Another case of same old, same old, as the Gunners concede the first goal at home yet again, and are forced to settle for a draw, this time against Portsmouth.
More and more it seems like a question of motivation. Playing in what can only be termed as first gear for the first 53 minutes, Arsenal found themselves two goals down at home, which obviously didn’t sit well with them.
Obvious, because it was when Emmanuel Adebayor came on that Arsenal played to their full potential. Within moments of his coming on for the ineffectual Jeremie Aliadiere (Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out Jeremie), the Gunners were level, and for the remainder of the match, seemed the likelier of the sides to snatch a winner.
At the end of the day, though, it’s another two points dropped at home, which seems to be the story of the season.
Next up is Liverpool in the Carling Cup 1/4s on Tuesday. Kickoff is @ 2:45 PM ET, and will be broadcast live on Setanta USA.
37 Responses to “Arsenal 2 - 2 Portsmouth”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
December 16th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Definitely a case of more dropped points against teams we have to beat.
There were a few culprits out there today.
Yes, Alidiare didn’t play well today… but why would you start him out of the blue? Don’t you think it might have been a good idea to let him come on late in 2 or 3 matches to get his feet wet…??
He wasn’t bad. He just wasn’t effective.
He surely isn’t to blame for the 2 goals and poor defending… so I don’t really see why anyone would scapegoat him.
Baptista perhaps should have gotten another start. You can’t walk into an EPL team out of the blue and perform. Baptista showed this… he’s starting to get his bearings… so why expect Aliadiare to jump in and perform at the top level. I just think it was a mistake by Wenger. He should have brought Ali on for 10 or 15 minutes at the end for at least 2 or 3 matches.
With Ljungberg injured (again), maybe Baptista might get a few starts?
Who knows…
RVP had a bad game. He had many bad corners and free kicks. I guess we have nobody else to take them.
Adebayor came on and saved the blushes. He plays like he wants to win… with passion. I am not his biggest fan at all… but you have to respect his effort and determination.
Same can be said for Gilberto. He has been very good of late and steps up when we have needed him.
Whatever we do… we are always inconsistent. No matter who we’ve trotted out there…. we almost always get behind. Thats a recipe for mediorcity.
We will be fighting for that TOP 4 spot until the end… unless we really get or act together soon.
December 16th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Thought we played decent in the first half. Horrendous marking on the goals though. Where was Eboue .. why did he let Matty Taylor get the shot away??
That said…I thought the reaction was fantastic…for such a young team.. the reaction was very very good.. and if only RVP had scored after leaving Campbell for dead or Walcott had shot across goal or someone had tapped in Gilberto’s strike across goal or The Flamster had kept his shot down we could’ve won 5-2.
Still I agree..its 2 points dropped..and Pool move up into third…we need to show more consistency..specially at home…Gilberto has taken some mighty large steps since he’s become skipper…and hasnt he taken them well…I salute the man..for stepping up…
Freddie’s injured again…sad…We’re missing Gallas’s experience and winning attitude in defence…though Djourou has done fairly well…Still…I know we dropped points…but the kids are learning important lessons…really important lessons…so all’s not bleak…
Lets hope we progress further in the Carling Cup…Go Gunners!!
December 16th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
You really are a w*nker Stag. You have been screaming for Aliadiere’s inclusion for at least 2 months, and when he gets his chance and plays like a c*nt all of a sudden he should never have started. Face it, you know absolutely f*ck all about football and get just about everything wrong - but this just takes the biscuit. You’re hilarious man, the clown of Arsenal America.
December 16th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
It was a good reaction, but disappointing we couldn’t win considering there was 30 minutes left at 2-2 and we had finally woken up.
Adebayor changed the game, which surprised me - but he is becoming an extremely useful player. I’m not surprised Baptista was dropped, he looked slow and cumbersome against Wigan - his fitness obviously isn’t right.
Eboue is getting worse every week. Less effective coming forward and increasingly poor defending, can’t wait till Lauren comes back to be honest - but would stop short of replacing him with Hoyte.
Another waste of points really, just have sit there and take it until the injuries come back and we can get a settled team going.
December 16th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Aliadiere had his chance at first team and completely wasted it…If he had shown half the effort Adebayor does, I would cut him some slack…If you are not scoring, at least pressure the defense..He was yards from the defenders and would not put pressure on them. I have a feeling he thinks he is good in his own mind, but hasn’t done jack to back it up except for a good run in the carling cup. Put Baptista as striker and at least let him get used to the pace.
Good effort to come back. Should have won this game like all the others at Emirates. How can you teach RVP to take a shot with his right foot when he is in front of goal? He waits for everything on his left foot and by that time the goalkeeper has closed him down.
December 16th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Didn’t watch the game but by all accounts it was the same story as previous matches at the emirates.
What is extremely worrying is that we are incapable of scoring a signature Arsenal goal at the new stadium for 90% of the matches we play there. It’s only when we get all frenetic and go for the jugular that we score. When we are level we try and go back to the pretty stuff and look clueless again. That is very worrying long-term because we can only play that frenetic stuff for short periods and on adrenalin. I’m not heartened at all by these comebacks for that reason as there seems no sign of things changing soon. Good attitude of course but then that is the least you expect.
Again, Fabregas didn’t seem to do much by all accounts. He really needs to be more of a goal threat in these matches because he doesn’t seem to be making a difference at all when you would think he’d be improving. He was more of a domestic threat LAST season.
December 16th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
At least we won’t have to listen to any more calls for Aliadiere to play. He just couldn’t get in the game at all. I would feel sorry for him except for the difference Adebayor brought when he came on. What odds he to finish top scorer this year? Or Gilberto?
You never know, Aliadiere might score a hat-trick against the Liverpool reserves in the Carling Cup but short of that I don’t think he will feature in a big game again. Frankly, if the rumours of a bid from Middlesboro are true, sell him for anything over ?1m.
I would bring back Hoyte for Eboue until Lauren is fit. Eboue seems to be having a version of second season syndrome - believing the hype and forgetting the basics.
December 16th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Well JA got his chance to show himself off (like you have been wanting him to)…and he was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t at fault for the goals, but he isn’t a defensive player. Our attacks broke down promptly when he got the ball in wide left areas and he was utterly ineffective……He had his chance and blew it; he will be out soon and I think it’s right. He was promising early on in his Arsenal days before his ACL injury but let’s face it, he just isn’t that good.
Let’s NOT blame AW…..Arsene did NOT get this one wrong; we outside the team have NO IDEA who is well-rested and who isn’t…..he has one eye on the busy holiday period and wanted to rest a few players who have been running their socks off (Adebayor)..but he was forced to bring him in and we’re glad he did.
RvP did NOT have a bad game…..Yes he missed a couple of good chances, like when he left Sol for dead, and mishit his shot, but his runs were effective and drew defenders with him to free up the oncoming players, etc. He had a couple chances to get us the winner, but missed….He has to do better.
All in all we paid for a collective slow start to the game….but our response to going 2 down was magnificent. I for one am proud of the boys and their response but….
At the end of the day it’s 2 points dropped……
December 16th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Well, for everyone that wonders “Why doesn’t Wenger play this fellow or that fellow”, Ali gave everyone the answer; it’s because Wenger sees them every day in training and he knows. I really don’t believe Aliadiere played poorly, but we just have better options. I wouldn’t mind seeing him go on loan to Watford.
Last Sunday, it was Gilberto, Wednesday it was Fabregas, and today it was Adebayor. These guys have been saviours for our team this week. You guys may not realise it now but years from now we may be talking about how Adebayor came in to this game and turned it on it’s head all by his damn self. He’s getting comfortable with his game and the league now so he’s just out there doing his thing. It’s refreshing to see.
What was dissapointing is that we didn’t win. More often than not it came down to the final ball. It seemed everyone wanted to be the guy that scored that third goal and the blinders were on. Contrary to the “shoot on sight” policy, we had some great chances that were blown by players not looking for that extra pass. I’m sure Wenger will point it out on tape. Our guys are young and will improve with time.
Gutsy performance by the team today to come back from 2-0 down. That wouldn’t have happened last year. Next year, I believe we win that game 5-2. Today’s performance gives the team confidence that they can come from behind and win tough games even without Henry. I’m happy they learned that lesson today.
Also, Gilberto looks like an invincible again.
December 16th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Danny… you should really smarten up.
Your the type who shoots his mouth off, and gets his ASS KICKED at the pub.
You’re a real trash talker behind a computer screen.
December 16th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
I am surprised to read that Wenger is proud of the boys performance today. I would think that he shud be extremely pissed with the defending resulting in being 2 goals down and that Arsenal should *never* be in this situation playing at home in the first place. Classic half-full cup syndrome! Doesn’t this poor defending at set-pieces parallel what happened 2 seasons ago? Why not bring in external help if the current coaches are not able to get the players to eradicate the problem? Sure we have young defenders and they are inconsistent. But surely the problems of inexperience can be minimised by good organisation and discipline in marking? If Arsenal keeps giving up soft goals, not even the returning Henry can save our asses all the time.
December 16th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
I doubt it, I’m 6′2 and I work out 3 times a week and play football twice a week. However, as far as trash talking behind a computer screen is concerned, I’ll admit, you’re the daddy.
December 16th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
I don’t give a rats ass about your height tough guy.
December 16th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
What coaches? Wenger coaches the team - I never see anyone else telling them what to do. He likes to take full control of everything. I wouldn’t bother listening to anything he says post-match, it is not the truth, simply what he thinks his players want to hear on Match of the Day or Sky. Inside he knows this team is often drivel and we desperately need lots of players back and probably some new ones. The team is too young to criticise in public, that’s for sure - it would be totally counter-productive.
December 16th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Behind the dressing room door, whatever AW told the lad we don’t know. But in front of the camera, you expect Wenger told the press “I think our defending are cr*p?”
For the players, if a manager say something like that in front of the media, do u think they would still want to play for him? Respect him?
December 16th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
For those of you complaining about giving up a goal on set piece today, this one was hard to defend..The 1st free kick was hit perfectly..Too high for Lehmann to intercept and hit the post and came back into play..very hard for defenders to react and before you know it, the ball was headed into the net.
The 2nd goal we gave up, I was not happy with…Eboue or Walcott, whoever is supposed to cover should have closed down the player…Same thing like the Anelka strike, they have to close the shot down..Jump in front, distract, do something…Also, when the other team has possession of the ball in your box, you should be man marking the opposition players. Instead we seem to back off of them and give them time to crack a shot.
This is late in the season to keep repeating this same mistakes.. You never see John Terry ever give you time on the ball..Eboue needs benching for him to learn this…He has gotten lazy on defense.
December 16th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
All this stuff about Aliadiere being terrible is BS– doesn’t anybody remember the first 15-20 minutes of this game, when Arsenal were pushing the tempo with Walcott, Van Persie, and Aliadiere (for once this season, for crying out loud– no Henry to purposefully, inexplicably slow the ball up on fast breaks by taking it out to the wing and side foot drag-dribbling it down the sideline) and creating numerous shots (from which Van Persie should have scored more than once) off the interplay of JA and RVP– JA did fine during that period, and it’s got nothing to do with him that Wenger can’t seem to teach anyone how to head a ball into a goal on offense or how to stop one being headed in on defense.
Anyone here bother to notice that the defense headed up by the same guy who couldn’t stop anybody on corners and free kicks for us (Sol Campbell) the last couple of years was completely airtight and never threatened by a single free kick or corner by Arsenal today? How come Portsmouth (and virtually every team we play) seems able to deal effortlessly with every corner or free kick we take, but we look like chickens with our heads cut off when the opponents take one? How come opposing teams can do better on set pieces (both offensively and defensively) with their players, and then swap our players into their team (Campbell) and still do better than us with those same players… this is shades of Chuck Yeager saying he could beat your plane with his plane, and then swap planes with you and beat his plane with your plane, because he was a better pilot. Other than Liverpool’s one moment of complete breakdown when Gallas scored an unmarked header, who has looked even half as bad on corners and free kicks as we have this season? When is Wenger going to concede that he doesn’t know how to coach set piece offense or defense and bring in somebody (Tony Adams?) who does?
December 16th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Does someone knows Spanish here?
If someone knows, can you translate this from youtube.com, here is the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoYL4Jnn6Mw
It’s about Fran Merida and at the end it looks like Fernando Torres has given autographed shirt to Cesc, but he is giving the shirt to Merida. I really want to know what is Torres saying. Hope he will end up as a GUNNER
December 16th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Portsmouth lost 2 points and we were lucky , very lucky to get 1 point. And still undefeated at the Emirates.
Portsmouth started 4-5-1 and except for the first 10 min, they dominated our 4-4-2 MF. In the second half, we went to 4-5-1, brought on Adebayor and went electric. My 4-5-1 can beat your 4-5-1 Harry. Strange, Harry never looked pleased when his team were up 2-0. Now we know why. Why can’t our 4-4-2 cut it anymore. Is it the personnel?
One game, and Aliadiere is sh*t. Who the f**k looks good after one start. Get a grip.
Eboue is being over shadowed by Clichy defensively at present.
Another brilliant display by The Captain.
Fabregas had a new haircut but made no passes to cut through Portsmouth.
MOTM: Adebayor for 2 minutes work. His display coming 2 days after the Wigan game was remarkable. His introduction turned the game around. Suddenly, Campbell looked old and Primus/Parmarot looked slow. In fact, Portsmouth back 4 were under threat by Arsenal runs in the box.
We really to need to work our CK defense and offense. We are generous to a fault with the former and scare no one with the latter.
December 16th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Keown was brought in mid last season to toughen the boys in defence. It worked as Arsenal went on to claim 4th place. Wenger shud consider doing the same on defending setpieces.
December 17th, 2006 at 12:10 am
It was a sense of deja vu and a double dose of it. I don’t know what we could have done on the first goal. But I put the second goal down to Eboue’s mistake. When Gilberto and Aliadiere(?) did some good work, Eboue, instead of clearing the ball, dilly dallied and Portsmouth regained the ball. From then on, they crossed, the initial shot was blocked but somehow it fell to Taylor. And in the form that he is right now, you couldn’t have bet against him. I would really like to see Eboue dropped for a few games just to get his head right.
Adebayor proved me wrong with his display and I am delighted. I was thrilled that he scored from Walcott’s cross after missing a similar chance against Wigan. It shows that he is improving and that’s a great sign. He just turned the game on its head. He really works well with another striker, so I hope we can play like that more.
I am very disappointed with RvP. Doesn’t he understand what a cool finish is? Why didn’t he place the ball beyond James in the first half instead of blasting directly at the keeper (remember Hamburg)? In the second half, after dribbling past the defence, he chose to shoot with his left foot and missed again.
How many chances did we have to win the game even after it was 2-2? Ade is robbed by Johnson when through on goal, RvP shoots wide, Gilberto goes just wide, Walcott shoots straight at the GK, Hleb fails to chip the GK and Flamini shoots wide with his left (when he should be taking it on his right?).
What do the last two games tell us about our backup players? Good but not good enough? Baptista deserved not to start but could have been on the bench. Would we have played like this if Ljunberg was still on instead of Walcott? What happens to Hleb when he moves to the left? Gilberto was immense (and he played the last three games) while Cesc, despite being rested, was not at his best.
The up and down season continues. By the way, for all those who wrote off Liverpool, guess whose third? And no, we don’t have a game in hand anymore.
December 17th, 2006 at 6:15 am
I thought Ali looked a hand full with his movement up front but he Adebayor just showed him up. It was really unfortunate for him but you have to take your chance when given it.
The two goals that Portsmouth scored were very good goals. You can’t blame anyone for the first one. As for the second, that finish was sheer class. I truly understand people being upset about Eboue playing with the ball. He’s been caught in possession a number of times but this is the first time we were punished.
Eboue is a midfielder converted to defender by Arsene Wenger. Eboue still believes his ability to beat people is the strongest part of his game and is more comfortable going by people than clearing. Be patient. In a couple of years he’ll be like Cafu.
December 17th, 2006 at 7:51 am
The biggest problem with our defense is Wenger doesn’t know how to teach that. He came here and inherited our stingy “1-0 to the Arsenal” defense so didn’t have to focus on that. Sol Campbell, Kolo Toure, Lauren, William Gallas, and Ashley Cole all learned their technique before Wenger got a hold of them. Senderos isn’t good enough technically and won’t develop playing under Arsene Wenger.
The thing our defenders do possess is pace. It allows them to get into the fight if they’re caught out of position. The problem is they all know they’re fast and often lose concentration allowing themselves to get caught out knowing their pace can save them. This doesn’t work against fast strikers, ala Anelka. We frequently make hard work of the simplest defensive tasks. Senderos also lacks pace which makes him a greater liability.
Teams realise it’s difficult to beat us with speed considering the pace of our defenders. They know their best scoring chance will be a set pieces as our speed is nullified. Since our old back four is gone, this is where teams have attacked us. It’s not been a major issue until we lost the ability to launch a quick counter and score goals in bunches.
Against Portsmouth was the first time I’ve seen us counter-attack looking likely to score on every attack since Vieira left. It was simply the speed with which we attacked teams that overwhelmed. I remember writing last year about how while Fabregas is a more accurate passer of the ball, Vieira was quicker to release the ball as he didn’t take as many touches. This kept us playing at a high tempo.
I’ve noticed that Fab tends to drop a bit deeper to give himself more time to see the field better and our attacks are a bit quicker. He even dropped deep for Spain in the World Cup. Add his ability to give a high-quality pass from the back makes him the perfect Gilberto replacement. He grew up with Guardiola as an idol, who happens to play Gilberto’s position. I just think Hleb or Rosicky can keep us playing at a high tempo centrally and more advanced. We still need to address the defensive slackness, but if we’re scoring goals it won’t matter as much.
Sorry I wrote so long.
December 17th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
The defence is the biggest problem at the moment and not just on set pieces, but the fact they are all so young. These young players are simply not confident on the ball and this does not spread confidence across the team. If you watch Chelsea or Man Utd, when their defence is in posession the rest of the team pushes forward and functions normally, but at Arsenal it is not the case - the whole team is nervous and jittery both receiving the ball and on the ball, this fear causes mistakes.
Tactically, Wenger has never been the best, but Arsenal is all over the place at the moment. The team just doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of what it should be doing. Arsenal is not defending and attacking as a team, and then there is problem of being hopeless on attacking set pieces, and other things like committing players into the opponents penalty area when we are attacking. Wenger seems scared to commit players forward - sometimes you have to ask, are the players not doing what they told? Or is Wenger not telling them to do the right things? I think it’s the players, Pires was a specialist at getting on the end of things in the box, so I fail to believe Wenger instructs his players to do otherwise.
We really need a fully fit squad. We need Lauren back, we need players like Diaby (although he will not fulfill his potential until next season at least), we need Henry back and of course Gallas, Rosicky.
It’s hard to say we should buy players as the team is very young but extremely talented and will get better and better, I am convinced of it. The players might be playing like sh*t, but they are learning a hell of a lot, trust me. Slowly but surely it will click into gear - maybe not next year, but the year after Arsenal has to be proper title contenders, if not, only then I will start to moan about Wenger and whether he has lost it or not.
December 17th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
This was one of the great things about having Aliadiere and Van Persie playing up front with Walcott on the wing, in the early phases of the Portsmouth game- they were pushing the ball as fast as they could, and trying to beat the defenders back, EVERY TIME they got the ball on counter-attacks.
So often, Henry will take the ball out to the wing, and drag the ball in multiple side-foot dribbles while sidling down the sideline, slowing the counterattack– in the old days, I almost felt like he was doing it because he wasn’t satisfied to score the pedestrian goal from beating the back line on a through ball– his arrogance was such that he wanted to give opponents time to recover and then beat them again, face to face… but now, with our team struggling to score goals more than we used to, I have no idea why he still does this so frequently… every other striker in the league, given a fast break opportunity, arrows straight for the goal and tries to beat the back line to score one-on-one with the keeper… why does Henry divert the attack to the sideline so often? One wonders if Henry was playing basketball and picked up a ball behind the defense at mid-court, would he slide out to the sideline to let the defense recover, before attacking the basket?
December 17th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
First goal is due to error from Toure when he misjudged the freekick and miss the header. As I wrote previously, Toure has a problem judging high balls going towards him as we saw against Munich 2 seasons ago and one other EPL game this season (cannot remember if it is against ManCity or Everton). Both occasions resulted in the opposition scoring. I believe such problems can be fixed with some coaching so not sure why it keeps happening. Second goal was due to Eboue trying to play Arsenal out of trouble but instead gave possesion back to Portsmouth from which they score. While Hoyte may not be as talented as Eboue and lacks the attacking flair, he would probably have booted the ball out unceremoniously. Clichy continues to give the ball away needlessly even when he is not under pressure.
December 18th, 2006 at 8:20 am
About set pieces, this is my take.
The attack just does not practise them. It’s clearly visible on the pitch. Most of the time, we take corners short. Other times, nothing ever happens.
The defence, I am sure, practises defending against them. But who do they practise against? The attack!!! Who else is there? It’s easy to defend against them. But when you are pitched against the best in a real game, you are found out.
December 18th, 2006 at 8:22 am
AW on Arsenal.com - “I won’t buy but I might sell in January.”
That says it all. Any guesses on who will move on?
December 18th, 2006 at 8:27 am
Was Eboue’s bad game a result of Walcott coming on in front of him? Eboue’s not the best defender, but with Hleb in front the shackles are off and he spends most of the game bombing on. With Walcott, the instruction is to sit in and defend and sudenly he don’t look so good…
December 18th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Aliadiere, Lupoli, Hoyte - possibly Ljungberg, but more likely seasons end. None of these players offer anything to Arsenal or will again.
December 18th, 2006 at 10:23 am
AW: ” Having said that, when you look at the number of games these boys play, it is not surprising that sometimes it takes a few minutes to get going - or even one half to get going sometimes.”
AW is complaining about the load of games the kids are playing. AW knows this since the summer and every year we do this. Since Arsenal plays in CL, FA Cup, Carling Cup and the Prem League. Why don’t he bring enough trusted depth to the team.
You dont need 3 young unexpereinced players to play at once. When he feilded the “Subs” we got trashed by Bolton. Simply have good trusted subs.. blended with young talent. This is how Cesce came out, Rooney, Owen, …
Arsenal still need a better CB or subs. See the team with Gallas and without him … Imagin we have 2 Gallases or 2 Toures … I dont trust Sendy anymore. LB we need a better sub. Clichy is still not a 100% starter.
With Adebayore playing well, I think we are covered here. Alidaire used to be better when he was 19 or so. I would give the loan guys that are doing well in the Championship a chance.
December 18th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
The excuse is ridiculous. If the players have played a lot of games they are more likely to start off bright and rapidly tire after about 60 minutes. You don’t start off tired and get fresher as the game goes on - I’ve never heard such bollocks in all my life.
This email I got from Arsenal Football Club with Wenger’s opinion about the performance on Saturday is one of the worst things I have ever read from him. Even though I agree that he should publicly back his (young) players no matter how bad they play, he should use a different choice of words because no-one is going to believe this drivel, not even his players.
December 18th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Couldn’t agree more, particularly about the Official Manager’s e-mail. I thought the response to those who asked about Ade going in sooner was especially silly
December 18th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Wenger comes out with the same crap every year. At the start of the season he declares himself happy with the squad, then he realise he has made a balls-up once again by misjudging the quality in depth, and he proceeds to go on about the fixture list.
Also, how can he complain about the free kick on Saturday. If that stupid defence could defend aerial balls- I’m talking Kolo Toure here- then Wenger would never mention the free kick. It was hardly a dangerous position, 35 yards out on the right touchline.
No one is taking Wenger seriously anymore and his use of the words “scandalous” etc to deter the F.A from charging him is becoming quite transparent. His rants were few and far between before so people listened to him but now he just drones on and on and he’s doing himself no favours.
And if he says again that he “believes this squad has tremendous quality” I’ll lamp him! ;^)
December 18th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
It’s nothing important. I don’t know verbatim what he’s saying but the gist of it goes something to the affect of “take this shirt as a gift, I hope you like it, hello, hope you’re settling in, etc.”
December 18th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
It’s true, he has to pull himself together. I honestly think his behaviour is starting to damage the image of the club. Arsenal is not any old club, it has always had “public” standards, Wenger is coming dangerously close to stepping over the mark.
December 18th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
On that Wigan goal, Walcott should have taken the shot. Ade was well-covered, so I don't think we should blame that missed opportunity on him.