To/Teso Dos Bichos I honestly think that a combination of Mass EPL fear of Arsenal, [do you ever recall seeing Players like Vinny Jones kicking Henry, IE: Professional foul play, I remember in the Eighties when teams used to try to upset teams if they could not match them with skill just dosent happen now] Teams dont seem to try to stop arsenal its pitifull I mean if you disposed of Henry and Pires the whole spark of Arsenal would dissapate, why dont they double mark Henry like they do Ronaldo now, I wonder if Savage has kicked Pires in midfield like he did against ManUtd players, I suspect he will or would have been sent of if he did it against Arsenal. EPL teams do not seem to have sussed Arsenal out like they have teams down through the ages and yet time and time again you see Pires and Henry Wide open with not a defender in sight. Cut Pires and Henry out of the Game and you have a chance EPL And 2// the ease to which Arsenal win favours from EPL Ref's is astonishing look how many penaltys they have had this year and last: This doent happen when they play in Europe does it. A coincedence I dont think so. I will put my head on the chopping block and suggest that Henry wont score in the ManUtd vArsenal match comming up and maybe Pires will have his feathers ruffelled, Oh dear. Is this a mans sport or what ?????
This isn't dissimilar to the 'luck' Utd were receiving in seasons gone by...I think its a prestigious group to be a part of
I dunno whether this is a srious comment or not to be honest... Do you really think that managers say "Oh Henry don't worry about him, he's no-one, the one you need to look out for is Cygan!" Of course they don't Henry creates space for himself by drifting away from the 'standard' CF position. If he sits over on the left hand side and the other team 'double bank' him then Pires or Cole can get free. This is a combination of clever/skilful players and a very well matched team. When you see Henry and Pires in space with not a defender around them this is due to the pace of the players and the pace of the passing game that Arsenal play. Plus if the team concentrate on Henry then Reyes will get in, or Bergkamp will play a killer pass in to Ljungberg. Refs dont put up with the kind of challenges that Vinny Jones put in anymore.If you "dispose of" Henry or Pires, you risk having a man sent off, and then it's 10 against 11... That wont help at all. Of course teams are scared of Arsenal, they're the best side in the league at present, in the same way that many teams used to be scared of Manu in the 90s. They're expected to win because they're better than the opposition. Simple as.
Good point. This is true in all sports. It's not necessarily fair or equitable, but the stars get the calls. The officials are human and they're much more familiar with Henry's reputation vis a vis some Aston Villa fullback.
He's got it working in two forums that I know of. Apparently Mr. Neave feels that the only reason Arsenal ever score is that no one plays defense against them. Mr. Neave is a tool of the highest order.
was thinking the same thing... but.. as i was watching the arsenal/sperz match with Bruce Arena, as titi was tearing up the flank about to pass to bergy (who passed to vieira to open the scoring), the first thing he said was "you deliberatly foul Henry right there, it stops the run of play, lets your team get back and defend/etc" i was like, thats why im not a coach, i wouldnt of thought of that.... his next comment was "oh thats nice, kasey's first touch is taking the ball out of the net" thought that was funny~
Well said Andrew. Have some rep. phishy brings up a very good point and I would like to add to it. If you cannot legally stop a player, then you need to revert to gamesmanship. In other words, time for a professional foul. You might disagree with the principle, but it happens and quite a lot. I'm obviously a big fan of it. Let's compare Henry to C. Ronaldo. Henry comes running at you and the players keeps backing off and either Henry gets past them or makes a pass. C. Ronaldo does exactly the same thing and guess what happens? He gets fouled and taken out. Why? It is because they know that Ronaldo is a great threat and that he needs to be neutralised at all costs. Why then, does the same not apply to Henry?
Because they need to make a decision a) take him down and stop an impending goal. or b) go down to ten men. To be perfectly honest i'd rather have arsenal score then "try" and play them with ten men. Specially since other players can still score for Arsenal even if you manage to injure Henry enough so he won't be able to play.But against current form manu being down one man might actually improve your own chances. It just opens more space on the field for you to play in. Taking down Ronoldo could significantly injure ManUres chances at the moment. Plus all those f***ing step overs are so annoying, to be honest i'd just punch him in the face, how many step overs can you do before it becomes a waste of energy? But, i'll be the first to admit he's improved on his useless step overs. Too be honest his been playing with the most heart right now, him and Smith.
I agree. I remember the Arsenal Charlton game a couple weeks back where reyes and henry came down the left wing. Beautiful sequence in which henry cuts into the defense to pass to reyes, reyes fakes a shot passes back and henry rips a shot whigh just gets underneath the crossbar. it was a great goal with a terrific buildup but the Charlton defenders were just ball watching. it was almost as if they were at awe at the passing sequence itself. No one went to challenge Henry or reyes. I think that there is an element of fear amongst the teams in the EPL whenever they go against Arsenal. HOWEVER, I don't think that this is main reason Arsenal is doing so well as implied by the 1st post.
Name dropping again, phishy??? Why didn't you ask him why he didn't tell Donovan to get off his ass and get back to Europe so he can improve his game a bit more?
i really didnt want to beat his ass down with talk.. but i did get his thoughts on the handball on the goalline that the (great hugh dallas)*obvious sarcasm* missed vs germany. what a ********ing joke that was
Great point! I also think Henry is faster than C-Ronaldo (a great talent, too!), and speed kills. Great players rise to the top in all sports. Do people here think EPL coaches have NEVER thought of playing Hack-a-Henry against Arsenal? It used to work and got the Gunners regular red cards, but that seems to have changed. You could try it but (as others have already mentioned) you'll either get beat by other players or end up playuing with ten men. Why EVER pitch to Barry Bonds? Why not blitz Tom Brady every down? Why not douoble team Kobe Bryant the whole game? Great players make great plays because they are just better....
The accusation that a successful club or the home team receives penalty favours from referees is an idiotic one whether it comes from a Man Utd or Arsenal fan. The team that takes apart the opposition defence most will receive the most penalties as the defence desperately tries to stop them scoring. Purely from a frequency-of-events situation then a ref will give more penalties to the team that attacks. That's why Arsenal will probably benefit this season and why Utd have benefitted in the past. It has nothing to do with favouritism.
this season i dont remeber who was playing It was Man Utd vs someone early on Silvestre did a handball then not 5 mins later he took the legs out of the player and still no penalty and seriously tell me how many penalties given at Old Trafford to away team and Ferguson pays off the refs..or atleast used to
Referees don't give anything like the number of penalties that are justified - Utd should have had a penalty against Prague this week when Heinze was pushed to the ground by the Sparta 'keeper but the ref didn't give it. I've seen at least six penalties offences commited against Utd this season that haven't been given. Hey, sh t happens! Many fouls in the box are not given because the seriousness of the punishment doesn't match the seriousness of the offence or the ref doesn't see the foul. Read my post - it's all about the frequency-of-events. If you have any proof of Alex paying off refs you should take it to the FA or FIFA
he doesnt pay them in cash if you know what i mean and your frequency thing thats nonsense if a team attacks once and gets fouled they should get a penalty..not have to attack lots to get considered
If you attack more, you spend more time in the penalty area and the probability of a foul and penalty increases. If the referee is not biased - calls and misses fouls equally - then that attacking team will see more penalties purely because there are more such events happening. It's purely a question of probabilities - you spend twice as much time in the box, there are twice as many penalty events and an unbiased ref gives you twice as many penalties. That's why Arsenal get more penalties and why we used to get more penalties. There's no need for biased refs or bungs of whatever sort from managers
i understand completely but the thing is over the past few years there have been so many penalty appeals for the away side with a strong claim but none have been given if the referee never sees them then he doesnt belong on the pitch there are so many blatant fouls and handballs but the refs are intimidated at old trafford