They certainly weren’t irresistible today, but Arsenal, at their best, still astonished. There were times when they made Man Utd look like an infants school team in midfield; shame they couldn’t finish anything. The simple truth is you can’t afford to make a mistake like Sol Campbell did at Old Trafford. Man U’s talent and sheer will have rendered Arsenal vincible again, but Ferguson’s team aren’t quite good enough to win the title. I also think the FA will have word or two to say to Mr van Nistelrooy about some of his behaviour when they review the video.
[I watched the game in the surreal surroundings of Cambridge’s Jubilee pub, lined up at the back with three other black guys, an Asian, and a wall full of pictures of Diana Spencer. We passed a variant of the Tebbit test, I think: the presence of a “support-anyone-even-Arsenal-against-Man U” reflex is a strong indicator of being a loyal Englishman.]
[…] 25Oct04
Football Follow-Up
As predicted, Ruud is getting his comeuppance and, following the that post and the associated commentar […]
Yeah, Ruud clearly pushed Lehman at one point and he is the kind of player who winds the opposition up deliberately. But Vieira was looking for trouble too. Ronaldo was off form today, possibly weighed down by all the crude oil in his hair reacting with the heavy rain.
Did anyone notice the way Rooney heaved va-va-voom out of the way during that spat near the end?
Odd, I was under the distinct impression that Arsenal were outplayed & outfought by United. Granted the Smug Islington Twats played some pretty stuff, but rarely threatened United, more a result of the latters organisation than a lack of inspiration.
Henry was oddly reticent, and he’s is often the key for Arsenal in tight games where midefield is matched. Edu looked weak, and while Vieira was class the sum of Scholes & P.Neville outweighed the Arsenal pairing.
Ronaldo had a good game – he may not have created much but positionally he kept Ash Cole pretty quiet by keeping the ball in the Arsenal half most the time and tracking back otherwise [indeed, Cole’s run & strike late in the game only came after Ronaldo had come off]. Phil Neville was also drifting towards the centre-right, covering Ronaldo when he’d bomb forward and nullifying the threat of a Henry counter [who prefers the left for this].
Oddly it wasn’t a pen, just stupidity from Sol [at any level you can’t stick a leg out like that, I’d worry for England], although Cole on Ronaldo 2 mins later was a clear-cut spot-kick.
RvN will get in trouble for his dig on Cole, was nasty but not sure if altogether that intentional. If you’ve played football you know sometimes going in over the ball can look worse than it actually is.
About the Anything But United thing – agreed, but recently if you live in North or East London the smugness of rich Gooners [for many of their supporters are actually Islington media types] creaming themselves over their sophistication and glory is too much for most other Londoners to stomach…
Teams domestically have been rolling over for Arsenal, standing by and admiring Henry’s tight bum when they should be getting close to him and trying to shut Arsenal out of games. Technically & physically inferior sides manage it in Europe, as do the likes of Bolton, it’s been a sad indictment thus far of lame celebrity hero worship extending itself to football that premiership teams oil themselves up and bend over the table for Arsenal. More nastiness please, we’re British.