The last televised match of the season is a contender for worst match of the season, as a second-string Gunners side defeats an over-cautious Everton 1-0 at the Grove this morning.
After ManUre’s big win over West Ham yesterday, Arsenal really had nothing to play for, so Arsene sent a lot of non-starters out on the pitch, continuing the trend started at Derby on Monday.
There were very few chances for either side, but finally in the 76th minute, Nick Bendtner headed a cross into the net to give the Gunners the 1-0 win.
Interesting that Mathieu Flamini did not play any part whatsover, but not enough to keep me from yawning throughout this snoozer of a match. You know it’s sad when the one guy watching Serie A is making more noise than the fifeen or twenty Gooners watching in the pub today.
One last match before the season wraps up, away to Sunderland. Highly doubtful that the match will be televised here in the States, but stay tuned for a final ruling.
Until then, have a great week.
18 Responses to “Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
That picture is eerily similar to how I watch half the matches - in the office - tie and all. The blinds are even the same … LOL.
Yeah, end of season-ers are snoozefests.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
And it seems we will have not one but three “derby counties” in the PL next season.
West Brom and Stoke are up. And the playoff folks look mighty weak.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I don’t bother posting much. I’m much more content to just read the banter… but this time I was compelled to do so…
Flamini leaving for the Rossoneri? (http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_3519560,00.html) I pray to everything that is right and just that this is completely unfounded… I know there are Flamini detractors on here… there always have been, from the days when he was more of a utility player, up until now.
However, I’ve always been a supporter of his and thought he deserved a more prominent role… now, look at the midfield partnership that he and Fabregas have created… one of the best in the world for me.
It will be a sad day indeed, if he inks that deal with Milan on Sunday… a sad day indeed.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Addendum: All that being said… In Wenger I trust.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
@Fred: Why is Fabianski mediocre? After 2 games? Its too much..come on…you got to be kidding me.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I think he is mediocre because he is getting a few basic stuff wrong. Exactly like Almunia.
His CC performances werent that solid IMO.
That said, he is still very young at 23. Keepers dont peak till their early 30s.
We should go out and get a proper, TALL keeper, sell off Almunia and wait let Fabianski continue to learn in the FA and CC cups.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
A yawn indeed.
Interesting watching the 3 lads (Hleb, Fab & Flam) in the stands giggling with eachother in such a carefree manner. I wonder if Wenger is sharing that spirit.
Frankly Flamini is making Wenger look foolish.
Two things stood out for me about Bendtners play. The first the intelligent way he sought to link play with his team mates……the second his lack of pace. On a number of ocassions he was in a position to accelerate forward into the ‘dangerzone’ but he didn’t have the pace to do so, so he checked back, and looked to find someone to pass to. Moment gone.
Song looked good.
Had to laugh when Senderos came on and promptly slipped on his butt!
May 4th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Goodbye Jens and fuck off Mathieu!!!
May 4th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Hey MikeK-
Nice meeting you at Slainte today. That leetle Meelan fan had a good time, alright. A shocking amount of midfield talent spectating today for Arsenal. I personally hope we get Hleb back. Flamini will be a serious loss. I guess they consider him a replacement Gattuso with a bit more link-up quality. I think he’s making a major career mistake leaving Arsene and his mates. F’ing agents are like stockbrokers, they draw their cuts on transfers, so players jump ship, even against their real interests.
Maybe Gilberto was putting himself in the shop window, but he looked very lively today?
May 4th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I tend to agree with Fred here. I have seen some young ‘keepers of Arsenal at the past, gotta say, Alex Manninger and Stuart Taylor looked more promising at the age of 21/22 than Fab.
as Fred said, Fab is rather similar to Alumnia in terms of the basic stuffs. he’s poor in the air. and his decision making on rushing out or not has also been poor in the few matches i have watched.
not saying this guy has no potential. he probably will be a great keeper in the future. but i do believe that for a top club like Arsenal, it’s not a good idea to buy young goalkeeper.
cos there’s simply too much pressure on the goalkeepers of a big club. and i have seen again and again some promising young goalkeepers after making some mistakes when playing for big clubs, their self-belief totally trashed, and never be able to recover since.
Richard Wright being a classic example. He made his debut at the age of 16 for Ipswich, and looked so promising a young keeper. I thought he could be as good as Shaun Given. a remarkable shot stopper. but that Arsenal move probably killed his career.
Alex Manninger was the same. i like Alex’s attitude a great deal, and at one stage i really thought he could make it.
it’s not just happening at Arsenal. in fact, among the big 4 clubs, it’s very rare to see a young keeper broke through the rank and forced his way into the first team. Petr Cech being the rare one establishing himself as Chelsea number 1 in a young age, but he’s a special talent that doesn’t come along often.
if we do not buy a commanding central half in the summer, our goalkeeping situation is worrying. with two not so tall CB in the middle, and the keeper clue to his line all the time, expect more goals would be conceded through setpieces.
most of the championship winning teams at the past had a top class keeper in their side. we need a keeper not only be able to save the shots he’s supposed to save, he needs to have the ability to turn out a match-winning performance from time to time, such as Jens’ FA Cup final performance on 2005, he basically won the cup by himself.
take the Chelsea away league defeat, when Drogba took the shot, i knew it’s going in. Almunia simply doesnt have that ability to pull off some saves that would get you asking “how he managed to save it”? like Jens’ crucial last minute save against Man U in our 1-0 away win.
I recall when George Graham bought David Seaman, when being asked “why sold Lukic (back then a very popular keeper among the fans)”, George said “John (Lukic) is one of the top six keepers in the country, but Seaman is the BEST”.
if i were a manager, when taking over a side, the first thing i would do is to get myself as good a goalkeeper as my transfer budget allows. Then build my side from there.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
The game was boring!
I do not like Nicky B. He gave away a lot today, but was able to put in a first class header. His chemistry with the team looks terrible. Send his ass back to Birmingham, and he can join his buddy Taylor.
Curious, if Henry wanted to come back, would anyone think they would take him?
May 4th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
So it’s goodbye Flamini (apparently he got the plane tonight) - and not so fast, Gilberto.
“Wenger left open the possibility of Gilberto Silva staying on for one more season if Flamini goes.
The Brazil midfielder lost his starting place to Flamini this season.
And Wenger said: “It’s not necessarily goodbye to Gilberto.
“I want him to stay but I have to sit down with him and see what he wants to do and go from there.”
—— - -
Hopefully, he wants a 4-year deal, which will force him to move on.
We need - how many times do we have to tell each other - a big nasty CB, a top, top quality keeper, a powerhouse midfielder to partner Cesc and miracle injury cream for VanP and Rosicky.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Goalkeeper is the hardest position to fill. At one club they can be great, at another they can be poor. I remember Brad Friedel was average at Liverpool and now he’s great at Blackburn.
Sebastian Frey has always impressed me, and he looks to have a presence and character. Having Almunia is like having a geography teacher in goal. Completely devoid of charisma.
I thought Bendtner was very clever the way he attacked the box. He has good habit of picking the ball up on the inside left and running towards the box and assessing the situation. I don’t remember many times when he didn’t go into the ‘dangerzone’ because he lacked pace. If he checked back it was because he was about to be tackled. At least from what I saw.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Bendtner’s heading goals often being one of the most exciting scenes i seen in football. Reminds me a bit of Shaq O’Neill’s monster dunk in NBA - in your face, take no prisoner.
i wonder how the defenders felt seeing the sight of this monster leaping towards them? it took a brave soul just trying to stop him in the air.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
That’s right Mazza he checked back because he was going to get tackled, and that in large part was because he lacked the pace/power to drive through and away from the defenders. So he did the sensible thing and retained possession. The problem was, the window of opportunity that had presented momentarily was lost and the whole play reverted back to playing around in front of the defence. Just an observation.
On the upside, he showed a nice level of composure and awareness of his team-mates.
He won’t be able to change his lack of pace but I would imagine over time he will be able to hold his own better physically against the EPL defenders.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Wenger treats these guys with such dignity and respect, he has never publicly pressured Flamini, and yet look at the way Flamini repays that kindness. Obviously in the background he is negotiating with other clubs, all the while letting his boss look like a proper goose with Wenger wistfully saying ‘he is confident he will stay’.
You have to say it, it seems almost a part of French culture, I can recall Petit, Vieira, Henry all stringing Wenger along. Sometimes I wish he would adopt Fergie’s fire for a day or two and give them a bloody nose. To see Flamini and Hleb sitting there laughing and giggling whilst Wenger has the worries and expectations of all Arsenal supporters on his shoulders…….just seemed such a contrast.
May 4th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Almunia is not as bad as we make him out to be. His first few games found him indecisive in attacking crosses in the six yard box but he gained confidence as the season wore on and produced very steady if not spectacular performances. In fact, he did not lose us any games.
He also became an excellent 11th defender and on many occasions intercepted balls way outside the penalty area when our defense was caught playing too far up. Not saying he is in the class of a Cech, but we simply have more urgent position needs to be filled. Green and Jaaskaleinen will both be available on Bozmans over the summer and this would make more sense at this time.
As I have suspected for the past 6 weeks, Vela and Traore will make up our left wing contingent next year with the occasional appearance of Hleib, Rosicky and Diaby depending on our formation and RVP and Eduardo if necessary. If this holds true, say bye bye to all our holy incantations and pleas to Arsene for the acquisition of an additional player on the left.
Gilberto most likely will stay and maybe we will resign Diarra for £12 mill (lol). Actually see us getting a multi faceted CM who can play across the line and a CB.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Song was outstanding yesterday. I wonder where Kolo’s going to play when Sagna’s fit again.
Fabianski’s poise and shotstopping are very good but he should require better judgement to be in the Arsenal squad.
I’ve been screaming for Traore to get a game at LM since Rosicky went down as I knew he could give us a descent spark. I’m glad he got a chance to show his quality. We’ll see about next year.
I told you guys back in January that Flamini was leaving. If he’s patient, I think he’ll go on to have a successful career at Milan. He had Kaka, the best player in the world, sewn up over 180 minutes. If he keeps his rough edge while improving technically, the sky could be the limit for him. We’ll see.
Did anyone see Henry against Valencia? If not, see if you can catch a replay. Maybe the comments from the media and fans got to him but he absolutely destroyed Miguel, who’s one of the best RB’s in Europe. He got two goals and had a fantastic game. Can’t wait til the game on Wednesday against Real Madrid.