PL: Blackburn Rovers vs Arsenal | 19/08/07

[RockyRocastle]

Is that the same Mirror article that reckons Savage should have had a penalty when he actually ran away from the ball to run into Kolo and wrap his leg around Kolo's quickly withdrawing leg?

That was a disgrace to journalism quite frankly.

Yeah. Had my blood boiling reading that before.

 

[RockyRocastle]

Negatives are obviously Lehmann - time to go I think. Walcott who imo is no where near ready to play for us, no footbal brain and the second game running Cesc has given him a bollocking for being useless. Cesc himself needs to step up his game soon, but I will let him off yesterday as he had that c**t Savage to put up with.

I think the town of Blackburn has a population of roughly 30 so maybe that's why they don't sell out.

Where and when did Cesc give Walcott a bollocking for being useless?

After his poor cross to Van Persie.

Also had a go at him during the Fulham game when Theo seemed intent in running head down in the direction of the corner flag everytime he got the ball. Miles away from being good enough to be our no.1 replacement for Rosicky/Hleb/Eboue. We are crying out for a quality winger.

 

[Rohit]

disagree.

in the past, we finds it easier to score goals. remember the times when within 20 mins we put mancity to bed?

One away game is all you could think of?
You remember the times when we went to Leicester City with afew injuries and stuggled big time to win?
We'll do that to Derby and Sunderland this season and you'll be happy. That team had quality and in abundance, put them against Blackburn in a game like we played on Sunday away from home and they'll struggle. What got us through in those days was an extra bit of quality that we are lacking right now, but we are getting there.

 

[go49oner]

Is that the same Mirror article that reckons Savage should have had a penalty when he actually ran away from the ball to run into Kolo and wrap his leg around Kolo's quickly withdrawing leg?

That was a disgrace to journalism quite frankly.

Yeah. Had my blood boiling reading that before.

That's tabloid journalism for you I guess.

here the times version

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 289127.ece

Arsenal may have found the stomach for a fight in the physical northwest battle that has been their undoing in recent years but they have lost the safe pair of hands that they have come to rely upon. Jens Lehmann, having granted David Healy a soft opening goal against Fulham last week, let a stinging but straightforward drive from David Dunn slip through his grasp as Blackburn Rovers fought back for a deserved point and held on after Ryan Nelsen’s late dismissal.

Cesc Fàbregas, who had the audacity to ask Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, after an FA Cup fifth-round tie last year whether he had also played for Barcelona – “because they don’t play like that” – underlined his growing maturity by taking every scy-thing tackle and getting straight back up. He even sportingly slapped Robbie Savage’s hand after being dumped on his backside.

Savage, on the other hand, was a disgrace with his hypocritical histrionics – feigning an injury to the face one minute, exhorting Eduardo Da Silva, on his Arsenal debut, to get up and go without treatment the next, before escaping a second yellow card after diving into the penalty area as Kolo Touré pulled his leg out of the way –

“We dominated the game from start to finish,” Hughes said. “We were very much on the front foot and pressed Arsenal really well. Their key players didn’t have a big influence on the game because we didn’t allow them to and we played the better football. The sending-off stopped us in our tracks, but overall I’m absolutely delighted with the manner of our performance.

 

[sabret00the]

Walcott who imo is no where near ready to play for us, no footbal brain and the second game running Cesc has given him a bollocking for being useless.

Our wings are a real problem right now. But Theo was just exasperating yesterday. he really seems to have no idea what he wants to do. I'm hoping it's just a confidence problem.

 

[banduan]

Walcott who imo is no where near ready to play for us, no footbal brain and the second game running Cesc has given him a bollocking for being useless.

Our wings are a real problem right now. But Theo was just exasperating yesterday. he really seems to have no idea what he wants to do. I'm hoping it's just a confidence problem.

Theo got a bollocking from both RVP and Hleb too. This is why I'm worried he's being exposed too much.

 

[DC Gunner]

Walcott who imo is no where near ready to play for us, no footbal brain and the second game running Cesc has given him a bollocking for being useless.

Our wings are a real problem right now. But Theo was just exasperating yesterday. he really seems to have no idea what he wants to do. I'm hoping it's just a confidence problem.

Theo got a bollocking from both RVP and Hleb too. This is why I'm worried he's being exposed too much.

The rest is up to him, he either takes that as a challenge to improve himself, or just sulk himself into a poor form.

 

[the dawn raids]

well hes just not ready to be thrown into the deep end yet, that much is clear. our wings are a real mess right now because at the rate its looking now, walcotts going to have to play a lot.

also, i think we really missed gallas in the second half. we needed someone out there to round up players and calm some heads. it looked to me fabregas was trying more than toure was; that was until savage started having a go at him.

oh, and sagna looked pretty decent.

 

[Wenger14]

I can't shake off the feeling of sheer frustration. We should have won this.

Gutted about Gallas, but the positive is that Senderos will get more playing time. One more injury in central defence and we're ****ed though.

 

[qs]

Walcott who imo is no where near ready to play for us, no footbal brain and the second game running Cesc has given him a bollocking for being useless.

Our wings are a real problem right now. But Theo was just exasperating yesterday. he really seems to have no idea what he wants to do. I'm hoping it's just a confidence problem.

Its a knowledge problem. He's fast enough and has enough control to take the ball and get into a good position but once he's there he doesn't know what his best option is, especially as a winger. That can be coached into him but it wont happen overnight.

 

[dutchMasta]

Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes believes his team completely outplayed Arsenal on Sunday.

Gunners boss Wenger had accused Rovers of using "violent" tactics during Sunday's 1-1 draw at Ewood Park but opposite number Hughes believes the statistics prove Blackburn were the better side in every way.

Hughes said: "I was delighted with the way we played and I was disappointed with some of the comments after the game which I did not believe were warranted.

"We dominated a good Arsenal side and that has been borne out by the ProZone statistics that show in every facet we were better than Arsenal and we even outpassed them, which is the first time that has happened against them.

"But I am not going to dwell on it too much because I know how well we played."

Hughes was backed up by defender Stephen Warnock, who said Blackburn were aggressive but also played good football.

The full-back said: "I think there are a lot of lads like me who like to get stuck in and I think that's why we are such a good team.

"We are a physical team but if you look at the stats we are a team that likes to pass the ball as well.

"That gets taken away from us a lot of the time and Arsenal can say what they want but you never see them bringing those stats out when people want to put us down."

First time ever we got outpassed by Blackburn? Damn....

 

[Rohit]

Wouldn't give a **** if Lehmann had held onto that shot or punched it away. It really doesn't matter who passed the ball more, a greater number of successfully completed passes won't win us any points as we found out last season.

 

[EMIR8_SOLDIER]

exactly rohit and thats why i dropped this topic on monday, i got over the blackburn match and was looking foward to man city..i dont care how we play nomore, when i go out and come in i want to check and see we have 3 points not how we played ffs
just cannot dwell on the matter, we never took our chances so we got punished and no 3 points
guys need to stop moaning like babies, we took our foot off the pedal second half!! again...the lack mentality kicked in, pointing fingers is useless and just makes everyone depressed
smile guys we have a fantastic set of boys in our team that are well connected and have the raw motive to win

 

[Clrnc]

Wouldn't give a f**k if Lehmann had held onto that shot or punched it away. It really doesn't matter who passed the ball more, a greater number of successfully completed passes won't win us any points as we found out last season.

i think its worth noting that our defence would not have conceded any goals in our 3 competitive matches into the season had it not been lehmann's double fumble.

theres not been really any threatening chances against us

 

[dutchMasta]

We can't dwell on the matter? What's the point in post-match discussions then. This raises the question of our passing game, which is our only true game. I believe we need to stick with it, and that we can win more by sticking to it. We lose SO much possession hoofing up long balls. Well whatever, people have seem to have gone from one extreme of wanting beautiful football to the other of wanting just 3 points without giving a sh*t about the football. I don't think it's asking too much for both if we're capable of it. Anyway, I'm pretty sure everyone's past this game now as I was moments after the final whistle blew. Let's see what happens against City.