Quite a funny topic this week, following the revelation that Newcastle United have sold the naming rights to St. James’ Park and for the rest of the season will be playing at the sportsdirect.com@St. James’ Park stadium. Catchy isn’t it?!
I don’t especially have a problem with naming rights (how could I as an Arsenal supporter) but I think you should go either the whole way or not at all. Either call it the sportsdirect.com stadium or stick with St James’ Park. Don’t try and force it all into one joint effort. Can you imagine the Emirates@Ashburton Grove or Aon Insurance@Old Trafford. Doesn’t work does it. Typical Newcastle though, always doing things cack-handedly.
Anyway, in terms of this week’s entry, my lack of internet meant I had to do it in Paint and Word at work. I got the opportunity to redo it below but you can see the original rubbish version on the Guardian site, not that this one is that much better. Jack is Jackie Milburn, 2nd highest Newcastle goalscorer btw.
Put sportsdirect.com@St James' Park into an anagrammer and you get this. I would think that a very dyslexic signwriter might come up with something similar.
A quick one today as I’m writing this at work as I don’t yet have internet access in my new flat (posts maybe a bit sporadic for the next week or two).
1. It’s interesting to see Arsenal’s attack being lauded after 36 goals in just 11 games but it’s premature to think they’ll definitely break 100 goals. All their home games bar Spurs have been against sides in the bottom eight while it was the first time since the 6-1 against Everton on the opening day that they’d scored more than two away.
That said, they have been pretty awesome and you can only beat what’s put in front of you. The 4-3-3 formation suits Fabregas down to a tee and he already has nearly as many assists as last year as well as the small matter of nine goals in all competitions. Sunderland away is next but the real test comes in three weeks when Chelsea come to the Emirates. The best attack vs the best defence; something will have to give.
2. Surely if you’re 2-0 down in a game you’ll take a draw at the end of it. I jest slightly but Man City once again showed defensive frailty against Burnley and the current back four does not seem up to scratch if City are to be pushing for a Champions League spot. They may have only lost once but drawing all the time is not a recipe for success (just ask Liverpool last season). In the last five drawn games they could have instead won two and lost three but still been better off. Needing time to gel isn’t a good excuse.
3. It’s still only a matter of time before the Tango Man gets the chop at Hull. Jimmy Bullard was inspirational in his home debut (ten months after signing) but Stoke were doing fine until Faye got himself sent off. As luck would have it Hull have two more home games coming up against West Ham and Everton and I’d hazard a guess that if he loses both he’ll be out of a job.
Phil Brown
4. Man Utd were probably marginally the better team but Chelsea still found a way to win the game. That’s usually the mark of champions elect. A five point gap is not insurmountable at this stage of the season but if you take the big four clashes as the main opportunity to make up ground/build a lead, then Man Utd’s habit of losing them (just two wins from nine this season and last) makes life all the more difficult for themselves in terms of catching up.
5. I imagine missing a penalty wasn’t in Darren Bent’s list of ways to show Harry Redknapp the error of this ways.
6. Is the Premier League turning into a three-way race for the title and a four-way race for 4th place? Of Aston Villa, Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City the latter have the biggest squads but the former two have more experience of being involved in such a race. Villa were very good against a terrible Bolton team and might be better placed this season when they’re having to chase a 4th spot rather than lead from the front and collapse like last year.
After six qualifying rounds, this weekend sees the start of the FA Cup with the 1st round proper. Through the wonders of random number generators, we’ve picked Luton Town as the team to focus on in this round and in the likely event that they don’t win the FA Cup, we’ll follow each subsequent victor until the final.
Luton Town were in the top flight as recently as 1991/92 but got relegated just as Division 1 turned into the Premier League. Since then they have gradually dropped down the divisions, with financial problems in the past couple of years meaning points deductions which proved too much to overcome. They now find themselves playing in the Conference, having had their 89 year league stay ended last season following a 30 point deficit on everyone else. They did win the Football League Trophy however.
They comfortably beat Grays Athletic 3-0 in the last round and now face League Two Rochdale in the 1st round. Rochdale have been doing well this season and lie second at the moment while Luton themselves are adjusting well to Conference life and are just outside the playoffs in fifth place, though just three points off second.
Kevin Gallen.
Looking through their squad I was surprised to see someone I recognised – Kevin Gallen is on their books. Yes, the ex QPR man who was my cousin’s favourite player growing up (he supports QPR you see) and he has always struck me as one of those classic number 10’s who are really talented but also a bit lazy. In Gallen’s case he’s now a bit of a fatty, though thinking back to QPR games I went to with said cousin, I’m sure he was a bit chubby then too.
Anyway, he is their joint top scorer with four goals and will probably have some part to play if Luton are to beat Rochdale. Looking at the other high scorers, ex Middlesbrough youth player Tom Craddock offers pace up front while defender George Pilkington presumably offers a good aerial threat from set pieces given he also has four goals.
While Rochdale are favourites Luton did draw with them at Kenilworth Road last season and the players will also be looking to impress new manager Richard Money who has a great name and was only appointed a week ago having left the youth set-up at Newcastle to do so (probably a good idea to be fair).
Richard Mo Money Mo Problems.
I don’t have much else to say as I have to finish packing as I’m moving house but good luck to Luton today, and we’ll catchup with what happened before the next round.
So the first double gameweek came and went and I was not best pleased with Aston Villa’s attempts at getting a clean sheet. I gambled on bringing in Dunne to complement Collins but Villa decided to draw 1-1 with a team who have an injury list big enough to fill a teamsheet (Everton), and then lose to then second bottom team (West Ham).
I guess it was to be expected they weren’t to be relied on with two away games and I’m glad I took my own advice of not going for a Villa or West Ham player as captain. Our suggested choices of Fabregas or Lampard but got double figures and whilst we picked the wrong Burnley player, the thought was correct. Europa League action means half the fixtures are on Sunday/Monday this week and there’s a clash between the top two to look forward too as well.
Gameweek 11 Top Gun (aka Tom Cruise Approves):
Maverick approves of the score but not so much of the hair.
Defenders who score are always likely to threaten the top points scorers lists and so it proved as Burnley’s Graham Alexander scored twice, kept a clean sheet and earnt three bonus points for an excellent score of 21 points. I feel a bit sorry for Aruna Dindane of Portsmouth. Useless/unlucky (depending on who you speak to) up until now, he scores a hat-trick plus assist and three bonus for 20 points which would win Top Gun most weeks.
Elsewhere Joey Craddock was another two goal defender but the lack of clean sheet means just 15 for him, while Van Persie notched his biggest score of the season (and sixth goal in five games) with 15 in the destruction of Spurs.
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Three Captain Choices:
With Chelsea facing Man Utd at Stamford Bridge it means you should probably look elsewhere for some easier pickings. That said Drogba is perhaps the only player I’d consider from those two this weekend, and depending on who Utd play at centre back may result in another good score for the Ivorian.
1. Van Persie or Fabregas/Arsenal – Take your pick from these two, both have been in excellent form recently. RvP has six goals, two assists and seven bonus in his last five while Fabregas has two goals, six assists and 12 bonus in his last five. Indeed the Spaniard has been man of the match for the last four games, and has recaptured the form of 06/07 & 07/08 where if Arsenal won you didn’t even have to check as you knew he’d get three bonus. Arsenal face Wolves away and whilst Mick McCarthy’s side have only let in six goals at Molineux so far, they haven’t faced anyone especially good or free scoring. Arsenal are still averaging over three goals a game and while I don’t think it will be a thrashing, either Cesc or RvP should be good for points in a 2-0 win.
2. Adebayor (or maybe Petrov)/Man City – As sure as night follows day, Burnley win at home and lose away. Man City haven’t been great recently with four straight draws but I don’t see Burnley making it five. Adebayor missed last week and is a slight doubt but by it should be clearer later today whether he’s fit. He’s only failed to score or assist in one game so far so should do well against Burnley. Alternatively Martin Petrov is the form player.
3. Dunn/Blackburn – Pompey are the visitors to Ewood Park this week and while they won 4-0 last week I don’t expect a similar outcome. Blackburn are struggling but have been ok at home. Dunn has been by far their best player this season and I would expect him to do something on Saturday.
Gets a Captain's tick
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Three Potential Transfers In:
1. Dempsey/Fulham – A pre-emptive transfer for Gameweek 13 when Fulham play twice but to be fair he isn’t a bad shout this week. Wigan away (masters of inconsistency) following two goals in two games. I like Dempsey as a player, he tends to get forward to support the strikers and takes a lot of shots. Fulham don’t score that many but he’s a better shout than Zamora who could score in five straight games (as if) and I still wouldn’t bring him in. Only masochists would do that!
2. Gibbs/Arsenal – Now that Clichy is out for at least a month (note: you should take this as Arsenal time which is usually half of real time meaning he’s out for two months at least), Kieran Gibbs gets thrust into the left back role. He’s generally impressed when coming into the team and costs just £4.5m. He’s not as good defensively as Clichy but Arsenal don’t really do clean sheets so that’s not a factor. He’s definitely better going forward though so may get an assist or two down the line.
3. Ivanovic/Chelsea – In a similar scenario to Gibbs, he’s replacing an injured full back in Bosingwa. Quite pricey at £5.6m but cheap for a Chelsea defender. They have six clean sheets already this season.
Might be worth a pick.
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Three to avoid:
1. Torres/Liverpool – Yes he’s currently top scorer but I feel it’s only a matter of time before his suspected hernia starts keeping him out of games. Rafa talking about how they have to be careful with him does not fill me with confidence. Cash in and use the money on Drogba, RvP or Rooney.
2. Clichy/Arsenal – Out for ages.
3. Burnley players – Three away games in the next four.
SUCCESS! Finally some reward after months of nothing at all. 2nd place was attained in this week’s Guardian gallery which wins me a copy of Championship Manager 2010. Not bad given that the two previous second place prizes were books but I’ll probably stick it straight on Ebay given that it’s not Football Manager.
Anyway, this week’s theme was new Arsenal defensive stalwart Thomas Vermaelen. I was convinced until Tuesday morning that the theme was Rio Ferdinand, leaving a bit of mad rush in the evening to knock something together for Vermaelen. Both are pretty obvious, especially the Verminator, but I guess the second one is simple enough to have got second.
His mission is to take out strikers everywhere.
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Keep his current form up and he'll soon be number one.
1. Robbie Keane will feel like the biggest mug after his supposedly superior Spurs squad got turned over with ease by the Gunners. Old twitchy eyes may have seen the result coming, as he went in to the game without arguably his best two players in Luka Modric and Jermaine Defoe. Nevertheless, Arsenal have their own injury concerns but showed the gulf in class. Early on it seemed that Spurs were getting all the luck, as David Bentley unbelievably managed to avoid even a booking for a rash and dangerous challenge on Vermaelen. They even managed to hold their own in midfield against Arsenal’s fluid 4-3-3. However, Arsenal were knocking on the proverbial door and only a super save from Gomes, aka rubber arms, kept it 0-0. Song made an awesome challenge at the other end to deny the bullshitter himself, Robbie Keane.
Wenger happy, Wenger dance
The game was effectively over the space of two minutes (42nd and 43rd) as Van Persie profited from some lazy defending to volley Arsenal into the lead. Then straight from kick off Spurs inexplicably gave away the ball and Cesc Fabregas went on a great run which ended in a sublime finish past Gomes. A comical third was put away by van Persie, as Arsenal profited from confusion over a foul on Diaby and a blunder by Gomes.
Such was Arsenal’s dominance that Eduardo even managed to waste two chances you would normally put money on him taking. It was a good overall team performance from Wenger’s men, with the two centre halves looking comfortable, penetration from the full backs and clinical finishing. the only disappointment was Arshavin’s limp display.
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2. Liverpool failed to follow-up their redemptive display against United. Fulham outplayed them and exposed Liverpool’s growing defensive weakness. everyone is focused, perhaps rightly so, on the injuries suffered by Gerrard and Torres. However, it is their fragility at the back which should be their main concern. Carragher was finally punished with the red he should have got against United and all-in-all, Benitez has simply failed to maintain an organised defence. Where he has allowed the likes of Johnson, Insua and Degen to provide an attacking threat, the lack of shape has been exposed. Bobby ‘I love to miss sitters’ Zamora even managed to profit, which has made me think. What is worse, conceding a goal to a beach ball or to Bobby Zamora? I think it has to be the latter.
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3. Top class Chelsea destroyed Bolton. OK, the Blues’ Carling Cup team had already disposed them in mid-week and it was 0-0 on Saturday until JLloyd Samuel deservedly got sent off. But Chelsea showed some classy football, with Drogba, Anelka, Lampard and Deco clicking in a way that reminded me of Arsenal when they had the Vieira, Pires, Henry and Bergkamp combo. The pick of the bunch was the fourth, well taken goal by Drogba. Phenomenal build up. Deco’s was quite special as well. If Ancelotti can sort out the Blues’ defensive frailties away from home, they should power their way to the title.
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4. Have Pompey finally turned round their season? Well, a convincing 4-0 victory against an in-form Wigan side was a good place to start. It is obvious that Pompey will ship a lot of goals but the ability to score them, especially at home, will ultimately keep you up. In Aruna Dindane and Piquionne, Paul Hart has genuine pace and quality in front of goal. Question remains whether they are consistent enough.
My name is Aruna, I am here to save Pompey with my golden boot.
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5. Man City drew for the third game in succession at Birmingham. Both sides had decent chances but it was Shay Given’s penalty save from James McFadden that ensured City got a point. Whilst it is impressive that Mark Hughes has only suffered that sole defeat at Old Trafford, it is the draws that can cost you (ask Wenger about his team two seasons ago). Lucky that he has a banker at home against Burnley next Saturday.
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6. Little Gorgon-Zola mustn’t have been able to believe his luck, as his lads raced into an impressive 2-0 lead at the Stadium of Light through Franco and Carlton Cole. Although fatty Reid pulled one back with a top-notch free kick, it still looked good for the Hammers as Kenwyne Jones was sent off for pushing over Herita Illunga. In a complete reversal of their heroics against Arsenal, West Ham surrendered two points when Darren Bent set up Kieran Richardson for the equaliser. All in all a point at Sunderland is a good result considering the form of Bruce’s team. However, Zola’s nice guy managerial style simply doesn’t seem to achieve the right results.
You may be wondering why Manchester United weren’t covered in this week’s Six Pointer. Well it was such a routine Old Trafford win that it wasn’t worth mentioning other than Berbatov had one of his best games yet for United.
Quick preview this week as I’m away all weekend so once again have to make an early-ish transfer. Not that it’s too difficult to decide who to bring in. The first double gameweek of the season sees Aston Villa and West Ham play twice (they face each other on Wednesday) meaning you should be targetting one of their players for your weekly transfer. More on that later, let’s see what happened last week.
Of our captain picks, only Anelka came through really though he only got five points. In our defence we did say Drogba and Lampard were also good choices and they scored 9 and 14 respectively. Crouch was our top transfer in and he did bugger all but Boateng and Petrov had alright scores.
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Gameweek 10 Top Gun (aka Tom Cruise Approves):
Maverick's been expecting him here.
It’s taken ages for him to get going but Frank Lampard finally came through with a big score and wins his first Top Gun of the season. His two goals, clean sheet and bonus point gave him a score of 14 points which was enough to edge out Hugo Rodallega who got 13. I was lucky enough to pick him as captain too which meant a bit of ground was gained on the leaders in my league. Lots of high Chelsea scores all round as Essien and Ballack were next with 11 points each.
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Three Captain Picks:
I know West Ham and Villa play twice but I do think it’s a risk to pick any of their players as captain. Neither team scores too many but clean sheets are at a premium too. I guess Villa have kept three this season which is pretty good and both Collins and Dunne are goal threats but I think the guys below can still outscore them in just one game. Villa are away in both games while West Ham don’t have anyone reliable beyond Cole.
1. Fabregas/Arsenal - Robbie Keane can bleat all he likes about how Spurs are the equal of Arsenal now but I’m certain the Gunners will beat Tottenham at home. At White Hart Lane, it’s usually quite close but at the Emirates it’s a different story (even last season’s 4-4 was 85 minutes Arsenal) and Arsenal should have too much for them. Spurs are still missing Modric and have been struggling without him while Wenger’s side have a 100% home record so far. I think Fabregas controls this game from midfield and maybe get himself a goal too. This usually results in bonus points too.
2. Lampard/Chelsea – Faces Bolton away and I seem to remember him scoring quite a few at the Reebok (and indeed the Bridge) in the last few years. He’s hit some form and the return of Joe Cole allows him to play a bit deeper and more effectively. Chelsea’s reserves smacked Bolton 4-0 in midweek and a similar scoreline won’t surprise me.
3. Elliott/Burnley – Burnley lost their good home record against Wigan last week but I expect them to bounce back against Hull. What better motivation than the possibility of getting Phil Brown the sack. In all seriousness though Hull have just one point away from the KC and I believe Bullard is out again. Elliott is Burnley’s top fantasy performer so if you’re feeling brave give him a shot.
Get's a Captain's tick.
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Three To Bring In:
1. Milner or Young/Aston Villa – This not only applies to this gameweek but for the next month or so too. Villa have Bolton, Burnley and Hull coming up in the next four or five games so one of these tow might be worth a speculative add to see if they can take advantage of playing against some weaker sides.
2. Stoke defenders – I imagine most of you might have Sorensen, Faye or Shawcross in your team but there’s still the option of Wilkinson or Collins if the aforementioned are too pricey. Stoke’s next three games are Wolves (H), Hull (A), Portsmouth (H). That’s at least two if not three clean sheets right there.
3. Aquilani/Liverpool – So the £20million man is finally fit. I saw him in the flesh in Wednesday’s Carling Cup match and he looked pretty tasty in the 15 minutes or so he was on the pitch. I think he could make an immediate impact, especially with Liverpool playing some organised teams in the next five. An interesting gamble at £7.4m.
Might be worth a pick.
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Three To Avoid:
1. Lucas/Liverpool - Even though he’s played the most out of all the Liverpool midfielders, I’d say his place is most under threat from Aquilani.
2. Crouch/Spurs - I retract last week’s recommendation, you can find much better options for his price range.
3. Arsenal goalkeepers – Who’s number one? Nobody knows. They don’t keep clean sheets anyway.
After all the fuss and furore surrounding Darren Bent’s the beachball’s winner against Liverpool, it was inevitable that this would be the theme in this week’s Guardian Photoshop comp. As we all know, it shouldn’t have been given, which makes it all the more funnier that it was! Lots of different things you could do – I went for a slightly leftfield entry as you can see below.
Seeing as there's seemingly no problem with inflatables being on the pitch, Rafa's taken the opportunity to increase the much maligned squad depth at Liverpool with a few bargain signings.
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Plenty more entries can be found in the rest of the gallery here.
This has been in my drafts folder for ages. It was originally meant to be posted for Wenger’s 13th anniversary at Arsenal a few weeks ago. It was then meant to be put up on his birthday last week. As you can see neither happened but better late than never. It was Wenger’s 60th birthday and what better reason for a few lists? 15 great signings, 15 poor signings, 15 memorable games and 15 great goals (plus a few extra chucked in). Enjoy!
Arsene Who?
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15 Great Signings:
1. Patrick Vieira – A relatively unknown player before he joined from AC Milan, Wenger got Arsenal to sign him before he joined himself. A decade of midfield dominance, spats with Roy Keane and the Neviller and countless trophies followed. Managed to get £14 million from Juve once his knees were knackered too.
2. Thierry Henry – 369 games, 226 goals. Best player in the Premier League for about five years.
3. Freddie Ljungberg – His red hair, his run of form in the 2001/02 season after Pires got injured, his debut goal against Man Utd, those underwear ads. A great player until his hip injury.
It gave him his power.
4. Nicolas Anelka – He left on bad terms but the money received bought Henry and Pires. The first example of Wenger buying cheap and making ridiculous profit. £22.5million profit in this case.
5. Marc Overmars - He was almost too good for Arsenal while he was there and it was no surprise to see Barcelona snap him up for £25million. Scored the winner at Old Trafford in 1998 that helped overcome a 12 point deficit and was generally very, very quick.
6. Robert Pires – His form in 2001/02 earnt him Footballer of the Year honours and he was arguably just as good in 2003/04. Scored a silly amount of goals from the wing, ran oddly, had a cool goatee strip thing and apparently knew the French for va va voom. Always felt he left too early as Wenger wouldn’t give him a two year deal. Still doing the business at Villarreal.
7. Cesc Fabregas – Pinched from Barcelona, and will probably head back there one day but for now has developed into one of the best midfielders in the world. Perhaps the prime example of Wenger buying a young player and making him world class. Club captain at 22, the best is yet to come.
8. Andrey Arshavin – Probably the first current world class player Wenger has bought. Has already made a significant impact in his short time at the Emirates, even if he can be a right lazy bugger sometimes.
9. Jens Lehmann – He was immense in 2005/06 when battling to be ahead of Kahn for Germany. Also provided much hilarity as well as the odd moment of madness in his five years at the club.
10. Emmanuel Petit – ‘He’s blond, he’s quick, his name’s a porno flick. Emmanuel, Emmanuel.’ Had one of the funnier chants of recent times. Signed as a centre back, made a midfielder – he formed a fearsome partnership with Patrick Vieira for three short seasons.
11. Sol Campbell - You can’t beat signing your local rival’s captain on a free transfer.
13. Kolo Toure - Bought for £150K. Sold after seven years for £16million. Was fantastic at centre back until he got malaria and developed a fat arse.
14. Kanu – Ridiculous skills. Could do things with a ball you never thought possible.
15. Robin van Persie – Absolutely loves to blast it. As a result has scored some brilliant goals in his time at Arsenal.
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15 Not So Great Signings:
1. Alberto Mendez – Bought from the mighty FC Feucht.I remember reading Wenger could have bought the whole club for the £250K he paid for Mendez. Made no impact.
2. Nelson Vivas – Cost Arsenal the title in 1999 with his mistake for Hasselbaink’s winner vs Leeds late on in the season. Always got booked too.
3. Igors Stepanovs – Man Utd 6-1 Arsenal is all you need to know.
4. Francis Jeffers – The supposed fox in the box managed four league goals from 2001-04, a time when Arsenal scored by the bucketload. It would have helped if he’d played more than 22 times. £8million he cost!
5. Pascal Cygan – Wasn’t that bad but I remember how I used to shudder every time I saw his name on the team sheet. If you though Vidic had a slow turning circle…
6. Mickael Silvestre – Why? What purpose does he serve? He won’t even get a link.
Just retire already...
7. Tomas Danilevicius – A headbutt in a pre-season seems to ring a bell but that might have been after he left for Dunfermline. Played twice, didn’t score. The kind of random Wenger gamble where you wish we’d just saved the £1m.
8. Jeremie Aliadiere - Still only 26, he pissed about at Arsenal for eight long years, never learning from any of the amazing strikers at the club and scoring one league goal in his time. You always knew Wenger was basically giving away a game when Aliadiere started up front.
9. Jose Reyes – A bit dim, which meant he was the victim of many a prank. Involved in the Aragones ‘black shit’ saga too which meant his Arsenal career was over before it began given that Henry hated him. Scored a great debut goal against Chelsea though.
10. Amaury Bischoff – Normally Arsenal sign midfielders and then injure them. They tried the opposite and bought someone already injured. Needless to say he left after a year. He did play a game apparently.
11. Christopher Wreh – George Weah’s cousin. The family talent had obviously been diluted. Did score a couple of important goals in the 1997/98 season to be fair.
12. Kaba Diawara – All I remember was that he never scored, hit the post several times and was then still sold back to France for half a million profit.
14. Abou Diaby – There has to be someone current. Possibly the most frustrating player I’ve seen. could be excellent. Isn’t.
15. Rami Shaaban – Just where does he find these keepers from?!
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15 Memorable Games (not all good):
1. Arsenal 1-2 Man Utd 14/04/99 – The one with everything, but especially the Arsenal missed penalty that would give Man Utd the momentum for the treble.
A good but overrated goal. Also, I didn't want to inflict the Giggs rug on you.
2. Man Utd 0-0 Arsenal 21/09/03 - The one where Ruud missed a penalty and Arsenal started their 49 game unbeaten run.
1. Thierry Henry vs Man Utd 30/09/00. Probably the first classic Henry Arsenal goal. He was just on the cusp of dominating the Premier League when he scored this.
2. Tony Adams vs Everton 03/05/98. Conclusive proof that Arsenal had shed their boring tag. Steve Bould chipped, yes chipped a through ball to Tony Adams who chested it before smashing a left foot volley home. The goal that sealed Wenger’s first title.
3. Dennis Bergkamp vs Newcastle 02/03/02. I remember people at the time saying he didn’t mean this. Fools.
4. Robert Pires vs Southampton 07/05/03. I think this gets underrated as it was a meaningless game before the 2003 Cup Final but few players could have done such a lob with three touches let alone one.
5. Ray Parlour vs Chelsea 04/05/02. Romford Pele scored few but when he did they were usually special. Tim Lovejoy gets slated to this day for saying ‘Oh, it’s only Ray Parlour’ just before he scored.
6. Dennis Bergkamp vs Sunderland 15/01/97. The non-flying Dutchman scored many an amazing goal for Arsenal but his trademark was opening up his body and curling one round the keeper into the top corner from about 25 yards. Like this.
7. Robert Pires vs Aston Villa 17/03/02. Any goal that makes Peter Schmeichel look silly gets the thumbs up from me. Pires was quite possibly the best player in Europe in the spring of 2002.
8. Freddie Ljungberg vs Juventus 04/12/01. I remember being at work during this match and trying to check my phone for text updates. Little did I know what a special goal I’d see when I got home. Just watch Bergkamp’s skill again and again and again…
9. Eduardo vs Burnley 08/03/09. Out for a year and he comes back with this. Quite recent but no less special for it.
10. Thierry Henry vs Spurs 16/11/02. Hmm how to wind up your rivals? I know, run 75 yards, dribbling past half the team before scoring, and then run all the way back and celebrate in front of the Spurs fans. Nice.
11. Dennis Bergkamp vs Leicester 27/08/97. One third of the greatest hat-trick in Premier League history.
12. Robin Van Persie vs Charlton 30/09/06. Trust me, he didn’t shin it. Well not on purpose anyway.
13. Ray Parlour vs Valencia 04/04/01. Back when Valencia and John Carew used to screw Arsenal over every couple of years there were many a disappointing night in Europe. This special from Ray Parlour however resulted in one of the most mental celebrations I’ve ever witnessed in pub.
14. Emmanuel Adebayor vs Villarreal 07/04/09. Yes he’s a prick but there’s no denying this was a great goal. The last good thing he did in an Arsenal shirt.
15. Thierry Henry vs Liverpool 09/04/04. Dumped out of the FA Cup and Champions League in consecutive games to Man Utd and Chelsea of all teams, Arsenal were 2-1 down at half-time at home to Liverpool with an unbeaten record to protect. Pires quickly equalised, before Henry gave Carragher the runaround for an amazing third. He’d complete his hat-trick later on and Arsenal went on to win the league unbeaten.
1. Liverpool deserved to beat Man Utd yesterday but I think Fergie was right to have another moan at the ref. For me Carragher should definitely have been sent off for the tug on Owen in the second half. It can be argued that it wasn’t a clear opportunity but I think he would have got a shot away before the other defenders closed him down, they were quite far away.
His hatchet job on Carrick in the first half was a penalty – Carrick just got to the ball before Carragher and you just can’t go lunging in like that in that area of the pitch. He somehow got away with both but once more looked like the weak link in the Liverpool defence. The Vidic and Mascherano reds were both justified I reckon – I can’t believe the Serb has been sent off in three straight games against Liverpool!
It was clear that both managers had gambled with their unfit strikers and from what we saw it was clear that Torres had recovered more than Rooney. The Spaniard took his goal magnificently, both out-pacing and out-muscling Rio Ferdinand. He didn’t do much else during the game but it was enough. It’s a tough call between him and Drogba for title of best striker in the league but I’d possibly veer on the side of Torres right now. A good result for Liverpool but lets see if they can do the same away at Fulham next week.
Eats Vidic and Rio for breakfast.
Man Utd meanwhile have a few areas of concern. Both centre backs seem currently susceptible to pace (not something you’d previously say for Rio) so what chance Jonny Evans coming in for a bit? In midfield Fletcher was once more missed – the one bright note being that he and the soon to return Hargreaves will be a fearsome partnership. Up front, Rooney can be forgiven for being unfit but he has been out of form regardless. Berbatov on the other hand did his usual thing of nice flicks and passes but no real cutting edge. He doesn’t really do it in the big games does he?
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2. For the third time in a week Arsenal completely switched off in a game where they went ahead and for the second time in a week it proved costly. After getting away with against Birmingham, they conceded a last minute equaliser against AZ Alkmaar in midweek Champions League action. They’ve learnt their lesson said the players. So what should happen yesterday against West Ham? A comfortable 2-0 lead with 16 minute left and one poorly dealt with free kick and one silly challenge in the box later and they find themselves going back to north London with one point instead of three.
The free kick for West Ham’s first was soft but Mannone made the cardinal sin of palming the ball back into the danger area instead of out wide. Cole pokes it home, game on. Then with ten minutes to go Alex Song decides to clip the back of Cole’s heels in the box with no real danger. Cole went down, penalty given, penalty scored. Wenger was rightly furious with his team after the game and it is these kind of games which results in Arsenal not properly challenging for titles. For 75 minutes Arsenal dominated but once again couldn’t close it out. They won’t win anything until they learn how to.
They just never learn...
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3. Man City ensured Arsenal weren’t the only title pretenders to blow a two goal lead. Mark Hughes will be concerned at how his £24m centre back Joleon Lescott is a bit rubbish at the moment – Man City have a definite vulnerability in the air. Their form isn’t particularly good either with three successive draws and one win in five.
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4. Spurs surprisingly lost to Stoke at home and it was particularly annoying for me as I had Abdoulaye Faye’s nine fantasy football points marooned on the bench (I didn’t think Stoke would do anything). My point is that given Spurs have lost just twice at home since Redknapp took over and Stoke were winless away in their first four games, it shows just how good (and unexpected and fortuitous) a result it was for Pulis’ team. I certainly wasn’t expecting it and it confirms Stoke should be pushing for a top half finish this season.
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5. Congrats to Bobby Zamora, who I don’t think anyone will beat for miss of the season award. Wow. I know there are strikers who are lauded for their hard work rather than goals (see Heskey, Emile Ivanhoe) but that was ridiculous. To be fair he has already equalled his goal tally for last season but I reckon it’s a long time since the chant “When the balls hits the goal, it’s not Shearer or Cole it’s Zamora” was heard (not least because Shearer and Cole are retired but you know what I mean). Isn’t it now “When the ball hits your head and you’re sat in row Z, that’s Zamora”?
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6. Chelsea gave Blackburn a spanking and from a fantasy perspective it was good to see Frank Lampard return to goalscoring form with a double. I picked him as captain so was pleased with the 28 points he scored. It’s a little early to say for sure but based on that game it appeared that the return of Joe Cole helped as it allowed Lampard to play deeper and make his undetected runs.
Cole himself was excellent too and should stay in the hole behind Drogba and Anelka rather than on the left. He’s not quite at full fitness yet but I reckon Deco should be fearing for his place. I agree with what the Football Guy says – Paul Robinson is just shocking on long shots. I know he’s fat but it be that hard to shift all that body mass. On second thoughts…
Try as he might, Paul 'the beached whale' Robinson just couldn't shift himself to save the shot...
