Premiership: Liverpool 1 – Arsenal 1
October 29, 2007 at 2:51 pm (Arsenal, Arsene, Cesc Fabregas, EPL, Premiership)
Gerrard (8)
Fabregas (80)
Match Gunner: Cesc Fabregas
A respectable draw from Anfield.
Game started with just one change from the side that beat Slavia Prague in the midweek. Rosicky coming on for Walcott and we went for a 4-5-1 formation with Hleb supporting Adebayor as the lone frontman.
Liverpool though went with; on paper, an attacking formation. Torres, Voronin and Kuyt spearheading a 4-3-3 formation. It was a different story on the field though.
Only the second minute, and Carragher brings down Adebayor with a sliding tackle. That should have been a free kick at the very least but obviously the ref’s view is blocked and it is not given. Adebayor would have been clear on goal. Carragher gets a knock on his head from Riise’s trailing boot as scant payback.
5th minute and Gerrard bombs forward after dispossessing Flamini and rifles a shot in. Almunia parries it and Fabregas hacks down Alonso who was waiting at the edge of the box. Free kick. Riise and Gerrard stands over the ball as the wall is being set up. Somehow, the wall opens up as Gerrard fires a low shot in. It goes in and we are down 1-0. Cesc should never have tried to charge down the shot with a Liverpool player blocking his way.
Cesc plays a nice ball to Adebayor. Good work from Reina prevented any damage to the Liverpool goal. Apart from that, Cesc’s first half so far been quite torrid. His touch is not there and he is being dispossed left, right and centre. This game was being played at a very high tempo. Suits Arsenal just fine. Several chances for Adebayor who seems a bit lost today and Arsenal was playing the kind of football they are known for. Quick, short, one touch. Kolo had his usual rampage up fron t and would have gotten a goal if Adebayor’s pass back was not so poo.
Liverpool had a good effort on goal by Gerrard and an equally good save from Almunia maintained the one goal disadvantage.
Halftime approached and Torres looked mighty uncomfortable. He was subbed and in came Crouch, the tormentor in the corresponding fixture last year. He makes a good shot and Almunia makes a good fingertip save to deny him. Over at the other end, our best chance came when Eboue bangs one in the near post from the right as he so often does after charging to the box. It bounces of the post and onto a wide open Cesc. He had acres of space and loads of time. He decides to take it first time and it balloons over the bar. Oh, how frustrating.
Mascherano’s two footed tackle is dealt leniently with only a yellow card. Fair. They are the home team after all.
Rosicky, Clichy and Eboue depart. Walcott, Bendtner and Gilberto comes in. Crouch had been a handful so far so I guess Gilberto has been brought in to contain him. Going back to a more traditional 4-4-2 .
Cesc is brought down in the box by the arm pulling Carragher. Once again, as in the Everton game, the ref ignores it.
No matter, a nice through ball by Hleb finds the run by Cesc and Cesc toe pokes it straight into the net past Reina’s near post. Sweet goal and he goes bonkers running to the visiting fans to celebrate. Cue a yellow card.
1-1 and we were going for the win. Last golden chance as a pass by Hleb found Cesc. His curling shot hit the same post as Eboue’s did a while back and once again it fell invitingly to a Arsenal player. This time, Bendtner. Same story. Open goal but bad finish off a rebounding ball.
That’s how it finished in the end. Gallas and Hleb had a good game too. Well chuffed for Almunia who managed several good saves. A good result for the lads. A draw at Anfield?? I’d take it.
Gerrard is not satisfied. The picture tells the whole story.
Cesc too.
We played well, but it’s [the result] that matters in the end. I’m disappointed because I feel that we actually deserved to go home with the three points.
It is an overall consensus that the lads did well in this test of sorts. Our mental strength this season is phenomenal. Another goal scored in the final section of the match. There is real hunger in the team. You can see that they hate to lose and everyone’s committed to the common goal. Is this in part to Gallas leadership, Cesc’s maturity or Henry’s departure? Whatever the reason, it sure is good times for all Arsenal fans. A great result to boost the lads before Man Utd comes a visiting.
Wenger: I have always been very confident of what we could achieve this season…and now we have convinced a few more people
Champions League: Arsenal 7 Slavia Prague 0
October 24, 2007 at 9:36 pm (Arsenal)
Fabregas(5, 28), Walcott(41, 54), Hleb(25 Hubachek og, 50), Bendtner(88)
Match Gunner: Alexander Hleb Magnificent performance from the Belarusian with 2 assists and “2″ goals. Special performance from Theo too. But all the English press will be reporting all about him.
After seeing of Sparta Prague in the qualifying rounds. We went against Slavia Prague. Initial reports were saying that Slavia were playing much better this season compared to Sparta so there were some doubts.
As you can see by the scoreline on top. Those fears were allayed in style.
I didn’t see the match as all Mamak stores were showing the Man Utd match so I will just be giving a quick breakdown on the goals and the highlights. It was mostly all us with a few parry’s through counterattack from Slavia Prague.
Team remained the same with only Theo Walcott coming in for Eduardo. This was the perfect platform for him to showcase why Wenger told Sven that he is the best English prospect and he didn’t disappoint.
First goal came through good work from Hleb on the left channel getting past a few players before passing it to Cesc who took it in his stride a scored a good curling goal past the goalie into the far corner. 5 minutes in and Slavia’s store was open for business.
Second goal was an own goal; after Cesc corner ball which Hleb took a shot at and was diverted by Hubachek into his own goal.
Third goal was an opportunist goal. Theo latched onto a mistake by the defender who made a bad back pass which bounced off the goalkeeper right into the path of Theo who made no mistake in lashing a shot into the open goal.
Eboue and Cesc’s passing play set up the fourth goal which Hleb who twisted and turned the defense before putting it in on the lower left corner.
A great run by Theo was met by Hleb’s through pass and he made no mistake in scoring the fifth goal.
Sixth goal was a team affair. Hleb did all the work before it was channeled to Cesc through Adebayor and Theo. Cesc proceeded to slide it into the demoralized Slavia Prague net.
Only a brilliant point blank save prevented Theo from getting a hattrick. The ball bounced to Rosicky and his following shot hit the crossbar and out.
Final goal came through good first touch football, Eboue’s first touch no look pass put Bendtner in and he made no mistake slotting it in; with the ball even hitting the goalie on the way.
Nothing much to say about this performance as 7-0 pretty much sums it all up. It puts us in a good position going to Anfield this weekend.
Premiership: Arsenal 2 – Bolton 0
October 22, 2007 at 9:27 pm (Arsenal, EPL, Eduardo, Kolo, Premiership, Theo, Walcott)
Tags: Win
Toure(67), Rosicky(81)Match Gunner: Alexander Hleb (Special mention to Theo Walcott)
As expected, Eduardo and Gallas came in to replace the injured Robin and Senderos. Eboue slotted into right midfield displacing Hleb to the left. Diaby was sacrificed to the bench. Sagna had his blonde hair extensions back. He looked really funny when he was without them the last time around against Sunderland. Kinda like a wide eyed kid.
Bolton started with a 4-5-1 formation with Kevin Davies spearheading the “attack” . Anelka had been scoring quite freely against us in the last few encounters so it was one less worry for us that he was still injured.
The first half was particularly frustrating. With the departure of Sammy Lee, whose downfall was really getting Bolton to play actual football. They were clueless under his management and with Sammy dispensed with, we finally see Bolton in their true colours. Campo was reinstated in the squad and he was one of the main antagonists together with Diouf. They scraped and fought for every ball. Committing niggly fouls that didn’t warrant a yellow card but frustrated the hell out of the Arsenal.
The midfield was jam packed and Fabregas had nowhere to go. Alex Hleb had his moments and Adebayor put in a lot of work but with nothing to show for it. He makes horrible decisions sometimes doesn’t he? Adebayor had at least one gilt edged chance when he headed straight to the keeper after good work from Eduardo. Elsewhere there was half chances everywhere with Gallas, Toure and Fabregas putting some shots in. Bolton pumped the occasional long ball to Davies and Flamini, Clichy and Gallas did well enough to cover him.
Second half started and immediately we had a chance. With the ball bouncing off McCann, it fell to the path of Eboue who always likes to take his chance in that type of position to the right of the goal. He was wide open but skewed his shot way off target. The worst miss so far.
Clichy was starting to impose himself and all good attacks seem to channel off him for a spell. Then came the chance everyone was waiting for. Off went Eboue and Eduardo and in came Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott.
The goal came via a free kick. Fabregas pushed the ball to Flamini who squared it for Toure to lash a grounder who evaded everyone and went into the bottom corner of the goal. 1-0 Arsenal and Kolo went bonkers as did everyone else.
The the game began to open up as Bolton had to finally move out of their own half to try and get a point. Theo made a jinking run past two defenders and evaded another one before crossing it to …. no one.His team mates included. He was too fast
Seems like the shoulder injury plaguing him last season is now gone and we are starting to see why Arsene recommended Sven to take him to the World Cup in Germany and rightly so as the second goal was all Walcott. Grabbing a through pass from Hleb. He still a lot to do. He held off Meite which was surprising to me as I thought he was all about the pace and found space to cross a ball to Rosicky who clipped the ball past Jaaskelainen on first touch. 2-0. He is blossoming into a first team player if you ask me. You couldn’t ask for a better goal to cap the win.
Everyone’s looking forward to the matches against Liverpool and Manchester United next. Are you?
Arsenal vs Bolton preview
October 20, 2007 at 9:51 pm (Arsenal, Da Silva, EPL, Eduardo, Premiership, Van Persie)
What a relief it is to have finally gotten past the international week and onto real club football.The big news from the internationals has to be Van Persie’s knee injury for Holland.
We will be without our classy striker for around a month. That would mean that he will miss the big clashes with Liverpool and Man Utd. What a time to get injured. No fret, we still have our big game striker Adebayor. Togo missing out on African Nations Cup will mean that he will not be missing from the squad come January. The same cannot be said for Toure and Eboue though. If Ivory Coast goes all the way to the finals, they will be missing for up to six weeks.
However, Gallas is expected to be back. So is injury prone midfielder, Rosicky. You would have to see whether Le Boss takes up the Czech National Team doctor’s advice though and not rush him back into action.
Van Persie’s absence would see the chance for either Eduardo and to a lesser extent; Bendtner to shine.
Eduardo’s still banging them in for Croatia and Bendtner has been doing a lot of talking about his chances in Arsenal. Walcott also has a chance as Wenger is now prepared to use him as a striker.
In between the posts, Arsene has settled the debate by announcing that Almunia will be continuing his run in the side.
Moving on to our weekend rivals, Bolton . They are in a bad spot. Languishing in 19th position with just 5 points from 9 games. Sammy Lee has just left Bolton by “mutual consent” and Archie Knox is now the caretaker manager. Easy pickings?? I have no doubt that we will be all over them like flies to a durian. But with Anelka aka Le Sulk in their wings, we have to be wary of their counterattack and long balls.
Going on to club matters, Arsenal had it’s AGM. Two key points from the meeting.
- Arsenal shares are in lock down until 2009. After that, until 2011 the shareholders can only sell their shares ONLY to current directors. Head on to arseblog for details.
- Arsene has been honoured by the commission of a bronze bust to be displayed in the Ashburton Grove. It will go well with the bust of Herbert Chapman
The Premiership Week 10
October 19, 2007 at 9:23 pm (EPL, EPL Fantasy League, Premiership, Van Persie)
Internationals are over. On to Week 10 and the latest injuries due to the fallout.
October 2007 International Week Roundup-1
October 12, 2007 at 8:02 pm (Arsenal, EPL, Premiership)
Tags: Media Bullshit, Rant
Well, it’s that time of the year again where the Premiership is disrupted yet again by the international week. For club managers, this means two things
1) They might get a rest from the daily bustle and have the chance to go get a decent haircut
2) They have sleepless nights worrying that the team physio will not have a chat with him tomorrow morning about how player A has done his cruciate playing in a bore 0-0 draw against Mars FC.
Let’s hope our lads get through. We have been doing well above pre-season expectations so far.
Back to the reason I decided to post today: A quick round up of the tasty news on the Premiership
- Kolo likens Flamini’s performance this season to Gennaro Gattuso. I like Gattuso.
- Kolo tells it as it is and the media takes poetic license in twisting the headlines
- Arsenal youth player Fran Merida is fined £2.23 million by Barcelona just because he wants to emulate Cesc (previously fined £700,000)
- The same culprits are at it again. Confident of getting Cesc to Barca. Crops up every few months to boost their own popularity. Can’t we fine them for this though?
The thing with the Kolo article on our form is a laugh. Compare this summary from the article:
Kolo Toure claims 10-in-a-row is just the start – because Arsenal believe they are Invincible once again.
to the actual contents
“When we go out on the pitch we believe we will win. When you’re winning games you sometimes have that kind of feeling. You think you’re going to win. You think the win will come along and that’s what happened to us and we are really happy with that. We always go on and get the winner at the moment. Things have been right for us because every time we need to come back and win we do it and we ought to keep going.We have the mental strength this season to go and get a win and not a draw.“For the moment we can’t talk about the title.
We just have to focus on doing well and playing well, enjoying it and making our fans happy.”
Hey, whatever sells right??
Premiership: Arsenal 3 – Sunderland 2
October 8, 2007 at 8:26 pm (Arsenal, Arsene, EPL, Premiership, Van Persie)
Van Persie (7,81) , Senderos (14)
Wallace (25), Jones (49)
Match Gunner: Van Persie. Easy one again as Robin provided us with two excellent goals which included the winner
We had a very bright start as we were attacking and carving up Sunderland at will. This was the manner of play expected of a top team playing at home against a team which has just gained promotion. We had the ball in the Sunderland goal as early as the fifth minute when Diaby’s stunning strike beat a helpless Gordon but Rob Styles then decided to pull the play back after a foul was committed on Cesc. Robin stepped up and provided an even more stunning shot. 1-0 to the Arsenal. Gordon couldn’t do anything to prevent the rocket hitting the underside of the crossbar and bouncing in.
It was all us after that. A miss by Adebayor and a few missed opportunities later; came the second goal. It bounced around off some Sunderland players after a weird try by Jones to clear the ball and Senderos got hold of it, scooped a shot and in it went. 2-0 and we were cruising.
A third “goal” went in after good work from Hleb on the right channel finished by Diaby but again; poor Abou had a perfectly valid goal ruled out. This time for an offside on Cesc which was totally off the mark.
Arsene: Frankly, it was the third goal. I don’t know how he could disallow that goal and certainly that would have changed the game completely because at 3-0 it would have been a different game. But you can only live with the decisions that are made and in the end we found the third goal. It always looked like it was coming, but when you hit the post once or twice and you don’t score, you never know.
Sunderland then staged a comeback from the storybooks when first Wallace finished off a rebound off a Jones shot and then Jones himself headed the equaliser in. Kolo tried his usual thunderbolt and this time it came really close and he shot it from near the centre circle onto the post and away.
We were spurning chances left and right. Cesc, Robin, Theo were all guilty of wastage.
Then came a moment of magic as Eboue crossed, Robin’s touch was perfect and thumped it home in the same motion. 3-2.
Chances were flying everywhere, ex-Arsenal youth boy Stokes dipped a shot that forced Almunia into a save. A moment of madness saw a red card given to McShane for a late tackle and leaving his foot in Hleb’s groin.
To me, it just warranted a yellow though. Soon after, Theo hit the post when he had the gilt-laden chance to score his first Premiership goal.
An exciting game for the neutrals. I knew we would win it cause we have shown so much maturity this season. Everyone stood up to be counted. Good times, good times; except maybe for poor old Bert:
Arsene: I have a strong relationship with Gilberto, I spoke with him about that, I have a huge respect for him, you know? At the moment it is frustrating for him – incidentally it is his birthday today. He is an important player in the group, he is an important player in the team. As I said, it is a selection problem at the moment but he will come back into the side, I don’t worry about that.
Happy Birthday Bert! Come into the post match group hug and you’ll fell the sunshine again!
*edit: here are the Arsenal goals from the game. Links compiled courtesy of sul from the arseblog forums:
Van Persie 7′
Senderos 14′
Van Persie 81′ winner
downloads *cefiroman from soccerpulse:
