The Arsenal Report

It has been a while, but we finally managed to win at home. Gallas's goal looks to have broken the levee and all the hoodoo surrounding our inability to win and score at home. The first half was typical Arsenal, lots of pocession with very little to show for it. Adebayor who started the half very lively, dissapeared towards the end. 

65 minutes in and Gallas finally managed to put the ball into the back of the net. You could almost hear the collective sigh  of relief among the Arsenal supporters. Gallas has really impressed me so far. He's a determined player, who always gives 100%. The second goal was a sloppy own goal and really took the wind out of Sheffield. Henry then headed in a third goal, the cross from Eboue was perfect.

Positives from the game:

1) A home win!!

2) Djourou looks class  

3) We have alot of strenght on the bench

4) A home win!! 

Not so positive:

1) Adebayor is too inconsistent

2) Van Persie did not impress 

3) Eboue's positioning is horrible, most teams would have exploited that 

4) Henry is waaaaay short of fitness 

The team is starting to take shape and consistency is the key. Porto is next and they will not be easy to play against. They look good, especially that Anderson kid.

 

 

 

So finally some real controversy today at the World Cup. 3 red cards at the USA - Italy game. One was warranted the other two were two of the worst refereeing decisions I have ever seen. The first one was a def. yellow in my opinion but IN NO WAY was a red card. Granted it was two footed, he was showing his studs but there was absolutely no intent to injure anyone. Pirlo simply played the ball a little two quick, hence messing up the timing of his challenege. The second yellow for Pope was a warning at the most. The referee was just shite, he seemed to be watching a different game.

 

The way I look at the first Red for the US was that the referee was trying to neutralize his earlier red (De Rossi). I don't know if its just me but I often feel that referees give out the second red card to the other team just to balance the two sides again. Maybe they regret the decision.

Other than that the game was fcuking horrible. The US dominated the first 20mins with no real end product. Italy scored because of a stupid mistake by Pope who for some reason seemed to think that Gilardino was offside. The own goal was quite comical, I could not help feeling sorry for him though. 

The result was quite good in the end. The US still have a good chance of going through. Slim but still possible. They will have to beat am impressive Ghana team. A confident Ghana team that will be missing two very important players in Ado and Muntari.  

I hope that US get knocked out, but at the same time I do not want to see Ghana in the next round.

Beofore I finish this piece I just wanted to know if any of you guys like M.A.S.H. I loved the show when I was a kid, and recently started watching it on Hallmark that shows 4 episodes weekdays 4-6pm. Its one of the few shows that is actually funny without being obscece. Hawkeye, Radar and Trapper are fcuking sweet.

Have a good one!

blinkrebel 

Its been 17 games so far and the World Cup has looked pretty mediocre in my opinion. It could also be the fact that I miss Arsenal playing.

France is the only team I "support" and will probably be the only team I support during my lifetime, knowing very well that India will never manage actually get there. At the beginning of the tournament I really fancied France to do well but after watching their first game against the Swiss, getting to the 2nd round seems difficult. They seem to be completely out of ideas. And the 4-2-3-1 formation being used by Raymond Domenech is absolute shite. Unless they made some major changes to the side which includes dropping Vieira and Wiltord who looked hopeless its a wonder that they were both decent players at Arsenal.

The African teams especially the Ivory Coast and Ghana were tipped to be the underdogs but have looked pretty bad in my opinion. They are def. not the best teams from Africa. The best teams from Africa are at home watching the games on their HDTV's. The Etoo's and Martins. My roomate for the summer is from Africa and I have a 50 dollar wager that not a single African team would make it past the group stages. The only thing they have going for them is the fact that they have played against top-notch teams so far.(Except Tunisia)

I got a few emails and comments about my last article expressing my hate for american commentators. Unfortunately they do not seem to have made much progress. At least the US getting the crsuhed the Cezchs has put a a lid on how America is Gods gift to the football.

Later

blinkrebel.