Sunday’s Chelsea match is a CRUCIAL match for us, make no mistake of it. Surely, it’s still early. Surely, we had come back from a 12-point deficit and beat United to the title at 98. Man Utd had recoverd from an 11-point deficit to beat Newcastle a couple years early as well. But this season is different…
I never rated Chelsea as a team, be it under Vialli or Ranieri. They were always a SPENDING team, and they spent BIG. Nevertheless, even with all their big name stars, I always believed they would crack and the bubble would brust at some stages, and they DID.
So what makes this season an exception? The answer, in my opinion, is Mourinho. It’s true he’s arrogrant. In fact, his HUGE ego makes Sir Alex, and Wenger look like a pair of humble gentlemen. But this man is not a fool, and he clearly knows what he’s doing.
He may talk big, unfortunately [to us], his team or his team’s playing style does not mirror his arrograncy. Had they played like a bunch of cavaliers on the pitch and thought they could just walk over their opponents by showing up then I would be very sure they would go on and drop some silly points here and there down the road.
Unfortunately, they did not play that way. Instead, they go exactly the other way around, btories lately.
So imagine if we lose on Suonday and fallen 8 points behind, there would be a mountain to climb for our title chase this season. ‘Cos let’s be frank, the way things going, which is the side looks more likely to drop points down the road between Chelsea and Arsenal? My heart say Chelsea, but I know I’m only fooling myself.
And then again, let’s don’t forget the seemingly unlimited fund in their bank, they could fix any of their problems by simply flashing their cash during the January transfer window… and I haven’t even mentioned the existing depth of their squad… It’s almost an unfair game.
When you consider at the previous seasons, had we only suffered one defeat into December, we would have probably ran away leading the league on the top of the table, but now we are chasing Chelsea 5 points? That tells us how strong they are this season.
Make no mistake, I would love to see us beating them, and to show Mr. Mourinho who’s still the boss in the Premiership. To beat them and win the Premiership this season I would consider it as one of our biggest Premiership victories ever.
29 Responses to “It’s a MUST-WIN game Vs Chelsea”
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December 10th, 2004 at 1:13 pm
I don’t for once believe and think this game is a must win game. We are still in December please and just another 3 points whoever wins it. Every game is a must win if you are going to win the title. Chelsea can beat us 10 nil and will still win fcuk all.
This game is all about pride. In my house and on the street is all about respect and who run things in
London and nothing else.
December 10th, 2004 at 2:01 pm
I feel your pain, Andez. Unfortunately, leveling the playing field through something like salary caps is a complicated mess in Europe, and unlikely to ever happen with any real success. So teams had just better figure out how to do what Wenger is trying to do with the youth system or the entire league might just have to be owned by tycoons before long in order to keep pace.
Sunday’s game is an important one…not just for The Arsenal, but for football. We need to show the world that trophies aren’t for sale. And anyone who beats them scores a point for a future where a league’s top three or four isn’t decided before the season even begins. It could eventually kill the league if people stop going to matches because its too expensive to pay for a product that is too predictable.
I exchanged a few emails recently with Steven Cohen mentioning the issue and it is clear that Chelsea supporter’s feel no responsibility to the game in this matter. If it were The Arsenal with access to a blank check whenever they wanted one, I put it to others here: how would you feel?
Sunday’s game is by no means a deal breaker on retaining the title, but the tradition of the greatest EPL teams going through their rough spots because of fixture congestion, lack of competition within the ranks, and the loss of form from one or two marquis players in the course of the season simply doesn’t apply to Chelsea. Mourinho knows exactly how to use Roman’s money, and he’s unlikely to have BOTH of his teams, and all their mixing and matching, take a s*it at once.
The Arsenal, and other clubs that we’ll have to hope trip them up if we lose Sunday, will just have to take this challenge and become even better than it was ever thought possible. Adapt. It can, and HAS, to be done.
December 10th, 2004 at 2:09 pm
Andez… its a Big game… nothing more, nothing less. The season doesn’t ride on it… win lose or draw. If it were March 12th (not Dec.12th) perhaps I’d agree… to say that 8 points can’t be made up in 5 months is INSANE.
First, we play them again later on…
Second, all teams go thru injuries & drops in form…
Don’t worry too much about the outcome of this game in December, as its not going to decide a damned thing. It would be nice to win… but it doesn’t end anything either way.
ENJOY the GAME…
December 10th, 2004 at 3:28 pm
Scott, I read a wonderful article from the net a while ago, it mentioned not even the Chelsea would feel honoured and proud should they really go on and win the league. Some hard-core Chelsea fans may deny it, but the FACT is they are trying to BUY the title. When u buy a title, I’m not sure how much joy that is.
December 10th, 2004 at 3:39 pm
No matter what, I think trailing them 2 points is better than 8!
December 10th, 2004 at 3:47 pm
I also just read something where, no matter what happens on Sunday, win or lose, The Arsenal will still have its history…a history of wealth and success gained through hard work, etc.
In a moment of drug-addled delerium one might even feel sorry for the true Chelsa fan. If and when they win something, it will forever be tainted unless they want to walk around London with their hands over their eyes and cotton in their ears. But then again, tainted glory may just be better than 49 years of nada.
Like I said earlier, I emailed Cohen from Fox Football Friday when he shaved his head and said that Mourinho would probably be able to get him a toupee squeezed into his next signing. He replied, “So that he can place the Premiership trophy atop my head.” To which I replied, “Just make sure he cuts the price tag off of it first.” He’s not a bad chap, just having fun like the rest of us, but it is clear that they are in a position where they HAVE to win it. So every result will still see them jumping for joy (relief?).
But in the back of their mind…they”ll know.
December 10th, 2004 at 3:56 pm
Amen to that.
Just thought of something else…there is still a way that the league can combat the kind of transfer market destruction caused by teams like the Chavskis without salary caps and such…
…quality players across Europe can always refuse to join them. And while the trends suggest that loyalty plays a diminishing role to money in football, and the world for that matter, there is still a matter of integrity and honored tradition that can be instilled in the promising youth of tomorrow.
Who better to do that than The Arsenal…by playing with heart and class. I don’t give a furry rat’s patoot what happens Sunday as long as we show up, play hard, and make the crest proud.
December 10th, 2004 at 5:42 pm
Its a MUST-NOT-LOSE game. We can go into the new year 5 points behind and make it up. The end of the year we play them again, that may well be the title decider.
December 10th, 2004 at 5:48 pm
you know what scotty?! I just read the same article few minutes ago! A brilliant article, and i can’t agree with the author more!
December 10th, 2004 at 5:50 pm
Sorry, i can’t help but want to cut and paste it here:
The truth? You can’t handle the truth!: The truth about Arsenal, Chelsea and Football
“I know I’m fat but I’m happy”.
Which gives you the indication that people who are overweight are generally happy. So I think by that reasoning we should all eat a lot of food, do little exercise and let the good vibes in.
True?
I’ve always found overweight people as jolly though. They’re always up for a laugh and they always seek out happiness for themselves. Of course there is a reason for that.
I think I’m talking too much about overweight people now, so why not the poor. I mean, anyone who could be deemed ?unfortunate? or a concept people try to steer clear of.
Hey I bet a lot of people can relate to a lack of money, so are they happier? You have less so you have more? Does that make sense?
The measure amidst this is - the product, the material wealth, your money. Is more money capable of making you happy?
I would say momentarily. It gives you good vibes in little doses but it doesn’t change who you are. It doesn’t move you from the person you truly are.
So someone who is poor will want to be happy, no matter what. Maybe a lack of money won’t be an issue then - so if you have less you’ll find any way, without money, to be happy. It’s inate in humans to be happy.
So whoever you are, thin, fat, poor, hungry, trapped in a cage - you will try and be happy. It’s a form of nessecity, and this type of thinking, being happy with who you are rather than what you have, only comes about when you’ve had a long period of misfortune, struggle, difficulty that has led you to come about with a better, insightful understanding about yourself.
So no matter where you are - you could be happy.
It’s about you.
So lately I was reading the stuff about Chelsea, losing a game recently in Europe - hey it was the managers ex-team that he won, yes he won - can’t emphasise this enough; the Champions League with. Now his ex-team just beat his best players, bought with oodles of money indicating the greatest team “supposedly”, because they’re expensive, the world has today.
That’s what Roman wants amidst this; the greatest team with his money.
Is it really that simple? The more money you spend the better team you have?
No.
Life is not that simple.
So how would Mourinho return from this? His constant “I like to win, I don’t care who it is, but I like to win, and without winning I don’t know the other word because it is not winning because I always win but I sometimes do not win against Manchester City - so I go now and win”… etc etc
Does this settle well with a man who goes on and on about winning and eventually he loses against a team, he once managed, with his greatest players? I can’t see this settling well with Mourinho. This doesn’t settle well with Chelsea either who are basically a fabrication of a football team now in the world of football.
It’s such a joke it’s laughable and if any Chelsea fan is reading this I must point out, the club has become a total joke. I also know, you know, all too well it has become a joke. To think it is anything else is a lie.
Yes I admire players like Robben and Lampard but that doesn’t stop your club from becoming this tainted display of disgusting use of wealth in the beautiful game. If you run a club, you run it as well as you can with practices that will lead you to a better level.
In fact I also admire the way Chelsea scores goals as well.
That doesn?t change things though, they?re still tainted now.
If your sole aim becomes throwing lots of money at the club in the vain hope you can say “look, I spent billions of pounds and I won the Champions League?”
Where is the football in that?
Where is the historic impetus to win with purity and guts and determination gone?
?I know, I?ll spend loads of money ? money that could be given to charities and good causes and needs ? and get a feeling of success simply because ?
I?m rich?????
It’s simple. These people have no idea what football is about. In fact these people at Chelsea have no idea what they?re stuck in. Their whole financial tragedy is being saved daily not by their supporters or ticket prices but by a Russian Billionaire. A case of ?daddy?s gonna pay for your crashed car.
That is not a football club and any fan, any individual trying to make out it is in any way is just fooling themselves. Hiding from the truth they?re a big joke in the world of football.
An overdone Hollywood plastic fantastic cosmetic surgery tragedy.
The spoils of wealth, spoiling deeper.
Do the Chelsea players understand what is occurring at Chelsea?
I don’t think the Chelsea players care about what is occurring at the club as long as they get their wages and Roman Abromavich gives them a nice salary. I remember reading about John Terry and co. being in a betting shop throwing away thousands of pounds on horses.
Point being?
It’s just all a mess.
I read a really boring article yesterday about how Arsenal’s club was tainted (a response to our fans singing “Chelsea ain’t got no history”) because of Norris in the early 20thC. I’m not going to be bothered with commenting on how flawed his propoganda history was - the point was Chelsea still don’t have any history and getting a history bought for them by a Russians Billions is still no history. In fact the writer just posted something, an attack, unfounded, inaccurate, highly selective reasoning and the fact remained - “Chelsea aint got no history!!”
At Chelsea it’s polar to all football clubs in the world.
It is a huge mess.
You’re just making the mess bigger.
The Chelsea boardroom for the past 10 years has been, subconciously “we’re crap, let’s make matters even more worse, so we’re even worse now, let’s sell ourselves and get in an even worse position”
Sorry, that’s not how things are done in the history of football Chelsea and if you are football fans, Chelsea, you’ll understand winning something, doing doubles, going unbeaten and really attaining something as a club, has more to do with the strengths the club has in terms of spirit and determination and developing as a unit at the club.
Take a look at Arsenal.
A club who attained a great dealing with a concentrative effort to work hard.
…for a better comparison Chelsea look at United and look what their club, their supporters, their ex-players are saying about the takeover that Malcolm Glazer was bringing in? Chelsea were in debt and openly let a Russian Billionaire come in and take total control of the place. What does this say about the future of the club?
I don’t think it looks very good. He won’t be paying Chelsea’s bills forever. If he does then, the Universe should collapse on itself.
No man will balance the books of an investment out of his own pocket. Use the money he gains from elsewhere to finance his toy so he can, artificially win trophies that he didn’t really win. That he didn’t have a stake in.
Someone should tell Chelsea, that is not football.
There is a spirit amongst football and the collective conciousness of the world that can’t be measured in terms of monetary value. It’s got more to do with the passion on the pitch and most importantly is echoed in great clubs.
Alex Ferguson said to Dwight Yorke “don’t forget who you’re playing for”; can someone say that about Chelsea now?
They don’t have a history. The history of Chelsea speaks like the plotlines of a bruised and battered gambler who tries hard to gain his riches over and over again, only to fall over and crumble and have an immoral unethical and devious past to show for it. It doesn’t work that way.
Eventually a salary cap will be introduced and the wage structure for players will decrease. The price for players will drop and Chelsea will become like any other club, but maybe worse.
So lately I caught their players giving little soundbites and pokes and jabs at Arsenal that they will beat Arsenal and expect the worst from them. So what? Even if we lose, we’re still Arsenal - we have a history - we have a character respected and loved the world over. Chelsea will never have that.
But these pokes and jabs from their players were nothing more than fear. We just topped our group, we were no longer this weak team going through bad form. We were stronger, we were better. We looked like a threat again. Chelsea know this.
The Chelsea players also know that their club is financed in an irregular and impurist fashion to football. They also know that winning the premiership, the champions league or the FA Cup will be won in a less than admirable means, that is not common practice in football.
Everyone knows this.
Mourinho is a good manager, he’s intelligent, in fact - Mourinho probably knows this more than anyone else.
There is more to money in life and when Chelsea lose to Man City, a club in debt or Porto - the last homing ground of Jose Mourinho; you feel there is more to football as well.
Chelsea should be scared. Their fans should be scared.
For all the money thrown at the fans who feel their fortunes have changed, they may very soon receive a very simple lesson in life. Not everything is for sale.
Let’s answer a simple question among this? Where does all of Roman’s money go? On flash cars I’d assume, betting shops as well - he finances a lot of struggling clubs around the world by giving them a lot of cash.
It disappears.
Will he get it back?
No.
Let’s be realistic here.
He won’t get a return on it.
So is painted the picture of a football club living on unsolid foundation.
The truth is Arsenal are still a threat “I wouldn’t write Arsenal off yet”, it was a blip, not a normal blip, in fact it was a massive lesson for Arsenal and I would feel the team learnt a lot from their own self made “mistake”.
I could admit Arsenal has some flaws: minor as they are in comparison to the flaws that have become unfixable down at the bridge. Sorry guys, but this is a piece of tainted history that will run deep as a travesty on your position as a club from now.
Take heed of word from the mouth of babes.
Reyes has regained confidence again. Bergkamp is happy with his performance. Pires is edging to prove his worth and the club he plays for. Henry is rebuilding his fitness. Flamini, remains quiet. Cesc, remains quiet.
Although that silence echoes quite deep.
No matter what the result on Sunday, here are the makings of a great team, without the trappings and shame of a plastic commercialisation in football. Ran by a manager who grips the team and moulds them like a tired, hard working craftsman.
This is the makings of a football team.
Chelsea don’t have that. For all the millions they exhibit they’re like a lonely rich man hungering for a little companionship amidst the plastic world they build with the money.
Money is a fabrication. The real wealth is with hard work, determination and sweat. Spirit. Not money.
Every loss Chelsea make now, will give out an echo ? what a waste of money.
Mourinho lost a huge battle against Porto, he struggled. They have weaknesses. It can bleed, we can kill it.
Arsenal are building their confidence and will be edging to beat the impure enemy.
Right now the Arsenal have a more profound history in comparison to the two sentences of stats that encompass Chelsea small part in the English Football system.
Right now the Arsenal players are more confident than the Chelsea players.
Right Now The Arsenal Club is more confident than the Chelsea club.
Right Now The Arsenal manager is more confident than the Chelsea manager.
Right Now, the past 100 years show Arsenal as a Gods in football to Chelsea mere effleunce of Carbon Monoxide from a GM tree in creation.
Right Now arsenal are the bigger club.
December 11th, 2004 at 10:05 am
I heard last night that Abramovic is rumoured to be buying Corinthians. Another toy, another source of glory, plus a staging-post for moving young South American talent to Chelsea. Wonderful.
Miranda
December 11th, 2004 at 1:35 pm
I’ve got to say, all this Chelsea bashing is starting to sound like sour grapes. Lets just do the business on Sunday and walk away without rising to the bait.
After all, the Chelsea ‘phenomenon’ is really nothing new in football, this kind of aggressive funding has always gone and still does- just look at all the top italian clubs, funded by prime minister’s millions and dodgy multinational companies.
Real Madrid and Barcelona didnt become the biggest clubs in Europe by chance, they have always been backed politically.
a couple of years ago, Lazio spent ?200million over two seasons and won the league, then went bust.
just because we are now the VICTIMS we should not start bleating.
December 11th, 2004 at 2:55 pm
I think bashing them’s fine - e.g. for their politically dodgy money, their racist fans, their shoddy treatment of Ranieri. For all those reasons they’re the club I most dislike. But that’s not to say I don’t respect the way they’ve been playing. Mourinho looks to me like the cleverest coach around at the moment. He’s going to win things, and not purely because he’s got more money than anyone else. He has bought with skill and his tactics are very skilful indeed.
Miranda
December 11th, 2004 at 4:12 pm
That’s exactly my point! Thanks God someone did exactly understand what i were talking about!
December 11th, 2004 at 6:03 pm
True, true. Although 312 million pounds in a single year is a little off the charts.
Funny…being behind Everton at the moment doesn’t feel nearly as bad.
December 11th, 2004 at 9:50 pm
Recent rumors have Lauren headed for Real Madrid next season… (would make sense to me, he is a SOLID defender and no flash… they have an abundance of flashy players, he’d fit perfectly there…. and we’d miss him TREMENDOUSLY)
Edu headed for Barca continues to surface… personally, I wouldn’t cry for Edu if he went… Lauren is more important to us…
and finally, on SkySports, they were showing newspapers from London…. and Chelsea AND Arsenal are allegedly lining up GERRARD bids for $25 Million Pounds….
Not to mention that 3 players at Chelsea are VERY UNHAPPY… because they do not play. Scott Parker… Wayne Bridge… and someone else! Gee, why ? wouldn’t you want to sit on your ass in the prime of your career?? Heaven forbid we WIN tomorrow… I could see that whole empire crack and crumble in few months time…
December 12th, 2004 at 6:19 am
So it’s going to be Almunia. Bad. Also surprising: it’s not like Wenger to be affected by something personal - a falling-out with Jens? - rather than a cool assesment of who would play best?
On Lauren - yes, great shame if he goes. He’s always solid, always there, always (in my view) under-appreciated. He never missed a game last season, except for the long suspension after ManU. Though I liked the look of Eboue when I saw him pre-season, and Hoyte seems to be improving, I still think we’ll miss Lauren’s loyalty and solidity very badly.
The Gerrard rumours? I don’t believe them - and don’t really want him that much. Great player, to be sure, but not good value. He’d be incredibly expensive and he’s always, always injured.
Miranda
December 12th, 2004 at 8:49 am
Agree with you, GL. ;^P
Lauren will be missed, surely, but he is at the point in his career where he can find something profitable and so can we. We need a makeover of sorts back there and in midfield, and it makes sense to make room starting with him. Mr. Passport should be next, I think.
Gerard? Wouldn’t take him for 25 million. 20 maybe. He has been injured, true, but seems to be finding his best Premiership form right now. He would be great to have if we could rest him now and again, as he seems to be a play maker right off the whistle. He doesn’t seem to need to get warm right now.
And I THINK I understand Wenger’s choice to go with Almunia today. If its not about a personal issue, which would surprise me as well, I think he has noticed that we play better with him in goal. There could be a lot of reasons for that, including a tightening and an alertness in our back four because they can’t afford to let him touch the ball…or…something else. We’ve been winning (except Carling reserve squad where we only gave up the one) and scoring. There must be something to that in his eyes.
Nervous about today, but excited, too. First time in a long time we’ve been underdogs at Higbury. I like the lowered expectations on our lads. They seem to like it, too.
Terry v. Thierry in about 2 hours. THERE’s ONLY ONE TEAM IN LONDON…!
December 12th, 2004 at 10:17 am
Time for Lauren to go?
Well… I’d think you would want the SAME back 4 together as long as possible. It takes a long time for players to gel together and get used to playing with each other. There is no guarantee that anyone we bring in will be as good, let alone better… continuity is important, and he rarely gets injured. Thats the type of defender I would want for a long time.
Almunia / Lehmann… I’d rather have Jens in there, but I don’t think it will make alot of difference. I DO think if Almunia plays decent, and continues to start…. Jens will exit in January. He probably wants to leave now after being left out of the CL and the big game today. I don’t understand AW on this one… as again, we don’t even know if who we bring in will be as good as Jens… and it may take time to adjust. We don’t have time to lose points to adjustment periods.
Should be interesting today… had a dream we scored first EARLY… lets hope that comes true!
December 12th, 2004 at 10:58 am
I’m not suggesting that Lauren is rubbish and needs to leave, but if he’s going to go, now might be a good opening.
Agree about continuity. Let’s see.
December 12th, 2004 at 1:54 pm
Your dream came true, Stag!
Heroes: Henry for excellence (as expected), Flamini for excellence (when most of us didn’t expect it), Pires for terrific hard work,
the whole defence but especially Lauren for holding his own against younger, stronger, pacier attackers. (I really don’t want to lose him.)
I thought we should have had a penalty but a really creditable result for, almost, a reserve side against the best team the Chelsea billions and Mourinho’s brilliance could muster.
Miranda
December 12th, 2004 at 2:47 pm
Not a bad result, but can’t help be disappointed with how we conceded. We have to solve the set-piece thing, or teams will keep exploiting it. And its a weakness you don’t have to be Barca to take advantage off.
Great performance by everyone, except our good friend Reyes. Henry and Pires really rose to the occasion. van Persie was impressive coming in.
Great play by our young midfield duo, but we need the bigger guys soon, for more physical presence against teams like Portsmouth.
Great effort. We should build from this and no more silly dropped points.
Wonder why Arsenal/Chelsea games are played in such great spirit, and Manu games are so ill-tempered. Probably because Chelsea is not a dirty team like ManU. If we can?t win it, hope they or Everton do.
December 12th, 2004 at 3:08 pm
You know, I think we need to work a little on set pieces.
Terry unmarked is worse than an own goal. Inexcusable. Don’t know who’s job it is to do NOTHING but watch him, but someody needs a little Ben-Gay in their jock.
Great work, today. Knew the midfield could hang. Knew Almunia needed to be given a chance (6 saves to Cech’s 2). But we gave up TWO leads again, and everyone in the football loving world knew we would. We were fouled nearly twice as much in order to stop play and take our normally useless free kicks. It back-fired luckily on Henry’s second, but this is BEYOND ridiculous. Nationwide stuff and infuriating as hell.
So 5 points behind The Blues, and 1 behind Moyes’ grit-machine. For the most part, we deserved more, and even Jose knows that. And as far as being found out…rubbish.
I HOPE we catch them in the CL.
December 12th, 2004 at 3:33 pm
Mmm, set pieces. My theory is we don’t do them - score from them, I mean. They’ve not been where our goals come from. So, since we don’t do them, there’s no one who can give our defenders any serious practice in training. Maybe van P is the answer?
Miranda
December 12th, 2004 at 3:56 pm
interesting thought! u may have a point there!
December 12th, 2004 at 4:36 pm
Don’t know if we are now doing zonal marking, but its not working. In zonal you don’t pick anyone up, you mark space or the area if you like, defending agaisnt the ball. In man-marking you, well, man-mark. Man marking I doubt Terry would have scored.
December 12th, 2004 at 4:46 pm
Van P, yes, Reyes no. Wenger gives players a long rope but once they get benched that’s almost it. Wonder when the bell tolls for Reyes. Standing by a player through a difficult time is good and fine, but what when others are playing better than you? The season is coming to a head, we’re running out of time.
December 12th, 2004 at 4:53 pm
So, this is the amazing Chelsea?
Okay folks… there are alot of Arsenal players that we should tip our caps to today… they all played with great determination and definitely stepped up. Everyone tracked back to help our young midfield. They played ADMIRABLY.
Sol was immense for most of the match… I thought the defense played really well.
Henry…
some of you folks out there should send him a WRITTEN APOLOGY. The thought that he doesn’t step up in big games is laughable. He SHOULD have won the match with his third goal … with the whole net to shoot at… but he is human, barely.
Chelsea. Did they create anything of worth the whole damned game??? Not very much. They scored on freaking set-pieces. Two headers.
The first skimmed Bergkamp’s hair… and Henry let Terry get there before him… AND Almunia got a hand to it…
The 2nd… not sure how the hell that went in. It was a weird deflection / angle thingy…
We are pathetic at set-pieces, and I don’t know how to rectify it…. or why only WE have trouble defending them… very strange stuff…. alot of it must be confidence… and they got to ALOT of their corners first too.
Who do you blame? Who would you change it the back 4 to combat set-pieces? I just simply do not know.
I thought we should have won. I think we were the better team today. AND… I KNOW NOW we are the better team PERIOD. We will win the league, in my humble opinion. For as wonderful as Chelsea are… they are 4 points ahead of Everton, 5 ahead of us… and ManU with a win tomorrow would be lurking in the shadows as well. Its a race my friends. There is no denying that for the first time in years its not a 2 team thing. It might end up that way in the end, but its not right now.
Happy that we played well in alot of respects. Happy that Cesc/Flamini played their hearts out and accounted well for themselves. We (and the team) must feel good about ourselves and what we need to do. I would LOVE to play Chelsea in the Champions League at some point. Because… WE ARE BETTER THAN THEY ARE.
December 12th, 2004 at 5:51 pm
Complete and utter shite, our set pieces. If you don’t mark a team like Chlesea and a player like Terry, when in 38 games do you?
I’m starting to think we’re just not…intelligent, lately. Anything that has to do with not moving forward in open play is just being ignored.
Imagine how good we would be if we JUST MARKED ON F**KING SET PIECES!!!