By Walter Broeckx
I must admit when I looked at the team sheet before the match I did shake my head a bit. Ok no Per Mertesacker that was great. Also no Cazorla as I think he also was given a breather. But for the rest a rather strong line up with Özil and Ramsey and Giroud in the team.
Ok, it is clear for now Wenger doesn’t read Untold. Or follows my advice. But then again….why should he. I bow my head when it comes to knowing anything about football compared to him.
But nevertheless it took me the whole 15 minutes to get used to the idea of a in my opinion far too strong starting line up for this useless match. Each time a Norwich player came even near to Ramsey or Özil I jumped up and down in the sofa shouting at my computer screen: stay away from them!!! Shouting at Mason: blow the whistle you prick, blow it!!!!! Needless to say that he didn’t do it. As expected. Or certainly not enough. Özil gave him “the look” after some 15 minutes when again a foul was not given. I was shouting all kinds of things that better cannot be reproduced on the site.
In the first half I think that Norwich tried a bit to make it a nice farewell to the PL. And a shot from Redmond had to be pushed out for a corner by Fabianski who was given the start in goal ahead of Szczesny. But that was rather it for Norwich as far as I could see on my computer stream which I had to restart a few times during this match so I could have missed something. Sorry about that.
Arsenal had some great chances. Podolski with a one on one with the excellent Norwich keeper Ruddy (I rather like him as a keeper to be honest). Another great save from the same keeper when Giroud had a shot at goal that he turned over the crossbar. Whenever Arsenal moved up a gear we looked dangerous but no goals in the first half.
That changed in the second half. Arsenal dominated even more than before the interval and it was a matter of time before the Arsenal goal would come. And when it came…. my God what a goal. Some movement down the left, a ball to Giroud who looked up and spotted Ramsey on the right hand side. A perfect cross to Ramsey and and amazing split second later the ball was in the top corner and nothing Ruddy could do about that.
That was one hell of a volley. Unstoppable, precise in the top corner, a goal that you can admire time and time again. We do seem to have a habit of scoring exceptional goals against Norwich this season. I noticed in one of the replays that when Ramsey ran to the Arsenal supporters almost half of the Norwich supporters in the stands behind the goal from Ruddy even applauded that goal. Fair play to the Norwich fans. But this was pure football porn.
Not even 10 minutes followed another emotional moment for Arsenal supporters. And as Jenkinson is an Arsenal supporter himself from the days he knows the difference between red and white he celebrated as if just had scored the winning goal at Wembley.
Another attack from the left flank a low cross and Podolski his shot got blocked or his miscued his effort (don’t know – internet streams you know) and the ball fell kindly for the feet of Jenkinson how had joined the attack from his right back position to the middle of the field. The low ball hobbled past Ruddy and he ran off in wild celebrations to his co-supporters in the stands.
A moment that made me almost emotional. Nothing nicer than having a player who has been a fan whole his life and then scoring his first real goal in the PL for the club he loves and supports. For a moment I feared he would ran in to the stands but his mind took over just in time.
Then came one of the best moments of the match when Ramsey was taken off and I could be a little bit relieved. Still didn’t like the fact that Özil was out there but Wenger wanted him there obviously and who am I to doubt him.
And a few minutes later Diaby made his first appearance since March 2013. More than a year out. Finally back. The away fans cheered him on with lots of noise. Great work once again from our away supporters!
We could have scored a few more after that. But credit to Norwich as they never gave up and tried to score a last goal in the PL themselves. But Fabianski didn’t want to have his PL debut this season spoilt by a goal from the opposition. Or did he play in the PL this season? Not sure about that to be honest. Doesn’t matter he did a good job in keeping Norwich with nothing to celebrate.
So a rather easy win in the end. One great goal and one special goal. At first sight no injuries to our key players. Fingers crossed for a good training week with no new injuries. And then up to next Saturday. I will be there. Not at Wembley but in and around the Emirates. My God, can’t wait for it.
Heard that the fans sang One Arsene Wenger….with gusto…..a good day up there
If we had not already scored some exceptional goals this season the Ramsey goal today would be very hard to beat, brilliant!
We played well and controlled the game, but lost some of the control late on after the substitutions, we were still dangerous going forward, but looked much more open at the back. This is something the returning players need to work on.
Nice write up Walter and a nice win – despite Mason – to finish the EPL season.
I should have mentioned Jenkinson – he took his goal almost like a poacher or fox in the box – i.e. reacted very quickly – that was good to see. Also, his post goal delight was wonderful!
Your joy shines through in this article, enjoy the final Walter!
Fighting finish to the season! Two very enjoyable goals. Only seven points behind the leaders – bodes well for next season. On to the Cup Final!
Typical clueless so called expert ex player doing the co-commentary on Sky. Commentator says ‘Sagna will be a loss to Arsenal if he leaves’ and co-commentator replies ‘Yes at only 31 I can’t believe he has only been offered a one year contract’. Who was this ignoramus does anyone know.
Congratulations,to Jack and team mates, goal of the season on MOTD!
Another great victory – Arsenal won goal of the season on Match of the Day! Jack Wilshere’s goal – brilliant demonstration of Arsenal team play at its most skilful.
I was never so happy to see an Arsenal player score his first goal for the club as I was today! As a kid I always dreamt of playing for Arsenal but that never happened so when Carl signed for us and I read the headline:
“Jenkinson Signs For Arsenal.” my heart jumped with joy.
I straight away ordered the new jersey and had Jenkinson 25 put on the back of it. It is not very often you can put your own name on a jersey and have a player at your club with the same name.
So my final dream was realised today as I have seen so many:
“Jenkinson Scores for Arsenal.” headlines!!
I was made up when he hit the back of the net and the expression on his face is the exact same as what I would have if it was me who scored it!!
So thank you Carl for this end of season broad smile you have given me!!
@Ian.
Nice one Ian, We are all proud of you.
I meant to add this but I clicked send too soon. 🙂 🙂
Now any player with the name ‘Walter’? I already have the shirt 😉
Hey Walter i really enjoyed reading this post, in truth it feels like all fans want to do is critize AW. As an Arsenal fan from India it is somewhat hard for me to understand what fans in London must feel like when the team does not win but i really believe that sometimes the team plays like shit through no fault of Wenger. I do think AW is one of the very best managers in the league and fans should just back off.
What a goal by Rambo, what a player.
I had a list in my head last night of all the players going to play in the world cup.
I know a lot of folks here don’t like the international competitions but I still regard them as the best footballing event, because they are so congested and it’s like some super football overdose…
Anyway, from our perspective, I think we are quite lucky compared to other clubs in respect to who is going to play there, for how long (expectedly) and whether he will be on the starting line up.
So here goes –
1. Scez – Poland didn’t qualify.
2. BFG – is on the team but might not play on the starting line up with Hummels, Howedes and Boateng (hope he will play a bit).
3. Kos – will play, starting line up.
4. TV5 – I don’t think he will play. I’m not sure he is even on the squad (Walter?) Anyway they have Kompany and Veronghen and Van Buyten…
5. Gibbs/Nacho – will not play.
6. Bac/Jenko – Jenko for sure not, and I think Debuchy will be played and not Bac (hopefully, but to be honest there are big chances Bac is not staying, so…)
7. Arteta – not in the squad.
8. Cazorla – not in the squad.
9. Rosicky – Czech rep. didn’t qualify.
10. Walcott – is out.
11. Poldi – on the squad but I can’t see he play a lot. Maybe as a sub.
12. Ozil – will play a lot, which is not so good.
13. Giroud – will play quite a lot.
14. Rambo – Wales didn’t qualify.
15. Jack – will play, but I’m not sure whether he’ll play a lot, and anyway England will be sent home early.
All in all it’s not a bad prospect: other teams have key players who will play a lot more than ours. So let’s hope for a long hard aggressive world cup for all of them 😀
@Walter
Your favourite team has a player (almost) with your name, Jonathan WALTERS. Maybe you should support Stoke.
Mick, you just made me feel sick 😉
Our away supporters were fantastic throughout. They really could be heard loud and clear all throughout the match. That new Podolski song is one of the catchiest I have ever heard. I was humming that as I went to bed 🙂
The reception that Diaby got was brilliant. Diaby even turned and acknowledged them when Arsenal were preparing to take a free kick. We’ve had a few false dawns with Diaby but hopefully he can stay fit for the entirety of next season. I don’t think we should rely on him being fit. but he can add something to us if he stays fit. Best of luck to him.
Lastly about the away support, as mentioned above, they also sang ‘One Arsene Wenger!’ with gusto. That was very heartening to hear, and hopefully, we can win the FA Cup and then have a good summer, which’ll in turn unify the fans a bit more (Yes, I know the last bit especially is a pipe dream when some are so eager to spin any story about Arsenal into the absolute worst interpretation.)
The game itself was nothing special, but I thought Sagna was very good at Centre Back (I guess he’s playing for a big contract elsewhere – even as I hope he stays) Fabianski did well. Ramsey scored a brilliant goal (Giroud’s assist was very very good too), and we all shared Jenkinson’s joy. What a wonderful story.
A league campaign where we can wonder what might have been. Hopefully, we’ll have an FA Cup win to celebrate next week. This season has literally flown by. I am looking forward to next season already.
TommieGun
Santi is not in the Spanish shortlist?? Wow… That’s surprising. From an Arsenal point of view it’s great that he gets some rest I suppose, because he’s played a lot of football over the past two seasons. I’m just surprised, and it is a pity for him of course.
Also, do you think Gibbs might have a chance of going to the World Cup now that Ashley Cole apparently isn’t going. Baines is first choice, but Luke Shaw is being talked about as the backup. Surely Gibbs, at this moment in time, is the better player?
No no Shard, Gibbs should stay at home 😉 Let us for once when it comes to WC squads behave like the AAAAAA and call all our players rubbish 🙂
Santi – now that is surprising, I know they are spoilt for MFs but even so.
Have a feeling we will be seeing Ox, possibly as an impact player.
Has Zelalem opted for USA yet – I did hear he was thinking about it, but stand to be corrected
Haha.. Walter.. Yes.. You are correct of course. Gibbs is rubbish. The only reason he should go to Brazil is for a holiday 🙂
Mandy
I think the news was that Zelalem was going to acquire citizenship of the US. That doesn’t mean he’s ineligible to play for Germany or Ethiopia. Zelalem did turn down the chance to play for the German U17s though. So you never know. Maybe he doesn’t want to play for Germany.
Turning down Germany at any level – either brave or committed to someone else!
I think that if Zelalem takes US citizenship he risks losing his Gemanan status., although there was something about country of origin which could confuse the situation a little.
@ Mandy, Shard – as far as I know Santi isn’t going, with Silva, Iniesta, Koke, Fabregas, Busquets, Xavi Alnoso, Juan Mata and probably Isco all ahead of him.
I admit I forgot about the Ox, shame on me. He might actually play…
Anyway as was mentioned here, our team is totally rubbish and does not merit any call up to any national team. Ever.
In the Arsenal v Norwich match there were some snide remarks from commentators particularly when the fans were singing ‘One Arsene Wenger’ and chanting Wembley. Bias is rampant as is the quiet sexism and hidden racism.
I hope Arsenal win the FA cup by a big margin as my heart needs a rest.
Has it ever happened before that a player had to score twice to open his account?
Carl Jenkinson has scored two goals for Arsenal. His first goal (the ball clearly crossed the goal-line) came against Reading in that Capital One Cup match last season. The linesman didn’t see it so Theo had to make it sure it’s a goal by scoring himself.
Same thing will happen with Yaya Sanogo. His goal against Everton was, if I recall well, wrongly ruled out so he’ll have to wait his second goal for Arsenal to have one goal on his account.