Nov 24
I must admit that I haven’t followed PSV closely this season. But I’ve just read this article and I’m a bit concerned.
In 13 games in Holland PSV are 11-2-0 and have given up just five goals. They’ve had a remarkable 10 straight clean sheets - the last goal they gave up was in August.
In the Champs League they lead our group, having only given up two goals (including the own goal against us).
They’ve got talent, a good coach, will be playing at home and are in control of the group. This will be a difficult match.
33 Responses to “PSV v. Arsenal”
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November 24th, 2004 at 7:12 am
I forgot it’s who here once said - our biggest enemy is ourselves. I can’t agree more.
I wouldn’t worry abt PSV, however their form have been in the Dutch league. No disrespect, but frankly the Dutch league cannot compare with the Premiership.
Despite with all the injury problem, we still have way too much talent and quality than PSV can handle. It really depends on how ambitous we are, if we are talking about just to settle to be a good team which play entertaining football, then even an early exit from the CL wouldn’t be a disaster. But if we are talking about to be a GREAT side like many had talking about during our unbeaten run, we gotta beat the likes PSV. We should be able to win this one, it depends on how hungry our players wanting to win. If the lads play their heart out, only lady luck could stop us.
November 24th, 2004 at 7:25 am
right on, Andez
November 24th, 2004 at 7:42 am
Don?t kid yourself Andez, PSV may not be one of the best teams on the European stage but they are a bloody good side who could whip our buts especially the way we have been playing of late.
As for the Dutch league not being as good as the Premiership that is also not true. The Dutch league has produced some cracking teams over the years with a number of them winning European trophies and when they produce a good side like the Ajax team of the 70?s and early 90?s were, they are really good.
This will be a really hard game to win tonight and we will have to be at our best with the big names performing to the best of their ability. Saying that we are more than capable of winning this game and getting our house back in order before the next stages in February.
November 24th, 2004 at 7:44 am
One thing for sure we will win tonight. No two ways about it, Arsenal to win by 2 clear goals.
Any bets.
Be positive and have faith in the guys. Yes we are going through some bad times and this will prove if Arsenal are good team or a one season team.
Who to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Gunnner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 24th, 2004 at 8:15 am
The Dutch league is not even CLOSE to the Premiership… its not even among the top 3 or 4 leagues in Europe… Italy, Spain, Germany, England… We are not talking about Alax in the early 90’s… right now… the Dutch league is not close to the EPL.
Can’t really see ANYONE whipping our ass… haven’t seen that occur in a looooooooooooooooooong time…. not gonna be PSV either.
November 24th, 2004 at 8:15 am
Love G?
Did you write this…. or was it really ME??!?
November 24th, 2004 at 8:53 am
Rain or shine and as always I will support My Arsenal. Whether in Non league or Div 2 I will give them my full support but at the same time if they mess up or come up short I will demand some changes.
I’m a fan football who loves Arsenal and the beautiful game and if one does something right I will say it. Not to forget I’ll have to say congrats to SAF on his 1000th game despite the competition between the 2 clubs. Without competition football will be more boring than F1.
November 24th, 2004 at 9:25 am
Teabag, i understand there were some good side produced by Dutch League. Ajax of 70s, the PSV side fixtured Romairo of 80s or 90s, and the Kluvert, Davids, Kanu, Overmars generation of the Ajax of mid 90s…. But i were talking about TODAY.
Ever after the Bosman Ruling, clubs at Holland just simply have no power to hold on to their players. The Kluvert generation could have gone on and achieved great things, but they broke apart in a lightening speed ever after their Champions League winning season. And since then, Ajax even went against their tradition [by plucking in their youth rank graduates into first team] and had to go out and buy the star players in their twlight years, players such as Michael Laudrup when he was over 30.
Of course now Ajax stressed the need to rely on their young talent once again, but look at the amount of talent the Dutch league has lost in recent years? Robben, van Persie.. those players left the Dutch league in an early age. And they are among the top talent in Holland. When a league keep losing their top talent, in compare to a league keep drawing top talent [EPL], i think it’s fair to say the latter is a much better league quality wise.
November 24th, 2004 at 10:17 am
PSV are due! Nobody can keep clean sheets forever! We will score today, hopefully the lads at the back will be up for it as I think that is the bigger question mark. They have extra incentive with Philip Cocu calling them out. Besides Arsenal teams always play well when their backs are up against the wall.
November 24th, 2004 at 12:08 pm
I’ve always said, Arsenal vs. Arsenal. Its a blessing…and a curse.
Since we’ve all seen Bizarro Arsenal in the past, the upside down logic would have AFC finding their best form against their best opponents, away from home, at the most crucial time. With Sol back, we should be bleeding from the eyes to punish the Dutch leaders.
Here’s hoping the Red Monster makes an appearance. We’re still the greatest team anyone has ever seen in the Premiership, and Cocu is going to have to back up his big mouth and stop us. Tough in their current home form for sure, but isn’t this just the place where we like to make some noise?
A quick goal to remember how great we are, and PSV will be chugging for naught. Two first-half goals and one well executed set-piece by our opponents too little too late…2-1 to the Arsenal.
November 24th, 2004 at 12:20 pm
Sorry, L_G, noble gesture of congratulations, but one of the reasons I was “chosen” by The Arsenal was because I can’t stomach the Mancs and anything of the thuggish, Mancish disposition (outside of, maybe, Busby and Geordie Best). SAF, as amazing as he’s been for the game, won’t get a nod from my table.
If its all the same, I would like to tip my glass to Scotland. Nice old place, friendly folks. Cheers!
;^)
November 24th, 2004 at 12:22 pm
Yeah, love the bit of write-off Cocu’s been dealing. Love it. Don’t know how the lads will respond, but if it were me, my mind would be exploding with ways to beat them.
November 24th, 2004 at 12:29 pm
Take away the few top Premiership teams, I doubt it’s much better than the Dutch. Just look how well their players do in England, with their extraordinary level of technical skill. It may be poorer, but does that make it worse?
November 24th, 2004 at 12:36 pm
Hey Gooners, get on over to:
http://www.arseblog.com/columnists/safety-24-11-04.php
Smart fella.
November 24th, 2004 at 12:41 pm
love_Gunners
Not sure why u would want to congratulate a man for producing thuggish teams.
November 24th, 2004 at 1:17 pm
I don’t know what you mean by thuggish team. I start watching football from the 70’s and don’t see anything thuggish here. Maybe we have to look back at some of the good games between the good sides in the 80’s and early 90’s.
They had a game plan and it worked. As Wenger and most ex players said whether Gunners or not hate him or not, you can’t take or denial what Alex had achieved in football.
If you can’t stand competition we might as well watch F1. Not here to defend SAF or support the mancs but you can’t denial what the man had done.
Let get over it and as I said to Stag, I love the beautiful game and not blind by Arsenal.
November 24th, 2004 at 1:19 pm
The English league, top to bottom, would wipe the floor with the Dutch league.
There are players from all over the world in England… players in all leagues want to play in the EPL because of the skill level … competitiveness… etc.
There aren’t many top players who have the goal of playing in the Dutch league… there aren’t ANY actually.
It is routinely figured that the top leagues in the world are EPL, Germany, Italy, Spain… NEVER have I heard the Dutch league mentioned in the same sentence.
This doesn’t mean that they can’t have a few good teams… or excellent teams… it means that overall the competition you play against is FAR SUPRERIOR in the Premiership!
November 24th, 2004 at 1:28 pm
So what will you do if Liverpool or Palace were in United shoes? Hate them as well. Is all about good competition. I remember not long ago teams like the Crazy Dons, Chelsea and QPR in the old Div 1. It was all about men willing to win with no divers and cheats. Most footballers of today are girlie men which is killing the game.
From what I’m reading you don’t like them cause of the competition.
November 24th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
Actually, L_G, I love the competition. Chelsea may be succeeding by the deep pockets of a billionaire, which in my book is basically cheating, but I can’t say a bad thing about anybody on that pitch or on the sidelines. Thye play hard, and get results. It chafes, but I can deal. In fact, if you look at the table, we’ve got enough on our plate with Everton and ‘Boro before we even get down to the leg-scraping Devils. Not even rating them at the moment, even thought they’re having a good spell.
Just don’t know how a managerof such repute can look at the footage of Nistleroy nearly ending Ashely Cole’s career and complain about soup. Wenger goes on the record about how wonderful he thinks that minotaur Rooney is, and Ferguson, with his back to the wall over poor results, concentrates on pizza as usual. I accept that you have seen him better, but the measure of this man at the moment is dung.
To credit him for his successes with what is really a decent team with a lot of home- ground luck and a few very good players, is fair enough. And yes, the EPL is good for the drama, rivalries, etc. But the game is also about character. His sucks.
Personally, I watch amazing football from all over the world every single day. To see our Gunners take the pitch with any of those teams and play football would be a pleasure regardless of the outcome. But to sacrifice our lads to the likes of the ugliness that ManU is putting on the pitch against us as they struggle to find “it” again is reproachable. Sir Alex will just have to look elsewhere for his praise.
ManU. Never. No.
November 24th, 2004 at 4:16 pm
I am following the match on soccernet
live commentary (the only way i can do so in college)
pana in front again and arsenal 1-1 with lauren gone i cant stand the tension..its always comes to this…hope this ends well 3-1 to the arsenal please!!!coz i am seriously endangering my end semester exams by doing this!!
November 24th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
well never ever thght i would have to c arsenal defend the way they had to for almost the whole of 2nd half..atleast thanks to good luck its still in our hands but i would really not like to c us have to defend like tht ever again.
p.s- could someone who reads this and saw the match plz tell me wether the 2 red cards were deserved?
November 24th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
9 man Arsenal hold on… 1-1 draw
Pana drew 2-2 at Rosenborg…
(I kinda said that game would be tight!)
and… we have more injuries and suspensions
to deal with now!
But… reality is… its all in our hands…
HOME v. Rosenborg… with Arsenal America in attendence…. for all the marbles!!!
or…. to advance to the Knock-Out stages in the CL!
We fought thru a hard match… and with 9 men, held on for a result that means alot. We control our own destiny v. the weakest team in the group at home. NO EXCUSES NOW!
November 24th, 2004 at 5:28 pm
Stag133
Arsenal should finish second in the group behind PSV but does this mean that the Gunners will not be a seeded team in the second round?
November 24th, 2004 at 5:32 pm
OK let me spell it out for you:
SAF=Keano=Van Horseface=Neville Sisters=Wacko Smith=Ginger Scholes=Fatty Rooney=dirty=cheats=thugs
nuff said.
November 24th, 2004 at 5:50 pm
Lauren’s second card probably was deserved. His first, I assume, was for dissent - for protesting that Reyes was being kicked off off the park but without the PSV players ever being carded. They should have been, van B especially, for continuous fouling. It was reckless of Lauren not to have to been more careful after the first card. Paddy’s cards were both ridiculous - ridiculous in both senses - i.e. not really deserved, in my view, but, hell, he shouldn’t have taken pointless risks, given the obvious bias of the ref.
Lauren has just said that the first card was for dissent and very harsh in his view.
A moral victory for us, though.
As to the general situation . . . Henry with a niggling Achilles; Flamini and Sol not propely fit; Pires with a kidney infection, still; Cesc getting tired; Edu and Gilberto out for the long term; Paddy and Lauren suspended; and van P’s injury looked pretty bad. Perhaps we can play the kids in the CL.
November 24th, 2004 at 8:07 pm
If we beat Rosenborg, fingers and toes crossed!… then we will be placed against at Group Winner. (8 Group Winners v 8 Group Runners-Up)
Firstly, we DO have to win against Rosenborg… with the injuries piling up…. and Red-Cards to Vieira and Lauren!!! But, WE SHOULD WIN. Rosenborg have no chance of continuing in Europe.
I am not sure if its a blind draw? or it they do it by seeding? But who cares…? I don’t really want to play ??? AC Milan right now… But who else should you fear??? The potential opponents… should we make it that far… are:
Olympiakos or Monaco / Gr.A (fine by me!)
Kiev - Leverkusen - Real Madrid / Gr.B (all 3 have a chance to win the Group still…. and again, fine by me… I’d take my chances against any of them, INCLUDING Real Madrid)
Juventus / Group C winner… Ok… would NOT want them for the next round. Currently they are the class of Italy.
Man U or Lyon / Gr.D (I’d prefer not to play United right now… but not afraid to take them on in a home in home, that would be VERY interesting)
AC Milan or Barca / Group F (most likely AC Milan will win this group… do NOT want them right now… thats for sure…)
Inter or WerderBremen / Group G (not afraid of either team… Inter is 2 wins 10 draws 0 defeats in Italy… thats strange!)
Chelsea / Group H Winner (ummm… personally… I would like to play Chelsea… We can send them packing early from the Champ’s League… and destroy them mentally… payback for last year… and if we are going to get to that next gear… I believe they would bring it out of us…. my hope… of we get there…. BRING ON CHELSEA)
November 24th, 2004 at 8:14 pm
Love G…
I am sorta with you on this one…
SAF has done a tremendous job with United… his record is definitely to be commended and respected. He realizes what he has to do in certain situations… to give his team a chance to win… and gets his team to play that style. He can’t compete with us in a wide open, offensive display of football… so he plays v Arsenal in a more defensive BRITISH… TOUGH… hard tackling… borderline thuggish style of play. IT IS EFFECTIVE against us… thats fact.
I don’t have a problem with some of their players. I would love to have Alan Smith on my team… and if United want to let Giggs go… I’d take him on my team too… say whatever you wish… hate Manchester United… and SAF for the mind games… some of the nonsense… but they are successful… he is successful… and you have to respect the period of time they have maintained being at or near the top.
November 25th, 2004 at 5:25 am
Thank You Stag,
I don’t know what Josereyes talking about with the name calling. As my old man said some fans are short sighted when it comes to who they like.
Remember all the names some people used to called Sol cause he plays for the Totts. Now Sol is their best mate. Yorke was booed by some fans on sunday why cause in on to other club and before then he was their everything.
If some of these United guys were to play for Arsenal tomorrow I guess the name calling will stop. There is a clear difference between given players some stick than hating them . I will say don’t hate educate.
November 25th, 2004 at 9:48 am
Don’t have much of a problem with most of the me on the pitch in red and black…but one’s true character reveals itself when the chips are down. Hey, go ahead and tough tackle and be as British as you’d like, just don’t commend your players for trying to end careers. At the end of the day it is about the men we are off the pitch, and ManU, under the tutelage of one Sir Alex, have chosen time and again to wager their respect.
Enough on that. Good fun. And a grand old salute to our lads who came back from another set-piece nightmare to level and hold on. Its STILL in our hands.
And not a leg scrape in the house.
November 25th, 2004 at 2:35 pm
Unless the rules have changed from last season (and i don’t think they have)- if we go through - we cannot be drawn with a fellow EPL team.
Therefore the way it looks right now (arsenal to finish 2nd and manure n chelsh** to finish tops) we will face one of the remaining 5 winners: inter/bremen, milan, kiev, juve, olympiacos/monaco.
ie- not all of these are confirmed as group winners but look likely to finish top. I’d personally like to play monaco.. we can feel at home in both legs and le prof knows the french ways inside out but not to say they’ll be pushovers.
Anyway, lets hope we beat rosenborg
November 25th, 2004 at 2:41 pm
oh and a few more rays of light:
1) Rosenborgs last place is confirmed so hopefully they’ll play a weakened side or one that won’t fight tooo hard.
2) our head to head against panathanaikos is better so if the PSV (probably reserve) side can hold the greeks to a draw, we’re through no matter what.
3) a draw isn’t going to help us in this game so hopefully we can take the lead and the players will be motivated to make it safe
Bring em on
November 25th, 2004 at 3:47 pm
We played Chelsea last year… in a knockout phase… quarter-finals…?
I’d like to stay away from Milan & Juve…. anyone else I think I’d feel very confident against.
November 25th, 2004 at 5:25 pm
Rosenborg will fight for pride, I expect, but they’re not, mentally or physically, in the best shape as their season ended a month ago.