Forgive the tacky title. I’m not thinking too well right now. Right, so you’ve had the serious eye witness version of last night’s game. I sadly caught only the deferred telecast on Ten Sports which chose to play Fiorentina vs. Liverpool which admittedly threw up a pretty hilarious result. Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, When will he ever learn to shut his mouth? Anyway, so I got up at 2:20 in the morning and was just in time for kick off and had no idea what the result was. I remember I was in the exact same situation for the Roma game which we won on penalties and I nearly went online a dozen times to see if we’d won or lost before the final penalty was thumped in. Tata Sky BLOWS. Get Zee Sports on you clowns!
Now arguably we’ve been handed out the easiest draw this time around in the group stages. Those imbeciles at UEFA must’ve had us confused with Chelsea. However, we managed to make an extremely interesting game out of it at Liege. Wigan’s defense played like those dummy plastic training ground men and they were duly thulped. I mean who loses to Wigan? Oh wait! Craven Cottage temporarily became a movie house. Godfather IV starring Don Vito. All very exciting games and all got us maximum points. However I had this underlying feeling of unease purely because of the lack of form of El Capìtan, Cesc. He is simply the soul of this Arsenal side and he being out of form is never good news.
So Olympiacos were in town. Now they are a Greek side. So naturally it becomes very easy to predict their game plan. 89 minutes formation 10-0-0, If at 90 minutes the score is 0-0 as expected switch to a 9-0-1, get a corner, head the ball in. 1-0. Now against last year’s side this would’ve been a very effective ploy. Last year’s side was painfully susceptible to conceding from set plays which we seem to be defending much better with the acquisition of Vermaelen. More crucially though last season’s side was remarkably low on patience and hardly ever kept their cool if they hadn’t scored within 20 minutes invariably conceding after 35 minutes and failing to break oppositions down afterward.
Felipe’s told you all about the game. Nikopolidis would’ve earned any fantasy football team owner a million points with all those saves. Saves that were vital and yet you got the feeling that our finishing wasn’t entirely top class. Oh well, maybe I’m being curmudgeonly here. However the biggest positive from the game for me was the fact that Cesc was back to doing what he does best, making those killer passes. You know that the side is on song when Cesc takes shots on goal and his left footed effort which rattled the cross bar should’ve put us ahead, either that or Rosicky’s rebound effort, or Arshavin’s subsequent low drive across goal, or maybe Van Persie’s rocket from the edge of the box. You get my point. In the entire first half Olympiacos managed one shot on target, proving how misleading statistics are because the one shot on target was a weak header that even Heurelho Gomes couldn’t have missed.
The second half was more of the same. Wave after wave of red shirts coming at him and Nikopolidis must’ve felt like poor Horatio defending the bridge. Except whoever was attacking the bridge didn’t have Cesc, Dudu and Van Persie. A couple of snazzy passes and the ball was finally at the back of the net. The side had to wait an hour and ten minutes to get the reward they justly deserved, which probably wouldn’t have happened last year. What a difference a year can make in a side! I truly believe we’re going to win something this season. Arshavin was spectacular as usual, running in at the defense, through the defense, under the defense and so on. However when the pass came he WAS slightly behind the defense, but that beautiful tap dance he did to caress the ball in deserved a goal and the linesman duly obliged.
Positives – Another win, 3 more points, Cesc back in form, Arshavin back, Rosicky doesn’t look like he’ll crumble into a million pieces if he’s touched anymore, yet another clean sheet, Great team spirit, Pretty much everything really.
Life is good in the world of Red and White (and pinstriped Blue. Bleah!)
Those imbeciles at UEFA must’ve had us confused with Chelsea.
seriously? u want to go down that road again?
4 – 2. remember? and that too to man c.
Firstly, I’m willing to go down that road ANY number of times. And secondly, what does the 4-2 prove? As much as say a 3-1 to WIGAN?
3 – 1 proves an off day. a loss. to a lesser club. but a loss nonetheless.
but 4 -2 and 2 -1 proves that something is just not right.
Dude, i seriously cannot understand your line of thought here. You’re actually saying a 3-1 loss to a Wigan side which has Titus Bramble in it is Ok (the same side who we beat 4 zip by the way)? And you also figure a 4-2 to a City side and a 2-1 to United at OT means our squad is all wrong? Even Keyur speaks more sense man
@ Maddy,
Don’t you pick on Bramble… He may’ve been s*ite with toon and other previous teams, but he’s turned into a strong CD in my opinion… He was instrumental in Wigan’s successes last year under steve Bruce… You cannot slag a player by his past mistakes alone.. Judge him by his current performances..
dude bramble is a superstar man, he scored against chelshit
Don’t start jumping up and down so soon Madhavan. The score was 2-1 when we were down to 10 men, and 3-1 when down to 9 men.
And lest you forget, you still have the likes of Stoke City and Sunderland to play.
@jhopad
’4-2 and 2-1 means something is wrong’
seriously…are u delusional…u eke out victories against stoke and hull and get hammered by wigan, not to mention struggling to beat apoel nicosia and nothing is wrong yet we lose to potential champions and potential top 4 team (both away from home in games we actually played decently) and we are struggling…and so we have stoke and sunderland to play..what does that even prove…we are less likely to drop points against them as u are against everton whom u still have to play…
and yes…the whole thing started out when u responded to a comment about UEFA’s favoritism to chelsea with 4-2…how the bloody hell are they even related…if u want to raise a useless point at least keep it relevant to the post
That is a seriously skewed line of thought. Only cockneys can think that stupid
Chelsea losing one game, where they admittedly played poorly, is reason enough for Gooners to celebrate and cry themselves hoarse.
But Arsenal getting beaten by manure and then thrashed by Citeh, even after actually playing decently apparently, means they are doing pretty well.
Hmmm…says it all, doesn’t it ??
Actually ‘Joshi’ it does
@Keyrock
Funny u should say that…cause I dont see too many Gunners actually jumping in joy or celebrating, it was a chelsea fan who unnecessarily raised the context of arsenal’s defeat, as if losing 4-2 was the ultimate shame which could be used to counter any and all arguments…all we did was point out that u shouldn’t be so quick to point out single results at this stage of this season…
Of course our simple logic is no match for ur profound statements like – ‘ u still have stoke and sunderland to play’
ask any non-goon’er’ and u would know my ‘profound’ statement doesn’t actually require much intellect to comprehend.
true.
It ll be real test for all the big four to ‘earn’ 3 pts away at city,villa, WHL, Goodison, stoke, fulham, wigan,W.Ham and sunderland to some extent. So not losing vital points in these places will prove crucial to the title challenge.. So whoever has the upperhand in pts here besides the internal clashes will have pole position,Its gonna be very intriguing this season after all
Am assuming tat things like a shock Burnley defeat or the home upset we suffered against Hull last yr is simply ruled out cant afford it at all.
@Harish:
by the same logic, the UEFA comment shouldnt have been made in the first place. the reasons being, the accusations are baseless and more importantly, the post was supposed to be about arsenal’s victory.
do u get this? or should i explain it to you all over again?
Dude, that wasn’t an accusation. It was a comment. And it involved quite a bit or sarcasm. And i was well within my rights to say it.
You were well within your rights to make that comment as well. However clearly you cannot defend that comment too well as the replies to it have clearly proved.
@jhopad
actually the comments were in the right place..this was abt the champions league and our UCL grp and how easy it was..and there maddy very cleverly inserted a joke..(which was basically clever way to tell all the ppl complaining abt arsenal’s grp to sod off cause teams like chelsea have had it equally easy in the past)
now ur retort of 4-2..had absolutely no relevance to this topic or the the grp stages or to maddy’s grp…and in particular it was in no way a meaningful retort to this statement…
now had u said..something along the lines of …’dont gloat over ur win u lost 4-2′ it would have been equally dumb but contextual neverthless…basically..do us all a favor..read ur first comment and check if there is any relation b/w the first 2 lines and the last…
Oh well done da Harish. Good one. Jhopad, I think Ill go with this too man
Some of Chelsea’s opponents in the grp stages in recent past:
AS Roma last year
Valencia the year before
Barcelona before that
Liverpool before that
bete, apne facts to check kar lo before blabbering
i dont think i tried defending it in the first place. my second reply was just an answer to the query you posted in your reply.
i never did elaborate on anything. i never tried to defend anything. dint feel like it then