Well, after a couple of bad results I was a bit nervous about the game against Marseille. The squad was looking a bit short with a few important players missing from injury and Drogba suspended.
The start line up looked strongish... We started Kakuta, which was a bit of a surprise for me, but it all worked out fine. Terry taped in a cross from Kakuta right in the start of the game, which made us relax a bit. The first half was solid and we were given a soft penalty when the Marseille player touched the ball with his hand inside the area. I thought it was a bit harsh to be honest, but I'm not the referee, I'm a fan so good for us. Anelka stepped up and took another cool penalty. It makes me a bit nervous the way he just looks relaxed and doesn't make a run, but as long as he is scoring I hope he keeps taking them.
On the second half we didn't seam to making much of an effort and Marseille forced us to do some good defending. I think we took the foot out of the accelerator in preparation for the Arsenal game at the weekend.
So, a brilliant start to the Champions League, let's keep going an maybe, just maybe... (I shouldn't even think about it yet, let's wait a bit more !)
Well, see you all at the weekend ! There will be war at Mr and Mrs Footy house as the preparations for the Arsenal - Chelsea game begins...
Sorry for the lateness of the blog but I'm still recovering from how terrible the game was on Saturday. There was a point when we were 3 - 0 down to West Brom when it seemed like we were at the lowest of the low. Most of the talk recently has been about the goalkeeping situation, which although bad, was not the only issue at the weekend. The whole team played poorly (with the possible exception of Nasri who seemd the only one who beleived we could get back into it). The frustrating thing is that now it would take a win against Chelsea to just make up for it, as 3 points out of the two games would have been a minimum. A loss against now Chelsea doesn't really bear thinking about and it would leave us with a huge task to overcome the points defecit even at this early stage....
But anyway, no point looking back now, and there is the small matter of a champions league game against Partizan Belgrade tonight. We really need a win to boost confidence going into the Chelsea game. No matter what we think about the keepers we have, theres nothing we can do until January so hopefully everyone can get behind them as much as possible. Personally I would like to see Sczeczny get a go - who knows he could turn out to be the Polish equivalent of Joe Hart! Anyway, first things first - lets hope Fabianski gets through the game tonight without any errors....
Well, I guess we should just forget this weekend ever happened. We lost, Arsenal lost, Man United drew, Liverpool drew... I'm just going to start my Monday like no game were played this weekend, but before that let's just try to figure out what went wrong.
With Kalou and Yossi injured we still put in a strong line up but our bench looked week and I wasn't sure we had anyone there who could make a difference in case we needed. But our strong line up wasn't strong this Saturday. We couldn't get passes right, our shots on goal were not on target and nothing went right. Man City on the other side played a good defensive game and scored a goal. We could not do the same. They looked stronger than us and like they wanted the result more than us, there are no other excuses.
A surprise was seeing Drogba getting substituted. To be completely honest he struggle that game, he couldn't keep the ball and I'm not sure it was a bad decision. I do believe we might be needing another striker in the bench, and now it's a bit too late. Don't get me wrong, I do like Sturidge, but I'm not sure he is quite ready yet.
I'm not going to pin point anyone for the bad performance. Everyone was poor. Our strikers could shot on target, the wings didn't come up with good crosses, the midfield didn't give any really good passes. We were wasteful ! For the first time I think we missed Lampard. Now let's put our heads up and be ready for the champions League game and for the Arsenal game on the weekend.
On the good side our loss went out unpunished. Arsenal had a incredible poor game against West Brom, and lost at home a game most people considered easy. Man United lost to Bolton, the pair of O'Shea and Evans is not working I believe and I hope it stays this way. Also, Rooney, oh Rooney... Thank you for keeping the poor form you are in !
Well, let's hope for a much better performance next game and that we can cope with the loss of Lampard, Kalou and Yossi.
Our fifth successive premier league victory came this Sunday against Blackpool. Still without Terry and Lampard and with Anelka we delivered again a strong performance. The game could not have started better with Kalou scoring from a corner taken by Drogba in the first minute of the game. Not long after Drogba ran inside and passed to an unmarked Malouda to tap in. From there we knew this would be a hard task to Blackpool.
After the two goals, Blackpool had a few chances and even caused Cech to make an incredible save but it didn't last long. Ashley Cole who had an amazing game, passed to Drogba to hit a first time shot into the goal, with the help of a deflection. The half wasn't over yet. Kalou ran down the right to pass the ball straight into Malouda's path to score the fourth goal.
The second half was a bit disappointing and a bit boring to be completely honest, but we kept the score and the clean sheet. Malouda was the man of the match having scored now 6 goals and top scorer of the league. He is keeping the great form from last season. I would also like to highlight two other performances:
Ashley Cole - He run the whole pitch the entire game, he was unstoppable and had an incredible game.
Ramires - The crowd stood up and clapped as he was substituted. He had a really good game, with solid passing and holding of the ball, as well as a lot of energy. Can't wait to see more of him (also, we are both Brazilians).
I like Blackpool and I hope they stay up this season. I think Holloway is a very strong manager but sometimes his attacking approach goes against him. I just read something really funny and I though I would share it with you. These is what he said after the Fulham game:
“We put on a vast tray of lasagne for the Fulham lads after the game but it wasn’t a triumph. When I went in the dressing room afterwards, only one spoonful had gone,” he smiles. “Er, probably wouldn’t have been worth £15.50.”
Now we have a big challenge next weekend when we face Manchester City away. They are a very inconsistent but they can play very well on their day, and usually they have a day against the big teams. I'm a bit scared I must admit and winning that game away would make me a lot more confident. We'll have to see. Before that we have Newcastle in the Carling Cup, and I'm watching this one in Stamford Bridge ! Let's hope we deliver a good performance. Ancelotti seams to want to play a younger team on Wednesday.
In other news, Liverpool and Man United was quite an exciting one, but Liverpool let us down. When you think they are going to get back on form and do it, they don't.
Berbatov put an incredible performance and scored a beautiful overhead kick. Unfortunate for us as if that was a draw we would be a few more points ahead. But well, that's what happens when you count on Liverpool for something. What is going on with them? Only one win in the last 5. Torres doesn't seam to be scoring even though he did create both goals yesterday. I don't know what they are going to do, but they need to change something and quick !
Well have a good week and I'll see you all again after the Newcastle game.
The game ended one all yesterday after a poor display from Arsenal. In the first half we failed to get gong and it looked like Sunderland had more energy and shut us down effectively in midfield. Actually they could easily have taken the lead early on and it was only a poor final ball that let them down on a number of occasions. Despite being under pressure I think our defence held firm for the most part and Squillaci and Koscielny looked quite solid and won a lot of headers. However we struggled our get our passsing game going, and didn't create anything of note going forward. The goal came from a huge stroke of luck when Fabregas closed down Ferdinand's clearance and the ball looped up and drifted over the Sunderland keeper and into the net about 30 yards away! It was against the run of play and we were very lucky to go in ahead at half time.
Second half was going much the same way when Song got a second yellow card for a cynical block when Sunderland were on the break. He was already walking a disciplinary tightrope by that point after a number of first half fouls and should have known better, especially since we had plenty of men back in that situation. It was only when we were reduced to 10 men when we actually got into our rhythm a bit more and started keeping the ball much better. It looked like Sunderand had used up most of their energy in their good first half display. Nasri and Rosicky created a few half chances in midfield and then Chamakh was fouled in the area for a penalty. However Rosicky blasted the penalty over and from then on we started to look a bit more nervous. I was praying for us to see out the game but then in the 4th minute of added on time the inevitable equaliser came when Sunderlnad put a cross in, we failed to clear and the ball fell kindly for Bent to smash in.
Overall a win would have flattered us, and a draw is probably a fair result. But you can't help thinking it was two points thrown away in the circumstances. Also worrying is the injury to Fabregas, lets hope it he was just taken off as a precaution as claimed. Clichy is also worrying me - he's great 90% of the time but he has a tendancy to try to play his way out or trouble which is really frustrating. At one point yesterday he lost the ball in his own box when he could have just hoofed it away, and I think he also could have done better for the goal. Maybe its time to give Gibbs a run in the team.
Anyway, next game is away at Spurs in the Carling cup on Tuesday where we will get to see some of the talented youngsters. Have a good week,
So our first game in the champions league took place last night which ended with a great 6 - 0 win for Arsenal. I'm not going to go through all the goals, you can watch and enjoy them below here....
It really was an enjoyable game to watch, we showed a lot of cutting edge and out attacking 6 of Chamakh, Fabregas, Song, Wilshere, Arshavin and Nasri played out some breathtaking passages of play with quick passing that Braga just couldn't cope with. Remember this Braga team are no mugs, they beat Sevilla in the qualifiers over two legs so they must have something about them. The way we attacked had players interchanging positions with fast pass and move play which dragged the Braga defence all over the place - it was Wengerball at it's finest. I think we sometimes forget how lucky we are as Arsenal fans that we get to watch such exciting play on a regular basis. Compare it to watching Liverpool toil away trying and dirge out a win from somewhere and I think we can count ourselves lucky.
Anyway before getting too carried away, we have been here before. The main focus should now be on the game against Sunderland at the weekend. Sunderland are one of those teams that can randomly spring a good performance and surprise one of the big teams, and we lost there last season. Let's hope there is no complacency creeping in.
Anyway back to last nights game, a few things stood out for me:
Fabregas - looks like he is back to his best, he was everywhere yesterday and at the heart of everything good in our play
Wilshere - has slotted in to the midfield comfortably which is great considering his young age. He has a great touch and vision and is easily capable or playing the quick passing game. Provides cutting edge and on current form it could be difficult for Denilson to get back in the side.
Koscielny - very impressive at the back, I like his style of nipping in front of the attackers to steal the ball away. He also seemed quite commanding yesterday along with Squillaci.
Chamakh - very rarely wastes the ball, very unselfish and hard working. I like how he swaps positions with other players and comes deep or wide to get involved in the play.
See you again at the weekend, feel free to leave any comments...
A very good start to the Champions League. I know Zilina is our easiest opponent in the group, but an away game can be tricky. It wasn't that tricky in the end.
We started the game really well by scoring three times in the first half. Essien scored our first goal, only to be followed twice more by Nicolas Anelka. Nick was on fire yesterday. I'm not sure if you noticed, but Anelka's goal celebration was a bit different than usual. He put his hands together like in handcuffs. Apparently that was directed to the French Football Federation. He even commented afterwards: "It was just something for the French Federation about what happened at the World Cup". Funny, 18 matches game ban, really?
The second half was a bit different though. We started well, with Daniel Sturridge scoring his first goal in Europe followed by some funky dance moves ! Who said that only Brazilian and African players can dance? Nice moves... After that the picture changed. We looked a bit sloppy in possession and a bit too relaxed. There were some horror goalkeeping moments by Cech (which I forgive him for, just don't do it again).
Zilina's goal was a comedy of errors by our defence ! Cech punched the ball into Ivanovich's head and into the goal. That probably makes up from Kalou's goal at the weekend. We are even now, no more mistakes !
Overall, good performance, extremely please with how Anelka did in the absence of suspended Drogba. He had a fantastic game ! I was very happy to see our youngsters coming in as well. Sturridge had a solid game, didn't see much of Kakuta after he came in but I really hope he plays more this season as he looks very good on the ball. Didn't see much of McEachran either, only the fact that he has a slightly oversized head, and Van Aanholt didn't get much time on the pitch.
Now let's wait for the weekend and hope for another good performance against Blackpool ! Also, let's hope for a hack fest between Man United and Liverpool with a lovely draw as a result ! See you at the weekend !
Mrs Footy - Please leave your comments !
P.S. Keep your eyes on the blog's pictures next week as I'm going to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea and Newcastle ! Let's see if I get some good ones !
Another weekend, another solid performance from Chelsea.
I was surprised when I saw the line up for the game with Lampard being left out due to injury and Malouda and Alex on the bench. The only upset about that was that I had both on my Fantasy Football team! I was really happy to Ramires in the starting line up though! I’ve been looking forward to seeing him play.
The game couldn't have started better when Essien jumped high after one minute and 20 seconds to head in a corner from Drogba. After that Chelsea were a bit flatter than usual, but still kept control of the game and defended well against West Ham chances that mainly came from Obina. The second goal came in the most of unusual and comic way. Drogba took a free kick which Green failed to grab it with confidence letting the bounce in front of him. Upson quickly cleared it, but not strongly enough as he sent the ball straight in to Kalou’s heel which sent the ball back lobbing Robert Green (you have to see this one to understand it).
West Ham looked more dangerous for the rest of the game with Obina having a few more changes. Chelsea seemed to be relaxing for the rest of the game and leaving the hard work to the defence. But as they failed to take advantage of their scoring opportunities, we didn’t. In the second half, with seven minutes to go, Ferreira sent and excellent cross to Essien to score his second header of the game. The game looked over now, but West Ham saw a bit of hope when Parker lobbed an incredible ball over Cech. And West Ham even made me nervous when a few minutes later Piquionne headed a sitter against the bar.
It was a good game, even though it wasn’t the most inspired performance I’ve seen from Chelsea. We did the job! I was very happy to see Essien smiling and scoring after spending most of last season in the sidelines with a knee injury. I thought Kalou had a superb game as well and proved that if we need him he can easily be in the first team. It was nice to see the team perform well without two of our most important players, Lampard and Malouda. Well done to Ramires who despite not having an amazing game, looked solid and make some important tackles.
I was very pleased with the result, even more pleased because I saw the way that Man United drew the game with Everton a few hours before. That was a beautiful game! Well done Everton, and it was nice to see Pienaar and Arteta having a good game, I really like those two players.
Now it’s on to the Champions League game against Zilina on Wednesday. Good luck blues.
Just to finish I wanted to wish good luck to Zamora on his leg operation today, let’s hope it’s a clean break and we can see him again in a few months. Now I’m off to see Liverpool and Birmingham. Have a good end of the weekend!
So three wins out of four so far this season, and we are looking in good shape. We started the game with a high tempo and created numerous chances early on. One particular chance came from a fine through ball from Thomas "outside of the foot" Rosicky which put Arshavin through one on one. Unfortunately Arshavin fluffed the chance, as well as another couple of chances laid on by Fabregas. However it seemed just a matter of time for the goal to arrive as Bolton were playing a high line which was getting cut open repeatedly by Fabregas and Rosicky. In the end it was Wilshere who delivered a deep left footed cross which Fabregas got on the end of to square it across for Koscielny to bundle over the line for his first Arsenal goal.
However soon after Bolton got the equaliser from a long hoof which was headed on and Koscileny inexplicably headed into the path of Lee, who showed cood composure to chip to the back post for Elmander to head in. It was poor defending and frustrating to go in level after dominating the first half.
Second half we came out well and Chamakh got on the scoresheet after heading in a cross from Fabregas. Then came the moment of controversy when Song fouled Lee on the edge of the Arsenal box but the ref. waved played on leading to a breakaway down the left. The ball came to Chamakh who flicked it back to put Arshavin away only for Cahill to clatter him off the pitch with a lunge from behind. The referee brought play back and sent off Cahill for what was probably more of a yellow card tackle. It was game over from that point really. We were dominating the midfield at that point and the 3rd goal came when Song made a forward run into the box and took a great first touch past the defender and somehow squeezed the ball in at the near post over the keeper from a tight angle. Vela came off the bench and did his usual rounding off the scoring after a long chain of passes ended with Fabregas chipping another ball over the Bolton defence and Vela finishing smartly.
Overall a good solid display and we showed good strength in spite of some blatant thuggery from Owen Coyle's supposedly changed Bolton side. I'm surprised Bolton can have any complaints over the referee sending off Cahill considering the referee let two much worse tackles go unpunished. Kevin Davies, already on a yellow for a studs up tackle on Wilshere, launched into Koscileny as he headed clear with no intention of getting the ball. It was a stright red challenge in my opinion but the ref gave nothing. Then after the Cahill red card, Paul Robinson jumped in at Diaby clearly over the ball and smashed into his leg, forcing Diaby to leave the pitch having just come on. There really is no place for these type of tackles and it's shocking that they can go by unpunished. I wouldn't be surprised if Diaby is out for a long time after that one and you could see he was incensed by the tackle immediately after. Even more shocking is that these two tackles got no discussion after the game, there weren't even shown on match of the day, and I gave up on seeing any proper debate of the game on sky sports goals on Sunday when I saw who their special guest was - of course Owen Coyle. Instead all the talk will be on poor Bolton who got Cahill sent off unjustly, while Diaby is possibly facing the propect of spending months in recovery.
One good thing is that we didn't fold under Bolton's blatant spoiling tackles, and I think the defence held up well overall. Squillaci looks quite solid at first impression, he reminds me of a younger Carvalho almost. I think Koscielny could do with a few quiet games now to settle in, as in his first three games he has now scored a goal, been at fault for two goals, got a red card, been stretchered off and nearly knocked out! A word too for Fabregas too who was looking back to his best providing great through balls all game.
We now have Bolton and Blackburn out of the way, so hopefully we can look forward to some good games with opponents whose sole aim is not to foul/upset/inure anything in a red shirt. Its Braga in the champions league up next in mid week,
So, after a poor World Cup England had quite an impressive game yesterday. I know I'm brazilian and I should be talking about my own national team but I couldn't resist talking a little bit about England. I've been listening for the past 3 months to the English press alwaysd criticising and slagging off Capello every single opportunity they have. The guy can't say anything or do anything without someone calling him a donkey or worse. So I was hoping for a good England performance so I could turn on Sky Sport News the next morning and wouldn't have to listen to same thing over and over again.
Did you notice that Capello has been playing the same system since he took control of England? But, when the team was winning he was brilliant, he was one of the best managers England has ever had. The second you had bad performances he was stupid.
Some other things really annoyed me as well. So Rooney had a very bad World Cup and whose fault is it? Not Rooney... Of course not Rooney, how could he? It has to be Capello... Come on, give the man a break. If I was him I would have left you without a manager a long time ago and you could go and look for and English manager like so many people want. I don't know who though... I can't think of one good English manager without a team at the moment. (or even with a team - Mr F).
So today I wake up and a hear on TV: Maybe the 4-4-2 works... oh, so it is that easy to get the press to change their minds. For you to have an idea how I found this subject annoying every time I hear the pundits on sky sport news talking about Capelllo I turn off my TV.
Another really annoying subject has been the Arteta story. Not sure you have noticed but most international teams have one or two players who aren't really from that country but have changed their nationalities and committed themselves to play for that team. Why is that a disgrace? So, every other international team is wrong? Shouldn't Boateng and Ozil be playing for Germany? Zidane and Viera should have never played for France? Deco has disgraced the Portugal team? I don't think so. So England would be lucky to have such a skillful player as Arteta, and you should be very happy if he accepted the invite to play for England, but unfortunately the FA has said that he can't since he played for Spain when he was young without an English passport.
Well, I just wanted to say something as these two subject have been bothering me for the past 3 months. I just hope that this last good performance from the team will shut the press up for a bit and we could all give Capello a break and that I can turn my TV on and not get angry at it !
