Jan 29
Yet another frustrating encounter with Bolton, as it takes a late Kolo Toure header to earn the Gunners a Valentine’s Day replay at the Reebok.
(Ed. note: If someone else could contribute their thoughts on this one, I’d appreciate it, as work and family commitments have kept me away from the web the past 36 hours or so.)
13 Responses to “Arsenal 1 - 1 Bolton”
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January 29th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Almunia - one minute terrible the next excellent, never know what you’ll get
Hoye - improved a lot of late, but hardly the finished article
Toure - a lion, if only he could organise AND defend crosses at the same time
Senderos - a nervous wreck, couldn’t pass water
Clichy - excellent, is coming on in leaps and bounds
Walcott - looks like a baby and plays like one, good experience though
Fabregas - marked out the game but proved influential as Bolton tired
Flamini - tried hard but to little effect, can’t wait till Diaby is 100% fit
Rosicky - stunk in the first half, tried harder played better in the second
Henry - lost some pace, stands around waiting for the ball too much
Adebayor - first touch was abysmal, when he’s good he’s good, when he’s bad he’s shite
Arsenal played cr*p, Bolton played well. Lots of players out, need them back - could wreck our season if this continues for another 2 months.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Mostly agree with Danny’s assessment but I have to say it was pleasing to see Cesc and Ade hussle for the ball in the second half. Ade tackled to win the ball on more than one occassion and Cesc refused to give the ball up despite being on the ground. We need more such stuff against Bolton..Every single cross that Walcott provided was met by Bolton, so another option was needed. Wish someone had tried to dribble past Bolton or take their players on. A few years ago, Henry used to do that…
But the next rounds draw is a joke
Arsenal or Bolton v Blackburn
No matter what, I don’t enjoy games against Bolton or Blackburn. Getting tired of having Bolton being a bogey team for Arsenal. One of these days, Arsenal has to thrash them otherwise results against them will be a foregone conclusion. As if they are not already.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
So the replay is FEB.14th…
and if we win, its HOME v. Blackburn.
Sounds good to me.
I am happy we are home, and if we can escape Bolton… we should be able to beat Blackburn… and move on.
Chelski got another cupcake draw… at home v. lower division teams.
Oh well… gotta do it the hard way… as usual!
January 29th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
yeah, Henry doesn’t take on players anymore!?!!
Do you remember him taking on 4 players v. Blackburn???
He ran by 2… layed it off to Cesc, he fed it back… he went by the other two and rifled it into the top corner.
Just can’t do it any more. Gotta get someone new.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Nope. Never saw that game. Stupid highlight reel only showed him scoring a great goal but never saw what came before it.
basing what I said on yesterday’s game.
>>Gotta get someone new.
That’s F*** exactly what I said. Good one
You are so perceptive man. No idea you could read my thoughts about my fav player of all time. Wow. Great man.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Fixture congestion? I think so. Should we lose in the replay at Bolton on the 14th (it looks like we will have the weekend off [5th Round Fa Cup weekend])which would give us a week’s rest before we fly to Eindhoven on Tuesday the 20th. Not a bad weekend to have off should we succumb to the Bolton Thugs.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Some observations:
Rosicky needs to link up more effectively Clichy going forward. Similar to Hleb/Eboue with someone running onto the final through ball in that (R) channel. That someone should be Henry/Adebayor in that (L) channel. Rosicky has to bring his “A” game even when his hommie Hleb is not playing.
Alumnia needs to learn from Lehmann how to take charge in the box.
Hoyte/Clichy cannot be ball watching on the interior and getting beat by players making weakside runs to the back post. In hockey its called “head on a swivel”.
Except for his first few starts, Walcott’s “dip in form” now spans several months. I didn’t think he should have started against Bolton and he didn’t do anything to prove me wrong.
Toure played both defender and attacking MF. He tried to negate Bolton’s MF pressure on Fabregas. What was Flamini doing?
That has got to be the first card for diving I’ve seen in the PL this season. A miracle.
Henry needs to bring his game face/attitude to the match and stop F*****G chatting/hugging the opposition.
January 30th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Great stuff.
Rosicky needs to bring his “A” game. Brilliant.
Almunia (lets at least spell the guys name corrrectly)… he is NOT going to get many tips from Jens… thats for sure… and Jens has flapped his arms at more than a few this season.
Almunia ONLY plays CC and the odd FA Cup match. Not much of a worry. I doubt he’ll ever be our #1.
Hoyte and Clichy are YOUNGSTERS. Kids. Learning on the job. They are going to get beaten like a drum sometimes. Thats what happens when you play kids. Its a learning experience. Sometimes you pay the price. They’ve done fairly well.
Walcott is how old?
What exactly do you expect him to do at this tender age? He will grow, learn and bulk up in the next few years. He should prove a TERROR in a year or two for the opposition. With Hleb going down, who exactly would you have started over Theo. I’ll go with WENGER’s choice to start him, over your conjecture.
Flamini was trying his ass off… he’s not the most talented player we have, but he always gives his all… runs hard all match, and gives a damned good effort. Thats what he was doing… if you expect a Flamini to play like a young Figo or Vieira, you haven’t been watching him much. He does about what is expected of him… why would you get on Flamini?
The only thing Henry needs to do, is keep doing what he does best. SCORING. He scored in 4 straight matches prior to Bolton. I know this is somewhat shocking, but he’s NOT SUPERMAN. Although he does play him in some matches. Henry is Henry. He chats, he smiles, he enjoys the game… if you don’t like that… then you don’t like Henry. He’s ALWAYS been that way… and will CONTINUE to be that way. Get over it.
We drew 1-1 against a pretty decent Bolton team. Its not the end of the world. It wasn’t that bad… and there is ZERO need to call any player out after that match… we didn’t lose. We can’t go the rest of the season with such a young team and expect them to be perfect or even consistent.
Enjoy what you’ve got, because its pretty damned good.
(even with the injuries)
January 30th, 2007 at 3:58 am
For once Stag.. I agree with you .. 100% …. nope 99% .. The FA cup is almost out of our hands.. and it is bad…mainly coz we have to play one more fuckin game…which is tough… I cant see AW putting out a team to win at The Reebok .. I cant see Titi or Ade starting…mebbe Baps n Ali will start.. but I dont see Titi starting…
January 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am
It was a shocking performance. Once again it proved that Arsenal without any one of Hleb, Fabregas and Rosicky are like a car that keeps breaking down. Rosicky tries to tango with Flamini but realises Flamini is no Hleb and the move goes tits up. Fabregas engages Walcott before Walcott has engaged his brain and the moves goes tits up.
Arsenal can get away with shoddy multi-lack of passing triangles in away games where the onus is not on us to attack, but at home we need everyone fit and on tune. Even when the three magicians are playing- as we saw against Man United- it’s not a guarantee of fluency if any of the three are not firing on all cylinders.
I worry about Henry’s fitness. The rest seems to have not made any difference to his heavy legs. He still has a basic high speed- as shown against Blackburn and Liverpool- but he has no spring and the exra gear no longer exists. He is also far too static. This is okay when you get a freakily good delivery like the one Eboue delivered against Manure, but nine times out of ten you have to either go back or forward to get to the ball first. Henry just stands there hoping for the defenders to miss the ball.
Flamini just showed again what a complete waste of space he is. He is supposed to be good at cutting of passing lines and actually tackling someone. He is possibly the worst player in the Arsenal squad at doing this. Get Denilson in there from now on.
Rosicky is all fancy footwork and little substance for me. He is brilliant at receiving the ball and turning his man but his decision-making was pathetic on Sunday.
All in all Arsenal showed far too much respect to an average Bolton side and- to borrow in a cricketing term- gave them too much time to “get in”, and feel comfortable.
Also, Adebayor has gone back to feeling inadequate now Henry is back. Great.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Almunia/aluminum/albumen/albatross-who else would I be talking about? Misspelings hapen, git over it. Almunia, Almunia, Almunia, Almunia, Almunia….
Walcott is getting starts. He has pace and technique. When is he planning on displaying both? One defender, beat him. Two defenders, pass and stay or pass and go. Show us aggression, show us progress, show us the future.
Flamini is an earnest, hard working player. You are so right. No argument there. He will never be mistaken for even an old Figo or old Viera. Right again. As Gilberto’s stand-in though, he failed to close down Anelka before his pass that created Bolton’s goal. It happens. Hopefully, Denilson or Diaby will consign Flamini to the bench.
If our ambassador of footballing good will had scored, he would have been MOTM. As it was, Superman was MIA.
Old or young, I don’t care. If we lose, it’s because its a young team that will get better. If we win, then its my, my, my how Wenger’s kids can play against more senior teams. All that should matter is the ability that gets you into the team and then displaying that ability.
Arsenal are consistent: slow starts and conceding first goals. I don’t enjoy that kind of consistency and nor should you. My heart and stomach can’t take it.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Yours is a voice in the wilderness.
January 31st, 2007 at 12:23 am
Charlton has beaten Bolton twice already this season (2-0 in league, and 1-0 in Carling Cup), and faces them again this weekend– maybe we could learn something from their approach, as they certainly don’t have any attacking options that we don’t have.
Much as I hate that smirking, fouling, cheating, time-wasting a-hole, Kevin Davies, I have to hand it to him on two accounts:
1) He looked to me to be passing, not mis-firing on a shot, when he gave the ball to Nolan for their goal.
2) He had a serious enough injury that he required a pain-killer shot in the foot, and yet he came back out to finish the rest (more than half) of the game.
Show me one time, where an Arsenal player (other than maybe Kolo) has shown Davies’ level of commitment and willingness to shake off a minor knock in order to keep playing… nobody on our team does that– all it takes is the slightest bump, and our guys are out for weeks at a time. Even the most niggling injuries have our guys out for months (Where the Hell is Gallas? Where the Hell was Cole last year? What’s with a hammie putting Hleb out for a month or a groin strain doing Baptista for a month? Get a little toughness! Even a more serious injury becomes blown out of proportion– look at Senderous out like 4-5 months with a shoulder separation– that should be a month at the most– we’re not talking about baseball pitchers here– you’re not even allowed to use your arms in this game… JEEZUS!)
By the way, Senderos is not good enough– once again, this game had an attacker (Nolan) going by him like he was standing still, on a through ball– Almunia saved his bacon with a great deflection, but there’s no way we’re ever going to be solid in the middle of our defense with a guy as slow as Senderos filling one of those two spots. Nor can we expect a strong defense, if Toure, CLichy, and the remainder of the back four never figure out how to mark up on opponents and defend crosses… our set piece defense is pitiful– and inexplicably and unacceptably bad.