[Archived] Arsenal 3 Blackburn 0

[Presty On Tour]

GOD I HOPE JANSEN GETS HIS CHANCE WITH BELLAMY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER!!

[Manchester Blue]

That's all very interesting MB but it doesn't answer the question that is on everyone's lips - did Scotty and the rest of the Manchester contigent manage to get the right plane back from London this time? 

363562[/snapback]

Of course we got the right plane. The two Manchester based members who struggle with which plane to get on were not travelling this time.

[JAL]

GOD I HOPE JANSEN GETS HIS CHANCE WITH BELLAMY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER!!

363563[/snapback]

Why, Jansen is finished, were have you been!

[Nuclearsox]

Of course we got the right plane.  The two Manchester based members who struggle with which plane to get on were not travelling this time.

363571[/snapback]

Ah, still making their way home from the Man City game I expect.

[bubblerrovers]

Seriously people, get over Jansen. He's finished in the premiership. Lovely bloke but not premiership class, maybe all the matty lovers could contribute to his waste of time contract so we can spend money on other players.

[Fife Rover]

It was just the same with Tim Sherwood mate.  Sections of the crowd absolutely hated him despite the fact that he was our captain and one of our BIG players in the Dalglish era.  For some reason many people need someone to hate in every team. With some folk it's just their way I guess.  Need proof?  Get this............ I once went on a prawn sarnie junket to Old Trafford (MU v Spurs in 1997/8) and was absolutely gobsmacked to hear the criticism and jeers that Ryan Giggs got from the Old Trafford 'faithful' ffs!  Personally, and with the possible exception of Paul Scholes I cannot think of a better servant of that club over the years.

363427[/snapback]

Bobby Charlton? Dennis Law? Shall I go on?

[rock steady]

Seriously people, get over Jansen. He's finished in the premiership. Lovely bloke but not premiership class, maybe all the matty lovers could contribute to his waste of time contract so we can spend money on other players.

363582[/snapback]

he is on a performance related deal, so he is hardly breaking the bank. but why we have kept him at all is puzzling, because hughes seems very reluctant to play him.

maybe people would "get over" him if he was actually given a chance and still didnt do anything.

[Fife Rover]

Highbury - redolent of marble halls, the bronze bust of Herbert Chapman, the oak panelled boardroom, the Grade 2 listed Art Deco facade of the East Stand, and the famous clock in the South Stand, where I was situated with the Rovers supporters yesterday.

On a day when football paid its respects to George Best, I travelled to North London to say a final goodbye to the famous old stadium before two of the stands are knocked down to be replaced with blocks of flats. The new stadium, about half a mile away, is a huge construction, with a roof similar in design to the Stade De France in Paris. Bloody French....

It's not just football that has been seen on the Highbury pitch over the years. Henry Cooper came up against Muhammed Ali in a World Heavyweight title rematch at Highbury in the 1960's - a fight which some of our older messageboard readers might recall. Many years ago, there was also a black and white film called "The Arsenal Stadium Mystery" - where the star player for the opposition is deliberately poisoned.

The mystery for me at Arsenal yesterday was how the hell Shefki Kuqi has become a Premiership striker. He looks like a pub player who is totally out of his depth at this level. Yes, he provides the odd decent flick on, and he shows a willingness to run about  - but it's not enough at this level.

He's frankly an embarrassment in the blue and white shirt - typified by a "shot" he had in the first half yesterday from a decent position which ended up nearly hitting the corner flag. The sooner this dysfunctional Kosovan is replaced with a more competent striker the better....

Kuqi wasn't the only one at fault though. At least he tried. I thought Andy Todd was to blame for both of Arsenal's first two goals.

I wouldn't use the word "superb" myself Den. I think it was a broadly acceptable performance for the most part, undermined by a lack of clinical finishing and a couple of lapses in concentration for the goals Arsenal scored.

I agree that the 3-0 scoreline was harsh. It flattered Arsenal and wasn't a true reflection of the game. Last season, in one of Souness's last games with Rovers, we also lost 3-0 at Highbury. But this was a better performance in terms of going forward and creating chances. Last season at Highbury we had a demoralised team, lacking in confidence and tactically poor.

Improvement has been made under Hughes, but we nevertheless still lost the game 3-0 yesterday and we have to look at the reasons why.

We got off to a wretched start - caught cold after just a few minutes. From the initial move, Bergkamp was allowed to go past Steven Reid too easily and it was poor defending from Todd on the edge of our box - gifting the ball to Fabregas. Friedel perhaps should have done better with the shot. Three years ago, I think he would have saved it - but it was the lumbering Andy Todd who was mainly to blame for the defensive error.

It could have been 2-0 to Arsenal within ten minutes, but Friedel did well to save Henry's free-kick. On our last trip to London a few weeks ago, we also got off to a wretched start in the opening ten minutes against Chelsea. Away from home we need to be better prepared and concentrate harder at the start of the match.

Later on in the first half, for a period of about 20 minutes, we passed the ball around nicely and created a couple of decent scoring opportunities. Our pub striker Mr Kuqi actually did well to chest the ball down in the box for Pedersen, who should have done better with his shot - which was blocked by an Arsenal defender.

Friedel made a decent save from a shot from Pires, who was allowed to run down the whole length of Arsenal's right hand side far too easily. Pedersen had a mixed game. His corners were erratic and he didn't fully get a grip on the match. However, he did provide a couple of good crosses in the game. His midfield counterpart Emerton was back to his usual frustrating self - doing very little of any note.

Savage - not my favourite player - chased and harried the Arsenal midfield well. Putting to one side his ridiculous playacting, which will do nothing to improve his or Rovers' image, I thought he generally had a good game, breaking up Arsenal's attacking play. Robbie has his limitations. He'll never be a creative player in a million years and he'll never be able to provide the type of incisive defence-splitting passes that Tugay and Berkovic did in their pomp. However, he did do a good job yesterday of putting his foot in at the right moments.

As I said, we passed the ball around nicely for periods in the first half, but it was some rather old-fashioned route one football from Lucas Neill which carved out a couple of chances for the tattooed Welsh chav Bellamy. A long punt from Lucas in his own half found Bellamy in space behind his Arsenal marker. Craig struck a firm shot, but Herr Lehman made a good save. From the rebound, Bellamy's shot hit Toure's head and went out for a corner.

Another long punt from Neill shortly afterwards found Bellamy in the box, but he couldn't manage to control the ball properly. We deserved to go in at the half-time break no worse than being a goal down - but with two minutes to go in the first half, there was some more poor defending.

A fine pass from Pires found Henry on the left-hand edge of the penalty box. But I felt that Andy Todd should have been quicker to spot the danger and intercept the ball. Todd is a carthorse compared with the thoroughbred Henry, and he was too slow to see the danger.

In the second half, we again carved out a couple of decent scoring opportunities. From a Pedersen cross on the left-hand side, Bellamy's diving header grazed the outside of the post. David Thompson replaced the ineffective Emerton for the final half hour, and although Thommo looks a few pounds overweight, he was nevertheless lively - seeing a firm shot saved by Herr Lehman. Later, Thommo had a fairly weak header in the box saved by the in-form German keeper.

With a couple of minutes to go, Van Persie, on the right-hand of the pitch, then went past Michael Gray too easily and struck a fine goal. I saw a few Rovers fans near me clapping Van Persie's strike. It was a fine goal, but it was also poor defending from Gray. At the end of the match, the young Dutchman embraced his old foe Todd.

The difference in the match was the quality of Arsenal's finishing and the lapses in concentration from Todd and Gray. I would feel more comfortable with a defensive partnership of Zurab and Nelsen.

I left the Highbury stadium for the last time on a grey and miserable November afternoon. The weather was crap, the food was crap and the toilets were crap. Maybe the move to Ashburton Grove isn't such a bad thing after all....

363459[/snapback]

Thanks for that great summary of the match. I agree with almost all you said with the one exception that I think you were a tad hard on Gray in the Van Persie goal build-up. I really do think that there are few if any defenders that would have stopped him in that particular situation. Dont forget that Savage too was in close attendance, but V. Persie's close control enabled him to show the ball to both of them simultaneously and still go past them like they were not there. That is something that we used to see regularly from Finney and Mathews but never since they retired has it been done with that degree of ease and flow.

[RevidgeBlue]

Kuqui is not my idea of an ideal forward. But I wonder if certain posters would give him as much stick if he were called Cook and came from Kirkham?

Yep, anti Finnish sentiment is absolutely rife in Blackburn.

That's an extremely silly thing to say phillip, not one poster has ever given the merest hint of criticising Kuqi on the basis of his ethnicity. The fact however we are in December and he has scored in one game might however have something to do with it.

The plain fact of the matter is that he doesn't have the first touch,control or quickness of reaction to be effective at this level.

I think the converse applies. If it had been a local lad like Gally performing in such a fashion the outcry would have been deafning. I'd also wager that if Gallagher was recalled he'd find the net far more regularly than Kuqi in the second half of the season whatever any criticisms of his all round play.

As for the game itself we weren't unlucky, we played well but were beaten by the better side. No disgrace there, Arsenal have now won their last 13 games at Highbury. The difference was that they could call upon Henry and Van Perse for moments of magic, we are currently relying on players who can't cut it at this level in Dickov and Kuqi.

[ihateburnley]

I don't think Kuqi is a bad player to have on the bench to be honest. He's a big lad, will do plenty of running and could do well to come on in the latter stages of games in the sort of 'Duncan Ferguson supersub' role.

I think the manager needs to look at bringing a striker in in the next transfer window. I'm sure I have now said that sentence for the last consecutive nine years or so! I think we can all agree that Bellamy is a class act and his name is the first name on the teamsheet. We just lack support for this top player, and Kuqi/Dickov surely isn't the answer.

Sure, both these players can do jobs in their own ways, but I don't think either player is up to the standard that warrants a starting place in a midtable Premiership team. We really need to look at lower leagues for some fresh talent to spark the team off, and I honestly think that with two top strikers our team would be the dog's danglies.

Names like Lee Trundle and Andy Johnson immediately spring to mind. The problem is that none of us actually know how much these sort of players will cost, or in fact how much Rovers have to spend. The club should try to be more ambitious midseason and think along the lines that a striker that helps us climb two places in the league table could help us to an extra £1m in prize money come the end of the season.

Maybe a loan signing is the answer? Louis Saha anyone?

[krislu]

Names like Lee Trundle and Andy Johnson immediately spring to mind.

363608[/snapback]

Trundle? Doesn't he play in league one or something? I remember seeing him in a FA-cup game once, looked decent but won't hack it in the PL.

[tcj_jones]

Oh come on, Lee Trundle?

[joey_big_nose]

He was born in Kosovo.

I didn't say in my previous post that he was an asylum seeker - although, as it happens,  he actually was an asylum seeker who fled Eastern Europe to go to Finland.

(Link to that HERE)

I didn't mention asylum seekers in my previous post. I notice that you didn't take other board members to task on previous topics where they described Zurab as an asylum seeker.

Maybe, with your username in mind Joey, I should also be careful in future about saying that Kuqi has a big nose, in case that's "racist" too....

363544[/snapback]

Well I am extremely embarrassed and for that I apologise profusely. I made some major accusations where my factual basis was completely inaccurate. I will now shut up for a while and check my facts. I ballsed up in a major way.

As for Zurab, to refer to him as an asylum seeker is, any which way you like it, an insult. So I am certainly against it and seems a bizarre way to treat one of our own players.

[Bing]

Lee Trundle is being linked with a move to Everton in January.

Question his rotundness and lack of pace but any striker who's hit 18 goals in 17 games this season must be worth a look.

[Neil Weaver]

Agree with 90 percent of your views IHB, but did you have a bit of a brainstorm before typing Trundle and Johnson? Kuqi was one of the leading scorers in the Champ/Div 1 (or whatever it was) last year, he was free, won't be a huge earner, and to my mind does what he was bought to do - be energetic, win a few in the air, score 8 per season (assuming he gets enough time on the pitch). To those that were expecting another Drogba, set your sights lower like they should have been all along.

Will we get another striker? I would guess it's down to risk vs reward. If the powers that be can be persuaded to splash a few million cos we'll finish a few places higher, great. I have my doubts.

And btw Rev, I read Philpl's comment more along the lines of him not being a local lad rather than it being ethnic-based. But I suspect Phil will clear that one up.

[percy]

Of course we got the right plane.  The two Manchester based members who struggle with which plane to get on were not travelling this time.

363571[/snapback]

Ah, still making their way home from the Man City game I expect.

363579[/snapback]

You know you've buggered up the trip back when Jordan beats you back to Leeds (and he was on the train !).

I guess getting the wrong plane doesn't help

In our defence, it was all MB's fault - he had us all stood in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a train that didn't exist. It was OK at the time, though, HE was catching the LATER flight back from London

[tcj_jones]

Another thought on the match - how utterly embarrasing was the drummer? Ok, he's stopped doingthe "get into 'em" chant every three seconds, but now he seems to be drumming beats on his own when nobody else is singing. It's an utter embarrassment.

I also found it quite cringeworthy when our fans would start singing "shall we sing a song for you..." and "shhhhhh'ing" at the arsenal support, when we were probably ten times more quiet. I think this was further proven when the very same fans started singing "there's only six of us singing."

[tcj_jones]

Everton? That is really surprising.

Thinking about it a little more, he is similar to Kuqi in that he must be in his late 20's, has never played above championship / league one level and looks pretty over weight. I guess he could probably do a job, but like Kuqi, if he was good enough for the premiership after so many goals in the lower leagues, he would have been snapped up.

[Manchester Blue]

He is so different to Kuqi it is not even worth the comparison. Whether he is quite good enough for the Premiership is debatable but he has the quality, something which Kuqi lacks sadly.

[tcj_jones]

In playing ability and style, yes. I was commenting on the similarity of his and Kuqi's playing career in that neither have played at a high level and both have scored a lot of goals in their respective leagues.

[waggy]

talking about players we could sign,how about boyd from killmarnock

[rover6]

He is so different to Kuqi it is not even worth the comparison. 

363696[/snapback]

Very true. Trundle has technique and no pace. Kuqi has minimal technique, more pace and physical presence.

[herbergeehh]

Very true. Trundle has technique and no pace. Kuqi has minimal technique, more pace and physical presence.

363882[/snapback]

Yet you did!

[tonygreenbank]

Here follows a cautionary tale about supporting your local team as told to me last night by my brother who went to Highbury with a friend.

My brother who is 64,by the way, went to the Arsenal game as he lives in Plumstead and has done so for the last 40 years. He arranged to meet a friend coming from Rochdale. The friend was late arriving so my brother was pacing around for about 25 minutes. He was approached by two policemen who said to him that he had been under surveillance for the last 20 minutes and they had reason to believe that he was a ticket tout. He was then given a leaflet explaining that he was to be searched. My brother explained that he was a Rovers fan but this cut no ice and he was duly searched outside the entrance much to his embarrasment and anger!

As the search yeilded nothing he was asked for ID and since he was a Rovers fan they expected a Blackburn address. When he told them he lived in Plumstead they were suspicious and radioed for further information. The radio crackled that my brother was indeed a resident of Plumstead, retired and had a "mild Blackburn accent"(where this info came from he is not aware but it sounds very intrusive).

Needless to say he was very angry and upset with this pre-match farce.

He did not go to the Charlton game as he was still fuming so instead he placed a bet that Charlton would lead at half-time and Rovers would win at fulltime.

He put £10 on and won £150!

So the moral is this -do not stand outside a London ground for more than 10 minutes otherwise you will be frisked and if you do get round to the bookies for the next game.

[Yorick]

Here follows a cautionary tale about supporting your local team as told to me last night by my brother who went to Highbury with a friend.

My brother who is 64,by the way, went to the Arsenal game as he lives in Plumstead and has done so for the last 40 years. He arranged to meet  a friend coming from Rochdale. The friend was late arriving so my brother was pacing around for about 25 minutes. He was approached by two policemen who said to him that he had been under surveillance for the last 20 minutes and they had reason to believe that he was a ticket tout. He was then given a leaflet explaining that he was to be searched. My brother explained that he was a Rovers fan but this cut no ice and he was duly searched outside the entrance much to his embarrasment and anger!

As the search yeilded nothing he was asked for ID and since he was a Rovers fan they expected a Blackburn address. When he told them he lived in Plumstead they were suspicious and radioed for further information. The radio crackled that my brother was indeed a resident of Plumstead, retired and had a "mild Blackburn accent"(where this info came from he is not aware but it sounds very intrusive).

Needless to say he was very angry and upset with this pre-match farce.

He did not go to the Charlton game as he was still fuming so instead he placed a bet that Charlton would lead at half-time and Rovers would win at fulltime.

He put £10 on and won £150!

So the moral is this -do not stand outside a London ground for more than 10 minutes otherwise you will be frisked and if you do get round to the bookies for the next game.

365225[/snapback]

I was searched at Man City. I was asked to take my phone out of my pocket and raise my arms in the air while some bloke frisked me. I asked him what he was looking for and he said without a moments hesitation 'aerosols'!

So sod knives, darts, lead pipe, sharpened coins, firework rockets etc the big danger on the terraces now apparently comes from aerosols for pity's sake! Whether Lynx is particularly more deadly than Femfresh I'm not really sure. I must say the daft sod looked very shamefaced and flustered when I started to laugh at him and he realised how daft he sounded but surely the worlds going mad.