PL: Chelsea vs Arsenal | 21/02/04

[ethanen]

absolutly genius!!!
IMO Vieira should be man of the match he got some great tackles and the goal of course...
clichy lauren and bergkamp were also very good!
why the **** was freddie's goal at 82' dissallawod??

 

[wiltord11]

i think we showed we can defend well against top teams because last season we would of drawn these games like newcastle 1-1 and liverpool 2-2 but we defended well

 

[The Mini]

Clichy is the future LM if we want a defensive game

 

[flotz]

why was the goal at the end disalowed?!

 

[orion]

Not the best performance from us, but we were recilient in defence and hang on to the lead. Cambell was absolutely brilliant today and it's the defence that really deserves the praise from this match.

Both Pires and Henry had poor games to their standards. Bergamp looked good specially in the first half and Edu, Gilberto and Lauren were all good. I have to reserve special praise for Clichy; He seemed nervous early on, but did well, allthough Godjohnsen did sneak into a few good position from the left in the first half.

Have to say, allthough Riley got most things right, the second yellow for Godjohnsen was very harsh, but we've been at the receiving end of such decisions in the past not going to comment on that any further. I felt Lauren also didn't deserve his card and Terry got away with a reckless challenge against Bergamp in the first half.

Also wondering if our third was disallowed because Melciot and Viera tussling for the ball, oh well, defenders always have a bit of an advantage on these kind of situations, to me it looked perfect goal.

Great result and with Manure dropping points this has indeed been a pivotal day, but not in the way Fergie would have prefered.

 

[Arsene]

foul by vieira, he pulled his defender out of the contest opening up the ball. I think it was a foul, fair decision.

 

[leongsh]

Patrick Vieira was spotted dragging Mario Melchiot down and away in the box before he passed it to Freddie Ljungberg to score.

The referee, Mike Riley, got the call right.

 

[Jinn]

Foul by Vieira on Melchiot, VCC tells me.

 

[jc8gooner]

the important thing now is for no-one to get complacement, the fans or the players. the level of concentration that we have showed has to be maintained for the next twelve games.

Well said. We may well be 7 pts ahead, but there's still 12 games to go. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. It's not in the bag yet.

Good performance from the arsenal today. Solid and did enough to win. In the second half we maybe should have killed them off, but we might have had one eye on the trip to Vigo in the week.

I thought Pires and Henry were quiet today, but that just proves that we can win even without our top, top players. I thought Edu, Vieira and Gilberto did a good job, and the whole defence was excellent. Lehmann did well coming off his line and his kicking was good also.

I thought Chelsea did OK, but like last week, they just don't have that something special you need. They have too many good players and not enough brilliant players.

As for Mike Riley, well, what can you say? He just loves the limelight doesn't he? He never fails to send someone off or give a penalty. It was definitely a dive by Gudjohnsen, without a shadow of doubt. The second one was debatable. Only Gudjohnsen can tell us whether or not he deliberately clipped Clichy's heels. Whether that was a turning point is arguable. I think we would have hung on to the three points anyway.

I am now really excited about the Celta Vigo game. I hope the players are really up for it. A resounding win would be much appreciated.

 

[ethanen]

no way that was a foul...

 

[Sol man]

Fantastic win!!!
How dumb are these so called pundits that say that Chelski are out of it. They are only 2 points behind Man u so if you do not rule United out then why rule Chelsea out.

 

[Soler]

I bloody enjoyed that.

 

[Anonymous]

Good win !

But if we was 7 points clear i'd be whooping it up ;D .

 

[Jinn]

Fantastic win!!!
How dumb are these so called pundits that say that Chelski are out of it. They are only 2 points behind Man u so if you do not rule United out then why rule Chelsea out.

Exactly right. We need to just keep winning to maintain the pressure on them.

 

[jc8gooner]

But if we was 7 points clear i'd be whooping it up .

Even the manure fans try these stupid mind games! You know as well as we do that it's not over yet!

 

[Andrew]

Great comeback. Have a handy lead now but it's not over. Only if we're complacent now is how we can lose it, because honestly, at our best and with full concentration we should be able to win every game from now on.

Gudjohnsen's red card? 100% right. Firstly, that penalty attempt was probably the worst attempt at cheating this season. You can't even say he drew the contact. He went down under no challenge and then stuck his leg out into Toure who wasn't even in his path. This can't even be compared to what Pires did against Portsmouth, it was far, far worse. And the second? Of course that's a yellow. There was no way he could reach the ball and he cynically and rather violently kicked Clichy in the heels. I can't believe people here are saying it was harsh!

Clichy did have a very good game today. Particularly interceptions, he is excellent at that. Bergkamp was the matchwinner really, but only played well in the first 30 minutes. Still, that's all we need from him. Gilberto was much better today in playing Ljungberg's role on the right, and made some important challenges. Vieira and Edu were again solid and rather commanding in midfield. Lauren looked more assured again today, but doesn't play the off-side trap too well, too many attacks from them were down his wing. Campbell was a rock and I thought Lehmann was solid, claimed some important balls whereas Sulivan was lost. Henry wasn't in the game at all, while Pires only got into it after the red card. But we won so that doesn't matter. It shows even without our two best attacking players that we are still a force.

We've got to keep these efforts and performances up. We are easily the best team in England and it's time to really hammer home the message. And with the way that we are playing, there's no reason why we can't go far in the CL either. I have a feeling that our real potential could finally be coming through.

 

[flotz]

i think it was a deserved sending off...it was from behind and very dangerous clichy could have been injured and then we would had to play with cygan as left back against vigo!! ;D

 

[Andrew]

no way that was a foul...

That was very harsh that. Thought maybe it was a handball by Vieira and then saw perhaps Vieira held his shirt. It was very similar to the goal dissallowed in the Manuve vs. Newcastle game by Silvestre. Very minimal.

Still don't understand why people are saying the red card was harsh. He was behind the player, no way near the ball, commited a cynical and rather dangerous foul. A clear yellow card.

 

[wrighty08]

gudjohnsen's second yellow was fair.he did kicked clichy in the heels.even my friend who support chelsea for some 8 years admit that

 

[Soler]

I just noticed that Man United and Leeds are wearing black armbands because of Charles' death ... but why didn't Chelsea or Arsenal?