The Big Two Drive Me To Drink!
Nov 4th, 2007 by 'holic
I should apologise for the lateness of todays post. Trust me, the condition I was in this morning rendered me incapable of stringing together more than two words. I’m not sure if the cause of my temporary illness was the pastie I bought at Paddington, or the sea of Guinness I managed to quaff in a twelve hour session broken only by the game. My money is on that cursed pastie!
What is there to say about the game that has not already been said? Two sides at the peak of their powers served up a gripping contest and the supporting cast, all 60,161 of us, gave the occasion the atmosphere it deserved.
I don’t think it would be unfair to say that United were probably the more cautious of the two. It was clear from early on that they were happy to sit deep, invite Arsenal forward, and look to hit them on the break.
The devilment that often exists between the two sides smouldered just under the surface. Anderson in particular was revelling in the role of ‘agent provocateur’. Before the contest was over Cesc Fabregas had probably ensured he is crossed off a few Christmas card lists in Manchester.
United took the lead against the run of play, and the strike that was credited to Rooney led to a few grumbles around me about Almunia being beaten at his near post, so often his achilles heel. Replays however show he was cruelly beaten by a William Gallas deflection. Sorry Manuel, this time!
The equaliser owed everything to the guy who is becoming a huge favourite of mine. Bacary Sagna showed determination and no little ability to set up Cesc Fabregas for what seems like his customary ‘goal a game’.
When Ronaldo struck with just eight minutes remaining the feeling of having been ‘mugged’ was palpable. We should have known better though. This time the skipper marauded upfield to put the finishing touches to Clichy’s inventive work down the left. Not only did we get to celebrate a rare Gallas goal, but we also got to laugh uncontrollably at Ferdinand and Van der Sar’s insistence that the ball had not crossed the line.
I have to confess to not being surprised by dear old Fergie’s post-game rants. Once again he spent much of the contest at pitchside, arms waving demonically at perceived wrongdoing by Arsenal, by the referee, by anybody in fact except his own band of angels. His complaint about the crowd around the United bench giving them abuse is incredible, given the vile chant that United fans reserve for Arsene Wenger. Thankfully that particular ditty got only one very brief airing from the travelling contingent. In fairness to Ferguson though I made a point of looking across to the benches at the final whistle and the two managers immediately sought each other out for a curt handshake. It was interesting that both men looked as though they considered this two points lost rather than one gained.
The post-mortems in the pubs I visited, purely in the interests of research you understand, were pretty consistent. There was the sense of relief that we had not let a big game get away from us, but a general disappointment that we had found ourselves behind to a side that showed precious little attacking intent. United’s tactics were almost perfect, but it speaks volumes for Arsenal’s character that they once again produced when it mattered. An intriguing battle for the title is there for all to see.
11 Responses to “The Big Two Drive Me To Drink!”
Great reporting from the pub postmortems. A lot of us can’t make it ourselves, and we’re relying on you.
The Arsenal were a little bit nervy, and with the quality of some of Man U’s players, not without good reason. I still made out the Arsenal for the better side, but a side that needs to string together some Ws with Man U and Chelsea uncomfortably close.
There is still a striker problem and Almunia is not good as a No.1 Gk; need to be dropped.
Good stuff, ‘holic.
Well, I assume. Can’t find the focus to read it tonight 😉
what a game,eventhough it was a good game i was absolutely disappointed in Rosicky,i know what this guy is capable of and cant wait for him to start producing some how i thought it would be in this game but um sure it will come soon.Almunia can only get better after failing to deliver again against ManUre um afraid its either they will become his bogey team or he will finally realise that he is better than average and jus needs to concentrate and simply think a bit more
Good stuff as always ‘Holic, can you tell me more about the atmosphere in the stadium? It sounded way better than usual on TV. Did loads of people leave before the end? If they did then I am glad they suffered the pain of not enjoying the best moment of the match! Written an article on Almunia (again) if you’re interested, check it out 🙂
The atmosphere was terrific Tim. The whole ground was rocking for most of the contest, and to be fair the visitors from Kent contributed as well, particularly when they took the lead of course. The Grove is becoming one of the more ‘atmospheric’ grounds around for the big games. That’s a pleasant surprise.
A few fans did leave before the end, but a few leave everywhere before the end, so it wasn’t the old problem of the ground being half-empty at the final whistle. Most have now cottoned on to the fact that we score a lot of late goals.
In fact the early kick-off means less pressure on the transport infrastructure immediately after the game. A whole lot of people stopped for drinks before leaving. A good day all round.
Im sorry but you fell behind twice and played a 4 5 1 for 65 minutes hardly a team taking it to the away team..
Holic … Watch the game again and ask yourself the same questions!! Having said that when you went to a 4 4 2.. Manure looked weak at the back for once..
To watch my poor old spurs versus middlesborogh only served to rub salt into the wound, How quickly the gulf has emerged between the 2 sides.. St Totts day looks a good bet before XMAS!!
Gooner crap!
Did you watch any of the game?
We were the away team!
We were the ones who played 442!
We created more scoring oppurtunities!
What I forgot:
In gooner land passing the ball around with no end product is “playing a beautiful game”
In gooner land the “Highbury Library” badge is a myth. “the whole ground was rocking”
You sang for 10 mins at the start of the game, then for about as long when you scored. I suppose thats good for a load of new fans like most of you are.
What is funny:
Is that you tossbags are so ashamed of your Emirates stadium that you all refer to it as ashburton grove
You’ll finish third at best
We are as proud of our sponsors as you are of your owners Hoss.
Help yourself to a nut on the way out.
Little red Devil
If the Highbury badge aint a myth as you claim, then surely there would not have been ‘real danger’ and ‘security problems’ like Fergie pointed out. Funny, that.
i can help but laugh @ little red devil, one thing, wat were u doin in gooner? i wud say that @ most u r a gooner coz u wudn’t be calling yourself ‘little’ red devil….& oh, yeah! jus 4 the record gooner will finish TOPS!