Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

Started by Dinny Breen, November 10, 2006, 09:10:06 AM

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Dinny Breen

Adebayor, take a bow son, fantastic game. Arsenal win never in doubt, the Spuds thought they could play football, tactics all wrong the Goons could have won 5/6 - 0. Two penalties were harsh but Arsenal were easily the better side. Roll on Porto...
#newbridgeornowhere

ONeill

http://goonergoals.blogspot.com/

There was a crucial difference today. In those first 45 minutes, Arsenal played that sublime football they have churned out on many occasions this year. The difference was threefold

a) didn't concede breakaway goal (almost did)
b) Scored (dubious offside)
c) The players worked their collective arse off.

This time Arsenal had that wee bit of luck they needed. As Dinny pointed out, Adebayor was immense. Chased, harried, did everything Henry wasn't (twas nice to see he made a beeline for TH after the goal). Spuds were absolutely crap and Lennon was taught a lesson by the younger Fabregas. Lennon may have broken his way into the England team, and Fabregas struggling to gain a starting place in the Spanish side, but that says more about the respective countries.

The penalties were dodgy enough for differing reasons but that didn't really matter. It could've been 6-0. It'll be great to get Gallas and Henry back but this result will give the team available plenty of confidence for the Porto and Chelsea games. I've a feeling though that Hamburg will take a point at home v Moscow anyway.

By the way Dinny, that's a flipping hypnotical avatar. Find myself staring at it for minutes. Hope it ain't subliminal and I'll not be following my sister's lead and moving to Kildare.
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

Square Ball

O'Neill

sorted, thanks wa able ti watch the ManYoo match, watch another few tomorrow.


Hospitals are not equipped to treat stupid

ONeill

A bit of the oul polonium 210 found at Arsenal I hear. Wonder will Spurs blame that a la lasagne.

QuotePolonium traces found at Arsenal stadium
Tue 05 Dec, 8:33 PM

LONDON (Reuters) - Investigators have found minute traces of polonium 210, the radioactive isotope that killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, at a local stadium, a public health spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The traces were found at the stadium of English Premier League club Arsenal.

"Minute quantities (of polonium) were found at barely detectable levels at localised areas," said Health Protection Agency spokeswoman Katherine Lewis. "There is no risk to public health."

British police are in Moscow investigating Litvinenko's death in a case that has strained ties between both countries since the exiled former spy on his death bed accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination.

Litvinenko died in a London hospital on November 23 from a lethal dose of polonium 210 after falling ill on Nov 1.

One of the men British police want to question in Russia is Andrei Lugovoy who travelled to London on October 31 with his wife and three children to watch CSKA Moscow play Arsenal in a Champions League game on November 1.

He met Litvinenko at a London hotel earlier the same day.
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

never kickt a ball

Do you think the health protection agency will get wenger to eat something while they are there?

never kickt a ball

Hear the Geiger counter produced the best score so far at Arsenal's new ground! :D

Dinny Breen

What a boring f*cking game, didn't watch half it, result was inevitable and a nice earner. Sunday I think could be a heavy defeat but Chelsea will probably settle for a 1-0..
#newbridgeornowhere

ONeill

Phew. For a few minutes when Moscow were 2-1 up on the Germans and Porto piling the pressure on Lehman, things looked as if the season would end on a cold December night. Thank the Lord the Porto manager realised that if they conceded they'd be out too and calmed his men a little. As it turned out, 2 Hamburg goals meant that both Arsenal and Porto were through anyway.

A poor, yet somewhat satisfying Arsenal performance.

Looking at the possible last 16 opponents, from most desirable to least:

Lille
Celtic
PSV
Roma
Inter Milan
Real Madrid
Barcelona
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

never kickt a ball

Cheers O'Neill. I was wondering why the bookies wouldn't take single bets on this match. Now I know.

ONeill

#54
The longer this game went on, the more confident I was that Arsenal would win it. It's no coincidence that Arsenal have taken 10 points from Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs this year. When teams come out to play, Arsenal excel. I thought Arsenal were the better team in the first half in terms of passing, movement and harrying, without really threatening to take the lead. Chelsea seemed to up the tempo when the rain started to pelt. They're a fine team though the summer signing seem to disappear completely. Ballack was a real disappointment.

As for the Gooners, Senderos was a flipping liability. Hard to assess his performance though. Some great last ditch tackles but on the ball he was heart-attack football. I thought Adebayor, for the 3rd game running, was Arsenal's MOTM. Fantastic work-rate and has really taken off since Henry headed for TLC. Flamini worked hard - seemed to like that central role. Gilberto, despite his vocal critics, is club captain in all but name. Saved Phillipe's Swiss bacon on a couple of occasions. Wished they'd put on Walcott when 1-0 up in order to push Chelsea back.

Now, sort out the small team problem. Lose to Wigan on Wednesday and it's back to square 1.
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

ONeill

QuoteA well earned point yesterday against Chelsea could have been even better but for Michael Essien's amazing equaliser, his equally amazing miss and the woodwork.

When we took the lead through the hard-working Mathieu Flamini there were just over 10 minutes to go and you thought we could hang on but there was just no legislating for a goal as good as Essien's. Sure, Hleb was fouled in the build up, and fouled by Cuntley ****, but these things happen. The goal sparked Chelsea into life and they could have won it twice in the last couple of minutes. First Essien hit the bar from less than 4 yards when a corner landed right at his feet and then Frank Lampard hit the post when Jens Lehmann spilled Robben's tame shot. On TV they spoke about Flamini getting a touch but I couldn't see that.

RvP celebrates with the FlamsterTo be fair we could have gone ahead after Essien's goal when Alexander Hleb lashed the ball wildly over the bar from inside the box when a simple placed shot would have done. The Sun reports Arsene Wenger, who was furious at the miss, saying "He always does that!".

Mourinho said afterwards that Arsenal showed no ambition to win the game but the man is on a wind up. Sure, we played a 4-5-1 but we've won big games with that formation before and given how young our team was it made sense. Adebayor was really good up front and worked very hard and in midfield we had to make up the numbers against quality like Essien, Makelele and Ballack. To have gone gung-ho to try and win would have been madness and Gilberto had an outstanding game providing the cover to the back four. For Mourinho to suggest there was some kind of co-operation between Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson to ensure Chelsea dropped points just shows how far removed from the real world he is.

Defensively we were a bit dodgy at times though. Philippe Senderos had the most nervy 20 minutes I've ever seen from him before settling into the game and when Arjen Robben was brought on he skinned Eboue at least three times. Actually, he didn't have to do too much because Eboue was nowhere to be seen at least twice. He is a big worry defensively. Jens Lehmann could have cost us the game at the end and he seemed more interested in trying to wind up Didier Drogba.

I hope both of them, and remember they're 14-15 stone men of 6′2″ or 6′3″, look back at the ridiculous incident in which they got booked and feel suitably ashamed. Drogba throwing himself to the ground from the slightest shove by Lehmann was pathetic and Lehmann's leap when Drogba gave him a bit of a shoulder charge was just as bad. I worry a bit about Jens now. The World Cup was a massive motivational factor for him, he's firmly ensconsed as Germany's number one and although he's a professional and a good one at that we're starting to see things creep back into his game that I thought he'd cut out.

Of course the game was hyped up because of Ashley Cole, introduced by the Chelsea MC as 'the best left back in world'. Good job he wasn't trying to inflame an already tense situation, eh? Arsenal fans sang their songs about him and threw the fake £20 notes. Chelsea fans responded by singing about our manager wanting to have sex with children. Pure class and where is the condemnation in today's newspapers or on the TV yesterday? Whatever you do don't throw a small piece of paper and anyone who brings an inflatable mobile phone is likely to be arrested but 40,000 people can sing a despicable, vile song without so much as a word from anyone. It's truly pathetic.

Hats off to Cesc Fabregas who refused to shake Cole's hand which apparently sparked a bit of a ruckus in the tunnel in which Robin van Persie was also involved. Well done, lads. I wouldn't shake that little ****'s hand either. It's good to see he's gotten into the swing of things at Chelsea which means he's always in the referee's face moaning and complaining. John Terry is an absolute disgrace the way he tries to intimidate the officials week in week out. It was hilarious watching them moan when Cole was booked for scything down Hleb trying to say that Senderos should have been booked for a previous foul on Drogba. Senderos' foul was a bit of obstruction, Cole chopped down Hleb in full flight, the little ****. Hardly the same thing but Terry, obviously under instruction from his manager, objects to every decision the referee makes to try and gain some advantage later in the game. He is the perfect example of why football should follow the example of rugby when it comes to referees.

Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:

    The quality of our performance and our team spirit was absolutely tremendous. When you look at their age, what they did today was sensational.

On the TV they mentioned the average age of Chelsea's outfield players was 29. Arsenal's was 23. That is a big gap in terms of experience and while Chelsea had chances so did we and we weren't overawed in any way. As the manager rightly pointed out as well Chelsea had last weekend off as well so that is a factor. While it was a blow to concede an equaliser so late and we rode our luck a bit in the last few minutes a draw was no less than we deserved and overall it was a fair result.

Hopefully we can take that kind of spirit and performance to Wigan on Wednesday night. If we play like that, with the same spirit and character, we can get a result, no problem. Our problem this season though has not been games like Chelsea, it's been games like Wigan, so this will be one to watch closely.
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

ONeill

I've followed Amy's career since she was a young Arsenal ladette. She wrote this on Sunday morning in the Observer:

Cole better off in blue as Arsenal fret over back four


Ashley Cole faces his old team-mates for the first time and while Jose Mourinho can purr over his impervious back four, Arsene Wenger, whose defence have an average age of just 21, has plenty to worry about. Amy Lawrence reports

Sunday December 10, 2006
The Observer


Far be it for anyone to second guess the emotions of a man who virtually crashed his car at the idea of a pay rise to only £2.8million per year, but when Ashley Cole lines up against his old brotherhood for the first time this afternoon, one thing he is bound to feel is considerably more secure than the men he left behind. And not just financially.

Glancing along his back four the first face he will see is John Terry - Premiership establishment, England captain, hard as they come, backbone of the champions, and king of Jose Mourinho's 'untouchables'. Further along is Ricardo Carvalho and then Geremi, two solid and wise defenders who are both at their peak age of 28.

Article continues
Did he do the right thing? Was it all worth it? In that split second before kick-off when Cole sizes up the rest of his defensive unit, he will feel justified. Unlike Arsenal, nobody ever analyses how Chelsea will cope if somebody is missing from the equation because there are other competent cogs waiting to slot into the machine.

Down at the other end of the pitch, four of the boys Cole shared a dressing room with not so long ago will also be looking across at each other for a little bit of last-minute encouragement. With an average age of 21, and fewer than 100 Premiership appearances between them, there can seldom have been a less experienced defence fielded for a game between two of the top sides. Arsene Wenger is pinning his faith in Emmanuel Eboue, Johan Djourou, Philippe Senderos and Gael Clichy to handle 13 stones of pure Ivorian hitman. It may not be a pretty sight.

They must also contend with Andriy Shevchenko, who is aiming to take his place among the group of Mourinho's guaranteed picks. 'When I am fit I will be there too,' he said. 'Having no rest after the World Cup and having to change country, culture and team was a big pressure. It is natural to have problems adapting. I spoke a lot with Jose and I have a lot of respect for him. I have never thought once about going back to Milan.'

For the third season running, Wenger has had his plans seriously spoiled by defensive disruption and the Premiership challenge has quickly fizzed out, so there is a pattern here. In 2004-2005 he lost confidence in Jens Lehmann, dropping him for reserve keeper Manuel Almunia with miserable consequences. In 2005-2006 he used 26 different defensive combinations as Sol Campbell went walkabout, Cole was broodingly absent and Lauren needed long-term rehabilitation. And now this.

Inwardly, Wenger may be cursing that this most challenging of away fixtures takes place now. One week before or after and he would have at least had either Kolo Toure or William Gallas available. But outwardly, the Arsenal manager has no option but to argue that this could be the making of his young defence.

The focus of attention will inevitably be on the Swiss international pairing in the middle, particularly as Senderos has in previous encounters with Chelsea displayed a pathological fear of Didier Drogba. 'Those experiences affected him, of course,' Wenger admitted. 'But since then Philippe since has gone through a whole Champions League campaign well where he faced some tough opponents like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet. Drogba will see a different Senderos now. He's a strong character, resilient, highly motivated and dedicated and I feel there will also be Swiss complicity. Djourou and him will support each other.'

Wenger also anticipates a big performance from Cole's replacement, Clichy, who has discovered that being understudy is easy compared to the main billing. 'This is a good challenge for him because he will be compared to his role model,' said Wenger. 'Gael has the potential to be as good as him and after a year out he is doing amazingly.'

Eboue is under the spotlight for different reasons. After a tussle last weekend with Robbie Keane, the Ivorian right-back with a liking for theatricals was told to cut out the diving by his manager. 'We had a chat about that and we don't want him to do that at all,' Wenger confirmed. 'He is a player who does everything at full speed and sometimes these players can be unbalanced easier than a player at normal speed. But we don't want him to exaggerate and he does not want to either.'

Chelsea have failed to score only once this season and logic suggests corners will be a key factor, given Chelsea's success from and Arsenal's terror of the inswinging set piece. 'Part of the game will be decided there, so the best way is not to concede any corners,' Wenger said brightly. Well, there's a first time for everything.

Wenger confesses that organising the back four is not his speciality. 'The defensive side is not my favourite part, no. When I arrived here, I had Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Tony Adams and Martin Keown; they were all 30 plus. But I can show you pictures of Tony Adams at 21 and you see him again at 31 and he is not the same player. He made mistakes at 21 that you would say today of our players, it's horrendous. It is all part of the experience.'

Simply surviving Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea have never lost a league game under Mourinho, is not in Wenger's mind. Really? 'I just want us to win the game. I don't care if we are first to beat Chelsea or not. What is important to me is to close the gap between us. We have a good opportunity. In a big game, I believe 100 per cent my players can deliver. They are fearless and I want them to show that.'

Could that have the same psychological impact as when Manchester United abruptly ended Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run? 'I feel still a bit bitter about the way that ended,' Wenger lamented. 'We want to do it in a different way.'
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

ThatsTheFootball

very encouraged by y'days preformance although rode our luck a few times. thought Gilberto was immense, if im being honest i think he would make a better club captain than henry hes seems to revel in the role and gives great leadership to the younger players. also thought clichy was the best left full back on show.djourou was very solid an excellent prospect. as for senderos i dont think hes gonna cut it.
arsenals problem is they cant raise themselves for the games against the likes of watford and shef utd. more than ne thing esle this is to down to inexperience. next season will be a different prospect!

ziggysego

Change the name of this thread. I keep forgetting and come in, thinking it's the Goonies Thread. God I love that film!
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Dinny Breen

QuoteChange the name of this thread. I keep forgetting and come in, thinking it's the Goonies Thread. God I love that film!

  ::)
#newbridgeornowhere