Tottenham 1 Bale
Arsenal 3 Adebayor 2, Fabregas
Due to Ramadhan commitment I missed almost the entire first half. When I put my bums onto the seat it read 'TOTT 1 ARSL 0'. I whispered softly "Here we go again".
Last season we trailed by a goal, then fought back and led 2-1 deep into injury time. As I was about to celebrate the three points won, Jermaine Jenas long range effort crept inside the post which totally took the wind off my celebration sail-boat.
It was not often I would say this in regards of a Sp*ds player, but Gareth Bale certainly looked like a very exciting prospect. The manner his free-kick beat the wall and crept past Manuel Almunia showed a huge talent on dead ball situations for someone who is still 18 years old.
From the highlights shown during the interval, it was normal service for the Gunners as we came close with Manu Adebayor and Alex Hleb forcing Paul Robinson into making good saves while Abou Diaby continued where he left off against Portsmouth a fortnight ago, failing to convert clear chance into goals.
When the second half started, Arsenal continued to press forward in search for the equaliser. However, I had my heart at my mouth when Gilberto Silva was caught napping and Dimitar Berbatov raced through towards goal.
Almunia rushed from his line but the Bulgarian evaded his challenge easily and should have made the score 2-0 to the home side. But skipper Kolo Toure did a brilliant covering job and his tackle took the ball away from danger.
Robin Van Persie had a quiet match but it was Adebayor who I was so incensed with when he skied a perfect cut-back by Bakary Sagna with the goal at his mercy.
I was screaming for Arsene Wenger to take him off so that Eduardo could continue his rich goalscoring form, after netting three goals for Croatia during the Euro2008 qualifying matches against Estonia and Andorra.
Much to my surprise and dismay when I found out later that the Croat did not even make it to the bench.
Then in the 65th minute I screamed with joy when Adebayor's head reached the ball first before Robinson to put Arsenal level from a Cesc Fabregas free-kick. Despite his heroics all afternoon, Robinson should take the blame for not getting to the ball before the Togolese.
Almunia made a big save from Robbie Keane who tried to make the most from Matthieu Flamini 's error. The Frenchman miscued the ball towards his own goal after trying to take it off a Sp*ds' player.
Then from a corner, Gael Glichy made a superb on the goal-line stop with his chest from a Berbatov's effort. The Bulgarian got to the rebound first but saw his header went over the bar. Claimed for hand-ball were waved away by Mark Clattenburg.
Then ten minutes from time Fabregas had me screaming again. It was like a dream seeing the ball moving so slowly after leaving the Spaniard's boot. I remembered thinking "Dammnn... Robinson going to get it..." before watching the net bulged.
I screamed and screamed... it was such a superb goal. From the replay I saw that I was right; Robinson did get to it but was beaten by sheer speed and power from Fabregas's shot.
It was a bit deja-vu from then on.
Darren Bent came on and should have equalised with his first touch but the former Charlton striker failed to connect properly with the long ball from midfield. Then another opportunity came his way moments later but with only Almunia to beat he fluffed his shot wide, much to the disappointment of those wearing white today.
As if trying to silence his critics, Adebayor volleyed home the third goal deep into injury time after receiving another wonderful pass from Fabregas. He showed composure by flicking the ball upward and meeting it with a volley that gave Robinson no chance at all.
It was similar to what happened last season, the match produced a fourth goal deep into injury time, but this time for Gooners all over the world, it went into the right goal.
We are top of the league!!!
...
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Trip To The Lane
It is so early in the season, but the time for the trip to White Hart Lane has already arrived. Despite their bad start to the season, a match at the Lane would never go according to the form book.
There is a potential of a slip-up but I am hoping the eleven players lining up in the red and white shirt would be able to do their job and come back to the Emirates with all three points.
According to Arsene Wenger, Manuel Almunia will continue in goal despite Jens Lehmann turning out for Germany against Wales last week. The Frenchman stated this is due to an injury to the German's elbow.
So far Almunia has performed well and his temperament is perhaps better suited to this match compared to Lehmann who could easily been provoked by opposing players. The Sp*ds would send Robbie Keane to do the provocations and most of the time Lehmann would fall for it.
The centre of the defence also needed a bit of tweaking with the suspension of Phillipe Senderos and the injury to William Gallas. The best candidate to partner Kolo Toure would be Gilberto Silva, even though Wenger stated that he has Alex Song and Justin Hoyte on stand-by should the Brazillian is unable to play.
There seems to be no problem in the middle of the pitch and it is expected that Cesc Fabregas to orchestrate play from the middle of the pitch. I managed to catch the Czech Republic versus Republic of Ireland match and was impressed thoroughly with Tomas Rosicky's performance.
He always give his team-mates an outlet to pass and his skills certainly opened up the Irish defence most of the time. Rosicky also tracks back to help out the defence. He seems lightweight in appearance but then again he uses his brain rather than brawn to stop opponents from getting past him.
There was talks about Lassana Diarra making his Arsenal debut at the Lane but I prefer Abou Diaby for the defensive midfielder role. His height is certainly important in defence, especially with the aerial threat of Dimitar Berbatov.
With Robin Van Persie still showing he is the better striker for the Gunners at the moment, I really would like to see Eduardo starting the match this time around. He scored three goals during his international duty for Croatia and for me his pace, positional sense and fighting spirit just edge him ahead of Manu Adebayor.
Go Gooners!!!
...
There is a potential of a slip-up but I am hoping the eleven players lining up in the red and white shirt would be able to do their job and come back to the Emirates with all three points.
According to Arsene Wenger, Manuel Almunia will continue in goal despite Jens Lehmann turning out for Germany against Wales last week. The Frenchman stated this is due to an injury to the German's elbow.
So far Almunia has performed well and his temperament is perhaps better suited to this match compared to Lehmann who could easily been provoked by opposing players. The Sp*ds would send Robbie Keane to do the provocations and most of the time Lehmann would fall for it.
The centre of the defence also needed a bit of tweaking with the suspension of Phillipe Senderos and the injury to William Gallas. The best candidate to partner Kolo Toure would be Gilberto Silva, even though Wenger stated that he has Alex Song and Justin Hoyte on stand-by should the Brazillian is unable to play.
There seems to be no problem in the middle of the pitch and it is expected that Cesc Fabregas to orchestrate play from the middle of the pitch. I managed to catch the Czech Republic versus Republic of Ireland match and was impressed thoroughly with Tomas Rosicky's performance.
He always give his team-mates an outlet to pass and his skills certainly opened up the Irish defence most of the time. Rosicky also tracks back to help out the defence. He seems lightweight in appearance but then again he uses his brain rather than brawn to stop opponents from getting past him.
There was talks about Lassana Diarra making his Arsenal debut at the Lane but I prefer Abou Diaby for the defensive midfielder role. His height is certainly important in defence, especially with the aerial threat of Dimitar Berbatov.
With Robin Van Persie still showing he is the better striker for the Gunners at the moment, I really would like to see Eduardo starting the match this time around. He scored three goals during his international duty for Croatia and for me his pace, positional sense and fighting spirit just edge him ahead of Manu Adebayor.
Go Gooners!!!
...
Friday, 7 September 2007
Arsene Signs!
It was widely expected by many Arsenal fans that Arsene Wenger would sign a new contract with the Gunners.
Who is in the right frame of mind would walk away from a job that he loves and with the amount of control that he has over the team and in general, the direction of the club, football wise that is.
The new contract which will end in 2011 will make the Frenchman the longest serving manager if he sees it out, eclipsing George Allison record who was in charge from 1934 to 1947 after taking over from the great Herbert Chapman.
He was quoted from Arsenal.com as saying:
“My heart is tied to this football club so signing a new deal was always my intention. Arsenal is the club of my life. I have been entrusted with complete freedom to implement and execute my plans on what will make the team successful and that means I have a responsibility to the fans to deliver silverware and also a responsibility to the players to help turn our potential into prizes. This Club has deep-seated roots and a tremendous heritage and it is my aim to uphold these important values and help create new history for future generations to recount.”
It was a piece of news that I have been waiting for since the new season started. Despite knowing that Arsene is a man of his word, it is much, much better to have it done officially in black and white.
...
Who is in the right frame of mind would walk away from a job that he loves and with the amount of control that he has over the team and in general, the direction of the club, football wise that is.
The new contract which will end in 2011 will make the Frenchman the longest serving manager if he sees it out, eclipsing George Allison record who was in charge from 1934 to 1947 after taking over from the great Herbert Chapman.
He was quoted from Arsenal.com as saying:
“My heart is tied to this football club so signing a new deal was always my intention. Arsenal is the club of my life. I have been entrusted with complete freedom to implement and execute my plans on what will make the team successful and that means I have a responsibility to the fans to deliver silverware and also a responsibility to the players to help turn our potential into prizes. This Club has deep-seated roots and a tremendous heritage and it is my aim to uphold these important values and help create new history for future generations to recount.”
It was a piece of news that I have been waiting for since the new season started. Despite knowing that Arsene is a man of his word, it is much, much better to have it done officially in black and white.
...
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Bergkamp Voted into Halls of Fame
From Arsenal.com it has been reported that former Arsenal star Dennis Bergkamp has been voted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame 2007 by viewers of BBC Football Focus.
For the first time, supporters were given the chance to select one player to receive this prestigious honour from a shortlist of six. Bergkamp was chosen ahead of Sir Trevor Brooking, Ray Clemence, Paul Scholes, Len Shackleton and Ray Wilson, becoming the first Dutchman to be voted in.
Bergkamp scored 120 goals in 423 games for Arsenal, helping the Club to seven major honours, including two Premier League and FA Cup doubles. He joins fellow Arsenal legends Alex James, Tony Adams, Liam Brady and Ian Wright in the Hall of Fame.
...
Eduardo and Rosicky to Score More Goals
With the international break is on and the transfer window has been shut until January, there is not much to talk about. However, Arsene Wenger himself has been reported on Arsenal.com he is expecting striker Eduardo to explode for the Gunners.
The Brazil born Croatian started his career with Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team on a slow note before starting to find the net more frequently after a number of matches.
Eduardo for me is more a fighter than Thierry Henry who would pull out from any physical confrontation most of the time, even though our former captain did score a number of goals after out-muscling defenders, he would opt for the more finesse way of doing it.
Whereas, Eduardo seems to enjoy getting his foot stuck in and despite his size could easily put a bigger player than him under pressure.
Tomas Rosicky meanwhile has pledged to score more goals this season after he together with Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb agreed to a friendly 'wager' of who would score more goals among the three of them.
So far, the Spanish youngster has found the net four times while Rosicky and Hleb has scored two each in all competitions. The pledge could only benefit Arsenal who need everybody to start finding the net on a regular basis after the departure of Henry to Catalonia.
...
The Brazil born Croatian started his career with Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team on a slow note before starting to find the net more frequently after a number of matches.
Eduardo for me is more a fighter than Thierry Henry who would pull out from any physical confrontation most of the time, even though our former captain did score a number of goals after out-muscling defenders, he would opt for the more finesse way of doing it.
Whereas, Eduardo seems to enjoy getting his foot stuck in and despite his size could easily put a bigger player than him under pressure.
Tomas Rosicky meanwhile has pledged to score more goals this season after he together with Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb agreed to a friendly 'wager' of who would score more goals among the three of them.
So far, the Spanish youngster has found the net four times while Rosicky and Hleb has scored two each in all competitions. The pledge could only benefit Arsenal who need everybody to start finding the net on a regular basis after the departure of Henry to Catalonia.
...
Monday, 3 September 2007
Premier League - Match #4
Arsenal 3 Adebayor (penalty), Fabregas, Rosicky
Portsmouth 1 Kanu
Former Gunner Nwankwo Kanu returned to play and scored against his old club with a 'pinball' shot. But by then his current side Portsmouth were already trailing by three goals courtesy of Manu Adebayor's penalty, Cesc Fabregas's close range strike and Tomas Rosicky opportunist goal from a quickly taken free kick.
Last season, Pompey came away with a point after letting a two goal lead slipped away. This time around there was no evidence to suggest that they are going to repeat such a feat.
Perhaps, most sides now would come to the Emirates with a plan to score an early goal and let Arsenal come at them. Portsmouth certainly looked to follow the same plan but as the match progressed it was clear the home side was not in a charitable mood.
The Gunners dominated possession and when they did not have the ball quickly put opposing players under pressure. It was such such pressure from the impressive Gael Clichy that led to the first goal.
He forced a mistake from a Pompey player and Robin Van Persie capitalised. He won the race to the ball against David James who in turn brought the Dutchman down in the box. Referee Mark Halsey did not hesitate to award the spot kick to Arsenal.
Adebayor stepped up and sent James the wrong way as he drove the ball hard and low to his right. 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Then the score became 2-0 in the 35th minutes when Gilberto Silva's header found Fabregas just a metre from goal. Despite the close attention from Sean Davis, the young Spaniard managed to turn and slot the ball home.
Central defender Phillipe Senderos nearly made it 3-0 with a header three minutes into the second half. How he must have rued his fortune when a minute later he was at the other end being dismissed by Halsey after he brought down Kanu as the Nigerian was having a go at Arsenal's goal.
The dismissal for me was a bit harsh as I believe that Kolo Toure was closing in as well thus not making the Swiss defender the last man.
But Arsenal seemed to thrive when they seemed to be in a crisis. True enough, they kept the pressure on Portsmouth. A foul on Clichy led to a free-kick which was quickly taken by Fabregas.
Rosicky took full advantage of the visitor's defence which went to sleep and drilled home the ball, nutmegging Glen Johnson along the way.
The celebration was a short one as Kanu pulled one back almost immediately with a goal he did not know much about. I some sort of expecting the Pompey to mount a more sustained pressure after this but Arsenal possessed too much quality to see this one out despite playing with just ten players.
...
Portsmouth 1 Kanu
Former Gunner Nwankwo Kanu returned to play and scored against his old club with a 'pinball' shot. But by then his current side Portsmouth were already trailing by three goals courtesy of Manu Adebayor's penalty, Cesc Fabregas's close range strike and Tomas Rosicky opportunist goal from a quickly taken free kick.
Last season, Pompey came away with a point after letting a two goal lead slipped away. This time around there was no evidence to suggest that they are going to repeat such a feat.
Perhaps, most sides now would come to the Emirates with a plan to score an early goal and let Arsenal come at them. Portsmouth certainly looked to follow the same plan but as the match progressed it was clear the home side was not in a charitable mood.
The Gunners dominated possession and when they did not have the ball quickly put opposing players under pressure. It was such such pressure from the impressive Gael Clichy that led to the first goal.
He forced a mistake from a Pompey player and Robin Van Persie capitalised. He won the race to the ball against David James who in turn brought the Dutchman down in the box. Referee Mark Halsey did not hesitate to award the spot kick to Arsenal.
Adebayor stepped up and sent James the wrong way as he drove the ball hard and low to his right. 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Then the score became 2-0 in the 35th minutes when Gilberto Silva's header found Fabregas just a metre from goal. Despite the close attention from Sean Davis, the young Spaniard managed to turn and slot the ball home.
Central defender Phillipe Senderos nearly made it 3-0 with a header three minutes into the second half. How he must have rued his fortune when a minute later he was at the other end being dismissed by Halsey after he brought down Kanu as the Nigerian was having a go at Arsenal's goal.
The dismissal for me was a bit harsh as I believe that Kolo Toure was closing in as well thus not making the Swiss defender the last man.
But Arsenal seemed to thrive when they seemed to be in a crisis. True enough, they kept the pressure on Portsmouth. A foul on Clichy led to a free-kick which was quickly taken by Fabregas.
Rosicky took full advantage of the visitor's defence which went to sleep and drilled home the ball, nutmegging Glen Johnson along the way.
The celebration was a short one as Kanu pulled one back almost immediately with a goal he did not know much about. I some sort of expecting the Pompey to mount a more sustained pressure after this but Arsenal possessed too much quality to see this one out despite playing with just ten players.
...
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Welcome Lassana Diarra
What a pleasant surprise this morning when the pages of Arsenal.com finished uploading the first thing that caught my attention was Arsenal had signed Lassana Diarra from chelski. I for one did not have an inkling that Arsene Wenger was after this player at all.
He played against us in the Carling Cup Final and now is looking forward to adding more winning medals with us.
One thing for sure is he is a versatile player who could play anywhere in midfield and is comfortable on the right side of the defence, a typical Wenger player.
Hopefully, his addition to the squad would give us the strength in the depth especially with the season still in its infancy.
...
He played against us in the Carling Cup Final and now is looking forward to adding more winning medals with us.
One thing for sure is he is a versatile player who could play anywhere in midfield and is comfortable on the right side of the defence, a typical Wenger player.
Hopefully, his addition to the squad would give us the strength in the depth especially with the season still in its infancy.
...
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