Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal
Untold Arsenal on Facebook here
By Walter Broeckx
I wonder how Roman Abromavich is feeling right now. Having spent all those pounds in the transfer window and with the astonishing result of 2 games played and 1 point won. And it could have been worse. It could have been 0 points. If only Fulham had scored that last second penalty. But they didn’t so they got away with that.
Another one who got away with something in that game was Gudjohnsen. He has spend some time at Stoke and this was very visible yesterday. I always rated him as a good footballer but now he has learnt a new trick at Stoke. The two footed frontal tackle. Well executed with both feet from the ground and jumping in from a distance. As I don’t like limbs hanging in strange angles I felt very much relieved that Malouda didn’t have his feet stuck in the ground. And so Malouda was sent in the air without injury. But to my astonishment and I think to the astonishment of all the spectators in the stadium and around the world ref Dean didn’t blow the whistle to stop the game.
No he did nothing at all. He just let the game continue and allowed Fulham to start a counter. And please don’t come anyone saying that Gudjohnsen did touched the ball somewhere in that tackle. So what? He surely got all the legs Malouda has and luckily still has in one piece.
Now from my point of view as Arsenal supporter I loved the fact that Chelsea dropped points but I don’t want any of their players been cut in two. But ref Dean who was at the crime scene in Birmingham as the ref in charge when we lost Eduardo a few years ago hasn’t learned anything since then. He still cannot recognise a dangerous tackle when he sees one. I think this is a scary thought. And the thought of this ref doing the Carling cup final next week sends shivers down my spine.
How can the FA send Dean to a game between Birmingham and Arsenal almost on the same day that we lost Eduardo? And how can he still be useless when it comes to not seeing dangerous tackles? I really don’t feel good about this.
But in fact this wasn’t supposed to be about the ref. No this was about spending money. Spending enormous amounts of money. Spending insane amounts of money to secure a place in the Champions league. I will not talk about the title because being 12 points behind in 5th place with 12 games to play, well I think not even the most optimistic Chelsea fan will be dreaming of adding a title this year. And who can remember the pundits going wild after some 4 or 5 games after the start of the season, declaring that Chelsea was going to win the title? The pundits will have forgotten that already or hope we have forgotten it.
Now we can laugh with the fact that Torres doesn’t seem to make a big impact on Chelsea. The only impact being that since his first start they couldn’t score a goal. So yes this is something to smile about. But Torres will start scoring again. I suspect it will be when they play United in the next weeks.
But if there is one lesson that can be learned from this it is the fact that whatever the player has done for his previous club, there is absolutely no guarantee he just will continue to do this with a new club. Even for a world class striker (which he still is) like Torres who has played in the EPL for a few years now it isn’t that easy to go to another club and shine. Buying a player is always a risk. Will he bring what he promises? You just never know.
And as a result we can see a player like Drogba sitting on the bench at Chelsea. I think he will like being there (sarcastic mode). Just imagine that you have been the best striker (even maybe in their history) and suddenly it is you that is sitting on the bench because the boss has bought a new toy. How would you feel? Bad? Mad? That is the way Drogba will feel I think.
So it wouldn’t surprise me at all that there will be some big conflicts between the Chelsea players coming our way. Big egos (and most strikers have very big egos) don’t like being second best and certainly not when like Drogba you have given some titles to your club.
And to think that in the last games before Torres they won 0-4 at Bolton and 2-4 at Sunderland. And since the £50M man came on the field they scored 0 (zero) goals in 2 games. Yeah what a nice investment one could say.
And what a contrast with the way Arsenal is doing their business. The way we are bringing our own young players to the big stage. No pressure from a big money price tag hanging around their neck. No just enjoying all those mostly young and unknown players we bought for around the same price for our whole team compared to what Torres costs. And those young players which we bought as young kids and nurtured them. And the even more younger ones like Wilshere who have been playing for us for centuries, well almost centuries.
I think our whole squad (not starting11) almost cost the same as the winter buys of Chelsea. So they can keep Torres and Drogba. I will sit back and enjoy Theo and Van Persie. And Samir and Arshavin. I will look with open mouth and admire Cesc and Jack. I will applaud Song and our defenders for doing the dirty work. I will enjoy a great young goalkeeper for years to come in our colours.
The way we are bringing in young players and make them better is something that is not very easy to do. It needs a great manager to get the best out of the players. Any manager can make a player look bad, our manager can make players become better year after year. He can spot raw talent and polish it in to shining diamonds. Apart from maybe Arshavin and Nasri (for a bit) who had heard about our players before Wenger brought them in?
So I would like to thank Abramovich for reminding me that Arsenal is such a different club compared to the rest. We do it our way. The difficult way. The take the long road. The long road with some setbacks along the way. There will always be setbacks. It is part of football. But with our players coming of age and with the big talents still on their way you can only admire what we are seeing in front of our eyes: the building of a golden generation. A golden generation for years to come.
Gudjohnsen, oh whoa. Gudjohnsen, oh whoa whoa whoa. He comes from Reykjavik. He’s gonna make you sick.
Not as much as Vladimir Putin himself, Mike Dean, makes me sick. But, hey, anything to deny Arsenal even the smallest of official trophies, right? B@$+@rds.
I think Chelsea are in sever trouble and will loose their champs league spot, What then, will Roman pull the PLUG and walk away ?
I cant see Chelsea beating ManUtd in either of the 2 games they way they are playing right now. They also have ManCity and Sp*rs to play and away to Everton the last game of the league who they couldnt beat away in the FA cup.
Throw in amongst those fixtures the likes of westham who did beat Utd in the carling cup and are fighting for survival.
Alex Fergusson mentioned Mancity would win more games than people think in the remainder of the season so with those fixtures and the possibility of dropping more points I cant see how they will avoid joining Liverpool.
Europa Cup anyone ?
Pld Pts
1 Manchester United 26 57
2 Arsenal 26 53
3 Manchester City 27 49
4 Tottenham Hotspur 26 47
5 Chelsea 26 45
When u think about it dean might be a good choice for the final as that day will be in his head so surely if he sees bad tackles he will remember that day and do us a favour and stop the bad tackles happening. I’m so excited for the barca game and The final in a couple of weeks! Come on arsenal this is our chance to win some respect and better yet a trophy!
Dean combined with cannot arsene,his boyz and us to lift that trophy…Gr8a gunz
maybe he’s spent some time at stoke, and i agree their football club is reckless
but i don’t think it’s very fair walter to use this incident to crucify him. bear in mind that i haven’t actually seen the tackle you’re reffering to
but. i’ve had my fair share of tackles like that learning the game, i’d agree it happens to arsenal far more often.
even though i’m a much more experienced footballer now, there’s still that off-chance i can make a really rash tackle. and i think of myself as a clean player, but it happens
i suppose they are professional, but i just don’t see how that can change things as far as just making a mistake.
Chelsea are going for champs league and fa cup.
chelsea have only one option and that is to spend more money, it is like Roman has went out of his way to destroy chelsea, he has undermined every manager they have had and he thinks money is the only answer.
I think torres is going to be like svechenkho, Roman wanted him spent £30 million and he was rubbish, Torres may go the same way. Anything in the £20 million mark and over and who is 25 years plus is a big risk.
all I say to chelsea is you are going to need to throw more money at the money pit because this toy is broken
I’m sorry but I think I speak for everyone when I say I’d like to see John Terry run over by a delivery truck
I suspect they are sending Mike Dean because it will be broadcast live on television around many countries and if he fucks up his refereeing the whole world will know about it.
I’m sure Cesc Fabregas and a few others will have little hesitation in reminding him of his duties if he shows any laxity, tardiness or bias on the day.
And quite right too…….
AC Milan are getting totaly out played, It would be funny if it wasnt Sp*rs.
I HAVE A BELLY BUTTON 🙂
In fairness Dean did send Taylor off for the challenge on Eduardo.
Not that I’m defending him as a Ref just that I think it’s worth remembering which this post doesn’t seem to do.
@RedGooner – Has ‘Arry been dishing out the RedBull again?
I really hope that Chelsea find some form for the ManU games too, they are our best hope to take points off them.
Good article Walter. You mentioned our young goalkeeper and it made me think, where are all those critics, media pundits and Arsenal supporters that were giving Arsene stick for not buying a goalkeeper last summer. They are very quiet now, not a peep out of them regarding the so called goalkeeper ‘crisis’ we had at the beginning of the season. Will they now admit ‘Arsene knows best’. I doubt it.
Super Sam
The Tackle was bad. Shocked that Gudjohnsen made that kind of tackle. Used to be a class player. All gone down the drain
It was worse than the tackle from Flamini I just saw. Flamini was also two footed but over the ground as Gudjohnsen threw himself in the air to get even more force in the tackle.
And on my field Flamini would have been under the shower now. Disgusting. And I think Corluka will have a broken ankle.
The problem with allowing such tackles is that it will go wrong so you must ban them completely.
And yes I don’t like tottenham but I don’t like players getting injured like that, never mind from which team they are.
I HAVE A SMELLY BELLY BUTTON WITH LINT IN IT…SMELLS LIKE SHITE HEART LANE…:)
@CasualObserver Harry has been indeed handing out the RedBull.
Walter I think between Flamini and Gattusso both should have walked “RedCards” The Ref lost complete control in the second half, apart from disalowing the Milan goal he didnt get much else right.
He wasnt even English which makes it really odd 🙂
Chelsea can’t win the title but they can definitely help us win it by taking points off Man u, Spurs & Man city. Let’s face it they’re going to be desperate for points or it’ll be Europa league for them next season.
Am I alone in hoping that chel$ki find some form and pip those sp*rs rats to fourth? I mean lets face it, fourth we’ll be seen as a complete failure for chel$ski anyway and it’s not like the money they’ll get from making the UCL will make any difference to their financial situation.
On the other hand sp*rs finishing fourth will be seen as a huge success and playing in the UCL will provide them with cash for transfers and the ability to attract top players.
@NorthBansky Im not sure since the departure of RayWilkins they seem to be playing awful.I think he must have bene helping tacticaly with how they prepaired for matches and Ancelloti seems lost without him.
I cant see where their next win will come from it would be great if they do take points of the others but, I wont hold my breath.
How do you calculate the return on investment for zero goals for 50Mil?
i know we are meant to hate spuds, but at least they are not stoke or birmingham or karl henry. Currently they are good on pitch. Yes they have tremendously naive supporters terming them better than arsenal(ha ha) but they do have a good team and a good manager(on field).
Food for thought : what if they win cl??(don’t laugh) i mean if rooney can score that goal, wba can beat us at home, wolves ending utd run, it’s a possibility.
@critic
their manager is an illiterate crook
i specifically said ‘on field’.
CHAVS OUT – CASHLEY MISSED LAST PEN