Mondays.
The day where the hustle starts from square 1. The day we take all footballing arguments to our various places of work. My Mondays are best described by this tweet.
“@henryjvc: I hated mondays when i was a student. Now I’m just indifferent to it..
I wrote in yesterday’s post that we are on a transition from Europe’s elite competition to the oldest knockout competition in existence.
After defeating the BarcAliens in grand style, we had the simple task of knocking out Leyton before playing our long awaited game-in-hand against that Rugby outfit.
The lineup I predicted was almost identical to the squad that played yesterday. The only exceptions were Sagna for Eboue and a debut for young reserves captain, Ignasi Miquel. That bloke reminds me of the BarcAliens youngling, Bojan Krkic.
It seems as if AA23 has gotten his mojo back. He was ubiquitous yesterday.
He created the first scoring opportunity early on by sending a nice cross for Chamakh. His header was very poor.
Chamakh said that rVp’s re-introduction to the squad was a “blessing in disguise” for him because he has used this period to recuperate. His 10th and last goal for the club was that quick toe poke against Aston Villa in November. Yesterday’s game was his 11th without finding the back of the net.
Our left side was very vibrant. AA23 and Gibbsy linked up well several times throughout the game. They worked hard to create another scoring chance for Chamakh. He chose to sidefoot the ball instead of striking it with venom. It was easy pickings for their goalie.
Manuel Almunia wore the captain’s band yesterday. It’s quite obvious that he’s our number 2 now.
Leyton got a corner that created an opening outside our box for some chap on red but he chose to kill a bird instead of aiming at Almunia’s net.
The game was getting a bit boring so the cameramen decided to show us a fellow that looked like wily ol’ Woy Hodgson.
Chamakh fed Bendtner twice on the edge of the area. Both shots killed rabbits that were stationed far away from the net.
As I wrote before, AA23 was everywhere on the pitch. He even gave us a moment of “cheers” when he wanted to make sure that the ball didn’t leave the pitch. He ran unto it, fell flat on his Russian arse then executed a nice back heeled pass. He didn’t even look but the ball got to a fellow gunner on yellow.
Arshavin floor pass
It seems as if we should change our “crossing” game plan if Chamakh is the lone striker.
In our 6-0 thumping of Blackpool, Chamakh missed a sitter when a drilled cross was fed into the box. He still scored with a header on that game. When we visited Goodison Park, he missed out on a similar chance.
Yesterday’s miss was not a good sight for we gooners watching the game on TV. I can imaging how our fans in Brisbane Road felt.
Arshavin did well to create space for Clichy’s deputy. Gibbsy drilled a lovely cross into the 6-yard area. It was almost the same with the cross Wilshere drilled for Lansbury in the Carling Spoon 3rd round against Twitch FC.
I would have been happier if Chamakh missed out on the ball completely. At least I would have said that he was “unlucky”. All the ball needed was a simple tap in. If Nick was the centre forward for the day, that would have been bread and butter stuff. That’s how he scored his only World Cup goal.
Chamakh sent the ball wide from 6 yards out. In a single word….Pathetic.
TR7 teed up Chamakh who in turn fed Wald Bezt Bendtner. Our Dane killed another rabbit far away from the post.
Song had a reasonably poor outing yesterday. He misplaced to many passes. It’s been a while since I watched a game that Denilson was far better than Song. Yesterday’s game was one of ’em.
AA23 went to the right hand side to inflict some damage. Bendtner sent him through but he was off balanced. He still managed to get a shot in but it wentr wide.
Our breakthrough camer from the unlikiest of sources. The last time this chap scored a goal for us, King Arthur Pendragon was the ruler of Camelot. I ended yesterday’s post by saying that I was going to say a little prayer for Tomas Rosicky.
My Lord answered it.
B52 crossed a ball into the box. The usual suspects would have been Chamakh, the Squisha or Miquel. Up stepped TR7 to head his first goal since our 4-2 defeat at the City of Manchester stadium in 2009.
Well over a year.
Arshavin did extremely well to create a chance for TR7. His first time shot was saved by the goalie. His headed rebound was also saved by Leyton Orient’s shot stopper.
AW the Alchemist didn’t run into the pitch when TR7 scored. I’m sure that he would have done it if TR7 scored again.
With things getting hot for the home side, their bald baseball cap wearing gaffer brought another black baldy with the name “Tahome” written on his back.
That baldy’s introduction sparked what seemed like an unlikely revival for the home side.
He ran with great pace, evaded Gibbsy and crossed a ball into our box but our center backs where up for that challenge.
Leyton’s first real chance of the game came up in the dying moments. Some bloke drilled another ball into our box. A Leyton attacker unleashed an unstoppable shot. I’m 110% sure that Almunia wouldn’t have saved that ball. The saviour at that point in time was our ol’ “experienced” Frenchie, Sebastien “Squisha” Squillaci.
Even if his hands where raised up in the air, the ball slammed his ol’ rugged face. This tweet explains it better
“@NaijaArsenal: It was faceball!”
You got that right….it was faceball.
AA23 is not renowned for playing 90 minutes but late on he had a burst of energy to create a clear cut chance for himself. The Czar lashed a volley goalwards. The post came to the goalie’s rescue this time.
AW the Alchemist didn’t make any substitutions in the game. That was really surprising.
When we taught that the game was done and dusted, Tehoue used his feet to play a magic trick on Miquel and Gibbs before sending a low drive past Almunia. That was their first real attempt on goal. In a single word…Disappointing.
It was really shameful to see Almunia concede a goal like that. His concentration levels were really poor for a goalie at 33. I thought that goalies get better with age. If you can’t keep clean sheets against lower division side who score with their only attempt, how much more the “big guns”
Almunia (6.0) conceded on his first goal scoring attempt faced. Sagna (6.8) locked their left winger in a cage and threw away the keys. Gibbsy (7.0) played extremely well and would have been given the award for the 1st assist if our lone striker got his shooting boots on. Miquel (6.9) was extremely confident in his Arsenal debut. Squisha (6.5) saved a goal scoring chance with his head. Song (6.1) was very complacent. I feel that fatigue played a role. Denilson (7.1) was as combative as ever. AA23 (7.9) was faultless. B52 (6.7) gave an assist but killed many rabbits. TR7 (7.3) scored his first goal since the Medieval Age. Chamakh (5.8) was utter shite.
That late strike from that bald bloke ensures that we play Leyton Orient again at our home ground on the Wednesday after the Carling Spoon final against Brirmingham. Perfect.
It’s good to see that our Aztec Warrior Carlos Vela has opened his WBA goal scoring account. He scored the equalizer against Wolves. He’ll probably travel to London to see his teammates play Birmingham. He can watch them on SkySports though.
My tweets of yesterday…..
“@eromzy: Arsenal didn’t even make any substitution.. Amazing! So why then were players on d subs bench? To be admired i guess”
“@onearsenewenger: Apparently Arsenal set a new record for number of passes in a FA Cup game.”
“@ZynAFC: Can Miquel be our 3rd choice CB, Squillaci is just 0.001% better than Silvestre”
0.001% better than Silvestre. One own goal apiece. Thomas “Verminator” Vermaelen, we await thy comeback.
A friend of mine read my blog post yesterday and sent me a “ping” on my BlackBerry Messenger.
“U fucked up. U prayed for rosicky to score but forgot to pray for a victory”
I prayed for a goal and not a victory. I forgot to ask God for that.
At least he answered my prayer for that request.
The last time I checked, we are still in the “quad”
Sayonara
