It's 6.40am and I may well just start preparing for work, as with those who caught the game.
First thing's first, we always knew that those missed chances in the first leg would come back to haunt us. On the 9th minute, it did, thanks to some slack defending. What a way to concede.
Wenger said before the game that Arsenal will attack. Uh-huh I say. I can't recall any clear cut chances. There weren't even missed chances seriously. It was like he fielded the exact team which loved the 4 goalless draws in a row to get a draw in Rome. Well, a draw would have sent us through without all the hassle of extra time + penalties but SRSLY, gosh. If we thought the team would be more purposeful playing in Europe I guess we've all just been proven wrong.
Eboue for all his troubles and attempts at redemption, was silent throughout. Either he was intimidated by the size of Roma or he didn't want to get involved in any incidents which might just send his crowd meter back to -832740738490. Maybe I should be thankful that for a lack of incidents rather than something similar to Sp*rs.
I suppose after some thought I can understand why Wenger played Robin and Nicky. Roma are huge. But the midgets of Arsenal who are full of craft can wrongfoot a giant and cause all sorts of problems. Vela could be one of them after his fantastic performance midweek. But sometimes, all these don't really matter since we're through anyway, right?
It's just those nerve wrecking moments we all had to go through. And how we knew very well that had chances in the first leg not been missed, we wouldn't be put into such a situation. It's like painful.
Then there's Totti. I used to love him, dating back to World Cup days. Now he's an absolute twat. Ass. He owned Denilson through dirty means. 180+30 minutes of dirtiness. I believe him, as the bloody captain, would take on the responsibility of carrying the team on his shoulders etc etc etc. But he's such a cunt. If I never have to watch him play again my world would be merrier.
It's a good thing we're through. And the team can watch Manuel Almunia's time in goal during the shootout and be more motivated to win the damn game in normal time. He is absolutely attrocious. The only consolation is that Doni is too. ManUre have Edwin Van der Sar who owns penaties. He has won trophies on penalties. When was the last fucking time anyone ever had a 7-6 shootout? It's times like these you know you miss Mad Jens. Before the dude even steps up to take the kick he puts them off in every way possible e.g. dispute that ball not on the spot, shouting at the player, shouting at own player etc etc etc. And I guess that works. Except that I think Almunia tried to put of one Julio Baptista and it didn't work. Fancy facing 2 different beasts in consecutive games. (Burnley's keeper is also nicknamed the beast) Also, he totally screwed up that chance which would most certainly put Roma through. Like when Eboue comes on during a nil-nil to try and change the game to a win, I know with my entire being that it's a freakin lost cause. When Baptista came on I knew we would win somehow.
But of course, we didn't in normal time plus extra time. So I guess he his made it remain status quo the same way Eboue does. They're in the same league.
Dudu didn't take his penalty as well and it's not something we expected from him since he totally has the calmness to stay cool. But it's ok, the rest of the lads showed composure and converted it all till one of Roma's lost it. Comments on BBC thinks Max Tonetto could be the name of the next super ice cream. Is conetto Italian? I only know they're all made in Malaysia.
Attention shifts to the league now. Martin O'Neil took this opportunity to bring his Villa team for a R & R plus training in Dubai. So now they're heated up by the sun for the season's run-in. I suppose he didn't learn from Moscow where they threw the game in favour of the league and then managed to throw away a 2-0 lead in the last 4 minutes and then getting owned by Man City. Look at Arsenal when players are rested. Nasri was bollocks. Denilson as usual. Van Persie just wasn't creating. Bendtner was back to normal. Normal being bad.
So. resting players can be a bad horrible thing. I hope it's a bad horrible thing for Villa. Blackburn beat Fulham and we face them next. Fulham like owned us in the nil-nil game and then they got creamed by fucking Man Utd in the FA Cup and now Blackburn too. People up their game against Arsenal but Arsenal do not always up their game at all.
Arsenal is supposed to be exciting and the players knew what to do on the counter attacks. The final balls into the final third were supposed to be quality. Now it's all rubbish and I only have one word: lacklustre. I guess Arshavin does bring a different dimension to the team but he's freakin cup-tied. Without him the team went back to normal i.e. cannot score, except that this time the defence went back to being sloppy.
Goodness gracious.
I thought the learning curve could apply. It's upward sloping LAH. When will the fans stop being disappointed? I suppose for now most of us are just thankful to be through. Whatever lies ahead doesn't sound like great fun though. The funny thing is, there isn't any Italian team in the last 8 and 50% of the teams are English. Septic Blatter will have much to say.
P.S. I wish all travelling fans safety from vicious Roma fans.Labels: Almunia, Aston Villa, Eboue, Roma
A Little Drunken Madness @ 6:39 AM
I realised how much human relationships mean to me.
Even though whatever's on my plate is like bad, bad and bad.
Anyway. With Roma coming up, the list of travellers are up.
Up in the attacking department there is a wealth 0f dudes available. How often do we get such a luxury? It's like fan-freakin-tastic and the list doesn't include one Emmanuel Adebayor who is such a shithead. May he leave in the summer and never be heard of again. Asshole. I really hate traitors.
There's another Newcastle dude following in the footsteps of N'Zogbia. I don't think we need another s-o-n-g in the team. Bassong should just fuck the hell off. It's rotten to use the name of Arsenal to engineer a move elsewhere, the same way Adebayor is doing with Milan and Barca. Srsly. I think they have better players than him. And I hate Milan for taking Flam away. I hate Flam for walking away. And who chooses '86' for a shirt number? Not like it's rugby or something.
Should be a fantastic game tomorrow night. And we should all hope there aren't any violent clashes since Roma fans are vicious.
Lastly, C. Ronaldo sez he's losing his head. I think that's because his head is at the Bernabeu.Labels: Emmanuel Adebayor, one of my many theories, Roma
A Little Drunken Madness @ 11:25 PM
On a night when...
EBOUE SCORES.
Song was on song.
Vela and Eduardo did the cheeky cheeky.
Arshavin got another 90 minutes and another assist.
...and many other things.
It's just happy happy happy. With Walcott and Eduardo featuring, the two dudes out injured. When players come back from injury it's a cause for celebration. And dudu is just fantastic. He is such a natural finisher. I love his left foot.
Before the game Mr Owen Coyle and co. were talking up their own team's ability to whack Arsenal since they did it earlier in the Carling Cup. Somehow, when the game is at the Emirates, they probably lost their chance to get anything but creamed.
Song was outstanding. He went forward and was whipping in cross after cross and he got 2 assists. This fellow needs to start being consistent because he's capable. On days when he shakes off the attitude he's fantastic. He needs to keep it up. And it was nice to not see Denilson anywhere even though he has been a hardworking servant all this while. His sideways passing really pisses the hell out of me.
I think there isn't much to say other than to enjoy the win and hopefully take the game to Roma. Cicinho will miss the clash, so will De Rossi, with the latter due to suspension. They are a quality side but I'm sure us at our best can beat anybody.
Eboue has taken another step towards redemption so he should try no to blow it or try anything funny.
Lastly, Drogba scares me.Labels: Eboue, Eduardo, FA Cup, Roma
A Little Drunken Madness @ 11:44 PM
We take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of the round of 16.
On paper it's a fantastic result, considering all the goalless draws as of late. We'll take a 1-0 any time.
On the other hand, if you're a fan watching the game you just want to smash the TV/laptop/everything smashable. Why?
Because there are people like Eboue, Song, Denilson and Bendtner in the team. This bunch haven't had an inkling of what the hell to do with the bloody ball in the final third. Like clueless. It's like they've never played in that part of the pitch or Idonnowhatyoutellme.
I'm angry because we so easily could have had at least a 2-goal cushion. All this misses - sitters I would call, could come around and bite us in the back.
The Roma defence gifted Eboue a present and he managed to screw it up. I'm sure he wants to redeem himself with the fans. I'm so sure of that. He is playing on the right wing and he doesn't know what to do with the ball when he gets it in the final third. Absolutely clueless.
And then Bendtner. Gosh. These days my ass is stuck onto the sofa. There isn't any need to rise, or rise partially to almost celebrate would-be goals because they're not going in. It's that simple. Save me the extra energy to sit my ass back down. Sickening. So I'm wondering if he's a striker because a striker doesn't miss shots like that. I have no idea what the hell he is. A pussy maybe. i don't know.
All the negative trash talking aside, I thought Diaby did well. If he got injured and needed another lay off I wouldn't be surprised. but he did well and he kept the ball well in the final third and it's a good performance after being out. I'd have him any day over Song.
Denilson + Song = sideways passing 99%
Then the 1% tried to pump up front ends up with someone who isn't wearing a red shirt.
When Cesc is in midfield he is the chief of assists. With these two I wonder what the hell they are doing in midfield.
So defensively I thought we did well. Gallas and Toure can play together and perform. Finally. Finally this isn't a good only on paper description again. Sagna is ever such a gem.
Nasri's true position is really through the middle but that shifted Bendtner out on the left. Bendtner doing defensive work is kinda scary. And he played totally out of position and when Nasri/Clichy/Sagna crossed into the box he should be the one there to head it in (ASSUMING HE DOESN'T MISS).
Then of course, RVP. If not for him I think the whole team can buang. He won the game for us.
I like Philippe Mexes. And Totti.
Anyway, I think either I have a jinx of a friend who watched all the goalless draws (hence why we draw) or I have a lucky shirt. I wore it today. It's like I wear any other jersey and they screw up the result. I wear this one and they win. That's kinda bad. I really like my other jerseys too.
It's the red training jersey.
My friend came over today and asked me how many Fly Emirates shirts I have. Many many many.
So 1-nil to the Arsenal. Finally. We waiting a long long time. But with the performance that went with it, I doubt this is the win of the season Wenger is looking for to lift the team and move off from. This team has a lot of work to do. Either that or those dudes out injured start coming back soon.Labels: Emmanuel Eboue, Nicklas Bendtner, Roma, Samir Nasri
A Little Drunken Madness @ 5:43 AM
How do I possibly start my day right when I flip open BBC Sport and find out that Sp*rs won?
And we're struggling to win. I'll take an 86th-minute header by a centre back any day.
And it's even more painful to think/possibly know that the Roma tie tonight could be our last Champion's league involvement if we fail to beat them after both legs and then lose 4th spot.
Everyone (Wenger and all) are speaking confidently about securing 4th place but SRSLY? Wanna know what I think?
It's all Wenger and his own ball game when he talks up the squad everytime they're bad. How are they supposed to learn from criticism? And how's telling someone they're damn good when they're just like, um, bad?
So only Diaby has returned for the Roma game. Earlier on there was a slight glimmer of hope that Walcott passes his scan before the game and makes the game or so. Think that's quite unlikely to happen, otherwise we'll have news by now. It's like the players who really feel for the club are all injured, with Rosicky scheduled to be back before Cesc but requiring 2 months of competitive football to return to full form. So where does that leave us? He'll be himself in May. That looks like the end of the season doesn't it? So maybe we can all rejoice at our new signing in May.
I refer to the most dui ever phrase Wenger has said about those coming back from injuries: They'll be like new signings.
I almost smashed my computer on reading that one.
On to Roma, we all hope that this squad is like preparing heart and soul for this match so much so that it was okay to draw with Sunderland and the previous 2 games. So maybe they'll make it all up by trashing Roma. Ha-Ha. Wenger says that one win can change our season and from last season's experiences, I don't think it'll help. His theories seem to be going all wrong. Like we beat AC Milan and we fans expected some sort of revival and moving on from there but it didn't happen and we still continued on the road to squander the damn title. The truth is, European football and the league are different. And I'm positively sure that it has different mental effects on the players. If they do perform lightning well tonight we'll all know why. If they don't, then I'll have nothing to say. It's just one disappointment after another and I don't know how much more my heart can take.
Like if I saw Eboue starting tonight I might just turn off the TV and go to bed instead.
I think I just condemned myself to not watching the game.
Anyway, the other game taking place tonight is kinda more exciting. It's Inter vs United and Mourinho vs SAF and SRSLY, they've started their mind games and it's fantastic. This is what we've been missing. The special one really spices things up for all of us. He went to Italy and owned them. So their game is like a top of the table clash between European giants. How many times do we ever have that kind of billing for a game?
This Arsenal squad is capable of better. They just need to get their attitude right. And I really hate Song and Eboue. There is only one word associated with Alex Song and it's 'lazy' while Eboue has only vulgarities to his name.
When in hell have I hated any of our players that much? Eboue used to make me laugh with his antics. Instead of being mad, it's better to laugh at what is expected. But now he has crossed the damn line and he really doesn't deserve to play. He's been testing all of our patience for a long long time.
So enjoy the game tonight. Try to be positive.Labels: Alex Ferguson, Alex Song, Arsene Wenger, Eboue, Jose Mourinho, Roma, Sp*rs
A Little Drunken Madness @ 12:36 PM
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