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
Arsenal-v-Bolton 20/10/2007 (KO: 3pm)
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
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…
Arsenal-v-Sunderland 07/10/2007 (KO: 12pm)
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
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
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