MY STARTING XI Lauren -- Toure -- Campbell -- Cole Parlour -- Edu -- Pires Bergkamp Aliadiere --- Henry Probably too offensive for a road match but i'd like to see a LITTLE tinkering..
The Line up Jens Lehmann Lauren, Kolo Toure, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole Freddie Ljungberg, Ray Parlour, Gilberto, Robert Pires Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry SUBS: Graham Stack, Pascal Cygan, Edu, Sylvain Wiltord, Jeremie Aliadiere
Leeds line up Paul Robinson Gary Kelly, Zoumana Camara, Roque Junior, Salomon Olembe Jermaine Pennant, Seth Johnson, David Batty, Michael Bridges Lamine Sakho, Alan Smith SUBS: Scott Carson, Ian Harte, Michael Duberry, Aaron Lennon, James Milner
Fantastic Nothing helps the spirit more than wailing on a bottom 3 club....lol. We are taking our anger from the FA rulings out on Leeds....SWEEEEEET!
and 1 for Gilberto, 5 mn. into the 2d half. 4-0 In any case, Catfish, this is good for the overall goal difference score.
1-4; Henry, Pires, Henry, Gilberto, Smith. Good game, but our defensive clearences in the second half weren't too flash, but the game was won anyway.
JA30 is starting to impress me. He looked fairly strong. Anyone else notice that Wiltord has been on the pine for a few matches now? I wonder if AW is trying to send him a message about signing a new deal.
A classic couter-attack performance. We let Leeds have plenty of possession without them threatening to score too much and hit them fast on the break. The second half was less impressive, I think the lads were pretty much happy with what they had. Bergkamp had a bit of a better game than last week (not hard I know) and I think there were even more goals there for Henry and the rest of the team if they really wanted them. Aliadiere and Edu should have done better with free headers in the second half. Cole played well against Pennant, he must know him so well that it was fairly easy to shut him down. I was surprised to see Viduka left out (is he injured??) and Bridges only lasted the first half before being taken off. Alan Smith and David batty were as tenacious as ever, but Leeds really are a team lacking in confidence at the moment. Fair play to the Leeds supporters, they made a hell of a lot of noise in the second half backing their team in a lost cause.
Martin Tyler seemed to imply that there was some sort of controversy involving the decision to leave Viduka out. Jermaine Pennant showed nothing except his poor attitude. Reid was speaking to him very firmly during a stoppage in play, and all Pennant did was shake his head, look upset, talk back...typical stuff you'd expect from him. Bergkamp was still terrible, and his accidental assist to Henry came after a laughable miss. I look forward to seeing how the FA punish Batty's intentional forearm shiver on Cole. A blow to the face that draws blood like that should be considered worse than a shove, shouldn't it?
ESPN is reporting that Bergkamp played right-back. Is this correct? What's up? http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=108154&cc=5901
No. He was on the right side of the field when he passed the ball to Ljungberg. He "played" the forward position, although it was hard to tell exactly what he was doing out there most of the time. In other words, it was a typical recent Bergkamp performance.
Now if someone from Arsenal had made contact like Batty did, it would have been a straight red. Still wondering what the FA is going to do about the St. Mary tunnel incident and this. One thing I fail to understand is why Batty didn't get a yellow card there and then a few minutes later, get a yellow for a push/trip?
There was also an incident in the tunnel during today's 'Boro/Wolves game. I anxiously await the FA's report. Batty got that yellow because of dissent. He dared whine about a foul just moments after he rearranged Ashley's teeth, and he was carded for his mouth. That's why the ref moved the free kick 10 yards forward.
Today said plenty about Jermaine Pennant. He's swift, a good dribbler and can cross the ball (sort of--about 1/3 today were decent). But he's got a long way to go before Ljunberg starts losing any sleep over his starting position. Defensively, he's a joke. He presses all the way forward and stands there like a scarecrow when he doesn't have the ball. No wonder Henry and Pires were able to counter-attack so well down the left side. Shame that Ali didn't bury his header. Poor kid wasn't even close. He looks good, and could have made as much or more of a contribution than Dennis in the first half. Love the way he chases defenders with the ball. The best part of today was seeing Henry dominate in open play.
i get back from swim practice and turn on FSW at 11:30ish to see Arsenal up 2 nil and was so happy. I threw on my Away TH14 kit and watched the rest of the game. Pennant didn't really impress me. I think Gilberto did great on defense, i never really noticed him playing defense this well. He was taking balls left and right. Henry is the man.
Great win. Henry is so far ahead of the rest of the world in pace, with and without the ball, that it seems almost unfair. Great ball by Cole to get it to him onside and in stride, plus Henry's touch just prior to the shot was phenomenal: although my eyes saw a half-step to set up the shot, my brain couldn't comprehend how he didn't seem to lose one iota of speed...simply phenomenal. One burning question: what has Edu done in training that has caused him to not get any starts lately? I must defer to Wenger as the supreme judge of talent, but Edu has looked to be the most effective (healthy) central midfielder in the squad in the games he has started. I just don't get it. Am I wrong, Dan? (BTW, what's the status on Kariya's wrist? he's on my fantasy team and he's dragging me down by not being healthy) Also, on Henry's second goal (the Bergkamp woodwork fiasco), who thought that they could see the strain in Parlour's face as he resisted the urge to take a shot no mere mortal could make? Razor threw me a curve ball on that one....
One Disturbing Moment Was anyone else disturbed to see how easily Smith shouldered Toure off the ball inside just outside the penalty area, right after Arsenal's 4th goal? Smith gave him a shoulder and Toure practically counced back 3 or 4 feet. I would think a central defender should be a bit stronger than that (as Sol very much is)
I'm not quite the Edu fan you are (hell, no one is), but I wouldn't have seen the harm in giving him a start today. I know many fans have been and continue to be mystified by the team selection, so you're not alone. P.S. Kariya's supposed to be back soon - a sore wrist, they didn't put him on the injured list. Don't panic - he'll have a monster year.
I've been a staunch supporter of Edu since he and Viera basically said to the manUre midfield "Not today" at OT in '02. Plus, I think he's got a straight Red lurking deep within his soul, and I definetely want to see it when it happens. He'll be smiling wide when he goes in for a nasty two footed tackle from behind some 4 or 5 seconds after RvN has given up the ball. It will be glorious. Hell, I may start a web site dedicated to getting him a regular spot on the Brazilian National Team, not to mention a steady diet of EPL starts next to PV4.