Arsenal-v-Slavia Prague 23/10/2007 (KO: 7.45pm)
There simply aren’t enough superlatives to describe our performance tonight, but the scoreline is an accurate reflection of just how well Arsenal played tonight.
Five minutes in, Cesc Fabregas made a stunning strike which set the tone of tonight’s match. An own goal from David Hubacek gave the Czech’s their only real interaction with the net at 25 minutes, after which Arsenal truly dominated the game and the goals started flowing freely.
Walcott finally got his first goal at the Emirates, scoring five minutes before the break. Hleb danced past the Prague defence five minutes into the second half, bringing the score up to 4-0 – the crowd was elated, and there aren’t words to describe the atmosphere when five minutes after that Hleb set up Walcott who scored his second goal. See, told you I’d run out of superlatives.
Which leaves me in a bit of a bind considering that Fabregas then scored a sixth, and substitute Nicklas Bendtner poked a seventh home two minutes from time.
A positively scintillating performance from the Gooners, and a wonderful late birthday present for the Boss (Wenger turned 58 yesterday).
Final score: Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague
Tuesday 23 October 2007
Magnificent seven.
Unmanaged and unsuccessful
Managerless Bolton came to the Emirates and looked every bit like a class whose teacher had stepped out of the room. Unruly and rowdy, they sought to thwart Arsenal’s usual flowing play with bruising tackles. They succeeded to a certain extent, and it wasn’t until Toure shot home a free kick in the 67th minute that the fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the visitor’s tactics were semi-successful, the home team still managed to put in some superb moves, and young Walcott went on a marvellous mazy run at one point, neatly bypassing two defenders but sadly there was no one in the box to take advantage of his well aimed cross. This ceased to matter nine minutes from time when Walcott placed another low cross into the path of Rosicky, who clipped it in to bring the final score to 2-0.
Final score: Arsenal 2-0 Bolton
Sunday 7 October 2007
That almost came a bit Keane…
Let me say now that this match was an absolute belter.
Arsenal got off to a cracking start, going two goals up (a gorgeous free kick from Van Persie, and a somewhat scrappy goal from Phillipe Senderos) within the first fifteen minutes. The play was consistently excellent, and passes were conducted immaculately. It was like watching the 2001-2002 season Arsenal, and it was a thing of beauty. Another five minutes later and Diaby shot home a third goal which, as far as I could see, was disallowed just because the referee felt like it.
Rob Styles, you are a cock.
Typically, whilst playing so well we got a little too overconfident, and some really shonky defending allowed Sunderland to pull one back after 25 mins. This defensive cock up was a crucial mistake on our part, and the goal saw a resurgence in Sunderland’s joie de vivre. They started to put up a fight.
Five minutes after half time, Sunderland scored another to bring the score level. Things heated up even more and play was fast and furious. The last twenty minutes of the game were tense, nail biting stuff – the fans were screaming their fury at the Sunderland goal keeper’s time wasting antics, and at the referee for failing to punish Gordon’s blatant dawdling.
I’ve said it once already, but it bears repeating: Rob Styles, you are a cock.
It was intense action on the pitch: Toure sent a driving shot towards goal around the sixtieth minute, which rebounded hard off the post, Theo Walcott unfortunately wasted a fine cross from Hleb, mis-kicking horribly. Finally with just ten minutes of normal time to play, Van Persie managed to get his second goal of the match (following a lovely pass from Walcott) to take Arsenal back into the lead. The home crowd roared their approval and play continued. Sunderland were now paying for their previous time wasting antics as they scrambled desperately to get another equaliser – but there were simply not enough minutes left on the clock.
Sunderland’s Paul McShane was sent off in the dying minutes of the game for a frankly hideous tackle on Hleb. In the five minutes of added time Arsenal were still determinedly trying for another goal, with young Walcott’s final effort just sliding against the post.
Keane’s side played well, despite their rather slow start, and forced Arsenal to battle hard. We came through though, and fought well to remain undefeated and (for the moment) at the top o’ the league.
Final score: Arsenal 3-2 Sunderland
Saturday 22 September 2007
Stand up if you’re five nil up.
I have writer’s block. At the present time all I want to write is:
“Wheeeeee!”
That’s probably not good enough though, so how about this instead?
A beautiful day in north London. The sun is shining and 60,000 fans have broken out their short sleeves and sunglasses for today’s match against the Rams. They’re relegation favourites – so deep down there’s a wee worry that our fine run might be brought to a screeching halt by these unlikely opponents. This is a normal footballing concern – sod’s law says that if you’ve beaten every other bugger so far, you’ll end up losing to a bottom of the league club.
Thankfully that turned out not to be the case. Far from it in fact.
Derby never really got a hold on the game. From start to finish Arsenal dominated the pitch, playing a fast, flowing, precise game which saw the team playing at its deadly best. An early goal from Diaby (an absolutely corking one at that) after ten minutes heralded the start of what turned out to be a barrage of goals.
The superb Adebayor (who has been on fine form) scored at 25 and 50, and Cesc Fabregas managed to squeeze a goal in at 70 mins before being substituted, before Adebayor completed his hat trick ten minutes from the final whistle.
Final score: Arsenal 5-0 Derby County
Gooners make orange squash of Sevilla.
Autumn’s finally drawing in, and the cooler evening weather meant that fans were once more kitted out in warm coats, and even a few scarves!
The first half opened well, with plenty of skilled passing from both sides – although Sevilla seemed to have a touch of the Arsenal about them, with excellent passing culminating in nothing in the box. A goal (which I’d love to put down to skill, but we can thank the famous Arsenal luck for it instead!) just short of the half hour put Arsenal ahead and the crowd went wild. There were more shots on both goals before the break, but none hit their mark.
The second half started in the same vein as the first, with much movement but few attempts on goal. The game started to heat up though, and towards the end Sevilla made a determined attempt to play catch up – but were no match for our boys. Van Persie netted out second goal, and Eduardo bagged our third during injury time.
Final score: Arsenal 3-0 Sevilla
Sunday 16 September 2007
Sunday 2 September 2007
No pomp and circumstance.
Arsenal-v-Portsmouth 02/09/2007 (KO: 1.30pm)
A beautiful late summer’s day in north London, and Arsenal play 40 minutes with ten men and still end the game 3-1. A lovely result which means our boys have won four out of four so far at home this season.
A penalty after 8 minutes was tucked away by Adebayor, who easily sent calamity James diving the wrong way. We continued to play down the flanks, steering around the mass of Pompey players in the middle of the pitch, and for once weren’t afraid to shoot. Shots weren’t always accurate although this didn’t bother us very much:
*shot flies wide past goal*
*the crowd en masse let out a disappointed ‘ooooh’
Bloke beside me, laughing: “It was miles off mind you”
Bloke in front of me, also laughing: “Ah but it was close though”
*raucous laughter*
Bloke beside me: “People watching the highlights later will think “What the bloody hell are the crowd making that noise for, it was nowhere near the bloody goal”
Bloke in front of me: “Yeah, but we’re easily pleased aren’t we?”
Easily pleased? Yup, but it’s nice to see players having a hopeful punt in the rough direction of the goal, rather than playing beautiful flowing football to get it up there and then fannying around uncertainly just outside the box until they lose possession again. Did I mention that one of the suggested names for this blog was “forfuckssakejustshoot”?...
Fabregas scored our second goal, taking us into half time with smiles and a comfortable lead.
The second half didn’t start well, with Senderos being given a red card just four minutes after the break (dodgy in my eyes, but there you go…). Despite this, Pompey striker Utaka’s free kick was saved by Almunia, and the rebound went skying over the bar. Our 2-0 scoreline remained intact for the time being…
…and was increased to 3-0 just ten minutes later when Rosicky powered a shot through Glen Johnson’s legs and into James’ goal.
Sadly Portsmouth went straight up the other end a minute later and Kanu scored a rather freakish goal to bring the score up to 3-1.
In the end though we played well, and dominated possession towards the end of the match. A well earned victory for the Gunners.
Final score: Arsenal 3-1 Portsmouth
Friday 31 August 2007
Why you should never leave early to beat the traffic...
Arsenal-v-Sparta Prague 29/08/2007 (KO: 8.05pm)
Yes, I hang my head in shame - I left the match ten minutes early to try and avoid getting caught up in the mad rush for the Tube (as I had to make the long journey back to Osterley that night). Two words for you: never again.
Anyway, I arrived at the ground earlier than expected as I'd misjudged how long it would take me to get there from the wilds of west London. Kept myself entertained by finding the streetside stall that sells bags of sweeties (yay!), and buying a little badge to put on my bag.
The match started well, with Rosicky scoring after just seven minutes (courtesy of a lovely cross from Walcott) - putting to bed any fears that our boys would be complacent after their comfortable win in the away match two weeks previously.
The team continued to play beautiful football, threatening enough to keep the visitors (who were somewhat lacklustre) hopping - although Sparta had their own fair share of chances towards the close of the first half.
The second half continued in much the same vein, and at times seemed like a casual kick about for the boys from north London - a lot of passing about and oohing and aaahing ensued towards the end.
Typically, after I left (and I still can't believe I did) the pace picked up, and Cesc shot the ball into the net after a delicious run from Eduardo which left his marker stumbling. Eduardo then finished up with a goal of his own.
A more than comfortable win for the Arsenal, and I'm pleased we finished in style - just really naffed off that I missed those two goals! To add insult to injury I failed miserably to catch the goals on television (couldn't find them anywhere *sulk*) and have literally just found a clip on YouTube to fill me in on what I missed. A big thumbs up to whoever put together the montage of all three goals (with 'Princes of the Universe' as the soundtrack)!
Final score: Arsenal 3-0 Sparta Prague (5-0 on aggregate)
Saturday 25 August 2007
Hot town, summer in the city
Arsenal-v-Manchester City 25/08/2007 (KO: 3pm)
On a scorching and sun drenched afternoon, I arrive at Emirates surprisingly hot, sweaty, and hoping that our boys bring Man City’s unbeaten start to the season to a screeching halt. My mood is brightened when I see that my friendly fireman (who sits a couple of seats away from me) is back – he’d been absent for the Fulham game and I had thought he’d managed to get a seat together with his mates on the other side of the ground. Turns out he’d instead been stuck at work and was gutted to have missed our opening game. Poor lad. Glad to have him back though, it’s nice to see a familiar face!
Back to the match. First half was well played by both sides, although we lost Bacary Sagna to a back injury (after colliding with Flamini) about twenty minutes in (replaced by Denilson). Added to Senderos (who aggravated his Achilles during the warm up) our injury list is growing…
Man City were predictably physical in their game, interrupting the flowing pace which we prefer, but both sides played well and shared chances on goal equally. Both Almunia (who, incidentally, has bleached his hair – leading me to think for a fleeting second that we’d managed to clone young Schmeichel in our desperation) and Schmeichel made their fair share of saves. The teams seemed evenly matched as the whistle blew for half time.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, until Van Persie had a penalty stopped by Schmeichel in the 65th minute. His frustrated attempt seemed to invigorate our boys, and we peppered Schmeichel’s goal with shots from Rosicky and Hleb – until, with ten minutes left, Cesc Fabregas blasted home a high drive which sent the crowd into ecstasies of delight.
Injury time came and went, and thankfully the score stayed at 1-0, although not from lack of trying on the part of City. Schmeichel, who obviously takes after his father in more than just looks, came up for a corner and actually won a header!
One nil to the Arsenal, and a well earned victory in my eyes.
Final score: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City
From comedy to ecstasy
First home game of the season and I’m nervous. Excited, yes – but also somewhat apprehensive. After a not-so-inspiring 2006-2007 season, our captain (the delightful Thierry Henry) buggered off to Barcelona over the summer and it’s unsure as to how his absence will affect the team. Although Henry didn’t play much last season, when he did appear on the pitch his presence seemed to boost the other (and particularly the younger) players. What I’m waiting with bated breath to discover whether his now permanent absence will knock their confidence… or give them room to show their stuff and give full rein to their potential.
So… I arrive just in time for kick-off (thanks to an almighty queue at the turnstile). As I hurry to my seat they’re announcing the line up for Fulham, and to my relief Niemi (who I rate highly as a keeper) is out having injured himself during the warm up on pitch. Excellent! I think, his absence can only be a good thing.
Oh how I was wrong.
Less than a minute into the game and Lehmann makes one hell of a cock up, earning himself the ignominious honour of worst start to the season. He made an awful mistake clearing a backpass from Clichy, and instead of side footing it away safely, he shinned it straight into the path of David Healy – who was only about two yards off the line, and couldn’t believe his luck. Fulham are a goal up after only 50 seconds, and the crowd are aghast. Taxi for Mr. Lehmann please…
To my disgust and disappointment, Niemi’s replacement (Tony Warner) had a cracking game and produced a number of fine saves to thwart our attempts to level the score. The boys played well, attacking hard but just failing to get that goal. My heart was sinking.
With less than ten minutes to go, Toure was halted rather naughtily in a fine run by Carlos Bocanegro, resulting in a penalty for the Gooners. Van Persie whacked it in to even up the score, and after a small scuffle in the goal we kicked off again, rejuvenated and keen to get the winner.
The winner came at 90 minutes, with Hleb hooking in a fine ball to gift us with another goal and the three points we so desperately wanted.
Lucky, lucky Arsenal strike again!
Final score: Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
Welcome to my footie blog!
Besides which, my post match report to my boyfriend after one game was “it was like sixty minutes of really bad foreplay, followed by three surprise orgasms” – and it would be a shame not to record any future gems like that!
So here we go… hopefully I’ll be making an entry after each home game (and possibly away matches, not sure yet) to record what happened, and how I felt. Might be dull for some, but at the end of the day it’s really an aid to my memory, and a way of remembering the highs and lows of the season.
