Champions League: Porto 0 - 1 Chelsea... Newspaper reaction, Goal video, Match report, Player ratings
Wednesday, 25 November 09, 08:04 PM · Comments (47)
Newspaper reports
The Guardian, David Hytner: "Nicolas Anelka seems to reserve his best for closely contested Champions League ties. This was the third time Chelsea had won by the only goal in Group D and on each occasion the France striker has been the scorer."
Daily Telegraph, Jeremy Wilson: "To the wider world, this was a match of limited importance. To a meagre Porto crowd of 35,000, it was also a game of only occasional entertainment. Yet to Chelsea, and their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, it was yet further evidence that John Terry was fully justified in suggesting the players are recapturing the aura of invincibility that was so evident under Jose Mourinho."
The Times, Tom Dart: "[T]his Chelsea vintage have a savvy and solidity that recalls the title-winning sides under José Mourinho. ... A monochrome match was settled by a second-half winner from Nicolas Anelka that confirmed first place in group D for Chelsea with a game to spare."
The Independent, Mark Fleming: "A pattern is starting to develop in Europe, one that gives credibility to the idea that Carlo Ancelotti is the man to deliver the coveted Champions League trophy to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich."
Official Chelsea FC Website: "Chelsea ensured first place in Champions League Group D is ours after another clean sheet helped us on our way to a slender victory at Porto."
The goal
The preamble
Go on, admit it, you pissed yourself laughing last night as Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League, didn’t you? You just couldn’t stop yourself. Yesterday morning began with headlines of Jamie “Please don’t bring up the fact I’m actually an Everton fan so all my displays of loyalty for Liverpool are bollocks” Carragher holding up the white flag before a ball had even been kicked against Debrecen. There was a sense of inevitability about it all as he continually stressed that dropping out of the premier European competition at the earliest possible stage wouldn’t be that much of a disaster. It’s probably not a disaster but just fucking embarrassing. Personally, I feel that it’s unacceptable for any supposed big club to fall at this stage but even more so for Liverpool. They preach to anyone within earshot about their ‘special European pedigree’ but I’m struggling to find any recent evidence to back up the claim that Liverpool are still a side to be feared in Europe. Rafa and the club have been living off that lucky Champions League victory in 2005 and ever since Carlo beat them in the 2006 final, Liverpool’s much talked about aura in this competition has been exposed as a myth. It would be arrogant of me to call Chelsea the team that most sides fear in Europe these days so I’ll think I’ll do just that. We are the best team in Europe at present and that’s a fact (I put in that Rafa inspired ending for any Liverpool readers but before I get old fruit and vegetables thrown at me from the disapproving audience, I agree, that is a shit line).
But that debate can be returned to at some other time. Back to last night. At approximately 21:31, Liverpool trudged off the field knowing that with five minutes to go Fiorentina were on the verge of knocking them out of Europe after just five, yes five group games. At this stage I’d like to further stress the embarrassment of not even making it to the last game of the group stage before being dumped out the competition. Whoever you support, you have to agree that going out after just five games is shit. Anyway, the Liverpool players then huddled around the piss-poor monitor Sky managed to ship out to Hungary, with Geoff Shreeves for company, urging Lyon to score the goal that would keep their hopes alive, wincing when a golden opportunity to get that vital goal disappeared before their very eyes before grimacing when the realisation hit them that Thursday night football in the Europa League now awaited them. It was an hilarious end to a pitiful qualifying campaign and whatever happened tonight, nothing would wipe the smile off my face.
Or so I thought. Trust that twat Avram Grant to ruin my day. I’ve never felt any sympathy for Paul Hart, well I’ve barely been able to recognise him on Match of the Day so feeling anything for him was always going to be a bit of a stretch, but seeing the yellow “BREAKING NEWS” bar flash up on Sky Sports News with word of another Avram inspired knifing filled me with dread. The ghostly one had struck again. Despite all the denials that he was only interested in being the Director of Football (sound familiar), the inevitable had arrived within a matter of weeks. He had claimed another victim and I fully expect him to announce his return to management by the end of the week. Personally, I wish he would just fuck off out of the Premier League as I hate the way that he turned Roman’s head against Jose (again, another argument for another day) and if I hear one mention of his apparent role in guiding us to the Champions League final, then I’ll go down there and punch him myself.
Anyway, we were playing Porto for all those who missed it.
The team
Carlo had announced that he would be making changes and the late call up of the Messi (I hope that catches on), one Gael Kakuta, had caused quite a bit of fuss. But it was as expected, with a mix of A and B team players:
Cech; Ivanovic, Ricky, JT, Zhirkov; Ballack, Mikel, Malouda; Deco, Didier, Anelka.
And after all the fuss, Kakuta didn’t even make it onto the bench.
The match
At this point I usually like to present an insight into the free flowing football of another glorious Chelsea performance. But for the first-half at least, I’ll leave it up to you guys to find your own highlights as we were shit. We were an anal impaction, black banana and corn eyed arse snake put together (yes, it was more fun looking for poop words as Google put it) and frankly I was embarrassed. Yes we were brilliant at walking around but if you were looking for high points, there weren’t any. Just 45 minutes' worth of walking although at one point Anelka did break out into a jog to fire in our only meaningful shot of the opening period.
So, on to the second half. Well it was more of the same, although with a little more jogging. The stadium was half empty and both sides seemed happy with a 0-0 as everyone went through the motions. Alan Smith on commentating duty did raise a chuckle by claiming that we should at least put in some effort but that seemed beyond most of our lot. Porto were trying to test Cech in goal with a couple of long range efforts but apart from some frankly awful diving from our Portuguese opponents, not much went on. There were endless misplaced passes and lots of walking but hardly any of what we would classify as attacking. A coma was luckily averted by the introduction of Essien and it was his driving run from our box to the edge of theirs which set up the only goal of the game. He found Zhirkov on the left wing who released the ball at the perfect moment to the overlapping Malouda. He beautifully squared the ball to an unmarked Anelka who easily nodded the ball home. And that was that. We walked through the rest of the half and luckily the millionaire referee put us all out of our misery after three minutes of added on time. Some of our players looked so bored by the end of the game that they failed to celebrate only the second victory by an English side at the Dragao stadium but it was that kind of night; simply mind numbingly boring.
The good
- The result – Carlo went there to avoid defeat and with a mind on Sunday, his A-team did him proud, sort of. A win of any sort in Porto is a bonus so despite the paint-drying nature of the performance, he got the win we needed to top the group. I expect a few kids to get a run out in two weeks time against the happy Cypriots.
- United’s defeat – Shows what happens when you put shit players up against an average side in this competition. Fergie likes to think that he has a good squad but the likes of Gibson, Macheda, Welbeck and Obertan just aren’t good enough at this level.
- The kit – Really getting desperate now to find a positive but our all white outfit does look smart.
The bad
- Our laziness – I don’t know what it is about Chelsea but if things are going too well, we always seem to throw in an awful performance just to make things interesting again. JT was talking beforehand about us regaining our Jose inspired invincibility and winning when you don’t play well is the usual bollocks which most pundits say about potential champions, but I just hate the way that we seem to stroll though large portions of matches every few weeks. It cost us against Wigan and Villa and if Porto were able to cobble together any sort of penetrative attack, we would have been in trouble tonight. Strangely, this kind of performance was probably exactly what we needed to remove any sort of complacency before we face Arsenal but after this performance I’m starting to think that the only team who could stop us from winning the big two competitions is us as when we’re at our best we’re simply the best team in Europe at the moment.
Player ratings
- Cech – 7/10 – A couple of nice saves and looked assured at most of the crosses into the box. Another clean sheet for Big Pete so we can’t really complain.
- Ivanovic – 6/10 – Solid but offered little going forward, just like everyone else.
- Carvalho – 6/10 – Forgot he was on the pitch at one point as he was that anonymous. Not a complaint, it was just that there was nothing for him to do at the back.
- Terry – 6/10 – Again solid but didn’t really do much apart from block a couple of shots.
- Zhirkov – 7/10 – An encouraging first start in the Champions League for our £18m reserve left-back. A better defender than I thought he would be and performed some world class defending to stop Hulk converting a dangerous Porto cross. A welcome addition to our scarily strong squad.
- Mikel – 7/10 – He’s not one of my favourites and his penchant for giving away cheap free-kicks can piss me off but after a sloppy start he did well. Simple distribution and some nice interceptions on an encouraging night for our young midfield hope. Expect a place on the bench on Sunday though.
- Ballack – 5/10 – Was he on the pitch or were we actually playing with 10 men for 60 minutes? So anonymous it was frightening but his class will be crucial against Arsenal and I’ll generously put tonight down to rustiness.
- Malouda – 7.5/10 – A good night for Flo as the squad like to call him. Put in four great crosses in the second half and only after Anelka realised that a striker should be in the box to score goals did his hard work get rewarded. Carlo said that Frank has a chance of starting at The Emirates so grab a place next to Mikel while it’s available.
- Anelka – 7/10 – Turning into a brilliant second striker and his movement at times was again beautiful. But the embarrassingly awful nature of our attacking play dragged him down in the end but a goal ended a seven game streak without a goal so well done.
- Drogba – 5/10 – Again, I’ll give him the rustiness excuse which Ballack’s shocker of a performance was credited with. Maybe kung-fu kicks really do hurt and the lasting damage of a bruised set of ribs was on show tonight. Completely anonymous as a target man and did absolutely nothing all night. We’ll need the normal Didier back on Sunday when Silvestre or even Senderos could start.
- Deco - 6/10 - Erratic at best. Seemed a little unfit and didn't really do anything. Did get a warm reception from the home fans which was nice.
Man of the Match
I’ll give it to Malouda. Some nice crosses and more jogging than most meant he was the best of a bad lot. As for the rest of them, well fatigue will certainly not be accepted as an excuse for any potential loss on Sunday.
The conclusion
I don’t really know how to sum up tonight. We got the win without playing well so that’s a plus point and the stress-free nature of the victory was another bonus ahead of Sunday but that dreaded complacency began to creep in again. We were always arrogant under Jose and usually had a swagger whenever we started a game but complacency was never really an issue. I’m sure Carlo will stamp down on it before our showdown with Arsene’s kids and our record against big teams this season is brilliant so there’s no need to worry. Bruno’s psychological work in the Chelsea Lab before big games appears to have paid off handsomely and another victory on Sunday would nearly knock out another title contender so I can’t wait. And if we disappoint, we’ve always got El Classico to fall back on.
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47 Comments · Add yours
Thanks Habs. Another good read, I particularly enjoyed your preamble.
I missed the game.
I was supposed to be taking part in a pub quiz but the opposing team was decimated by illness. I could watch the game after all. Except the pub was showing the United match, much to my disgust. I couldn't be bothered traipsing around looking for another hostelry in the hideous weather we're having, so I went to the cinema next door and saw District 9 instead. What a great film.
I probably had a much better evening than those of you who watched the match. :)
Anyway, one last thing. Did we ever get to the bottom of Anelka's dove-bird-hands goal celebration?
Fell asleep at HT (early morning viewing for Oz).
Nice to see I didn't miss much then. Look forward to the Arse game and El Classico this weekend.
Yep. It was a borefest. But it is easy to overlook the fact that we were playing against a good side.
Also, comparing this to Jose's time, I do not remember us winning many away games in Europe. Not saying we used to be bad, but at least, I always expected a 0 - 0 draw then. Now, even though we did not play well, we got 3 points against a good side.
(Another big deal for me was to be able to watch the game with a relatively nice video quality on sopcast on my Ubuntu installation - Setanta covered the game in the US I think, and I have no way to get them even if I want to legally pay them.)
Hope Drogba remembers he is playing his favorite team this weekend.
Morning All. Love the preamble Habs. Yesterday was indeed a joyous day for us Poo haters. Funny, there weren't too many of them at work yesterday, probably all sitting in a pub somewhere using their high pitch whining to do some dog worrying. Still, fuck 'em. I make no apologies for re-posting this piece of genius in case anyone missed it yesterday.
www.lfc-endofseasonparty.com
I didn't bother with this game as it had all the hallmarks of ......well being exactly as you describe it. As many away days in Europe were under TSO, this could have used the Sky editorial staff to run the strapline Grind Night or Ho-hum Night.
So, inspired by Dear Leader, I too ventured off to the cinema. The difference for me was this was my first time in 10 YEARS. Yep, 10 whole years. A decade. I was in my 30's the last time I darkened the door of my local movie emporium. I saw Harry Brown starring Michael Caine. It was good and not your archetypal vigilante film. It was also unrelentingly bleak without a single throwaway humourous line. Yep, it was as bleak as the king of bleak films 'Nil by Mouth', itself followed closely by 'Hamburger Hill'. Ideal for a first re-visit then. Is it me or have they tripled the number of pre-film adverts? And top marks to Stronbow for their Bowtime ad mocking the bankers (not for TV).
Still, good win, never really doubted it would be that or a 0-0. The CL doesn't do it for me at this stage, and I'm still firmly in the 'win the PL' fraternity'.
Didn't think it was that bad a game. But then again, I could barely see it cos I was in a pub down in old Soho, where we were confined to the shitty old telly in the corner while the Mancs got the wall-mounted flat screen with surroundsound and high definition, for all the good it did them.
Also, I was with a mate who is a Liverpool fan so wasn't really concentrating (he's finally come down on the Rafa is rubbish side. Well, actually, he reckons he is still one of the best ten managars on the planet, but has come to the end of his time at Liverpool, and it's all the fault of the Yanks anyway, but it amounts to the same thing. My mate's problem - like that of all Liverpool fans - is that he is still labouring under the illusion that Liverpool are a 'special' club, who do things differently and are superior to the rest of us without having to try. Even this season's results have not shaken that conviction from him).
Anyway, Cech's double save was excellent. Malouda was brilliant and I love his new hair. Terry stopped everything one way or another. And Anelka was a different class. Otherwise, it was exactly the sort of performance you'd expect in the circumstances, but a good result if it helps us avoid Madrid and Barca and a decent warm-up for Sunday - not too intense, but there were enough meaty tackles to remind us we were playing a competitive game.
That middle paragraph from Pete sums up Poo supporters and fans to a tee. When pundits and commentators keep spouting the same old rubbish about history, and the so called Liverpool way etc... say it enough times and people will believe it.
I think that's why we probably dislike them so much, it's because they think they are more knowledgeable and superior as fans than anyone else.
On the Rafa thing, most of the blogs I've read the majority of fans are still behind him, with some of the usual excuses to their current predicament, injuries, bad refereeing, beach balls, and not having the money to compete.
But on the money thing, nearly £40 million spunked on two players Aqualani and Johnson is hardly small change even by today's prices.
They even think Rafa's over-achieved, well long may his reign continue, because if it means continuing not to win anything for another three years, we'll all be happy with that.
Onto last nights game, job done in my book, with minimum effort and fuss. We rarely got out of first gear, but if we needed to I think we could have turned up the heat, but then we have bigger fish to fry on Sunday.
The thing is, there was a Liverpool way, developed by Shankly, and that whole Boot Room mentality/attitude was real and genuine, and the success of the club undoubtedly meant a hell of a lot to the city during its very shitty 1980s, when it was shat on by Thatcher AND Hatton.
But that was a long, long time ago. Rafa, whatever they like to believe, is NOT part of that rich tradition, because it no longer exists. It was destroyed by Sounness, the Premier League and Alex Ferguson. The fans have no divine right to have a 'real Liverpool man in charge', and when it comes to their owners they are at the mercy of the market just like every other football club.
This is not to say the club doesn't have its own unique spirit/spirit. This resides in the supporters and, perhaps, some of the players - just like it does at every single other football in the country (even MK Dons and Spurs). But these players/supporters don't have any real power, they just have to accept whatever hand fate deals them, including the shitty ones. And if that means getting rid of a manager who talks a good game and claims to have the best interests of the club at heart but has, by any measure, completely lost it, so be it.
To be fair to my mate, he knows his stuff. Described Liverpool's win against United as being about as relevent as Burnley's and achieved for much the same reason - pure adrenaline.
Didn't think it was that bad a game really; good, solid Euro away performance that did the job nicely. Give a few youngsters a run out against Apoel (?) for the last game; not sure how much difference top spot will make looking at some of the other groups, but it should give us the edge.
Intriguing, the whole Liverpool thing - ask any football fan back in July about the forthcoming season and most would have suggested that they would be there at the business end; may still be the case for the league but there is plenty of work to do.
Rafa is basically now without any safety net; don't know the ins and outs, but he seems to have got his way in terms of transfers and all things football at the club - buck stops with him and anything other than a top 4 finish would be bad news.
Out with an LFC supporter later - I feel that my response to everything he says about the club and its current predicament will simply be:
"LEEDS".
There is no doubt Shankly and Paisley run that club in a fantastic way, and they were lucky to have possibly two of the greatest club managers.
As you say it was a long time ago and times have changed, and they've been effectively caught with their pants down, and are playing catch up.
When they bang on about how they're competing in an unfair market with the likes of us United and City with transfer funds. They appear to have selective memory loss to the hugely unfair advantage they had with the Moore's family bankrolling them when they were dominating.
The other guy I was with last night is an AFC Wimbledon fan, and he made the point that finishing in the top six or whatever isn't exactly the end of the world, you can't win a tropy every season and fans need to be more patient, which just shows how insane the top of the Premiership has become because I completely disagreed - basically, if you want to be in the top four, you can't afford not to be in the top four.
Avram. It’s like a strange dreamlike scene from a David Lynch film. It’s night you’re on a desert highway, the headlights pick out a black-coated lugubrious figure in the distance, standing by the roadside. Then without movement or sound he’s in the car with you. Then you wake in a red curtained room – you are no longer in your car. Where is the black-coated figure? Cut to lugubrious figure behind steering wheel on a desert highway the headlights picking out the endless white line as the miles roll by.
LINK
@PeteW - The first rule of Top Four Club - You must be in the Top Four
I doubt it's all over for Liverpool. They used to bail out of the League to win Europe. Now it's the other way round
The club should give up trying to break the Far East and concentrate on breaking pubs in South East England. They'll know they've made it when landlords choose to show Chelsea games ahead of United. (Pubs in my area often choose to show United games that are on ITV, which makes it even more annoying.)
@Tony - The cinema I go to is proper old school. It's owned by a charitable trust (a bunch of old thespians) which has kept it in its original condition. The experience is exactly as it was when I was a kid in the late 70s and 80s - Pearl and Dean adverts, an intermission for ice cream between the ads and the start of the film etc... and alcoholic drinks are allowed in the cinema. I love it. Much better than the Mega Super Fantastic Thousand Screen Multiplexes that have taken over in the last 20 years or so.
Avram's plan has come together. LINK
Reply to chelseablog:
The Poo debate is interesting and I'm with Pete on the fact that they were a 'special' club during the Boot Room era, built by Shankly and adopted and honed by Paisley. I certainly remember those old Poo sides rather fondly and there was never the level of enmity between ourselves and them back in the day. I wanted them to beat Arsenal in 1971 at the FA Cup such was my hatred of Arsenal. But Souness knew better, thinking the Boot Room ethos wasn't suitable for the new PL/CL era, without giving it a chance. A proven system often just needs tweaking from time to time to adapt to a new environment. Still, their demise means we won't meet them in the knockout stages and that has to be a good thing.
Nick, I did go to a multi-plex and enjoy the experience, although little has changed in 10 years. The place was the same with some cosmetic changes, but was sterile and full of smiley MacDonalds types doling out hideously marked up overpriced 'refreshments;. No beer or ice cream interval of course. The up side was the superb digital picture quality and sound, something he old 'un's couldn't match. All the same the analogy is the same as shopping at Tesco's, loads of choice but no soul, or shopping in the high street with loads of soul but not the choice unless you visit loads of shops. We are a 'convenience' society so Tesco's will always win.
A rehash of downfall which although not nice to us, is still funny
LINK
I'm not complaining about a job-done European night - and interesting to see that proponent of sexy football, Ruud Gullit, defending our pragmatic approach.
Unlike Habs I'm delighted that Uncle Avram has been appointed manager at Pompey as now we can all get a chance to see what level of managerial skills he really has with an EPL team that can't run itself to success.
Should do wonders for the gate for our midweek home game on Dec 16th too, tickets still on sale!
Old Uncle Avram has got himself a task there; a team that has managed 10 league goals with a third of the season gone is heading one way and one way only. Not exactly the easiest run of fixtures between now and Christmas either, but he'll deserve congratulations if he can get them out of that quicksand.
A very difficult man to like, is the most diplomatic thing I can find to say about him.
He is the one thing that still divides Chelsea fans like no other; rare that I venture onto the official site as it is full of complete sociopaths; looked on there this morning and lo, they're still squabbling as furiously about Grant as they were when he was in charge at the Bridge. Plus ca change, innit?
Has anybody got spare ticket for this event? I am really interested to attend!!
LINK
Avram Grant as a David Lynch character. Spot on.
He goes to sleep as Jose Mourinho and wakes up as Avram Grant
Reply to PeteW:
Good grief. Like going to bed with Jennifer Aniston only to wake up next to Anne Widdecombe.*
*The sort of luck that sums my life up, Damn beer goggles.
Reply to ChelseaTony:
What's wrong with Anne Widdecombe? I reckon she does it for some guys. ;-)
Back to my boredom and trawling through Poo blogs, this little rant caught my eye.....
"I play five-a-side on Wednesday nights, and as soon as he arrived last night a rather mouthy Chelsea supporting low life (are there any other type?) started giving it large to me over LFC’s CL exit, saying that he had only just stopped laughing his Bollocks off.
After I had informed him of my surprise that he indeed had any Bollocks to laugh off in the first place, I said he should come back and see me when Chelsea have managed to win even one European Cup/CL.
It goes to show how supporters of other clubs take great satisfaction at our adversity, but you know what? I’m pleased because I know they’re just enjoying this before we come back (probably next season) stronger than ever, and they know it."
It's a bit rich calling us low lives, when it was their set of fans who tried to overturn an ambulance that was taking Alan Smith to hospital after his horrific leg break a few years ago.
So could all the low life fans on this site please stand up and make themselves known?
Reply to ChelseaTony:
As in most things in life Country Music has the topic well and truly covered with the classic,
"'Aint never been to bed with an ugly woman, but I've sure woken up with a few"
LINK#34007/16777216/873924
Interview of UEFA's favourite referee Tom Ovrebo at this week's website.
Re Ovrebo - Of course he is 'top' referee for FIFA and UEFA. He did excellent job as per UEFA's expectation, and now getting the reward of going to WC.
I will make sure he hears from me during first QF - even if I am in row Z.
Personally I'm not fussy as long as Chelsea are winning. Chelsea players are just sportsmen, not ballerinas; and they need to preserve energy at times.
So, the Toad is back! And he hopped on a bloody sinking ship... That would make the ship sink faster then! :-)
You really couldn't make it up could you.......
LINK
Where the hell do our footballers get their PR advice? When the club is doing so well on the field, why the hell do they insist on continually shooting themselves in the foot?
'There are reports of an ill-advised column with a major tabloid newspaper'
I think this line should explain why the Daily Heil is so upset about this...
Reply to PeteW:
The Shipping Forecast will be on soon. I'll listen to see if they are reporting a storm in a teacup
Talking of selective reporting, I stumbled across the story of Matt Driscoll formerly a Sports Reporter ofr the "News of the Screws".
He's been awarded nearly £800K by an employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal. Thats quite a lot of wonga for this sort of thing.
Google the name followed by journalist and see how many of our noble organs of the press have reported this.
LINK
Mmmmm curious dontcha think. Big money, big news. Particularly as his boss was Andy Coulson now David Cameron's Director of Communications or whatever.
I'll sleep soundly in my bed knowing the Fourth Estate is keeping watch.....
Reply to BlueBayou:
Very interesting stuff here.
LINK
Ummm? So, we seem to have liked Kun this much then? LINK
Not that I like what I am reading.
Reply to PeteW:
Thanks Pete. The closing of ranks is intersting, Even the Beeb are not reporting it. Carter Ruck haven't thrown one of their all encompassing injunctions over it have they?
Some amusing tales of Fleet Street in there as well. As you do, I followed a few other links and the stuff on Alan Green and his spat with R5 colleagues was interesting as well. Still must do some work.
And finally from Doctor Bayou's Current Affairs Corner......
Geoff Stelling, hasn't he aged?
As you picture him in your mind's eye
LINK
and how he looked attending the Iraq Enquiry today
LINK
For those of you who seek to understand more about the processes that bring about boom and bust cycles, this should help
LINK
feeling quite apprehensive ahead of the arse game, I am not good at handling pressure.
After I finished puking I thought I'd share this quote on Sky Sport:
"First of all as a Chelsea fan i'm delighted to see Avram back in English football, he never got the credit he deserved when he was with us he was the first manager to take us to the Champions League final and it's more than a ...
Frank Webster"
Is M. Webster really David Lynch giving some plot details?
Really? No comments on that?
Reply to ChelseaTony:
I have, Wenger is really a sore f**king looser. He will whinge about anything.
I wonder what excuses we'll get from the Arse fans when they turn up?
That's another team out of the title race.
Who cares about the excuses? Points in our pocket and the Arse get to battle with Spuds for the rest of the season and hope that maybe they'll be proper grownups next year.
I must say I wasn't expecting it. I only saw bits of the game on the iPod while trying to peel brussels sprouts etc. Were we as dominant as they blathering Sky idiot implied?
Reply to limetreebower:
In a nutshell we did exactly what we did when we played Barca. We let them have the ball and play the pretty stuff, and when we needed to to be effective we were.
Jaimie Rednapp, came out with a very good point on the first Drogba goal. He said if Arsenal had of scored that, we'd be hearing about it for days.
And by the way Tony, I hope you're not winding up those gooners on the Arseblog. ;-)
Thought we were exceptional today. Mikel and Joe Cole weren't that effective. Ref had a decent game but the fat balding linesman (is there any other) had a bit of a shocker. Wenger's moaning about the disallowed goal is nonsense. It was a clear foul on Cech which seemed to confirmed by Andy Gray. When are the media going to see through all his "Emperors New Clothes" Bollocks? Overall we are looking pretty solid again when we haven't done so for a couple of years.
Just watched the Wenger interview on the BBC website. Fuck me, if he interprets games like that no wonder this team won't win anything!
Agree entirely Agh57 with #39 and #40. Great win and performance but I thought our biggest threat wasn't coming from the Arse but instead Mikel; I'd have taken him off after 20 minutes.
Wenger's been pissing off most fans for years but now I think even the Gooners are finding it hard to stomach his diatribe.
Too be fair to Mikel he did improve in the second half, but there was every chance he was going to pick up a second yellow.
First of, glad to know I am not the only one who 'follows' arseblog - hours of endless fun.
Secondly, I used to rate AW above the red nose. Not anymore. The guy has no class whatsoever.
Just finished watching the game - couldn't see it live which was disappointing, less so the fact that I spent the afternoon with two Gooners getting text updates...
Very impressive indeed; Drogs and Nic are simply the best front pairing on the planet right now, JT looking equally imperious at the other end with Riccy back to his assured best too. Throw in a Cafu-esque Ashley and we're starting to really look the part.
Very amused by Adrian Chiles' face on MotD2. He doesn't like us anyway, but seeing that performance and then knowing that Frank is off home for a celebratory knee-trembler with Christine Bleakley - he only needs a parking ticket to round his day off perfectly!
Terrific! I'm reading through the Arseblog comments and I hit these gems all in about 15 seconds.
"I missed our goal, why was it called back
'Our cunt to footballer ratio was deemed insufficient.'"
"I have to say, if we had a sub available I'd be really tempted to bring on Silvestre and have him assassinate Drogba."
"at least if we don't score, can we cripple one of their players?"
You Stay Classy San Diego.
Man I need to read their comments more often.
"But we play pretty football, so who's the real winner today eh?...........oh........."
"big fuckin wake up call
too small, too weak, not clinical enough. fuckin shit. everytime we play a top team we can't found out. can't keep making excuses. the truth is there for all to see"
"1) We've had bad injuries
2) We've outplayed Chelsea
3) We've dominated weak sides.
The season isn't over."
"Don't worry lads, we had loads of possession."
Thank you Clive, thank you so much!
Reply to Gary:
arsenal played shit
on sunday