PL: Arsenal vs Blackburn | 23/12/06

[gstew]

The thing that pissed me off is that "in the USA" Fox did not show our match, and to make it worse, their show "super Saturday" showed the highlights from every other match except our 6-2, go figure :evil:

Thank god, I found the goals on some websites 8)

You need to get Setanta USA. It is offered on DirecTV. I don't know about other satellite or cable systems.

 

[Clrnc]

Fabregas could easily get in to double figures too. He gets enough chances.

Actually Cesc needs to learn positioning the ball when shooting since he is not shooting with power yet, most of the time his shots are right @ the keeper with medium force.

Love the scoreline today, and was thinking that at least 3-4 draws this season were candidates for similar results had we taken the loads of created chances with more accuracy, that is 6-8 points right there.

The thing that pissed me off is that "in the USA" Fox did not show our match, and to make it worse, their show "super Saturday" showed the highlights from every other match except our 6-2, go figure :evil:

Thank god, I found the goals on some websites 8)

i think cesc improved his shots alot this season. i think most of his shots were hard enough to beat keeper. didnt you realise his long shots is one of the best in our squad. i have a feeling he learnt alot from rosicky in long shots and outside foot skills.

this game was amazing. i remembered i said to myself if we let them score first its gonna be a draw again. what a performance! the only pity was we let them score twice and we should have scored more. what a difference rosicky make imo.

 

[DC Gunner]

i think cesc improved his shots alot this season. i think most of his shots were hard enough to beat keeper. didnt you realise his long shots is one of the best in our squad. i have a feeling he learnt alot from rosicky in long shots and outside foot skills.

this game was amazing. i remembered i said to myself if we let them score first its gonna be a draw again. what a performance! the only pity was we let them score twice and we should have scored more. what a difference rosicky make imo.

Yes, his shots have improved no doubt but he still needs some more power IMHO. I know he is young and he is going to get stronger along the way, I wish he adds some curvature to them as well, a high scoring Cesc makes us much more better especially with his passing ability being there.

If he were to develop a stronger shot and become an outside shooting threat, defenders will try to block him, and that is only going to help open other attacker for us. [that would make AW happy since it would mean more chances and goals from passing plays].

 

[Clrnc]

i think cesc improved his shots alot this season. i think most of his shots were hard enough to beat keeper. didnt you realise his long shots is one of the best in our squad. i have a feeling he learnt alot from rosicky in long shots and outside foot skills.

this game was amazing. i remembered i said to myself if we let them score first its gonna be a draw again. what a performance! the only pity was we let them score twice and we should have scored more. what a difference rosicky make imo.

Yes, his shots have improved no doubt but he still needs some more power IMHO. I know he is young and he is going to get stronger along the way, I wish he adds some curvature to them as well, a high scoring Cesc makes us much more better especially with his passing ability being there.

If he were to develop a stronger shot and become an outside shooting threat, defenders will try to block him, and that is only going to help open other attacker for us. [that would make AW happy since it would mean more chances and goals from passing plays].

LMAO you quoted the wrong person. make no mistake, apart from rosicky and toure, i think his shots are the most accurate and powerful. he can shoot from far range, just that he dosent often does. he hit twice post when he shot from long range. last season he was darn weak and this season he improved. i know what you mean, and yes he needs to improve on his close range finishing.

 

[Buhry]

Lol @ branding Cesc a better shooter from distance than Robin and Thierry. Baptista is probably better as well.

 

[>YounGunner<]

i think cesc improved his shots alot this season. i think most of his shots were hard enough to beat keeper. didnt you realise his long shots is one of the best in our squad. i have a feeling he learnt alot from rosicky in long shots and outside foot skills.

this game was amazing. i remembered i said to myself if we let them score first its gonna be a draw again. what a performance! the only pity was we let them score twice and we should have scored more. what a difference rosicky make imo.

Yes, his shots have improved no doubt but he still needs some more power IMHO. I know he is young and he is going to get stronger along the way, I wish he adds some curvature to them as well, a high scoring Cesc makes us much more better especially with his passing ability being there.

If he were to develop a stronger shot and become an outside shooting threat, defenders will try to block him, and that is only going to help open other attacker for us. [that would make AW happy since it would mean more chances and goals from passing plays].

LMAO you quoted the wrong person. make no mistake, apart from rosicky and toure, i think his shots are the most accurate and powerful. he can shoot from far range, just that he dosent often does. he hit twice post when he shot from long range. last season he was darn weak and this season he improved. i know what you mean, and yes he needs to improve on his close range finishing.

lol at that post. Shotting is something Cesc is not good at.

 

[Jameel46]

it would've been nice if cesc did get that 6th goal, did brilliantly against savage just the finish was missing but like always Flamini seems to be at the right place at the right time, the whole game was a joy to watch

 

[jester]

The midfield were great yesterday. All 4 of them. Having rosicky back really helped the whole performance of the team.

 

[Jameel46]

if Rosicky was a bit more lucky he would've gotten 10 goals already, he has great performances but doesn't seem to get the goals he deserves

 

[cubbz_th14]

Been ages since I've posted on the forum. yesterday's performance in the second was simply breathtaking. I simply don't know who not to praise, although the defence need to buck up - clean sheet would have just looked so much better, but then again, we could have scored more. Fabregas really deserved a goal yesterday, the movement in mid-field for moments reminded me of good old wengerball. its football like this - that i bloody live to see !

Meanwhile, I also bumped in Bob Wilson at my local Waterstones last week, he was signing some new book of his, however, not having the money I simply asked him for a photograph with him. very nice of him. Also, my mates photo appeared in the arsenal magazine of him kissing titi's head. Quality !

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Was at the game yesterday, me and Jo made our debut in the lower tier just 5 seats away from the Blackburn fans (f'cking inbred northern ignoramuses) and what a belter of a game it was.

Who said "I can't see where the goals are going to come from?"

Two chances gone begging before the penalty award up the other end- David f'cking Bentley who was thereafter booed at every touch "winning" a penalty off Kolo, 1-0. Nonda takes it, despite Lehmann going the right way, he finds the corner. Blackburn's fans exploded like they'd just won the World Cup. Here we go again, I guess everyone was thinking.

This time however, Arsenal never gave Blackburn a chance to hold onto the lead, Toure down our end winning a corner. van Persie takes from the Arsenal right and his inswinger is expertly headed into the corner by Gilberto. 1-1 and everyone in block 21 makes sure that the Blackburn fans know about it. One of them takes our celebrations so personally he is ejected.

Soon after that, Cesc finds Adebayor, who flicks in Hleb, Hleb waltzes round his defender and passes the ball beyond Friedel and into the corner for 2-1. (Hope you enjoyed that one, marco!)
The 4 guys behind me grab me and turn round hugging them all as the stadium explodes. A mental twenty minutes is rounded off when van Persie is put through on goal but fails to take his chance, allowing himself to be fouled and the ref who pretty much only got this one decision right in the first half points to the spot. Blackburn hold up proceedings for a while with their protests whilst the Arsenal support serenade the man who has picked the ball up and spotted it. Not Gilberto, but Emmanuel Adebayor whose movement, speed and skill is bamboozling the Blackburn defence as it has defences all month (and certain posters on here mm-hmm). Adebayor sends Friedel the wrong way and slides in celebration right in front of us.

Being down near the pitch was quite different from up in the upper tier, much closer to the action, close enough to smell it, but you lose the perspective and perhaps the patterns of the game. I don't know Arsène manages from pitch level!

The rest of the half really passes in a blur of speed, movement and incisive passing. Hleb should have added another but inexplicably passes across the area when clean through and it's all Arsenal. The RedSection boys "serenade" David Bentley with Arsenal reject and "Give it to Bentley" following a Bentley **** up.Though 3-1 seems comfortable, the feeling begins to grow on me that not to score the 4th could be fatal. And so it nearly proved in the seond half.

Rosicky was again desperately unlucky not to score, it was only when I saw the replay on MotD that I realised his goalbound shot had been deflected onto the bar, and Adebayor continued to cause the Blackburn defence trouble- how will Thierry get his place back?

The Blackburn fans sing songs like "Stand up if you hate the french" and Ingerluuund and I'm close enough to shout at them "Yeah you're 3-1 down England!" another Blackburn fan makes eye contact with me beckoning me as I show him 3 fingers and then 1. Before sitting down and singing "1-0 and you f'cked it up".

Then, pretty much out of the blue a great ball comes down the Blackburn right, Clichy is out of the game, the cross comes in, is headed against the bar and Nonda with his back to goal manages to hook it in. 3-2.

Now it is the Blackburn fans' time to go mental as the Arsenal fans, who had been in reasonable form, sit stunned into silence, seems the team are wobbling too as Lehmann has to make an excellent save. All of a sudden the team, who had been flaying Blackburn's defence with their intricate interplay, can't string a pass together andf the game is in the balance. The arrival of Flamini for Rosicky does little to quell the growing unease in the stadium. It is not long after this that a Blackburn fan jumping up and down like a monkey gets my attention. I make a monkey gesture at him and a steward spots it instantly. He points at me and my stomach drops- not literally. He doesn't come over so I decide I should go and talk to him and explain my actions lest I get thrown out. He is pretty reasonable, I guess, and tells me that there's no monkeys there and if I do it again I'll be thrown out. I think I might have been thrown out if there had been any black Blackburn fans in their enclosure. A lucky escape perhaps, I was a bit offended that he thought I was being rascist, but then the steward didn't know me from Adam, and bottom line, if he felt I was being rascist, I would have been out of there instantly.

Feeling slightly sheepish, I returned to my seat where the guys behind me greeted me sympathetically and as I went to sit down van Persie, who had missed about 5 chances in the match (Jo was counting) turned his defender inside out, like the monkey, or whatever it was, in The Fly and curled the ball into the opposite corner for a nerve calming 4th goal. We'd barely finished celebrating when the irrepressible Cesc found van Persie from the left, Robin, confidence restored, finished easily and all of a sudden a game we had been sweating on was over.

There was still time for Cesc to make an absolute mug- Danny Mills stylee- of Robbie Savage before cutting in and shooting, Friedel's parry running to "Goal machine" Matty Flamini who smacked the ball home for a 6th goal that in the context of the last 25 minutes was unexpected, but over the course of the match no less than we deserved. Shame one bloke left with 10 minutes left so missed all that fun.

Most of the crowd seemed to stay till the end and clap off a thrilling Arsenal performance. The boys on the pitch seemed even happier than the crowd, Paul Burrell wished us all a merry Christmas and played "Merry Christmas" by Slade as fans stayed clapping and singing determined to eke every moment of festive cheer out of a great day for the Arse. Finally we left, wishing the stewards Merry Christmas on our way and I resolved to keep any future social observations out of our wonderful new ground.

 

[RC8]

Been ages since I've posted on the forum. yesterday's performance in the second was simply breathtaking. I simply don't know who not to praise, although the defence need to buck up - clean sheet would have just looked so much better, but then again, we could have scored more. Fabregas really deserved a goal yesterday, the movement in mid-field for moments reminded me of good old wengerball. its football like this - that i bloody live to see !

Meanwhile, I also bumped in Bob Wilson at my local Waterstones last week, he was signing some new book of his, however, not having the money I simply asked him for a photograph with him. very nice of him. Also, my mates photo appeared in the arsenal magazine of him kissing titi's head. Quality !

Quality indeed! I laughed out loud when I saw that picture.

The defence was unstable, but we were so close to 7 goals. Had Rosicky's shot that hit the crossbar, or Hleb's second chance gone in, we would have won 7-2 or 7-1.

 

[Jameel46]

a 6-2 win and RC8's still asking for more, getting a bit spoilt i see :wink:

 

[jester]

Was at the game yesterday, me and Jo made our debut in the lower tier just 5 seats away from the Blackburn fans (f'cking inbred northern ignoramuses) and what a belter of a game it was.

what side? on the east bank or behind the goal? I was the track steward on the east, on the arsenal side right next to the away fans.
After we scored our 5th i think, some arsenal fan was giving it back to one of the blackburn fans (who'd been winding up the gooners during the match), and the blackburn guy shouted over to me to do something about him. I just laughed and turned around. He looked like a **** and acted like one too.

 

[sabret00the]

great write up Paul.

 

[hujja]

Was at the game yesterday, me and Jo made our debut in the lower tier just 5 seats away from the Blackburn fans (f'cking inbred northern ignoramuses) and what a belter of a game it was.

what side? on the east bank or behind the goal? I was the track steward on the east, on the arsenal side right next to the away fans.
After we scored our 5th i think, some arsenal fan was giving it back to one of the blackburn fans (who'd been winding up the gooners during the match), and the blackburn guy shouted over to me to do something about him. I just laughed and turned around. He looked like a **** and acted like one too.

Excellent work jester.

Do you by any chance watch the match as well or are you looking over the crowd all the time?

 

[jester]

Was at the game yesterday, me and Jo made our debut in the lower tier just 5 seats away from the Blackburn fans (f'cking inbred northern ignoramuses) and what a belter of a game it was.

what side? on the east bank or behind the goal? I was the track steward on the east, on the arsenal side right next to the away fans.
After we scored our 5th i think, some arsenal fan was giving it back to one of the blackburn fans (who'd been winding up the gooners during the match), and the blackburn guy shouted over to me to do something about him. I just laughed and turned around. He looked like a **** and acted like one too.

Excellent work jester.

Do you by any chance watch the match as well or are you looking over the crowd all the time?

officially we have to watch the match, since we have to stand and face the crowd after a goal, or penalty, or anything like that. Yesterday i saw every moment of it, but it was damn cold down there.

edit: it sounds like i'm complaining about being paid to watch arsenal from the front row, which of course, i'm not :wink:

 

[RocktheCasbah]

We were behind the goal. By the way, Jes, if you know the guy who I spoke to please explain to him that it was just a momentary lapse of reason where I kind of forgot where I was..

 

[Arsenal_FAN1983]

We were able to win against them 6-2, because they let us play and they didn't stay behind the ball when they were a goal up. When we come across teams who stay behind the ball if they go a goal up we struggle to come back, but against Blackburn we didn't because they weren't that great in defending their lead, they kept coming forward.

 

[mjp81]

David f'cking Bentley who was thereafter booed at every touch "winning" a penalty off Kolo, 1-0.

There was another reason for the booing that you won't have seen from the other end of the stadium...

The RedAction guys were giving Bentley a bit of stick. Bentley took offence to them singing "Arsenal Reject" at him though, and walked backwards towards the halfway line holding his bollocks, shouting something along the lines of "suck it".

Thereafter his every touch was booed and the crowd didn't lay off him for the rest of the game!