WANTED – One decent keeper, 11 straight league wins, and a respite from injuries…
February 21st, 2010 | Author: admin
What a week. You can say one thing as an Arsenal fan, and that’s that it is certainly never dull.
Heading in to the Champions League game against Porto, Arsenal players were falling faster than Steven Gerrard when he gets near the oppo box, and there were some (me included) who were relieved that Almunia was injured. What fools we are.
And so it came to pass that Almunia’s replacement got in his obligatory fuck up which cost us a goal before going on to perform a lot more solidly. Before fucking up again. I honestly think the young chap has space/distance/angle/judgement issues. Perhaps a math class might help?
Our equaliser, who else? Mr. You’ll Never Beat Sol Campbell (unless you can run fast) with a header from four yards out. It had to be, mainly because I wanted to put a bet on him to score before I remembered I lost this week’s betting allowance on Milan the night before. He was solid, making good tackles, great blocks, and hoofing balls in to row z in the way all central defenders should be instructed to do. His touch in the second half? Accidental. Sort of.
Every Arsenal fan was singing Sol’s praises, he was a trending topic on Twitter, and not one single ‘fan’ who questioned (putting it mildly) Arsene’s decision to re-sign him was to be heard. I said at the time it would turn out to be the master-stroke Owen to United was meant to be.
Apart from Fabianski’s gifts, Porto offered nothing too troublesome. We reacted well to the goal, though I’m not too sure that Denilson was on the pitch in the first half because I never heard his name mentioned once and can’t remember seeing him. Cesc was kicked for 90 minutes solid and then the Porto players wanted to know just what the hell his problem was as the half time whistle went with him lying on the ground after being taken out late yet again. I wouldn’t mess with Cesc with Sol, The Verminator, and Crazy Legs Crane Diaby in the team. You’re likely to be leaving on a stretcher. Or at least that should be the attitude we should be fostering. Should.
Then we had the second half.
What a fucking shambles. You could see Sol was in two minds whether to touch it back to Fabianski, though why I don’t know, perhaps Fab got closer quicker than he expected but he touched it and like a man who has never heard the word ‘backpass’ in his life Fabianski picked it up and then wondered what all the fuss was about. He then happily gave the ball back with no delay, and while he was shouting at the lineman, the ref blocked Sol off, the Porto player took the free kick and some other diving cunt tapped it in to an open net.
Though is it an actual backpass if it hits you accidentally while you’re trying not to pass it back? Straws, clutching. Just a bit.
And the ref? Get out of the fucking way. He definately gets an assist for Porto’s second.
Shit result, good performance. That sounds spookily familiar.
Next up was Sunderland, a team which hadn’t won since they beat us in Novemeber. Hands up who spent the best part of the last twenty minutes of the match absolutely keeking themselves? You were not alone.
Clearly, the man-of-the-match was Eboue. From me calling for him to start on Wednesday, and Saturday, he finally got the nod ahead of Sagna at right-back and was having none of this tippy-tappy malarky. It was head down and drive in to the box and usually to the line. The difference between him and Theo was sad in a way, Eboue is supposed to be a defensive player. It was his great work which set up the first, a Nik tap in. Well done for being there, but well done Eboue for an excellent afternoon (I’m choosing to ignore the flailing and his few passes which went astray were less than the Arsenal average so I’m not going to pull him on that.)
When I ran a poll during the week asking ‘when will Arsenal’s penalty embargo be lifted’ I think only one or two people said next match. It was surprising that it would be Steve Bennett of all people that would be the one to give it, but give it he did, and it made those last four minutes of injury time that little bit more bearable once Cesc had slotted it home. We’ve had more clear-cut ones denied, but it was a penalty. I hope you enjoyed it, because there’s no way we are going to get a third this season.
We could have done with the penalty some time before the 93rd minute, but at least we got one, and we got the three points. In short, we were average, they were awful, and we didn’t manage to throw it away. Result!
With Manure being taught a lesson on Merseyside (the only difference in the Man U display yesterday and others this season is that Rooney just couldn’t get in to the game – one man team much?) we saw the gap between ourselves and second cut to two points. Chelsea won, but if you had sat down and looked at the fixtures you would have expected that. Everton was one match I hoped would see Man U drop points, so it looks as if all is going to plan. So far.
Next up is a tricky game away to Stoke next weekend, while Chelsea host Man City and Man U host West Ham midweek (is that because of the Carling Cup final?). If the Man City camp are as rallied behind Wayne Bridge, as we are being told they are, we can hope that Chelsea will drop at least two points in that match, and you have to think that the new new rich will want to make a point at the home of the old new rich. It will be sickening cheering on Man Shitty, but if that’s what I have to do to bring this title to the Emirates for the first time then I’m willing to make the sacrifice.
Arsene said this team are ready to give every drop of blood until the last minute of the last game in this league, we may very well see that tested. Two league wins down, only 11 more to go.
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