Arshavin inspiring, Arsenal aspiring March 15, 2009
Posted by freekicker in Almunia, Arsenal, Arshavin, Bendtner, Blackburn Rovers, Carlos Vela, Clichy, Denilson, Diaby, Djourou, Eboue, Gael Clichy, Sagna, Samir Nasri, Song, Theo, Theo Walcott, Toure, Vela, Walcott.1 comment so far
The best match of the season and except for Bendtner missing all those chances every single player in an Arsenal jersey on the field player exceptionaly well. Clean entertainment for all fans and neutrals alike, class and style was oozing in every move.
Arshavin was no doubt the man of the match followed very closely by Samir Nasri and Song!!! Ya Song had a very very good match and maybe he is improving at the right time for the team. Walcott has his best match after his comeback and Eboue played a cameo which he will never foget in his lifetime with two goals in this match. Almunia made some crucial saves and our back four were very consistent. The team that started was
Almunia
Sagna Toure Djourou Clichy
Walcott Denilson Song Arshavin
Nasri
Bendtner
Nasri fit well into the slot behind Bendtner and Arshavin also found himself in that role quite often. Nasri had a freekick rebounding of the cross bar and was involved in every Arsenal move forward along with Arshavin and Walcott who seems to be returning to his speedy ways. Diaby, Vela and Eboue replaced Walcott, Bendtner and Nasri towards the end. If Bendtner had not missed out on his chances we would have won this match some 10-0. Great stuff from the Gunners and the home crowd had a good match to remember for a long long time.
Though the first goal was also credited to Arshavin it was rebounded off a Blackburn defender. And when the second half resumed Arsenal produced chance after chance and it was in the 65th minute that Arshavin the star scored his first goal for the team and what a goal it was. Denilson’s measured pass found him on the right flank and then he meandered through the Blackburn defence and feinted the last defender and from a narrow angle hit the roof of the goal. This is what he has brought in the club to do, trickery and clever play from the Russian.
Bendtner’s luck at goal meant that he will be replaced by Vela who produced a cross from the right side which found Arshavin on the left and his shot on goal was saved and Eboue was available for the tap in. That was 3-0. And the last goal was again a Vela creation as he was fouled inside the box and guess who took the penalty, Emmanuel Eboue – The stadium announcer said “The new Arsenal Goal machine, Emmanuel”!!!Well Football can surprise anyone and this team means business now.
But it has been a long time since any Gooner would have gone to sleep with satisfaction after watching an Arsenal match. Tonight is one of those nights, so enjoy it wherever you are.
Angry Wenger after a Frustu match September 18, 2008
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Dynamo Kiev, Europe, Gallas, Sagna, Walcott.3 comments
Arsenal return back to England after yet another dismal performance in Ukraine. Dynamo Kiev scored from a very disputable penalty and seemed to take all three points at home when Gallas the new Euro top scorer restored parity with two minutes left. All in all it would be satisfying to come back with a point given the circumstances but I think Arsenal will sink this Ukrainian ship in London in the return leg. Walcott was once again the hero providing the cross from the right which was poked in by Gallas.
Wenger has come out strongly against the Kiev players, especially on their tackle on Walcott…He says
The referee should have sent the left-back off three times because he tried to destroy Walcott.
On the Sagna Penalty
Sagna is convinced he [Ognjen Vukojevic] pulled him with his two hands on his shirt and then went down. We have to deal with that; if you get a penalty you get a penalty.
On the referee not giving enough injury time
I wanted to know how we only played three minutes injury time and then during these three minutes we only played one minute of injury time. Every referee looks to have a different computer to calculate injury time and I still don’t know how it works. He couldn’t explain to me; he just told me he felt it was enough.
The game was a mixture of frustration and relief, frustration because the game should have been over at half-time, and relief because we scored with minutes to go. When we got back to 1-1, Dynamo looked very, very tired but the game was finished with the interruptions. You could feel the game was there for the taking but we had no opportunity to play. We feel we have lost two points but the referee should have sent the left-back off three times because he tried to destroy Walcott.
Next up is Porto at home on September 30th
Les Bleus need a better manager June 18, 2008
Posted by freekicker in Abidal, Anelka, Ben Arfa, Clichy, Domenech, Euro 2008, Europe, Flamini, France, Frey, Henry, Les Bleus, Makelele, Malouda, Mexes, Patrick Viera, Ribery, Sagna, Samir Nasri, Thuram, Trezeguet.4 comments
Out with Domenech…what was he thinking right from picking the squad to selecting the final XI and his substitutions in the last match. And he proved how stupid he was by saying that his future plan was to get married to his television presenter girlfriend when the question posed to him was with respect to the French team…Please throw him out for screwing up a very talented national side. If only France had a better manager , with these 23 players, the team would have reached the quarters and with a few changes in the 23, they would have probably won this Championship.
- Why was Sagna, Clichy, Flamini, Ben Arfa, Trezeguet not included in the 23…there are some other names like Frey, Mexes (centre back with Roma) who shuould also have been included
- Why was Sagnol,Abidal, Thuram, Makelele, Viera(who was injured and did not touch the ball), Malouda, Anelka in the 23. I am tempted to include Henry also in that list because Trezeguet has a better record for France
- And when you have to replace a centre back why would you ask a left back to fill in that role. Abidal has been a liability for this squad.
- When your most creative player is injured, you bring in another creative midfielder. Point taken. But when you are reduced to 10 men, you do not replace the creative player. What is the logic?
It is quite sad to see a talented side like France not qualifying for the Quarters…Wish they get a better coach for this awesomely talented side.
Flamini mystery & Reading April 19, 2008
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Bayern Munich, Cesc, Chelsea, Clichy, EPL, Fabregas, Flamini, Gilberto, Manchester United, Sagna, Wenger.add a comment
As Arsenal get into the last 4 matches of their season in which the best they can hope for now would be a 2nd place finish IF Chelsea screw up in between somewhere in their pursuit of Manchester United, Wenger stepped up the pressure on one of the star performers of the season Flamini. Guardian reports the deadline that Wenger has set for Flamini, month end of April. Flamini’s injury means that he is not going to play anymore in this season and there has been renewed interest coming from Juventus, Bayern Munich etc.
With Clichy, Sagna, Hleb and Fabregas, Flamini has been one of the most outstanding players of the season for Arsenal. And his renewed vigour in midfield has been one of the reasons for Arsenal’s great run in this season. He has been virtually irreplaceable this season with Gilberto being a shadow of his past there has been no player in this team who had the bite to replace our Terrier. Wenger is right in saying that Flamini has to respect the team and the manager and sign on the dotted lines if he intends to stay. If he doesn’t then Wenger needs those extra weeks to sign a replacement.
It should be interesting to see how strongly Arsenal finish the season and 12 points from the next 4 matches starting tonight with Reading would be the way to go. Here is to three points and lost pride.
Chelsea – Arsenal = Drogba March 24, 2008
Posted by freekicker in Almunia, Arsenal, Chelsea, Drogba, EPL, Premier League, Sagna, Sunway Lagoon, Super Sunday.add a comment
The title kind of suggests what I feel about last night’s performance at Stamford Bridge. There was a wealth of difference between the two sides, some might even call it the match between the beauty and the beast,but if getting 3 points when you are in a bad phase and you are grinding out victories, so be it, I would like Arsenal to be the beast. Drogba once again proved to be the thorn and scored a brace within the gap of a few minutes to take Chelsea past Arsenal on the points table.
Arsenal once again looked like having no plan B and a good bench strength. It is creditable for Wenger to see his young team come so far in a season where everyone had written them off after Henry’s departure,but this looks like as far as this team can go. When you have players like Nani and Tevez coming off the bench for Manchester United, you might have a re-think of your policy on going for young players. The season is not yet over, but one win in 8 matches or something is the first time in the last decade or so in Arsenal’s history.
When Sagna flicked the goal in from a corner, it looked as if Arsenal will be the team to beat them at Stamford Bridge yet again. But the joy was short-lived as the once stable centre backs Gallas and Toure committed errors and could not keep Drogba from scoring. Almunia had a good match and he prevented Drogba from scoring a hat-trick by a really good save.
Maybe this league will prove to very competitive and turn up some interesting results in the next few matches.
A job well done August 16, 2007
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, EPL, Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Hleb, Lehmann, Man U, Sagna, Sparta Prague, Tevez.12 comments
Arsenal won the 1st leg of the Champions League qualifying beating Sparta Prague 2-0. Both the goals coming in the last quarter of play and the last goal was the last piece of action in the match. Goals came from Fabregas who says 95% of that goal belongs to Clichy, which is quite true and from Hleb which was the culmination of a good long throw from Lehmann to Sagna and this was Sagna’s first assist for an Arsenal goal.
It was a very scrappy match with respect to the tackles thrown in and the physical approach to the whole game. Fabergas was involved in all the three key incidents. He was involved in the tackle with Sparta’s captain, Tomas Repka, who was substituted shortly. He did give his piece if mind to Fabregas before he left, but he cannot complain, it was a good sliding tackle from both players and it was just that Repka was in the receiving end of it. With all the booing from the crowd following that Fabregas scored the first goal. Later he was involved in the other end where he made a very strong tackle inside the box following a corner.
Hleb scored his second Arsenal goal in consecutive matches which should do his confidence a lot of good. This was courtesy a very typical Arsenal counter-attack which caught Sparta by surprise. Both the goals were assists from the full backs and Wenger must be happy.
Post Match Wenger has been talking about the resilience in the team and the fighting spirit in the team. I would like to see how they play against the big-three in the league. If they go a goal down against Chelsea would they fight back? Well lets hope such a scenario doesnt happen 
In other matches in the EPL, Man U drew again. Tevez made his debut in Man U jersey and was instrumental in the Man U goal. He controlled, put down the challenges from the defender and presented the ball to Scholes to slam it in.
Ronaldogot sent-off for head butting, which means the Champions of last year are in for a tough time with Rooney also unavailable. The 3 matches that Ronaldo will miss are the Manchester Derby away, Tottenham and Sunderland at home. The season is taking some really interesting turns in the begining, wonder how it will end!!!
Why Arsenal, why? August 13, 2007
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Chelsea, EPL, Eboue, Essien, Hleb, Lehmann, Man U, Rosicky, Sagna.add a comment
- Why do you have to make your supporters go through matches like this?
- Why do we always have to come from behind to win matches?
- Why is Lehmann still the first choice Goalkeeper?
- Why do we pass the ball around the box and not take a shot at goal?
- Why do we have so may shots at goal but only so few goals?
- Why do we have 20 goal attempts, 14 on target topped with 14 corners but just 2 goals to show for that?
- Why do we not play the likes of Fulham, Sunderland etc the same way we play the Chelseas and MUs?
But having said all that I think my previous post about this team having a fighting spirit has been proved beyond doubt. They did this comeback play some 15 times last season and I hope for once against these lower sides we would be able to score 2 goals in the first half and the Arsenal fans can sit and relax for a while, instead of sitting at the edge and panic.
I had to leave a friend of mine at the airport and hence saw only the first half. But I think it is a good omen and maybe this season will be a lucky one for us. Last year I sat and watched Arsenal draw at home if I am not mistaken. But this time we won and what a comeback win.
In terms of player performance, Lehmann was pathetic and needs to be dropped for the next match. Hleb was in his favourite position and thank god he didnt pass the ball and slammed it home for the second goal. Rosicky had a few shots on goal which is encouraging. Toure got us the penalty and once again he shows his aggressiveness in going forward and trying to do something to get a goal. I like his attitude like that. But if there is something I dont like about him, it is the long balls forward which he is not good at. Most of the time it is nowhere near an Arsenal player and is easy pick for the opposing defence or goalie. It is best if he can pass it around and take it forward. Eboue-Sagna combination is the best right side combination I can think of presently.
In other matches, Chelsea seems to be leaking at the back. But how many times have we seen Essien coming up with a wonder strike to make that bit of difference. I still remember his equaliser at Stamford Bridge against Arsenal. That saved Chelsea from losing for the first time in 2 years at home. And the Man U match proves that even with 60 million pounds you cannot get a goal against a very solid defence of 10 men, forget 11 men. I was surprised that Fergie chose such a weak team. His options were so bad that Evra played midfield, OShea played forward and he had Silvestre, Fletcher etc in the sub bench. Cmon when you spend so much money why are you hiding your players. And Sunday was a Goalie day I guess, first it was the Fulham goalie and then it was Hahnemann (hope I spelt it right), the Reading goalie. They could get nothing wrong whereas Lehmann was clumsy. It was so funny that if it was not Arsenal I would have been rolling on the floor with laughter.
Wenger if you are listening, please change the goalie for the next match. Almunia was in good form in pre-season and will be not clumsy like Lehmann.
