Gunners Winning Hearts And Minds
Feb 2nd, 2008 by 'holic
It has been a good day. Little did we know just how good just before the bulk of the games kicked off after Arsenal’s early triumph at Eastlands.
Subsequent draws for Manchester United and Chelsea have left the Gunners clear at the top of the Premiership.
But for one man I would tonight have been singing the praises of Bacary Sagna. Surely the signing of the season, the Arsenal right-back played a massive part in the eighth minute opener for the visitors at the City of Manchester stadium. For the umpteenth time this season he joined the attack to devastating effect, cutting the ball back for Emmanuel Adebayor to finish via a Richards deflection.
Sagna remained a permanent threat down the flank but he was to be overshadowed in some style by the main beneficiary of his lung-bursting efforts. Twenty-six minutes in and from the opposite flank Clichy crossed accurately to the head of Adebayor. The scorer of the first goal turned provider, heading the ball down for Eduardo to chest and volley home on the spin.
The smiles on the faces of the young City fans behind the goal told you everything about the pleasure Arsenal were giving at this stage. If ever you needed proof that the blue half of Manchester is rooting for us to overcome their neighbours, this was it.
One unlikely mistake later the home side were back in it. Gael Clichy, heralded before the game by the Sky Sports pundits, was guilty of a momentary lapse of concentration and Fernandes was the benefactor, slotting home gratefully.
A nervous second-half ensued, and for long spells we were appreciating the no-nonsense defending of Philippe Senderos and the non-stop efforts in midfield of Mathieu Flamini. Arsenal reverted to a five in midfield as Eduardo was withdrawn to ensure City didn’t take any hold on the contest.
The game was to be settled though by the player who just didn’t stop working across the front line all afternoon. Having scored one and made one, the remarkable Adebayor put the seal on an impressive win three minutes from the end, taking advantage of some fine work by Alex Hleb. How important could the failure of Togo to qualify for the African Cup of Nations be when the title is decided this season? Nineteen goals at this stage of the season is testament enough to just how important the big man has become to us.
The downside of all this? Perhaps the fact that City will go into next weeks derby clash with less chance of doing us a favour. Probably their most creative player, Elano, is suspended after being booked for the cynical chop that failed to prevent Adebayor from grabbing the third goal. We will be cheering them on, but I suspect we will go into the Monday night fixture with Blackburn needing a win to reclaim top spot.
For a week though we can enjoy looking down on the rest. Enjoy what is left of your weekend, but try not to get as wrecked as I am about to be on this happy Saturday. Tomorrow morning, I suspect, I will regret just what a good day this has been!
31 Responses to “Gunners Winning Hearts And Minds”
Arsenal will not win a single thing this season. 100% guaranteed. Accept it graciously.
Too late for me too, since the red wine is already flowing in celebration of the reds doing the business on the pitch today!
Great result today.
I curiously don’t understand what the point is of someone trolling on an Arsenal blog? If you troll on 606 at least you will get a wider audience Duncan. But there I have gone and done it. I fed the troll. Oh well.
It was an excellent win at a place where Utd failed. Made even sweeter by watching Utd angrily play through 93 minutes of frustration, complete with Wayne Rooney dives, at WHL, with the added benefit of seeing Spurs cock it up again at the end. Like always.
Now the order of the world is restored and we only have to endure 90 minutes of cynical football next week and get past Blackburn with 3 points to put some cement on our lead.
Let’s Go You Gunners!
Duncan don’t forget that old saying you have to be in it to win it, so we have a chance.
As for fighting for the fourth spot Spurs have a possible 39 points to get and are 31 points behind so it’s getting tight.
Is the Liverpool fan takeover a stupid idea?
A few weeks ago I was shot down in flames with that concept but I didn’t realise that quite a few successful clubs are already owned this way If the Gerrard medal snatchers can do it why can’t we?
Hi Duncun,
We just won a match against City and that is ‘something’ won you idiot.
Duncan is obviously a ManU spoil sport. Arsenal have already won much admiration and proved all the pundits wrong. At the start of the season, the predictions flowed that they will finish outside the top six. See where they are now! And doing it without spending the millions other clubs splashed out. Wherever, they finish this season, they have already won many hearts and minds. Well done the Arsenal.
This is better than the Arses. Oh yeah.
Guys, we have 3 games to St. Totteringham’s day, which if we win our next 3 games will occur on 1st of March.
Is ‘holic wrecked now?
Duncan, why all the hating? you are pathetic. At the end of the season , i hope u have a shoulder 2 cry on. u’ll need one.
Ye of little faith, the great day for the Arse can’t help but be Feb 24, when Spoors meet Cashley. Either it will be my day, or Spuds will finish off Avram’s title hopes.
Be not unquiet o gentle ghost. The truth, plainly speak ye, for the Spuds will not beat the Chavs on February the 24th.
I’m a Spaniard who is in love with Wenger’s way of playing football.
I’m following the Arsenal team during every week.
A.W reminds me Johan Cruiff couch regarding the football beauty .
Come on Fab ! show everyone you are the best milfielder in the world, you always score over 7 in any match .
Arsenal has a lot of supporters in Spain because of the way that they play.
Support to Arsenal from Sapin
Estupendo!!
I am so happy my face is cramping from all the smiling.
‘holic, I too think that Sagna is our signing of the season. Seriously, from pre-season games to this moment, he has been superb and consistent.
Why does he like his blonde extensions so much though? lol
Some familiar commenters here
duncan u r a complete and out wanker
Shout up Duncan!
Eduardo with a great chest down and left-footed volley.That’s a fantastic goal! Super Ade did his job so dammmnnn good!!!Arsenal the best!
Sagna’s gold locks give him strength to attack and defend the Gooners…yeah i know it sounds lame but i have been dying to write that.normally when players make mistakes i get so frustrated but 2day i dont know whether it was coz we were winning two nil or it was coz it was Clichy who made the mistake i wasnt even the least bit bovered.
we gotta keep this momentum for when we meet the manUre n milan and by then will have all those players back…brill
We Gunner Gunn Em…
Sagna’s blonde extensions are from his teenage years. When he was about 15 and playing striker he thought they would look cool, so he asked his father if he could get them. His father said, “if you score a goal today.” I think he scored three. Since then his mother put them in for each game. He wears them for good luck and as a visible thank you to his parents.
The guy is pure class.
arsenal is the best and as for Duncan, you are the foolest of all fools. im telling you no matter wat club u support, they all suck
duncan u mug spud……….
Come on fellas, I’ve got a thumping head this morning. Play nicely, please.
i’ve seen worse from the gooners. so yeah piss off duncan.
‘holic get some oily fried breakfast/lunch in huh? i find an oily chorizo with lots of fried bread the way to go after a alcohol-mad night.
WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!
good to be back in the driving seat and hopefully citeh can pick themselves up against man yoo, perfect game to find some form for : P
and with liverpool wanting to not embarass themselves completely at stamford bridge we could be laughing.
It’s the business end alright, enjoy it, i know i’ve missed it.
Duncan you must be some kind of c**t, get the F**k off here you cretinous lump of turd. whichever stone you crawled from under, just go back, please!
Oh wow! Thanks for added comments on Sagna’s hair! LOL I promise to stop griping about our Bacary’s hair. He’s such a godsend!
WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!
xx
The only poorish game Bacary has played was when he cocked up his goldilocks & had to take them off. No one recognised him. He had to go home to his mum to get them properly attached again.
With St Totteringham Day fast approaching, did anyone realise we only need 1 point to avoid relegation.
ADEBAYOR IS KING. Thank you for playing at Arsenal. You are truly Arsenal’s top gun at the moment.
Without him…we would definitely not be top of the table. I am so surprised by his performance. I have never seen such an improvement in a player ever!! Where is Van the man? That is what Ade has done. We don’t even miss Van Persie anymore.
Words of the best manager in the world (Arsene Wenger):
And, when you consider that Robin van Persie has been out for much of 2007 while Eduardo and Nicklas Bendtner have been undergoing a process of adaptation for much of the current campaign, it is easy to see why Wenger heaped praise on the 24-year-old at his pre-match press conference ahead of the Manchester City game.
“Adebayor is the best striker in the Premier League at the moment,†said the Frenchman. “He’s mobile, he’s quick, he’s not scared and he’s brave. For me that’s a fantastic quality, especially in England.
“He doesn’t get enough credit for his touch. He has good feet, quick feet, and is a complete striker. He can still improve the timing of his runs as he sometimes gets caught offside, and, just with that, he can score 10 more goals each season.
“He’s a strong character in the dressing room and a winner. He’s a guy who made mistakes at the start of his career, and has realised here that there’s another life rather than being easy.
“He smells that he can win, and is a winner. When he realised that he could live in the big world of top-class football players it changed him, and today he’s a different animal, mainly mentally. He realised he wasted some time and it was time for him to be serious.
See this link on Arsenal.com
http://tinyurl.com/28xjdy
hey you duncan..you ryhme with “Drunket”.. & ur 1st comment(how dare you get to post a comment on an Arsenal blog)..more sounds like you were very much Drunk..Drunkan..
hey you duncan..you ryhme with “Drunketâ€.. & ur 1st comment(how dare you get to post the 1st comment on an Arsenal blog)..more sounds like you were very much Drunk..Drunkan..