Jul 23
I’ve just watched the highlights of DB10’s testimonial on Fox Sports World Report and I’m confused.
After the reading the report on the game we were 1-0 down at half-time, however when watching the highlights of the game it showed that the teams didn’t change ends at half-time as Arsenal were attacking the same goal in the second half as they were in the first half.
Can someone explain why this was???
15 Responses to “ARSENAL 2 AJAX 1”
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July 23rd, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Ik hou van jou. The best and will always be the best Arsenal player in the last 20 yrs. Well done and thank you Bruce Rioch.
To answer your question, It was 2 games in one. The first 50 minutes was Arsenal against Ajax but the real game was the Arsenal Legends against the Ajax Legends.
One of the best testimonial games I have seen. Forget about the football, the players on the field were wicked. From Cruyff, Rijkaard, Van Basten, DB10 and the rest. The game worth more than ?2000.00 not ?29.00. ?29.00 including a free shirt is heaven.
Gerrard you missed the Dutch nation on show yesterday. Buy the DVD when it comes out.
Now I can used the word Legend. What a legend.
July 23rd, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Dutch legends? OK… thats all good and well…
but…
Vieira (who got a heroes welcome from what I’ve read)… Petit, ponytail and all… Overmars… Kanuuuuuuu… Henry comes back from holiday…
Ian “God” Wright…
Whats the problem with Tony Adams?
He can’t be bothered to attend the last match at Highbury OR DB10’s testimonial??
Something strange going on there…
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:04 pm
Yup, sure strange that Adams didn’t show.
Have read that Bergy suggests Vieira should return.
At first I discounted that notion, for lotsa reasons….and still think it is hugely unlikely but…
What about a master-utility role. midfield and centre of defence??? Why? Well…Fab is the focus of midfield now not Pat. Wenger won’t go backwards in that regard. So it’s hard to see a permanent Pat/Fab midfield. But…we clearly need to bolster options in both midfield and defence and Pat has the smarts and game to contribute in both.
Biggest problem with this idea is ego/mental. Pat will feel he deserves a permanent first-choice starting role (and hard to argue he doesn’t).
But in reality with the utility role he would probably still play 2/3’s or 3/4’s of the season due to injury/unavailability of others.
IMO. If he did buy into the idea he would be an awesome asset and worth a major outlay.
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Yes, I watched the highlights on FSW Report as well. What a delight to see the faces that represent my entire life and love of football both as a Dutchman and as Gunner. I’m eagerly waiting for it to be on TV tomorrow on Arsenal TV (GolTV) so I can see the whole thing. So I won’t miss it love_Gunners and from what I did see I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Yes, if all those greats like DeBoer, Rykaard, Van Basten the list goes on why couldn’t Tony Adams show up - maybe he feels poorly towards Bergkamp. It’s a shame really.
I was all soppy inside just watching the highlights. My wife says that real men don’t cry or eat quiche. I’m probably going to be letting go a shower of lacrimae watching the testimonial, I can just picture her waving a bottle of testosterone in my face, calling me a puddy (pu55y is censored here). What she doesn’t understand is I won’t even give a whimper during one of those gurly movies but cry during football matches. Then she doesn’t have balls does she, so she’d never understand. She has a foot though!
I only regret that I am not a man of enough means that I could of flown over and attended that match in London myself because I would of had no qualms in spending the money.
I’m working on a project for the Dutch here in Canada, creating a large monument to thank the Canadian soldiers who died liberating Holland during WWII.
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July 23rd, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Interesting idea to have Vieira play a master-utility or central defence role. If Vieira does come back and in order not to stifle the development of Cesc, it could be an idea to play a 3 man defence anchor by Kolo in the cental defence role with Vieira playing in front of him. Cesc and Rosicky (Gilberto for away games) would form part of a 2-man central midfield with Reyes and Ljunberg (or Walcott) on the outside. Advantage is Vieira has the height to defend set-pieces (unless Matarazzi is playing opponent!) and he knows Arsenal’s system thru and thru.
It will tough for Wenger to consider this as it will mean Sendoros will be sitting out when he is back.
July 23rd, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Inter AND Barcelona are now BOTH after Vieira. You know, BARCELONA? Champion’s League Champions AND 2 time defending LaLiga winners?! Yes, that Barcelona. Why would they want Vieira? Probably because he can still play, and … he can play a ROLE for them. He can contribute to making them an even better team. If they get Paddy, and they’ve added Thuram and Zambrotta!! What does that tell you… you ALWAYS try to improve. Even the best need to get better. I hope he goes to Barca… he’d do just fine there.
Of course, I’d rather he played for the Arsenal, just like DB10 said he should… he could play a similar ROLE here for us, and he wouldn’t need to lead the band… but hey, I’m just dreaming. Even I don’t think it will happen. Just glad he got the ovation he deserved from the supporters. Bravo.
July 24th, 2006 at 1:50 am
Can’t Vieira play the defensive role that Gilberto does? Is that asking too much of him?
July 24th, 2006 at 2:21 am
Two things to keep in mind
- AW is not a proponent of bringing back players to the club. Remember Petit?
- AW will not pay 9m (which is the sum Inter is reportedly ready to pay) for Vieira.
July 24th, 2006 at 3:41 am
yeah, this same barca bought overmars and petit !! so?
we have to look forward not look back … above all else, wenger sold him FOR A REASON ! else he wont have offloaded him cheaply.
wenger designed our style of play, he also “made” vieira, so he is definitely the authority on whether he can cut it in his team …
July 24th, 2006 at 4:38 am
The Adams thing is interesting.
On one side you could say he was not there as he is now a coach for Pompey.
However he was not there on the last day at Highbury. To me that indicates he is upset with the club and not DB10.
He has not got a coaching job there but Bould and Keown have…
July 24th, 2006 at 5:17 am
Yeah I’ve wondered for a while if Tony hasn’t got his nose a little out of joint with Arsenal…no idea why that would be.
Hopefully it will blow over with time….
Big difference between Adams v Bouldy and Keown. Adams was a major persona around the club whilst Keown and Bouldy were team men. I guess it’s ego.
July 24th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
where was freddie??
can someone tell me?
July 24th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
I don’t think it’s such a mental/ego problem with Vieira. I believe he was a bit uncomfortable with Fabregas as he saw him almost like a kid brother tusslin’ with the bigger boys. It caused Vieira to “tend to his little brother” a bit more to ensure he was protected. That took the edge off of Vieira’s game. He was never that way with Gilberto, Parlour, or Edu. They were big enough boys that could take care of themselves, no question.
The diffrence is now Fab has proven he can cope with the big boys and there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind about that now; including Vieira. That’s the way I always saw it. No egos.
July 24th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
The World Cup players that were there were there as a true testament to Dennis and were considered Arsenal legends. Vieira and Henry I believe go into the legendary category. Ljunberg, not quite yet. van Bronkhorst was there because he’s Dutch.
I believe Pires should have been there but maybe his team wouldn’t allow him to play. Spanish teams are funny like that. After signing for Real Madrid, I think Beckham played eighteen seconds before he was forced to come off in Giggs testimonial.
Dennis is a true badass to get Cruyff and van Basten to play in his farewell match. Who else could do that?
July 24th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Boys, I’ve had a couple surgeries this month (yes plural), and have been laid up at the house trying to heal. Lord knows that’s the only reason I wasn’t in London on Saturday. Anyway, with all this extra time, I threw in the Arsenal Centurions discs and was totally amazed at the beautiful football we played in the late 90’s into 2004. Is there anyway in the world Wenger could ever replicate that kind of soccer?
Arsenal was so good it was mindblowing. I had my wife pull up a random Arsenal tape from the basement and it was a league match against Leeds. Watching this game, my jaw dropped. I haven’t seen anyone play that kind of footie in the past two years anywhere, be it Arsenal, Barcelona, Brazil, at the World Cup or what have you.
That team was class throughout. Henry was the man but he wasn’t alone. He had a supporting cast that had the apparent MOTIVATION & ABILITY, fcuk potential, to rip the heart out of any team, bar none. Henry didn’t have to save the day everyday. We had a squad full of match winners. Now we have a team where everyone’s looking for Henry to win us every game.
Besides Henry, who are our match winners? Before we had match winners by the boat; even Keown or Ray Parlour could pull a match out of their arse periodically. Henry will respect teamates that demand respect by proving they can help him win. Instead of Henry applauding a beautiful build-up to a chance/goal his team created, he’s applauding longballs from CB’s. Surely, I’m not the only one that’s noticed.
Rosicky is one but we need more game winners. In 2000 Wenger brought in Pires and Wiltord; two experienced players who proved they knew how to win big games before coming to Arsenal. That strengthened our already awesome team. That’s what we need now. We can still continue to develop youth but I don’t care what anyone says, Wenger didn’t replace Anelka, Petit, Adams, and Overmars with kids. He replaced them with champions.
Sometimes even brilliant people need to be taught again things they’ve already learned. Sure, Wenger’s got faith in the young boys but perhaps he should put in an old tape to remind him what men can do.