Football (Soccer)

[Oriphus]

Second that motion for David James, a sure way for us to hammer you this season lol. Yeah, Campbell has been a bit of a long dragging injury saga. He cant expect to come straight back into the team.

Really lookin forward to the United match tomorrow at 12.45...even if u cant say it lol

[Oriphus]

Im sure you are very annoyed about loosing that game against Chelsea. I was really hoping for a goalless draw. Alexander Hleb looked extremely good, with a good mixture of talent and sense. Some of his work, if not all, was key in Arsenal attacks.

What is more worrying for Arsenal is the injury to Freddie. I know his first x-ray was clear, but he cant walk at all at the minute. You would rather he had broken something, as that would be easier to mend than ligaments or cartlidge problems.

[admin]

Wenger made some serious mistakes in this game. First by playing Pires as a striker (or maybe as a central defensive midfielder to stop Makelele, but Pires? Defend? Central? Might as well ask him to grow wings and fly around the pitch), and then by not even having Reyes on the bench. Reyes should have started with his good record against Chelsea, or at least on the bench to give us some options later on in the game.

Also, Chelsea had all the luck (fluke deflected goal, that was possibly offside - how lucky can you get), while we had none (3 penalty shouts, one so clear that it's unbelievable).

And Henry was ****. I don't know if it's the captainship, but I think he doesn't look very fit, his composure and first touch is horrible, and he has no pace. So it doesn't look like anything to do with being captain, possibly just a bad patch of form he is going through.

Despite all these problem, Chelsea didn't totally outplay us, so it's not over yet. The best thing about this game (now that we've lost it) is that it's early, so it doesn't mean as much. If we had won the game 4-0 or something, it wouldn't mean that Chelsea are out of the title race - in fact, it means nothing other than the 3 points. Both teams will improve, and by the end of September, you will see a much more efficient Arsenal team.

[lfcrule1972]

I think the ref "should have gone to Specsavers", the penalty incident involving Ashley Cole was a definite penalty !!

I felt sorry for Arsenal, they weathered the storm at the start of the match, played well for most of the 1st half and then saw out the end of the 45 mins when Chelsea tried to get a goal before half time. I thought overall the match was heading for a 0-0 draw but somehow that donkey Drogba shinned or knee capped one in to win the game. Not a fair result but as you said its early enough in the season to not be that important yet.

Some of the Arsenal players looked out of sorts tho and I have to agree that Henry needs to improve and fast.....

As for LFC well another frustrating game but at least we won this time, disappointed to see that Gerrard has a calf strain and won't play in the CL match this week but he is hoping to be fit for Fridays Super Cup match against CSKA Moscow.....

[Oriphus]

Problem was that Arsenal never looked like scoring. You said this in relation to Henry Admin:

his composure and first touch is horrible

I disagree. I think his first touch was absolutely fantastic at times. Especially those long balls from the right back forward to him on the left. He had some amazing, first touches, but didnt follow them up with anything substantial.

On a more positive note, Gabriel HEinze showed tonight his ability in the air. Fantastic is all i can say. Ronaldo and RvN looked very sharp, and we had a pretty easy stroll in the park. Only worry is Neville (and i suppose Richardson - who did score a cracker). It looks like Gary could be out for a while, which i suppose will see Wes Brown come into the side for a bit.

[admin]

Arsene Wenger has since said that Henry lacked sharpness and belief. Some of his first touches were fantastic, as you said, but some of the easy things like controlling the ball with his back to goal, he just couldn't do.

Haven't watched the match today (will have to download it, as it's not on TV), but it looks like Henry is back. And Cygan!! I guess a little competition does help - can't wait for Sol to be back.

And Aliadiere cancels his loan to Celtic (deserting the sinking ship?) and moves to West Ham on loan. A good decision I think - West Ham plays good football sometimes.

[lfcrule1972]

So CL draw is out - I think we can all agree that Arsenal got the softest group of the home nations, Liverpool of course got Chelski and Man Utd shouldn't have too many worries.

LFC are in the Super cup in Monaco tonight, funny match that feels a bit like the Charity Shield but if you win it I suppose its another trophy in the cabinet. Apparently Newcastle have given up on Owen so its not up to LFC to help him make his dream move back to the Premiership. Still mixed feelings about that, I think we need a striker who can actually score regularly but Owen's last season with us wasn't great and he couldn't go quick enough when Real Madrid came sniffing.

Oh well I will will and see what happens.... Good luck with your games this weekend lads...

[admin]

So CL draw is out - I think we can all agree that Arsenal got the softest group of the home nations, Liverpool of course got Chelski and Man Utd shouldn't have too many worries.

I would say so, although every European match is a difficult one for us

Oh well I will will and see what happens.... Good luck with your games this weekend lads...

We don't have a game this weekend, because we were supposed to play Liverpool, but of that Super Cup thing you mentioned.

[lfcrule1972]

Oh I remember now - still saves you the embarrassment of losing eh ?? ha ha

[admin]

Oh well, we'll just have to wait to get that 3 points some other time then

[blutach]

Right! I need some advice. What's a good EPL side to barrack for (since I am about to give up cricket due to blind umpires)? My son says Arsenal, but that sounds too freaky for me.

Don't want anything to do with David Beckham either. He's too gay.

Regards

[clink]

Give Newcastle United a go blu. Bad start to the season but still have the best striker in the world playing for them.

[blutach]

Thank you, clink.

They wear black and white verical stripes, right? Same as my team here (who finished 2nd last). Who's this striker? In fact, what's a striker?

Regards

[admin]

Your son sounds like a very smart boy to me

[blutach]

Oh, admin, if you knew him, you wouldn't say that! He goes round chanting crap like "Tea-airy On-Ree" over and over, and I've not got an idea what he's on about. What's the tea fairy doing playing for Arsenal? And when did he stop being a tooth fairy?

Regards