Blue Touchpaper Lit, But A Damp Squib Ensues
Aug 26th, 2009 by 'holic
For nearly half an hour we were treated to a very familiar contest. As last week Celtic worked overtime to deny Arsenal the time and space to inflict damage on them. As last week Arsenal got the rub of the green and never looked back.
In both games there can be no serious doubt that the better side came out on top and deserved their triumph. However there is similarly no doubt that the opening goal this evening posed more questions than answers.
Did Boruc intend to make contact with either the ball or Eduardo? It didn’t look like it. Was there contact? It looked like Eduardo made sure there was contact between lower legs. Was more made of the event in commentary than has been the case with other challenges involving Rooney and Gerrard in recent seasons? I think so.
The reaction was over the top, but was the decision a bad one? I always argue the best guide to a controversial decision is ‘would I be upset if that had been given the other way at the other end?’ In this instance I have to say yes.
On balance I would rather it hadn’t happened, but let’s retain some perspective. The answer to this issue remains with the authorities pulling their fingers out of their backsides and allowing a fifth official to review such incidents. The technology is available at all the big games. Let’s bloody well use it.
Talking of technology, the laser in the eyes of the penalty taker is also out of order. It’s not the first time we’ve seen it. I hope it is the last. Eduardo ignored the distractions and rolled the spot-kick home.
Was the outcome of the tie changed? No, in truth it was just a matter of time before Arsenal converted one of the openings that were periodically arriving. It was no surprise on the night that Emmanuel Eboue was the player to add to the Gunners three goal aggregate advantage.
Often maligned, and I’ll hold my hands up here, the Ivorian seemed to alternate with Diaby in a very fluid formation. He had a fine volley just wide in the first-half, and finished superbly when set up by some fabulous interplay between Bendtner and Diaby on the left flank. I have to say he was my man-of-the-match tonight.
When Andre Arshavin came on with nineteen minutes remaining, and almost immediately grabbed a clever third on the night, Celtic looked in danger of total collapse. To their credit they regrouped, and with the final kick the hard-working Donati produced a fine volleyed finish.
So to the draw tomorrow, and again there are dangerous opponents waiting in the bottom half of the draw for the unlucky. Then we have two trips to Manchester to prepare for. Those two games will give us a better idea of just how good this Arsenal squad is. So far, popular pundits remain unconvinced.
I’m far more upbeat. Last year we were surrendering early points to the likes of Fulham and Hull. Fifteen goals in four games against opposition of at least a comparable standard tells a story for me, and Arsene Wenger, too.
“There is belief there, and hunger, and a determination to prove to people we are better than they think we are.”
Well said Arsene. Well played Arsenal. Keep it up please.
26 Responses to “Blue Touchpaper Lit, But A Damp Squib Ensues”
All I can say is: it’s about fucking time we have some luck go our way. Let the player haters bitch about the penalty…fuck em!!!!!
I agree with Scott couldnt believe the ITV1 coverage coming up with suggestions on how Wenger should handle Eduardo…stupid i say.
I have seen that kind of stuff from loads of other players and never have i heard them go on and on and on about it.
Bring on the ManUre and um upbeat we will bury them…
Just hope Eduardo never does that again. He’s to classy to have the need to dive.
bad news cesc diaby and ramsey won’t play at old trafford so unless rosicky is up to his best we have a crisis in midfield
this is just the hypocritical english media at its best, taking the opportunity to gang up on a foreign player. players like gerrard and rooney are among the worst in the league at diving, but because they’re english, they’re ‘good lads, honest pros.’ what a load of crap.
if u watch it closely goalieโs thigh did touched duduโs right foot (the broken one). i m not saying it wasnt a dive but there was som contact altgough it wasnt enough to take him down and other thing is like wild tackling, shirt and knikers grabing, elbow punches etcโฆ its all football tactic its down to ref to point it out. all big clubs have big divers drogba, gerrard, nani etc and the greatest of all ronaldo even messi does, nobody highlights it when they do the same dudu might not be as big of a player but he is a footballer after all and should be treated the same. if everybody blames dudu for celts failure then thats pure hate towards arenal cz quality wise they cant be compared to us well nobody is better then arsenal QUALITY wise
go gooners
i have to say itv are a disgrace other people dive like rooney ronaldo drogba but u dont heard the idoits on itv goin on about it all game. eduardo is an honest player and doesnt dive also the way the papers are gong on about it it was like we won onlt 1-0 but the score was 5-1. i feel sorry for dudu cuz if it was rooney nothing would be said cuz he is english itv are a disgrace and should applogies to eddy
with respect to Dudu’s ”dive” Arsene did point out that Dudu may have tried to move away bearing in mind Dudu did have a really bad injury in Feb last year. he might have got scared, not just saying it cause i’m an arsenal fan, but yes i condemn diving but going through horrific injuries could have played a part of him falling over. just a thought
There was certainly contact but Eduardo made the most of it. Who doesn’t!? Commentators on fox soccer channel were out of their depths. First they were adamant there was no contact. Then a replay showed there was. Then they said the ball was anyway going out of play. A replay showed it was clearly in Dudu’s control. Pundits are the first ones who should be banned.
Our luck has certainly changed. Almost like we have swapped it with the mugsmashers ๐
btw ‘holic, pardon my ignorance, but I couldn’t figure out what the title means
Its not a question of whether Eduardo is a diver or not. Fact is that he dived.
Is he a serial diver? No. But neither does that condone his act and everyone (aka tv pundits ) have a right to have a go at him.
Sorry desi, and funnily enough just yesterday I was thinking to myself sometimes people not from the UK might struggle to understand some of the stuff that is written on blogs and in titles.
The title comes from the instructions to light fireworks, ‘light blue touchpaper and retire’, but alluding in some way to the fact that although the game had a flashpoint, it never really turned into the explosive cracker we had all hoped for. A squib is a firework that is great to watch unless it gets damp and refuses to ignite.
If I have to explain it, then it is a poor title. I’ll try to bear that in mind in future. Cheers.
I feel for Celtic in that the 1st 2 goals we scored from them were full of luck and the 3rd was harsh. Other than that we were the better team in both rounds, we deserved to go through! There coach even admitted it! I don’t recall such banter from when Rooney went down to end our unbeaten run?! I think its a mirror of Arsenals gamesmanship that its gettin the rounds when our player does it! Its not the Arsenals way! Take note, am not bashing Dudu, after havin your leg broken, you tend to avoid the tackle when you can, the way I see it, thats what happened! Period!
Great piece of writing once again ‘holic – I almost tire of saying that, such is the consistency!! ๐
I’m going to agree wholeheartedly with Sajit…..Eduardo dived! On the other hand the response from the xenophobic Arsenal hating media simply proves what all Arsenal fans have known for years. They truly despise everything that our well run club stands for and will strike at ANY opportunity to demonstrate that rampant hatred.
What did make me laugh was Arsene’s aftermatch interview….ITV clearly worked very hard to corner him on the judgement, although I’m sure Arsene will probably thank Tony Mowbray (true gentleman) for responding on camera, when also asked about the penalty incident, he said “I didn’t see it!!”, plus “no one can complain that Arsenal didn’t deserve the win overall”!!!. End of story for me!!!!!
I must save a mention for the very impressive display from Eboue…..and what a well taken goal!? Diaby played well too. Also Gallas continues to display fine form as we look ahead to Saturday. Ooh….and Arshavin getting on the scoresheet will undoubtedly do him some good.
Believe!!!!
Nice blog this morning, Mr Holic, sir:-)
Too many hypocrites showing their true colours last night (and this morning) in the various TV studios. One of the worst being Kenny Dalglish. Who never, ever, under any circums, took a dive himself in all of his playing career, did he? Good. Glad we cleared that one up. The aggregate scoreline tells the full story and that should be good enough for everyone.
Watching the match at home on my telly I immediately said, “No way” when Eduardo went over and the ref indicated a penalty and I was saddened and disappointed that a player of his quality took such an obvious dive. Yes, I know it goes on all the time but the fact that other players – many of then high profile ‘stars’ – chose to cheat in this way doesn’t make it right or acceptable and I would rather that he hadn’t done it. If it had been the other way round and the penalty had been awarded against us I would have been furious. The media of course thoroughly enjoyed the incident and no doubt will continue to do so for some time.
Enough of that matter, we thoroughly deserved the win anyway and many of our players continue to improve. Mention has already been made of Gallas, Diaby and Eboue and others but I thought that Denilson also had a very good game. He gets through an awful lot of work, covering, intercepting and breaking things up and he’s not bad going forward either. Vermaelen looks to be an outstanding buy whilst Wilshere and Ramsey can’t be far off from regular first team appearances. Another good team performance and a great result.
Tony Mowbray is a gent and Celtic are a decent, hard working and gutsy team and I wish them luck.
What Redders said.
Glass of red wine for me right now, please.
Well blogged, Mr. Holic, as usual ๐
Question to fans present at the venue:
On the TV it looked like nobody joined Arshavin in his quiet finger-on-the-lips celebration of the third goal to cheer and congratulate him. I couldn’t see it well though, because the vision was quickly changed to show the replays of the goal. Yet I have also seen in the previous games of the season, that the Russian was never the first one to show real enthusiasm for other players scoring for Arsenal.
I’m not saying that he should behave like Eboue, who is sometimes ridiculously enthusiastic about other guys scoring (no matter which part of the field he is in at the moment, he always sprints to the scorer to be the first one to share his joy). But I feel like there’s some distance between Shava and other players.
Now, I don’t want to be fussy about it – I don’t expect a group of 30 men to be all closest friends – but I’d like to know how you all see it from the stands.
Bit early to be drinking is it not, Ollie?
And what Redders said.
i always come back to the ‘holic when something like this happens and he always gets it spot on.
i thought denilson was great, seemed to be everywhere and deserved to be on the scoresheet with the run through on goal in the first half.
other than that celtic were never at the races and the press have been instructed to make a big deal out of the eduardo incident to deflect the bad press from the west ham / millwall riot, bloody foreigners to blame for that one as well kenny?
At least all the talk on Dudu’s “dive” has taken away the question on if/who we’re gonna sign before the transfer window closes ๐
I’ll have a babycham and tonic pls.
Hey! I’ll have a Babycham.
Thanks ‘holic. Well, I have developed my English mainly through reading. So anything new always helps. From the context i had always understood that a damp squib was something that failed to live up to expectation. Your explanation helped me refine my understanding ๐
Your writing is brilliant and I don’t think you should change anything.
hey holic. must say the reaction over dudu ‘s actions is as though he murdered someone. every single game i have watched in the last 2-3 years has had dives in it. no one gives a damn about any of those. remember babel anyone???? ronaldo, gerard. im just lovin how everyone is going bananas asking for eduardos head.
Celtic had one shot on goal all night. This was the last kick of the game. After 92 minutes. And came about when Arsenal had 10 players on the pitch, after Ramsey had been taken off.
Sh*tstorm to deflect the attention from the fact that Celtic are a pub team playing in a fifth rate league and were completely outclassed over 180 minutes?
Perish the thought…..
CockendRider. So celtic had 1 shot and are a pub team. But hey this pub team have won the big cup.
Arsenal fans are usually a decent lot that appreciate a passionate fanbase and even if we cant compete financially we will always back our team and muppet comments about pubteams are typical of what a non football fan you are.
saying that bellendrider aside i hope Arsenal do well and the fans enjoy their CL this year because they play football the Glasgow Celtic Way