Gunners Win!!

It was a fun weekend in the soccer department, with daughter #3 (ELP or Evil Little Princess) hitting a beautiful 22-yard chip over the keeper in the dying moments of a tight game for the winner, and Emanuel Adebayor one-touching a brilliant Cesc Fabregas pass for the game winner with 3 minutes left against Manchester United. I love the dramatic late-in-the-game winners.

I have not been thoroughly impressed with Adebayor so far, but today's goal goes a long way toward winning me over. BTW, isn't he the gangliest player in the EPL aside from Mr. Crouch? And what can you say about the Gunner triumph. If ever there were a must win game 3 games into the season, this was it! With 2 points on 3 games and 1 spot out of the relegation zone, the Good Ship Arsenal was staring disaster in the face. Going into Old Trafford without Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie did not sound like a recipe for success, yet somehow they put together a winning game.

The game started out at a torrid pace for the first 20 minutes (with Manchester dominating the first 7 or so) before settling into an hour of mostly tepid football that nodded to Arsenal's favor in the first 25 and good naps in the last 35. With 10 minutes left to go, though, Arsenal woke up and started putting some mustard on the sandwich. The piece de resistance came with 3 minutes left when Cesc Fabregas (who did not have a great game - must be staying up late reading the Ashley Cole book!) disposessed our favorite little twinkle toes. And while CRon laid on the ground, adjusting his tutu and conversing with the ref, Fabregas sliced through the MU defense, drew 2 defenders and laid off a brilliant threaded pass in front of Adebayor, who slipped it under Kusczak for glory.

I ran around the living room several times whooping as loud as I could. Daughter #2 obliged with several high 5's and all was right with the world on this Sunday!

Daughter #1's victory was not as dramatic, but certainly well received. The other team failed to show up. Forfeit city. And, we're back to .500, folks!

A couple of notes: Jens Lehman. This is one crazy German. In fact, he is probably the German equivalent of former French Keep Fabien Barthez (though arguably, a much more talented keeper than Barthez). He constantly mixes brilliant with stupid to come up with a typically superb result. Today, he got a yellow card for picking up the ball outside the box whilst under heavy pressure from Rooney (Hint: Jens, kick the ball out of bounds). Then he got into a shirt tug with John O'Shea, who seemed bemused that he had gotten under Lehman's skin for no apparent reason. And then, with a 1-goal lead, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hit a certain equalizer, only to be denied by a clear, brilliant fingertip save by the Kraut.

Midfield. Tomas Rosicky is a huge, huge pick-up for Arsenal. This kid can run a midfield and has the mind to go for goal. Several times he overshadowed Fabregas and caused confusion in the MU defense. He and Hleb work very well together. I don't think Hleb will ever be a goal scorer of note, but he seems to partner smartly with the Czech. Julio Baptista. Get this Beast on the field more often. I love his aggressiveness towards goal. He may prove to be a defensive liability, but Arsenal needs a net monger, and he is it. Freddie at left winger? I like it. Ljungberg is one of my favorites. He never stops (unless he's injured) and he always creates problems for defenses. I think Arsenal really misses Robert Pires on the left side. Freddie is the only guy on the team who I think can fill that role.

MU. Wow, they lost this game in the midfield. Ther was a lot of sloppy passing and frankly, not enough physical posession play. Roy Keane, Where are you? Coaching?! Keano could still step into the MU midfield and improve the situation.

SAF. Why are you pulling Rooney off with 10 minutes to go?! Jesus! I would never pull Wayne Rooney off the field. Yes, it was a good idea to get Solskjaer on the field, but do so by trading him for Saha who produced less as the game wore on. SAF seemed to be going for taking the point, instead of running for glory. And leaving John O'Shea on the pitch? I know he scored against Arsenal last year (and he's Irish - I'm all for that) but leave Scholes in. He was producing something other than a highlight reel for the International Backpedalers' Union.

And, finally, RVN. Yes, I have not been a fan of Ruud Van Nistelroy's in the past. Though, now that Princess Ashley has moved on to Chelsea, I see his cleating of the little Princess differently. And, having watched him last month in Seattle, I fully enjoyed his game. I think SAF was off his crock to shed RVN for Saha. I think that had RVN been with MU today, they would've won, or at least drawn. Ruud's constant attacking and poaching will be missed this year. Although, they've won 4 games before today, I believe they will begin missing the RVN threat as they start playing tougher teams.

The Princess Speaks (er, writes...er, ghostwrites)...
Ashely Cole, who took his boots and tiara to Chelsea continues to share his thoughts and feelings via the serialized Ashley Cole story, his new autobiography being serialised in The Times. Selfish players and lazy, he says. Certainly, the Gunners are guilty of letting themselves get beat up by physical teams, but they're almost too generous with their passes this season. Meanwhile, Ashley continues to be his generous self, sharing his opinions with the world.

Thierry Henry is ruled out of tonight's Champions League qualifier. This isn't looking good. Time to unleash the Beast!

FIFA Buys Computers From BCS...
and England now ranked 4th in the world. Come on. They're playing better under McLaren, but wins over Macedonia and powerhouse Andorra shouldn't spit you into 4th.

New music
I've been listening to the new Thom Yorke CD a lot. This is a very good album that feels like spending time with your brilliant, slightly deranged and depressive second cousin...on a rainy day in either Seattle or London. I've not been the biggest fan of Radiohead's albums after OK...Computer, but the Yorke CD is well worth the listen. Done entirley with a laptop, or so I've heard, the disc features Yorke's depressed choirboy voice, some nice melodies, and oft-interesting sounds.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I hate it when professional athletes start complaining about a lack of respect.

Now, Ashley Cole - who only just wants to be loved - is saying that he left Arsenal because he was being dissed by the team management, who apparently forgot to tie his shopping cart full of money bags with a pretty pink bow or some such thing. And he went to Chelsea, not because of greed or disloyalty, but because he wanted to win trophies. Yes, it's as if he was transferring from Leeds or Leicester, not a team fresh off the Champions League title game.

Look, Princess, anyone who says they transferred to Chelsea for any reason other than Roman Abromovich's checkbook is a cheeky liar. Why is it so hard to just say, "hey, I had a chance to cash in big time. I'm 25. My value is going to start going down soon. My agent told me this was the time to capitalize on my value as a football player."

Wenger says that Baptista will be a potent force for Arsenal. New back William Gallas says that he is ready to help them return to winning ways. Both sound good to me. Let's start today, boys.

Halftime Report
Watching the first half of Arsenal V. Middlesbrough was enough to make me pull my hair out. The Gunners can't buy a goal. Hell, they couldn't load the ball on the back of a truck and drive it across the goal line. All posession, and no net. Sound Familiar? They had shot after shot after shot and were either wide of the mark or denied by Mark Swarzer, who is having a brilliant game. A flat defense led to a crap goal by Middlesbrough, so if they don't figure out how to squeeze that huge ball between the narrow posts, they are going to go down to a crap team and be in a hole so deep that 10th place will look like a good finish! I'll bet Thierry's glad he stayed for this.

....Back at the Blog

I'm back after a weekend tournament - thankfully, the last tournament of the summer season. Whew. Now it's on to the regular season. Yes, next week kicks off with 4 games across Saturday and Sunday.

About the tournament. Well, it was a very Buddhist experience. Each game supported the Buddha's teachings that all existence is suffering. Yes, it was that grim. This daughter's team is still learning to do some of the very basic things together and it doesn't make for pretty football. Nonetheless, the daughter learned some things through the weekend and improved her play by the end of the tournament so it was positive.

Speaking of my misery, my side got its ass royally kicked and dragged up and down the pitch repeatedly last night. I got home and saw the Germany-San Marino score, and was relieved to see someone had a worse go of it. I think we may be next up on Germany's schedule, though....

In the meantime, both of the evil Arsenal princesses, JAR and AshCole, have left the Gunners. In return we've taken on Julio Baptista and William Gallass. I like both these adds. Even if you'd shipped the two away for a case of weak American beer, you'd have improved the team with the subtraction alone. I really  liked watch The Beast when Real Madrid played in Seattle last month. I think he'll bring some power and a much-needed hunger for the net to the squad. The midfield is a bit crowded for the Gunners, but Baptista will be helpful when they're playing bashball EPL sides like Blackburn or yes, Manchester United.

Gotta go to work...