Despite trailing from an early minute goal, the 3-1 victory against Aston Villa was one of the best games we played this season. Besides, if we are going to concede a goal, there is no better time than the opening minutes! The passing, movement was great. Henry, putting on his red and white, looked entirely a different player than the all blue France kit wasn’t he?! But of course, he has a better bunch of teammates playing around him too.
Much have been said about how Man Utd would be aiming to stop us reaching the 50 unbeaten run at Old Trafford. For Man Utd fans, it surely sound good isn’t it? But it seems nobody has mentioned so far - how nice WILL be a way for us to reach the 50 games landmark AT Old Trafford, that sound even more tasty for us the Gunners fans!
Ahead of a big match like that, inevitably some negative thought would emerge in our mind - like what if we lose at Old Trafford… Don’t worry though, it’s not going to happen. Bring on Man Utd, we WILL beat them.
14 Responses to “Bring on United”
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October 16th, 2004 at 12:39 pm
Yes it was a good performance by the Gunners against Villa. The goal by Hendrie was a very good one but Poll should have yellow-carded him for trying to get Reyes sent off. The international break did not break the stride of the Gunners as many forummers here feared.
Before the titanic game at OT next week, there is the ’small matter’ of Panathinaikos in the midweek CL game.
I hope Viera recovers in time for the OT game. Edu and Fabregas can hold the fort against Panathinaikos but I think the Gunners will need Viera against ManU. Plus there is the Viera-VanDiver feud from last season…..
October 16th, 2004 at 1:12 pm
I thought Famini looked good. Not really noticed him until today. How bad is Paddy’s injury?
October 16th, 2004 at 1:29 pm
Agree Miranda. That kid Femini reminds me a bit of… Ray Parlour! [First impressoin at least] If nothing else, this kid does look like a battler who’s very agressive.
October 16th, 2004 at 1:40 pm
A win at Old Trafford would be the sweetest thing to happen to this team since last season. I’m not holding my breath though. Manchester United has so much more to prove to the naysayers. I just feel that after a 49 game unbeaten run, the Manchester United game is just another game to the Arsenal players. For Manchester United it’s desperately needed bragging rights after their very poor start to the season. I’m still predicting a 2-1 win for Manchester United - but I desperately hope I’m wrong. I would proudly wear the egg on my face.
October 16th, 2004 at 3:02 pm
Ice Otter, man, no way the Arsenal players will treat the Man U game as just “one of the games”. In fact, I believe it will be the other way around - it’s our “biggest game” so far this season.
Looking back at our past fixtures this season, we haven’t played neither Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle etc those so called big club yet. So this is our first “real test”.
Besides, the annual Arsenal V Man U showdown has always been the more fiery contest, almost feel like a derby. So much so of the Liverpool/Everton Derby, Liverpool V Man U, North London Derby… but none of it could be compared with the Arsenal V Man U showdown. It’s all about passion, pride, character. And no team in the land apart could challenge Arsenal and Man U in terms of mental strength and character. Win or lose, the players will be up for it I’m sure.
October 16th, 2004 at 3:14 pm
Apparently Demento has already started to fume. His subject: the LAST Battle of Old Trafford - can you believe it? - how appalling we were etc., etc. By Saturday I expect people in white coats will have had to take him away. In any case I, personally, will ensure ManU are totally useless by the simple method of buying their players for my dream team. It’s extraordinary. Every week the same thing. On Friday I invested in no less than three Chelsea defenders! Oh, I could sing, though.
October 16th, 2004 at 5:09 pm
I agree that Flamini played well today. His passing and tackling were much much better than the earlier games when he came on as a sub. It was his pass to Henry who laid it on to Pires for Arsenal’s 3rd goal. Hopefully he continues to make progress as Edu seems to be dithering on a new contract - Wenger might need him to step up if Edu leaves in the Jan transfer window.
According to Sky Sports, PV4 is limping badly and has a sprained ankle. It does not look like he will make the trip to Panathinaikos athough Wenger said that he will monitor his condition on a daily basis and play him only if he is medically cleared. IMO, I don’t think the Gunners will need him for Panathinaikos but he will make a difference in the OT game next Sunday.
October 16th, 2004 at 7:08 pm
I can’t really argue much with that comparison, as until this match his under 10 minute match sessions definitely fit the ‘chicken with its head cut off’ mode.
Now that he’s got a real taste of the action, I’m sure he’ll be pressing even harder whenever he gets the chance..
October 16th, 2004 at 7:11 pm
I still want payback for that FA Cup defeat last season, it looms large in my mind that not counting the Charity Shield we haven’t beaten them in over a year.
I hope all the action the players have had and now will have this coming week won’t tire them out too much though, Ashley looked fatigued all match and we couldn’t have Clichey come in for him..
October 16th, 2004 at 7:47 pm
First off… I watched much of the Birmingham v. ManU match. They will need to improve ALOT to contend with the Arsenal. Simply put, they are not very good right now. We are 11 points clear of them, and a win next week would make it 14! Thats amazing. They had ALL 4 strikers on the pitch at the same time today… (RVN, Rooney, Saha and Smith)… what the hell are they thinking?
They were outplayed by Birmingham in the 2nd half. Again, they better be alot better, or we will take them to the wood shed on Sunday.
2nd… what can you possibly say about us? We were excellent… dominant… and at times we played Villa off the pitch. Don’t see what you can complain about… but hey, thats just me…Mr.Positive going on about a team thats undefeated in 49 straight.
then… there is the amazing Chelsea…
again… playing there fantastic defense… they are so good…. we really better watch out?!
GET REAL! They lost to freaking MAN CITY! They are now 5 points adrift of the Arsenal juggernaut…
Chelsea … yeah whatever…
Bring on whomever you wish at this point… Chelsea, United, whomever you want to pencil in… they are all pretenders to the throne.
October 17th, 2004 at 5:05 am
Stag, I remember before the season started, I said Spurs would be the same old Spurs, you mentioned never underestimated our opponents, I felt it was a fair point back then.
So come on, don’t get carry away now. Chelsea and Man U are down, but they are not out yet. The bottom line is - they got QUALITY in their team, and sooner or later they would click. So we have to take as much as we could with our current momentum, so that even when they finally starting to bounce back, we would be too far ahead for them to catch.
Sunday’s game I’m very confidenced we will win. But it would be a hard fight as it always did between us and Man U. Against teams like Man U, you can throw the form book out of window, it’s like a derby. Man U would be up a few gear, their players are too proud to just lay down and die without a fight.
October 17th, 2004 at 1:34 pm
Andez… fair points…
If we beat United, we will be up 14 points.
I simply do not see us losing that many points, considering we have not lost a match in ?????
They would need ALOT of things to happen.
My response to Chelsea, quite simply… is because I see on THIS FORUM, so much non-sense about how wonderful they are… that they play great defense, and that wins championships… it all utter BULL-SH**!!
As I stated before, lets see how they react to being behind. They got behind EARLY against ManCity and did NOT score. That style is fine if you score first… but at some point, you will be behind and have to play offensive football. Tell me when they have done that a few matches in a row. They are OVER-RATED… they’ve never won a damned thing… and until they do… they’ve got alot to prove.
October 17th, 2004 at 4:20 pm
You are right on a point - it’s a test for them to see how they would react after a defeat. So far, IMO I think they have adapted a safty first, efficiency approach which have been successful in some aspect. ‘Cos consider this: we are absoultely FLYING at the start of this campaign, a few season ago, we would have pulled away the rest of the chasing pack. Yet until yesterday, we were only 2 points ahead of Chelsea… so they must have done something right.
Nevertheless, as u said, how they react after a defeat would be a real test for them, to see if they really get what it takes to challenge the Premiership. Of course, I hope they would flop!
October 17th, 2004 at 7:28 pm
All they have accomplished is to stay close to us?!
Yes, the are in striking distance… but this is a team that has never won anything. Their style of play simply doesn’t impress me… they are not impressive… the defense at all costs style of play is for teams that lack the talent to compete against better teams. (Greece, Porto)