Alright you Gunners, theres no need to get up for this one. Should be a good match as all the others were last year. Viera is back and Campbell is fighting a late fitness test. Lauren probably wont play for the first time in a long while. Lineup: Seaman Luzhny Campbell Cygan Cole Wiltord Silva Vieira Fred Henry God Pires off the bench for some late magic! Ill go out on a limb and say 3-2 to the Gunners.
Newcastle have found their form as of late. This will be a tight, physical match. I hope our midfield is ready to swarm. In the last match, we opened them up early thanks to Pires, before he suffered the knee business. Let's hope he picks up where he left off. If Campbell's not in, who do we start in his place? Does Oleg slide into the middle and Kolo out wide? Our defence might be a little shaky. The only way to make up for it is on the other end with plenty of goals. I'd be surprised to see this one shake out with fewer than four goals.
Yep, but it's gonna be on 3 hours later than the usual Saturday game. Starts at 1 p.m. in Denver, 3 p.m. in NYC. By the way, the Sp*rs game (11/16) is on PPV, and the Southampton game (11/23) will be on FSW as well.
Remember that Lauren Robert is out after breaking his cheekbone. Newcastle has good first team players but not much depth. Their play really comes down to the performance of individuals such as Robert and Bellamy. Have to watch on set plays as Shearer remains quite dangerous... Time for Arsenal to shrug off the bad form and make a statement! Go you Gunners!
As far as I know, none of the upcoming Arsenal games are being re-shown on a local Fox Sports station. The games scheduled for that local Fox slot are the Manchester derby this week, Chelsea/Boro next week, and ManUre/Newcastle the week after that.
FWIW, I thought Bergkamp's goal in the 2-0 reverse at Newcastle last year was my goal of the year last year. Pires runs up the wing, draws four defenders, and slots the ball through all of them, 40 yards, right onto the feet of DB10, who backheel flips the ball around his defender and deposits it back of the net. I love that. I could watch it again and again... ...including, hopefully, this weekend.
I can't believe those FSW scum....originally had this match on at noon EST... ...in that case, please pull for City to win so it will be worth your while to watch at noon.
Line ups Arsenal Seaman , Luzhny , Cygan , Campbell , Cole , Ljungberg , Vieira , Silva , Wiltord , Bergkamp , Henry Subs: Pires , Taylor , Edu , Stepanovs , Toure Newcastle United Given , Griffin , Dabizas , O'Brien , Hughes , Solano , Jenas , Speed , Viana , Shearer , Dyer Subs: Harper , LuaLua , Ameobi , Caldwell , Bernard
24 mins: Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle Oleg Luzhny's cross is sidefooted hom by Arsenal's Sylvain Wiltord. Just giving major updates, not pbp.
Half time with Arsenal up 1-0. From what Arsenal.com Live text and BBC has, looks like the lads are in control. Even Luzhny is getting some shots on goal.
Just returned from the game, having Mr. & Mrs. Ken Smoller, from Boston, Mass. as my guests, and Mr. & Mrs. Rob De Paz, (N.C.) seated in the upper North Bank, witnessing Arsenal returning to the "Arsenal of old", with their forward play. Apart from Newcastle hitting the crossbar with one good shot they never really threatened. Oleg Luzny should be voted "man of the Match" with an outstanding display at right back of both good forward and defensive play. Good to see a group of Canadians getting themselves and their flag shown upon the "big screen" at the ground. Pires replaced Bergkamp for the final 20, and although 1 - 0 was not a brilliant scoreline with more chances deserving converting, the win was never in doubt. With the other results of the day going "our way", dare I begin to say that suddenly "all things in the garden look (red) rosy"!? The next two games will give more of an insight but I feel that that pre "Euro 2004" break might just be beginning to bloom again. Let's hope so. For those of you watching it "late" in the USA and Canada I won't go further on the match report and let you enjoy the action. Good viewing!!
This one won't be going into a time capsule, but it was a convincing win nonetheless. Could have and probably should have been a bigger margin - Ljungberg couldn't convert from 4 feet away when he was one-on-one with Given, and Henry couldn't latch onto a great ball from Wiltord. Not to mention Bergkamp banging one off the post (although Viana did the same for Newcastle). Vieira was absolutely terrific, and the defense, much maligned recently, was excellent. Credit to Sol Campbell for playing great despite a bad back, and credit to The Horse for putting a little fire into the right back position. Now just one point out of first, six ahead of the duo in 3rd place, and seven ahead of ManUre. Crisis? What crisis?
Thanks for looking out for us in the States...the broadcast just ended and Arsenal were absolutely awesome. It's hard to single out a star, but Vieria was superb. Add a couple "very"s in front of the word superb. The two-game rest has done him well. Cygan and Campbell looked much more assured in the middle. Even when Newcastle resorted to lofting the ball toward our box, they never looked bothered. Luzhny has to be happy with the assist, and his all around play was just as good. Let's hope he gets a few more starts.
Dwinkler summed it up well but I give MOM to Oleg. To have not played much and come up big in a game like this is extrordinary. Plus, he was causing havoc all the first half with the RB run and almost got one for himself. Freddie missed two sweet opportunities. Henrys field skills are top notch but he has lost his finishing touch. Its just a matter of time and he will be back to his scoring ways. Vieiras ball skills are unbelievable. Its as if the ball is crazy glued to his boot. Best performance Ive seen from him in a while. Silva was as good and was everywhere. He is the real deal so far. My only concern, besides finishing, is the inability to score off the corner. We had 12-0 on corners and did not even create a scary moment. Its been like this for some time and I wonder if Wenger will start to work on some set plays.
Agreed about the corners. Especially when Henry takes them... He seems to whack them all over the place - too long, too short - with no real consistency. Dropping a few into the mix about 12 yards out would go a long way to helping Arsenal get some goals off these set pieces. Let Campbell and Vieira use their size and skill in the air to out leap defenders. Instead I think Henry is trying to beat all the defenders with his corner to an 'open' player - which doesn't happen very often.
That's the reason that I gave Luzny "MotM". The others play regularly and are considered "stars". Oleg comes on and puts in a magnificent performance, which he does not get the opportunity to do so often. That's also the reason I feel that the defence was stronger. Lauren likes to attack, and although Oleg got forward a lot, his main priority is to "stay back" and defend. I think he is under rated at Arsenal. He has been the captain for the Ukraine during their "better years". I hope he keeps it up.