, right?

Well, we all know what happened.

Fans, players and manager were all on the floor, the media hyenas etc etc.

Then, within a couple of days, along comes our kind knight again, allowing his team to lose to Chelsea. Three more points in the title race gone awry and just the pick-me-up Arsenal needed.

And now we arrive at the weekend just passed. Arsenal have a great chance to put pressure on United by beating Sunderland at home. Through a combination of inept officiating, obdurate Sunderland defending and wayward finishing the game ends goalless. When we could have stepped on United’s throat, we stepped, instead, into some doggy doo-doo.

Fans, players, manager are all on the floor etc etc.

But, astonishingly, for the third time our knight in shining armour comes to the rescue, taking United on the short trip to Liverpool and having them wilt like limp lettuce against their old enemies.

Once again, two points seemingly dropped in the pursuit of United has turned into one point gained.

For United to be so kind to us once – and with such perfect timing – may be coincidence; to do it twice is remarkable; to do it three times is downright suspicious.

I can think of only one possible explanation: that wily old Scot has had the biggest bet of his life – he’s placed a fortune on Arsenal to win the league this year.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

When side roads and roundabouts get you nowhere

March 6, 2011

Written by Wonderman

There are  some Gooners who will have seen today as a missed opportunity to put pressure on Man U, and would have their disaster faces all ready to show the world. Would they be wrong? Probably not, but was it a serious blow to our title charge? Again probably not.

Was Arshavin off side before he rounded the keeper and slotted? Didn’t look so to me, should the same player have been granted a penalty? Possibly, but I also think that Bramble did what an experienced centre half would have done and was given the benefit of the doubt.

With a 0-0 it is always a ‘challenge’ to produce a match report, but from my perspective before the match I was not expecting an easy game, especially as a little research told me that Sunderland had lost their previous 4 games. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work out, what with their lack of form and having a manager who knows a thing or two about defending, to guess what their tactics would be. But lets look at our own team.

I always worry when I see Denilson and Diaby in the same midfield, add Bendy to that ( more on him later) and it would come as no surprise why we did not win today. The first half to use a cliché was nothing to get excited about. Sunderland defended rigorously closing us down aggressively in central areas and doubling up on our full backs. Other than Nasri dancing into their 6 yard box and going near post, their goalie was fairly comfortable, Why ? because our centre forward wasn’t running channels today and when he was put in delightfully by Arshavin in the 8/9th min his touch deserted him (as it does more often than not). His other party trick was to be on the other side of the pitch to the ball.

With all of that taken into account Sunderland’s defence was in dream land no threatening movements to alarm them and everything going to plan. But to be fair to Nikki B when you have Denilson passing sideways and backwards 99% of the time and Diaby twisting and turning himself into a tizzy then slowing play right down, it left only Jack to look for a forward pass….a big problem if you are looking for goal scoring opportunities and he cant do it on his own. Defensively we looked quite solid with the exception of the odd underhit back pass we kept Gyan quiet.

Arshavin was having on and off success , but as I have already said when you keep making runs and the ball doesn’t come, you soon stop making runs. The first half came and went  and Chesney had his palms stung once. Nasri was trying his best to make penetrative movements but Sunderland had done their homework and at the break it was 0-0.

The second half  saw us begin to exert more pressure on their final 3rd. Denilson was replaced by Cham to ironic applause, bushing Bendy out to the right. Cham immediately started running Channels and moving defenders giving them something to worry about and creating more space for his team mates the effect was instant. We forced corner after corner but could not break through other than Chams header against the post. Some good interplay in midfield led to Arshavin being set 1v1 with the goalie and he slotted coolly but was incorrectly given offside.

Shortly after, another forward ball sent him on a sprint to goal closely followed by Bramble who fell and made sure Arshavin made no further progress in the box, the crowd screamed for a penalty but the ref refused. By this time Rosicky was on the pitch but again did not add to our forward momentum. With a few minutes left Sunderland started forcing a few corners and the concern for conceding a late sucker punch was tangible. But we held firm long enough to put a final flurry of corners which were fruitless.

I left the stadium wondering….

Why Ramsey wasn’t introduced as that boy knows what a forward pass is…..

Why was Jack again our man of the match trying to drag everyone forward and battling from start to finish…..

Why Denilson doesn’t have a North on his compass……

Why Djourou seemed to trip over his own feet every time he came over the halfway line in possession of the ball…..

Why Bendtner doesn’t do simple things well enough for us when we need him to…….

Whilst most of us would have expected  3 points at least we got 1 and kept a clean sheet…the title race is still on.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal v Sunderland – yet another must win game…

March 5, 2011

Not to tempt fate but the stats would indicate that we are due an relatively easy win today. Mr Wenger has been voted Manager of the Month following a 10 match unbeaten League run and Steve Bruce’s Sunderland have managed just one win since early January. Add into this the fact that Sunderland have not beaten Arsenal in London in 28 years and we can reason to be optimistic. But ……..

this Arsenal team are prone to erratic performances and this season have seen long, unbroken runs fall aplenty (Spurs/WBA/Newcastle).

It should be noted that we have won only one out of the previous 5 meetings with Sunderland. W1,D3,L1

Sunderland’s sudden fall down the table has been surprising. The loss of Bent was a blow but they still have decent strikers and a very strong team ethic. It should be recalled that Muntari cost Inter €18m before his loan to Sunderland, and Henderson looks a fantastic prospect. A central defence of Ferdinand, Mensah and Bramble will be strong at set pieces both defensively and offensively. Gyan looks a fine, aggressive striker, had we signed him and not Chamakh ….

The huge win by the B team on Wednesday will be a major confidence booster, in particular to our strikers., not that our Nik needs such assistance! Nik has his detractors and I guess with a style such as his he will continue to split opinions. One can only look at his record of late and be impressed – 9 goals and 6 assists from a season which started with an extended injury lay-off is very impressive.

Much has been written of Chamakh in the past few days. I feel he is seriously lacking in confidence which is an indictment of the coaching staff.  A striker has to be confident, he has to be instinctive and feel secure in his approach, if not he hesitates and we all  know what happens to he who hesitates! I would like to see him on the bench today, but expect AW to continue with playing Nik out right. To be fair, it was starting to work v Orient, with both strikers finding themselves in the box simultaneously, more of the same please.

Could we see Ramsey start? I would be surprised but he will receive a warm welcome on his return when he comes on  as sub.

My team:

I would be tempted to play Rosicky ahead of Diaby but recovery from concussion is an uncertain business and I doubt we will risk him. Diaby has his detractors (BR for one) but when on form he is a superb player. He has to rise to the occasion for the run in or be sold in summer. Arsenal cannot afford to carry players with such a large squad. Fortunately for Diaby, Mr Wenger really rates him, as does the French National manager (Blanc). It is time for him to show why.

If I were Arsenal manager (we would be in the Isthmian League!) I would play both Nasri and Arshavin with either one of them playing behind the main striker and regularly switching wings.

Sunderland appears to have no links to the world of heavy metal. Bryan Ferry is a Mackem as is Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

This is a game which must be won. We can move within a point of Man Utd who have a tough assignment tomorrow.

COYRRG

Written by BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsenal v Sunderland – Hillsborough 1973

March 4, 2011

Written by dandan

On a cold sleety, rainy, snowy sort of day in April 1973 , we in the much-travelled brown ford escort, ribbons proudly flapping, made our way to Sheffield.  Its FA cup semi final day, a horrible gut wrenching, nervous day this, at least if you lost in a final, you had your day at Wembley.

But Hillsborough was different a grotty mud heap of a ground, chosen because of its size, 55,000 would be there today, and its location midway between our opponents, 2nd Division Sunderland and us, meant a lousy, what might have been, ride home for the losers.

Of course we knew we were second in the first division, plus we had won the semi final in the previous two years hadn’t we.  There was no way we would face that awful ride home, our third final in a row was a certainty.

Bad enough we had lost the final to Leeds in a bad-tempered game the previous year. Ahh but the year before that had seen Frank lift the cup just 5 days after winning the league at the lane, to do the double. No, we were fine, 2nd division Sunderland would be a doddle. We were different class.

A  large greasy spoon breakfast in an A1 transport café on the way up saw us arrive, happy and confident. Having pushed our way into the ground, that would years later become famous world-wide for the disaster that crushed and killed so many Liverpool supporters and changed the English game for ever.. We climbed the endless stairs emerging high up on that enormous banking and looked down on the muddy patch, where Pete Storey had equalised from the penalty spot in the final minute two years previously. History, that too, was on our side, we had form here.

Well the truth is we never really got into another ill-tempered game; Alan Ball had one of his ineffectual days as his normally immaculate lay offs failed more often than not to find their target. Bob Wilson having hurt himself early on, got in a mix up with Geoff Blockley and somehow they allowed Halom to knock the ball into the empty net.  Goalkeeping cock-ups you see are not just a recent trait of ours. Geordie as ever ran tirelessly, until in the second half  Tueart put Hughes in and it was 2 – 0.

Big Raddy came on for Blockley and we pushed forward, Charlie scored and hope grew, but the football was as dismal as the rain soaked afternoon skies and when the final whistle came, justice had been done, Sunderland the more adventurous side had deservedly won and would go on to lift the cup.

It was still sleeting on and off  as we started for home causing chaos on the roads around the ground .  So changing direction, we headed for the M6 Via the peak district and the cat and fiddle. Bad, bad move, the more we climbed the more it snowed,  eventually we were pushing the car more than driving it. Eventually arriving home gone midnight, shattered after without doubt the worst experience of my football life, far worse than all our Wembley horrors.

So for all of you going on Saturday, remember we owe them a big one and cheer your heads of for all us older supporters, who suffered that day.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Super Nicklas Bendtner

March 3, 2011

Written by GoonerinExile

After the disappointment of Sunday we all wondered what team Arsene would go with, I for one was hoping he would put the same players back in the firing line, let the Emirates crowd show them some love, let them score a few goals and wrap the important ones up in cotton wool with 30 minutes left.

Instead as always Arsene knew better than that, and trusted in much the same team that attempted to win at Brisbane Road two weeks ago.

The game was played at a pedestrian pace, Orient intent on parking the bus, when they got possession they tried to pass the ball out from the back which if we had had our first team on the pitch would surely have led to a goal feast.

On the seven minute mark, the ball broke to Tomas Rosicky whose driving run in to the box and resultant pull back was precisely finished by Marouane Chamakh. I hoped then that the floodgates would open, but much like we have come to expect with this team of squad players the ball started to go sideways and backwards rather than going forward in an attempt to maintain the one goal lead rather than press home the advantage.

On the half hour mark Gibbs seemed to get tired of this passing and delivered a good cross to the far post from which Nicklas Bendtner rose impressively to send a towering header into the left corner of the goal from 12 yards out. Despite having to help out on the right hand side when we lost possession it was good to see Bendtner, sniffing a hatful, spending more time around the 18 yard box.

Soon after a flick to Chamakh had brought groans from the crowd the ball was back at Bendtner’s feet, running at the defenders he moved the ball twice with good control before steering a fine finish into the bottom right hand corner which any keeper would have found hard to stop. His celebration to cup his ear to the Orient fans was unnecessary he should have probably done that to the home fans who seem to pillory every misplaced touch or pass of his.

So it was we went in at three nil up all very comfortable. Well, comfortable except for an absent Eboue, who seemed to also want a slice of goal mouth action and allowed Orient an easy outlet ball into space behind him. This led to Orient having a few half chances as the defence was pulled out of shape.

The second half finished much as the first half had ended with Orient trying to keep the score respectable while the Arsenal moved the ball until we could find an opening. It was Gibbs again who provided the impetus for the fourth goal, driving in to the box and forcing a clumsy challenge that resulted in Lee Mason pointing to the penalty spot. The shy retiring Nicklas Bendtner reluctantly picked up the ball to complete his hat trick, not for him setting up others, no he wants goals, and that is why he would be my pick as Centre Forward while Van Persie recovers.

There was still time for us to add a fifth after the introduction of Samir Nasri, Wilshere, and Clichy. Good work down the right from Eboue who smashed a cross which Chamakh dummied (why?) and evaded Jack, but fell kindly to Clichy who firmly sent the ball back in the direction it had come to make it five.

We won’t often be given the kind of space and time like this for the rest of the season, so it was good to see us make use of it and to stamp our authority on the game. We were well worthy of the five nil win and if anything we never had to get out of third gear, my worry is that there will be tougher games ahead for the squad players and they tougher games than this for match experience, they need to be rotated into the starting side more regularly and not in as many numbers to ensure the Wengerball remains fluid.

A word on our debutant Conor Henderson, he was born in Sidcup, England, but has already represented Republic of Ireland and England at youth levels, apparently he has chosen Ireland. He had a quiet game, it was noticeable when involved with Jack and Samir later on his passing became quicker (the same can be said for Denilson and Gibbs too), interesting that England struggle so much to produce left footers yet we have now had three come out of the academy in recent seasons. Difficult to say on that performance that he has what it takes although Arsene said yesterday he would have been involved more this season but injuries have held him back.

Miguel gave another solid performance at the back, although not asked to do much defensively he looks good on the ball and doesn’t dive in. With Bartley getting good reports from Rangers and Sheffield United, and numerous others doing their thing in the Championship we are really starting to see the team and squad that Arsene has been nurturing and waiting for.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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