Arsenal (h) 19.08.2007 - Preview

[Alex Rover]

--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ste B @ Aug 19 2007, 21:12 ) 539299[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just because you've been trolling on here for months, not just as this ID but as plenty of others (Mattie, WakefieldRawks, AxesFirstTouch).

Still every village needs one.

I know I am sticking my neck right out here, but what the hell! Will someone please explain to me what exactly a troll is in the sense that it is being used here. Up to recently on here, the only time I have ever heard the word troll used was when my wife used to read a story to the kids as toddlers about a troll that lived under a "rickety, rackety bridge".

He's one of these.

[Pugg]

--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ste B @ Aug 19 2007, 21:12 ) 539299[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Just because you've been trolling on here for months, not just as this ID but as plenty of others (Mattie, WakefieldRawks, AxesFirstTouch).

Still every village needs one.

I know I am sticking my neck right out here, but what the hell! Will someone please explain to me what exactly a troll is in the sense that it is being used here. Up to recently on here, the only time I had ever heard the word troll used was when my wife used to read a story to the kids as toddlers about a troll that lived under a "rickety, rackety bridge".

I think it means someone going onto an internet forum witht he sole purpose of trying to wind people up/cause aggro.

[Ozz]

With all the horrible stuff going on around the world, it is nice to just look forward to football back at Ewood, and allowing a myriad of cheating diving foreigners, biased, bought refs and officials, and one eyed radio reports on the way home in t'car to take my mind off the bad things in this world.

Footballs back.

[thenodrog]

-->

QUOTE(Ste B @ Aug 19 2007, 20:12 ) 539299[/snapback]

Just because you've been trolling on here for months, not just as this ID but as plenty of others (Mattie, WakefieldRawks, AxesFirstTouch).

Still every village needs one.

Thats him sussed then. So it's bye bye shoppybrfc is it?

[Fife Rover]

He's one of these.

Yes, now I understand. Thanks for that Ciren Rover, that was very informative. I am gradually catching up with the internet jargon. I wonder how long it will be before you can take a degree in Internet Jargon? (Only joking)

[roversmum]

Was it my imagination or did Hughes throw a small tantrum because Riley the fourth official was up in the Arse bench at one time during the match, chatting?

Can't believe all the time-wasting that went on, but had to laugh when they started to get at Brad for it near the end of the match!

I'd forgotten how much Arsenal irritate me, particularly Van Persie. Great afternoon though, brilliant to be back, can't wait for next match

[Paul]

Another strange one. Lehman backed into his own goal with the ball. Play was not stopped so imo it was a clear own goal.

Yes, MGP barged into him, quite deliberatley. It was either a free kick or a goal, one of the two but the idiot vin the middle gave nothing

[herbergeehh]

Van Persie always scores, doesn't he.. Surprised Bendtner didn't score one, I had a bad feeling when he came on.

A more balanced report here from our friends in Australia!

[cruz]

Arsene Wenger has lost the plot, both on the field and off it.

Once upon a time the worst thing you could accuse Mr Wenger of was his penchant for having selective eyesight when it came to seeing his own sides indescresions "I didn't see it" (as an arsenal player was sent off for karate kicking another players head over the stand in front of the dugouts). Other than that he was an eloquent, fairminded and progressive manager. Well not these days. These days he is becomming more and more paranoid and hysterical. It's a mans game Monsieur!!!

He claims that Blackburn set out to deliberately bestow violence upon his team

"I felt there was a desire for violence more than commitment in their challenges......"

Strange then how the only real violent challenge was by RVP.

Looking at the game you can only deduce that it was a full-blooded and committed game of football IN SPITE of a terrible nit-picking and common sense bereft referee. Both sides wanted to win and set the marker for their season. It did not help that every touch on an Arsenal player brought about a petulant and enhanced tumble or a child like waving tantrum. Nor did it help that a suited frenchman was juming around like a man possessed at every liitle foul as his once impervious crown slips further off his head along with his sides once devastating passing and fluid football.

At the end of the day you can only conlcude from the game that one side cemented the fact that they could be top 6 challengers whilst the other side showed that their stock has fallen so dramatically that top 4 looks increasingly beyond them and without a certain dynamic spaniard top 5 maybe too much. How they must be thankfull that 60,000 baying Londoners MAY get them enough home points to scrape by........watch this space.

The invincibles are no more. Arsenal are joining English footballs 2nd tier.

[Scotty]

I hate playing Arsenal. It's never a pleasant experience. They are masters of the dark arts of football - the niggly yet cynical foul, the blatant time-wasting, the dive, the pathetic play acting, the feigning of imaginary injuries. It's all designed to keep the game at a tempo suitable for their prima-donna's to play their, admittedly, great football, and it's all cheating. Yet time after time the referee lets them get away with it.

Anyway, as for the football, I thought we were average in the first half and failed to get a grip in midfield. They weren't much better but a defensive balls-up gave them the lead. The second half was a different story though. We became more physical, we played a lot more direct, and I thought Dunn, Savage and Bentley took control of the game. Arsenal got rattled and a goal was the least we deserved. I'm delighted it was Dunn that got it, let's hope that sets him off on a run of them now.

Friedel obviously made a mistake for their goal but our defence also had chances to clear it. Other than that he didn't have much to do.

I thought our full-backs were poor in the main - although we're a better team with Emerton in it. However, both Emo and Warnock made too many errors that could have led to goals. Nelsen and Samba mopped up well though but still looked shaky at times. Nelsen's red card was justified.

Our midfield was second best in the first half but well on top in the second. Dunn started in a deep, Tugay-esque role but was moved further forward in the second half - where he's a much better player. His driving run for the goal was reminisent of the Dunn of old. Bentley roamed around a lot more in the second half and got himself involved. He rarely wasted a pass, put his usual supply of dangerous crosses in, and worked hard to limit Clichy's attacking threat. He was my man of the match today. Savage's influence grew as the game wore on and his workrate and tenacity spurred the team on in the latter stages. Only Pedersen of the midfield quartet had an off day, although he did fire a trademark half-volley just wide in the second half. He's started the season slowly though.

Up front I thought Santa Cruz looked classy without really having enough supply for most of the game. He's a good threat in the air and holds the ball well, he could be the steal of the season. Derbyshire worked hard but Arsenal's pacey back four were able to snuff out his runs today and he rarely got in behind the defence.

Any point against one of the "big four" is a good one, especially when you have to come from behind to get it. We deserved our draw, we played reasonably well - certainly well enough to suggest we're going to have another good season, but I can't help thinking that 3 points were there for the taking today if we'd started well. Maybe we're just not good enough to play that well against the better teams for 90 minutes. Still, I think we'd have all taken 4 points from our first two games at the start of the season.

[USABlue]

Van Persie always scores, doesn't he.. Surprised Bendtner didn't score one, I had a bad feeling when he came on.

A more balanced report here from our friends in Australia!

No mention of the Van Persie elbow to David Bentleys head in the first half. Clear, intentional and aimed. BEntley get's the yellow. I still can't see why the ref blew before the handball on the line either. Only thing I can think is he sensed danger on the Arse's goal and blew. Pathetic standard of officiating to day. At least keep it consistant. Basic rules were, if man in red shirt falls down free kick.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I just get too irritated by Arsenal to enjoy playing them. Our get stuck in approach and their diving/simulation/time wasting are like oil and water.

As to the game itself, Dunny put in a terrific last 20 mins and made his luck with the goal. Contrary to popular opinion on this board, I really think that Savage, for all his strengths, fatally weakens us as an attacking force. He did nothing today to create, and I don't think if we have aspirations for top 6 we can afford a central midfielder whose only real contribution is to wind players up. The wingers get no service because central midfield isn't creative enough. We came good when Hughes moved Bentley into the middle for the 2nd half and did without a right winger, then all our good stuff was through the middle.

Samba and Santa Cruz were excellent for me, both give us something we haven't had for a long while, real power in the air.

I though Brad had his worst game for ages. Very soft goal, two reckless charges to the edge of the area where he missed the ball both times and they could easily have scored, and two free headers for Senderos from 3 yards out.

Still, 4 points from two games that could very easily have yielded none is a good start.

[grizfoot]

The Ref was indeed awful but despite some (well a lot of) decisions going against us we still had enough to get a point.

Was close between Warnock & Dunn for the MoTM. But Dunny just edges it for me, what a great feeling for Dunny to score again at the Blackburn End. Brilliant atmosphere, good well-earned point, and shut up Mr.Wenger.

[Pugg]

Just watched MoTD2, they were just basically laughing at Wenger and his comments, commenting on how he has said it for the last few years and that it is rubbish.

[Raymond Rover]

Yeah saw that myself Pugg, pleased to see that they thought Arse was talking b******s but didn't really say much about us apart from Gavin saying we are a "good team".

Give us a bit more credit than that! I thought we played really well and very encouraged by this result and the rest of the season, hope Dunn keeps up the good work, looks like he is starting to find his form.

Overall I'm happy with the result.

[tonygreenbank]

I think that Wenger is the last man you would want next to you in the trenches as he would be looking for the white flag at the first sign of "violence". Ilove watching Arsenal play as they are so free and expressive until today when they were basically cheating. Whenever we had the upper hand down would go a gooner and play was stopped. 5 times it happened in the first half and 5 minutes of added time showed what they were doing and yet Wiley did nothing to check them. We were tremendous in the second half and I have never seen so many Rovers players gesticulate to the Riverside to urge the team on. Bemtley did it and then we scored so Samba and Savage got in the act too. A great performance and a great start to the season.

[yorkblues]

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/223789674?-11198

what a load of crap wenger talks

[b12_simon]

A well-earned point in the end. Disappointed in the MOTD coverage - especially the other goal we had disallowed.

I don't think I've read anything good about the ref on here and that's spot on. He had a dire game, obviously fell for the crap Wenger was spreading about us in the press. You expect the "long ball" and "physical" tags from lazy pundits, not from match officials.

Still, some great perrofmances. Dunn got my MoM for the goal, but it was close. I thought both Samba and Warnock in particular put in some great work.

One of our designers is an Arse and he'll be getting some serious stick tomorrow!

[American]

Entertaining second half, definitely deserves a point. Samba was immense. Not only did I feel confident when he was going for the ball that he would get it, I was also confident he wasn't going to get a yellow card.

Edit: Forgot to mention the commentator was very complimentary to Rovers and the crowd. Pointed out the cut in ticket prices will only help crowds get bigger, and said that the crowd was in great voice.

[Presty On Tour]

to sum up, i just hate arsenal, van persie and lehmann in particular and refs of course.

roll on the toffees

[Grabbi Graeme]

I was pleased at a point from this game although on reflection there was a a great chance that we could have got all 3 points, second half we were the better side and even with 10 men we still had the attacking mentality.

It always makes me laugh when Wenger comes out with this dirty team crap, he has got a short memory, doesn't he remember that when he was first in charge on Arsenal they had a really bad discipline record especially with Viera getting sent off regular.

[USRoverME]

I'm going to be a bit contrary here and say that the reffing wasn't THAT bad, although a tad lenient on the arse, as flamini and VP could easily have been off as well. But Sav needed to be careful, and he was lenient on Samba early on (even though Samba rightly got one later). Rovers were making alot of clean "professional" fouls, whereas the Arse were making some really ugly ones.

The closeups on Gallas' injury were not good, and I'm surprised Van Persie was able to play on after Samba almost seprated his foot from his leg when he landed on it.

I got the Luxury of reading the math reports then watching in on tape delay. It was alsways going to be a tough match to ref. And, as was stated by the commentators I had "Even Kofi Annan would have a time time officiating with this group". Rovers were challenging hard, and although a few fair tackles where whistled, most everything I saw given against rovers was just from a foul/freekick perspective. I actually thought the worst "dive" of the game went to Dunn when Bentdner came in high. His boot caught Dunn int he shoulder/chest, and Dunny went down clutching his face. Sav pulled a similar one. Eduardo should have bough a chainsaw he was undercutting Samba so much, but samba got quite a few of those calls.

Dunny looked good to me, his goal was pure luck, or comprised of bribes to Lehmann, but he tracked back defensively better than sav for me. I'm even starting to think that a Toogs/Dunny midfield might work. MoM for me would either have been Warnock or Santa, actually. I think Santa did a thankless job, never lsot his head despite the "action", and ever long ball that came to him always seems to end up re-directed towards a Rovers player or a dangerous area.

Hleb is uglier than Nelsen and is as bad as Van Persie. I think Hughes even had a go at Van Persie during the match when Van Persie was delaying a Rovers throw in. Must have asked him if kicking out at people was "arsenal football".

A draw is proabably the fairest result, although 0-0 it should have been.

[Perth_Rover]

I must say that was great of dunny to get straight back up after getting kicked in the head, how many players would do that in current football matches? Also as i said during the live chat of the game that they would find something to moan about, seems they have by saying we only got the draw cause Lehman made a howler.........

[Blackpool_Rover]

from what i remember....did he actually touch his head? I know Dunn when down holding his head but i thought he just stood up when he realised it looked stupid. Looked like body to body to me.

I thought Samba, Warnock, Nelsen were excellent but overall it was a great performance by everyone. Sav did a good job but we cant have a go at them for the theatrics when he is clearly the same. A couple of occasions he went down holding his head when nobody even touched him. But i suppose...if you cant beat em,.,..

[Hypo-Luxa]

I must say that was great of dunny to get straight back up after getting kicked in the head, how many players would do that in current football matches? Also as i said during the live chat of the game that they would find something to moan about, seems they have by saying we only got the draw cause Lehman made a howler.........

Since we're counting, Arsene The Whinger, Friedel let in a softie, Lehman let in a howler and Fabregas made a great save on his own that wasn't called. The move leading up to the goal should've been our throw-in as well. Much like against Totts a few years ago.

It was plain to see that every call was given for Arse and not every one was given to Rovers. It really is a mess the FA has on its hands and if the smaller clubs would rise up and demand accountability for shoddy refereeing. You might say that shoddy refereeing is inherent in any game even when it involves two of the Top 4, but since they get more calls than not I doubt they'd raise a whimper.

The draw was a disappointing result all things considered, but not a bad one at all to start our season(shows the great strides since the days of Souness to be able to be disappointed with a draw against Arsenal!) . We are notorious for slow starts and so far we've played 5 matches and not lost a one.

Santa Cruz is showing none of the laziness he's been accused of and witnessed as a Bayern Munich player. Great to see him stick his nose into the 50/50's