PL: Everton vs Arsenal | 15/08/04

[Anonymous]

just seen henry on skysports news any one no why henry looked pissed off at the end of the game he was walking off shaking hes head

I saw that. Probably annoyed because his injury is stopping him from playing at his best right now. I thought he did okay though.

Henry wasnt pissed off at the end of the game. He had just been elbowed in the face by Yobo and was having a go at him. He was fired up, turned around to the Arsenal fans punching his badge.

But what a game today, fantastic.

We were excellent all over the pitch.

Dennis is still the main man. When fit he has to play, the best player I have ever seen.

But special mention to Cesc, what a player. He just seems to find a red shirt all the time. He plays the simple ball and plays it well. I was amazed at how well he played today.
But Everton made us look a lot better than we were. We were very good, but they were a joke, and played into our hands. There will be much much tougher tests than this to come, but the perfect start.

Anyone know if Van Persie was injured today, or just not in the squad?

 

[JazzG]

Anyone know if Van Persie was injured today, or just not in the squad?

Probably not in the squad, would be hard leaving le'bob out for RvP!

 

[Arnie]

It's a credit to cesc that we are talking about wrapping him in cotton wool like they did about rooney a couple years ago.
Once again we scored a couple goals and went into our shell. I know we have toplay smart, but i like to see teams obliterated!! :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone know if Van Persie was injured today, or just not in the squad?

Probably not in the squad, would be hard leaving le'bob out for RvP!

True, but it is interesting if Pennant was chosen ahead of him if he wasnt injured.

 

[JazzG]

As you know Sol the foreign players need time to settle in, usually a minimum of 6 months. I know you weren't too impressed with Reyes before and tbh he didn't look great but see what difference 6 months has made?

Anyone know what the situation with Gilberto is? When he went off we started to lose control of the midfield, took some nasty kicks from their dirty players today.

Also I agree with your Cesc comments, his thinking and accuracy with the ball is brilliant. Never seen an Arsenal CM who uses his brain as well as him. He is never as strong as their CMs but boy did he play much better than them. Like one manc said the other week, turned into space and sprayed the ball around like he owned the place I wonder if anyone has any stats on how many passes he made and how accurate they were.

Dunno if you caught the interview in the past but Wenger was strongly hinting youth will play a big part this season, he said he wanted to open to door for the youth to come in. We gooners have been wondering for a long time when he would and it looks like their time has come, so far so good.

 

[GoonerGurjit]

Reyes had a very good game and I too would prefer him up front with Henry, but you can't leave out Bergkamp on that form. Pure magic.

 

[kronik]

Anyone know if Van Persie was injured today, or just not in the squad?

Probably not in the squad, would be hard leaving le'bob out for RvP!

True, but it is interesting if Pennant was chosen ahead of him if he wasnt injured.

It was also very interesting to see that Hoyte had been selected ahead of Senderos & Clichy too.

 

[Jkreffer]

Dennis is God

 

[afrodizzy]

I'm suprised that Henry is getting such good ratings. He did well to set up a couple of goals, but lost the ball on many occasions during the game due to a poor touch.

I agree, he lacked match sharpness but that will come.

On another hand what a good game indeed, a sure perfect start to the new season. A silent message to pretenders to the throne (manure & chelski) that taking the title from us will not happen or won't be easy.

A solid all round perfomance from defence to midfield and to attack a synchronised symphony of liquid football. Yes there were stray passes, miscalculated positional sense, near wild tackles but overally a good perfomance.

Lehman was tested but was solid, looked calmer than in the community shield match against Manure. Toure was good as expected no complaints there. Cygan was OK did a good job in the absence of Cambell but still does not inspire confidence. Cole had a quiet game if you compare to his perfomance at Euro 2004 & the Community Shield game. Lauren was unusually a handleful to the everton defenders today. His counter-attack runs on the right troubled Everton today. The build up to Reyes goal started with him, though his cross did not find anyone its the one stray pass that Berkamp crossed into the box for Reyes to score Arsenal's second.

Ljungberg was surely back to his perfomance in double winning season of 01/02. He scored a good goal, an easy tap in, another indication that in an Arsenal team you can not man-mark anyone, you never know who is going to score. If Everton thought they should only contain Henry (for obvious reasons he picked up the Golden Boot last season) they had to think again in respect to to Ljungbeg's goal also Reyes & Pires. Gilberto had a good game too, lacking a little bit sharpness as well but complimented very well with Fabregas made sure that he (Fabregas) is not overwhelmed but again I dont think Fabregas needed any baby-sitting today. He clearly bossed the midfield, made good calculated passes. I agree with some fellow gooners here that Henry was a little petulant when some of Fabregas' passes did not reach him. Again like all those that wrote before me Fabregas is a complete marvel. He plays with assured confidence of someone who has done it before. He looks so composed, his level of skill & confidence belies his age. This is another gem brought to you by the same team that gave you Henry, Paddy, Reyes, Toure a clear demonstration of the astuteness of Wenger's brilliant talent pickers and transfer policy. It bears no resemblance to Real Madrid's shambled, trigger buying tranfer policy of picking up finished articles other than grooming own's future stars. Reyes was and will always be a constant thorn to defenders in the Premiership this season mark my words. His pace and clever inter-play with Henry & Berkamp was wonderful to watch. He gave Everton defenders a headache with his runs & counter attacks.

Berkamp rose to the occassion, a sure MOTM perfomance. Deputising as a Captain in Viera's absence, his perfomance was inspiring for a captain if Reyes inspired Arsenal during the Community shield then today was Berkamp's day. His perfomance also defies his age, he comes to give needed experience and guidance. Henry had a quiet game in his standards, like I said above he is lacking in match sharpness, but had two great assists.

The substitutes has little impact on the game when they came in Arsenal was leading with a comfortable score of 3-1. I did not see the reason to take out Reyes but I'm not best qualified to question Wenger. Pires scored a good goal which added to the scoreline. Flamini needs time to adjust to a new type of play & team mates with time it will come.

The prospects of this team are mouth-watering. With Viera coming back. I think he will come to give another collossal perfomance to prove that his heart is really at Arsenal. Cambell will also return to give us needed confidence at the back. Edu will provide needed competition in the middle of the park, competition will bring the best from the players. Wenger will be spoilt for choice if Flamini quickly adapts to the premiership, Cesc continues churning out perfomances like today's, Edu plays like he did in the final part of last season, Pennant challenging Ljungberg's position. Van Parsie coming in as well for Bobby on the left.............................I'm drooling!!

Peace Afro

 

[orion]

A great start to the season. This game might not have been the toughest test, but the performance was reasuring never the less, nothing truly spectacular, but every single player in the team played well. Gotta mention what a joy it was to watch Fabregas for the first time (missed all pre-season games) and also seeing Reyes seemingly more settled in the team. Freddie and Bergie were also very lively, specially in the first half. Only real downpoint was Gilberto's injury, let's hope it was nothing serious. Now on to the next one...

 

[AFCG7]

Henry looked a bit off the pace sometimes.. maybe he isnt quite at peak fitness, remember he is coming off an injury..tried to selfish today instead of passing to Bergkamp but come one we wer 3 goals up and he wanted one too.
Henry will have to accept now that Reyes is going to get the ball a lot more and every play will not be going through him this season. To have both in our team is great and to have both threatening in every attacking movement is fantastic!

 

[juz7_pi12es]

Scorers for Arsenal

10 Dennis bergkamp
9 Jose Reyes
8 Fredik Ljungberg
7 Robert Pires.

:bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce

nobody's wearing 6, 5, 4(paddy vieira) on the pitch
no wonder..
if not..
10 bergkamp
9 reyes
8 ljungberg
7 pires :bounce
6 -someone-
5 -someone-
4 pv
3 baby ash
2 -someone-
1 lehman

everton 1-10 arsenal!!

 

[juz7_pi12es]

bergkamp again, WOW! IMO man of the match. reyes might have to wait one more season to get a regular spot up front with bergkamp on this form.

who's the REAL man of the match?

 

[Ladygooner]

Man of the Match? Hmmmmm between the Dutch master and the Spanish mullet IMO!!!!

Excellent result today and my Fantasy football team has done rather well as a result.....

Henry - 1 assist
Cole - 1 assist - shame about yellow card though.
Reyes - made one, scored one
Pires - scored one.

I had Tim Howard down as my goalie though - think I'll definitely sub him as Man U's defence looks decidedly dodgy at the moment and he's lost me points with that error he made today :x

 

[JazzG]

Henry had 2 assists actually

 

[1886]

im so proud of the travelling Gooners that made the journey today. just watched extended hihglights on sky xtra and didnt really think they did us justice as we sang continuously throughout the game. if you thought Highbury was $hit on matchdays then try goodison for size! perhaps it was just us (on and off the pitch) in rampant form that kept their masses in check! the only credit i can give the toffees is some of the banter we shared with them.... "weeee all agree fatboy is better than grandad!!" quality stuff. and if anyone was situated besides the everton fans in the lower bullens then they might have seen that he/she thing/crackhead that had "are you a man or a woman!!?" sung to it. funny as f*ck! keep it up lads you were an absolute credit to the club today.

THATS WHY WE'RE THE CHAMPIONS :wink:

 

[juz7_pi12es]

together together :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce :bounce

 

[godfather]

Champions! ;D ;D ;D

 

[quattro]

very enjoyable sunday match. fabregas again was a sight to behold. reyes was awesome and bergkamp is still bergkamp. henry looks like he needs to get some more match fitness, but no one can argue about his contributions to the attack this game. ljungberg... playing like that penant will have to work extra to try to get that first xi place. as of that match freddie is still miles ahead of him.

 

[Mark]

very enjoyable sunday match. fabregas again was a sight to behold. reyes was awesome and bergkamp is still bergkamp. henry looks like he needs to get some more match fitness, but no one can argue about his contributions to the attack this game. ljungberg... playing like that penant will have to work extra to try to get that first xi place. as of that match freddie is still miles ahead of him.

The way Freddie played today suggests he realises his place is under threat and will have to start recapturing the form he showed back in 01/02. He was very impressive today, lets hope it continues.