Listening to the BBC... It's halftime, and it's Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1. -John Terry scored in the 3rd minute. -Henry had a controversial penalty saved by Cudicini after an alleged Jeffers dive. -Jeffers equalized with about 10 minutes left in the half, sounded like a scramble, Freddie was in the mix. -Henry put Arsenal ahead in 1st-half stoppage time. Other stuff: -Chelsea fans apparently threw coin(s) at Henry. Thierry went down but kept the evidence in his hand. -Henry hit the post and, according to a radio commentator, should have been awarded a penalty on a challenge from Gallas. -The PBP guy (Alan Green?) called Jeffers a "cheat."
Yeah, tuned into BBC, as well....I'm very much regretting not buying it on PPV...seems well worth the $15...I really shouldn't have spent $50 on PPV boxing last weekend. 45 solid minutes to come, tho...
Radio certainly adds some drama to the fan's experience, especially when it cuts out from time to time.
Evil comment by the announcer re: Jeffers... "I'm just a cinic; I saw Jeffers and I thought 'dive' and I was right."
70th minute Petit and Gronkjaer off, Gudjohnsen and De Lucas on. Chelsea out of subs (Zenden for Zola earlier).
76th minute Henry off, Toure on. TH has a little knock. It's been all Chelsea the last 5 or so minutes - we need another goal.
If there is a replay I would hope that it will be on Fox Sports World. I hate the fact that this is on PPV. At least the BBC coverage is good. I am a big Mic McCarthy fan.
Oh Chelsea we love you One man went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) One man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Two men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Two men, one man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Three men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Three men, two men, one man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Four men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Four men, three men, two men, one man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Five men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Five men, four men, three men, two men, one man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Six men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Six men, five men, four men, three men, two men, one man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Seven men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Seven men, six men, five men, four men, three men, two men, One man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Eight men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Eight men, seven men, six men, five men, four men, three men, two men, One man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Nine men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Nine men, eight men, seven men, six men, five men, four men, three men, two men, One man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow Everyone now stands up Ten men went to mow (mow!) Went to mow a meadow (meadow!) Ten men, nine men, eight men, seven men, six men, five men, four men, three men, Two men, one man and his dog (Spot!) Went to mow a meadow CHEL-SEA!!! (clap-clap-clap) CHEL-SEA (clap-clap-clap) Great game lads.
Very exciting game - Chelsea didn't give up and got a garbage goal but a goal is a goal. Not good for our lads - looked tired at the end. Chelsea will have the advantage in the replay methinks . . . Cudicini was fantastic. This will also have an effect on the Euro qualifiers as the replay will be played on a Tuesday night during the England vs. Litchenstein (spelled correctly?) qualifier I think. Poor Sven. Anyhow, we'll see what happens this Tuesday against Roma - a must win or else Arsenal is only concentrating on a double. Not panicking yet - but every 3 or 4 days - it's a huge game!
The main talking point Without having read other messageboards, specifically the very busy one at Arsenal World, I bet Arsenal fans will be bitching about the double sub in the 63rd minute, where we brought on Pires and Wiltord for Jeffers and Ljungberg. Can't comment on it, not having seen the match, but it certainly seems that Chelsea's second-half surge coincided with that change. Or maybe it was more down to their own change, De Lucas and Gudjohnsen for Petit and Gronkjaer.
The substitutions were a bit frustrating, but hindsight is always 20/20. At the time, the only sub. that frustrated me was Toure on for Henry. This clearly unsettled the defense. Maybe AW was looking ahead to Tuesday, maybe TH had a knock, I don't know. Props to Jeffers, who seems intent to prove his case for a starting spot. With no blasphemy intended toward Dennis (lightning may strike me), FJ is starting to win me over as a partner for Henry. One other rambling thought...I had read that Edu was huge in the ManU match, and he looked good today. He added some tenacity and resolve to the midfield (playing with RP15 helped that) and his passing is sweet to behold. Although, when he drops back to play defense, the guy absolutely freaks me out. When he's in front of his own goal, he tends to finesse the ball as if he's in the center of the park. I'm not referring specifically o Chelsea's second goal, just in general. If he would just pound it upfield, fine, but don't dribble when there's a pack of blue shirts in front of Seaman. Chelsea played tough and as someone said, Cudicini was fantastic. Hasselbaink's performance bordered on sabotage. I wouldn't mind AW fielding the same line-up when we go to Stamford Bridge. Today's XI deserve the chance to finish the job.
Bummed that I missed this match. Sounds like the Gunners were their usual selves (with a bit of bad luck), and Chelsea fought hard to avoid the knockout. Sounds like Cudicini earned his paycheck. I hope I'll have time to go somewhere and watch the replay, but for now I'll worry about the Roma match...!
Re: The main talking point To be more than honest i think the most defining moment in the entire match was the taking off of Henry. He was the one that was going to win the game and i was glad to see the back of him. Our own substitutions lifted the team-especially the introduction of Gudjohnsen.
Didn't see the match, but can't imagine a situation where bringing on Wiltord and Pires is a bad thing. Personal thoughts on Wiltord aside, the guy scores a lot of Cup goals. And Pires, well... I think this was just one of those games. We played well, they played well. They have a great 'keeper. I think if we play Chelsea 10 times we win 7, draw 2 and lose 1. Hopefully the 1 isn't the replay.
The match definitely changed when AW took off Jeffers and then Henry. Up to that point we had control of the game, after that whenever the ball went up front, it just kept on coming back at us, eventually leading to the equalizing goal. I thought Edu had a great game. And a friend of mine who watched it on TV thought so too. He doesn't waste the ball, but he does need to just whack it clear in certain defensive situations. If I was Gilbert, I'd be a bit worried about my place. It's going to be tough to go through now. It's hard enough to win at Stamford Bridge, but we have to play a league game against Everton 48 hours beforehand too. It's going to be a real test for the squad.
The Toure for Henry change definitely took the bite out of the Arsenal attack, but I suppose Arsene was figuring that the attack had done it's job for the day. Very frustrating result, and even more frustrating personally, as I'll be working during the replay...
One man went to ************ (************!) Went to ************ on England One man and his dog (Spot!) Went to ************ on England etc.......