Premier League: Arsenal 1 - 0 Chelsea
Match reports
The Independent, Jason Burt: “Big games define big teams, Arsène Wenger reminded us before this encounter. They also define big players and Chelsea may have to again cope without John Terry after their captain suffered suspected ankle ligament damage in a spiteful challenge by Emmanuel Eboué as his side lost to Arsenal for the first time since February 2004.”
The Times, Martin Samuel: “Emmanuel Eboué kicked John Terry out of the game before Joe Cole avenged his team-mate by doing the same to Eboué. Even Arsenal’s winner, scored by William Gallas, the Arsenal captain and former Chelsea defender, had something of the bar-room brawl about it, with the way Gallas manhandled Tal Ben-Haim out of the way before heading Cesc Fà bregas’s corner past Petr Cech, who had come for the ball but failed to get it, a rare error for him.”
The Guardian, Kevin McCarra: “[Chelsea's] willpower is undiminished but that is not enough. They had all their forwards on the pitch by the end; all of them, that is, except the one who is irreplaceable. Didier Drogba is in convalescence from knee surgery, bound for the African Cup of Nations and seemingly disenchanted. It sometimes seems that the Ivorian had no sooner signed for Chelsea than he was in the mood to put his name to a transfer request.”
Daily Telegraph, Henry Winter: “A Derby crammed with sound, fury and significance ended with everyone grasping for breath, with Arsenal regaining the high ground of the Premier League and with serious question-marks over Avram Grant’s ability to inspire Chelsea against the leading sides without the heavyweight talent that is Didier Drogba.”
The goal
The good
- It was an entertaining game. We did okay without the likes of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho. Up until Petr Cech’s uncharacteristic mistake (and William Gallas’ sly two-handed push) Arsenal never really looked like scoring. Second half we did our best to get back into it and at least gave Manuel Almunia something to think about, but ultimately Drogba’s absence was sorely felt. Rancour between the two sets of players ensured that it was never dull.
- John Mikel Obi. Outstanding. By some distance our best player and my Man of the Match. A midfield general and future Chelsea legend. Put Frank Lampard to shame.
- Ashley Cole. The barrage of abuse and vitriol heaped upon him by the home fans seemed to spur him on. There’s no doubting that he was targeted by Arsenal players. I am starting to wonder what warrants a red card these days.
- Andriy Shevchenko, Alex, Tal Ben Haim and Paulo Ferreira. I thought Shevchenko did okay under the circumstances. Alex was towering in defence and Ben Haim did better than I expected - he wasn’t at fault for the goal because Gallas pushed him out of the way. Ferreira impressed me; he’s one of the best crossers in the team.
The bad
- Petr Cech’s gaffe. He might not flap as ineptly at another corner all season, but there’s little doubt that this rare howler will cost in the long run. He went on to prove what a great keeper he is with some superb saves that kept us in the game and gave us the chance to get something from it. Predictably, we didn’t have the necessary fire power to rescue him. Prior to this game he was unbeaten in all seven played against the Gunners.
- Injury to John Terry. Apparently nothing was broken by Emmanuel Eboué’s studs up challenge. But, it looks like Terry will miss a number of games over Christmas with at least ankle ligament damage. Still, the football gods (or Joe Cole, depending on your point of view) ensured that Eboué left the pitch on a stretcher. It goes without saying that we might struggle somewhat during the busy festive schedule without our first choice centre-back pairing and striker.
- Avram Grant has lost his first two games against the top two teams. Jose Mourinho didn’t lose to Arsenal during his three years at Chelsea, and only lost to Manchester United once. Grant has lost to both teams in the space of three months, albeit away from Stamford Bridge. While it’s far too early to treat this statistic as significant, I’m of the opinion that Mourinho would have got at least a point from this game. Last season Arsenal took the lead in all three fixtures yet we managed two draws and one victory. Grant will not win over the majority of fans until he’s proved himself against the big guns. Wednesday’s Carling Cup game against Liverpool is looking increasingly important.
- Shaun Wright-Phillips’ miss. I take it back: Salomon Kalou deserves to start ahead of Wright-Phillips.
Man of the Match
John Mikel Obi.
Related links
- Posted at 02:09 PM · Permalink · Print · 2952 views · Last indexed by Google on the 15th May 2008
- Tags: Andriy Shevchenko, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Ashley Cole, Avram Grant, Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Eboue, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Jon Obi Mikel, Jose Mourinho, Paulo Ferreira, Petr Cech, Premier League, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Tal Ben Haim, William Gallas
The no points from six stat is something of a worry - you can mitigate until the cows come home but ultimately these games are often where titles are won and lost. That said, three home games against our main rivals in the New Year could redress the balance somewhat.
There is a feeling that with a first choice spine including Terry, Carvalho, Essien and Drogba may have helped, but the worrying lack of firepower (and potentially a second choice defence) over the Christmas period might leave us struggling towards the ANC when things will get tighter still.
How Grant copes during the coming weeks and how he spends his money in January will be crucial.
And it had to be f*cking Gallas, didn’t it?
A good summary as always Nick. One I whole-heartedly agree with.
Save for Cech’s rare howler, over the duration of the game they were no better than us. It’s a pity - it cost us yesterday and will have a serious impact on our title charge, but the times he’s saved us almost cancel it out. 0 - 0 would definitely have been the fairest outcome. Which would have been a good result, missing Essien, Riccy C and DD, and with JT spending several minutes trying to find his right foot, which was impaled on the studs of Eboue’s boot.
I agree with your positive thoughts on Sheva, I thought he played well up front on his own, particularly being starved on any real service at all. There’s a heavy weight on his shoulders for the forseeable future, as Pizarro’s lethargic cameo serves as proof he can’t be considered the option to replace DD.
Was very disappointed with Joe Cole, he contributed little. A return to the days of fancy flicks and tricks with zero end product. Someone needs to have a word. SWP’s finishing proves how much we have / will miss DD. An absolute sitter to miss. One I’m sure even Sheva would have converted.
No real threat from the bench. Pizarro provided nothing. Kalou had one or two bright moments, but through the course of the game, we never really looked like we would have (or deserved to have) scored a goal. The lack of strength in depth is, ultimately, what will cost us. Beyond the first-choice 11, we just dont have the dynamic reserves in place to come on a change the game. Whether this is addressed in January remains to be seen.
We’re approaching a busy time of the season, starved further of the spine of our team. Wednesday will be tough, but I feel we still have an outside chance in the title race, and need to be focussed and prepared for next weekend. Some players need to have a big kick up the ar5e - and start performing.
I think Fergie has got it right on two counts, the head to heads with the top four are going to be significant, and the next 4 games are vitally important.
We need maximum points over the festive period just like our two title winning seasons.
If we have to scrap and dig deep for 1-0 wins it’ll do for me, so fuck this romantic notion of attractive football, I want the points!
An interesting summary Nick. I think this more than any other game has shown that despite us raising the bar, the others (Manure and Arse) have caught us up and indeed overtaken us. I think the failing we have is a dependency on a set of players for which we don’t appear to have any young backups, the squad lacks the depth of before. Drogba is 30 and looking less inclined to be with us next year, Sheva is 31 and looking 41 at times and Lamps, only 29 but where is the competition for his place? I hold out hope that the return of Riccy, Essien (albeit for a short while), Ballack and Drogs might help, but I think this will be a transition season and Grant will need to buy well to take us back to the dominant heights we reached before. I remember Hansen and Chiles less than 2 years ago bemoaning the fact that we looked set to dominate for 10 years,, but the truth is to get to the consistent levels of Manchester Utd and Arsenal over a decade or more we will need to bring some more youth at the level of Obi into the side.
We played well at times, but if we’re honest we could have got the draw or just as easily lost 4-0 such was the chances Arsenal spurned at the end. I remain unconvinced about Grant’s ability to be more successful than the one man who changed the culture of the club and whilst RA might like the massively lower profile that Mogaden Man Grant portrays, I fear it will be like before, low profile, hence no stories and no trophies. He better buy good in the summer, and show some of the academy a chance or else I fear some time in the wilderness.
Arsenal never really looked like scoring? We had 2 goals disallowed and forced a few blinding saves out of your keeper!
Mikel was your best player by a mile, he is a dirty bastard though.
I think the footballing gods struck down Terry for his hack on Cesc.
Fat Frank went missing and Haim was poor when he came on. He looks out of his depth big time as does Shevchenko. Kalou was your most worrying player, he was the only one who looked like he wanted it.
You missed another point in ‘the bad. Frank lampard shoving the ball boy. Appalling.
can anybody on this site get their heads out of their respective arses? What game were you fellas watching? Arsenal should of been 3 nil up… both disallowed goals looked good.. a very dubious offside call and the imaginary foul by Adebayor saved your blushes! Admittedly SWP and Shev maybe should of done better with your ONLY 2 clear cut chances your lot produced…how many point blank saves did Cech do.. and how John ‘perfect role model’ Terry stayed on the pitch and not get a red for ‘bravely’ kickin Fabregas while on the floor is a total mystery.. Eboue foul was bad but he asked for it! You can’t bully your way to the title anymore… you can’t buy class and looks like you can’t buy the history you all crave as well..!
You think we deserved a point? Like I deserve a Lamborghini for Christmas! - unfortunately, like me Chelsea will have to earn it.
JC - and it appears you cannot buy inspiration or originality. Take it to Football365, we don’t deal with children here.
Peter.. i agree you don’t deal with children.. the red and white kids from arsenal proved that yesterday… just be happy it was only 1 nil!
Positive spin: Arsenal got lucky yesterday. A Cech goalkeeping error is as rare as rocking horse s**t and Gallas happened to be in the right spot to take advantage.
Negative spin: lost to Man U, now lost to Arsenal. Would that have happened under JM? Is the price of being more entertaining that we are going back to the old Ranieri days?
Yer pays yer money, yer takes yer choice!
JC. Fuck off and read the review again. Unlike your juvenile little Arseblog, ours welcomes debate and conversation from people with one more brain cell than an amoeba, whci rules you out I’m afraid. Yes, maybe it could have been 3-0, but dubious offside” as shown on MOTD? Yeah if being a yard offside is dubious then thats like saying 40mph in a 30 limit is only just speeding. Twat. And a foul is a foul. You lot dished out as much as you got yesterday which means you’ve MOVED closer to our way of winning like Labour moved to the right and stole the Tories thunder. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
JT’s tackle on Fibreglass? He went for and won the ball you fuckwit. Any follow through was patently unintended and unavoidable, whereas that vicious toerag Eboue tried to cripple Terry and made NO attempt on the ball. I wish Joe had broken his fucking neck. It would have been worth taking a red card for. Still, good old Fibreglass made up for it at the end with his own scissor tackle. Now, you total knob, ask yourself what would have happened had Essien done that to Fibreglass? The press and media would have held trial by replay all week until something was done. But because you and Fergies lot have such a love in with the press, it’ll be nothing but praise about how the two teams from Rednose and Whinger can play the rough stuff when required like some jolly old boys team from the 50’s. When we do it of course, we’re nothing but a bunch of heinous clogging interlopers with no right to be playing the same league as you. I think Liverpool even know how we feel. People like you may just do the impossible and make me want Liverpool to win something ahead of you. And you don’t know just how big an achievement that might be. I fucking hate Arsenal, always have done, alway will do, but your comments alone have taken me away from anything like being rational in my hatred.
I see the Arsenal dross have turned up to gloat, lets wait and see if you win anything by the end of the season, then you just might be entitled to come back and rub it in.
Okay, long post here.
Well, what that showed to me is that we have become an ‘ifs ‘ and ‘buts’ teams, bit like Liverpool. We would have won IF we’d not had five international captains missing BUT we did well anyway. Unfortunately, that isn’t what wins the trophies.
It was a very testy game, very old school, and enjoyable for it. Adeboyer set the tone with a nasty tackle on Ashley Cole that smacked of revenge and Arsenal seemed very up for it, as if after being out-muscled by Boro and Newcastle they were going to get their revenge in first, and like all teams not used to that style of play, it often exhibited itself in malicious challenges. But the ref did well - the alternative would have been to send Adeboyer off (which he arguably should have done), and then get accused of spoiling the game. He booked everybody that should have been booked.
Terry was playing well until his injury - the tackle on Fabregas looked bad, but not worthy of any more than a booking; he did after all get the ball and avoid hitting Fabregas. Eboue’s revenge challenge was his second in a week - more that Terry has committed in a year: he really is a nasty piece of work.
Even after that, when we had our two reserve centre-backs on the pitch no Essien and no Droba, a full-strength Arsenal were distinctly unambitious. They didn’t have a chance until they scored and then were out of it in the second half as we swarmed all over them, bar the final few minutes when we were exhausted and they were breaking at will (bit like when we lost to Villa earlier this year). The second of their two disallowed goals looked legit to me, but 1-0 was fair.
As for Lampard, his job was to track back with Fabregas; he did well for the most part. Why do you think the chippy git was so quiet (when he wasn’t hacking down ex-team-mates from behind)?
So, yes, a decent performance in the circumstances and we showed that the much-praised Arsenal aren’t all that great - I definitely see United as heavy favourites for the title and don’t think they are that good either.
Short version: we were never going to score because we all knew that Sheva in 4-3-3 doesn’t work. All of us, except the manager.
And well said Tony just read your reply. I just watched the so called two footed tackle by JT on that sly little shit Fibreglass! Watch it again you morons it was one footed he got the ball and his momentum to him into the little twat!
And as I mentioned in a previous blog last night his scissor tackle on Ashley should have been a straight red and a 3 game ban!
Tony, don’t bother with them. Gooners can’t be taken seriously cos they’ve no idea what being a football supporter is really like, they’ve never experienced a proper footballing low in their lives. They’re a nice bunch, but pathetic with it, as wet as anything. The stick they gave Ashley was comical.
nice one Tony for staying rational… i guess thats about as rational as John ‘perfect role model’ Terry and Lumplard etc are when they have their ’sensible’ conversations with referees on a regular basis when they have the gall to use the laws of the game against a blue shirt!
‘JT’s tackle on Fibreglass? He went for and won the ball you fuckwit’ - errr thats the same challenge that the ref gave a yellow for? if that was anybody else i t would of been red.. the fact that he play as england capt allows him to get away with it.. the same way shearer got away with his filthy brand of football…
You can’t get away from the facts of the match mate - still made ONLY two real clear cut attempts in 95 mins..(SWP’s and Shevas)and is that really a sign of a class team that cost over 300 million against a side written off at the start of the season and assembled for a fifth of that price…
one more thing.. who was done better ouuta the deal…AFC or CFC in the gallas + millions/cashley cole deal.. think the answer was loud and clear yesterday.. Gallas gets the winner and Clichy gets man of the match…on the winning side.. and Cashley finishes wiv a slap on fab and a two fingered salute..
can’t buy class!
Also, nice to see Gallas’ celebration was muted. I can’t bring myself to hate him, he was a cracking player for us and another victim of the politics between JM and RA that have set us back 18 months.
Oh, and agree generally that Mikel was again fabulous. Hilarious to see Flamini try to kick him and just bounce off. Maka’s selection meant he could play a lot further up the pitch and I’d like to see him doing more of that in future.
mostly a pretty accurate review of the game, with one glaring exception: to me, ben haim looked TERRIBLE. besides being pushed for the goal that counted (yes, not really his fault, although i doubt terry would be moved so easily), both disallowed goals were clearly caused by ben haim’s ineptitude. he’s lost out there, and i can’t help but consider him this year’s boulahrouz — hopefully he’ll be out just as quickly.
I suppose you’re right there Peter in not bothering with them. I suppose we can take it as a compliment in the way their players and fans celebrated the win.
After all it’s taken them eleven games to get the victory over us, they must have felt like they’ve already won the title!
When we were running the game in the second half it was perfectly clear that they are still shit scared of our power, although that will fade if they get a result at the Bridge.
The thing that most bugs them is that the classless upstart Mourinho with his philistine football got the better of sophisticated professor Wenger every single time. They hate it. And there’s nothing they can ever do about it.
One more thing.. I was at the emirates yesterday and yet again your team wins the award for the worse support this season.. just didn’t hear your lot.. ‘we forgot that you were here’ was more relevant than ever yesterday!
Peter ‘they’ve never experienced a proper footballing low in their lives’ - yes i have… i remember the barren years for AFC in the 70’s and 80’s.. not to mention watching a machine like chelsea built with a corrupt oil baron’s millions win back to back leagues playin ‘football’ that made George Grahams teams look exciting!
And.. you make me laff Clive.. 11 games.. err not quite.. but who cares..so what! Didn’t you have to wait since 1955..and the arrival of dodgy rubles to win another title? thats what matters.. trophies..
The barren years - what three cup finals in a row and no hint of relegation? Barren years! Don’t make me laugh. You lot are the Royal Family of football, there’s really no point in talking about real support cos you ain’t got a clue - do you really want us to start comparing scars? Get back on your cloud you soppy sod. Enjoy it and don’t try to deny it.
Nobody takes your fans seriously for a reason. I mean, have you actually got a single song that you invented yourselves? An Arsenal anthem that wasn’t written by Jimmy Hill? Pathetic.
Gooner here - Mikel was very impressive. Watching him, Anderson and Fabregas over the next few seasons will be a joy.
Some gooners find Eboue cringe-worthy at best. Just surf a few Arsenal sites. But leaving his boot in on Terry was not provoked by Terry’s aggressive and slightly out of control lunge from behind on Fabregas who was already falling down. Rather, I’d suggest, on the touchline a bit later Terry lunged in again on an arsenal player (I forget on whom), then, when he was on the ground he lashed out at Eboue who was coming to collect the loose ball.
One way of seeing it is that Terry was too emotional, too determined, a bit like Martin Keown of old, and even when Eboue left his boot in it was Terry’s over-doing-it, aggressive blast-it-out-of touch clearance to make his who’s-your-daddy macho point that was partly the reason he went off (which he has every right to do, but isn’t the smartest of ways to protect oneself).
Cashly opened his yob to the press and publishers about ex-teamates and can’t cope with what he stirred up. Silly boy. Terry ratched up the physicality of the match and equally couldn’t live with it. (Ben Haim was done for two good goals.) I would suggest that while some players thrive on arrogance, for a time, it ultimately brings them down.
It may happen to Fabregas, too, one day. This is part of the attraction of Sport - to witness the fall of the mighty. It’s the only thing Spurs fans live for these days.
Eboue already seems intent on authoring his own downfall.
corrupt oil baron… dodgy rubles… we forgot that you were here…
JC, I’m sure you’re enjoying yourself but are you actually capable of intelligent comment or do you just speak in tired, inaccurate cliches?
And your definition of ‘footballing low’ is basically not winning any trophies? Good god, you really have absolutely no idea, do you?
Who is the stupid JC poking his ugly Arse head in a place not wanted…twat know when you are not wanted…
I hate Arsenal with my all and whole…I know you will win nothing this season like the season before…You stupid hopeless shitfull donkeys should pray for a better return when you come visiting the bridge trust me on that occassion should the ref forget his redcards know you are leaving with a number of your stupid wanking players in casts…so help you lot..stupid wankers…sod off JC and find those places you are wanted like the place where the sun does not shine…
sorry guys…I retire…
Your views are (as I would expect) one sided so when you have a go at the arsenal fan who commented …….
You could have said
The Independent, Jason Burt
although he certainly was failed by Terry who, for the 39 minutes he participated in this encounter, was something of a raging, pumped-up liability.
Terry could have been red-carded before he limped off, having deliberately slammed the ball into Cesc Fabregas as he lay prone Рhe was cautioned Рand then kicked out at Ebou̩
Chelsea had to respond and dropped the tactic of pumping the ball long
There were opportunities for Arsenal who finally found some of their free-flowing routine. Robin van Persie, on as a substitute, side-footed over before Cech produced a wonderful double-save from Van Persie and Fabregas. He was beaten, by Adebayor, but the goal was wrongly disallowed for a perceived foul on Ben Haim
I have looked at the other comments you have quoted and again very selective. So I think its a bit rich to have a go at the Arsenal guys comments.
Chelsea are a great team and if they invest another few 100 mill then who knows.
JC learn to write and spell properly my 13 year old has a better grasp of English.
And on some of your points… yes it is eleven games 5 wins 5 draws 1 defeat
Don’t be too quick to go accusing us of having so called “corrupt oil barons money” you may eventually end up with one.
And as far as our support, the allocation is only three thousand for away supporters… not much when you consider the capacity at your ground is sixty thousand.
But I’m bored now, so go along and play with someone your own age.
‘Rather, I’d suggest, on the touchline a bit later Terry lunged in again on an arsenal player (I forget on whom), then, when he was on the ground he lashed out at Eboue who was coming to collect the loose ball.’
Slick, I missed this (although there was a challenge on Adeboyer that was itself revenge for Adeboyer’s slap at Terry and earlier lunge at Cole - it was that sort of game).
We’ve been saying on here for a while that Terry needs a long lay off to sort his head and body out; his performances have improved considerably in recent weeks but his attitude is ugly. He’s never previously been a dirty player at all, so I’m surprised at him. I think a case can be made that the injuries have taken their toll and his body isn’t responding as it should, and he’s over-compensating by acting like a cock. He was actually a very disciplined player until a year ago.
Fabregas is too good a player to get involved with that sort of silly bugger behaviour. He single-handedly caused the brawl at the Carling Cup final so clearly has a problem with our lot. I thought it was admirable given that Ashley was clearly targeted by your lot, he kept his cool — until the 94th minute… Nearly Ashley, nearly.
Wenger will surely show Eboue the door. You can tolerate that sort of behaviour in somebody like Vieira, but Eboue isn’t good enough to be worth the bother.
Slick… it’s good to see some sensible comments from an Arsenal fan, you’ll find we always welcome good and intelligent debate and banter on this site.
As far as your comments on JT and the tone set in some of the tackles, I think you might find a certain Mr. Adeybyor and his tackle on Ashley might have been where it all started.
“..So I think its a bit rich to have a go at the Arsenal guys comments.”
Of course. As it’s a Chelsea blog, we should be sticking up for them.
One thing that has left me perplexed all weekend, is that, for the life of me, I still can’t see Joe Cole make any connection with Eboue at all.
I’ve watched it numerous times, and can only assume his ‘extravagant’ simulation is to blame for his injury.
Pity. He’s such a loveable chap.
Clive -
in response…
Dodgy oil baron’s money - well it hasn’t happen yet.. and can’t really see it to be honest.. its about the long game NOT the short term fix.. as evident in all aspects of AFC from player purchases to the general long term business deals in place..
I think you will find that its the same allocation for ALL away fans.. therefore a fair way to compare.. and chelsea away fans are truly the least vocal I have seen/heard this year!
On the subject of history - well.. history between the two clubs - before Jose arrived AFC were your bogey side and would generally win at a canter! I believe CFC have only beaten AFC 3 times since Wenger’s arrival in 1996 - impressive history it is not.. what is impressive history is winning a championship in EVERY decade bar one (1960’s) since the 1931…we have a banner running around the stands at the emirates to show just how much trophy laden history AFC has created if you need reminding..
there is, will be… and always has been ONE true team in london!
JC - you sound like a Scouser mate, give it a rest.
Does anyone here believe the two finger saluter Cashley Cole is as good as he was in a red n white shirt? After a season and three months he really has gone backwards… still I am sure he is now happy with that extra 5k week he was desperately needing to keep him off the water and gruel!
Gael Clichy was man of the match - enuff said!
> we have a banner running around the stands at the emirates
Is Henry Norris mentioned on it? Thought not…
JC Yawn…… I think most Arsenal fans are clones of scousers, they keep banging on about history as well!
“As far as your comments on JT and the tone set in some of the tackles, I think you might find a certain Mr. Adeybyor and his tackle on Ashley might have been where it all started”
@ Clive:
You know, it’s funny (or sad). I assume that Cashley is fair game and everyone should know this, even his current teamates.
That a whack on his knee from Adebayor isn’t a problem for anyone. It’s got nothing to do with Chelsea. Why would Terry or anybody feel the need to come to his defense, given he’s indefensible?
But of course Terry would feel that need, given that part of Cole’s reason for wanting to transfer to Chelsea was to be with other English lads. So Terry must see him as one of his own, etc.
@ Peter: Ok, I’ll say it: Fair play to Cashley, he did nearly make it to the final whistle, and even looked a bit of his old self in the final third. Reminded me of the days when we had your lot uder our thumb for 18 years or whatever it was. By the way, where is Gudjohnson these days? And didn’t Wayne Bridge pop up with that assist? Funny old game. Laters.
JC said
>>>I was at the emirates yesterday and yet again your team wins the award for the worse support this season.. just didn’t hear your lot.. ‘we forgot that you were here’ was more relevant than ever yesterday!>>>
1.) Is this not a bit rich coming from a fan who presumably visited the Highbury Library? The vast and wide open spaces of The Emirates is hardly Anfield or OT in terms of noise now is it?
2.) What do you think our fans will do when Billy turns up at the home game. I think you’ll find there are some that will give him stick, but an awful lot will also applaud him as thanks for everything he gave us.
Which already shows a difference in …ahem…”class” dontcha think?
Slick - I like the comparison to Keown, who was a bloody hard but determined player who never let a lack of pace or ability stop him doing a good job. I agree JT is a little over-emotional at the moment but that might be the frustration of an injury dogged year and no real run in the team. All this talk from the press of replacing JT as England captain makes me laugh. Do they seriously think Captain Fuckwit from Anfield, with his 8 year old brain could motivate the players like JT does? I mean look at the great job he did against Croatia and Russia huh?
I can see either Arsenal or Manure slipping up, but NOT both and even if we beat them at Fortress Bridge we’ll only make up 3 points. Like I’ve said before, I think this season is the time to concentrate on the CL, sit happily in 3rd, maybe 2nd in the PL and re-jig the squad in the summer.
The Arsenal side that won on Sunday saw the return of three recently injured players in Hleb, Flamini and Fabregas - probably Arsenal’s most influential players this season, but it was clear that while they were all very much motivated none of them were 100% fit, which led to an under-par Arsenal performance. The team’s collective passing accuracy and rhythm was not as good as it has been in many games this season as a result. Arsenal have in recent weeks also missed Robin Van Persie, who looked very dangerous when he came on. Had these players been fully fit with a couple of games played then I think the scoreline would have been much worse for Chelsea.
As it turns out Gallas was the man that made the difference as so often happens in these games the ex-player gets a goal against his old side. Unfortunately for Chelsea Cole is not the player he was at Arsenal and was never going to replicate the Gallas effort. Arsenal were happy to see Cole walk out because they knew they had Clichy waiting in the wings and he is better now than Cole ever was or will be. Chelsea losing Gallas however hurt them a great deal - he has not been replaced and nor will it be easy to do so. Just look at how he leads the young Arsenal players and yep - he scores plenty of goals when it matters. Awesome!
Arsenal at full strength this season can beat anyone and really let’s face it the PL is now a two horse race and Chelsea will have to battle it out with Portsmouth, Man City and Liverpool for third.
Does Grant have the same tactical nous as Jose? It certainly doesn’t look like it … we shall see what he does in the transfer window but he is not the man to bring further success to the club. I predict a cull of players at the end of the season, as Abramovich chases the dream of playing like Arsenal, along with the departure of a few of Jose’s boys leading to a period of transition for Chelsea right through next season, then a new manager and finally things will balance themselves out with Chelsea slugging it out for CL qualification with the rest of the no-hopers.
You’ve had your moment - it’s over.
dear dear - this blog is turning into a scrap just like on the pitch.
Anyhow looking forward, our goalkeeper is interchangeable, our defence is interchangeable, our midfield is interchangeable but in attack, despite the millions, we’ve only got one bloke who knows how to score, and he’s injured then off on holidays. But if we can get max points in the next 4 games and sign a goalscorer in January, who hits the ground running, then all is not lost.
Sorry to appear even handed but I was impressed with the Emirates, better than Wembley in my view, although a bit miffed I had to buy 4 doughnuts when I only wanted one.
JC _ I don’t think Cole or Gallas are yet playing as well regularly for their new clubs as they did their old, but both were fine yesterday. Clichy man of the match? Hmm, he didn’t have a lot to do really and was caught out of position a few times. He didn’t come forward as much as usual, either. He’s certainly a fine player though, although given that your defensive record is the worst of the big four, he can’t be all that. I’d probably take Evra and Cole over him in any big match.
I’d have said the best players were Flamini or Toure for you, Mikel or Alex for us.
here stop saying chelsea were good and unlucky ,they werent at all accept it!!!!!!!!!!! they created 1 really good chance in shaunwright phillips and blew it whereas arsenal had the ball in the net 3 times !!!!!!! 2 dissallowed whereas only 1 should of been ,adebayors goal was fine should of been allowed!!!!!!!!arsenal also created 4 to 5 absolute sitters and missed . arsenal should of won about 3 nil at least ,were all over chelsea who couldnt cope with arsenals fast counter attacking so chelsea fans stop being in denial arsenal were far superior and chelsea deserved nothing out of the game !!!!!!!!CLICHY YE GOOD THING ,DESTROYED CASHLEY AND GALLAS HAHAHAHAHAHAHA CHELSEA U STUPID BASTERDS!!!!!!!!!
Johnathan - Nope there is no mention fo Henry Norris but there bloody well should be - maybe even another bust!
1. He hired Herbert Chapman.. the best footballing innovator of his generation…
2. For getting promotion back to Div 1 in 1919.. at the expense of Spurs.. morally dubious maybe, but hey it was spurs!
Oh yes JD.. the fine upstanding man that was Henry Norris. And they have the cheek to call us corrupt, selective memories when it comes to history I think!
AND THE FELLA WHO SAID CHELSEA WILL NOT BOO GALLAS , DID GALLAS WRITE A BOOK CRITISIZING UR TEAM ??NO ,CASHLEY DID ND HES A PRICK FOR IT PS CHELSEA PLAY SHIT FOOTBALL
JC the first thing you’ve said we can agree on it was only Spurs!
Tony… we have always applauded ex players that have left for lack of opportunities or whatever.. but to applaud a greedy man with a penchant for tapped up hotel meetings with no sense of decency or loyalty - not to mention his soul selling ‘book’.. well that would not be classy.. but just plain stoopid!
For a blog that is supposed to encouraged sensible debate, what a let down 95% of these comments are. Unfortunately, what started off as a fairly balanced yet, as one would expect, slightly biased account of the game, degenerated into a free for all with blind loyalty to one’s team leads to more and more vicious condemnation of opposition fans.
For what it’s worth, I thought neither sides were at their best. Arsenal’s returnees were very much off the pace and I rather think Wenger bottled it a little by only playing with one striker at home. Chelsea displayed limited ambition but kept the ball reasonably well and could be relied on to do what they do best, which is set a solid back 7 intended to minimise damage and rely on a creative front 4 to win the set pieces or launch rapid counter-attacks.
As you’d expect from this type of tight game, a mistake made the difference and both goalkeepers otherwise made excellent saves from a number of chances for either side.
As for the niggliness and “tastiness” of some of the challenges, you’d certainly expect it, given the previous that exists between these 2 sides. I don’t really care who deserved what because the reality is that both teams could have ended up with 9 men on the pitch for a variety of offences. It was high tempo stuff in a game of high stakes for two of the leading sides in the country and it was always going to be fiery.
Hey Nick I thought you were going to omit these morons from the blog that keep their caps lock on?
Did you know Gilbert was an anagram of
Brainless scum sucking fuckwit?
Gallas has had a fair amount to say about us, but you know what? Most of us couldn’t care less. He did a good job for us and it was appreciated. UNLIKE you lot we can happily accept that players may feel the need to move on, hence when Didier goes next year we’ll salute him accordingly. As long as he doesn’t go to Arsenal or, god forbid, Spurs. But Carvalho is the better centre back and I’d play Ashley. Bridge, Ferreira or Belletti in the backs positions before Gallas. He was an OK stand in in those positions. If he hadn’t left then he’d have had a great run alongside Riccy last year and this year.
@ JC - Christ this hurts…but at the expense of Spurs is very funny. Corrupt but funny.
i’m an arsenal fan but i shall try to be reasonable. Eboue can be an embarassment at times and, although i didn’t think it was that bad a tackle at the time, replays show that he left the foot in (although this is usually the kind of play teams such as bolton use as their entire game plan, so is this still wrong?) & from your point of view no worse than the challenge that mikel got sent off for at OT (again, i felt that was a very harsh decision personally). regarding the terry challenge on cesc, the whole point was that the ref had actually blown for a freekick before terry had left the ground- and surely any tackle where the player leaves the ground, he is no longer considered to be in control and that is deemed as red card offfence? finally, rosicky was offside, but there was nothing wrong with adebayor’s goal.
by the way, you boys shouldn’t lose any heart, after all, all three teams still have to play you at stamford bridge and all the games take place in march/april so you’ll have essien, drogba et al back.
you have to admit, it was a damn sight better to watch than the earlier game!!!
@ Ed - when people come here and “flame” what do you expect? Do you really think nwe’ll try and argue intelligently against the likes of Gilbert? Have a look at some of the articles and posts, then compare this to Arseblog (the alleged pinnacle of footballing blogs) and then come back here and tell us how bad we are all behaving. If you look carefully you might even spot some harmony from the flamers creeping in.
@ JC - I do see your point, but just wonder for how long it needs to be kept going. Frank Lampard has put up with similar from West Spammers, despite leaving because the club sacked his Uncle and Dad for piss-poor reasons. Ashley Cole made a choice, and really, do you belive every Arsenal player now at the club would NOT listen to someone offering £150k per week for their services. It’s very rare for any footballer to betroth themselves to one club, everyone has a price. it’s human nature I’m afraid.
***STOP PRESS***
Just got text from CF - JT has 3 broken bones in right foot including 3rd metatarsal - it’ll be a minimum of 6 weeks. Shit.
Ed, agreed, although I think part of the reason your returnees were off the pace was the good job done on them by our midfield. If only we’d had Essien out there as well. I was expecting a lot more from Arsenal but Wenger always plays cautiously against us these days - the CC Final aside.
I really do think United are the best side in the Premiership by a small distance and the table will reflect that by March. We’re out of it, but with all three ‘challengers’ still to come to the Bridge and the fact that our injuries surely cannot get any worse (five international captains missing yesterday), we can still play a part. The rivalry that has built up again between our teams in the past year could well come back to bite you on the arse.
After yesterday’s show, we certainly won’t fear you.
‘Just got text from CF’
Cesc Fabregas?
Ooops - CFC that was meant to be - I’d love a comment editor!
John Terry could be the new Ian Hutchinson (RIP).
Either it’s brittle bones or more likely he puts his body in places where he shouldn’t.
“by the way, you boys shouldn’t lose any heart, after all, all three teams still have to play you at stamford bridge and all the games take place in march/april so you’ll have essien, drogba et al back.”
Danny… most of us lost heart back in September, only time will tell if our “Ordinary One” is up to the task.
Tony, I thought these comments were moderated. By allowing these to appear, then it surely makes things worse? Anyhow, no point persisting with this.
Bad news about John Terry for you boys, as for us, Eboue will be out for a while too no doubt so, in an unfortunate way, justice was served.
I just wish that we’d been knocked out of the Carling Cup sooner because no doubt Blackburn will ensure we go home with nothing more than three more players in the treatment room.
I agree that Man Utd look the best side in the country right now but, like all of us at the top, are only 2 or 3 injuries away from disaster. I think their defeats at City and Bolton without Ronaldo and/or Vidic, illlustrated that.
As there are so many Arsenal fans frequenting the blog at the moment, I thought I’d ask a simple enough question.
We’ve had this debate here, and in some ways we’re still having it.
Would you still be happy if you continue to see your team play… so called pretty football (beauty is is the eye of the beholder after all) and win nothing in the next few years?
clive, i have to say…..no. i was a fan of george graham and was happy when we won the league but even i admit that the games were often a tough watch. but ultimately we remeber the fact we won the league in 89 and 91- all the pretty football in the world is only as good as the results it brings. but to claim that arsenal play pretty football without reward is a misnomer- sure, in the last three years we haven’t won anything but we did get to a champs league final and also to a carling cup final (for what it’s worth) but we were playing ‘beautiful football’ when we won the double in 2002 and went unbeaten in 2004- we were even doing it back in 1998!!! the problem in the last few years is that we have lacked the steel to back it up but i feel that this year it’s there again- not every game this year has been pretty but we are top.
One Gooner’s thoughts. All the digs at Mourinho for playing “boring” football were making a mountain out of a molehill, or grasping at the one critical point that a simple-minded press could make. In fact, a simple-minded, xenophobic press, given that tight, high probablity football is associated with foreigners - Italians, Argentines, and other cynical latin-types. The only relevant point IMHO was that with all that money he could have played any way he wanted, but he rarely gambled, frustrating us and then boring us in equal measure. That is what stuck in my craw.
There is a certain moral victory, though, in playing attractive football, for me anyway, but we gooners all wanted more steel and backbone last season and now a lot of us think the balance is right. Win more of the individual battles, play some cracking footie. Even grind down a few teams to kill them off 1-0 in the final 15 minutes, a la Chelsea. If the trophies don’t come in the next few years, ask me again.
Slick - some interesting points; but the one thing that is rarely mentioned in terms of Mourinho and the way he played (and it was never just ‘boring’ percentage footabll - the first title win was far from it) was the situation he found himself in - one almost unprecedented in English football; he simply had to deliver results and deliver them quickly. 3 or 4 years to win a trophy simply wouldn’t have done. The money invested and the goals of the men in suits demanded victory which is what he gave them. It has to be said that for them to then complain about the manner in which he delivered what they wanted might be a tad churlish, but ‘they’ aren’t like the rest of us - we’d probably be happy with the odd cup every now and again (I suspect true fans of most clubs would take that if push came to shove), but it’s about global ambitition now, not local pride or other such trivia that people used to care about.
I’d say gooners are pretty lucky - Wenger has time and support from above to allow him to rebuild a side and as he’s a very good manager, he will more than likely eventually deliver. But will it stay that way in the long term? Only time will tell.
Peter,
William Gallas going to Arsenal is not another victim of politics between JM and RA. He himself wanted to leave Chelsea with excuses ranging from ‘wanting to play abroad’, ‘pay rise - new improved contract’, ‘wanting to play with another European giant (Milan at one time)’ and of course did not want to be a utility player even though he was fantastic at it. I like him when he was at Chelsea but when he spent half of his final season with Chelsea whining and moaning, I thought it was better for him to leave. Yes, it is a loss to us. I know for a fact that JM never wanted him to leave. Little that I know he would end up at Arsenal. May be because there is no sign of Englishness in the team make him feel like he is playing abroad. Anyway, I’m not bothered that he scored. It was obvious that he tried to control his feeling but at the end of the game, judging by the look of his face I can see how satisfying it was for him to win and be the one that scored the winner.
Don’t worry me fellow Chelsea fans. We can still win the title. Come on Chelsea!!
And to Nick, I couldn’t agree more with your assessment this time.
Don’t worry MY fellow Chelsea fans. We can still win the title. Come on Chelsea!!
And to Nick, I couldn’t agree more with your assessment this time.
Debating style vs results is interesting but can we return to the central point?
Are Chelsea better for not selling donuts or Arsenal for selling them but forcing you to buy 4?
Only if said donuts contain homemade organic jam, or the cheap overseas stuff some clubs stick in them!
The choice of not selling donuts is wise on our part because despite the cosmoploitan nature of our club for many years now, the food has remained firmly in the early 1970’s with the exception that the burgers are at least (over)cooked nowadays. Most of the pies would make a good foundation for West Spam fans to mount their wheelie-homes on. I went to buy a bag of wine gums in the ground a month ago…£4! I reckon I could have bought Maynards for that alone. Do they sell bags of wine gums at The Emirates?
Tony, Nick, Peter, other rational people — any of you have kids? I have twin six-year-old boys. They are pretty bright and nice-natured on the whole but occasionally of course say idiotically confrontational things, at which point one just ignores them. Maybe one could agree to treat the moron element here the same way?
Nice to see Arse fans with brains popping by to comment though.
With everything that happened at the start of the season, plus the ANC this year, nothing (certainly not a 6-0 thrashing of a team playing horribly badly, for example) has changed my view that if we finish in the top four this year, and can get the rudiments of a sensible policy of bringing up youger talent in place, it won’t be a bad year.
Funny to remember now how at the start of the season the assumption was that the improvement/cash injection in teams like Pompey, Everton, Man City, Villa, would mean that more teams would take points off each other than has been the case. Whereas we seem to have ended up with a pretty clear top two yet again — and indeed the same old top two we had to watch exchanging the title for years. Still, it’s only one weekend I suppose, perhaps things will turn out exciting after all.
Chelsea bloggers-
This isn’t entirely related to the match yesterday, but I must say that I’m truly impressed with the atmosphere here in the comments. As an Arsenal fan, I came here because I wanted to see what the other side had to say about the match, and I’m glad I found such level-headed, intelligent comments that provide excellent food for thought. With the exception of Slick, I’m embarrassed by the childish showing of fellow Gooners.
That being said, maybe I can look at things a little differently because not only am I in the US, but I’m a relatively recent Gooner as well (we all have to start somewhere, right?). Either way, I’m bookmarking this site as we speak…
Welcome KP glad to see you’re not nuts :)
(sorry bad joke)
We often disagree and argue amongst ourselves, but to have some of the childish rubbish from gloating fans just sticks in my throat a little.
I’d like to think we’re a friendly bunch and welcome most fans, whatever their team colours.
Boy…
From the flury of ‘alien’ comments here, its so obvious that this win meant the world to the arse, so obvious that the blind man round the corner can see…
Winning 1-0 at home, with all the players that they would want to pick from, and against a chelsea side without its spine…yet there’s this mammoth orgasm shaking the emirates to its very fresh and undepreciated foundation…do i sense a complex problem here or what?
For once i saw a goners back four that refused to venture forward and join/initiate the attack (save for that point that gallas went for the cornerkick). Pray…was it out of fear? for a forward line that had no Drogba? or a midfield that had no Essien?…
Clichit as man of the match? to pass a point to Ashley or what?… cos i think Almunia did much more to sustain that result than a Clichit that was pinned to the perimeters of his 18 yards box for the duration of the match…Pple wake up…Its still a long long way to go…all that talk about ’steel’ in the goners is coming too early in the day…
My hat to the boys in blue, who despite the quake and tremors since September, are still very much in this race amongst others…
Lets try and hold our own in the next couple of matches, get one solid striker in January, and show the other teams in the premiership what a ‘title fight’ is all about…
Always Blue!
Thanks Clive. The way I see it, in my present situation, rivalries are great fun , but affecting deep-seated hatred for any team would come off as a little fake and forced.
My extreme dislike for Cristiano Ronaldo however…that came naturally and pretty quickly…
I think there are a long list of people who have a dislike of CR so please form an orderly queue.
As good as a player he is, he did go missing yesterday in Utd’s emphatic 1-0 win. On the plus side it’s always a pleasure to see Liverpoo lose!
I’ve just watched the re-run on Chelsea TV. I didn’t think the tackle on JT was too bad.
However the worst tackle of the game was Fabregas on Ashley in the final seconds - he should of got a red for that!
When are we going to get rid of Sheva? Chelsea without Drogba looks like cereal without milk. Spend the money for Anelka in January, beg Didier to stay, and send Sheva to Los Angeles to play with Becks!
Well it looks like the dust has settled and the abuse has subsided from some of the Arse fans. On the plus side in the grand scale of things after the weekend, we have made inroads into the gooners lead.
They were 8 points ahead and could have been 11 points if they’d won their game in hand, so 6 points isn’t a disaster. They still have to travel to us, and Mould Trafford so as the old cliche goes… there are a lot more twists and turns to come before the seasons end.
As long as JT’s spell on the sideline coincides with Riccy C returning, we’ll be no worse off.
JT has looked short of his usual self for some time now. Just a pity it’s 6 weeks, then another couple getting match fit. He’ll miss Capello’s first England game, but that’s pretty pointless anyway.
Just a shame Eboue isn’t out for 6 weeks too. It’s the least the filthy so-and-so deserves.
Basically Mourinho came in and raised the bar. Two seasons we rail roaded the premier league. Then as Man U and Arse raised their bars and realised a new team was here for the long haul, we stopped - we bickered and then Mourinho jumped before being pushed - the only reason he brought in free players - sidwell, pizzarro and ben haim was to give him more time. If we all think back - we struggled against both Liverpool and Arse - we were lucky to draw away to Liverpool (a dodgy dive by malouda!!) - only man u did we seem to have the upper hand!! So we are re building this year - we wont win the league - it is 2nd or 3rd but we WILL see the character of those in the team and which need to be replaced. I agree so much with previous comments - though shev has to go and anelka come in, if drogba wants out get adriano once his head is clear and if wright phillips keeps forgetting his shooting boots - forget ronnie buy messi - £100m would be worth it!! Mikel is becoming a legend and Alex is making me less nervous - i did think he might be Titus Bramble in disguise!!
I agree Fifty… Riccy returning plus the continuing impressive Alex we’ll be fine. But we still know it’s upfront where the problems arise, January is becoming more interesting by the day… spend wisely please Avram
Munkeyfeet… I take issue with you regard Malouda and his so called dive. Watch it again, he was eased out of the way I thought fairly. He certainly didn’t appeal for anything, and if Mr Styles had a mad 5 secs giving the penalty then that’s not Malouda’s fault.
And I certainly don’t think we struggled against Arsenal, perhaps we were not at our best against Liverpool but the important thing is we didn’t lose, that’s what counts at the end of the day.
Do you think the FA passed some kind of law 12 months ago that Lord Percy, Terry and Cech wouldn’t be allowed to appear in the same team anymore?
And does anybody still think that Sheva in a 4-3-3 is the way forward when Drogba is absent?
Interesting…
Okay I know I had promised to be away but it was a little too much to take hearing this…
1. Clichy Man of the Match??? Which match?
2. Eboue out for a while? Two days???
3. Terry Fractured in 3 spots? Can’t the FA push the Eboue asbsence a little longer to say 6 weeks as well????
4. Some Gooner fans actually do have a brain… Surprises never seem to end…what good would you expect from the Arse????
5. Some saying the season is over for the blue??? Not yet half way yet…
6. No credit to Avram for the display yet faced with a handicap we have never had against Arsenal…
7. Arsenal at full strength and Chelsea at full strength whom would you give the match????
As per the comments on Mikel…those who know him well will tell you that he’s not started playing to his potentials yet…Make him the playmaker and let him rove in midfield (not in holding role) and you would see the gem Manure fought to keep…
Andy Gray made what I thought was a telling observation on Frank’s lack of forward runs. He pointed out that perhaps he didn’t feel confident enough that Sheva would do enough with ball when hit up to him to flick it on into those areas that Frank gambles on when Drogs is playing.
So in answer to your question Peter… no a 4-3-3 with Sheva isn’t the answer, most people are right in thinking that a 4-4-2 would be better suited to his style. But on saying that is Sheva good enough currently to play at this pace. He looked better on Sunday but still seemed sluggish at times, which might improve if he continues to get a run in the team.
As far as ever seeing Riccy, Terry and Cech in the team again, well that one is certainly baffling, but hey the British public love a conspiracy theory, so lets make one up!
Clive,
You’re right about attackers, but it still leaves us in an awkward position in January.
There are few strikers we’d be able to sign that would not be cup-tied for the Champions League, so we’re relying on what we’ve currently got for this European campaign.
In addition, it then comes down to players wanting to sign for Avram (just remembered something from him Sunday - who still wears a suit, shirt, no tie and has the top button done up ???).
I dont think there are many top-drawer strikers that would be moving in the summer anyway. David Villa yes, but he’ll stay in Spain. Klaas Jan Huntelaar seems to be the likliest candidate with his and Henk Top Cat’s Ajax connection, but there’s nothing concrete to confirm that.
Surely we must have forwards playing for the reserves ?? I know Sinclair and Sahar are out on loan at QPR (not sure if we’ll let them play against us in January), but with Sheva and Pizarro ultimately not doing much up front, where’s the harm in bringing them back and giving them a chance, or one of the other kids like Miroslav Stoch ??
Sinclair is back, Sahar has not impressed at QPR. The rest of our kids seem to be defenders. Stoch is possibly too lightweight still.
I;m convinced we’ll bring in at least one striker in January.
Part of the reason Lampard was quiet on Sunday, was because he was babysitting Fabregas - and the fact Fabregas was equally quiet suggests he was doing a pretty good job.
Carvalho is back. I’m fairly confident with him and Alex as a pairing. Alex is really coming on strong. The only area we are weak is up front, and in the dug out.
“The barren years - what three cup finals in a row and no hint of relegation? Barren years! Don’t make me laugh. You lot are the Royal Family of football, there’s really no point in talking about real support cos you ain’t got a clue - do you really want us to start comparing scars?”
What is this? Four yorkshire men?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqNGhcdtMbc
Arsenal fan here. Eboue is really not a likeable figure so I understand if people from other clus don’t like him either. Not sure if he wanted to injure Terry but he’s usually known from his insufferable antics and won’t be winning the FIFA Fair Play Award any time soon surely.
It would be nice to be able to have a civilized chat between fans of the two clubs but I guess tempers are heated after any hard fought derby.
Well said Nick! Heads nodding.
Mikel was class and amazing, and by far this moment, he is the only one to improve steadily and keep his cool. It would be a draw if it wasn’t for Gallas’ sly and Cech’s misjudgment on this ball and his position and Ben-haim’s height.
What a shame JT picked up another 6-week-out-or-more injury. The spell seems never ending: Riccy, JT, Riccy, JT, Cech, Cudicini, Riccy, JT, A Cole, JT, Cech..
I miss JM. At least he wouldn’t have lost this game, an “ugly” draw at least can earn a point at the Emirates. I don’t care if even to win ugly. At least 1:0 is 3 not 0:1, though “entertaining” in the wrong sense.
So what does anybody know about this guy..
http://www.skysports.com/story.....71,00.html
In the picture he looks what, 12? Oh well, I did want us to invest in youth…
[Incidentally, I see Diarra is now whingeing about not playing enough at the Arse. I guess we now know why José let him go. I suspect Robben was the same, ultimately. José didn't tolerate whingers.]
He looks 12 but he’s 18 and 6 foot 4 inches tall.
Di Santo is a force in the air, He plays as a supporting striker usually! A good signing but I think we should bring up some young midfielders from the reserves!
How come the Arse have got so many youngsters capable of playing at the top level and we haven’t got one?
!
i never understood so called ‘people’ wanting ’sexy’ football. Who gives a shit when the points are in the bag!
With Riccy back and the possibility of Ballack match fit we could do well against Liverpool tonight.
KTBFFH
limetree, i agree that RObben whinged like my ex at a certain time of the month but Diarra is young and talented and not getting a game.
i can understand him wanting a starting place week in week out. He didnt get much of a shot here and i can understand him not wanting to rot on the bench at the arse.
just checked his stats, 6 games this year in the league and 2 as sub..
i think it would be best for him to move to a club pushing for a spot in europe so that he can play more often.
just a thought.
Apologies if someone has already raised this.
We should remember that Eboue raised hands at Pogatetz during the defeat at ‘Boro but no action was taken for an offence which has yielded a red card (as we know) in other games this season. He also kicked out at another ‘Boro player. So, Essien missed this and other games while Eboue gets away for essentially the same offence.
I know it’s neither the first nor last time this will happen and we do benefit from questionable refereeing ourselves - well, sometimes - but galling to know that the lump who kicked Terry out of the game and the next 6 weeks shouldn’t have been on the pitch in the first place.
Clive,
Another one of those supposed amazing South American youngsters we’re close to getting, and therefore we’re guaranteed not to.
I remember a similar thing about the Brazilian Alexandre Pato (sp?) who was coming here and then went to AC Milan. And some other Brazilian - Lulinha, who the press had us believing was living at Stamford Bridge (almost !!), and isn’t here yet and probably wont be.
In my opinion, nothing more than his agent pimping him out to the highest bidding European club, as they all do. I’ll believe it when he’s on the pitch in the blue shirt, but not ’till then.
Glad to here Riccy’s back tonight. Apparently Sinclair may get a game as well. Even Ballack may make an appearance, but I feel that rumour is too far fetched. I’m inclined to believe we’re signing Di Santo more than I believe Ballack will play tonight.
‘How come the Arse have got so many youngsters capable of playing at the top level and we haven’t got one?’
1. Because Wenger is a superb coach and talent-spotter.
2. Because Wenger know when to bring players in and when to move them on.
3. Because Arsenal are a historically stable and very wealthy football club, so have both the means and mentality neccessary for long-term investment.
4. Because Arsenal have been able to spend ten years working on an extremelly good and expensive scouting network while we couldn’t even afford a training ground.
5. Because having brought Arsenal short-term success with players largely inherited from a previous title-winning manager, Wenger was allowed time and money to develop his methods rather than told ‘why haven’t you won the European Cup?’
6. Because Arsenal don’t have an interfering owner who makes ridiculous demands on the most successful manager in the club’s history because of the occasional bit of adverse publicity.
http://www.chelseafc.com/xxche....._2209129_1
When Giles Smith is good, he’s very good.
Yes superb writing from Giles, I suppose it’s going to ruffle a few of the Arsenal’s fans feathers if they’re still peeping in here on the blog.
“Indeed, we probably would have had a point if only Shaun Wright-Phillips hadn’t chosen the moment when he was one-on-one with Almunia in the 74th minute to deliver his first genuinely dangerous cross of the league campaign so far.”
Hehe.
Very good article by Giles.
It’s true how they are painted as the saviours of football. It’s a shame there are so many stupid people who red the red tops and beleive them.
KTBFFH
Unfortunately the Chelsea bloggers are otherwise engaged tonight and so will miss the Liverpool game.
If anybody fancies doing the report, drop me an email. It’s just a case of sending me your good/bad points, a Man of the Match etc. - I’ll add the the rest and post it to the blog. The report can be as brief or as in-depth as you like.
Is there a prize for the best one? A pat on the head maybe, or a tangereen? This is a christmas treat!
Well, slowly and steadily we become Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Now, this clown Avram Grant wants to buy Yakuby. Ask me why? Because this is the only player in EPL that he worked with before. We are one big laughing stock, my friends! Sacking great manager and taking very mediocre!!! Did TSO lost even once to Arse-anal??? Where tactical changes, where neat and clever substitutions??? It is all gone, history!!! Now we have to cope with this Boss Nass - lucklustre, tactically inept manager. Nice football??? Nice football is when we win!!! Lost to two big teams Man Utd and Arse-anal, let’s see him tonight against Looserpool. He simply has not got guts and brain to win the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal and I do not talk about Barcelona and other big teams!!!
I vote for MikeL to do the report, particularly if we lose!
In my opininon in january we should bring in 1. Amauri from Palermo, a powerful target striker who would be a good replacement if the drog leaves! 2. Ever Banega from Boca Juniors (A good center midfield player that could link up well with Lamps or MB!
http://www.goal.com/en/Articol.....oId=519985 We must go for him NOW before Real snatch him from our grasp!
Arsenal were by far the better side, and probably should have won it 2-0 or 3-0.