Arsenal v. Chelsea 1-2 18/Apr/09

Exactly when the Gunners had a fairly decent run of no-defeats and that certain form of game play had been cementing regarding new players, injuries and rotation, Chelsea destroyed them, apparently in an easy and very hurtful way for Wenger's men and Arsenal supporters.
Even though that in the last match Arsenal overcame the Blues with a superb show by van Persie this time it was "Tito" Drogba who neglected the young Gunners in a dismal and dreadful performance by each and everyone of the north London players, except Gibbs whose performance was not that troubled as the previous ones. Now the Gunners' hopes rely on Champions League glory only if the best of the best performance could arise from the young Guns feet.
Next match is against title contenders Liverpool in the context of the 20th anniversary of the tittle as well as the Hillsborough tragedy.
We can remember five years ago, in February 2004, Reyes show as well as a clear dominance from Arsenal to Chelsea in 170 games played. Again it were the amusing and intelligent comments of Quique Wolff and Miguel Simón that animated ESPN's broadcast.







It was Arsenal's dominance that brought them the lead, with an overwhelming pressure and talented gameplay, at 18' when Gibbs crossed tp Theo who after a deflection on Cole's hand, scored. In the follwoing miuntes the pressure piled up for the north London side and even though the defense faced a solid opposition Hiddink's men easily overcame the Gunners and meanwhile, at 25', all seemed to pass through Lampard's boots. The equalizer came after the ex-Hammer made a long and apparently offsided-pass. Malouda took the advantage of the defense distraction and scored on Fabiasnki's goal, who could have done a better job in both goals. Of the first minutes were completely sided to the Gunners the next forty five were of the Blues.







Again Chelsea's momentum seemed not to disappear and Adeabayor's attemtps wide off the mark only highlighted the job from the defense. The match went quite the same as the first half with not many arrivals to mention until the alleged penalty kick on Walcott. From then on the Gunners mental state grew tired and after several arrivals from Chelsea three substitutions came, thinking in the following thirty minutes. But 'Tito' Drogba made it certain, that the Gunners were not going to contend in Wembley next month. Again Lampard, with a fine long ball, set Drogba who only waited for the right moment to joggle past Silvestre and to wait for the premeditated exit by Fabiasnki. Obviously the goal was a punch that the gunners could hardly recover. One thing to mention was Silvestre's performance: "Silvestre se ha resignado." prayed Simón. I completely agree with him. Later repetitions shown that he seemed reluctant to the fact that Drogba would lead. That, dear reader, is not the attitude of a professional. Again English silverware will have to wait another year for the Gunners.

Arsenal v. Villareal 3-0 15/Apr/09

And if all ways lead to Rome certainly after this performance Arsenal could walk down the path to the City of Light. But before any dreams by every Gooner around, the toughest battle against Arsenal's other arch-rival is nearer that expected. In the span of eighteen days Arsenal will face Man Utd three times with a possible encounter in FA Cup final raising the number of four in one month. If you, dear reader, had not had enough of Man Utd be ready for the FOUR UTD FEATURE, an event that is similar to last year's TRIPLE MERSEY FEATURE, an event in a life time. In these moments the toughest battles and the determinacy of the young guns will be proved to the utmost, hopefully with the fair result to Wenger's men.



Of course Robert,


Even with the difficult task to score in London Pellegrini's men fought with decency, while they could. Hostilities began with the warm receiving of Robert Pires to the old house (new actually). The Gunners began in a quite stormful manner the first half with the well-known possession and dominance. Early in the match the lead was brought by Theo Walcott, at 10', after a pass by Eboue slightly deflected by Cesc. Theo's talent was evident after a joyful chip. Again the sparky presence of van Perise with Nasri an Theo up increased the worry on Villareal's wretched defense. An alleged goal was properly disallaowed when at the 25th minute, Robin van Persie stroke a thuderous shot on Lopez goal. For the most part of the half Cesc pulled the strings of the team showing the discrepance and terrible performance by Rodríguez, the defender had a difficult evening. The half ended with Arsenal's attempts towards the visitors goal, all futile but near.







The second half proved to be more fruitful for the north Londoners due to the attacking aspect of the team. Arsenal held a fairly decent advantage in possesion while the visitors stood several times in front of goal, all denied by the safe Fabiasnki hands. The second goal came when van Persie found Adebayor on the wing and the Togolese scored past Lopez after a defensive breakdown. It was a matter of time before the third and definite came: Theo was dragged in the box and the penalty awarded was converted by van Persie. In the lapse of ten minutes the match was done. Eventually after the 70th minute it was a training ground and the crowd was more enthusiast on Nasri's technical subtleties than the threat of Villareal.





Regarding the transmission of the match I decided this time to give an opportunity to the pondered and wretched Televisa crew which consisted in Hugo Salcedo, Pietrasanta and Alberto Lati (the name of the other narrator escapes me). Even though Salcedo was by far the most intelligent man in the table, he made certain comments about Nasri that annoyed me. Obiously he has not seen the entire season to make a judgment of that type. And Pietrasanta has not read the post regarding such an important topic in football. Sorry Pietra, he does dissapears but you have to know why!

This post is dedicated to the memory of the people that left us twenty years ago in the Hillsborough incident, and all of their families.

Wigan v. Arsenal 1-4 11/Apr/09

Well deep into April, Arsenal travelled to the Latics home to earn yet another suffered win. With all sights put on wednesday's and next sunday's game, fairly little could be made from this match apart from the thrid place chase. Villareal at home and Chelsea in FA Cup's semifinal are one of the toughest encounters and immediately Arsenal face Liverpool home. The toughest battles are yet to come with next Legue match against Liverpool away in the reenactment of twenty years since 1989 league championship.







Cesc effort wide at 10' and Bendtner crossing in the previous minute set the context for the match: Arsenal's dominion over a resilient home defense. With Wenger saving his best offensive cards in the bench, Arsenal's young boys seemed to have a fairly enough opposition. Again with Bendtner as a sole striker Cesc release was supposed to help him and thus the game's as wide was secured. At 18' in a defensive distraction such as the one at El Madrgial Arsenal conceaded the lead through Mido.
Bendtner's chances grew by the minute but still Arsenal faced a tremendous opposition made by Valencia's commanding abilities in midfield. Wigan held the combative spirit through good amount of pressure on Gunners' midfield, all these at 29'. Still with Wigan pressure increasing, problems pilled up for the Gunners with Silvestre's entrance for Djorou. Arsenal's efforts gre with the final minutes of the first period. Not enough for a strong home side, even though Gibbs could have been sent off.







A completely different (and desperate as well) attitude was shown by the Londoners the next period; with the Latics following their first-half momentum until their game showed some defensive cracks due to Arsenal's rapid display of passes. By the sixtieth minute the Gunners recovered the ball nearly each time Wigan tried to attack. Facing potential counters the Gunners closed the lines well enough. Walcott, in that same minute, scored past Kirkland, who did have a fairly decent match, on a troubled pass by the Russian Arshavin. The following minute van Persie, one that had been saved last match due to an injury on international duty, entered for Denilson, then the match opened. Wenger's ambitions finally arose when he introduced Adebayor for Walcott, showing an old but effective 4-2-4 and not a 4-4-2 with wide wingers, as ussully it is incorrectly named in my country. Obviously it produced a handful of goals, starting with Silvestre's on a combination with Cesc and Arshavin at 71'. Wigan prowess, studied by Bruce in the past encounters, slowly fainted and their last attempts was De Ridder's entrance at the 78th minute. Last gasp Wigan chance was held due to a fault by van Persie on Valencia, the free-kcik safe in the hands of Fabianski. The final finutes of the match sealed Latics' fate: Arshavin's definition on Koumas mistake at 90' and Song's striker-rampage at 92'.

Villareal v. Arsenal 1-1 7/Apr/09

Finally the date has arrived as Arsenal visited El Madrigal to earn a draw against Villareal in the quarterfinals of the UCL. As if it were enough the unbeaten run of seventeen matches without defeat extended with an particularly overwhelming display in the second half by the London team. With one game played of the possible eight in April this introduction seems passed but it is constancy that makes teams winnners and apparently the Gunners may be heading to that direction, only if injuries refuse to prowl the team.
It was time for the Gunner legend Robert Pires to face some of his old team mates and next week to retun to the city that raise him as an iconic player that earned an EURO trophy back in 2002. One statistic that is alarming is that in the last five quarterfinals arsenal has just win one game; against Juventus. The match was suppossed to be tough, with Villareal featuring EURO star Nihat, Rossi and EURO winners Cazorla (now injured) Capdevila and Senna. And one final thing: Riquelme did not miss, Lehmann saved.

And it is time for some revenge, as my dream could come true; anihilate the Catalonians once and for all, including that pair of Rats and hurting the pride of the c*nts. Sorry Joppie!







In the same fashion that earned the Gunners a final three years ago, Wenger lined up a one striker behind a five-men midfield. In the ninth minute, just as te game began to settle, Marcos Senna volleyed past Almunia. Then the London defense broke apart, especially with Clichy failing to mark anybody near him. While Arsenal efforts increasing, such as Nasri's shot at 18', still the Yellow Submarine defense held solid. Gunners' problem arose when Almunia had to be substituted for Fabiasnki. Denilson work in the midfield was outstanding covering many spaces that Song left. Even though Arsenal grew by the minute again the shroud of the injuries fell upon Wenger's men, this time Gallas. Still with Arsenal's arrivals the first half ended quite difficult for the visiting team.







The following ten minutes, beginning with 47th, were a total siege on Villareal's goal. Arsenal's time to score was close with different approaches to Diego Lopez's box. The defensive machinery displayed by the visitors was perfect with Denilson recovering every ball; the siege appeared to stop with Adebayor's tremendous goal at 66'. It was a terrific definition while some argue that he did not intend it and some that he did the point remains doubtless; it was a tremendous goal that put the Gunners back in the game. Obviously the Spanish response for this was another leap of attacks but the Londoners repelled it, without too much conviction another goal that would lapidate the series. Pires entrance as one of the most worrying things but nothing came from old Robbie. The lethal attacks nearing the completion of the match were efficiently repelled by Arsenal's lucky and solid defence.

Arsenal v. Man City 2-0 4/Apr/09

April has started and as last year's pandemonium of matches the toughest challenge of the year in one of the most fixture-congested months in the season has begun. We will ses if the Gunners are able to earn some silverware in the two fronts left as they climb positions with now a 17-match without-loosing streak. Regarding World Cup Qualifications round nothing new came to surface except the ban of Barry Ferguson from Scotland's squad due to a drinking desobedience issue before, during and after the match.







After a delightful international break the Gunners received Man City: Cesc Fabregas finally made his return after the knee injury he suffered against Liverpool nearly four months ago. The horrid exhibition at City's ground earlier this season seemed a thing of the past and certainly this was a different match. The international break functioned quite well for the Gunners as nearly all the players returned without constrains. After this match Villareal away is what expects for the North London side, next Tuesday. Of course, almost every fan and even players are excited about this match. Yet in the plethora of idiotic declarations that surge in Gunners' news this intelligent man finally makes a far more intelligent remark.
In our ever silent watch at Gunners' enemies, Villareal lost 3-0 against Mr. Sánchez's Almeria. In other news the late show by Utd over Villa ensured Arsenal even a broader advantage in the race for the fourth place, that now seems far enogh to worry fans contradicting the position of a few months ago.







With all this information the game seemed odd enough but the immedite response to this environmet was Adebayor header in the 9th minute. A perfect Cesc freekick-setup and a reluctant and distracted defense gave the Gunners the early lead. Arsenal had the game dominated through the first half, mostly due to the absence of response by the Northern opposition. By the 25' Arsenal had arrived at least in four occasions showing the strange talent of the whole squad. Even defendesrs like Touré approched more and more towards Given's goal. The Citizens tried well enough several times to overcome the Gunners with possession but the lack of quality and resilience was enough to show their futile attempts brought to an end rapidly. Arshavin's shot at 44' was among the highlights of the first half.







Next half grew more ambitious with City's attempts growing by the miute although they were killed immediately by a brilliant goal, again with the association of the midfield maestro Fabregas. A flick, that seemed strangely familiar to the one scored by Güiza against Turkey in the last EURO 2208, from the captain to Adebayor was enoguh to see the latter net easily past Given. From then on the match was a pure soliloquy by the London team, that managed the pace at their will and allowing themeselves to fail event the most obvious of opportunities.
Regarding the job of Arshavin, Latorre commented that the Russian is a player that moves with the ball instead of touching it as his fellow teammates. The dissapearance of the miniature Russian was due to one reason only: the forward aspect of Cesc in the field. This enhacement made by Wenger gives Cesc energy and less physical display but a free way to wander on the pitch. Strangely enough, as it has been with many of these repositionings, he did not appeared much. One can obviously argue that it was due to an injury problem after nealy four months sidelined, but the Russian player was shadowed when Cesc was too near to him. In any case this problem will be solved with the addition of van Persie in the squad; a more wide place for Arshavin.
Theo Walcott, beaten to death by City defenders, wasted several chances in front of goal but with certain key players off-pitch Wenger tried in to some young guns such as the criticised Bendtner and the Welshman Ramsey. With a few glimpses from the latter and an awful shot from the former the match ended quite calmed, with a clean sheet for the Gunners and a satisfaction to face Villareal next Saturday.

And finally to some of my countrymen Javier Aguirre has taken the role of manager, succeding Sven Goran Eriksson. More of that will be treated later.