Captains off the Bridge – Road Trip Update

December 30, 2009

Good morning Gooners!  I had grand aspirations of blogging every day while we were here in London for the Arsenal America Road Trip.  What has been stopping me you ask?  Beer, and lots of it.  I will admit, I don’t drink this much . . . ever.  I am married, and if you read the fine print when you get married, there is some clause in there about not coming home drunk, not going to England, and getting pissed . . . yada, yada, yada.  My good friend told me to begin practicing for this trip (drinking that is), much like an olympian practices for the olympics.  He was right, and I was . . . well . . . foolish enough to think that I would get in an out of a pub without downing at least 3-5 pints of English beer that has significantly higher volumes of alcohol than beer in the US.  You may draw your own conclusions from here . . . as I sit in bed, smelling stale beer, a dirty pub, with random scratches and cuts on my hands and arms.  Viva la England!

We are into the 5th day of the Arsenal America Road Trip.  What an amazing group of ladies and gentlemen we have as Gooners in the US.  Since it seems that Arsenal always win when we are in town, the local Gunners faithful have requested that we come over for every game of significance and importance.  I told them that we would be more than happy to oblige.

I have so many pictures to post . . . well, we are going to have to do a separate post just for the pictures . . . and that settles that.  So the post Villa commentary and stories will have to wait until tomorrow.  Portsmouth awaits us now.

Much like the match against Aston Villa, our match against Portsmouth has taken on a tremendous amount of significance.  Villa were the litmus test for our continued ascent to the top of the league.  Pompey signify our ability to stay there.  With our 27 minute wonder sub, Cesc Fabregas, out for an additional 1-3 weeks, the lads will have to cover and compensate in order to take the 3 points from Fratton park.  Diaby, Song, Nasri, Arshavin, and Eduardo will need to step up to the plate.  We cannot rely upon one singular player.  We have found out the hard way . . . that does not work.  With Robin gone for the season, we have got to fill in the gaps, and the answer is not for Cesc to carry us all the way.  Championships are won as a team.  If every player could carry on until the end of the season, that would be great.  The reality is that the EPL is the most physical league in the world, and the truth of the matter is . . . in today’s highly competitive game, players get injured much more frequently, and teams need to guard against that.  Cough . . . Cough . . . Arsene, you can buy players . . . no really . . . it’s OK to buy a lad or two.

Portsmouth are at the bottom of the table.  They are precariously close to the point of no return, having only secured 14 points since the start of the season.  It is most likely that Avram Grant will have his lads park the bus in front of the goal, and our Gunners will need to find a way past a team that has conceded 28 goals this season.  It won’t be an easy game, but I for one think the Road Trippers will be up for the match . . . oh, and the payers too.  We leave Emirates on the coach buses at 3:00PM London Time, and head to the coastal town of Portsmouth for a 7:45PM kick-off.

There will be more on the Villa match, Supporters Cup match, and the Portsmouth game on Thursday, so stay tuned.  Don’t forget to check with your local Branch Managers for game times and TV viewing schedules.

4-0 to the Arsenal . . . just because we can!

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Posted by MD_Gunner_14 | Filed Under Game Preview, Roadtrips 

Comments

4 Responses to “Captains off the Bridge – Road Trip Update”

  1. Mark Barbeau Says:
    December 30th, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    We’ll expect a full report upon your return. With pictures. LOTS and lots of pictures.

  2. David Kilpatrick Says:
    December 30th, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    Details, more details! If any can be remembered… ;-)

  3. MD_Gunner_14 Says:
    December 30th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    I can say that the atmosphere at Pompey was absolutely fantastic. I learned more songs there than I have in years. I will update all tomorrow.

  4. Pompey 1-4 Arsenal; the Good, Bad, and Ugly « 7amkickoff — The Arsenal blog from an American perspective Says:
    January 5th, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    [...] away supporters (which included the Arsenal America tour bus) were in amazing voice and were shouting down the Pompey faithful, no small feat. To be fair to the [...]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.