It was back to business for the Arsenal as they took all three points against Aston Villa last night. Arsenal have climbed above Liverpool in the table and, according to Cesc Fabregas, are aiming for higher: "...we can still fight for second place... so let's see what happens until the end as you can never say never in football." That's fightin' talk from the young Catalan!
I only saw brief highlights of the game so here are a few equally brief thoughts on the performance:
Arsenal's only goal came from what can only be described as a fluke from Diaby (which can be seen here).
I think he deserves credit, however, for his powerful dribble from the wing and -dare I use such a clichéd comparison- a very-young-Vieira-type run into the box
Aliadiere has received a lot of criticism from the media and bloggers for his missed chances during the game. From what I saw, his first major chance required a good save from Sorenson. As for the second: Ok he really should have scored but I still think he did well to get into a good position. I certainly don't think he deserves the flak he got over the last 24 hours.
As for Aston Villa they had quite a few chances to equalise but the Gods were with us - for a change.
Preparation for next season has already begun at Arsenal as Wenger took the opportunity to send all his suits to the dry cleaners. I don't think I've ever seen him in a tracksuit for a competitive game! I can only hope that he didn't try and go clubbing in Birmingham afterwards:
"Oui, Monsier Bouncer ... I know that I am wearing trainers but I left my shoes on ze bus. I promise I won't cause any trouble.
"Non, Monsieur Bouncer.. I don't care if Pat Rice doesn't get in. He never buys a round anyway."
Arseblogger has a piece worth checking out on Baptista's reaction to Wenger after the Brazilian was substiuted last night. It's amazing how things can change in 24 hours. Yesterday, Baptista looked all set to stay. Today, speculation is rife that we may not see much more of 'The Beast'.
I must admit that this was a strange comment from Arsene Wenger:
I felt he had a bad back. We have checked that and he’s really badly injured.
For some reason, that looks like a really bad line? I really wish somebody had asked him to elaborate. His response might have sounded something like this:
"Em well, yes... it is a... em you know, backitus rudimenterus... it's really bad..em yes... can we talk about the team spirit again?"
Maybe Arsene can only lie when he's in one of his suits, all of which were in the dry cleaners? Maybe it was Baptista's job to get all bar one of his suits cleaned, hence the squabble? Maybe we'll never find out?
Congratulations to the Arsenal Youth-Team on their 1-0 first-leg victory over the Man U Youth-Team in the FA Youth Cup Semi-Final last night. What makes it even sweeter is that it was in front of a whopping 38,187 people at the Emirates last night. Well done lads!
The Guardian has a good article on Henry in which he talks about his injury-ridden season.
"Just look at the number of goals I scored with my head - four!" exclaims the man himself in an interview with France Football. "That's a sure sign. Injuries meant I spent more time waiting in the box than doing the things I normally love doing, such as sprinting, peeling off, making piercing runs and so on ... basically I was being more passive."
Good man Thierry. Just don't go sprinting and peeling off around any parks late at night. You can get arrested for that sort of thing.
In other news, Rijkaard has been wailing about his failure to capture Henry: "The truth is that it was a big blow," Rijkaard told RAC 1, "but that is only on a hypothetical level, as we don't know if he would have got injured, for example."
It serves ol' Frankie boy right if his plans depended on a player who he wasn't 100% sure of signing. That's poor management in my book.
And finally, Myles Palmer of Arsenal News Review has offended everybody once again according to InsideArsenal and Goonerblog. Personally, I think Palmer has a bad case of worms which causes his irratic blogging behaviour. Wouldn't you be cranky if you spent 22 hours on the crapper? I reckon that all those imaginary conversations he has with George Graham, Arsene Wenger etc. occur when his cheeks are perched on the porcelain of his throne.
See you all tomorrow for what will hopefully be a less disjointed blog.
For the disjointedness-type-thing, I apologise.
I really do.
I'm sorry.
No I am...
I only saw brief highlights of the game so here are a few equally brief thoughts on the performance:
Arsenal's only goal came from what can only be described as a fluke from Diaby (which can be seen here).
I think he deserves credit, however, for his powerful dribble from the wing and -dare I use such a clichéd comparison- a very-young-Vieira-type run into the box
Aliadiere has received a lot of criticism from the media and bloggers for his missed chances during the game. From what I saw, his first major chance required a good save from Sorenson. As for the second: Ok he really should have scored but I still think he did well to get into a good position. I certainly don't think he deserves the flak he got over the last 24 hours.
What people seem to forget about Aliadiere, is that he has only made six premiership starts for the club. Indeed, he has been involved in the last six or seven games, but I think all his critics should reserve judgement on him until he has a run of at least three starts in a row. I also ask you this: How many uninterrupted starts did it take for Henry and Bergkamp to get into the rhythm of scoring? I would say it was nine or ten starts for each of them. They didn't do too badly in the end either!
As for Aston Villa they had quite a few chances to equalise but the Gods were with us - for a change.
Preparation for next season has already begun at Arsenal as Wenger took the opportunity to send all his suits to the dry cleaners. I don't think I've ever seen him in a tracksuit for a competitive game! I can only hope that he didn't try and go clubbing in Birmingham afterwards:
"Oui, Monsier Bouncer ... I know that I am wearing trainers but I left my shoes on ze bus. I promise I won't cause any trouble.
"Non, Monsieur Bouncer.. I don't care if Pat Rice doesn't get in. He never buys a round anyway."
Arseblogger has a piece worth checking out on Baptista's reaction to Wenger after the Brazilian was substiuted last night. It's amazing how things can change in 24 hours. Yesterday, Baptista looked all set to stay. Today, speculation is rife that we may not see much more of 'The Beast'.
I must admit that this was a strange comment from Arsene Wenger:
I felt he had a bad back. We have checked that and he’s really badly injured.
For some reason, that looks like a really bad line? I really wish somebody had asked him to elaborate. His response might have sounded something like this:
"Em well, yes... it is a... em you know, backitus rudimenterus... it's really bad..em yes... can we talk about the team spirit again?"
Maybe Arsene can only lie when he's in one of his suits, all of which were in the dry cleaners? Maybe it was Baptista's job to get all bar one of his suits cleaned, hence the squabble? Maybe we'll never find out?
Congratulations to the Arsenal Youth-Team on their 1-0 first-leg victory over the Man U Youth-Team in the FA Youth Cup Semi-Final last night. What makes it even sweeter is that it was in front of a whopping 38,187 people at the Emirates last night. Well done lads!
The Guardian has a good article on Henry in which he talks about his injury-ridden season.
"Just look at the number of goals I scored with my head - four!" exclaims the man himself in an interview with France Football. "That's a sure sign. Injuries meant I spent more time waiting in the box than doing the things I normally love doing, such as sprinting, peeling off, making piercing runs and so on ... basically I was being more passive."
Good man Thierry. Just don't go sprinting and peeling off around any parks late at night. You can get arrested for that sort of thing.
In other news, Rijkaard has been wailing about his failure to capture Henry: "The truth is that it was a big blow," Rijkaard told RAC 1, "but that is only on a hypothetical level, as we don't know if he would have got injured, for example."
It serves ol' Frankie boy right if his plans depended on a player who he wasn't 100% sure of signing. That's poor management in my book.
And finally, Myles Palmer of Arsenal News Review has offended everybody once again according to InsideArsenal and Goonerblog. Personally, I think Palmer has a bad case of worms which causes his irratic blogging behaviour. Wouldn't you be cranky if you spent 22 hours on the crapper? I reckon that all those imaginary conversations he has with George Graham, Arsene Wenger etc. occur when his cheeks are perched on the porcelain of his throne.
See you all tomorrow for what will hopefully be a less disjointed blog.
For the disjointedness-type-thing, I apologise.
I really do.
I'm sorry.
No I am...
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