We make the trip to Ewood Park with Blackburn on a high. Pedersen has been saying that the Arsenal game saved their season. Hopefully they will still come out and play. The 6-2 scoreline anyway didnt do justice to Blackburn’s last performance at The Grove so they’ll be looking to set that right.
Benni Mccarthy is in hot form and looking good. Bentley is suspended for this one so that’s good. We’ll have to keep Mccarthy and Pedersen quiet and stop Tugay from shooting from distance and look to dominate Lucas Neill in defense. If we do that we should win.
RVP n Titi will probably start up front with Ade coming on as a sub which should be fine. The rest of the team probably picks itself. I only hope Hoyte keeps working hard and not let the impending departure of Lauren affect his preparation and get him complacent. Toure needs a break..desperately. I dont see him getting it in the near future.Senderos , if he performs as well as against Liverpool in the FA cup we will be fine.
Its a standard midfield 4 of Gilberto, Cesc , Hleb n Rosicky and Flamini will drop in incase RVP doesnt start and we play 4-5-1.
This should be a tight one but we should nick it specially since we’ve got Ade n probably Baptista n Walcott also on the bench. Predicting an Arsenal win 1-2.
17 Responses to “Blackburn - Arsenal”
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January 13th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
GREAT WIN!!! am just so happy we managed to get all 3 points today….when gilberto was red carded cos of that UTTER c-nt called savage, i was like “oh-sh-t!” add that to the fact that it was raining heavily and that blackburn away is usually a bad fixture for us……then this win was quite incredible.
they handled the pressure very well. a wonderful week really, we played 3 difficult away games in the north west and WON all three of them.
we could so EASILY have lost ALL THREE of them.
am so happy with the result.
with the redcard, gilberto gets a 3 match suspension. that is bad cos he is the only person in our team who has NO real or experienced replacement. flamini and diaby are NOT DMs despite what some people here think.
denilson and song are actually only alternative DMs. but song is not up to standards while denilson hasnt had enough games for us to really judge him.
quick question: is gilberto suspended for the Man U game onwards or can he still play the Man U game and start his suspension after?
January 13th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Absolutely fantastic win today.
Down to ten men after 13 minutes, this certainly didn’t look good at that point. Gilberto did NOT deserve to go off. A better referee gives him a yellow… and lets the game play out normally.
But hey… it all worked out in the end.
Blackburn should have had a man sent off as VanPersie would have been in alone… if Gilberto gets RED… that should have been a RED. Again, didn’t look like it was our day at that moment. A moment later, Henry’s free kick finds Kolo’s head… bang… 1-0 to the Arsenal.
We had a few shaky moments where Blackburn could have tied it up 1-1… but hell, we were down a man for 77 minutes.
BRILLIANT 2nd goal from Thierry Henry. STUNNING.
2-0.
Big Win.
Woo Hoo.
We’ve got the magic going now…
January 13th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Why is this Red Card a 3 game ban?
January 13th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Savage is a useless C***, Big Phil was IMMENSE!, Hleb brilliant.. we saw Titi defend!, the work rate was phenominal… Cesc is a genius… the boys worked hard and did us proud… and Savage is a C***…
did you all hear the songs…. when Titi scored the 2nd…?
(We’ve only got ten men.. We’ve only got ten men… we’ve only got ten mennnnnnn…. ad naseum… and by the way…
Savage is a C***
January 13th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Arsenal 2- Goons 0
Great win!!!!!
It has been awhile since I have gotten so pissed off watching a game. Savage fouls Gilberto, pushes him when he is down and then falls down theatrically. Arsenal should appeal the card. And then Savage is whining to the ref afterwards like he was somehow wronged.
January 13th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
the red card that comes from two yellow cards results in a one game ban.
the red card that is flashed without the yellow cards is a three game ban.
January 13th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Gilberto’s red card may cause Arsenal headaches in the next few games. I guess Wenger is going to play Flamini in the holding midfield position until Gilberto is back. Not an ideal situation especially against ManUre. Unless Diaby comes up to speed very very quickly. Great result though considering the condition of the pitch, the wet weather and playing with 10 men. My MOTM is Cesc and what a warrior he is. He has certainly toughen up this season and the ball to Henry for the 2nd goal was simply magnificent. Sendoros was huge as well especially the recovery tackle to rob Nando of the ball in the penalty box. Someone shud let Hoyte know he is playing right back. What the hell was he doing playing so close to central defence?! He still has alot to learn when it comes to defensive positioning. Makes the decision to release Lauren a glaring mistake IMO. I am sure ManUre spies would have seen that. I thot Rosicky and Helb played very well too. Henry shud have scored from the great cross by Rosicky but who is complaining. RvP’s touch was heavy in a few attacking situations. I expect Wenger to partner Adebayor in the game against ManUre and give RvP some rest.
Delighted that 10 men Arsenal beat the dirtest team in the EPL at their place. :-))
January 13th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Denilson is not a defensive midfielder either. He said himself he is more fabregas than Gilberto. Song is the only one. Feck, I thought in the past the suspension kicked the game after the next one. They must have changed it. When was the last time we had a full strength team against Man United?
January 13th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Nando? Whose that? ;^)
January 13th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Whether or not you like hard men like Keane, Souness, Bremner, Vieira etc etc (and the list could go on and on), they never went down like a girl. Savage did.
Great win today. Saw the first sixty minutes and we deserved everything we got.
January 13th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
No, denilson IS a defensive midfielder. he is a DM for brazil U19 and U21 and i have seen him play in the reserves and he sits in front of the defense. i am guessing that makes him a DM right? he was trying to say was that he can also “play” or he wants to play like fabregas….am sure being an attacking midfielder is far more fun for a kid than “sitting” infront of the defense.
January 13th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Mate, I think I know what I heard. The guy asked him about potential comparisons with Gilberto and Denilson said as a player he is more like Fabregas than Gilberto. That ends the debate. The guy said it himself. Plus, at 19, he is still finding his position. At those young ages, it doesn’t matter where the hell they play for the Brazil youth team.
Alot of midfielders sit in front of the defence when their team hasn’t got the ball. It’s what they do when they’ve got it that determines what they are. Denilson, like Fabregas, springs forward. Gilberto doesn’t.
Also, the other night against Liverpool he played a fabregas role on the inside left.
January 13th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Henry ran at the defense… slowed up… threaded the ball to Cesc, who layed it back to Henry. Henry scores a goal that maybe 2 other players in the world could… and you complement Cesc on it???
Guess you aren’t a big Henry fan. He played defense today. He was in MIDFIELD at times… and maybe Henry could have scored from the Rosicky pass, but your spoiled if you think many could have controlled it in one touch and banged it in. The fact the Henry USUSALLY scores there… is the only reason you think HENRY should have scores. Most folks don’t even control it.
January 13th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=399861&root=england&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1&cc=5901
At least someone else agrees with my choice of MOTM.
January 14th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
wenger CALLED him a defensive midfielder (on arsenal.com) and ALL the matches he has played in he has played as a DM so why on earth are you arguing??? jeez!!!
so now cos he played inside left against liverpool does that make him a LM???
January 14th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
He might drop back a little further than Fabregas but Wenger actually called him a cross between Gilberto and Tomas Rosicky. He is a sort of Xabi Alonso. Using your own rationale and criteria- which excluded primarily defensively minded players such as Flamini and Rosicky from taking Gilberto’s place- how can you not also exclude Denilson? If you read around he is clearly not a bona-fida ball winner like Gilberto or Makelele.
I agree, he plays in the defensive third, but I would also bracket him along with Flamini and Diaby in not being a specialist defensive midfielder.
I’m not trying to pick an argument but Flamini and Diaby are clearly more defensive minded than attacking so I had to pick you up on your failure to realise that Denilson is also not ready to step into Gilberto’s shoes and patrol the 18 yard line with the discipline required.
January 15th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
I think you’re reading something else into his comment Stag. He said his man of the MATCH, not the man of the 72nd minute. Henry disappears for long stretches of the game - that’s not slighting him or his efforts, it just happens to be the lot of strikers. Fabregas was everywhere and had to play offensive and defensive midfield after Gilberto was out. You said it yourself - “Henry was in MIDFIELD at times.” Cesc was there controlling the pace and tempo for the entire game. Technically, that’s his job, but he does happen to do it very well.