Arsenal vs. Chelski Live!
Arsenal vs. Chelski - it's a massive game. It's also Cashley's return. If you're out there watching - and honestly why wouldn't you be? - drop in for a cuppa this morning, won't you?
posted by gatorbob @ 11:03 AM
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Arsenal vs. Chelski - it's a massive game. It's also Cashley's return. If you're out there watching - and honestly why wouldn't you be? - drop in for a cuppa this morning, won't you?
Lakenheath Old Boys
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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73 Comments:
Here are the sides for today's epic clash:
Chelsea: Hilario, Geremi, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien, Ballack, Makelele, Lampard, Shevchenko, Drogba.
Subs: Hedman, Boulahrouz, Mikel, Robben, Wright-Phillips.
Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Djourou, Senderos, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas, Silva, Flamini, Van Persie, Adebayor.
Subs: Almunia, Ljungberg, Julio Baptista, Hoyte, Walcott.
Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire)
It's the usual tight start with both teams feeling each other out. Lawrence the Gooner on WSD had reported this week that the Arse faithful had something special in mind for Cashley when he came out of the tunnel. Wonder what it was? A banner? A derisive chant? Backs turned to him? Bottles of piss? No mention on the commentary, of course.
Arsenal seem to have a slight edge so far. They're going for it. A bit of verbals between Fabregas and Cashley there in the corner. That could develop interestingly. The noise in the stadium is fantastic.
Looks like Senderos may be in trouble after shoulder barging Drogba off the ball. No, Alan Wiley is sensible and just gives him a talking to. No card.
Ballack and Sheva look rejuvenated today. Perhaps their efforts in the Champions League has reinforced their confidence level. Good long range efforts from both of them in the early going here.
OOOOH, that was close for Lamps. Nice early strike and it rebounds off the post with Lehmann nowhere to be found. The Arse have to get a grip of this one again. Their back four are looking rickety.
Now it looks like Cashley is going to pick up a yellow card, much to the delight of the Arse part of the crowd. Nasty challenge on Hleb. Still, Jose is up off the bench mouthing off to the fourth official. This could get a bit tasty. The commentary staff reckon that Drogba also talked himself into the book there.
The ref really needs to get a grip of the match here. The crowd is baying for blood after every challenge. Drogba really made a meal there and all the Chelski players have got the fake cards out appealing for a card for Fabregas. Cashley in the thick of it, unfortunately. There's an electric feel to this match. Too bad very little of it is football related so far.
Things have settled down a bit in the past five minutes. Alan Wiley has done well to keep the shenanigans to a minimum, mostly talking to players. Only one yellow card so far, and a warranted one IMHO. Not a lot of pretty football though. Chelski very central midfield quartet have things bottled up. I'd like to see the Arse exploit their lack of width more.
A big miss for Essien there, but he was expertly patrolled by Gilberto Silva, who put him off his shot.
This match has whizzed by, and without much goalmouth drama. There was one that Fabregas knocked off the line a few moments ago and the Lampard effort off the post, but other than that, it's the usual tight battle of the titans.
I'm starting to agree with those who say these games don't mean that much because they rarely end in a result. It's the away games at Blackburn where points are won or dropped by the big boys that decide the Premiership in the end.
Lehmann's just kneed Sheva to the ground and the Ukrainian is taking a long time to get up.
Hi guys, I had to take my brother-in-law to the train station. I am here for the second half.
How did the first half go? Matt said that The Arse dominated at first but then Chelski took over. Your thoughts
Hey Dave! First half was very tight, as expected. Gooner says, "so far, so good."
I, as well as Sir Alex, am rooting for the Gooners!!!
I put in the last posting that United are nine points clear but no one has mentioned that Chelski play The Arse, The Toon at home, at the Toffees at Goodison before United take on The Hammers!!!
They just showed the highlights of the derby from yesterday. Blimey, the Citeh defence were horrible!
Good result for you this morning. Barnsley only get a draw at home
Useless
Highlights of this match seem to be all the Blues. Yikes.
Who is playing up front for the Arse
Scuffed shot, should have done better
How has the treatment of Cashley been?
Just heard some boos
It's Ade and Van Persie up front for the Arse. Cashley has been very chippy. He's picked up the only yellow card so far, has been booed at every touch and has been appealing for virtually every Arsenal player to be sent off for slight violations. The referee has been very sensible so far.
I will definitely take a draw from this.
I'm sure you would. What do you reckon about that thesis that I mentioned earlier - big games like this don't matter because most of them are draws. It's how you do week in week out against the minnows that wins championships. I heard that on a podcast this week and I think it makes good sense.
Absolutely.
If a team can get a win it is big but it is United's game at Upton Park that win the league
Arsenal had most of the possession in the first half, but Chelski had the better chances - Essien missed a sitter, Lamps hit the post, Fabregas saved one off the line, good shots from Sheva and Lamps. So those are obviously in the highlights.
Yeah, look at how you lost at OT to Arsenal. Has it made much of a difference to your season? Sure, if you'd won you'd be twelve points up going into this game, but the difference isn't that huge.
Flamini picks up the second yellow of the game and then Geremi hits a rubbish free kick straight into someone's bollocks in the wall.
Did you see that AC Milan only drew today. They are three points off the relegation zone. Did they have any points deducted?
Yeah, as I remember they had eight points deducted. Should've been much more and they should've been kept out of the CL too. Bastards. They've made up the deficit, but there's a chance they'll go down. They've been in terrible form recently.
Love to see them go down
Good move for the Arse. Should have used RVP
Look at Arsenal's back four - Eboue, Djourou, Senderos, Clichy, with Flamini and Gilbo out in the hole. Gooner will call be a nativist for this comment, but it is a long way away from the English back four, flair continental players up front model that won Arsene trophies for Arsenal earlier in his career at the Arse.
What happened there!!!!
Oh dear oh dear, what is this going on in the box with Lehmann and Drogba? Must be some reds coming here. Everyone's going barmy on the pitch. Here's the major talking point of the day - and unfortunately it's not about footie.
Drogba and Lehmann are still nattering at each other.
And it's yellow for both players. Very sensible don't you think?
Both of them were pathetic!!!
They fell down so badly it is disgusting.
Two yellows are correct but card them both again for diving.
Looks like SWP and Robben coming on. Why oh why doesn't Jose start with some width? He always seems to start with all of the central midfield players. It doesn't work and he has to put the wide players on.
Yes, very theatrical all round. But reds would've spoiled the match.
Robben and SWP on. Now they have width
agreed, but this theatrics have to stop
Tell it to Ronaldo!
Agreed again.
What happened there with Drogba placing the ball for Lehman.
Scramble in the box. The Arse survive
A brilliant run from Robben after a hilariously bad ball from Senderos and an almighty scramble at the end of it. Somehow it's still 0-0.
Ooooh, I really felt like Drogba was going to tread on Lehmann's face there. Now, that would be grounds for a red card!
I had the same thought. I also thought that Lehman was going to roll around.
Boy, Robben is causing havoc
Come on RVP
Oooh, Robben goes close again. He's ripping them up now. That was what was missing from Chelski in the first half. Why doesn't Jose play him? He seems so stuck on having two holdings mids and Ballack and Lamps in the central mid going forward.
I can't stand all this talk of holding midfielder. England were busy worried about one and they were playing Trinidad!!!
You may have missed it earlier but they showed Magnus Hedmann on the bench for Chelski. He's been drafted in from retirement as a replacement goalkeeper now that Cech and Cudocini are crocked. They said that Drogba had offered to play in goal if Hilario had gone down. Now that would be fun to see!
I would like to see that
I know what you mean. Unfortunately the big teams established that as a rule years ago with players such as Paul Ince. I'd love to see teams play Kevin Keegan style with no holding mids when playing inferior opposition and only playing one when they're in a tight match.
GOAL! Yeah, you've got to love that! Flamini - what an unlikely goalscorer.
Goal for the ARSE!!!!!
I can't believe I just cheered for The Arse.
Great move and goal.
Keeper should have done better
Holy Toledo. There are only twelve minutes left
It wasn't actually that good a finish. Hilario probably should've stopped it - it was right at him but spinning to the left a bit. Nice move, though.
This is a great result for you lot, don't you think? The more points the big boys take off each other, the better, right?
I still think Chelski will come back
I can't believe Drogba missed that
Bad first control
Oooh, that was close and I reckon Drogba should've gotten a second yellow for deliberately dragging his knee over Lehmann's head there.
Gooner says that he'll still take a draw out of this match, just not a loss.
Nice stuff again from Robben, but his final ball was just a little behind Drogba there. I disagree with Robbie Earle - that was a half chance. It would have been miraculous for that one to go in.
Oh what a goal from Essien! Wallop!
A breathtaking finish here. Still five or so minutes left. Hleb should've had one there.
Pure rubbish from SWP.
Wenger may well have an argument about that Cashley foul on Hleb that led to the goal.
Essien missed an absolute sitter there. His header went straight onto the bar when he had the goal gaping. How can you nail a forty yarder a moment ago and then miss a header from a yard out?
Oooh, and another incredible miss - this time from Lamps. How did Chelski not win that match. It's all over and Gooner was probably right to just hope for a draw.
That draw puts Arsenal in sixth and Chelski still in second some eight points behind ManYoo.
Yeah, a draw suits us a lot better than it suits Chelsea. If it were a reversal of situations and it was Arsenal with the gangster moneybags buying Maureenyo everything he wants and more, and we'd just drawn at home against a team down 4 starters, it would have been characterized as the underachievement that boded crisis.
You saw who Arsene went with as a sub to add a defensive bod to settle for a draw right? Freddie Ljungberg! Yeah, that'll work.
And who could Maureenyo call upon when he needed a goal. Robbin and SWP. And it did work.
That's the difference right there. With Lauren and Diaby as out long term, we have no good defensive choices. For some reason, Baptista is not getting the games and we're making attacking midfielders fill in the blanks for us.
Chelsea's problem was a combination of the wrong bods on the pitch, a problem Maureenyo gets a pass from the sycophantic press on, and piss-poor finishing. For every blinder from Essien, you could count so many missed chances from that cheating muppet Drogba and fat-Frank.
We were down the talismanic Henry, perhaps an even more important Toure, and Rosicky and Gallas. And we were undermanned, away, and Chelsea had to equalize and I don't read anything about underperforming Chelsea. Typical- fawning-over Maureenyo crap.
Sixth place, with a game in hand I that with three points would see us clear in 4th I'd add.
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