Thursday 30 October 2008

Our fourth wake up call, Arsenal V Spurs, it had everything and more!

Obviously being a Gooner I'm upset with the result of last night. I don't think I've ever seen a side be 4-2 up with a minute to go and then draw 4-4, let alone Arsenal.

It has put a huge dent in our title ambitions but its a dent we can straighten out by beating Manchester United on November 8th. That game has even more importance now than it has had for a long time.

I, like every other Gooner, was doing my nut at how the game finished last night. I'm still slightly angry at the way we have thrown two points away but I must say that the game had absolutely everything you could want in a football match.

It was a roller-coaster of emotions, one minute we are flying and the next in the pits of despair. I felt the same way last season in the Champions League tie against Liverpool when Adebayor scored our second to almost see us through only for Gerrard to score a penalty 30 seconds later to pretty much knock us out. Real up and down stuff!

You could argue that we have seen goal of the season as well. I hate Bentley and his cocky attitude but the way he took his goal was amazing. I was gutted that HE managed to score but I have to give him credit for the way he took the chance. Although it took me five replays to admit this because at first I assumed Bentley just took a heavy second touch!

I look at the Arsenal performance and I think that we dominated the match and under normal circumstances scoring four goals would be more than enough to win. Unfortunately for us derby games against Tottenham don't have normal circumstances and the game never goes to plan. The game last night and the 5-4 win for us a few years back prove this.

We played some great stuff last night and opened up Tottenham at will, the four goals reflect that on our part. Defensively we were far from great and you could suggest we played more than our fair share in Tottenhams goals. The first Spurs goal was a stunner, the second was courtesy of Almunia trying to stop the ball with his face, the third Clichy was tripped by thin air and the fourth was the little girl not being closed down quick enough before her strike set-up Rude Boy to tuck home via the post.

I liked the way we looked dangerous at set-pieces for a change although it could have more to do with the fact Spurs can't defend from set-pieces, a bit like us really! That was a positive though and Silvestre and Gallas look more than capable of threatening from these situations.

Arsene Wenger needs to sort out how we defend as a team. The defenders looked pretty solid last night and didn't give much away. The midfield however have to start closing down the opposition a lot quicker. I lost count of the number of times Modric was allowed to run thirty or so yards with the ball unchallenged, Jenas' goal was a classic example.

Arsene Wenger also needs to take a look at how he uses his subs in a game. The substitutions he made last night put us on the back foot and allowed Tottenham to come at us in the last ten minutes. Wenger is his own harshest critic and I'm sure he will assess this.

Overall I'm disappointed by the result but quite happy with how we played for most of the game. We played some great stuff and really turned on the style at times. Unfortunately though playing with verve and style doesn't win you trophies. Winning games does though and until we learn from our mistakes I fear for our chances.

That is our fourth wake up call already this season. We cannot allow for anymore.

Keep it Goonerish................

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely gutted am sure like every gooner...but i fund it funny how were shiite defensively probably on of the worse in the league and our manager started his footballing career as a defender!!! makes me chuckle but tbh gutted :(

Anonymous said...

Wake up cal for whom my friend??
The team is very very awake and its the best it can give..
Cant expect more from the centre midfeld,we had 2 DM in the last goal.They are nowhere near world class DM,sorry,not yet.
The teams spine is absent right in the middle,and we dont have that tenacity and muscle and maturity.Flamini could also only fill a part of the DESPERATION and WINNING MENTALITY needed..we need a desperate winner-like Gallas

Anonymous said...

Wake up cal for whom my friend??
The team is very very awake and its the best it can give..
Cant expect more from the centre midfeld,we had 2 DM in the last goal.They are nowhere near world class DM,sorry,not yet.
The teams spine is absent right in the middle,and we dont have that tenacity and muscle and maturity.Flamini could also only fill a part of the DESPERATION and WINNING MENTALITY needed..we need a desperate winner-like Gallas

Anonymous said...

4-2 AND WE FUCKED IT UP.CANT FUCKING BELIEVE IT.AND WHATS UP WITH THE 4MINS INJURY TIME FFS.SOMEONE PLS ENLIGHTEN ME WHICH PLAYERS DRAGGED THE TIME

Anonymous said...

Get real. The team's got issues. We have a couple of world class players but as cesc alluded to - we're very young(too young, which also means not that good). If we don't improve on points from last year we need to rethink the team's direction. I hope Wenger can address it in January, if not we could be out of the top four.

Wrighty7 said...

Its our fourth big slip up.

Fulham, Hull, Sunderland and now Spurs.

We can give more than that mate, we pissed the Spuds for 89 minutes and then complacency kicked in.

Wrighty7 said...

I don't think we will be out of the top four and I agree though we need another couple of experienced quality players.

We are nearly there.

Summerspur said...

hey fuckwiit

nice of you to delete my comment,
coward, you get more french by the day.
you can delete facts but they still exist

Wrighty7 said...

Hi there Summerspur, what comment was that then?

I haven't seen your wisdom on here in ages!

You wanna deal in facts? You last beat us in the league in 1999 and are still bottom of the table despite your lucky draw last night.

Enough facts pal?

Anonymous said...

No mate we are not as near as you think..
Chelsea,ManUtd-the players are go from the 1st minute,finish off teams-complacency never comes in-holding off comes with experience.

Chelsea lost half of that attitude against liverpool with ballack,essien and drogba missing..and they lost.Anelka is no drogba,Deco is no ballack,mikel is no essien(ive lost count of the times they have saved chelsea from losing.consistently)Look at the comparisons,stark difference in mentalities.

Arsenal had flamini last seasom to push,he affected fab to play with desperation(desire)..dis season i see clichy a LB tryin to push with a desperation i dont see in fab(how many months since hes scored??) and especially in denilson..our mid is skillfull but they dont stamp authority in the midfield...

We are close..yes, we are-2 players close to winning the league,2 leaders in the midfield close,2 winners(lik gallas) close..
(seriously..thres a world of a difference between fab and gallas's attitude-big difference in their wanting to win..you can see it on their faces and game)

Wrighty7 said...

We need a winners attitude thats for certain.

Gallas has that in abundance, I think he gets a raw deal from some Gooners.

Anonymous said...

got to say tho
spurs got 3 freak goals and a massiv almunia mistake.
i dont think the defence was at fault for any of the goals apart from the clichy slip, but i mean that was punished so harshly, it happend near the halfway line
we shulda had about 6 as well
really unfortunate, but a bit more power in midfield wouldnt go amiss
i still say djourou's the man for DM
tall, fast, strong, good at tackling and very skillful; wat more could u want?

Wrighty7 said...

I think Djourou should be starting in some form. Either at the back or at least given a fair run in the side.

Anonymous said...

Still sick from last night, A friend said recently that the Arsenal players are believing their own hype and he is right. Cesc's and Wengers pre match comments only fired up the scum more. Humility is needed and they need to get back to putting three points on the board week in week out. I dont want to hear its the best squad bullshit and fantastic football i just want to see us lift a trophy and beat teams even if it is back to the old 1-0 to the arsenal days.

Anonymous said...

I am absolutely gutted and can't comprehend how we managed to draw, to me this feels humiliating and can't imagine how the team feels. Hopefully, they will be sick of the fact they threw away those points and come back stronger.

Almunia was at fault for the second goal and I'm pretty sure that a top class goalkeeper could've saved the third. However the first goal and fourth goal he could do little to prevent and the blame rests on the central midfield pairing. I am concerned by central midfield and left wing.

Is it me or does Fabregas seem to have hit some bad form or something. He has done bugger all creatively and offers nothing defensively. Creatively and defensively Denilson has bettered him of late! Can't he be bothered anymore or is he looking to move?

Our team particularly the midfield is full of midgets who are too slow and fail to retain the ball. Nasri, although starting his career brightly is looking more and more like a central creative midfielder than a pacy wing attacker. I am still a bit bemused why Wenger chose him instead of Hatem Ben Arfa. Diaby doesn't look like he can be a defensive midfielder but i have a funny feeling that if he concentrates on his attacking play then he could usurp Fabregas and be our focal point. Either way, we need Yaya Toure or we are gonna get harrased and penetrated through the middle.

Anonymous said...

Throwing points away, buy a real midfield as that's where we get dominated.

Summerspur said...

well you keep saying we beat your reserves 5 1. thats crap as well you know.

also you support is tosh. when we went 3 0 up at the lane with 25 mins to go, all and i do mean vitually all your , we will call them fans, went home. again last night you had swathes of empty seats towards the end while i admit many of ours had gone but with 30 secs left and 2 down things did not look great, but we stayed and supported. ffs sake how can you not stay to cheer your monsiers off in their derby which they must have thought they won .

weird.

and wenger, you need him more than he needs you.


happy days

Anonymous said...

Summerspur why the hell are you on an an arsenal blug if you support that bunch of benefit claiming, sister shagging, egotistical team we call the spuds.

Spuds fans should be concentrating on their relegation battle instead of always trying to be as good as arsenal - which u will never be.

Always in our shadow.

Anonymous said...

Arsene's not to blame.
It's about time we start holding the players responsible. Our midfield defeneded badly as a team.
To make matters worse, they gave away the ball at crucial times.
There is a distinct lack of leadership on this team.

Anonymous said...

We do not defend well as a team, period. All this talk about a defensive midfielder? All you need is for the closest person to the ball to slow down the offence while the rest of the team advance beyond their attack (thereby forming a wall to protect the goal). We talk so much about defensive midfielders and end up hawking off the resposibilty to an indivdual. It's a 'TEAM' sport (and dispells the 'total football' ethic surrounding a Wenger side). We also need a leader on the pitch; that's what I miss the most about Flamini (a midfielder). He instilled that much needed urgency into the side when we're laxed and often barked orders to calm proceedings when the need arises. I thought Fabregas, as our most experienced midfielder (coupled with the fact that he wants to be the captain), would've naturally assumed this role. Why do you need an armband to show some passion? As much as I root for the guy, he's been way below par this season. Denilson for large periods of the game played very well defensively, but the rest of his midfield colleagues were not at their paces (otherwise, Spurs woldn't have had a sniff at our goal). Van Persie played better defence than most in our midfield; UNACCEPTABLE!

N.B,
We are not winning anything with average or non-existing central defenders. We need to purchase 'very capable defenders' and Djourou does not fall into that category.

I partly blame Song for Spurs' 3rd goal. He (unaware of his surroundings) was too close to Clichy for a pass (leading to indecision) and rather than sprinting to get goal side of a jogging Jeanas, dallied. I've got bum knees and I could've done better. Yes Clichy tripped, but Jeanas had so much to do. That showed a lack of respect for the opposition. Our central defence probably could've closed him down better; not turning your back to a tame shot, SILVESTRE.

Anonymous said...

To Anon 21:30:

Have you actually seen djouro play?

Yes he does fall in to that category,and is one of our most solid defenders. It sickens me that he never gets a game, especially as he plaid so well wiv Gallas at the start of the season.

And he isnt afraid to give Gallas an earbashing when he makes mistakes. Which lets face it....he needs!!

Anonymous said...

I am a Newcastle United fan nd i have come on to say i cannot hide my amusment at what happened on wednesday night, fucking brilliant

Anonymous said...

yid army toon fan in peace mate

thats fucking class totally agree, i was pissing myself when u lot scored nd shut the arsenal smug bastards up

Anonymous said...

RACIST YID CUNT , GET A LIFE

Anonymous said...

PISS OFF U PUSSY , ARSENAL RULE + WE DECENT GOONERS AINT RACIST , NOW FUCK OFF DOWN UR SHIT HOLE LANE U TWAT

Anonymous said...

We must have it bad if Newcastle supporters are laughing at us. You'd think they'd want Sp*rs to lose, being fellow relegation candidates and all. Congrats to the two posters though, the first two geordies I have come across who can write, never mind operate a computer.

I hope the T*ttenscum fans enjoy their latest false dawn while it lasts. Redknapp has already said he'll fuck off if you get relegated, but at least you've got him until May, huh?

Anonymous said...

Silvestre was appalling. Jenas's Goal and Lennon's goal both came from him failing to close down the player taking the shot. He scored a goal, but he was woeful in defence.
I also don't understand, why with 1 minute to go, we don't take it into the corner, waste a minimum of 30 seconds but instead lose the ball trying for some ridiculous pass.

TonytheGooner said...

The spurs fans comments on here are disgraceful. You also did yourelves proud up at portsmouth too. fucking scum. Congratulations on being the scummiest fans in England. facts are facts...tottenham are bottom of the league. the fact arsenal in the league is your biggest game of the season shows how far you're below Arsenal. Oh and newcastle fans on here slagging Arsenal too..haha, whats this... all the shittiest clubs and most deluded fans are teaming up??

Anonymous said...

Arsene Wenger is to blame, and Alex Song that idiot has got to go, he's a liability.

When you bring on Alex Song for defensive purposes and the guy just sits in front of Fabregas all the night because he's useless.

Arsene Wenger has Ramsey and Randall to take over Song's DM Role .

Can't believe it. Wenger has got to be careful with mixing idiots with world class players in the same team.

Anonymous said...

i'm still gutted that we lost that game where we should've won. lucky bastard and i swear i can see bentley head getting bigger when he scored that first goal.

Anonymous said...

Tony is spot on, some of the comments from Sp*rs 'fans' on here are awful. I don't mind the over the top celebrations, after all they won't get a better result than this all season. The racism is unacceptable, I am not surprised at it though, it's not the first time I've heard it from them. So your goalscorers were English, that's great, but don't forget that the best goal was scored by an Arsenal reject.

As for Arsenal, we really do have problems if we concede two in two minutes to a team like sp*rs. If they can do that in a couple of minutes imagine what a good team could do to us. Almunia was an absolute disgrace, he didn't have much to do, but still managed to fuck things up for us. He wasn't the only offender, but in my opinion he was the worst. Do they not train 'keepers to catch the ball anymore?

We've got a great young team, but we're sorely lacking in experience, and if we can't do simple things like close a game down when we're 2 goals up against (at best) a mediocre team then we are fucked.

Go for the Champion's League Arsene, we've fucked our title bid already.

Anonymous said...

am still disappointed with the result. this draw actually feels more like a lost. but it's barely mid-season yet so we might still have a tiny hope for the title. have faiths gooners! :)

p.s i love cesc but i have to agree that he's getting more and more lazy! hope he's not really thinking about leaving.

Anonymous said...

Cesc looks as if he's gone already. If we don't bring in some real players, his actual departure will be a formality.

Anonymous said...

Isnt it strange that the fans of relegation fodder team the Spuds are celebrating like they won the lottery.
Lets look at the facts now the pain is subsiding a bit.
They got lucky..OK so they pushed right up to the whistle, so they get a pat on the back for that.
They benefitted from a few minor mistakes that on a normal day you would be lucky to get one goal in 20 tries.
Us gooners must take some responsibility for crowing and boasting BEFORE kick off. Lady luck will always shit down your neck when you do that.
The team played well for 85% of the game and stuck in 4 goals. OK 85% may not be enough if you want to be champions, but it usual is against 90% of teams. So dont go chopping the team about and expect to have any consistency. The Spuds and many other have done that before and look at the league positions.
We can still win any of 4 trophies, but even if we dont, who else are you going to support?? I'm not an AKB zeallot but I dont see a good alternative do you?

Unknown said...

fucking niggers? yid army u fuckin racist fag..jenas and lennon are?..but any gooner wud never point that out to u coz we're not spuds..and congrats on the match btw u can tell ure kids that the season u got relegated to championship u managed to score 4 goals against the mighty arsenal

Wrighty7 said...

The racist comments are off now. It would have been done sooner but I've only just seen them.

Summerspur said...

can we still slag the french of though?

fair dos though, some people go to far. i think it may have been ron atkinson.