Arsenal Create The Chances And Get The Points At The Bridge
Nov 30th, 2008 by 'holic
‘You know I always tell you to wait until the morning before writing up a bad defeat?’ The management is far too calm in the immediate aftermath of football. ‘Well perhaps it’s a good idea tonight as well.’ I promise her I’ll think about it, and ask for another piece of cheese to go with my celery, ‘Stilton please’. It’s good at Sunday teatime to own the celery and everything blue.
I have to confess to worrying deeply about my eyes, however. As I tuck into the crunchy vegetable treat I am listening to Jamie Redknapp, a cousin of Fat Fwank, and Ruud Gullit, an ex-Chelsea manager, passing judgement on just how Chelsea had lost the match, rather than acknowledging what to me had been obvious.
Aside from a fifteen minute spell at the start of the second-half I thought Arsenal contributed as much, if indeed not a whole lot more than the Premiership leaders on their own turf. Even the goal by which the home side procured an advantage had to be created, and finished, by Arsenal players.
To be fair I thought the opening half was a fascinating contest. Chelsea clearly applied pressure on every ball knowing that smaller clubs have hurried the Gunners into costly errors. It took the visitors a few minutes to get used to that tempo but they did so, and set about creating the best chances of the half.
Sadly, whilst you had to grudgingly respect, if not admire, the endeavours of those in blue on the pitch, it was a different matter off it. Frustrated I suspect by the way Arsenal were growing in stature there was a loud chorus of the vilest abuse directed at Arsene Wenger. Chelsea fans in the pre-Abramovich era were a half-decent lot. They knew the rules and how far to take banter. The foul-mouthed cretins that occupy the new Meccano set in Fulham deserve to be punished. Will the FA do anything? No, I doubt it. Respect is a one-way street for those at Soho Square.
When Arsenal finally put the ball in the net the only surprise was that it was at the wrong end! Almunia caught a Lampard corner and distributed with undue haste and no accuracy. Johan Djourou attempted to cut out the Bosingwa cross and only succeeded in unluckily beating his own hapless ‘keeper in his near post ‘corridor of uncertainty’.
Djourou, a welcome but surprise selection, climbed off the deck and got on with his task in impressive fashion. Anelka and Lampard went close for Chelsea, but at the other end Fabregas, van Persie, and Gallas had gone closer.
That fifteen minute spell after the break saw Chelsea dominate possession without creating any clear attempts on Manuel Almunia’s goal. They may not be pretty on the eye but they were certainly effective at this time and we needed a slice of luck to get back into the contest. It duly arrived almost on the hour as Denilson threaded the ball behind the defence for van Persie to crash home with his right foot. The replay showed Robin was offside, but how often are we the victims, rather than the beneficiaries of such fortune.
Three minutes later Adebayor knocked one down for van Persie to swivel and fire home with his favoured left peg. Surely now Chelsea would grasp the nettle and subject us to half an hour of heart-stopping pressure? Well, no, actually. They didn’t. In fact Arsenal came closest to giving the scoreboard operators some work when Denilson overplayed a golden opportunity to hammer the final nail in the coffin.
Frustrated, probably as much by his team-mates lack of drive and creativity as much as Arsenal’s lead, John Terry launched into a two-footed lunge for which he should be sending Bacary Sagna a crate of champagne. The Gunners right-back quickly got to his feet and made no fuss and in so doing almost certainly spared the Chelsea skipper a red card.
So Arsenal continue to frustrate and delight in equal measure. Manchester United and Chelsea have been despatched either side of horrendous defeats to Aston Villa and Manchester City. This, however, is Cesc Fabregas’ Arsenal, and maybe, just maybe, a little consistency can be achieved. A very difficult November has yielded six points from the two stiffest opponents. December looks slightly easier, although Liverpool could now well arrive at the Grove as Premiership leaders. We shall see.
Celery has been crunched, now it is time to enjoy a drop of some fine malt, I think. Before I uncork the bottle can I just thank Snail for the new favicon. I have neither the ability or the skill to produce any sort of graphics, so cheers, mollusc, for your contribution. A beer at the Wigan game shall be your reward.
Have a happy Monday morning ‘holics.
37 Responses to “Arsenal Create The Chances And Get The Points At The Bridge”
Great win! We’re back in it
OK, now having secured poll position, I’ll add a couple of additional thoughts.
I thought we started cautiously, and I’d say Chelski’s mid-field had the better first half. Our younger players looked just that, younger and needing to mature. However, I’m sure we’d have gone in all square but for Almunia’s blunder and JD20’s unfortunate toe-ender.
Cometh the second half, cometh Robin’s goals, cometh the confidence. Almost instantaneously the lack of maturity began to dissipate. Passes that had being going slightly astray went assuredly to feet. Tackles hat had been flinched or missed were now won. Hving won the ball, we then took the game to Chelski till the end. The back four looked much better. Sagna and jourou really added a lot. Hopefully Silvestre is now Djourou’s deputy rather than the reverse.
Great learning experience for a young team. Two wins in a row for the new Captain. Wigan and Lilpool to come. It’s begining to look a lot like Christmas!
Come on you Gunners!
Is this place up to CAMRA standards?
Good win. Exactly what we needed. A confidence boost.
Nevertheless, watching the game I couldn’t escape the thought that why do we have two clowns (Denilson and Song) on the pitch. I didn’t count, but I love to know how many times Denilson fucked up the ball and how many times Song failed to clear the easiest of the balls.
Is that the Campaign for Real Arses, Pip?
As far as Almunia is concerned, the ‘corridor of uncertainty’ is really nightmare alley.
He was guilty for that goal on two counts. First, the stupid throw out to a Chelsea player and second, for making no attempt at all to save the resultant goal.
OK. Let’s stop jumping on Song’s back just out of habit. He did very well today and DID clear the ball many times. I find it harder to defend Denilson, however, and Adebayor was dreadful, apart from the knock-down to Van Persie.
WE WON!!! I am going to go get myself several pints of the finest! RVP!!
Ale, Mr ‘holic.
For God’s sake, Ali! How can you moan at a time like this? An excellent, well-deserved win, restricting the scum to a few potshots from distance.
It’s a great day to be a gooner. Enjoy (we’ll probably cock it up again next week). Actually, I do believe we’ve turned a corner this time. I don’t think we’ll win the league, but I do think we’ll have a comfortable top 4 finish.
Did you notice how Jamie Redknapp couldn’t bring himself to give us any credit? The twat!
How can you moan at a time like this?
Indeed Gerry.
Drinks for the house ‘holic
Pint for me
I’ll sort you out come payday 😉
I fookin hate that ponce Redknapp, real balance on Sky I think not. Great support again away from home again today but despite a great win, Denilson was nothing short of dreadful. Luckily for us they were even worse. Fat Frank,Kalou,Anelka and Deco were complete shite. Good
Blimey, Archie too. I have some distinguished guests tonight. I’ll open a tab 😉
@aj: well, I mainly meant denilson. I just can remember one time that song didn’t do his job properly.
@GoonerGerry: Yes. It was a great and well-deserved win. You should’ve seen me jumping up and down after the game. I was just frustrated during the game with those stupid passes.
Drinks on me…
Pint if you’re buying Ali, I’m in the mood tonight for somw reason
-w
+e
It’s good at Sunday teatime to own the celery and everything blue
Poetry geezer. Sheer poetry.
Cheers Lee, for a moment I thought that was wasted.
Now for a special treat make sure to check out MOTD2 tonight. I’m watching some streams, blurred admittedly, and it looks entirely possible that Ashley touched the Denilson pass on to RvP for the first. We should credit him with the assist 🙂
Why don’t you lot give Denilson a break? He was playing out of position ffs! If he was as bad as you make out we could not have won the game. And you give him no credit for the assist on the first goal. With fans like you, who needs enemies?
‘holic, after examining it & listening to commentary from SAOW Spots 2 live, Cuntley did get the touch thereby ruling out the offside, appears you are correct
I think we can all agree that Denilson was dreadful. I can remember thinking on one occasion that perhaps he was being paid off by other squads to be such a sieve in midfield. Others have said he looks like he will some day become a fine player, but i just don’t see it. He gives the ball away more often than he passes to teammates and spends nearly all of his time out of position… I’m wondering if Arsene sees this, or if his continued presence is down to our many injuries.
Anyway, no more negativity. Good 3 points today and well-deserved. Round for the house on me, if you please.
Well said Passenal.
I, like Passenal above, am starting to take issue with the Denilson bashers – total nonsense…I watched Clichy give the ball away more, I saw Denilson put in more defensive work than Nasri (who had a proper shocker) and I saw him provide an assist more than everybody else bar Ade…plus he put in a load of crosses and three shots, a couple under pressure, that although well wide, were still shots – and Nasri, Ali?? Where was he in your clown list? No doubt you reside in the same crew who think we should get rid of Wenger.
The most expensive player in our midfield played the worst, the rest cost less then Deco and have ten years on him – we beat them at their home. No offence Ali, I didn’t just watch some team of clowns beat Chelsea, I watched my beloved Arsenal…the only clowns I see are so called fans slagging them off straight after such a feat – although they are only the 2nd team to do it in FOUR years.
Mind boggling.
Apologies, well in ‘holic, great write up as usaul.
Denilson – Next Arsenal Captain
There’s a young man at the Grove called Denilson da Silva. He comes in for all kind of crap from folks on this site who need to chill, then refocus their expectations and their eyeballs.
– He’s 20
– He’s captained the greatest footballing nation on earth at u17, u19
– He’s in his FIRST full time season for the gunners.
– He’s scored some good goals. He’s been ever present.
– Sometimes he passes so well, I think “Was that Cesc?”
– His midfield link-play is superb.
– When things break down, he picks up the pieces
– He’s replace his countryman Gilberto who no longer had Gunners’ legs
– I’ve heard some CLOWNS call him a clown.
Fast forward three years,
– He’s 23
– His defensive game now matches his attack.
– He’s the ultimate mid-fielder, courted by by Real, Barca, Inter, AC
– He scores 15 goals a season
– He’s next captain behind Cesc.
I LOVE the fact that AW unearths talent like Denilson. It’s a hallmark of Arsenal that he can develop his game under AW’s tutelage to unmatched levels. It’s a pity there are CLOWNS.
Yes, Denilson has promise, but in all fairness, he had a terrible game today:
– Many passes to the opposition
– Cannot mark a man – just runs full speed at the opponent – making it easy to get rid of him
And it should have been 3:1.
On the other hand – he is no winger, and that is AWs fault at playing him there.
He’ll be good at 23, but now he should no bet a starter, yet.
For all you clowns that keep slagging denilson can I point you to the Actim site so you can see who is number 15 currently and above all other Arsenal players and many other famous names
http://www.premierleague.com/page/ActimIndex
BTW in case this is too difficult, at number 15 of the top rated players this year in the premiership is Denilson
Just another point – who made the pass for RVP’s first goal. To avoid having to think too much, the answer is Denilson
Lots of bickering when we should be celebrating a great 3 points.
Denilson so far this season has done well. He is a kid who is in his first full season. He may not be world class just yet. For me, the important thing is that he seems to keeps on developing and improving with each game. He has put in a lot of work so far and for me, deserves his place. I also agree that he could well be a future captain in the making.
A good all round team performance in my opinion. CSKA Fulham had one shot on target all game, and that was the OG. So defensively we could not have been all that bad.
2nd half I thought we put ourselves about a lot more. Were more focused and not afraid to get stuck in. We started to win more 50/50’s and that I thought turned the game our way. Bit of luck with the first, but as rightly pointed out be other, we were due some. The second was a great finish. We then battled well and closed the game out. That was just as pleasing. And how did Terry only end up getting a yellow????? That was conveniently brushed over.
We look a lot stronger with a few players back. The balance of the side was better and showed.
Burnley with the kids on Tuesday. Wigan at the weekend. Onwards and upwards I say.
Am I too late for a pint of Fursty Ferret?????
Up the Gunners
Nice one, Snail & ‘holic.
Denilson was a class, nuff said!
All you clowns that are calling this guy a clown must be some bunch of stupid fans that cannot get behind the team and slagging Denilson in every post.
He defended much better than Nasri on the flank although he was not in his natural position. Ask Essien to play at the flank and you will see a better picture, well what will happen if Gerrard plays there as well?!
His superb assist for the first goal was the turning point of the game, he also had a few shots from good positions, although shots was not on target. So get off his back and support our team, Wenger have to play him there due to injuries and Denilson is doing well being playing out of position againts a top Chelsea side.
Hope this is our season’s turning point and we get performances like this every week in and out.
ARSENAL TILL THE END!
great great match……(i’ll be writing more or less same comments on le grove)
so against manu it was nasri’s double
against chav it was RVP’s double
and result was 2-1 in both games
who will be scoring double against L’pool
Fabragas for me
Another thing to add in defence of Denilson:
his attitude is really spot-on: enthusiastic, willing to learn, willing to do whatever the boss wants him to do and, most of all, humble.
We have seen so many young players being stalled in terms of development for being so arrogant and Mr.Know-It-All already.
Denilson has got the basic ingredients – techniques – and with his right attitude, he can be a player AW sees in him in the near future.
And I think the return of Eduardo will lift this young, shy boy further.
Great TEAM result…great TEAM attitude….great TEAM display! And we should ALL be celebrating being as very few (if any) were willing to call a 2-1 away win to the Gunners against Chelsea. Highlights for me was Djourou dusting himself off and getting on with game. Denilson and Fabregas battling for everything in the middle of the park. Sagna, Clichy and RVP for their tireless display throughout.
That is all that matters as I bask in the sunshine, the glory of a magnificent win against a team that so many ‘experts’ only a few weeks ago had been tipping as head and shoulders above the rest of the PL pack!
Strangely enough……not ONE of my Chelsea ‘supporting’ compatriots have had the good grace to call and congratulate our win. I kid you not. They haven’t the class. As well, perhaps too busy licking their wounds.
WELL DONE ARSENAL!!!!!!!!
NB. I’ll be listening to Tony Cascarino, who I believe will be deputising for Wrighty on Talksport this afternoon from 4pm. As usual, he was laying into Arsenal in his pre-match comments. He said we had no chance of winning!! He hee…..this feels good!!!!
Something medicinal for me please, ‘holic.
I am in shock at the prospect of a molluscian presence at the Wigan game
Had a good chuckle at the celery. 😀