Daily Archives: December 1, 2013
Gooner Daily Podcast: Coming Soon
In my bid to continue serving you will your daily Arsenal digest, Gooner Daily is bracing up to start having podcasts every Friday with a host of fellow bloggers, writers and fans alike as we would talk about the issues concerning the club for just 30 minutes.
You will be duly notified when it comes on air, as it would be available for download on various platforms.
Sayonara
Cardiff 0 Arsenal 3: The Homecoming Hero Haunts his Old Team
Cardiff City Stadium (Premier League)
Cardiff (0); Arsenal – Ramsey (29′, 90′), Flamini (86′)
Player Ratings – Match highlights – Wenger’s Press Conference
With the games coming thick and fast, the Gunners had dispatched Olympique Marseille in the Champions League and had the threat of Cardiff City to contend with in the Premier League. The hosts had taken points off both Manchester clubs at home and Arsenal’s fierce rivals, Tottenham, had to dig really deep to get a victory in Wales so it was going to be a tough tie.
Arsene Wenger, rightfully, fielded the same side that was victorious against L ‘OM with the exception of Kieran Gibbs returning to the side after an illness suffered in midweek. Right from the onset, Arsenal launched an attack with Aaron Ramsey teeing up Jack Wilshere at the edge of the box. The Englishman left his marker for dead, picked his spot and slammed the cross bar with a sweetly curled shot.
The next noteworthy highlight came when Bacary Sagna and Per Mertesacker collided when the Big Friendly German coming second best before falling on the turf like a sack of potatoes. With his jersey stained with blood, he had to get a new pair from Vik Akers and there was no scissors available to cut it like some people we know.
Cardiff had a rare foray forward through Theophile-Catherine and he lofted a cross that was headed wide by Frazier Campbell. Arsenal’s next wave of attack had a comical twist as Olivier Giroud received a pass from Wilshere that had a minute nudge of Mesut Ozil. With Giroud believing that he was offside, he inexplicably came to a halt as did the opposition defenders but when he realized that the linesman’s flag was down, he attacked the ball but the defenders blocked it.
Confused Giroud. Shoot first. Think later
Ozil broke away from his marker and located Santi Cazorla. The Spaniard sighted an onrushing Gibbs and supplied a pin-point pass but the English fullback miscued his effort in front of goal. Ozil was in the thick of things yet again and he darted with the ball and had a plethora of options in front of him.
With Giroud running across, he took a defender with him which cleared the path for Ramsey to lurk into the area and superbly guide Ozil’s peach of a pass to the net, leaving Marshall no chance in Hell. As you would expect from a player like Ramsey that exudes class, he was delighted for getting his first goal in four games (he hasn’t scored since Liverpool) but he chose to have a muted celebration, much to the delight of the Cardiff fans that cheered him on.
I’m sorry guys…but I rep Arsenal now!
Peter Whittingham was targeted as a danger man for the hosts due to his dead ball prowess and it was on show yet again as he swung in several dangerous crosses into Arsenal’s box but when Kim failed to connect with the ball, Mutch attempted a bicycle kick that went wide off the mark.
Gibbs moved with the ball on the left before dinking it to a tightly marked Giroud that manage to break away from the defender before blasting a shot that was blocked for a corner kick. Arsenal launched a counter attack and Giroud did well to chip the ball for Ramsey who controlled the ball superbly but his shot went over the bar. Arteta showed some brilliant movement to evade a couple of markers before sending a diagonal pass to Ozil. The German schemer dallied on the ball before carefully threading it to Wilshere but the English maestro failed to connect well with the ball and it fell kindly for the goalie.
At the start of the second half, Arsenal exchanged some neat passes before the ball fell into Ramsey’s path. The Welsh man on fire somehow managed to squeeze through Kim and Whittingham before feeding Giroud in the six yard box but the French striker’s shot was blocked off by a defender on the line.
With the Gunners failing to capitalize on their chances, Cardiff pressed on and grew in confidence. With the home side on the ascendancy, Taylor lofted a cross that was headed goalwards by Frazier Campbell. Up stepped Szczesny to make another fantastic save to keep Cardiff at bay.
Szczesny does it again
Shortly after the save, Mutch swung a cross that was nodded straight to Whittingham’s path by Gibbs but the midfielder missed his effort by a wild margin, much to the amazement of the away fans. Theophile-Catherine surged forward and fired a shot but Szczesny dived low to smother the ball.
Cazorla was having a bad day in the office and Wenger put him out of his misery by summoning Mathieu Flamini to add steel to the midfield. With the Flamster joining the fray, Wenger showed his tactical genius by drafting Ozil to the right flank while Aaron Ramsey played in the hole behind the attack. Shortly afterwards, Nacho Monreal came in for Jack Wilshere to protect Gibbs on the left.
Cardiff attacked with Whittingham whose ball located substitute Noone and the winger’s cross was headed goalwards by Cowie but Szczesny was on hand to make a good save. Arsenal turned the screw by launching a counter attack through Ozil. The German playmaker saw Flamini on the clear and sent a sweet pass to the Frenchman and he was no time blasting the ball to the roof of the net to put the game beyond doubt.
The Flam scores his first Arsenal goal in five years
At the dying minutes, Theo Walcott replaced a clearly jaded Ozil and it took the speedster just 48 seconds to create an assist for Ramsey that latched unto his pass and fired a sumptuous shot past Marshall to put the icing on a well baked cake.
Arsenal’s man on fire, Aaron Ramsey, has scored 14 Premier League goals for Arsenal; he has equalled John Hartson’s record for most Premier League goals for the club from a Welsh player. Hartson scored 14 between 1995 and 1997. In this form, he’s the forerunner for the Player of the Year awards, alongside Sergio Aguero.
The victory puts the Gunners seven points clear of Liverpool and Chelsea that play today.
Better days are here again and it got even sweeter for me as I predicted the exact scoreline in the Canon Crested Prediction League, where there are awesome prices up for grabs if you predict Arsenal’s scores right.
An article on the performances in November comes up tomorrow, get ready to place your votes.
Sayonara.
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Cardiff City 0 Arsenal 3: Post Match Thoughts and Player Ratings
Another Man of the Match display from Aaron Ramsey
Arsenal visited the Welsh capital in a fine afternoon and went back to North London with three precious points. The manager played the game with a slightly changed team from the side that was victorious against Marseille with Mikel Arteta returning to the side to replace Mathieu Flamini while Kieran Gibbs was fit again to send Nacho Monreal back to the bench.
Starting XI against Cardiff
Listed below are Gooner Daily’s ratings for the triumphant heroes in the Battle of Wales;
Wojciech Szczesny: Since signing his new contract, the big Pole’s form has drastically improved and he has been getting better with each passing game, making save after save on a consistent basis. With the Gunners leading with a solitary goal, some random bloke named Taylor swings a cross inside the box, Frazier Campbell nods it and this happens…
Save of Life
With his fifth clean sheet in six games, Gooner Daily rates the Polish shot stopper at 8/10.
Per Mertesacker: The BFG got an awful whack to the head from a teammate and was the sole reason why there were four minutes injury time in the first half. With an able deputy like Thomas Vermaelen warming up and waiting for his chance, the BFG managed to recover without suffering any concussion and went on to have a good game. – 7/10
Laurent Koscielny – Kos the Boss was on the back pages for his poor showing for France in the first leg against Ukraine but since returning to the club, he has been on top form, keeping the captain out of the side. Yesterday, he made some vital interceptions for his team and read the game superbly. – 8/10
Kieran Gibbs – With Wily Ol’ Woy Hodgson on the stands, there were whispers that he was scouting the performance of his English lot, with a certain Kieran Gibbs on the radar. He recovered well from his illness and did well in defense. Was also booked in the game but he was sensible enough not to do anything rash afterwards. – 7/10
Bacary Sagna – In recent times, we have seen Sagna’s distribution improve drastically but those delicious crosses weren’t on show yesterday afternoon. However, he still had a good game making vital interceptions and offering an outlet on the right. – 7/10
Mikel Arteta – the captain of the day was a class act in midfield and his close control gave the fans a glimpse of his days as an attacking midfielder. Arteta has been a blessing to the club and his consistent is right up there with the very best. Yesterday, he was influential all game long and his stats were sickening as always. – 9/10
Aaron Ramsey – I’ve ran out of words to describe how awesome Rambo is. This season, the Welsh Dragon has been in red hot form, and his two goals – a header and a fiercely fired shot have shown how confident this lad is in front of goal. If you think his goals were classy enough, his muted celebrations were hugely appreciated by the home crowd as they cheered their homecoming hero that haunted them. – 10/10 #Shikenah
Jack Wilshere – The young lad scored his fastest goal in Arsenal colors in 29 seconds and he was close to scoring his second fastest goal for the club after just 75 seconds when he latched unto Ramsey’s pass, leaving his marker for dead before casually curling a sweet effort past the goalie but it slammed the cross bar. From then onwards, his influence reduced but he did okay till his substitution nine minutes from time. – 7/10
Santi Cazorla – In my honest opinion, Santi Cazorla’s performance can be explained with the tweet below,
Yes, players get injuries and sometimes struggle to get back to their best but in recent times, Santi Cazorla has been hugely disappointing and we hope that he can come back to his best sooner rather than later. 5/10
Mesut Ozil – I’ve quoted this before but for the sake of those that haven’t seen it before…
“If you have any problems or challenges in life, contact Mesut Ozil, he will ASSIST you”
Ozil did have a “great game” by his extremely high standards but he still notched up two perfectly-timed assists for his teammates, taking his tally to 8 for the season. Gooner Daily sees it befitting to rate him with the number of assists he has created so far in his fledgling Arsenal career. – 8/10
Olivier Giroud – What I had in mind to say about Olivier Giroud’s performance is no where near what this article on Yahoo! Eurosport quoted about the French striker so there you have it…
...Giroud inexplicably stopped playing on 15 minutes after Jack Wilshere had picked him out with a lovely pass. Replays showed Mesut Ozil did not touch the ball when he was played in. Giroud was onside and only had Marshall to beat, but his hesitancy enabled Steven Caulker to clear. Moral to the story? Always play to the whistle. Or always play when there is no whistle…
Confused Handsome French Bloke
Here’s a nice 6/10 from Gooner Daily OG. 🙂
Mathieu Flamini – The French enforcer arrived on the pitch when Cardiff were on the driving seat and alongside Arteta in the heart of the midfield, they calmed the storm. It looked as if it was written on the stars when Flamini made a rare surge forward and was picked up by Ozil. The rest they say was history… – 7/10
Nacho Monreal – After getting some full game time in midweek, the Spanish full back returned to his rightful place on the bench and as always, he was brought on to offer protection to Gibbs, a feat he achieved admirably. –7/10
Theo Walcott – It took this lad just 48 seconds to make his mark on the game and he was so close to even scoring himself. His injection of pace, albeit in his cameo appearance, was a thorn in Cardiff’s flesh and this was epitomized by an assist to Ramesy. – 7/10
Do you agree or disagree with Gooner Daily’s post match thoughts and match ratings?
Feel free to share them with your comments below.
Sayonara.
Gooner Daily has been nominated for the Best Sports blog category in the 2013 Nigerian Blog Awards. Please vote!
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