MUGGED IN CARDIFF!

Having watched the whole of Sunday’s game again, I am more than annoyed at some of the things that happened which mostly seemed to confirm our feelings and observations at the time. Firstly their equalising goal could technically I suppose have been ruled just onside, but, as I said yesterday there is no way that any unbiased viewer would not have flagged the smelly Drog offside. Even Andy Gray claimed he was off even given the benefit of an instant replay!

Secondly lets get back to the referee who, according to that shit Alan Green on Five Live, was his man of the match. His first booking came after 20 odd minutes for an innocuous looking block by Denilson – which was completely unnecessary and meant the boy had 3/4s of the game to get through risking a second yellow. The fact hat he managed it playing in that tough midfield battlefield was testament to his maturity and skill. Much worse tackles came later from the Chavs, which went unpunished.

I was right about that idiot linesman when he flagged Adey for offside when he was much less so that when Drogba equalised. It may have looked that he missed the chance anyway but he had stopped his run when the whistle went.

Then we come to the fisticuffs. My initial reaction was that Kolo must have struck Mikel to get himself sent off, but actually he didn’t. Yes he pushed him a bit but certainly not enough for a straight red. And why a red for Mikel? Surely a yellow would have been enough for the pair of them that late in the game. We all now know that Adey really did nothing other than use his strength – albeit rather a bit too vigorously perhaps - to try to separate the players. Eboue’s tap on the shoulders of Bridge was a stupid thing to do but the Russian mercenary should face some penalty for collapsing – Lilly Savage fashion – as if he had been hit with a sledgehammer over the head.

If the referee had seen the incident correctly he would have sent off Eboue for a second yellow, booked Bridge for cheating, given a yellow to both Kolo and Mikel, and sent Lardyarse fat Frank off for (a) steaming into Kolo and inciting the whole nasty incident and (b) for being such a slimy fat horrible c*nt in the first place. Then, instead of booking Cesc, he should have shaken his hand for trying to pull the aforementioned shithouse away. I wish I could have heard what Cesc was shouting at Lardy – it looked like it was just the same things us gooners were shouting! The man’s brilliant!

Thanks Hammers!

So what do you reckon tonight’s line-up will be then? I suppose it depends on the formation Arsene decides to play, but I really hope we don’t go 4-5-1 with a lone Henry up front. The way he is playing at the moment I think he could be completely isolated and it might be a struggle to score that vital away goal.

In my opinion we should go 4-4-2 as I don’t think PSV can claim to be a much better side than Bolton or possibly even Blackburn. Had we reverted to a loan striker when we only had ten men up at Blackburn in the league, I can’t help thinking we wouldn’t have won – or even scored.

I fear, however, that Arsene will revert to his tried and trusty – and of course successful – Champions League 4-5-1 formation. But I could be wrong!

Right Fullback is the only selection problem, with either Willie or Johan taking the place of Justin Hoyte who is injured. I suppose he might even consider the Flamster, but I expect he will go for Djourou, with Gallas replacing Phillipe Senderos, providing he is fully match fit.

After his last performance, Alex Hleb has just got to play, so hopefully Freddie will be kept on the bench to come on and score the winner if required. If Arsene does go 4-5-1 then he might well play Freddie alongside, Tomas, Alex, Cesc and Gilberto, sacrificing Adey. But I could be wrong!

Anyway we haven’t got long to wait!

Isn’t it great planning and looking forward to these sorts of games? – we really should give our most sincere thanks to West Ham for turning the yids over in the last league game of the season.

Talking of the Spuds, my forecast of them drawing Chelski in the next round turned out spot on – I am so gutted they didn’t get Plymouth at home!

Good luck tonight boys.

Anorak Arsenal Trivia: Did you know that 35 years ago this week we lost away in Holland (to Ajax) 1-2 in the European Cup in the first leg - also losing the home leg 0-1 two weeks later.

Friendly at the Emirates

What a woeful game! Don’t think I have seen such a crap side as Blackburn for a very long time – they looked like a division 2 side - and we played against them as if we were playing a pre-season friendly!

But Blackburn really were abysmal – they managed just two goal attempts the whole game (we only had 12 plus 4 blocked shots) and won one corner (we only had 7), and as if we weren’t expecting it, they committed 18 fouls (to our 9).

Apart from Kolo, no-one in our team looked capable of grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and doing something – it had the look of a nil-nil written all over it after the first ten minutes.

Full marks to Cesc though for the way he told Hughes what he thought of their team. Beautifully sarcastic - the man's a genius!

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Thierry is not the player he was last season? Where’s that fight and desire we saw when he came on against the Spuds last season to earn us a vital point?

I thought the Flamster has a reasonable game yesterday, but when he plays with Freddie in the midfield, we seem to have no way of getting through a ten man defence. Have we ever won a game when they have played together, ‘cos I can’t think of one?

Nice to see our Willie back and he played well considering he’s been out for three months. Must also give a mention to Jeremie Aliadiere – he looked quality throughout the game and I look forward to seeing him at Cardiff next Sunday.

Next up a trip to Holland for the CL against PSV, and it will be interesting to see Arsene’s team selection for that one. Hope Alex Hleb’s fit for that – we missed him badly yesterday.

Anyway lets quickly forget yesterday’s match and look forward, although another game in our congested season we need like a hot poker up the nose.

At least the replay is in the northwest – piece of cake then!

Penalty!

I know they are only human, but I am amazed how many times top players not only have their penalty kicks saved, but also miss the goal completely.

Lets face it, its a bloody big target to miss after all!

You wouldn't expect a professional darts player to miss the dart board would you?

Thank goodness Gilberto's and Baptista's misses didn't cost us the game against Bolton, but it really is unforgivable not to even work the goalkeeper when it should really be a nailed-on goal. I don't know about you but for me the best way to take a penalty is to simply run up and blast the ball straight at the keepers head. There is no way he is going to stay in the same position as before the kick - he is almost certainly going to dive one way or the other. I don't think I have ever seen such a penalty saved - have you?

There are dozens of different ways of taking a penalty and you see variations every week, but usually the taker tries to place the ball in one of the corners, and if the keeper guesses correctly he has a fair chance of saving it. Whack the ball with lots of power straight at him however, - preferably at head height or above - and he hasn't got a chance.

Lets change the subject back to the future, and next up midday on Saturday is Blackburn at the Emirates - and a difficult team selection for Arsene. I suspect it's all down to who is fit and least knackered after that gruelling 120 minutes up at the Reebok.

Thank goodness Willie Gallas is back at last and Arsene has also named Thierry and Cesc in the squad - along with most of Wednesday's team except Hleb (cold), Djourou (knee), Gilberto, Jens, Baptista and Diaby (all rested). It's not very many hours between half past ten on a Wednesday night and midday on a Saturday and, with the much more important game on Tuesday away to PSV coming up, we certainly can't afford any injuries. Kolo, Gael Clichy, Denilson and Adey surely won't be able to play both Saturday and Tuesday after their efforts the other night, and we are bound to see another new partnership up front with Thierry and Jeremie - I look forward to that. So, with the return of Swiss Tony, will Gallas play left back or in the middle? Can Tommy gunner play tomorrow and Tuesday?

I'm more than happy to leave the decisions to Arsene - whatever team he chooses I am sure it will be the right one.

(PS - Please Lord don't let Blackburn score first!)

Anorak Arsenal Trivia - Did you know that 15 years ago we were crashing out of the FA cup in the third round at Wrexham? No reserves that day either, with Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, O'Leary, Adams, Rocky Rocastle, Alan Smith and the Merse all playing. We finished 4th in the league that season incidently, but only 10 points behind title winners Leeds United.