Yes it is very early and yes we haven?t exactly played the cream of the Premiership crop, but we?ve gotten off to a good start, which is more than the contenders, er, I mean, pretenders Liverpool and Newcastle have done.
Two clean sheets is encouraging, whatever the opposition. I?m sure Kolo Toure and Jens Lehmann are feeling more comfortable with every game. I certainly mean no disrespect to Seaman, who was a hero for us more times than he was a goat, but right now I?m certainly not missing him.
The other encouraging sign was the way in which we finished off the Aston Villa game. Yes, the Henry goal was terrific (especially with him on my fantasy team) but even if he didn?t score, the fact that we were still pressuring them was what was important. Arsene Wenger is no fool, he understood what happened last year and I?m sure he talked with the players about finishing the job this time around.
We?ve got a host of big games coming up in about a month so getting maximum points now is crucial and we’re off to the right start. As are Man United. We’ve got them by +1 in goal differential and it’s interesting to look at who we’ve played so far.
Our three opponents - Everton, ‘Boro and Villa - have a combined six points from nine games. Man United have played Bolton, Newcastle and Wolves who have amassed a whopping two points from eight games. So clearly neither team has been tested.
Chelsea of course remain the wild card but my bet would be Arsenal and Man U at the end.
6 Responses to “It’s Early, But I Like What I See”
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August 27th, 2003 at 9:20 pm
It’s been an encouraging start yet, as you point out, we’ve yet to be tested by strong opposition.
That will change this weekend. I believe Man City will be a worthy adversary, for three reasons:
1) simply put, they’ve been getting results (7 pts from 3 matches);
2) this is Seaman’s first match against us, and you just KNOW he’ll be playing his heart out, as he did so many times for us;
3) Man City will want to avenge the complete destruction we inflicted on them the last time we played them.
I think it will be a hell of a match, and that it will provide a better indication of things to come than our matches so far this season.
Dan =^)
August 28th, 2003 at 12:10 am
ECSTATIC with the 3 wins!!!!!!
this was the type of game you have to win…
closer than we like… but still a “W”…
Villa play a defensive style…
now…. on the other hand… our next opponent,
Man City… if they open up the game… it plays into our hands…. we counter beautifully!
I think it will be an easier game in that sense…
They will be going for a win… we will smash them on the counter attack…!!!
ROLL ON YOU REDS!!!!!!!!
August 28th, 2003 at 12:52 am
I have every hope in the world that the Man City game will be stunning. City…well Hell, they’ve already hit the top of the table if only ever for a day…but they already had their true test last season, which was surviving and staying in the Premiership. Now they have a goal to win and win huge. DAMN I hate that I have to wait til Wednesday to watch it…
Oh yeah, gotta get the Week 3 YOU SU…er, UIC Award in before then. WHOOO!
— Geoff
August 28th, 2003 at 10:03 am
I have butterflies.
Maybe it’s because I went to Notre Dame. I know what a team that is so head and shoulders above other teams should do (i.e. kick the snot out of everyone) but then I know what Notre Dame does (plays to the caliber of its opponents, up and down). I always get nervous watching Arsenal with that same sense of dread. We can beat ManU but lose to Blackburn.
Maybe after a few more clobbering of some smaller clubs, I’ll start to feel better.
August 28th, 2003 at 2:14 pm
If Sol has to be out, my mind is more at peace with a Toure`/Keown partnersip than a Cygan/Keown partnership. Also, I am very encouraged by Wenger saying that we have to defend better as a team and will be asking attackers to help out.
Man Yoo play great team defense, they defend from your own box and pressure the back 4 into making long kicks instead of getting that first pass to the link up man.
With Wiltord partnering with Henry I see us with more of a potent attack. Pires seems to be the catalyst which was the Bergkamp role last year. Henry does it at times depending on the situation. I couldn’t really call Bergkamp an attacker last year, he did more passing than attacking but with Pires, Wiltord , Henry and Ljundberg we have 4 people who attack and so far Vieira and Silva have picked their spots to make runs in the middle which adds to our atack.
Pires, Wiltord and Henry played so beautifully together in the Confed. Cup this summer and I see them continuing it in Arsneal kits.
Lastly, we are playing 90 minutes which we will have to do. I’ve never feared a 2 goal lead until last year. We are slowly developing a killer instinct and killing off clubs early if we can and adding to it later on.
August 28th, 2003 at 6:42 pm
I hope deja vu strikes on Sunday and we get 4 goals in the first 20 minutes like we did last season up there. Looking at the way City defended at set-pieces at Blackburn, I think that is more than likely. I better take my calculator with me on Sunday just in case I lose count of how many goals we score:)lol