Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[corn02]

1-0 but serious abuse dished out to Eboue by the Arsenal fans. Didn't reflect too well on the Gooners. Eboue had a complete breakdown in the last 5 mins before Wenger hauled him off. I don't like the player personally, but felt sorry for him.

Read that, what was the scenario, what happened?

[Dinny Breen]

I don't like the player personally, but felt sorry for him.

Can't agree O'Neill, his on-field personality is quite frankly dispicable. The Arsenal fans are right to display their disgust with him, he's very very well rewarded for being a professional footballer, maybe this might help him to act with some sort of professional decency.

That November just gone reminded my of 97' and we all know what happened then  

[ONeill]

He wasn't the worst today Dinny but received the brunt.

[gawa316]

What did eboue do? Did he just play shite?

[under the bar]

What did eboue do? Did he just play shite?

He played like it was the first time in his life he'd seen a football.   Got booed by the Arsenal fans every time he touched the ball then they cheered when he got substituted

[Minder]

I know a few Arsenal lads that cant stand Eboue but surely booing him is counter productive, one of the reasons they give for disliking him is the feigning injury. I never remember Pires receiving that sort of treatment........

[ONeill]

It's out of order. Eboue does 'grind our gears' at times but he is also an accomplished footballer who was coming back from injury. He came on because on an early injury to Nasri. He was used as a scapegoat for another lazy Arsenal performance. When 60'000 are on your back and you're not match fit, it would make anyone crumble. I blame Arsene more than Eboue, especially with Ramsey and Wilshere on the bench.

[corn02]

It's out of order. Eboue does 'grind our gears' at times but he is also an accomplished footballer who was coming back from injury. He came on because on an early injury to Nasri. He was used as a scapegoat for another lazy Arsenal performance. When 60'000 are on your back and you're not match fit, it would make anyone crumble.

Spot on, a total disgrace. The man was near in tears coming off. I thought the Pool fans were bad booing last week, but this was shameful.

[Gaffer]

Not his biggest fan but I felt really sorry for him on Saturday.

Must have been a terrible experience for him.

[StGallsGAA]

Anyone got a link to it?

[ildanach]

i would not be his biggest fan but booing him will do his confidence no good at all. boro away at the weekend fingers crossed a win there and maybe we are starting to get some momenteum going.

[ONeill]

He probably needs to play out in Porto, away from the boos and pressure of the home crowd. Unless, that is, it was 'Eboue' they were shouting all along!

[ildanach]

so we can get one of the following in the nest round. The one to avoid is Barcelona. Apart from them think we have the beat of any of them on our day!- but not a day like last night. jesus we were shit last night

AS Roma
Panathinaikos
FC Barcelona
Bayern Munich
Juventus

[ONeill]

Premier League - Eduardo makes playing return

Croatia forward Eduardo successfully returned from injury to start for Arsenal's reserves in a 2-0 win over Portsmouth.

Eduardo has been out for almost 10 months after suffering a horrific ankle and leg break in Arsenal's 2-2 Premier League draw with Birmingham City last season.

"I'm just so happy to be back playing after 10 months out," the player told Arsenal TV after the match. "I hope to be back playing at the same level or even better, but now it's just good to forget about all the bad things in my life."

The Brazilian-born striker lasted only 45 minutes, but seemed fit and had two chances to open the scoring before coming off complaining of stiffness.

"I think everything will be okay with my hamstring and I should be playing before the New Year," he continued.

"I really enjoy playing for Arsenal and the national team of Croatia. There is a Croatia game in February and I should be able to play in that."

The former Croatia Zagreb man had a quiet opening period but looked comfortable with the pace of the game as he got some early touches and ran freely.

Initially he did not look entirely sharp, as shown when he failed to control a Fran Merida pass which played him through on goal.

Later in the first half, the 25-year-old found himself with a half-chance after Jack Wilshere and Jay Simpson combined; however he was forced wide by Pompey's defence and was unable to get a shot in.

As the game progressed Eduardo improved and almost broke the deadlock on 41 minutes.

With a superb touch on the edge of the box, he cut left and sent in a sweet, curling effort that Asmir Begovic acrobatically tipped behind for a corner.

He was withdrawn at half-time for midfielder Amaury Bischoff, a summer signing who has also struggled with injury.

Eduardo's career-threatening injury, suffered after a tackle by Blues centre-back Martin Taylor, was successfully operated on and he was reported to be walking without crutches in the summer, although it has taken him until December to be considered fit enough for contact training.

His return will be a welcome boost for Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who is without England forward Theo Walcott until spring because of a shoulder injury

[under the bar]

Nice to see Eduardo back.  A dreadful injury and you can only wish he has a long career following his recovery.