"We were closer to losing the game than winning it"
Jan 9th, 2010 by 'holic
I had implored the spirit of Marvin Gaye in the preview, ‘Let’s get it on’. By the end though the soundtrack had changed to something decidedly rocky. In the greater scheme of things we trail Chelsea by three points, and it could have been worse than that, but an opportunity went begging here, no doubt.
At the outset I have to say fair play to Everton. The side that laid down and died in front of us at the start of the season arrived with organisation, a terrific work ethic, and contributed as much to the contest as the hosts. I can’t remember them doing anything other than parking the bus in recent years, so credit where it is due.
The Arsenal spine was unsettled early on, and those of a suspicious nature may wonder why Vermaelen and Gallas were the first two players requiring treatment. They were certainly unsettled, and in the middle of his best season in an Arsenal shirt, Gallas had an afternoon he will want to forget.
On thirteen minutes the Frenchman was slow to react to a corner and Osman stole in ahead of him to score. The goal did not come as a great surprise as Everton had clearly made a plan to close Arsenal quickly in midfield areas and break up the fluency of the Gunners attempts to play their normal passing style.
Gallas himself looked to be closest to making amends when denied only by the alert Baines, but the equaliser did finally arrive just before the half hour. Denilson’s strike took a significant deflection, ironically off Osman, but we will be the victim of things like that as often as we are the beneficiary.
The erratic Almunia had a couple of rushes of blood to the head but we made it to half-time still level, and anticipated the customary second-half triumph attacking the north end. In truth, although we did improve marginally, this was still a disjointed performance.
To my rose-tinteds we were denied a blatant penalty when the ugly Neville brother, well, one of the ugly Neville brothers, wiped out Denilson having played the ball first. It was blatant, but referees it seems have now been blinded by pundits discussing whether or not the ball was played first in such instances, as though the forcefully delivered shoulder and elbow that arrived thereafter was an unfortunate side-effect of such a ‘tackle’.
Substitutions got us back in the contest last week, but you cannot help but feel that perhaps the wrong players were hooked today when Rosicky and Vela arrived in place of Ramsey and Eduardo. The anonymous Arshavin in particular must have heaved a sigh of relief.
As we pushed for the winner we were caught by the sucker punch as Pienaar raced into the gap where at least one central defender should have been, and his soft chip eluded the grasp of a ‘keeper who may have stood taller for a split second more. It’s an easy game in front of a widescreen safely protected from the biting wind and driving snow that filled the bowl at the Grove.
There remained just enough time for Everton to take the worlds longest lasting corners, Denilson to collapse and be carried off with what looked like a serious injury, and Tomas Rosicky to salvage a late point with another deflected finish to a flowing move.
After the game Arsene Wenger was gracious and acknowledged Everton’s contribution, whilst recognising perhaps our own shortcomings on the day.
“We played against a very good Everton team who for the biggest part of the game was more dangerous, sharper than us. At the end of the day we dropped two points but, looking at the game, we gained one point. We were closer to losing the game than winning it”
Manchester United’s draw with Birmingham meant we had not gone backwards today, and the top three are now separated by just three points, but we no longer have the ‘game in hand on the leaders’ straw to clutch at. Our fate though remains firmly in our own hands.
Thanks again to Arsenalist for the video of the goals. I have linked directly to his site for the last one because I found the YouTube link didn’t play. You can download it if necessary.
56 Responses to “"We were closer to losing the game than winning it"”
With the collective competence of recent games snowhere in evidence, Arsenal found themselves on a self imposed slippery slope towards zero today. As a barometer of their likeliness to win the championship, this had the needle pointing toward depression. With Everton’s defense freezing out our little lads tepid efforts up front and our back four looking as resilient as an icicle at Easter, there was little chance of a repeat of opening day’s avalanche. If anything, the reverse was in the outlook for the next ninety minutes.
The forecast was gloomy after the opening few minutes. Our midfield looked as assured as snowmen in a sunny day on the Cote D’Azur. Passes were bouncing around like snowballs on the piste. While Everton seemed to revel in the conditions inspired by Jack Frost, our lads looked as sprightly as David Frost after a night out at Ice Station Zebra.
Their goals were the stuff of nightmares from the depth of the deep freeze. Their little lad soared unmarked for the first. Manuel failed to stand tall for the second, making it easy for Pinar after he’d been allowed the freedom of our half of the pitch for a snowy Saturday slalom.
The positives? A draw and a point. Neither looked to be on the cards toward the end. AND, we’re still only three points off the lead.
Song and Cesc were missed today and Traore had a game he’ll never want to remember. Without a power player up front we won’t win if we can’t control the mid-field. That has been the basis of all the recent wins. We didn’t achieve control today. Everton did. And, don’t forget, they were missing their Spanish playmaker too.
Denilson looked like he might have been brought back a bit early. He wasn’t his normal self. It didn’t look good when he went down. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. We need him in Alex Song’s absence. On the bright side, Cesc back next week at Bolton and a whole week for the walking wounded to recover.
Excellent work, BtM. Could have saved me much heartache trying to strike the right balance today.
Regarding Almunia, I believe he has let in too many goals to come back from. Meaning his confidence is gone to nothing, and he doesn’t have the references to fall back on in his mind to say yes I can save this.
2-1 down could have been 3-1 thanks to almunia’s save from vaughan, we gained a point. Almunia may not be everyone’s cup of tea but hey if wenger not gonna change him no amount of bleating on this page will change that.
What a match that was, no control in midfield, terrible ball control for most and is Denilson taking over RVP’s spot for most injured Arsenal player?? If Denilson’s injury is as bad as it looked than whom shall we slot into the DM role until Sing a Song comes back??? I still think we need to purchase cover in this transfer window, as we can all see we’re just an injury away from serious trouble i.e. Denilson today…… Maybe I’m wrong for saying that, I trust in AW and Ivan G. but something is eating away at me, I have this sinking feeling that injuries will parlay our title hopes, and we could’ve done something about it in Jan…..maybe I’m just paranoid ‘ya think?? Anyway 1 point is much better than I thought we’d get after Pinnar chipped in over Almunia w/ 9 min. too go, so I look at it as a point gained………
Chelsea keep getting served up chances to pull away from us and Man Utd, let’s hope they keep refusing them.
We can always blame injuries.
We need to strengthen the squad no doubt about it..too many injuries…we are so close yet a couple of bad games and it’s all over again..
A whole blizard of puns, very cool BtM.
A good write up once again ‘holic, although of course I’m dissapointed with the result in the grand scheme of things, I can’t remember being so happy with a draw after the final whistle in quite a while.
I’m not sure if it was the cold, the missing players or the fact that we hadn’t played for almost a week, (that doesn’t happen often) but the lads looked a little rusty and took a while to really get in the game. Our natural flow seemed to be missing.
The weakest link was once again Almunia, although he did make a few good stops he made some horrid looking blunders and I don’t think that he installs much confidence in the defence. I know everytime the opposition gets near our box or has a set piece opportunity I absoloutly “brick it”.
On the positive side, I don’t think that there are any clubs that could miss there three most influential players and still get some kind of a result after twice being behind. I think that this was a game that we probably would of lost last year, so all credit to the spirit in the team that fought back twice and managed to salvage a point when it looked like we would end up with none.
Something warm for me please barman,
Cheers.
And I’m sure we will, Pete. Think we may have to get Eastmond into the side sooner rather than later, or hope the ACN gets cancelled.
Very pleased to see Wenger being gracious in his post-match interview – a touch of humility from him, which is refreshing.
I’d say Denilson has a broken rib from his challenge from Neville. Seems very plausible. The fracture might have shifted as he was running, causing severe pain. Wenger also hinted at a broken rib.
Very pleased with Eduardo today – always trying to be inventive, working hard at tracking back defensively as well.
Simple truth for me is: there’s no way we can pass our way through a 10-man defense, especially on a bad day. We either have to cross and score with headers (cue Chamakh/L.Traore/Bendtner) or shoot more from range and get great goals or deflections. We have some terrific shooters in Nasri/Fab/Ramsey/Den/Diaby – I’d really like to see more.
Under the circumstances, 2-1 down with 3-4 mins to play- a point is a point. We’ll take it no bucking fout about that.! But in the overall scheme of things we have to look at it as 2 points dropped. Everton at home will more than likely be a 3ptr for The Arsenal.
The conditions conspired to proved a dramatic backdrop to an absorbing game between two committed teams. This was a battle, and I am the 1st to say that our title challenge remains intact thanks to Rosicky’s late heroics. That we had two defelcted shots and Everton the truer goals told you everything about the grit and determination that was required to grab equality on this winter of wintery days!
That we lacked a little class in certian positions is no doubt and Messr’s RVP & CF were sorely missed. How we have managed this injury crisis and remained competitive is testament to the depth of strength of the squad. Utd. dropped pts also and this has proven to be a tough, tight title race.
There is NO DOUBT that we have our destiny our own hand and all will be revealed over the next coming weeks-oh for sun and warmth to melt the ice off our backs and watch the beauty of our football flower once again! Till then, sleeves up and battle on.
today was the day when men were men and who wanted it more sadly for us no given whom we could of stolen for 6 million, if wenger mants a team of midgets maybe its time we looked elsewhere, how many utd players missing from last season?
Tom – could you repeat that in English?
Great result at Birmingham too. That certainly helped, meaning we can grab second next week against Bolton. Now for Chelsea to drop some more points.
I was really impressed with some of Diaby’s tacking today. I’d seriously consider him for the DM role, except he’s really starting to contribute to attack now, include the crucial (and well delivered) 2nd assist.
I wasn’t sure in the first half I’d gone to the right stadium ”cause the Arsenal players certainly hadn’t turned up. Just before Denilson scored I found myself thinking ” ..if we’re going to score we need a stroke of luck” ..Ha Ha!!
Fortunately in the second half we played with more creativity & desire, created a few chances & deserved the equaliser.
Definitely a point gained.
This happens and always will. The Arsenal have drawn games before and will do again. It was almost a snow storm, we lacked our best playmaker, our best defencive midfielder and our best striker, and it was Everton after all, a very hard working team that after the first game of the season had a point to prove.
I’ll take the point, the spectacle of a gripping game and the fact that we showed some grit to get through. Looking forward to the next 18 games and hoping no injury will prove to be very serious.
Got a good feeling for the rest of the season. Might not be the best performance, but we’re still growing by the game and we still somehow manage to score goals.
Up the Arsenal!
Certainly salvaging a draw like this helps with momentum, compared to conceding draws like West Ham and the infamous 2-2 Birmingham game. And it does extend our unbeaten run, which seems to be an important stat these days.
This game raises an interesting question:
If we’re a form team that gets disrupted by gaps (eg. international breaks and the cancelled Bolton game), then surely fixture congestion works in our favour?
Hmmmm…when United beat us thanks to an Arsenal own goal and a dippy PK given to Rooney the diver, did anyone say Arsenal deserved to win and that United was lucky?
Deflections are a part of the game, and reflect the defense’s failure to stop the ball from going into the net. They reflect a defender’s failure to block a ball. No one ever claims that a clear goal deflected by a defender to the goal keeper is a goal stolen.
What I want to know is why Everton had a “No Yellow Cards Today” card today? Especially in the first 20 minutes, they went out of their way to hammer our players, foul them, trip them, turn them over. I thought maybe Bolton had come in to replace them, after awhile.
Thuggery will win games, but it never deserves to have won the games it lost.
That said, Donovan looked good; clearly the fastest person on the Everton squad, and the only one with the pace to give Arsenal trouble. He’s going to give Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Spurs fits.
We are low on so many places ! It hurts !
First of all – we need a powerful striker ! It’s just sad to know that we depend on Bendtner’s recovery.If he can make him self available soon,we won’t buy.If he can’t – we’ll buy some cheap crap.Honestly,I don’t know which option makes me wanna cry more.Wenger thinks he can buy someone like Dzeko ot Villa for 10 million pounds.Mister,those times are a decade behind you.
Second – a (holding) midfielder.People are laughing at us for playing Denilson and Ramsey.Those kids get knocked around all the time.What can they do against someone like Essien ?! He eats kids like that for dinner.
Third – centre back.I’m affraid to even think what kinda mess would we become if,god forbid,Tommy or Bill get injured ! It would be a disaster !
And fourth (which can wait till summer) – we need a top class goalkeeper.We are the only top class team without one.It’s time to fix that.
Target man wanted asap.
when United beat us thanks to an Arsenal own goal and a dippy PK given to Rooney the diver, did anyone say Arsenal deserved to win and that United was lucky?
Just about everybody, I think Joel.
Take your point about the physical aspect though. It is why I made the point about Gallas and Vermaelen getting treatment early on. We can’t though suggest that perhaps we don’t like it up us again, having disproven that theory many times over. I do think we deserved fairer treatment from the referee in that respect, and I still insist that Neville’s assault on Denilson was a penalty. It is entirely likely that was the cause of Denilson’s problem later on.
‘People are laughing at us for playing Denilson and Ramsey.’
Those people are idiots.
Did anyone shake their heads when Denilson in full control of the ball fell down, a bit frightening I think, and Everton gained possession knowing Denilson may have injured himself severly and almost went on to score?
Now I know referees have the responsibility to stop the game at that point but we are all human and in that situation I most certaintly would have stopped the play as a player. Kicked the ball out! I know the fact that Everton have the right to continue but this rule about giving referees the responsible to stop play was brought in to stop players from cheating and faking injuries! In this case Arsenal are trailing by one goal and are in total control of the ball! There is no way that he is faking this injury and God knows Cahill knew tht when he by a coincidence got the ball!
When the commentators afterwards give Cahill credit for kicking the ball out, after their golden deciding oppurtunity, I couldn’t help shake my head!
Is this fair play??? Is this the humility that is supposed to be in modern football games? I mean, I get extremely annoyed when players fake injury and draw time but certain cases need to be recognised by opposite players! In this case I think it shows a lack of character and lack of responsibility to other players!
Maybe my opinion is just taking out of the bug frustrating context! We dropped two points!!!
Well, nevertheless we are still in touch of leaders Chelsea……
Change of subjects, I wanted to give my condolences to the International team of Togo! What a terrible thing, Was absolutely gutted with the pictures shown from the telly! They were all shell-shocked. All though Ade seriously has gone down in my pecking order recently he has my deepest sympathy in this difficult time!
I’m surprised anyone still wants to continue the tournament…..
A striker, a defensive midfielder, a goal keeper, a central defender now needed or either later. Wenger is becoming crazy with kids in decisive period. Act now please.
Kenneth, I agree wholeheartedly. He just fell down. It was frightening to see and could have been a heart problem for all that the players knew. And as you say, the commentators talk was just nonsense. Kicked the ball out after the ref blew the whistle and after missing a one on one? Well within their rights but they did nothing commendable, rather verging on the opposite.
I made my journey to the Grove today with numerous layers, a flask of soup and full of optimism. I took usual seat and watched one of the worst performances of the season. So disappointing. Today was yet another chance to put down a marker for all those around to see. In the end I left feeling grateful for a point.
We were second best in most departments. What really upset me was that Everton actually looked like they wanted it more than us. They won almost all the 50/50s and were stonger in the tackle. Our passing was as poor as I have seen in ages. It was just not our day.
My opinion on Almunia has always been the the jury was still out. Well for me, today they returned their verdict. For their first goal he was more concerned with a pathetic little spat with Saha than he was concerntrating on the delivery, and was woefully out of position when the header came in. He was far too quick to go to ground for their second. Sorry but he has cost us too much this season and his shakiness and indecision can affect those around him.
Arshavin, for all his wonderful talent at times can be the laziest person on the pitch. I do not know if he means to but he can send out the most negative of vibes of any player I have seen in recent time.
My biggest moan is one that I have highlighted numerous times on here before. We play too narrow. We have no width. With the excption of Theo (who is either broken or wants to pay in the middle) we have absolutely no pace out wide. It plays into the likes of Everton’s hands. If we actually had wide players rather than attacking central plyers that we get to play wide, then we would open the whole game up a lot more. It is a mystery to me why we have not tried to do this.
A point is a point at the end of the day and we can consider ourselves fortunate. We have played a lot better and lost. But we can not afford anymore performances like that.
Keep the faith…..
Sorry, 1 last point. A lot on here have mentioned our shocking list of injuries as a possible excuse. Well today we played probably the only side with similar problems to us, so for once it just may not be as valid…..
I thought this was Denilson’s worst game for Arsenal for a long time now. In Song’s role, he was supposed to take the ball from the defence and bring it forward and he fell woefully short. That meant the defense was under a lot of pressure all the time and we could never get our game going. Evidence of this can be seen in the amount of time the defenders had to pass the ball amongst themselves and the number of times Nasri had to drop deep.
To simplify, this makeshift midfield failed miserably and we were lucky to escape with a point. Can they improve or do we have to buy is up to Wenger.
I don’t agree that there was a penalty claim, nor was it almunia’s fault for the second goal. I thought his technique was quite good. It’s easy to say after the ball has been chipped that he should have stayed up. Any attacker would find it much easier to slot it either side of the keeper or through his legs if he stays up for a long time. No win situation for a keeper when the attacking player is a talented one and more so for one who is always under scrutiny.
We couldn’t have had a center back behind as we lost the ball from a follow up to a set piece while going for the winner. Diaby or Denilson should have been there. And it’s just shocking that pienaar was never tracked as he ran from deep within their half.
I thought Arsene got his comments spot on after the game and it’s not often you see the boss saying that we might have technical problems.
Everton should have played the ball out when Denilson fell especially because they were already leading! But in the heat of the moment or is it the cold of the moment, it’s not easy to get these things right.
Also disagree on the substitutions criticism. I thought Arsene got it right, Arshavin was missing because no one found him with Diaby guilty of holding on to the ball too long when he could have played him in on at least three different occasions.
It’ll take sleeping on it before I can accept how poor we were today, but no panic buttons will be pressed. It is a point gained………I think. Wenger is right to point to the fact that we twice came from a goal down. Good to know we can pull something out when things aren’t going to plan.
In my post-Christmas haste I ensure there’d be no booze left on the premises as it was my intention to have a detox Janary. Alas, I have succumbed and have scoured and found a bottle of the good ladies red wine. Very nice.
Onward to the Reebok.
I thought we were fortunate today ‘holic.
Fellaini was their star player, breaking up everything we did.
A tad harsh on Gallas for the first goal ‘holic. Osman was allowed a free run into the box. Gallas didn’t have much chance with a standing jump. Someone should have gone with him or at least been able to block his run.
In defense of another player doesn’t Almunia’s save from Vaughans effort when they were 2-1 up constitute a point saving one given the late equaliser?
Sorry Amos, I’ll give you the last one. Almunia for me can still come back as our number one because in glimpses he still shows his ability, but I’m sure things have conspired to distract him from his best this season. I think he warrants a rest, not amputation.
If the central defenders have a zone at set pieces they have to dominate that zone, and when Osman arrived in Gallas’ zone today Billy was caught napping. Again, he has been outstanding this season, but today, frankly, was not a good one for him.
You know well I want to be positive, but I cannot overlook obvious problems on the day. We’ll be back to normal soon enough 😉
We had the game live on TV here in Ireland, after Pinaar scored Denilson went down in pain with no one near him. Clearly he was in distress but Tim Cahill played on and took advantege of the situation with Everton nearly scoring.
Lou Macari was doing co commentary and suggested Cahill was right even though Denilson was too injured to even get a pass away. I was absolutely at Macari and sick of this piece of s*** and his anti Arsenal bias. However I never realised he is just a thug as well.
Hi does anyone knows what happened with traore when the corner was taking cos he looked pretty upset
Was wondering about that incident too……Seemed a bitakward, Sagna though, tried to cheer him up again, I think. But if anyone knows please tell us……
Charlie,they are not idiots.They are realistic.
We all know when we were the strongest – when we were lining up as . . . Lauren – Campbell – Toure – Cole : Ljungberg – Vieira – Silva – Pires : Bergkamp – Henry !
Is it just me or you people simply won’t acknowledge this ?!
Poeple – look at those games ! Ball was never going backward ! Only forward,till it’s in the net ! Ljungberg and Pires flying on the vings,and no one in the league could even think of going through the middle,because we had the best pair there ! And Dennis’ magic and Thierry awesomeness were killing opponents off ! Teams would enter the pitch and get scared just be looking at our guys ! CHARACTER AND EXPERIENCE EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK ! ! !
Now – opponents see Denilson and Ramsey in the middle and the say “We’ll stomp right over them” and then they do.Song can play there cause he’s a beast now ! A BEAST ! He can carry two players in his teeth ! We need another one like him ! Denilson has 2 hearts,but he simply doesn’t have a strong body,so he get’s blown away in duels.Diaby didn’t do anything but losing ball – for 91 minute.All the praises in the pappers got to his head – he thinks he’s a mega star now ! My son,you stay grounded and continue this fine form.Don’t go above clouds just yet.
Chelsea explained couple of things to us,over the last 2 visits.Enough said.They humiliated us like they were playing our youth team.We didn’t create a single chance this season vs Chelsea.
You can all pretend not to see what kinda changes we need.
I’ve lost count of the number of times that barometer of excellence for ‘getting out of jail’ over the past few seasons,Man Utd,salvaged a point from games that they should have lost.
Time and time again during the season,when having an off day they always found a way ‘ not to lose’
That’s what made them champions time and again,not all the victories,but the ‘ point’ they always managed to grab with a late goal when all seemed lost.
No team can be consistently good over 38 games,there will always be off days where players are not on their game,but what seperates the good from the best,is that inner desire not to turn your toes up when all seems lost,but to keep battling away and by sheer will,to turn defeat into a point,or a draw into a win.
A parralel to our game today is the Utd – Sunderland game earlier in the season,a game Utd should have lost,but somehow they found a way to grab a point,with surprise surprise a deflected own goal.
So there we were,2-1 down,into stoppage time,with one of our own seriously injured and carried off on a stretcher not five minutes earlier,the boys would have been forgiven for thinking this isn’t our day and accepting the inevitable,but they didn’t,instead they showed that collective desire that Champions are made of,of never giving up,and despite probably our worst collective team performance of the season so far,they found an equaliser with arguably their best passing move of the match.
Those are the points that win Titles and with that sort of spirit in adversity it may yet carry us to the Summit come May.
Can someone explain to me why the club were so keen to play this game?
The transport system was fucked, the area surrounding The Grove was not safe and conditions generally were appalling; so why this macho “we can play” when everyone else has an attack of common sense.
I expected the ground to be half empty and was surprised at how many did turn up but the official attendance was ludicrous given the number of empty seats. Most I suspect were people who would have come but couldn’t – a friend of mine was snow-bound in Kent and not happy. Are they offering refunds ala Bolton, are they fuck.
And for what? It’s not a question of hindsight; it was obvious the 7 dwarves would struggle in today’s conditions and struggle they duly did.
Is fixture backlog such a bad thing if it provides players time to recover from injury ( and therefore gives the manager more opportunity to rotate and rest them) or return from the current debacle in Africa.
I’m sure we would have had little difficulty in postponing this game and re-arranging it, and Bolton, in the spring when we’ll probably be out of the CL but could be putting in a run for the title.
As it is the game in hand’s been squandered and 2 points lost. Very clever.
Overall we were very poor, Everton were very strong – for the most part fairly – and the ref was utterly shite throughout.
Totally agree with Steve T re. the lack of width. Traore was one of the few bright spots – some rash moments but generally very good and tried to support the attack – but Sagna was dreadful. No one else seemed to realise the wings existed.
Ramsey might not have had his best game but looked far more likely to score or create something than a totally out of sorts Eduardo; so of course it’s Ramsey who gets subbed. I could go on and on but I won’t.
I’m not writing the season off. We have done very well and, unlike last season, have played some wonderful football but the usual frustration is still there.
This team is a couple of signings away from winning the league or the CL but yet again the signals are that we’ll make do and hope the injuries go away. They haven’t for the last 5 +years so I guess we’re fucked again. . . .
Interesting point there, Garrett. I know people who had tickets for today in Paris and Dublin who could not get to the game. Do the club give them a refund on the ticket price? Oh no. But be one of the 300 (allegedly) Bolton fans on Wednesday and you are laughing. Those who could not get to the Grove yesterday would far sooner still have tickets for a game to be arranged.
Clive, not surprised to see common sense from you again. I’ve been convinced from the very start of the season that ourselves or Chelsea would be celebrating in May. Nothing I have seen in half a season has changed my mind. Keep everything crossed.
p.s. ‘holic, we don’t have a zonal defence because we have a manager who has no interest in/understanding of defence – other than to buy some decent players, leave them to their own devices and hope for the best.
As I’ve said many times we need a Defensive Coach to coordinate the back 4 and defensive midfield. But hey, it’s a lot easier to buy another 12 year old striker with “potential”, so let’s do it!
Perhaps a campaign in the making here ‘holic?
Seems to me all those who couldn’t make the game should write to the club citing the “Bolton case” as a basis for credit on unused tkts.
Conditions today, in and around the ground, were very poor and from the inevitable H&S perspective hardly justified the game going ahead. Do they only care about the money? Oh . . .
@34 Holic. Almunia came to us as a Celta Vigo reserve. I have always wanted him to do well. Have just watched the highlights on MOTD. They do not tell the full story. In my opinion he was poor for both goals today. The way I judge it is quite simple. I look back at the keepers we have had and try and think if they would have let them in? My opinion is that they wouldn’t. I just do not think he is good enough.
I think the refund to Bolton fans relaed to travel costs and only applied to those on official coaches. Hardly going to cost the club a great deal I would guess.
Over 60,000 in the ground today??????????????????????????????? As a result I would suggest that a refund is unlikely. I do agree with the comments above. Why did we bother when so many others did not???????
Most people can be poor but if our central midfielder is – then we have no hope for atleast one or 2 positive moves during the game – it was a real assessment of Ramsey against a decent opponent
hi finbar,agree with you totally…macari is an ex- MANURE C**T who hates arsenal-but then ,regetttably satanta(roi) are MANURE supporting b’stards anyway-by the way i was at highbury the match where peter storey did a kung fu kick on the little jock whinger & nearly took his head off !lol!
Bizarre day of football yesterday, that could have seen us in second place with a game in hand over ManU, but could also have seen us 5 points behind them.
Left me very confuse, there are a lots of twists and turns left in the season, but it’s true that the current Almunia and the absence of Song have me very worried on yesterday’s showing.
Hot toddy (again!) for me please.
Cheers.
Spot on Daxxjoker,
esp in the premiership when MOST of midfield play is about strenght,just look at fletcher(crap player but works his socks off)
@Clive Waterman: spot on. I was thinking the same, how many times have we not heard commentators and pundits cream their pants in excitment over late equalizers or winners from ManU? When we do the same it’s just “luck”.
@Igwe14: Traore lost it because no-one told him he was all alone and could have controlled the ball instead of having to try to clear it – and he was right to be upset, someone should have shouted at him to let him know he had time to control the ball.
As for Almunia, well, he was just more or less crap again. I have always liked him, but this season he has had a few real stinkers and not that many good games at all. Yes, the save at 2-1 down was great but other than that? No.
And should it have been a penalty? Yes, I think so. Sure, the neanderthal caveman did get the ball first but as others have pointed out that is no excuse to barge into a player like that. But I am not going to get too upset about it, maybe the ref just didn’t see the situation clearly.
Anyway, not a very good game at all by the Arsenal – but we are still very much in the race and coming back twice from being a goal down is always a good thing. If we can remain within a few points of the top spot after the Fixture List From Hell at the end of January/beginning of February we will be in a really good position because hopefully, by then a few of the injured players will be back again. But of course, we must hang on up until that point and that will not be made easier by the injury to Denilson.
I was worried throughout this game! We were pressed all over the park and not given time and space to play our passing game. In particular, there was fagility in the back line and Traore was caught blantly out of position on several occasions by Donavon who had his first game for Everton on loan from the Los Angelos Galaxy. But, all of the back line were at times out of position and the most glaring example was the second goal of Philip Moyes team. To illustrate the additional examples of poor defending all one needs to consider is the exceptionally poor communication between the Keeper, Almunia, and his back four players. Almunia did not let anyone know what was going on and nearly killed some of our players during the course of the game. Traore was absolutely correct and indignant about the poor communication and had no option but to hoof the ball out not knowing who was on his back during Everton’s corner kick. Almunia should be screaming all the time letting his defenders be aware of what is required. Not only did Almunia not do that but his decision making was blunderous and school boyish! The point that someone has made that there should be a defending coach is well made. A few years back we had a defending coach, Martin, and this made an immediate improvement. As well, Almunia should be riding the pine until his mental organization rises above that of a school boy!
I will say nothing about the lack of cover for players who are playing in the centre of defence. I shudder to think of what would happen if one or both of Gallas or Vermalen should be injured. And, I don’t think that bringing in a player that walked out of a game in the second half should even be remotely considered.
I believe that our need at CB is already filled in Senderos. I do not know what is going on in that situation between him and Arsene but I believe Senderos is a player with enough talent to step in when needed in a good amount of games over the course of the season and perform relatively well . he is not like if we bought an expensive 3rd CB and left him on the bench, and he is young enough to improve over the years and eventually take over for Gallas.
Also an Kenwyn Jones is an interesting ST who is not too expensive at around 14 mill and would do pretty well up top for us with alot of pace.
RE ARSHAVIN: AW refuses to play him in his best position. He is no threat to defeders as a central striker. It is absolutely criminal watching AW waste Arshavin’s talents like this — just as it’s criminal watching his teammates switch off and fail to support him when he’s creating a brilliant move that fails to come off only because no one in a red shirt is there to help him!
Was Lehmann worse than Almunia is right now when AW dropped him? I certainly don’t think so. Almunia’s deterioration this season has been dramatic, far worse than Lehman’s.
The lack of effort and drive by so many of our players, esp. in the first half, was unforgivable.
Think of all the goals we’ve conceded this season — how many have actually been scored after some clever, brilliant football instead of us making incredibly idiotic, basic mistakes in defense–mistakes you expect from some inexperienced U17 team? We are consistent in gifting incredibly easy goals to the opposition.
Many happy returns ‘holic
Happy ‘holic birthday and many more of them.
Interesting comments, no.52. AA is in danger of being labelled by the BBB as a useless sack of sh*t. Unlike his predecessor up front he doesn’t seem to want to trouble himself by moving from wing to wing to get the ball and create space. He never tackles back, he’s non-existant in defense, he can’t get any height and contributes nothing to the build up with headed through balls or knock downs. I even saw him standing with his hands on his hips at the weekend! (a cardinal sin in the eyes of B cubed). His scoring rate is low and he’d better watch out or they’ll be on his back.
apparently sol is back… heard it ?? true?