From James to me : 3 great things from the Chelsea game
Hi Myles,
Losing 2-0 to Chelsea didn’t upset me as much as West Brom or even Chelsea last year. Why? Because the lads put in 100%. With a little luck, it could have been different. Just one of those things.
And I think we saw 3 great things happen over there today.
1. A normal goalkeeper in goal. No flapping, and no stupidity. Just a bog standard goalkeeping performance. Hey come on, that’s great for Arsenal.
2. An honest interview from Arsene. No blaming the ref, a tackle, or a low-flying aeroplane. It was almost an Alex Ferguson-type interview.
3. Arsenal finally stepped up and played a big game without Fabregas.
I believe we will win the league in 2011-12.
From Simon Lambert :Wenger foolishly predicts Arsenal will beat Chelsea
This Soccernet article just a day before another comfortable victory for Chelsea over Arsenal really is nothing short of embarrassing.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=829524&sec=england&cc=3436
For the last three seasons Wenger has said exactly the same thing before every Chelsea match…that this is now the time for his team to stand up and deliver and that he is sure this is the match and the season they will deliver. That they can compete with Chelsea physically.
Is Wenger punch-drunk?
Does he love egg on his face or what? There’s a fine line between realistic optimism and foolish bravado.
What’s the definition of madness again?
Build squads full of sicknotes, hobbits, kids, mediocre goalkeepers, 2nd rate central defenders, midfielders with less meat on their bones than the Arsenal ladies team. Spend nothing on transfers; Spend only on property and debt reduction. Keep off-loading the experienced players who have won trophies and reinvest a bit of the huge profits on new fat contracts to retain overrated and underperforming players who have won nothing. And expect a different result against Chelsea. Sheer Madness.
After quoting Wenger’s embarrassing bluff and bravado the last sentence of the Soccernet article is perfect in its response:
“Arsenal have won only two of their last 17 meetings with Chelsea.”
Nuff said. And make that 18.
From Wayne Phillips : It was close!
Myles, as you predicted it was close … a lot closer than the scoreline suggests.
But that’s the pattern of recent Arsenal-Chelsea games (and it was with Manure last year as well) – they sit back, know that we will be profligate in front of goal and especially if chasing the game, will leave holes at the back which will give them many chances to catch us on the break.
We end up lamenting what might have been but the reality is that a) if we had a 30 goals per season striker who punished them like Drogba regularly punishes us, and b) a less vulnerable defence, then the likes of Chelsea would not be able to play like they currently do against us.
We can only look inward and hope that our players are learning the right things from these experiences.
From Mark : As usual…
… Absolute nonsense. And you have the temerity to judge the wider media for trying to sell units.
Fernando Torres in his pomp couldn’t have scored it. Thierry Henry, scorer of dozens of brilliant goals, could not have scored it. Wayne Rooney on his best day could not have scored it. Jurgen Klinsmann in 1995 could not have scored it. Peter Osgood in 1970 could not have scored it. Denis Law, an agile master of deadly flicks and electric volleys, could not have scored it. Maybe Zola could have scored that goal. Nobody else we’ve seen could have scored that goal.
Really Myles, I thought better of you
From Nicole Smith : The King
Myles,
An interesting post, as ever.
Metaphorically, we surely find ourselves waiting for the alternative heralding of a new era (was it Nancy Mitford? The Sun King“.)
In any event, this glory-hunting (since 1979) fan has paid/seen too much now – another season stagnating from a refusal to invest, teach discipline and not play Diaby. The good news is that such is the change in supply and demand that, even without a season ticket, seats are seemingly not hard to come by.
Regards.