Fruitful Trip to Lancashire

At the time of writing mad redo1 has not seen the goals from the Arsenal visit to Blackburn Rovers last night. After the conclusion of Terawih and Witr prayers he immediately took Mortimer to the McD Drive Thru Restaurant where Eezmo has been watching together with returnee GanuGooner, Spalding.

What left on the clock was just minutes and the score was 2-1 in favour of the visitors. Then Arsenal broke on the right and in the end the ball reached Jack Wilshere who only had Paul Robinson to beat. However the teenager's attempt was blocked by the veteran custodian and shortly after the man in the middle blew for full time.

It is good to know Theo Walcott keeps scoring goals for Arsenal and his opener certainly shows his continuous development as a forward which will bode well for Arsenal challenges on all fronts this season. However there must be a bit concern about Laurent Koscielny ability to withhold the physical nature of Premier League after he was shouldered off the ball by El Hadji Diouf en route of the home side equaliser, which was scored by Mame Biram Diouf.

Arsenal defended stoutly for the rest of the match in the face of Blackburn's direct route football and Manuel Almunia performed efficiently despite the uncomfortable nature of the match which saw heavy rain pouring down in Lancashire in the early part of it.

Andrey Arshavin's winner just six minutes into the second half did not kill off the match as the home side tried to force an equaliser. But the resilience showed by the Arsenal team was enough to ensure all three points went The Gunners' way, much to the delight of all Gooners around the world and especially the three at kT's McDonald's Drive Thru Restaurant.

However, there was some concern when Robin van Persie hobbled off with an ankle injury and according to Arsene Wenger the Dutchman will be out for ten days. Van Persie started his first match of the season and so was skipper Cesc Fabregas whose blocked shot led to Arshavin's winner in the second half.

Arsenal fans could be reunited with their former skipper William Gallas as early as September when both North London clubs were paired together in the Third Round of the Carling Cup competition. The match which is slated for 20-09-2010 will be at White Hart Lane. Arsene is expected to field his youngsters while Harry Redknapp will do otherwise, seeing the competition as one where his side could get their hands on a piece of silverware this season.

That will be a fodder for another day. For the time being just enjoy the fruit of labour from the trip to Ewood Park. It is certainly a good birthday gift for mad redo1 who turned 41 on the 19th day of Ramadhan.

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Not A Happy Anniversary for Arsene.

Arsenal 1 McShane OG
Hull City 2 Geovanni Cousin

Many were expecting a cricket score when Hull City came a visiting but I did share that view. Not after a good start made by Phil Brown's men that saw them in the top half of the Premier League table rather than the bottom.

But then again, I did not expect us to lose either.

On the 12th anniversary of a certain Arsene Wenger officially joined Arsenal it should be a week of celebration. Results from previous matches against Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United indicated the Gunners would be too much for the Tigers to handle.

However, Brown did not spend years under Sam Allardyce at the Reebok Stadium without picking up a thing or two from the big man when it comes to playing Arsenal.

There was a quote from Brown that to come away with anything from the Emirates is to catch Arsenal on an off day. It was certainly that day.

The first half was largely a forgetable affair with neither goalkeeper has to make any serious save at all. Then suddenly everything clicked into one fluid movement with Theo Walcott finally found his groove and a lucky deflection later Arsenal finally broke the deadlock.

A collective sigh of relief by many at the Emirates.

But it was not for long. A moment of magic by Geovanni brought things level again. The Brazillian was allowed too much time and space by the Arsenal players and there was nothing Manuel Almunia could do but grasping thin air as the ball whizzed past him.

A goal of the season candidate for sure.

Things got worse a bit later. Arsenal had conceded two goals from set-pieces this season and tonight they conceded another. The way Daniel Cousin scored his first goal for Hull indicated that we still need a big tall centre-half who could take charge from this kind of situation.

Neither William Gallas nor Kolo Toure could rectify the situation. Clearly, we are still looking for the next Tony Adams.

One thing about the match last night was that many Arsenal players looked like they were fasting. They were lacking the urgency required to match the pressing game that Brown instructed his men to carry out.

I am getting tired of seeing the two Manus, Eboue and Adebayor.

We played quite a number of high balls into the box but with Robin Van Persie being not the best player with the head, it would make more sense if Nicklas Bendtner was given the slot to partner Adebayor up-front.

I would play Walcott on the left and Van Persie on the opposite flank so they could cut inside and the more damage with their right and left feet respectively. A bit predictable but there would be variety and physical presence up-front especially against a team which has this never say die attitude that we were sadly lacking during the match.

Carlos Vela should have been given the nod sooner, especially after we fell behind in order for him to make a meaningful contribution. He was quite unlucky when the ball fell too near to him from the Gallas header.

As always, the question of luck would always come in after a defeat and it is no different this time around.

We simply did not have much of it tonight.

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Back From the Dead

Dynamo Kiev 1 Bangoura
Arsenal 1 Gallas

Arsene Wenger expected a point from the trip to Kiev and a single point was what Arsenal got. The first half suggested that the trip back to London would be a jovial one as Arsenal stamped their authority all over their Ukrainian opponents.

Robin Van Persie came close but the biggest miss of the night surely had to be attributed to Manu Adebayor who shot high and wide with only the goalkeeper to beat after a mistake by the home defence.

Had Arsenal be more clinical in their finishing it would have been a different story altogether and continue Dynamo's run of defeats in the Champions League. Last season the Kiev side finished bottom of their group without a single point.

Perhaps the capital of Ukraine held a curse on Arsenal as the Gunners never get the right result there. But a point is definitely better than none though for a long time after going behind, Arsenal did not look like scoring at all.

Of course the penalty decision was very harsh and I thought the Dynamo player induced the penalty by pulling Bacary Sagna to fall with him. However it would not have come to that if William Gallas had not misjudged the flight of the ball which led to the break by Dynamo.

I was mouthing all kind of bad words to both Gallas and Adebayor when the two of them played quite a significant role in bringing the score to par. First the Togolese found the unmarked Theo Walcott wide on the right. Good for him.

Then Gallas popped up at the end of Walcott's low hard ball across the Dynamo's goalmouth to divert it into the net though there was a hint of offside (I think...) when he connected with the ball.

We continued to push forward but a point from Kiev could be regarded as a success considering previous heartbreaks that we suffered there.

Now, the Reebok awaits and hopefully we could snatch another three points there like we did last season.

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