By Walter Broeckx
All good things come to an end and nothing lasts forever. Such truths that we all know from our daily lives are also valid for football. After 7 great results this was the end of our seven games winning streak.
Such things happen. Winning 7 in a row is a thing that doesn’t happen that much but defeats like this can. And such a defeat we should be reminded of how difficult it is to win 7 games in a row.
I still have to see the game completely because of a bad stream I had a lot of black outs during the game. There was one even during the second QPR goal so I had to wait for a while before I could see what a bad slip it was.
So I could have missed a few things as I only have been able to see 2/3 of the game live. Maybe I missed the non-given penalties for Arsenal but our ref reviewer will inform us about it when he has done his job. So I cannot comment on Dean; if he had a fair game our ref reviewer will tell us about it.
What I do want to talk about is the fact that we lost to a team that I didn’t have the impression that played to win this game. They played for a point and got 3. They played with all their players bar one behind the ball and defended and defended. It is their right to adopt this tactic and when they win they can enjoy it. It’s not really my cup of tea but it works for some although most of the time it doesn’t. And despite this win if they play like that every week, the chance of them going down is bigger than the chance of them staying up.
I think the biggest difference was the fact that they took their chances better than we did. And that for some reason a lot of our players had difficulties with staying on their feet. The slip up from Vermaelen that led to the second goal was the most important slip but it was not the only one. Rosicky also didn’t perform his usual pirouettes and he found himself lying on the floor at times. Better check the length of the studs next time I guess.
Vermaelen had his worst game for Arsenal I think; not looking good with either goal. It can happen. Those days happen to all players. Knowing Vermaelen he will be angry with himself and will try to make up for it in the next game. Come on Verminator next Sunday is payback time.
What was strange about this game was the amount of wrong passes. We somehow struggled to do our passing game. Lots of passes were misplaced and some came not even close to an Arsenal player. In a way we played the same team as we did at Everton and that did really well in defending a small lead. I think Wenger expected a same game scenario against a team that will try to hit us at the counter and for the rest defend deep and with lots of people around their own penalty area. So I could agree with his starting line up. At Everton it did work, now it didn’t. That is football. That is the way it sometimes goes.
By the look of it we still have some happy goners today. Okay I want to type Gooners but for some reason my spelling checker modified it in to goners. And in fact that is what they are. How on earth can you react to this loss with a ‘we are doomed’. If we would have lost 7 in a row, okay but if you have one defeat in 8 games how can you be so negative about this team? Of course I am feeling down after this defeat. As I always am. But my god we have won 7 games (and not the easiest ones) and suddenly after one bad result those 7 games are ignored as if they never happened.
We could have won this game. We had some chances that we didn’t take. The Robin Van Persie miss springs to mind (because I have seen it live), I remember Theo having another chance. There could have been others that I didn’t see. But I admit it wasn’t good enough compared to the previous games.
But let us not get overboard after this game. Okay it isn’t nice but who could have even imagined being where we are now some 6 weeks ago?
The only thing I would want to ask to the real Gooners is to stick up for the team and the players. Vermaelen will put it right in the next games. He will be more determined than ever before. And please let us get off the back of Ramsey. I really cannot understand what he has done wrong to a certain part of the fans. Really sad.
We will win nothing by abusing our players. We will only go backwards. So if you want Arsenal, the players, the team, the club to go backwards go ahead and abuse the players, the manager and all you want. But don’t pretend to be a Gooner. Because it is after a defeat that a real SUPPORTER does his work. I will support the players even more after today. ALL of them. Not just the one I like more and blame the players I like less. As long as they put on the Arsenal shirt I will support them and as long as they do their best I will cheer them on.
Something some “fans” have forgotten. I even heard some “plastics” demand a refund from Arsenal because we lost this game!!! Can you get more sillier than that??? This is too stupid for words really. If you only want to pay when we win then it is time to stop being a supporter. Then it is time to tell that you are a customer. Don’t pretend being a supporter then. Last season I went on two occasions to the Emirates when we lost a game. I had spent a lot of money but I only felt sadness but never it came to my mind to write a letter of complaint to Arsenal and ask my money back.
This is just part of being a supporter. And if you cannot live with the fact that you can lose a game you have to question yourself and consider what you are. I will stick to being a supporter. And feel down tonight…and tomorrow. And then pick myself up and just go on supporting my club. Because that is all I can do and want to do. In good and in bad days: just support the lads.
—————————
Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. Have your name in the book as an official sponsor. Updated information here
The day when Fulham tried to take over Arsenal – the full story in “Making the Arsenal”
We’re on Twitter @UntoldArsenal
—————————
It is perhaps worth recording what Mr Wenger said about the game:
“Our performance was not good enough to win this kind of game. In the duels they had a little bit of extra special commitment. In the Premier League if you miss something on the commitment front you are beaten. That was the result. We can only congratulate QPR for their attitude and be unhappy with our own performance. It was very frustrating because they left us the ball and waited for our mistakes. We took the ball, didn’t do a lot with it and made mistakes.
“We played against a team who fight for survival. We missed something today. The pitch was bad but that doesn’t explain our poor performance. The performance of QPR explains our poor performance.
“It is a good shock today to come back to what made our strength recently.”
One thing that struck me when our lot were in the tunnel and walking out.. on the close up’s on TV, they had that ‘defeated’ look. I last saw it when we played Fulham I think a couple of years ago. A combiniation of a small ground with the crowd up close and the type / style of the opposition… Hughes, Zamora, Barton.
What also suprised me is that although there were 5 bookings for QPR, I thought it was a relatively clean game, with no one looking to go ‘over the top’ ie aggressively. Both sides were wary of each other.
To sum up yesterdays performance was when Rosicky threw his arms wide, mid second half when he was easily disposessed and thought he should have had a free kick. I hate to see that side of the Arse’
I thought QPR played it fairly and deserved their win. Arsenal were on a ‘downer’ from the kick off.
I think they will come out ‘fighting’ against mancs II next week and make amends.
I see harry celebrating QPR’s winner is worthy of the back pages. A child in a man’s body perhaps? Spiv. No class. the expression.. counting fingers after shaking hands comes to mind.
I had talked about teams putting up good performances for their survival battles in the end of my preview. QPR did produce one of those performances but let’s not get distracted from the fact that our next game is against Man C and also their perfect home record came to an end against Sunderland but let’s forget this defeat and end the season with another 7 wins.
Correct about passing and staying on their feet, think the pitch may have had something to do with it, it certainly did not look good.
Anyone notice a theme there in many of our away games?
That is not an excuse, Wenger knows this league by now and if clubs are allowed to put out poor pitches, it is imperative we learn to play them. See Barca have put in a complaint about Milans pitch, and I’m told Barca hold some sway with EUFA.
You are right, qpr did not seem to play to win, they only looked to have had a couple chances and took both…again, the old failings. The defending was poor, not just TV, but nobody was picking up players coming in from the MF, guess someone like MVila could help out there. The fact is, even during this run, we have been far too prone to going behind. Many times, we have come back well, today we could not. The lesson…stop going behind….
But all in all, we looked poor. Arteta has been warning against complacency, is he onto something?
We can beat City and Chelsea. With this team and the PGMOL, I am more worried about Stoke away, or even park the bus these days West Brom. We have to finish in the top 4 for so many reasons, if you believe reports, finances, player aquisition, player retention. The fans need to back the players. Impatience is the watchword with some of our fan base. OK, some of the more extravagant promises made by Wenger and the late Danny Fiszman during the stadium move have yet to come to fruition but a few years without silverware for a +once in a lifetime burden should be bearable by a proper fan.
Success will come, but being in the CL league next year will bring it forward, so no point in losing faith now.
As for the AAA, many seem to be social inadequates, the rest are Spuds anyway.
A balanced & well written article 🙂
Sometimes I think it can be worse to play the teams at the bottom end of the table at this time of the season because they are fighting hard for every point & will always give you a tough game. We weren’t as committed yesterday as we have been the last few games and we made mistakes, unfortunately we were punished this time. It happens. The guys looked a bit jaded as well and sometimes when you have a long gap between games it interrupts the momentum.
Having said that I don’t think we’ll struggle now to finish in the top 4. Most of our remaining games are very winnable now and I’m sure AW will go through the mistakes with the lads & they’ll put it right for next week. It’s true that Verm will be disappointed & angry with himself but he’s not suddenly become a crap player overnight so he’ll work hard this week to put things right & no doubt will come out hungry to redeem himself next week.
I was suprised to see Wigan beat Stoke yesterday, I didn’t expect that either. It just goes to show how mad the league is this season. My mate’s a bookie & he’s had a few ups & downs this season! There’s still twists & turns to come, no doubt, but keep the faith & we’ll be fine 🙂
Just a blip…..nothing more or less. We snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory, like we do every season from time immemorial. Tipped to win against a struggler.
It always happens after a period of good play and results….as though the fates are determined to test our mettle.
We dominate possession, fail to capitalise and lose or draw.
We have NOT become a poor side overnight. We have a week to regroup before Man City at home next Sunday…when all will come right, believe me.
sorry, off topic, but according to this, Dean will be involved in officiating the Spuds game today
http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk/
I know this blog has been mentioned several times recently on here, but looking further down, at the section on the amount of Man Utd matches Webb is involved with really is quite staggering. They suggest Webb was screaming at Michael Oliver over the non award of the pen against fulham.
Clubs like Chelsea and City have a lot of money and power – why are they not taking this on?
Still – Dean involved in a Spuds game…only one likely outcome…
Pradon my spelling errors, I’m a Norwgian Gooner.
I follow every game from across the sea. I can’t support the way local gooners can, but occasionally I can afford a trip to the ermirates and at least feel like I matter more. I had a discussion with a friend, who’s also a gooner, after yesterdays game. I said the dumbest thing an Arsenal supporter can do now, is starting to blame our players. I hate it when I read different blogs after defeats. People are so quick to judge. Of course the game yesterday was way below what we expect from our team, but I think our players know that better than anyone. They’re down, and blaming is not gonna pick them up again.
I really enjoyed reading this, because this is the exact same way I feel. In good and bad days. Stand behind your team!! So thank you for this.
I wish i could physically stand behind the lads next weekend, but I’ll do my normal routines from across the sea. Wear the kit, say my prayers and mute the game everytime the commentator says anything bad about Arsenal.
we’ll beat the Mancs.
Gooner 4 life
had to happen sooner or later, just wished it was against better opponents and we’d fight and concentrate. its hard to be mad at a team thats won seven on the bounce…but come on lads..really?
lets get the basics right before we start doing charlie adams impressions.
beyond sloppy.
why ramsey is still starting baffles. and on the left? seems better suited as an understudy for arteta. dont get me wrong i think he’ll come good but surely he hasnt progressed as we hoped he would so far.
we cant expect every player to have a good game every time and as song and verms had woeful games aaron on the left seemed to magnify the disjointedness.
would have been nice to see song come off for diaby at half time. or m’vila?
the body language looked very weird from all even robbing. like something is going on in the dressing room. they looked deflated mentally. after 7 wins!?
hope rob finds his shooting boots for man city.
could be worse…… could be pool.
On the subject of Corruption….this is a slightly terrifying tale
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123419/Murdochs-Yard-man-involved-plot-destroy-Sky-rival-alleged-links-killer-Noye.html
Nice piece. We were below par yesterday. Come rain or shine we must support our side. I flew in from the US to watch us play at the Emirates against Liverpool and we lost. Did I ask for a refund? I did not. No matter what happens, we must KEEP THE FAITH!
“We will win nothing by abusing our players. We will only go backwards. So if you want Arsenal, the players, the team, the club to go backwards go ahead and abuse the players, the manager and all you want. But don’t pretend to be a Gooner. Because it is after a defeat that a real SUPPORTER does his work. I will support the players even more after today. ALL of them. Not just the one I like more and blame the players I like less. As long as they put on the Arsenal shirt I will support them and as long as they do their best I will cheer them on.”
Absolutely right, Walter. Luckily the plastics are a tiny, though very vocal, minority.
@ak47: What do you think was wrong about the body language? As far as I saw we did try and run and press yesterday. Just that QPR did it better.
Secondly what do you think was going on in the dressing room? Isn’t that just speculative? Of course..that may be true, but since there’s no way of knowing, that kind of statement IMO is not helpful in any way. Its like that statement a guy called DoubleGooner made a while back talking about ‘a mystery player’ who was disruptive.
Thanks for this write-up; I badly needed to read something like it after reading a few other blogs.
Top sports teams often lose to ones on the “lower” end. It just doesn’t happen to Arsenal; it happens to other football teams and in all other sports; I hear about it all the time in relation to ice hockey, as I live in Canada. It’s something that I wish I understood more about.
What is depressing is not particularly that the Gunners lost, but the volume of nastiness that is spewed out on so many blogs. These guys just won seven games in a row! – during a season which has been extremely difficult, and where the media and many so-called supporters had written them off. They are going to lose some games, which is a reflection of life in general, where things do not always work out, no matter how well you prepare.
This Arsenal team is also one which is still building itself after a lot of big changes over the past few years. As Nicky said above, we have not become a poor team overnight. RvP himself said that they have to work on producing good results consistently, so they seem aware of what they need to do and presumably are working on it.
Some people are already talking about an RvP goal drought. To put in context, all strikers seem to go through periods of not scoring, including Messi, Benzema, David Villa etc. etc. He’s in good company.
I’m talking myself into a good mood writing this. Love the Gunners, wins, losses and draws.
arvind.
i think the ban may have been playing on their minds. along with many things we have to put up with from the outside. they have personal lives too which mean their are many possibilities that could affect the dressing room as a whole.
the body language was no where near the confidence levels we’ve seen. you can run, press, all you like but if you mind is not their you end up being spun easily as we witnessed time and again. and decide to go across the keeper to the right instead of low to the left.
i didnt mean it in an aaa the dressing room is going to implode way.
offtopic but BBC joining in the “referees are not biased” campaign
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17562451
Avind,
Yes, Double Gooner and his other gullible playmate have not been heard from for a long time, dating back to when that mystery defection never happened. And not a peep of apology. Why not that? Everyone makes a mistake. But no apologies, either by the drive-by shooter or his sanctimonious enabler for wasting everyone’s time and adding their sludge to toxify AFC. It’s interesting that you recall this now because it’s exactly such types that start to whet their incisors and start to re-emerge when we have a setback or two.
Absolutely ridiculous that people actually complained after this game. My god we were 12 points behind the spuds and now we’re above them but people still have the nerve to complain. Plus the standard of pitches really needs to be raised in europe. If the pitch yesterday was just a little better I think we could have run away with this game. We were putting pressure and fighting back a bit, then vermaelen slips..because of a sh***y pitch. But could it also be that our pitch is so good that the players have become a little “spoilt” by it?
You could be right about us being spoilt by our pitch Iniez, but hear that Barca have complained about ACs pitch, if they are the ones complaining, hopefully this issue will be on the agenda.
We will be right back on form against City, the QPR game is history but will serve as a useful warning against any complacency during the run in.
The match was obviously fixed.
Arsenal did everything not to win it. I can take the result but that team out there didn’t seem like a team who has gone on a 7 game win streak. There was absolutely no energy in the 2nd half. There was a 6 day break prior to yesterday’s game.
I can’t think of anything else other than players took huge amount of money to under-perform. Arsenal fixed yesterday’s match.
I appeal u guys to look into the matter. Arsenal have obviously joined the bandwagon. If u can’t fight them join ’em.
When youve come from 15 to 3 and overhauled the Spuds, you might have a “comedown”
Critic
first off I must say I actually found that funny. And I mean that. I’m not being sarcastic. The caricature of a ‘conspiracy theorist’ that you portray made me laugh and I appreciate the humour.
If, on the other hand you were seriously insinuating something about people who believe that certain teams are favoured in the league, or that you seriously believe Arsenal fixed the match, then it’s a different discussion. For now, I’m happy to see the funny side of it because it actually was.
It was 1% serious. If u guys think players refs all are involved in corruption then arsenal can be no different.
We have a couple weeks whereby everything has gone for us, looks like this weekend, nothing whatsoever has gone our way.
Still, should sharpen a few minds in training sessions, we will finish 3rd but it wont be as easy as maybe we were starting to think.
I’m not sure we will finish 3rd Mandy..But the ride will be gripping all the way through.. All I ask is that the team give everything they can. No more scope for poor performances, especially now that Spurs won (thanks to Adebayor)
critic.. Arsenal can be different..but as far as I know, the argument isn’t that ALL players or even referees are involved in corruption. Just that the referee performances follow a certain pattern and looking from outside, the lack of transparency doesn’t give any confidence, and we see no indication of things being done to address that. Rather, any suggestion of things not being as they should be are brushed aside, which should lead to more doubt and the league loses credibility if the public can’t trust the officials. That’s the response to your 1% seriousness.. I still enjoyed the 99% humour.
Mahdain, read the article in your link with interest, think the piece below from the official site adds an interesting dimension to what they are claiming:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-stats-keep-us-out-of-favouritism-argument-
Ok cheers Ak47. I thought it was an ‘AAA’ style thing. My apologies if you meant it the way you explained.
@bob: Yes both those guys vanished. And I actually was fooled by DC? was it… who seemed quite knowledgeable about football medicine etc…sad..coz I enjoyed a few of his posts.
@critic: Who knows what all is fixed? Who knows? The max we can do is to question when we feel something is wrong. I will never forget South Africa’s cricket captain Hansie Cronje..admit to taking bribes in the mid 1990’s ..was it?…he was a guy I respected so much. If he could..anyone could I guess. Tough on the honest failures..but there’ll always be a cloud over everyone…in today’s world. Sad.
I do think we CAN get third and that we’ll at least draw with City and kill off their chances next week. When the back starts leaking goals then the team will take a loss or two; even good sides. 3 goals gone..means they will concede here too. Gonna be fun…hopefully we come through.
Mandy Dodd,
yes, Barca has formally protested the pitch condition at San Siro. UEFA’s judgment should be closely watched, because if they slate Milan for it in Barca’s case, then AFC should press its charges for the horror-pitch they fashioned (by intent or neglect) for us in our first leg loss.
critic,
you wouldn’t know a fact or its value if you tripped over one.
@ Mahadain, thanks for the bbc link and the mail link they have provided with the article. In the mail article, the author has given contradictory statements :
” Subconsciously, though, referees know that if they give a soft penalty against one of the big sides they will be headline news, and none of them wants that. Knowing this, and much to Sir Alex Ferguson’s disappointment, I tended not to give penalties at either end at Old Trafford. ”
So he says that he didn’t give penalties because of SAF’s DISAPPOINTMENT and the heading says that VIEIRA IS WRONG.
WTF ?????
That’s the standard of writing, I don’t know how anyone can believe this s***.
I’m hoping our boys get into making the last seven into our trail-blazing story known as The Big Turnaround. It would rival the Rednose XX and reign on Don Fergus’ coronation IF the lads have the passion and will to take it on and bring it home. They surely have the skill. And Arsene surely wants it hear and soul when he lets the world and the players know that our performance was not acceptable. It’s not that one falls in life, but that one gets back up and on with it that counts. Go Gunners!
Well guys…we are still no. 3 and there is no reason to feel disheartened. It was obvious that we created more chances and we should have won but then it was one of those games! We are still in a strong position and I think this defeat will awaken us from any complacency that may have crept in. What did not work for us was the smaller pitch. Like in the Fulham game, the pitch naturally makes the midfield tighter and is just not suited for our game. That was the reason Rosicky could not orchestrate the attack as he would have liked. TV did have an off day but let’s not be too harsh on him…my only worry was that RVP seemed a little out of sorts and seemed to be limping a bit when he went to take one of the corners…I hope all is fine! Common everyone…let’s be ready for the fight. I think Manshitty are under more pressure than us and a win in that game will be a massive boost. So, let’s keep our chins up…
Actually I think we should just stop worrying about where we’ll end up.. I mean our best run came when we were so far behind.. Let’s just focus on our game. The football we play, and let’s enjoy it. That’s the attitude I’m going to be taking instead of watching over our shoulders at Spurs or Chelsea. I will however be keeping an eye on the referees. I don’t trust them one bit.
Asif,
Arsene was asked at the post-match press conference and he said that the pitch was NOT smaller. I don’t think we need to look for excuses for a bad game. Our character will be our ability to rise up again.
Walter,
I with you in keeping the full faith, of course. But there ought to be room here for expressing anger at a lost opportunity, thereby acknowledging our underutilized skill set. In fact, Arsene openly showed and expressed his anger at the post-match press conference. For my part, I am sure that RvP, as the real captain he is, and many of the senior players, will also feel angry about the side’s collective letdown; and will use it to rally us forward. When a side is as skilled as ours, anger is not a negative emotion when used to refocus, regain our footing and redouble our efforts.
@Bob & Arvind:
I seem to recall calling DoubleGooner Double-Xing-Gooner at one point 🙂
@bob
I agree. Anger isn’t all bad. That’s why it’s there in human nature in the first place.. Trouble is..In today’s world almost everything seems to be typecast into a duality. Good or bad..right or wrong.. AKB or AAA? And with the hyperbole surrounding a loss, it’s like any justifiable and even constructive or cathartic anger that you show, it’ll just be seen as adding to the stream of (mindless) negativity. I don’t mind talking about Arsenal’s or Arsene’s flaws.. But so many people just use them as a stick to beat the team and the manager with..and almost crave the opportunity when they can do so..that I find myself defending the team more than I would like. Things aren’t all rosy..But they are much better than it would seem. and I know you agree with that as well.. Just saying that I think that’s the reason why it becomes near impossible to actually have a DISCUSSION rather than an argument.
@Shard:
Seconded.
@Shard:
Actually, my “seconded” comment was in response to your comment previous to the one above. Bad timing there, apparently 🙂
Not that the comment above isn’t good 🙂
We should complain mightily about the pitch. If the pitch is allowed to be soft and mushy then players will be badly injured, especially ones that play the Arsenal style. All the pitches around the English game should have a professional standard. Subpar pitches will only increase injuries to players and players will adapt, like the Arsenal players did against QPR. Many of the players that are being criticized for being complacent were probably worried about getting injured. We cannot afford to lose any of the first team at this point in the race. Spurs just went through that exercise and we passed them in the standings. I hope that Barcelona win their case against AC Milan. I saw that game and Barcelona looked a shadow of their best, just like Arsenal did against QPR.
Oh, and lest we hadn’t noticed, Thierry Henry scored his first career hat trick on Saturday for NY Red Bulls. So glad he’s a neighbor!
Walter, this is a much needed and well balanced article and I fully agree we back the team through thick and thin.
We should only look back to correct those things which went wrong last time and then lets look forward to the next match and concentrate in putting in a good performance – we can get a result against City, but it will take a top performance. Are we capable of it? Yes we are!
@Marcus:
That’s quite an interesting corruption link indeed…
the rationality this site extoles is great- look on the brightside!
I’m guessing we have at least 2 good points:
1) No new injuries.
2) Koscielny didn’t get a yellow to push him into too many yellows.
Watch the game moer than once. If Vermaelen had his worst game in an arsenal shirt then Mike Dean (spoiler alert- PSEUDONYM)certainly had his best in a Devil’s kit. QPR knew they could get away with murder on the day, and played like it. Arsenal knew calls would not go their way, that tackles would be grossly negligent if not malicious, the pitch was a goddam nightmare i dont know why this isnt mentioned, and that is the reason for this perceived lack of incision. their tactic turned to keep-ball and a few lightning breaks immediately following turnovers, or after a certain time on the clock. they tried to seem toothless with their possession, a psychological battle with the opposition. but it doesnt work if you miss something on the committment front, as Wenger rightly implies, and QPR “had a extra special commitment”(spoier alert- who can guess what extra special commitment means–ill give u a hint, his alias begings with M and ends with ike Dean
Gord, we are no better or worse a team today than before saturdays game against qpr.
7 wins v 7 and 1 loss means nothing. To many people over hyped the spurs situation been 10pts above us and to many were overhyping us when we were 3pts clear of them.
We have a decent side and the run in should be tense and fun hopefuly we stay in the top 4 and strengthen a little during the summer.
I asked in another thread, no response.
Chamakh has been getting raked over the coals for much of the season. Which I don’t think is fair. He was playing for a few minutes. How did he look? Did he make useful runs?
The loss makes it more difficult to think Arsenal finishing second has much possibility. Liverpool losing probably means they can kiss any chance of top-4 good bye. I suspect they might have problems with top-6. Newcastle continues to surprise.
As far as strengthening goes, in another week or so, Wilshere should be back. And perhaps Diaby will have the problems of “almost fit” after a long injury gone as well.
I had seen articles where Petrov of Aston Villa had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia. They were not something I chose to read. But, Fiji Times is reporting that Petrov has retired from football. They are reporting another source “Tema Sport” in Bulgaria as the source.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=197540
@Gord – I thought Chamakh looked fairly good for the time he was on the pitch, 10-15 minutes, I think.
I don’t remember him having the ball at his feet much, but he made one decent glancing header that went wide of the mark.
He also made a good run from a corner kick, but it looked like he was hauled down in the penalty area. But of course Dean didn’t give us a penalty kick.
Is it me or coincidence? I think most times we have Ramsey in the starting line up, the match turns out to be unnecessarily tough for us. I personally wonder why it seems that Wenger is sticking with him being in the starting line up when Arteta-Song-Rosicky seem to be the best combination we currently have in the middle and we’ve got naturals on the left in Gervinho and AOC. Ramsey to me has been most effective this season coming in from the bench.
Another thing about him is that rather than pass the ball when in dangerous positions especially to Van Persie, he tends to go it alone which has not yielded as much dividend. To me, he’s had too many games in a season for someone just coming back from such a horrible injury.
Poogs, are you a ref?
Because from what I have seen/heard/read your analysis is not that bad.
I think you got a good eye on the ref… and you will be interested with the findings of our ref reviewer
Johnny Deigh,
I really have wanted Chamakh to return to half of what he first showed but he’s mostly shown what you described above as this: “one decent glancing header that went wide of the mark.”
Poogs,
On the pitch, it may well have been the nightmare you and others say, but AW noted it in his post-match remarks and pointedly said that the pitch was not the reason that we lost. Are you saying he has a reason to downplay its significance and that you are right where he doesn’t go as far as you do? It could well be, but I’d like to know your further thinking on this. Cheers.
OffTopic: I think this is the second Gary Neville article that I have absolutely loved. Its a fascinating read – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2123328/Titles-won-head-stage-season-Gary-Neville.html
Arvind,
It’s interesting what he says on mind games, but when you say absolutely loved I must ask about what is left unsaid: that is, would this be the same Gary Neville who played out his master, Don Fergus’s mind games at Old Toilet in 2004, a day of infamy? He does know whereof he speaks on mind games, that is a certainty. Not to say that inside information is not at all welcome. I would be far more impressed by your man here if he gave up a tidbit or two on the dynamics of Fergie Time and non-calls on Wayne Divemaster Rooney and how he knew which ref would be protecting them from red cards and the difference that made on the pitch…etc. etc. etc. (Historical memory matters.)
@bob: On the pitch, make no mistake, I hated Gary Neville; specially after his kicking of Reyes at OT.
But as a journalist or a writer, I do enjoy reading some of his stuff. I try and take things independently, and he does write some original stuff. Which I like. He’s still an Ex-ManU player, make no bones about it and I hated him as a player…but there’s no taking away anything from the quality of the article..
And over the years though, I don’t think I hate any player any more. Well maybe Joey Barton these days…but largely I’ve mellowed over the years as a football fan and am able to give credit where it is due. That’s all. Cheers
I agree with Poogs comments. QPR put themselves about in the game and Dean let them get away with it. Just look at the start of the game with Walcott getting wiped out, Mackie constantly fouling the defenders. TV5 mentioned this to Dean about this and got booked? I don’t think the QPR fans came well out of this – did you hear the song they were singing about RVP. He was getting alot of stick and I reckon the coin that hit the lino was supposed to hit RVP.
@Johny Deigh
Thanks for that report on Chamakh. It sounds like he isn’t listening to all the media on himself.
@Frank Rizzo
That missile that hit the linesman in the head was definitely meant for Van Persie. He was standing just a couple feet from the linesman when he got hit.
i Spoke with the haste of vehemence, and altough i dont deny the veracity of my claims i might well be wise to downplay their significance. thats all
@Poogs
Your assessment of the match was spot on.