Sat 13th March 2010 17:30, KC Stadium
Archive for Match Reports
It’s The Samir Nasri Show As Bentner Rams Criticism Down Pundits Throats
Posted by: | CommentsThere are few nights that would rival the sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that Arsenal supporters around the world experienced last night. Yet it wasn’t for the fact that the Gunners secured a quarter final spot in the Champions League.
In a lot of ways, the display of total football last night, and the panache and arrogance it was delivered with clouds the significance of moving to the next stage of the competition.
It’s because of matches like last night’s that we all stand up and applaud the work of art that is Wengerball. It’s because of last night that we are reminded why we so love this game of football and why we swear by it.
It’s because of last night that we recognize how privileged we are to be able to witness before our very own eyes, the development of a group of players who together, are destined to become the best generation of Arsenal players that this club has ever seen.
Yet all around the Oscar winning performance that was the Samir Nasri show, the wretched voices of hackery and punditry defecated the air waves with pathetic attempts to belittle what was a master class in football.
They spewed their verbal diarrhoea and negativity in the commentary as they shamelessly looked for excuses to find fault with Arsenal’s game. They suffocated the pre and post match commentary with tired clichés and diatribe about Arsenal’s perceived weaknesses.
They jostled and positioned themselves – buttocks firmly planted on the fence hoping to pounce if Arsenal failed, and pretending to laud the Gunners when we went through.
The disappointment in their faces and voices were louder than a thousand words. Through gritted teeth, they tried to garner the courage to set aside their prejudice and contempt of Arsenal and do the right thing of clapping their hands and stamping their feet in recognition of what was without a doubt, one of the best football matches we have ever witnessed.
Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Graham Souness, Mr. Ruud Gullit, most definitely Mr. Tony Adams (legend you are, but you need to get your snout out of the pigs trough and get some fresh air away from the bile that is tabloid punditry; being an Arsenal legend doesn’t give you the licence to unleash your negative diatribe to get a pay cheque from these cretins).
Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Stan Collymore, Mr. Alan Brazil – and you know what – every miserable piece of anti-Arsenal &^&! Who works for Talk Shite radio. Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Alan Green and Mr. Mike Ingam and Mr. Graham Taylor as you try to lace your supposed love for Arsenal football with constant perceived negativity as if as insurance just in case Arsenal fall apart.
Last night was a night to stand up and bow to the privilege of being witnesses to a work of art. It wasn’t a night to pull out the ’Arsenal don’t have it in ‘em, especially without Cesc Fabregas’ nonsense of a script.
And all this without 3 of the best Arsenal players in William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. Clearly someone didn’t give Samir Nasri the memo that dictated that Arsenal would struggle without our talismanic Captain Fabulous. If you believed everything you read in the papers, you’d think Arsenal were doomed to struggle following Fabregas’s injury over the weekend.
Take nothing away from a collective team performance that oozed class and professionalism. Take nothing away from the individual brilliance and magic from Samir Nasri that suggested Arsene Wenger might have just invested in Bobby Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Alex Hleb all rolled in one.
The last time I saw a goal like that was when a certain Diego Armando Maradona waltz through the entire England team and scored what in my view is the best individual goal I have ever witnessed – well, maybe until Nasri’s goal last night. Are you watching Maradona? Or was it ’Are you watching Stan Collymore?’
What about our very own B52 bomber. It was only yesterday that I said I was quite content and happy to live with Bendtner’s transgressions for the simple reason that he shamelessly put himself about and got into scoring positions despite his nightmare at the weekend.
For that effort and courage alone, you have to admire the kid. Last night’s hat-trick couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. If it’s any compliment, the Sun newspaper rarely issues a full hearted apology to anybody, let alone a 21 year old kid from Denmark.
What a way to stick two fingers up to all the critics of the weekend past and ram their criticism down their throats. This is not the first time Bendtner has produced match winning performances for Arsenal, and you really have to be a hater to think Bendy won’t be up there with the best.
And I haven’t even mentioned Arsenal’s ’Goal machine’ – Stand up and be counted Mr. Emmanuel Eboue. I would argue that Eboue is one of the most valuable players in the Premier league. Not in monetary terms per se – for player prices are just stupidly inflated.
Emmanuel Eboue is the most dependable versatile player there is in town. He can play left back, right back, left midfield, right midfield, central midfield and even as a relief striker if he needed to. Hell – if you gave Eboue the gloves, he’d stand between the sticks and do a job.
He’s not flashy and is not a ’champagne’ player – but he is dependable when doing the job asked of him and a manager can never ask for more than that from a player.
It’s a trip to Hull on Saturday evening, but for now, we must and we should get drunk in the enjoyment of the pure entertainment and total football that has reminded us all why we love and support the best football club in the world.
Arsenal Chip At Title Summit As Anti-Humble Pie Insurance Is Sold In Plenty
Posted by: | CommentsThree points were a must and we got them; so far so good.
While Fabregas’s injury is a worry, we aren’t exactly impoverished for creative players who can run the show from midfield, so it’s not worth losing sleep over his injury just yet.
Tomorrow’s game against Porto is crucial, and Fabregas has been a captain by appointment and performance. It isn’t to undermine either fact when I think that between Rosicky, Nasri and, in a pinch, Arshavin, the creative core is in competent hands.
Samir Nasri, evidently the man of the match on Saturday seems to be regaining his vim and that bodes well for the games ahead. What a lovely tango that was between Fabregas and he to open our scoring. Marvellous stuff.
Further up the field we continue to indulge in that familiar vice; profligacy in front of goal. I have previously observed that we need Bendtner, Eduardo, Vela and Walcott to find their feet to better negotiate the games ahead and so far only Walcott has shown signs of dusting away the cobwebs.
Whilst it wasn’t a sterling performance I’m delighted at the goal Theo got and the effort he put in as both his physique and confidence would benefit. Nicklas Bendtner, on the other hand, blows hot and cold. Just one of those days? I hope he doesn’t have many more such through the remainder of the season.
Arsenal midfielder, Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey didn’t suffer an accident last evening at the Britannia stadium. He was the victim of the consequences of a dangerous delusion, unrestrained by the deterrent of severe penalty, that’s abroad in English football.
The young Welsh rising star wasn’t the first to suffer, neither will he be the last – unless the authorities stand up to common sense and show that they’re not straw men.
That delusion is the celebration of the “physical nature” of the English game by the media. The portrayal of this physicality is presented as representative of the spirit and endeavour of noble, brave, poorer underdogs against their monetarily and technically richer cousins.
Any complaints by the victims, moreover, is put down to cowardice with the usual lines about “lacking stomach for a scrap” & “being soft” doing their tired lines.
Couple these misguided notions with the lack of severe penalties for transgressions, and thuggery disguised as application is the natural consequence. Several teams have resorted to this license to do anything and everything to salvage games.
Arsenal’s Firepower Not Enough To Slay The Dragon of Porto
Posted by: | CommentsAs I threw my hands up in exasperation last night, the question about when a hill of beans becomes a mountain lingered in my head. That was me just pissed off at our breath-taking propensity to engineer individual moments of madness that pretty much unravels the collective team effort.
After being scraped off the ceiling, I had a beer and watched a classic stand up comedy routine from 1981 by Richard Pryor. Of late, movies seem to do the trick for me, especially to inject a dose of reason and perspective with the elapsing time.
So what really pissed me off? Probably the fact that I don’t like losing, but I guess one team inevitably loses in a game of this type. I think it was more the individual mistakes that led to the goal, but just for the record – I came off the ceiling and can happily look at this in the cold light of day.
Firstly, it was a great match for most part. Any neutral would have loved watching last night’s game as it ebbed and flowed. Believe it or not, there was not one offside decision and I can’t ever recall a match going all the way without an offside decision being given.
I didn’t want to leave the room lest I missed a counter attack. Apart from the errors that led to the goals against us, Arsenal played relatively well for a visiting team to the Estadio do Dragão.
It seems the lessons from recent defeats about keeping our shape and dealing with counter attacks have been learnt. I don’t recall a time when I thought we were in imminent danger of conceding a goal from a counter attack.
In respect of a free flowing attacking game, both teams have to be given credit for making it a great game of football to watch. Not that there weren’t sloppy and lethargic spells during the game, but the two teams applied themselves well.
From Arsenal’s point of view, it was great to see Bendtner getting into the attacking flow of things. We eventually scored from a corner resulting from Bendy’s deflected shot, and in all honesty, Bendy had started to celebrate for the ball was enroute into the net when it was deflected.
The look on Bendtner’s face with his hands behind his head pretty much said ”how the hell didn’t that ball go into the net”.
Porto had clearly been studying our games against Man United and Chelsea. They targeted Clichy’s left flank in what the industry now considers Arsenal’s defensive Achilles heel. I recently wrote about the mental fortitude and discipline Arsenal needs to make the system we play a success. There was a classic lapse of this for Porto’s first goal.
Silvestre Varela should have never been given the freedom of the park to bomb down our left flank, and the sequence of individual lapses that amount to a hill of beans that I talk about played right in front of our eyes. Nasri didn’t track quick enough, Clichy didn’t deal with Varela well enough (and he really should have), and Fabianski became the second Arsenal goal keeper to score a goal in less than 3 weeks – albeit at the wrong end of the pitch.
Watch The Goals And Highlights
Fabianski’s judgement could have been spot on as he moved to anticipate Varela’s cross, and I guess you can argue all day whether it was a really bad shot from the Porto player that went the wrong side of Wookash. Varela probably couldn’t care less, and why should he.
For the second goal, I can live with the first mistake made when Wookash picked up the back pass. However, his judgement to give a demanding referee the ball will probably haunt him for a long time to come. This was one of them cases where Wookash should have taken one for the team and refused to give the ball to the referee until Arsenal had regrouped.
It most definitely would have cost him a yellow card, but it would have been one card that the Arsenal players and supporters celebrated.
Campbell should have punched the referee out of the way for blocking his run towards Falcao and taken a yellow or red card for ‘dealing’ with foreign objects obstructing access to the ball. If the referee had any conscience, he’d have had Porto retake the free kick because his positioning blocked Campbell.
Denilson, who in recent times has become the doom and gloom brigade’s ’scapegoat du jour’ had a shaky start but he settled down and I feel he had a good enough game. Like with AC Milan and Man United the previous evening, both Arsenal and Porto went through a spell of giving the ball away like they were being paid to do it.
Porto also employed the unsavoury tactic of rotational fouling targeting Cesc Fabregas. This cowardly and irritating strategy not only broke Arsenal’s flow, but it’s that cumulative tackling that ends up causing niggly injuries that will affect our players as the season goes on.
Martin Hansson (of the France-Irish World cup qualifier fame) should have handed over more yellow cards to Porto players for this rotational fowling was a deliberate well thought out strategy that had intent written all over it.
Part of the reason I was pissed off after that second goal was this. The referee made a technically correct decision to give the indirect free kick to Porto, but having done that – it was totally unfair for him not to allow Arsenal the right to defend it.
Considering the drama this referee is capable of, I concluded that there’s absolutely no point in expecting any less from him. My exasperation then moved to Campbell and Fabianski for giving the referee the opportunity to gift Porto an open net – and also for not taking a yellow card for kicking the ball out of the stadium to stop the free kick being taken until Arsenal were ready.
All in all, the minimum we can now demand from this team is the right to sing ’One nil to the Arsenal’ on March 9th. Any win will do, but if Porto score twice at the Emirates, we have to win with a 2 goal margin because of the away goal rule.
I don’t think Arsenal is out of the tie and I believe we have a great home advantage. This habit of the Gunners doing things the hard way is what’s making my doctor contemplate referring me to a shrink.
One Nil To The Arsenal As The Fight Back Begins
Posted by: | CommentsThat’s 1 down and 12 to go. One game at a time and the home stretch doesn’t look as daunting as it did for the last fortnight.
This was a week where everyone was taking pot shots at Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal charges. From Fleet Street hacks to despondent Arsenal ’customers’, from opposing team’s players to the tea lady at Stamford Bridge – criticism of the Arsenal team has been dished out in plenty from all corners.
Wenger observed that it was funny how Arsenal’s qualities are lauded when the team is winning by playing champagne football, yet quickly identified as the team’s Achilles heel when the Gunners hit a difficult patch.
It was never going to be a straight forward game last night. The air of doom and gloom around the Gooner nation, coupled with the collective naval gazing and low spirits that haunted the environs of London Colney, made last night’s task an arduous affair.
If there’s one thing that stood out most, it’s the sheer determination of the Arsenal players to put things right. It was the way they each played for one another and took responsibility for their individual and collective roles.
In the last two defeats, the way Arsenal gave away the counter attacking goals was as painful to the players as it was to supporters. There were already signs during the Chelsea game that some work had gone into the collective team effort, especially in the second half of the game at Stamford Bridge.
There was more evidence yesterday of the teams determination to fight. Liverpool gave a fistful as they sought to take advantage of what was comically described by a certain player as a one dimensional Arsenal style.
One dimensional it wasn’t for Arsenal most definitely mixed it and rightfully gained a result for the spirited effort.
If you believe everything you read, you would have got the impression that there was a runaway train with the title contenders sitting above Arsenal in the league table.
Perhaps what made the victory against Liverpool sweeter was the fact that elsewhere, other teams who recently accused Arsenal of being predictable were themselves employing predictable one dimensional tactics in trying to retrieve a sticky situation at the hands of the Toffees.
The Arsenal players will have drawn encouragement from the fact that their endeavour was also supported by the loss of 3 and 2 points for Chelsea and Manchester United respectively.
The title challenge that seemed to have slipped their grip was tilted back in the Gunner’s direction by a twist of fate that smiled kindly. All Arsenal can do is take a game at a time and ensure that they aim for maximum points.
Man United and Chelsea still have more points to drop and it’s paramount that Arsenal focus on doing what is in their control – and that is fighting tooth and nail for every point they can get in the last 12 games.
The spirit and work rate that the Gunners employed last night will have earned them the belief and confidence needed to approach the next stage of the campaign. The most impressive aspect for me last night was the way the players defended as a team. I would have been happy with a draw simply based on the shift that the team put in – but of course, I’m ecstatic about the win.
A classic example of how this team ethic was supplemented by individual responsibility was shown by William Gallas. The veteran defender literally took no prisoners when a through ball acquainted David N’gog with the whites of Almunia’s eyes.
Gallas appeared from nowhere just as the Liverpool striker was about to pull the trigger and executed the text book definition of a world class tackle. That single incident alone was enough to galvanize players and supporters alike.
It was also heart warming and kind of amusing to note that for a change, very few if any Arsenal fans left the stadium before Howard Webb blew the final whistle. In fairness though, the Arsenal crowd did stand up to be counted, despite a slow start.
All in all, it is a brighter day in the Gooner nation, if only to return to our world famous refrain of ’One nil to the Arsenal’.
Another Drog Day Afternoon For Arsenal Gives Doomers More Fodder
Posted by: | CommentsI’ll confess, I was in two minds about how to approach my reflection of yesterday’s game against Chelsea. I wasn’t actually as disappointed as I was last weekend after the loss to Man United – the reason being that I felt the team in general played much better than we did last week.
The statistic that counts though, is the one on the scoreboard so it’s still hard to swallow the defeat. Even my wife who is an ardent Chelsea fan berated Arsenal for going missing at the far post in the 8th minute gifting Drogba an open net. He was never going to miss from there.
I also thought of talking about the fact that I’d prefer that Andrey Arshavin shuts up and stops talking willy nilly to the media. He should focus on converting the guilt edged chances he has on the pitch for that is what he’s paid to do.
Most of all, I also thought of venting my anger at Manuel Almunia for ball watching as Drogba’s free kick cannoned off the woodwork. His ”Oh my God!” face as he stood there as a spectator for some reason really really pissed me off.
Instead, I caught up with a movie I’ve always wanted to watch since it was released but I hadn’t had the chance. It was The Taking Of Pelham 123.
Great movie except for the stupid girlfriend of one of the hostages (George I think it was) insisting on the webcam that he tells her “I love you”, even though he risked an encounter with the business end of a machine gun. What an idiot of a girlfriend.
It was then that I thought of a Stone Cold Friday post that I wrote in early December 2009 following the first defeat to Chelsea. I think it was during a scene in the movie with a ridiculous traffic jam on a bridge that made me think of a dodgy Stamford bridge.
When I re-read the December post that I called Unite and Win, Divide and Fail, it occurred to me that the post is actually very relevant right here and right now.
I figured my gripe and disappointment isn’t with the team – it’s actually with our doom and gloom merchants. I can live with the teams short-comings so long as they show visible improvement and fight hard when the chips are down.
In my book, the team performed much better than they did against Man United, and I’ll take that for now and I look forward to a more positive result against Liverpool on Wednesday.
As for the doomers, I’d do an injustice to my December post (originally published on ACLF) by not publishing it here in its entirety. Enjoy:
If I were an analyst working for an industrial espionage outfit commissioned to carry out a destructive interference programme on Arsenal, I’d be looking forward to filing my November report with the dubious committee set up to oversee the capitulation of the club. The committee sits late every Friday night guided by the silhouette of a hangman and his noose perched above their heads.
The executive summary of my report would go something like this:
The past fortnight has been a watershed for our Arsenal destruction programme. Contrary to our initial belief that this team will capitulate by mid February, I am pleased to confirm that we are seeing the signs of their demise much faster than we expected.
Our campaign to spread poison and conspiracy theories about how the team can never hack it and why Arsenal receives an extraordinary proportion of injuries during international breaks is well on target. We have received a boost from two unexpected sources.
Firstly, 11 months ago we recruited a sleeper agent in the suburbs of Belgrade. An unlicensed quack masquerading as a miracle healer of sorts, our handlers ensured she had a dodgy tax record to support plausible deniability.
Our Belgrade asset was called to action a few weeks ago. She did an effective job in providing false hope to their talisman and the entire gooner nation. By the time they realised what the deal was, their chap was pretty much confirmed as out cold for the season, a situation that has clearly unsettled them.
The second and the most important catalyst to the destruction of Arsenal are the forces within. We always felt that the work their manager had done over the years stood on very firm ground. Our media allies and pundits have ensured that our anti-Arsenal message continues unabated. We needed their support to sow the seeds of doubt amongst their weak and fickle glory hunting fans; to convince them that they can never win something unless they buy players with inflated price tags.
In the last 2 or 3 weeks, this group of fair-weather plastic fans has unleashed a venomous tirade as they spit fire and brimstone on the internet and airwaves. The voices of reason of the realistic and level minded supporters will soon be drowned out if we maintain the current pace of interference.
Some of these fickle Arsenal fans don’t even realise what they have. The club is one of the best managed elite clubs in world football who are financially solvent and only have a mortgage for their magnificent stadium as debt owed. They don’t realise they have one of the best managers in the world who has the courage and vision to set a path and a future for the club that will stand them in good stead for decades to come. They don’t realise that they have a great talented squad that just needs a tweak or two to click into place.
Impatient for success, our friends in the media have drummed it into their heads that they are weak and useless, that there is no place for beautiful football in the game as we want it. Former Arsenal players in particular have been doing a brilliant job at confusing and annoying with their public utterances of our messages.
With the events of the last two weeks, particularly their losses to Sunderland and Chelsea, there is a danger that they will regroup and get reinforcements. It is not in our interest if they succeed in this and we must continue to run interference for the rest of the campaign if we are to achieve our goal of keeping them divided and bringing them down at the end of the season.
They have a very intelligent manager and intelligent players who have the desire to be champions. The players know that they aren’t there yet; that they have to iron out a few defensive issues and build up their mental strength and character.
Every competent observer we talk to convinces us that this team will only get better as the season goes on. Luckily they are getting their customary dip in form that every team has at this point. Our fear is that they will peak at just about the right time to grab all the honours and I can’t stress enough why we cannot let this happen.
They have a good number of bloggers who unwittingly do our job for us. You should seriously take the time to read the blogs of such negative anti-Arsenalists who call themselves fans and slate their own team left right and centre. Most fans around the world would trade an arm and a leg for their team to play the Arsenal brand of football, but some of these folks are so spoilt they don’t even realise the joy that their football team brings to true footballing fans around the world.
I’m confident that the media and pundits will continue with our strategic anti-Arsenal diatribe as the season goes on. Our hope is that their fans will follow this nonsense instead of getting right behind their team and becoming the 12th man if you will.
One of our worst nightmares is if the Arsenal crowd ever gets behind the team at their stadium in particular. A strong crowd that gives belief to this team up till the 96th minute of any game, in combination with a team this talented and this motivated will be explosive. You can see why we cannot let that happen.
Luckily for us, strategic interference has convinced the fans who attend match days that it’s not worth staying for the whole match. Their lack of belief in the team will hopefully start trickling down to the team itself and the players will realise that they have fake fans who are only interested when they bang 8 goals in without reply.
In conclusion, I must say that if we continue with our path, we will certainly be on our way to making the Arsenal the most lucrative proposition for an enticing hostile takeover. It is not in our interest to let all the ingredients of success come to fruition at this club despite the fact that success is nigh for them.
Our worst fear is that it’s only a matter of time before the team gets the benefits of constant defensive drilling and discipline, and that the supporters get behind their team and push them over the winning line.
We just have to make sure we divide and rule this club because the only obstacle to our intentions is that the team and the fans unite as one to unleash their magic on us.
…And by the way, I watched the whole game with the volume turned down to avoid the commentary or the pre and post match diatribe. It’s liberating, you should try it.
It’s The Bitter Morning After Pill For The Arsenal
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s mornings like this that many Arsenal fans have to decide how to swallow the bitter pill that results from losing your bragging rights. It’s not just the fact that we lost to the old enemy – it’s the ’how’ that makes it a very bitter pill.
It comes in 3 doses:
- 20 mg – for those philosophical supporters who conclude that it was really a bad day at the office but we’ll live
- 80 mg – for those supporters who can’t cope with the humiliation of facing family, friends and colleagues to explain yet again – why this also-rans team have fallen short
- 800 mg – special industrial strength dosage for the anally retentive fickle glory hunting plastic fan who only supports Arsenal when they’re winning and playing champagne football.
Let’s face it – Man United got their tactics spot on. Flood the Arsenal midfield, hunt down their playmakers like a pack of wolves, and hit them on the counter attack.
Other teams have tried this tactic with mixed results. The only difference is that aside from Arsenal, Man United are the only other team in the EPL that can hit you that devastatingly on a counter attack finished with clinical precision.
I guess once in a while, it’s normal that we will experience the pain of the counter attack treatment that we so often devastatingly unleash on unsuspecting teams.
The game was still up for grabs at the break, and it was inevitable that the team that scored the next goal would claim the bragging rights or have a chance of making it even. In truth, Arsenal only have themselves to blame for 2 aspects of the defeat.
Firstly, for gifting United 2 goals. Nani and Park should have never scored the goals they did.
Secondly, for not converting the chances we had. Unfortunately when playing quality teams, you more than likely rue any chances you don’t convert.
There’s not much we could have done about the Rooney goal. At first I was pissed off that when Rooney pinged the ball to Nani and started his 40 yard run towards our goal, we had 4 players goal side and he beat all those 4 players to the ball.
But it would be unfair for me as a lover of total football to take away the quality of the goal from Rooney and attribute that to our naive defending. As much as it pains me to say, Rooney’s goal was ecstatic. I can only imagine how it was for those that watched it in 3D.
Naturally, the mantra of ”Oh Arsenal’s pygmies can’t cope in the EPL anymore” is already being peddled. Frankly speaking, it’s absolute nonsense. The height of Arsenal’s players had little to do with yesterday’s defeat, and only those who are devoid of analytical acumen and want to collect a pay cheque as a band-wagon pundit will resort to that refrain.
Yesterday’s game was lost on tactics –until Walcott and Eboue came on, we never seemed like getting behind. Walcott didn’t even have to do anything magical. He just had to run at them and that would inevitably create panic. It was then that Arsenal started getting behind winning more corners.
I haven’t done the kamikaze thing and tried to drudge through the thousands of negative match reports and analysis about the game. I guess this is one week that the doom and gloom merchants and trolls get to enjoy as they crawl from under their rocks for some air time.
I also haven’t bothered trying to listen to any mainstream sports news just for the sake of managing my health and well-being. Self inflicted pain is not something that tickles my fancy.
In isolation, this can look like a very bad result – especially in the sequence of the ’fixtures of death’. I said before the game against Villa, that 9 out of 12 points in the 4 games was an excellent return.
2 games in, and Arsenal have 1 out of 6 points. There’s still the opportunity to make it 7 out of 12, which is still a bloody good return.
For that to happen though – Arsenal have to be clinical at finishing their chances. We had several clear cut chances yesterday, but it seemed like everyone left their shooting boots at home.
It’s not impossible to beat Chelsea and Liverpool, but in our high risk game, they’re the two teams that will convert any counter attacking chances against us. That’s why it’s important that we put our chances away.
The issue is not about the fact that we don’t have a striker to replace Van Persie. The Dutchman couldn’t have stopped Man United from scoring the goals that they did. ON the other hand, we needed different options to get around the wall of black – and we had the personnel to do it. We just didn’t do it well.
The title challenge is by no means over. All we lost yesterday was the opportunity to overhaul our immediate challengers. The end result is that we don’t get to control our own destiny with our closest rivals.
Our game now has to be focussed on the mathematical poker of ensuring that we win the games we need to win against lower league opposition. Losing against the other big teams doesn’t rule you out of the title race. It just batters your psychological advantage.
