Arsenal 0 City 0: Painfully dull
I ARRIVED at the Emirates still traumatised after the capitulation of the JJB.
I left the Emirates thoroughly sedated after as dull a 90 minutes as I can remember.
Lions share of the blame must go to City I think. All those gazillions spent so you can go to a half strength, confidence shot with little to play for Arsenal side and turn in one of the most negative performances ever. I’m not even sure Silvestre or Fabianski were even given the chance to make a mistake.
Obviously, I don’t want Spurs to get fourth but if I remove my north London hat for a second then really they do appear the only ones who merit it in any way. Liverpool have been just plain atrocious, Villa predictably woeful after Xmas and City have managed to lose fewer games than their Mancunian rivals and yet still trail them by 16 points.
I suppose I’d better go back to the game. One early thought was how despite apparently being injured Wayne Bridge had Theo Walcott totally in his pocket. Another thought was what a pedantic little shit Mike Dean was, slowing down an already pedestrian encounter by insisting innocuous free-kicks at either end were taken from the precisely the right spot.
Team wise, it was good to see RVP start. He looked a little rusty mind and equally was up against about five banks of five defenders. Gael Clichy offered the zip and energy that reminds us that however nightmareish his post injury form was and however poor his crossing is, he remains a fine, fine left-back who is exactly the kind of character we need.
Another is Sol Campbell. Credit to Arsene for bringing him back but for passing on dear old Paddy Vieira. Sol must stay. The man is just a behemoth. Paddy probably came out second too an off form Abou Diaby, which says it all really. While we’re on the subject of geriatrics, credit too to Silvestre, who played well.
The half-time highlights on the big screen included an RVP cross that sailed around a foot both above and to the side of Samir Nasri’s head before bouncing harmlessly out of play.
Then we got Adebayor. You know what, even our beef with him is second rate. At least Ashley Cole really was once a Gooner. At least we won some stuff with him.
Adebayor? I honestly wasn’t that bothered. Some people were. One chant questioning who the self gratifier leaning against the post was was funny, another sung by a few would have had to be really, really clever to get away with being offensive. It wasn’t.
Even with him on, they still looked unbelievably defensive. With five minutes to go we had a free-kick that was going to be crossed in and they had every single man back in the box to defend it. Firstly, have they seen us from set-pieces? Secondly, have they seen some of the counter attack goals we’ve conceded this season?
Presumably not.
And so the announcement of eight minutes injury time was met with a collective “do we really have to?”. If I’d been wearing a heart monitor I suspect it would have detected a slight rise in activity when Paddy strode into our box and Sol nicked it off him before the break and also when RVP’s free-kick drifted a football’s width wide.
And that really was it. There’s not a lot more to say really. Arguably we weren’t that far off full strength but trying to draw too many footballistic analysis from this would probably be a mistake.
The crowd, I should say, were very upbeat I thought given events the previous weekend. Silly mistakes frayed the odd nerve presumably shortened by a day’s drinking in the sun but really on the whole everyone was quite positive.
I’ve got a fair bit to say about the season but it can wait for a couple of days. Next up it’s Blackburn, where Big Sam will presumably have a sweepstake going on how many of our players’ dreams of going to the World Cup they can end. I reckon Samir Nasri could be a target: firstly for being French, secondly for being small, thirdly for chewing gum, fourthly for having tight control (apparently that’s a sure fire way to get your leg broken I’m told by the “he ain’t that type of player brigade”) and fifthly again for being French.
PS, Before anyone starts having a go, I realise how very fortunate I am to get to see Arsenal live and I don’t doubt many of you would gladly relieve me of such a burden. All I’m saying is that whether you followed this in the stadium, on TV, on the radio, on Twitter, via text or not at all, as far as Premier League football matches go, this was dull.
I was at the game too – the first 60 minutes were incredibly boring, you’re not wrong there.
Then Adebayor came on, and it all livened up a bit. Glad to see the crowd had turned up, even if the players hadn’t. Top marks to Van Persie for taking him out in the centre circle.
I just wanted to note that I thought Silvestre was excellent. He didn’t put a foot wrong all day, he marked Tevez well and he repeatedly stole the ball from under Tevez’s feet. If only he could play like that every game. But he deserves a lot of credit for how he played – he would have been my MOTM.
i think it is fair to say we were a bit quite a bit far from full strength because (1) gallas, vermaelen and almunia were out, so we had to be very cautious defensively; (2) fabregas and arshavin were out, they often come up with something special; and (3) robin had his first start in 6 months.
yeah fair point.
After 4 years of teams coming to park the bus at the Emirates, the biggest pitch in the league, Arsene Wenger still has not come up with a game plan to deal with it.
All this pretty short passing is great when the game is open but it is completely pointless when there are 10 men behind the ball.
Even I can see you need width to stretch the defence, you need whipped crosses to the 6 yard box that attackers n numbers can get on the end of, you need real danger from set pieces and you need dribbling at pace into the box to force penalties.
Arsene Wenger is to tactical improvisation what my dead cat is to the local gym.
Hang on Terry. The vast majority of teams who park the bus at the Emirates end up losing. When a team of City’s quality do it to such an extent, it’s hard to do anything about it.
I thought City’s display showed exactly why Mancini will not be the coach there for much longer. That is just far too negative to impress the Arabic bankrollers when you have such a massive squad at your disposal.
From our point of view, we are just limping to the finish line.. almost litrerally. Overall its been a good season where we have genuinely made a challenge, however the inuries have caught up with us big time. Even those still on the pitch are just returning from injury, have had their seasons disrupted by injury, or have just played more games than they should have and are looking tired because of it.
7Robert Pires,8Freddie Ljungberg these guys were wingers unlike the current custodians of those shirts who are too keen to cut in nd crowd the midfield with aimless lackadaisical sideways passing.
Terry, Can you please get your dead cat off the rowing machine?
25man squad rule – eight homegrown players i.e. a playa registered in england or wales for 3yrs b4 turnin 21, and 17 others so who will be cut to make way for others. i.e. chamakh
On to next year.
Here are the current implications of the 25 man squad, 17 non-home-grown limit and under-21 (as of 1st January 2010).
Some of these will obviously go. Silvestre for one. And Chamakh will add to the non-home-grown.
Interesting?
It looks like we have been exceptionally well planned. This will be the story of the summer (for the Premier League anyway)
25 squad Non HG (17 max HG
1 1 Almunia
2 1 Mannone
3 2 Fabianski
4 3 Sanga
5 2 Senderos
6 4 Silvestre
7 5 Gallas
8 6 Vermaelen
9 7 Djourou
10 3 Clichy
11 4 Traore
12 5 Campbell
13 8 Diaby
14 9 Rosicky
15 6 Cesc
16 10 Nasri
17 11 Eboue
18 12 Arshavin
19 7 Song
20 8 Denilson
21 13 Eduardo
22 14 RVP
23 10 Bendtner
24 Under 21 Gibbs
25 Under 21 Szczesny
26 Under 21 Merida
27 Under 21 Wilshere
28 Under 21 Walcott
29 Under 21 Botelho
30 Under 21 Nordviet
31 Under 21 JET
32 Under 21 Eastmond
33 Under 21 Watt
34 Under 21 Barazite
35 Under 21 Lansbury
36 Under 21 Vela
37 Under 21 Ramsey
Small amendment. Djourou counts as home grown.
So.
We have 24 players either home grown or under 21 for next season. As of right now.
Mannone
Senderos
Djourou
Clichy
Traore
Campbell
Cesc
Song
Denilson
Bendtner
Gibbs
Szczesny
Merida
Wilshere
Walcott
Botelho
Nordviet
JET
Eastmond
Watt
Barazite
Lansbury
Vela
Ramsey
The following 13 are not homegrown and count against the 17 slots. We have a lot of room here. And there are one or two obvious slots here which could open (Silvestre, Almunia, Eduardo and maybe Gallas). Chamakh would assume one of these slots.
Almunia
Fabianski
Sanga
Silvestre
Gallas
Vermaelen
Diaby
Rosicky
Nasri
Eboue
Arshavin
Eduardo
RVP
Terry,we’ve drawn 2 (Everton,City) & lost 2 (Utd,Chelsea) at home in the league so Saturday was the first home game this season where a team came,’parked the bus’ & got a result. (the other 3 outplayed us)
Your argument makes no sense whatsoever; it was a nothing game for us,we didn’t need to win & without that urgency it was a handy enough point for City. Sol was fantastic again,surely he’s done enough to get a year. Paddy was dreadful.Sincerely hope he retires in summer as it’s sad to see him playing like that. Just waiting for the season to end now…it’s just dragging on, waiting for Arsene to have a good summer.
Lets be perfectly honest arsenal arent a very good team. say byebye to the premier league for another 3 yrs or 4 cuz man city iz taken over
tis wuz arsenals worst game of the season. we need to bring a new striker nd a ctrl defender. if tis dosent happens nxt summer den i dont tink we will win the league fr a long tyme. on a lighter note i wuld also lyk to say tht tis is my first tyme here in lyk six months
u aven’t lernt 2 type in lyk all vat time av u?
It wasn’t dull. I had missed RvP playing, so I was just in awe with some of his fine close-control first touch, that delightful free-kick, etc. So glad to see RvP back.
Good to be a gooner: good point and i think the new rules will cause problems to a few teams (man city especially).
sol deserves a payrise nd a two yr contract.How gud has Eboue been this yr,better than theo ‘no skills’ Walcott aka glass-angles -he will reduce our squad to 24 for half the yr.
sol deserves a payrise nd a two yr contract.How gud has Eboue been this yr,better than theo ‘no skills’ Walcott aka glass-angles -he will reduce our squad to 24 for half the yr.
The gaffer needs to have a think about Sagna.
i will be glad when the season is over now and we can look forward to the w.c. and all our new top quality signings!!!!
woeful villa since xmas? they have only lost one game in 2010 if that is woeful i dont know what good is?
So we can keep 8 non home grown, over 21 years old players in the 25 man squad.
.
Silvestre and Gallas are surely going now. Fabianski HAS to go too.
.
Vermaelen, Sagna, RVP, Arshavin and Nasri are surely certainties to stay. Chamakh is coming too apparently.
.
This leaves just 2 places for Almunia, Diaby, Rosicky, Eboue, Eduardo, a proper keeper and replacements for Gallas and Sylvestre.
.
Looks to me like Wenger’s going to have to sign some English/home grown players and get rid of some dead wood (Eduardo, Almunia, Rosicky) pretty sharpish.
Terry
Steven Taylor would be a good name to start with now that he at last seems to be available.
Is Dean Windass available on a free? Or could we get Neville Southall to go in goal?
Here is the Arshavin article you are seeing quoted in the press. “Tottenham striker” Arshavin. Lacks credibility right there. Plus the translation from RUSSIAN is iffy at best. Either way, the media are not even quoting this article correctly. Same old.
http://www.sport-express.co.uk/summary/1_5071/
The frenchman needs to fuck off now and give our club back to us and when I say us I mean the sensible realistic supporters who see things for what they really are and not the rose tinted sycophants seem to be i abundance on this site.
momoney… well named mate… it is our massive ambition to win the league and CL… but it is not our right.
Yeah,you were right jack,and Ramshit is still a wind up. But i’ll control my reactions to people like him from now on.
Sorry to anyone i offended!
Here is my transfer wish list for Arsene.
Joe Hart 1st choice,or hugo loris for keeper.
Gary cahill 1st choice,or hangeland for C.B
ONE MORE YEAR FOR SOL
Felipo Melo 1st choice,or Scott Parker for D.M
Chamach up front.
Saturday was poor,but didnt expect to much anyway,the season’s got away from us due to lack of transfer activity in the summer,and onother injury hit season. But saying that i think overall the team has showed great charachter and potential many times. Its time to turn the corner and begin to win trophies again.
yeah, silvestre was good. he actually had tevez in his pocket. not bad.
bore draw though.
Is it just me or does anyone else think Loris is average at the best? I’ve seen him only 3 times in current CL, but he didn’t really impress.
Hangeland is another version of senderos. All we need is 3 players with chamakh coming on free. Manuel Neur is awesome and i rate him more than lloris.Sell denilson and buy any one of diarras from real madrid. Wenger must find another right footed vermaelen from somewhere. Those 3 and chamakh will do.
momoney, you talk cock, mate. Don’t recall seeing you spout your cobblers about the ‘Frenchman’ before on here. Why don’t you go and spunk your views over at ANR or better still, email/tweet/twat your wisdom to that hooray henry plastic Gooner, Piers Morgan.