Who: Arsenal v. Chelsea
What: English Premier League matchday 6
Where: Ashburton Grove, North London, UK
When: 4:30am PST
Referee: Martin Atkinson
TV: ESPN2 HD (USA)
Announcers: Probably Ian Darke and that Liverpool guy who doesn’t like Arsenal much (Steve McManaman)
I hardly think I need to remind anyone, even new Arsenal supporters, that Chelsea Football Club are the scum of the earth. Every component of the whole that comprises Chelsea FC is rotten; the owner has corrupted the very fabric of sport in England — artificially raising the prices other teams pay for transfers and for player salaries, the players are dirty cheats who are captained by a man found guilty of racially abusing another player but who will still play tomorrow as he mulls over an appeal, their fans are horrible people who think that self same John Terry is a “national treasure”, and even their twitter account reads like it’s written by a Yob.
Chelsea are the exact opposite of Arsenal. We are their nemesis and when we beat them, it’s the rightful embodiment of divine justice. That’s why it felt so good to win 5-3 at their hovel last season.
It’s all come full circle for Chelsea. Prior to the match last October, Terry was embroiled in accusations that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand. He played anyway and I have to think that decision would haunt him, if he were a man with a conscience. The Stamford Bridge faithful before the match waived banners supporting their hero. And when he scored off a corner on the death of the first half, the crowd erupted with glee at the prodigal son returned.
And the match went back and forth with first Santos equalizing at 2-2 and then Theo taking the lead with a powerful run through several fouls. Then Lukaku threw Santos to the ground after a loose pass from the Arsenal fullback and there was no call. Unmarked, Juan Mata made it 3-3 with a wondergoal from 30 yards.
But then there was a simple back pass and John Terry pretended to slip (at least that’s what it looked like to some) because he knew he would be beaten to the ball by Robin van Persie. Robin rounded the keeper and put the ball in the net. If I were to signal any one point, I think that was the beginning of the end of Terry’s career. Since then he has seen a steady decline in playing ability culminating in what looked like intentionally having himself sent off in the Champions League semi-final so that he wouldn’t have to play in the championship game.
And now Arsenal host Chelsea and this week John Terry has been found guilty by the FA for his racist abuse last year. And again he will play despite the looming 4 match ban. You have to wonder what kind of sociopath could not only play football through that, but play in one of his team’s biggest games of the year.
John Terry is the face of that team, the captain, and the first name on the team sheet. He epitomizes the club, the fans, and the owner. John Terry is Mr. Chelsea. And that’s why beating them is so fun. Because they are bucket of cunts.
So while Chelsea are come full circle and are back under the cloud of racism as should happen with their nemesis, there’s a new and more positive energy about Arsenal.
Steve Bould has the players all talking about defense. Wenger even admitted that the system he plays doesn’t need a defensive midfielder because defense is (suddenly) everyone’s responsibility. Though I would argue Arteta is still the most defensive midfielder in the team.
Podolski is giving interviews where he says things like “I hope to play with Cazorla for the next four years”. And Cazorla is making people forget about the traces of Barcelona DNA that are still left in the shower.
Arsenal’s defense have only let in four goals, Gervinho is scoring goals playing as center forward, Olivier Giroud got his first goal against Coventry, and even Theo Walcott scored a brace. It’s a good time to be an Arsenal supporter and despite the fact that Chelsea are going to be our toughest test of the season so far, there’s a good feeling about the team and the club.
So, put away the stats for a moment. Put down the financial reports. Ignore the history. Forget about Martin Atkinson. There’s going to be high drama tomorrow at 4:30am and time enough to analyze everything to death after the game.
Like the cut of your jib, mate. EIE
EIE!
Wow… Being arsenal fan must be great but being arsenal players must suck … Just look at van persie wearing a red shirt . And how about Nasri? And how about fabregas? Who’s next wilshire?
What is arsenal football club, big disappointment of shareholders. Being a public company and global brand, it is not appealing to people. Ask your owners, they don’t even trust their brand… And you lousy ass monkey arse red supporters think wengers arse is blue… What about the thrashing by Manu ? Remember that?
Roman believed in free market and invested in chelsea and doing great and he wants results unlike you cash constipated assenal club who wants to break even ….. And by selling player …
I hope Manu scores 8-0 at etihad and van persie scores a hatrick.
But anyways Moses will fcuk your red pale arses… Grow some red balls to publish this comment…
How bout you win carling cup this season like Liverpool last season…
Reading this comment gives me a warm and pleasant sensation. Whatever my troubles and difficulties and whatever annoyances i must put up with, i don’t have the great misfortune of knowing you!
“Roman believed in free market…” is quite possibly the most hilarious thing I’ve read this year. Well done!
I just liked your post because its so incredibly retarded!
Winning the Carling Cup has worked wonders for the scousers hasn’t it?
RVP…does anyone really give a shit what he does now? He’s playing for a team thats got Evra (cnut) and a now injured and aging vidic(cnut), ferdinand(see vidic)and Wayne(cnut) who will probably sleep with his granny before the end of the season.
Cant see them keeping many clean sheets, can you?
Then you have the chavs with one fit striker, Torres who struggles to score much.
Ohhh…we should all be so afraid!
I would write a proper reply to Red Cnut’s comment if only I could understand it. My 7th graders would be ashamed of writing something with such bad grammar.
Get a load of this guy!!!!!! Quite the cheerful fellow aren’t ya??
Oh so now you come on here. We lost a game. Happens just like you.
Manu scoring 8 at the “etihad” really doesn’t bother me too much.
It really is a club with few redeeming qualities, epitomised by their achieving the least-admired UCL win in recent history. We had the indian sign over them in the pre-Drogba era(oh the days), then they turned the tables for a spell. Plenty of subtext and drama riding on this one! We need to ignore their ‘issues’ and play our own game today.
Great post Tim, and good luck to the Arsenal.
The television announcers here is US are remarkably denigrating toward Arsenal. Where do you go to register complaints about them?
Walcott is useless. In all the time he was on he did a total of sweet fuck all. Ship him out already.
What is the most frustrating is that Chelsea didn’t do anything to win that game, we gifted it to them with our shocking display and lack of lethality up front.
Breaking news
After blue plastic cnuts being stapled to arsenal fans, S.carloza has handed a transfer request.
Wenger is furious because the grass was too green on etihad on Saturday, which caused arsenal players to lose visibility in their 2-1 loss to the chavs.
In another news FA is considering to change FA community shield format. The contest being contested by winners of epl and FA cup will now be played by the most financially stable club and the club that were too close to win the trophy for years, to which wenger expressed his delight and said ” it’s just a stupid trophy but the new format of the competition will make arsenal more relevant”.
And finally gervinho is getting a haircut to which former arsenal striker can persie said , “if that was the case I would have stated at arsenal”
.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz
Q: What’s worse than a troll?
A: A troll who clearly thinks he is witty but clearly isn’t.
Unfair result is all I can come up with. At least a draw is what we deserved.
Come on you Gunners!
My normal informal blog hosting site being down, I thought I might try and up the level here….
Very disappointing match today, eh, and I didn’t even pay the 62-122 pound sterling to watch it…. Perhaps with the financials just released it’s apparent that we haven’t really replaced RVP nor can we count on Diaby to remain injury free and realize all that “potential.” Maybe (just maybe) we might’ve spent a bit on an experienced keeper, you know the sort that plays the ball rather than watching it into his net….At least we didn’t push the profits by selling Don Vito for the 2 or 3 million we might’ve gotten (nor Theo for the 5-7….)
In truth, I’m not a hater (not at all) and I still feel we’re well positioned and actually NEEDED these sorts or setbacks (injury to a key player, losing at home) to redouble our efforts and create the siege mentality we require to win the easier matches and accumulate points. Chelsea, flawed as they are, will compete this season and I think we can too. Diaby. like Wilshere, like Gervinho, like Ox-Cham, like Theo, must be seen as “value-added” players. And, while it’s nice for players like Mannone (and Jenkinson) to have some good matches, we must count on them to cost us points if they play for protracted spells.
Obviously, Steve Bould is not a magician and clean sheets don’t get pulled out of his arse. I thought a draw might’ve been a fairer result, as those were reasonable chances for Giroud and Santi down the stretch. And such a shame that Gervinho cannot look up from his feet with teammates running for him on the break…..
Still, a decent enough performance and we’re well positioned for our CL spot….Illusions of more than that must now be corrected with 3 points a game, starting at West Ham….
Not sure what Mannone really did wrong, to be honest. There were a number of other players who were culpable in both Chelsea goals.
Mannone wasn’t horrible, but he wasn’t good. He’s not ready to take Szczesny’s place.
reality checked. I believe we lost the battle in midfield, something just not right but i can’t pinpoint it. Need to watch the game again.
oh yes the 2 goals we conceded were from set pieces, not great to see but rather I think Arsenal now has the huge question of finding a team structure/formation in some consistent basis. Understandably the players are still learning to know each other and fluidity doesn’t come in just a few games.
Diaby goes off injured and Ox comes on and leaves Koscielny out-gunned at the back post and Torres turns in a nice volley. Chelsea smartly were overloading the back post ‘zone’ while Arsenal’s near post zone were not under threat. Something for Bould to figure out going forward because we became torn between man marking and zone trying to deal with the ‘overload’.
I will not blame Wenger for starting Koscienly over Mertesacker because Chelsea’ new found speed had to be nullified.
Poldoski may play and can play out wide but I think his offensive impact is lessened there.
Cazorla has been a star but his influence in these past 2 games has waned a bit. He needs to mentally get back on the horse.
Giroud has to learn that he needs to go for the half chance and not expect to get a full chance.
Ox is still a work in progress.
First loss, not the end of the world but we need to come back strong next week.
I’m not sure why, if Giroud isn’t starting, that Podolski plays wide left. I imagine it’s his defensive work rate and, despite being a forward, his short passing and combination play in midfield is pretty good, certainly better than Gervinho or Walcott. But, especially in this game, we missed a more composed presence up top. There were a couple of times in the second half when we were counterattacking and Gervinho, as our centre forward and our highest player, received the ball and rather than looking up and realizing that there were players running forward in great positions, he put his head down and dribbled into two or three defenders, allowing Chelski to chase back and nullify the potential advantage. I think Podolski would’ve done better in those situations.
Similarly, I didn’t mind the Koz for Mert substitution. Horses for courses, as someone said. And personally, I thought Koz was not only our best defender but one of the better defenders in the League last season. Besides, if a team gets to the finals of all the cup competitions, there’s 63 potential games to be played. Add to that most of our players are fixtures for their international squads which makes them eligible for over 70 games a season. Intelligent squad rotation is an absolute must. I thought Gibbs and Cazorla both looked pretty spent by the end of the game.
Astute observation about the zone.
Giroud is now Torres-like and is becoming a concern. It’s like breaking his duck made zero difference to his confidence in front of goal.
Agree with ctpa, subbing Mertesacker was not unreasonable, but Koscienly just did not step up as he has in the past.
On the other side Mikel, Mata and Ramires did a fine job vs. our midfield. Big games need big players. Where were ours?
Not our finest 2 hours, but hopefully we learn from this. Both teams got the result they deserved.
Diaby going off was a huge blow. We had chances and the winning goal was on Kos and 3rd keeper. Don’t think Per should have been dropped as he was so vital with his interceptions last week against some good attackers. Probably could have marked Torres better. I am still a fan of Kos but he had a bad game. Gervino didn’t blow chances that I recall. Cazorla & Giroud should have equalized. It’s still early days & like the boss said lets wait ten games before we know if we are contenders.
Hello Everyone:
The USA team is kicking our ass in the Ryder Cup. We should concede early and all come home they are playing excellent golf.
It’s been a few hours since my return from the Emirates and having had the time to think about the game may I mention the positives of today.
There were four British players on the pitch today…and two were exceptional: Gibbs and Jenkinson
I hope Jenkinson keeps improving his game…because I see a potential second Mr Arsenal in him (he has to learn to play with both feet)
Gibbs must have tackled his way throughout the game…leaving Oscar holding his dummy (Oscar is tiny)
Mo Farah and his girls were introduced before the game…it was nice to see and we applauded him (Big love and smile for the Mobot)
That’s it…not much else it terms of positivity.
There are games that I attend at the Emirates and I recognise within a few minutes how the game will end. When Diaby was caught twice on the ball in the first few moments (before he was taken out injured)…I said…we will lose the game. Games we win at the Emirates is based on energy and speed of play…our midfield three (no matter who it was) was not good enough today.
Arteta whom everyone knows I adore was not in the game and the two free kicks we gave to Chelsea were because he was helping TV5 who was shocking. Kos was just as bad. We defended badly, we were second to any loose ball in the middle…we lacked balance and vision.
Poldi and Santi should rest…both looked a little jaded.
There was moment when Gervinho received the ball and both Santi and Gibbs were free with lots of space towards goal…Gervinho panicked because the stadium was shouting at him because (1) he dithered and (2) he gave the ball away and almost immediately from a chance of goal suddenly we are chasing Chelsea defending.
Every season there are two or three games where Arsenal just does not turn up… last year it was at QPR and AC Milan and Blackburn (Forget ManU that was a fluke). I’m hoping that this game was one of only one and we can forget about it and win at West Ham next week end.
We are a good team and deserve to play better at home. The full moon did not help the Arsenal today…but we have the talent to do the good things to win.
AW did some foolish things today:
PER4 (Happy Birthday Per) should have played today unless he was ill or injured.
Theo should have played…A Cole shit himself when Theo eventually touched the ball (which was rare)
Ramsay loses his Mojo at the Emirates…he plays better away from home.
The Ox is not ready for big games especially playing in the middle…he passes backwards and sideward….he does not have than dinky little pass in his play…it’s all aggressive. He needs finesse
Giroud MUST play from the start… he track back, he holds the ball superbly…but he must score when opportunities like today comes about. I see a lot of talent in him…he is a good player.
OH Yes it’s only the 6th game….we have a long way to go.
Man U has lost two games already…who would have thought it.
Okay everyone …be kind to one another but for me its time for me to watch Dr Who which is excellent this season.
I have the wine and Remote ready for a little bit of personal joy.
Oh Doctor…Woof Woof.
I’m onto the 4th season of Dr. Who (still with David Tennant), what a thrilling series!!
It’s rather ironically prophetic that Le Boss emphasized converting chances in the pre-game buildup because that’s where we lost the game.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-choice-of-striker-decides-approach
Other than a rather fortunate denial of a penalty, Chelski actually weren’t very threatening from from open play. But they managed to score rather easily from two set pieces. On the other hand, I can think of five pretty good to excellent chances we had in addition to Gervinhos’s goal which finished off a nice team move. Cazorla snatched at a shot inside the penalty area in the first half and couldn’t find the target from the top of the penalty area when well set up (by Gervinho?). Cech had a good save from Podolski’s header and a great one from Giroud’s deflected shot. And of course Giroud’s miss was his second big chance to be the last minute hero. It’s a story that’s been told previously in big matches–Arsenal shading possession and creating more and “better” chances only to lose because of a wonder goal or poor set piece defending or a mistake, etc.
It’s early in the season but our current conversion rate is 8%. I think he’ll improve but Cazorla in particular needs to dial in his shooting with a goal in 23 shots. As for set pieces, it seems to be a recurring topic of discussion but three of the four goals we’ve conceded this season have been from set pieces. I certainly don’t have the answer but it has to be keeping Bould up at night.
I guess the bright side was that in open play, our defending was pretty solid. Yes, Chelski had opportunities but despite the presence of so many skilled, clever playmakers, Mannone was exposed badly only once in open play. Scoring chances fell to the players we’d want to have them–Poldi, Cazorla, Gervinho, and Giroud. It will take time to discover if those players can become more “clinical” in their finishing. I’m hoping they can.
Last year I was convinced that Mertesacker was a poor buy on Wenger’s part. (I was still pissed that we didn’t buy Samba who was what I thought we needed at the time.)
This year it appears that the big German might actually be our most important player. Kos and Verm together just doesn’t work, as far as I’m concerned. Both have fantastic attributes but without the intelligent reading of the game that Mert brings, they will get caught out.
Just a general question for those who might actually play goalkeeper or coach the position but I’ve read a lot of criticism of Mannone for the second goal as to why he didn’t save the shot. It seems to me unlikely that that type of ball isn’t going to be touched by an outfield player, offensive or defensive, and that therefore a keeper has to be in position to deal with a possible shot on goal or poor touch by a defender, which is the far more likely outcome. From replays, it appears that he was tracking the ball and preparing for that and by the time it cleared the mass of players, it was too late to try to save it. So my interpretation of that play is that Mata simply played an absolutely great ball at a height which could easily have been headed but also at a trajectory which put it on goal. If there was a fault, it seems our defenders should have cleared it but to me Mannone was positioned to deal with a possible header, which he should have been, rather than a direct shot on goal.
As an aside, Tim, shouldn’t our shots converted into goals percentage be 8% rather than 10%, since two of our goals are own goals. I’m referring to you by the numbers column, of course.
Ha! I knew someone would quibble with that but I figure that we shot the ball and it doesn’t matter who scores it.
Well I guess I’m a quibbler. If your intent is to express how accurate or inaccurate Arsenal’s shooting is, then counting own goals artificially inflates that percentage. Statistics is nothing but data analysis, and if you don’t have good data, your analysis is less useful.
Sort of. Most own goals are created by the offense and my point isn’t shooting efficiency but OFFENSIVE and defensive efficiency.
Scoring goals and defending are team exercises, you have to count the own goals.
Point taken, although I could still quibble.
I think we’re both in agreement that Arsenal need to improve their offensive efficiency.