Yesterday night was pretty frustrating to say the least. Arsenal hosted Coventry City in the club’s Capital One Cup curtain raiser but the game couldn’t be seen for reasons best known to the King Cobra that died of agonizing pain five days after biting Chuck Norris.
Never in my life have I caressed my F5 button on my laptop as I stayed faithful to different websites that offered live commentary. My BlackBerry played its own role as well, as I delved into Twitter and remained there for the entire 90 minutes. There were a couple of hilarious tweets as well but Twitter was a nice place to be for a change, unlike last season when tweeps barraged players with all sorts of vitriol and abuse after frustrating matches.
After waiting patiently for the best part of 40 minutes or so, Twitter went haywire when Olivier Giroud scored his first goal for the club courtesy of some brilliant play from Andrey Arshavin and Francis Coquelin. I’d stated on Twitter that the Frenchman had no excuse if he didn’t find the net against Coventry and I’m sure that his confidence levels would have sky-rocketed to the Milky Way.
However, Giroud missed a chance to get a brace as his spot kick was saved by Murphy in goal. That’s Giroud folks, he scores when no one is watching.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lashed in the second goal from what was stated as the pick of the bunch and I’m still waiting patiently for those Gooners on YouTube to show me some love. According to those lucky tweeps that saw the game at the Emirates, the Ox shot had some swerve on it as it went past Coventry’s custodian between the sticks.
Andrey Arshavin was believed to have had a stinker all game long, but he produced a moment of immense quality to slam in the third after some nice play from Giroud. Up stepped Theo Walcott, a player staking his claim to be Arsenal’s No. 9, and he sent Wenger a nice message with a brace on the night. Ignasi Miquel also scored his first Arsenal goal with a header.
It was also a night to remember as the Denchster, Emmanuel Frimpong, made his first appearance since rupturing a cruciate ligament in his knee seven months ago. There was also some game time to a forgotten figure at the Emirates, Marouane Chamakh, and the exciting Serge Gnabry made his debut as well.
I’ll still be on the lookout for the highlight’s of this fixture and I’ll paste the link on this blog, as well as Twitter and Facebook once I get it.
At the end of the game, Arsene Wenger stated in his post-match interview that his team needed to be serious…and they were serious. With Manchester City and Everton already out of the competition, the Capital One Cup offers Arsenal another chance to end the trophy drought and their cause has certainly been aided with the fact that Manchester United and Chelsea are locking horns in the Fourth Round. Arsenal will go to the Madejski Stadium to play Reading.
Wenger also lauded Giroud for getting his first goal and admitted that Arshavin stinks at the wings, and he aims to play the Russian captain in the hole behind the striker as the season progresses.
In the wake of Walcott’s brace against Coventry, many now believe that it’s high time the Englishman gets a run-out spearheading Arsenal’s attack in the coming games. Walcott certainly has the pace and the clinical finishing ability to be a centre forward but his poor ball control and decision making will certainly be a concern.
Wenger was asked on the matter but he has urged the winger to remain patient,
“I’m not against it, I’m not against it at all but we try and at the moment there is big competition up front, we have a different formula and the team is doing well.
‘His time will come for that and at the moment we have to be a bit patient.
‘He is a great finisher now, in front of goal he is really absolutely amazing.’
Wenger also revealed the club still has plans of retaining his services for the long term,
‘We want him to stay, I always said exactly the same,’ he said.
‘We are all professional and I always said that lets hope we can extend his deal and that is part of every professional situation.
‘I speak to Theo of course, we are always in touch with them (his agent) and you have to give us some time to try and sort that out.’
The ball is certainly in Arsene Wenger’s court and it’s good to know that his players are giving him headaches for team selection. In just two matches at the Emirates, Arsenal has smashed in 12 goals and it’s worth noting that seven players have been involved in the goals with Theo Walcott notching up three.
And they said that we can’t score without Robin van Judas Iscariot and we can’t get assists without Alex Song.
How cute.
Speaking of cuteness, a 16.4 inch bronze statue was erected in the Paris’ Center Pompidou modern art museum in honor of Zinedine Zidane for his infamous headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Now that’s deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeench.
Sayonara.
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