Waddle Outstanding Theo Do For An Encore?
Mar 6th, 2010 by 'holic
It had to happen, didn’t it? In the wake of small-minded criticism from penalty-king Chris Waddle we saw a man-of-the-match performance from Theo Walcott as Arsenal joined Chelsea on 61 points. This may not so far have been a season to remember for Theo, but if he can reproduce today’s form in the closing weeks then both Arsenal and England could reap the benefits.
That Arsenal didn’t finish the match temporarily top of the table owed everything to a woeful demonstration of finishing, and the failure to build on a solid opening half. After early efforts by Tomas Rosicky and Cesc Fabregas had just missed the target we finally had the lead when the skipper struck (at 9/2, thank you!).
A minute later came the first of a string of incredible misses by Nicklas Bendtner after good work down the right by Emanuel Eboue. Sadly, having grabbed the initiative for his team, Fabregas departed the action as a ‘precautionary measure’. He certainly wasn’t moving freely and we face an anxious couple of days before the Champions League squad to face Porto is announced.
Even at this point though Cesc had played second fiddle to the Eboue and Walcott act down the right flank. When he departed it was Theo who took on the mantle of most creative player with a surprising degree of confidence. How good it was to see.
In the opening minute of the second half he landed an inch-perfect cross on Bendtner’s head, six yards out, but the big Dane somehow glanced it wide. A couple of minutes later it was a shot over the bar from close range that had the commentators wondering if Arsenal would pay the ultimate price for Nick’s generosity.
They got their answer almost immediately. Vermaelen and Silvestre left Nugent free to lob Manuel Almunia when Eboue’s clearance was returned with interest, and at one each it was very definitely squeaky bum time. Bendtner again, Nasri, and Walcott spurned opportunities to restore the Gunners advantage as the missed chances racked up.
Thankfully Theo settled the nerves with a wonderful controlled left foot strike, and it should be pointed out that Bendtner provided the last pass. 2-1 to the Arsenal should have been more again when Arshavin spurned his first chance after coming on, and the luckless Bendy saw two more get away from him before he too was substituted.
Words of consolation, rather than condemnation, are due at this point. The pictures of Bendtner laughing at himself as he came off give the lie to the charge of arrogance often levelled at him. He knew he had had one of those days, and it was good to see the crowd giving him a good-humoured reception. I know it would have been different perhaps if we had not reclaimed the lead, but after his injury nightmare this season he will come good soon enough, I’m sure.
In the last of the four added minutes the scoreline took on a more realistic hue when Andrey Arshavin finally found his range from the right flank and beat Jensen at his near post. With twenty attempts on goal, eleven of them on target, the four goal margin required to hit the top might well have been achieved. At this stage of the season though, the win is the vital statistic.
I should mention Burnley. They arrived with limited ambition, but stuck doggedly to their task for an hour when they could easily have conceded a hatful, and with the score at 2-1 they committed bodies to the attack in a commendable attempt to snatch only their second away point of the season. At one stage I counted seven of them in the Arsenal half. Not many are that ambitious, or naive some might say.
In closing I have to pay tribute to the home support. The tributes to Aaron Ramsey, and three fine banners were shown on television, were impressive. If we keep this winning run going there are nine cheek-pinching contests to live through, but the fabulous backing the side are enjoying could be a major contribution to the run-in.
Take a bow, Gunners and Gooners.
80 Responses to “Waddle Outstanding Theo Do For An Encore?”
Can we get that tott to slag Theo every week? Easily his best game of the season.
G &T please barman!
walcott appeared anonymous in the first half with little/no contribution.but god knows what happened to him and denilson they both came out and fought like hell.nasri to me had a motm performance.bendtner…one of those days for him.lets hope he doesnt lose confidence.he has been scoring recently and just has to get back on the sheet again.but the fact that he was at the right places means hell do it….lets just get behind the boys..come what may…hope fab is not seriously injured….
You must have watched the first half from Upton Park, indian.
Another one down, nine more to go. It’s time for all Gooners to start believing …
believe or don’t believe
we’re still gonna win ’em
wolves ha
how many crosses did he put in during the first half that had any value holic???yes he did run a lot at the defence but end product was not there…that is what i meant by being anonymous…..
try again
Wolves have lost us more points than Almunia this season
Anonymous? He and Eboue ran the right flank in the first half. I suspect you have the wrong word there, in all honesty. He kept showing, ran his man ragged, and grew with every touch.
Whose criticising Nicklas or damning him? That’s totally ridiculous. It’s as you said, one of those days for the boy and the fact that the crowd acknowledged that was wonderful. I’m really glad he didn’t take his subsitution too badly and left off with a smile and “I don’t know what happened” shrug to the bench.
I love that kid and he will be a star for us. He’s young, ambitious and never afraid to try his luck…
The endless misses were frustrating but in the end they led to some good banter and humour. We knew this game was ours, I wanted Nicklas to score for his own confidence not to prove anything. Arsene trusts him, the boy has the ability and confidence, what more do we need?
oh and Walcott was brilliant today…anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about. He’s been getting better with every game and after the cruel words thrown at him since mid-week, I was really impressed at how he responded.
His crosses were quality at times and he worked his socks off to make up for any mistakes and kept trying and trying and trying. You’ve got to give him the credit he deserves for today.
It’s all happening again.
Theo played well in the 2nd half (not so great in the 1st in truth), and Im pleased for him that he got the winner, but he’s been given MoM by most people when he wasn’t our best player today.
I think that’s the best Ive ever seen nasri play, he was incredible, nobody could get the ball off him, and set up the 1st goal with a fantastic pass. He was superb THROUGHOUT the game.
Eboue as well had a fantastic game and diaby did very well when he came on. These 3 all played better imo.
I hate to sound like Im putting the kid down by saying he doesnt deserve quite all the plaudits hes getting, but this IS the problem with theo. It’s not his fault, but he gets all this hype over the odd performance. In the end, it often goes to his head (or seems to) and then in the long run he doesnt deliver. The pressure gets too much perhaps? In the meantime we have other squad members who dont get as many chances to show what they can do.
Overall, as I said, theo did well, and Im pleased for him. He got the winner and so is deserving of some praise. But can we not overdo the celebrations now? There’s still plenty of games to go, and we need players like him to perform consistently.
glad to see people are not slating Nic. he did win it for us last week least we forget
Theo was good in the first half, and great in the second half. Nasri was running the show whole match . I would have loved a bendtner goal. Bendtner had one of those days where nothing just worked, it so happens to anybody playing the sport.
Agreed, Nasri played very well, and there were a couple of occasions in the second-half when you had to do a double-take to make sure we had not brought Cesc back on. I’ll stand by my view on Theo though. Never hid, always looked for the positive. Top performance.
Man utd needs 2 still play liver,fulham,chelsea,totts,man city. Hopefully these teams can take some points from them,same goes to chelsea. Denilson showed strength in the midfield(defensively). Lots of improvements this season eg.diaby,eboue,bendtner. I desperately want to see the new sol campbell aka johann djourou play. I admire the guy(in a non-faggot way)
great win,admirable determination 2get a result,pray Cesc injury isnt 2 serious,i know d media will all b abt theo’s performance but spare a tot 4 Denilson 2day,really did well cos Song’s absence wasnt noticed,Arshavin failed 2 track back n dat really exposed Clichy 2day,eboue’s performance n input is much more than Sagna’s n i wonder y he starts more games than eboue?Overall though 2day’s a good preparation against tuesday.
Bloody hell, that was quick ‘holic.
Good review.
I’ll have some of your ancient Talisker please, barman!
Cheers
The home crowd was superb today. Walcott is slowing getting better. He just needs more games. And im not really worried about NB52, he’ll come good.
However I am worried about Eduardo and Denilson. Both look to have hit a real low.
Well done gunners. Mission accomplished. 9 more to go common’
Just watching the game again. Theo is up for it from the off. Nasri is looking like a solid box to box midfielder, I think Denilson is keeping it simple and occupying the space, Rosicky looks lively and Eboue and Clichy can go forward when they want because the mids are covering their runs. When we don’t have the ball we are working hard and keeping good shape and defending as decent units.
We could have had a hatful of goals in the first half. Credit to Burnley in that they came to play, which was nearly their undoing.
How we cheered when Cesc got the first goal. We knew where the ‘holic pound and his mates were hanging out today, in their hoodies, on the corner of the street where Paddy Power hangs out.
Otto – eboue is an awesome attacking fullback and can be a brilliant winger but sagna is much more solid defensively.
I would like to see eboue start more games though. Anywhere will do. If we could get him to play CM that would be fantastic as we need more defensive cover for song.
@ ivan 10 the banter and humour because he missed could very well cost us the season if it comes down to GD.
Votes of Wolves missed an absolute fucking sitter in the 91st inside the six yard box that Hellen Keller herself wouldve finished.
Also Arshavin did score … but his effort today really pissed me off. I know he’s just back from injury but basically all season his effort has been slowly getting on my nerves. Even in his own box arshavin didn’t put in effort to get on the loose ball inside the box that Burnley narrowly hit over the bar. Sorry for the bit of a negative comment, been a long day. Surprise me barman.
Theo stuck to his task today and acquitted himself well; his performance wasn’t one dimensional and had a sense of ‘team’ urgency about it. I have a feeling that his abject Wednesday night experience versus Egypt did him the power of good today, as he didn’t enter the field thinking he was Mr Golden Boots. Fair play to him. 9 more displays like that will see us right. As others have said, Nasri was first class after the first 20 minutes of anonymity. Also, fair dos to Diaby who did well when he came on and also to Rosicky, who is starting to impose himself on matches even when they’re finely balanced. Apart from his hat trick of misses, Bendtner does offer the team an outlet and works very hard. We must pray that Cesc isn’t missing for more than a match or two.
A nice win, although it was pretty expected and I was actually much more excited to see how UTD will fare without Rooney at the Molineaux, I had a strong feeling they won’t be able to win.
Unfortunately their defender slipped and Scholes scored but if the injury to Rooney is a bit longer I’m sure they’ll slip up some points in the coming weeks (not to mention Cesc’s injury cause as opposed, we have won some games without Cesc).
A word on Bendtner, ever since he came up the ranks I disliked him as a player because of the fact that he misses 70-80% of the chances he gets. He was a striker who would miss his chances even before the injury and not everyday we’ll get through it.
4 done, 9 to go 🙂
Three points is always three points, too bad that Wolves couldn’t give us a bit of a helping hand but at least we are still putting pressure on Chelsea and ManUre.
Bendtner not only could, he SHOULD have scored at least three goals, maybe even four. But at least he was there when the opportunities arose which hopefully is a sign of better things to come.
But Silvestre… my oh my oh my… what the hell was he thinking when he just let the ball and the player run away from him for the equalizer? He is simply such a liability to the entire team, and I’m seriously starting to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to play Sagna as a central defender instead of Silvestre. Silvestre might be slightly better on the crosses but for fucks sake, the man has no positional sense whatsoever.
Anyway, very nice to see Theo produce the goods again. He seems to be sparking into life again, he had a quite good game against Sunderland as well and a decent one against Stoke and now this performance. We will need him to deliver for the rest of the season given all the injuries. I’m counting Cesc out for at least two weeks as that’s the usual minimum when Arsene says “hamstring problem”.
And Nasri really shouldn’t play as an attacker. His place is in central midfield, as so clearly demonstrated today. A lot will rest on his shoulders as long as Cesc is absent.
Anyway, mine’s a Boddingtons please Mr Barman!
It might be a measure of a sea change at the Emirates where NB wasn’t booed off the pitch today (I wasn’t there the infamous Eboue booed off day so I’ve no idea if it was as bad as the media made out, probably not) – as frustrating as it was he was in real goalscoring positions so often today – the difference when we have some width is remarkable. I’m keeping up my ‘play Eboue in games we need goals’ mantra as we are far more direct.
Pleased to see Walcott play well – if he can be one of our most creative players over the next 11 weeks it will have been worth the wait. Cesc has literally carried these team so often this season – it was a joy to see Nasri run the show today. Diaby’s possession and passing are so far removed from a year ago – lovely to see.
Almunia in goal, getting back to his (modest) best –
Keep the faith –
Good report ‘holic. Hey at least we got the ball rolling against Shawcross and the other thugs, when one of them breaks another leg the press may finally come on board. Pulis et al are complete cunts hinting that Aaron didn’t criticize them…..he just didn’t lower himself to even mention them.
davi- i beg 2 disagree wit u,ebuo’s equally good if not betta defensive-wise,all he needs is a consistent run of games,av u 4gotten 2006 CL Finals wen he did shut out Ronaldinho,guy’s good, we sold Lauren cos of him. A.W just doing his countryman a favour,but he’s our boss n in him we trust
Hello Tim,
I was there that day and it was that bad, I’m afraid. I think if Nick had gone off at 1-1 today he might not have got the same enthuiastic reception, but I don’t think anybody was going to get booed today. I pray we keep this togetherness off the pitch for the remaining nine games. They undoubtedly have it within the squad. Great spirit.
davi- i beg 2 disagree wit u,eboue’s equally good,Lauren lost his place 2 him,guy also shut out Ronaldinho in CL 2006 Finals, all he needs is a decent run of games n then u’ll get 2 appreciate his defensive qualities,A.W is doing his countryman a favour but HEY! d man’s d boss n in HIM WE TRUST
otto
I appreciate English may not be your first language, but I would be grateful if you would cut the text speak. There are plenty of others around the world who find it difficult enough to follow something in another language without it being abbreviated to the point of destruction. Thanks.
Wasteful is the one word I would use to sum that up. Yesterday I predicted a 7 – 1 win for the Gunners. Having watched that, 7 – 1 may not have been as stupid as it first sounded. Nick did miss several that he should have buried, but overall I thought he had a decent game. His work rate was good. He battled well up front and was a good link for the midfield. That said his finishing needs to be sharper. But he can work on that.
Agree re al the plaudits for Nasri. Thought he was excellent As was Tommy V at the back. He is as hard as nails.
Theo? I thought he worked hard for the first half but did not get the reward his industry deserved. 2nd half was a different ball game. It is amazing what a bit of confidence does for a player. Thought he took his goal very well, almost Henry style. Arshavin put the icing on the cake on a deserved victory.
One word about the crowd. I thought the support for Ramsey was superb. Not sure how it came over on the TV but the crowd was quite subdued today. It almost seemed nervous inside the ground. But some special words for a few twats who sit behind me in block 4. From almost the very first kick they were on both Bendtner and Denilson’s back. Some of the filth that came out was both disgusting and shameful. I was really pissed off. I am amazed that people pay good money just to slag their own players off from the very first whistle. Generally, Bendtner received the encouragement of the crowd, and this was duly acknowledged when he went off. But please, if you are one of those twats that goes to games just to slag players off for 90 minutes do us all a favor and fuck off. We have a real chance of doing something quite special this season and if you can not see that then you do not deserve to take your seat.
Pedigree for me tonight Holic.
Keep the faith.
One final point. Just heard that JET scored twice for Donny Rovers and that Jack notched one for Bolton.
Happy days…
‘holic – thanks…not good to hear…but good to know. I don’t ever recall anyone getting that treatment at Highbury…even Gus..perhaps John Devine?
Agree 100% would be good to see the commitment return to the masses. I wouldn’t swap AW for anyone else and I think with very minor changes this team can become as good as any we’ve seen. Can you imagine what winning the l****e would do in terms of self-belief for this squad? I didn’t say the actual word just in case….
@ Chicago Gunner –
Obviously I was aware of the goal difference being key but what would you have us do? Boo the kid? How productive is that? Who knows how or why Nicklas missed his chances. Some of them were such extraordinary misses that it was as if he was purposely trying not to put the ball in the net, which is completely ridiculous. It was one of those days for him. He’s a great player and even though he isn’t a RvP, he’s going to get there someday. What would you have us do? Moan about the goal difference when we don’t even know how the league will shape up within the next few weeks? If goal difference is the key to winning this season, it has absolutely nothing to do with Nicklas’ performance. You can’t blame one person and one match for that…what about the other 37?
We made the best of the situation. It was out of our control and the alternative of dwelling on this and moaning and whinning and crying was counter-productive and useless.
Is there any truth in the rumour that Wenger was spotted down Pettycoat Lane last Sunday?
Well Arsene ,take my word for it all things are not necessarily cheaper down `the Lane`, try Mark and Sparks.
See, he doesn`t have a purse full of moths after all and for the `splash the dosh` mob there`s still hope this summer.
Just a few quick thoughts..
I was worried that the build up during the week would result in a bit of an emotional let down and we might perform badly this game, I guess thats an indication of the bottle of the lads.
So sad that the midfield injury revolving door continues to spin and another one goes out. At least Song comes back in for the Porto game (Song Diaby Nasri ?)
Would you take dropping out of the Champion’s League now if it meant we go on to win the league this season?
I would prefer we don’t go top just yet. It’s still a massive carrot, huge incentive.
What a fantastic season its been – tight 3 way title race, tight 4 way race for 4th spot. And Arsenal are still in the title race!! I personally am really enjoying this season.
Come on you Gunners!
Going top at 5:00pm on Sunday 9th May will suit me.
Whatever’s on offer, thanks ‘holic.
Amen to that Fin
Re. the possible comparison to the Eboooooue game, I think the basic difference was that today Nick had a nightmare in front of goal but otherwise never stopped running for the cause. Eboue on “that day” didn’t – but credit to him for turning things around since.
The key indicator to Nick’s performance today was that after his, rather perverse, substitution we really struggled to get and keep the ball in their half.
He seems the only forward capable of holding the ball up and bringing others into play – which made a change from the tippy tappy stuff that at times threatened to strangle the effectiveness of the attack – and as you say he provided the assist for Theo, as he did for Cesc’s pen against S’land.
I think what won the crowd over was that absurd run when he seemed to beat the whole of the Burnley defence twice simply because nothing else was available and although nothing came of it at least we kept possession.
He reminds me of John Radford when I first turned up at Highbury; clear potential but still raw. That changed very quickly and I hope it does for Nick too. At least he’s getting into scoring positions, the goals will come.
Great to see Theo finding form but just one other mention for someone I’ve never been a fan of but is actually putting in some decent performances: step forward Mikael Silvestre.
Heard him on the Today programme during the week and was surprised at how articulate and pleasant he seemed and today he really did well.
Shit, we seem to be running out of people to hate. Any chance of picking up Gary Neville on a free this summer?
I know he missed a few, but Nick B was like a real centre forward today, with a bit of luck he would of had a hatrick, ok, he should of had at least two, but even though he missed he was getting into great positions.
Positional sense is a realy important attribute in becoming a great striker, I think with a little more work on his finishing he could be a legend.
A celebrationary cider please barman.
Cheers.
I love the holic’ pound.
First scorer- Cesc. Thankyou for putting a few quid back in the wallet with that tip.
Another 3 points. That’s all that really matters.
Would have been nice for Nik to have got a goal today – he alone missed enough chances to win three games – but we look a lot more like scoring now he’s back in the team than when he was out injured.
I thought Walcott was very good today, but Nasri was my man of the match. He just oozed class. We need guys like him to step up in the next few weeks, particularly if Cesc is going to keep suffering from these hamstring problems.
3 down, 9 to go.
Come on Arsenal.
Time for a nitecap ‘holic? I’ll have a Jack Daniels 🙂
Nasri was MOTM for me. Theo was just behind. The rest of the team played well except for Silvestre, who was a liability at times.
As many have said, Bendtner will come good. I’ve really liked him since his reserve days. Not only is he good getting into goal scoring positions, he contributes a lot to the build up of goals for other players as well. I thought he was trying a little too hard to place the ball into the corners of goal when a simple shot on target would have resulted in a goal. I’m sure he’ll get a hat-trick one of these days.
Walcott was great as 4 some of his crosses not producing results ie. hitting an Arsenal man remember Wenger is playing 451 not a lot of targets
@Holloway2Holland, Holic
I agree with your assessment of Nick today. While Nick missed a hatful today, he was also in position to miss the hatful. Our other two options, Arshavin and Eduardo, probably wouldn’t have found those positions considering their lack of height and pace, respectively. One of these days Nick is going to bang in three or four them, and it was nice to see us play without a handbrake. I really Wenger’s use of Eboue on the right against weaker opposition. I expect to see him and Sagna split time in the run-in.
I didn’t see a word about Clichy, but I thought I saw the old Clichy return – first to the ball throughout the match.
If only the Chelsea and ManU games had come this month rather than last – the side is really ticking over now.
Maybe it’s a good thing Bendtner got all those misses out of the way now rather than later, but we are getting the opportunities to score which is the most important thing. Having a confident Walcott could make all the difference down the stretch run. Frustrating that we allowed the goal, but it’s a big three points in the bag. Winning our games is all we can do.
I felt sorry for Bendtner, whom I do believe will come good, but I do wonder what would have happened if David Nugent had been playing for us today (just as an example!)?
It is easy to forget that when players missed extended parts of the season it takes them a while to get back into the swing of things. Eduardo won’t start playing well until next season; it took the same amount of time for Diaby to find his stride. Aaron isn’t just out for nine months, he will miss the whole of the next season while he rebuilds his confidence.
Just a quick word about how many goals Bendtner could have scored.
Once the first miss occurred the ‘path’ of the game changed. (Play didn’t restart, psychologies weren’t affected etc.)
There’s actually no telling how the game would have turned out if Bendtner had actually scored with his first decent chance.
We might have won with a landslide.
We might have not won at all.
It might have inspired Burnley.
It might have ended in tears.
And, no, you cannot extrapolate probabilities from how the game actually went.
What we do know is that we won 3-1 and inclusive in that win was Bendtner’s misses. They were a ‘positive’ contributory factor.
Of course, if we’d lost then we could cite Bendtner’s misses as a contributory factor in that. Then we could blame the boy. But not when we win.
Well said Garrett. It was notable how the directness in attack faded a bit after Nick went off. He buggered his shots to kingdom come, but it was to his immense credit that he got into position to have the shots in the first place. And he worked like a donkey all day. Good to see Clichy own his corner of the pitch today too. He looked more secure with Nasri and Rosicky in front of him.
There was a hint of casualness when we went 2-1 up, the lads playing like a festival game. At first I was nervous; then I realised what a delight it was to see the players enjoying themselves, playing for each other, letting their confidence grow… That’s the magic ingredient we need for the final nine.
Theo was immense when you consider how poor he was for England and the criticism he got, To respond the way he did showed real balls.
Nicky Bendtner is one guy who never shirks opportunities and despite some howlingly awful misses, he never gave up and continued trying.
Arshavin was poor even with his goal, I have to agree with a few who said that his contribution this season has been lacking, and his lack of desire to track back is getting frustrating especially when both Theo and Nicky did their share.
But let’s end on a positive, we won an awkward game and bar a slip Wolves could have done us a favour, Man Utd play like that for a few more games and they will drop points, Cech missing means Chelski will drop points. From slim belief we could get 2nd I now think 1st is no longer beyond us.
C’mon you rip roaring free scoring Gunners!!!!!
Fantastic match review ‘holic. No detail missed. We had a bit of a wobbler in the first half, but we came good in the end.
Having missed my first game of the season (either televised or attended) due to a DJ’g commitment y’day, I can comment only on the radio commentary and MoTD highlights. Mentions go to Cesc (of course), Walcott, Eboue, Nasri, Clichy (getting his mojo back)…….& Bendtner. Yes Bendtner, who’s positional play was fantastic, unfortunately not matched by his finishing.
I cannot possibly have another Staropramen due to none-too-enjoyable hangover (which is why I am presently necking Ibuprofen at pretty alarming rates) so I’ll settle for a fresh Orange juice please barman.
Keep on believing 🙂
It was one of those days for Bendtner on another day he would have walked off with the match ball. He is still very young and I do believe he will be a force for Arsenal. It was frustrating to watch the chances spurned ( I was very frustrated watching ) but on reflection it was good to see him getting into those positions anyway.
Theo and Eboue were devestating down the right. Whats happened to Eboue ? He now takes on his man and beats him, Fantastic ! Theo needed a game like this to settle down and rebuild his shattered confidence. He has been dogged by injury this season and he has tried to regain some form but this has not happened. So yesterdays performance was a welcome back Theo ! Fingers crossed.
Clichy is improving with every game, back to the Clichy we all love. I think his experiance is starting to show and his positional play is getting better so along with his pace the all round left back.
Nasri must also get a mention as he toke up the mantle of Cesc after he went off and done a bloody good job of it as well. I thought he would be the man to watch this season but another broken leg put that sadly on the back burner. However if Nasri,Diaby,Theo,Clichy and Eboue keep playing like this the question is who`s having the party.
Cesc ! there is no more that can be said about our captain fantastic, what a leader, what a player, what a Arsenal legend in the making. Could he be the second Mr Arsenal after Tony ? I think so. He has made his devotion to the club and fans clear. So why dose the thought of Barca still scare me ? This is the player that must be kept at all costs and I mean all costs. If we cant buy in the summer because of his huge well deserved wage increase then so be it. Not that he has asked for such just a preemtive strike if you will.
Massive win ! Huge 3 points and heres to Arsenal.
Come on you Gunners !
@ ivan I agree that booing a player is pointless and needs no part in our support of the team, was just stating a possibility, nothing I will continue to reflect on because as you said, theres nothing we can do about it. Vela not on the bench again today?
Q: When do 3 points feel like more than 3 points?
A: When you need them as much as we needed them today.
Ca any1 tell me where the mancs get their luck from?
Am I the only won that thrilled to read Henry’s interview?
The fact he is still refers to Arsenal as “Us, We” brought me back to HIS years at Highbury.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_6005951,00.html
*One, that IS thrilled…
*He still refers
Sorry about that, thinking and writing at the same time 🙂
Shawcross ‘tribute’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnZ_fa1jMeM
HKTTOP indeed
Late drink for me, coffee please.
And congrats again on the ‘holic pound.
Always follow the blog – great job – love the puns!
I’m a season ticket holder at The Grove and while the noise level in general could have been better yesterday, the feeling behind the support was just right.
Ex-players often refer to the Arsenal “family” and i think, at times like these, that is exactly what we are. We are able to criticise our own, but woe betide outsiders who take on the job for us. We are not blind or stupid and recognise our limitations and their reasons. But over time, we are always there, and protect our own when it matters. That is what happened yesterday – both for poor Aaron Ramsey, and, at a difficult time, for Nicklas Bendtner. He tried, he failed, but we need him and so gave him support. Isn’t that what families do?
Welcome Trev, and yes, spot on you are there. Thanks for taking the time to type that. I enjoyed it immensely.
Can you just imagine how confident we would all feel right now if RVP had stayed fit????
If Nick gets his radar settings right for Tuesday then it will be a walk in the park.
May be Bendtner is saving a few for Porto mid week.
Hi guys, sorry for posting this here, but I thought you guys could help as I don’t know of any other place to get help from regarding this issue…
It’s been since the start of the season that the ticket exchange and any ticket webpage I try to access from arsenal.com “is currently down for maintenance”, is this somekind of mistake or something? I guess it should be up by now…
I have a red level membership but can’t use it cause of that and I’ve tried to contact arsenal.com technical support and no one answered :\
Please help 🙁
What Theo does for an encore is hard to say but it will be exciting to find out. The same can be said for a lot of our young players, and exactly when they happen to blossom is a little unpredictable but when it happens the results can be spectacular. That’s also why it’s imperative to have the right blend of experience, and hopefully this year we have enough!
Chicago Gunner
Vela was flying in from his International duty, it would be pointless to place him on the bench he was tired and a bit bruised too as far as I know.
Great win what else can you say, Holic was 100% on that Cesc 8/2 and guess what I didn’t listen to him, oh well there is always next time.
Like many of you I agree Bendy had a shocker when it came to finishing but hey every time he positioned himself prefectly thus scoring chances, to me that is a positive attribute for a srtiker. He will come good and he’s still a baby right? It was amazing to see the corwd get behind him when he was going off, the unity between the fans is very imporatnt too.
Steve T
Those twats should have never been allowed to watch the game, next time take their photos so Holic can do a Hall of Wankers page on his blog – only joking!
Snir Geuli,
I think the problem is your end. Sounds like you are pulling a page from the cache, at a guess. Google the solution to that for starters.
Snir Geuli,
Try using another browser mate ie: Firefox or Google Chrome.
Snir Geuli
looks like an anagram problem to me
Holic, Arthur and Washed up thanks a whole lot!!!
Now I just have to find a cheap flight from Tel Aviv 😀
Looks like our “Maestro Francesc Fabregas” is going to miss the Porto game through injury to his hamstring.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/injured-fabregas-ruled-out-of-porto-tie
I think I wouldn’t even gamble on him anyway we can still beat them without Cesc. He needs to get better by next weekend we definitely need him at Hull.
Snir Geuli
http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/ 🙂
I agree with Arthur. We should not risk Cesc as a tear in the hamstring would put him out for 3 weeks. At the moment its just tight and will heal with rest, so fingers crossed he will be back on Saturday.
I think Nasri,Diaby and Song will be more than a match for them. Arshavin and Theo on the wings and Bendtner up front.
There is no doubt we will miss Cesc ( As any team in the world would miss him ) But I feel confident we will win.
Off topic but, can Arshavin get a more Eastern European hair cut if he tried ?
Arsenal 1971
Ha ha, yes he does looks like proper Eastern European now, I think his barber was on some Russian strong stuff, one, two, three drink the vodka.
Well, about Porto, I’m not really worried, since if they only managed to score after those 2 gifts they got from our defense on a day when our defense was awful then they’re attacking options are limited.
My fear is actually Hull away on Saturday since there is a chance Cesc will miss that too and Song is also suspended and they are pretty tough at home.
On Fox Soccer Channel , Brentner is a subject of laugh , it cannot be , the guy keep missing golden opportunities offered to him on a golden plate .
Arsenal 1971, about Arshavin’s haircut, do you mean that in a positive or a negative way? Maybe he is auditioning for a role in a one of Eboue’s movies.
Just a late comment on this topic to say how refreshing it’s been to see how supportive of NB52 everyone’s been. Had we lost it might have been different but I doubt it.
There are still frustrations with AW and the performance of the team at times but the fact that we’re still in with a chance and the Ramsey’s situation has thrown everything into perspective.
Last year there was the feeling that we simply weren’t up for it but now the likes of Nasri and Clichy are really starting to take responsibility and, although I’m not convinced we’re firing on all cylinders as a team, I don’t think there’s any one player who isn’t giving his all.
I just have a feeling it might be our year but if it’s not to be I don’t think it will be for lack of effort – which hasn’t always been the case in recent times. If we could just get rid of this bloody weather (God it was cold at the Grove on Saturday) I think we will see the return of real sunshine football.
There, that’s jinxed everything. Sorry . . .