From Anonymous : Djourou for Sagna lost the game
Hi Myles
Apologies for the anonymousness of this!
First of all, many thanks for doing ANR, which I have enjoyed reading over the last couple of years since I came across it. It is always very insightful and the first place I go to for Arsenal news and comment.
Secondly, it was very clear to me straight away, that the moment the Blackburn game was lost, was when Sagna had to come off injured, to be replaced by Djourou.
Sagna is a rock of the Arsenal team, a high quality full back, who defends determinedly and effectively, whilst also adding a lot to the attacking on the right flank.
He hardly ever puts a foot wrong in defence. As soon as Djourou replaced him, Arsenal were in trouble. Immediately, the Blackburn left winger attacked Djourou, and he committed a foul straight away, earning himself a yellow card. If my memory serves me right, he shortly after gave away a sloppy pass which led to the third Blackburn goal.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he then missed a tackle for the 4th Blackburn goal which led to the Koscielny own goal. As a defender he needs to make that tackle, no matter what!
What has happened to Djourou?!?
First he messes up at Man Utd, and now Blackburn. He had showed such promise last season, but is now making elementary mistakes. Is it him or the lack of defensive coaching?
Myles says :
It’s his fault – and Wenger’s for keeping a lovely lad who will never be good enough.
After what Djourou allowed Danny Welbeck to do on the first goal at Old Trafford, he should never have played for Arsenal again.
From James Hutchins: Watching the Blackburn game
Hi Myles,
I was really surprised to hear that you ran straight to the telly to find out the score when you had the game recorded.
You missed everything.
Sure if it’s all about the money and betting, but if you’re a fan of the game then you’d watch it first wouldn’t you? I hate missing the action, the scoreline is just the result.
So no match report for Arsenal.
But you did for ManU again… bit lame for an Arsenal news site, even if we did lose.
Well, I thought the game was going very well. It was a game of two halves the first very promising. Arshavin actually looked like he had returned. I’d have bet on Gervinho getting the first goal or an assist and he did.
Unfortunately, the team didn’t adapt for the second half, I guess as you would say Wenger has lost all his ideas. He didn’t change. It started to go wrong and Arshavin was taken off, for Theo.
I’m gutted we scored two own-goals, they were ridiculous. One was bad, two horrendous.
You’d have bet on a Blackburn player scoring Yakubu’s second. A sneaky tap-in from a corner but on top of the own goals we were done over. Yakubu’s first was a very tidy goal.
I honestly think Blackburn were amazingly lucky. Without the own-goals I think it would have been 4-2 but to Arsenal. The panic wouldn’t have set in.
We’d have kept scoring and Robinson’s confidence would have completely dropped. Dann probably would have got sent off. I think this is what Wenger thinks too.
Why the own-goals? My guess is the lack of defensive training. You can’t blame bad luck when you put yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, can you? Is it the zonal marking?
Cheers Myles. You should watch that game though. I think there’s more to it than just losing.
Myles says :
I’ve pressed the blue K button on my Skybox.
K is for Keep. I’ll watch it on Friday or maybe before that, if I have time.
I’m far too impatient to re-organise my evening around watching a taped Arsenal match.
And I can’t say to every friend who phones, ” Don’t tell me the score, I haven’t watched it yet.”
It’s very rare for me not to watch a live Arsenal game on Sky and I often watch the whole 90 minutes again when I’ve been to the match. I’m cooler and more detached when I know the result. For me, that doesn’t spoil it.
Full disclosure : In my whole life, I’ve only watched Match of the Day once without knowing every result.
Of course highlights are very misleading.
Anybody who goes to a game, and then watches 10 minutes of goals, saves, misses and action-replays on TV, would say that.
PS : I don’t bet on Arsenal games more than twice a season.
I backed them to lose at Old Trafford, so I’ve only got one bet left now.