The Late (Late, Late, Late) Show at the Emirates

Arsenal have determined not to give up on the title chase, not to make it pretty and to leave everything until late in the day. The Wolves cames to Emirates did everything they could to cede a goal, even played a man down for the last half hour and still the Arsenal did not create the 1-0 winner until less than 30 seconds remained in stoppage time. 

A couple of things were clear from the start. As line-ups were announced it was clearly a weakened side as Clichy, Diaby, Nasri, Bendtner did not feature, aside from the other more serious absences. And Arsenal set a record for the slowest left-back in the history of top flight play, Mikael Silvestre. Wenger could afford the luxury of putting the old Frenchman outside as Wolves rarely looked able to trouble him.

In the early going, it didn't seem to matter as everything from Arsenal came down the right-side with Theo Walcott, fresh off his game-changing goal against Barca, looking like he's re-discovered football. But, it was to be short-lived as Walcott soon showed that while he had all pace in the world to get to the end-line he really had no idea what to do when he got there. Still, Arsenal created chance after chance in the early going but they just couldn't find the key to unlock the goal (one place to start would've been to quit shooting at the keeper).

(BTW, Arsenal had no corner kicks during Thursday's Champions League match. When was the last time Arsenal finished a game with no corners?)

The half finished 0-0, with Arsenal creating plenty of pressure, but showing a real lack of composure shooting at goal. Towards the latter stages, the Gunners clearly showed that (without Cesc...and Arshavin...and Nasri) they were running out of ideas. Let's see if Arsene gives them a few in his halftime talk.

Second half starts and a couple of things are abundantly clear. First, Eduardo is very ineffectual; just a shadow of hi pre-injury self. no conviction attacking the goal, a couple of bad whiffs and no speed. Arsenal are getting multiple crosses in (they're raining right in now) and don't have any goal scorers to poke it in. Several times I saw the ball come whipping in and Arsenal players standing watching Hanneman catch the ball. Just throw yourself at the ball a little; that's all I aks!

Never thought I'd find myself saying it, but by the 6oth minute I was screaming for Big Nick to get subbed on.

I'm sorry to say but Theo Walcott is just rubbish. His speed definitely changed the Barca game and he did score the first goal in the comeback (although take a look at the replay, it wasn't a good finish; more Valdes' mistake than Theo's prowess.) but the kid has got no finish. Consistently, he's picking the wrong pass or just wildly whipping the ball in, hoping that someone will be there. You can afford to play him against a team the caliber of Wolves, but against the likes of Chelsea or ManUre, he'll be deadly to the Arsenal.

At the 65th minute, the ref gives an apparent assist to Arsenal, reaching for his yellow card and mistakenly pulls out a red card on Carl Henry (there's no way that tackle was anything but a yellow). I had to wonder if the effect of going down a player might galvanize Wolves. Arsenal did bring down a lot more pressure after the card, but give Wolverhampton credit, the lads never gave up and created a few nervy moments for the Arsenal supporters.

The Gunners could not do the job in a full 90 and when the ref gave 5 minutes of stoppage time, I had to wonder if that would be enough. In the 93rd minute, Walcott gets the best chance of the game, when Rosicki find him alone against Hanneman in the area and the winger badly scuffs the chance to win the game. Dropped points, thy name is Walcott (and Almunia). I know he's young, but it's clear the experiment is over. We can't afford to keep putting him on the pitch. Let him go try to develop as a player somewhere lower down the table. Arsene could probably get a decent amount for him and use that to help buy a real keeper.

Finally, my hero, Bendtner Scores in the 94th plus-minute. Rosicki finds Sagna out wide of the box and the French defender lifts a nice ball in the area, leaving it to the Big Dane to outmuscle his defender and direct the ball past the keeper and just past the good side of the near post. Beautiful goal!

I could grouse about the game all day long, but the bottom line is that championship-calibre teams win the tough games. They pull out the 3 points on the off days. The hope stays alive for another week.

Well, the injury count on last night's 2-2 draw with Barcelona was pretty horrific. Cesc is done for the season with a broken fibula, Arshavin yoinked the calf muscle, and Gallass re-crocked his calf. How often do you see a Champions League match where a team loses that many players?

It was inspirational to see the Arsenal Captain refusing to come off the pitch, despite having a broken leg. I have to think that a lot of credit for Arsenal's newly found resilience that they've displayed this season is down to the competitiveness of their captain. Now, we've got to hope that the team rallies around Fabregas to make a run at the Champions League and Premier League titles.

Around the 20th minute of the game I commented to my wife that Wenger's game strategy was clearly to let Barca have all the possession they wanted so that they would wear themselves out. Strangely enough, it almost loooked that way in the end. By the time, Arsene subbed Walcott on, the Barca players could only look on as the kid blew by them like...well, like Messi, perhaps. 

I also was struck by how badly Arsenal needed to play very un-Arsenal like and get stuck in on Barca, a point that Robbo Robson makes in his always excellent blog:

Why do we Brits get quite so awe-struck by Barca? It seems ironic to me that Wenger has spent the season complaining about how teams are being too aggressive against his side and yet here the Gunners were up against a team that played the Arsenal way, only about five times better and Arsenal desperately needed to get amongst them. 

I reckon if Tony Pulis had given the tactical team-talk they might have had more of a chance. Instead Guardiola's team left Arsenal's players looking like a particularly tormented bunch of toddlers learning the rudiments of piggy-in-the-middle.

Perhaps they'll figure that out by next Tuesday.

Holy Crap!

So, that's what it feels like to be West Ham.

I wrote that at about the 63rd minute of complete domination of Arsenal by Barcelona (one Theo Walcott lightning strike aside). For the first time, I'd realized how it must feel to be a West Ham or Hull City fan coming up against a side that plays keep-away against you for 90 minutes. Even up until Cesc Fabregas' equalizer penalty kick, Barca had 65% posession.

Has any side ever so thoroughly dominated another in the late stages of the Champions League and only come away with a 2-2 draw? What a weird and somewhat wonderful game (take away the injuries to our two most dangerous players)

Random thoughts on the game:

• Manuel Almunia's defects as a goalkeeper were shown in bold display. As a shotstopper, he's not too shabby. He kept the Gunners in the game in a starting 15 minutes in which Barca had so many shots it felt like a Final Four Match,  not a Champions League Quarterfinal. It's all the other things you expect out of a keeper - positioning, covering crosses & corners, not rolling the ball into pressure, positioning, not palming the ball into your own goal in the last second of a game, and...positioning. That first goal was embarrassing. I'm sure even his mom wanted to turn off the TV right then.
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• Nick Bendtner didn't have a very distinguished game and yet he figured heavily in both Arsenal goals. The pass to Walcott, brilliant. The knock down to Fabregas, likewise.
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• Abou Diaby reverted to his Diaby Diaby Doo persona. He gave the ball away so many times I was beginning to believe he must've thought it was booby-trapped. Must do better.
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• Gallass down. It looked bad. That's a blow for the run in, and my guess is he's done for the year. I hope Sol is ready to go the distance and please, please, please, let's not see any more Mikael Silvestre.
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• The Fabregas injury looked serious. He says it's a broken leg. Regardless, it looks like he's done for the season. Damn bad news. But the sight of him telling the the coaches he can go on, must go on and then hobbling around Emirates for the last 7 minutes was an incredible testament to the lad's spirit.
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• Samir Nasri had a near-brilliant game. During the first 20 minute siege he was constantly a step or three behind, trying to catch the speedy Danny Alves, but after that he was the most consistent midfielder on the field. Tackled better than he has all season and provided the most danger to Barca with the crosses in. We will need something amazing from him at the Nou Camp.
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• As for that, any sane person will write Arsenal off, 3 starters down, 2 away goals hanging around their neck, Manuel Almunia in goal, and I have to agree. Logically, they have no chance whatsoever...but, football is a strange, strange game. The very fact that they achieved the improbable, scoring 2 goals to grab a draw from a game that by all rights should've been oh, about 8-0, should be enough to at least keep the flame of hope burning for Gunners. Time for Arsene to deliver a "win one for Cesc" speech.

Title Finally Out of Reach?

Gunners express blows a flat and drops 2 critical points at Birmingham City, surrendering a 1-1 equalizer in the last seconds of a game they'd secured after 83 minutes of futility. This loss goes down to two people: Manuel Almunia and the coach who hired him.

First, Manuel "Hilario" Almunia. The lazily floating, unintentional shot from Kevin Phillips should've been parried over the bar to safety. No EPL-quality keeper with the season on the line should softly push the ball beneath his own crossbar. Those two points have almost certainly ended what has been an inspiring, highly unlikely run for the title. To have it end on a bozo play like that should finally end the Almunia experiment.

Now, the coach. For all his great qualities, Arsene Wenger shows too many judgement lapses at critical times. Almunia is top of the list today. It's been clear to seemingly everyone else aside from Le Profeseur that Manuel Almunia is not a top four starting keeper. He could keep for Everton. He certainly looks like he could fill David "Calamity" James' boots at Portsmouth. But for a title winner? Methinks not, and today's result is the strongest argument. Anyone else see the absolute brain fart of a toss out late in the game, straight to a Birmingham midfielder? Chelsea would've punished us on that. Or the ball he decided to punch to an opponent from the 12-yard line? What is any intelligent keeper doing trying to claim a hot ball 12 yards out in the middle of a crowd of defenders and opponents??! Let your defenders take care of that.

Now, Wenger has got to see defects like that and make the call to get himself a championship level keeper. If not, then he's got to share with us the drugs he's taking.

Final quibble. Why is he starting Theo Walcott? My guess, is that he's showing admirable, but misplaced loyalty, and trying to help the lad get a spot in an England team that doesn't need him. Walcott cannot be rated anything else than a once-intriguing experiment that has become a defect in the team's quality. Sure, he's got all the speed in the world, but he has nothing - nothing - in the final third. His crossing is poor. His finishing is not even MLS--quality.

Aside from two runs early in the game, Walcott was Casper the Ineffective Ghost. When he was subbed off, the team began to click and Nasri scored what should've been the game winner.

Sadly, it was not, and a great effort by the Arsenal has gone for naught. I doubt we can continue to rely on the leaders to so generously drop points for us.

Word of the Day is...

Whew!

As in, glad to see that ball in the back of the net after 73 minutes of wasteful, profligate footballing! Arsenal nicked 3 crucial, crucial points from a determined Hull side, courtesy of the Big Dane Nicklas Bendtner. The gangly young lad has discovered the joys of scoring goals and executed a Smash and Grab score off of Boaz Myhill's poorly parried block of a Denilson long-range attempt. The final result: Arsenal 2-Hull city 1.

This game was excruciating for much of the 2nd half, as Arsenal let 10-men Hull knock them off their rhythm. They failed to find their passing touch and Samir Nasri could not provide the creative flair missing from their injured captain Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal did not so much as get a shot on the Hull City goal until stoppage time. But the important fact is that they kept working until they created shots. Denilson was perhaps too hopeful in launching his shot from 35 yards out, but the resulting rebound proved the importance of taking shots.

The game started brightly enough as Arsenal got out of the gates in fine fashion, moving the ball around with ease and the resulting Arshavin goal seemed inevitable. The little Russian showed his skill in dribbling around and through two defenders before slotting past the onrushing Myhill. It seemed that Arsenal might better the 3-0 result they produced against Hull at Emirates earlier this year.

Diabolical refereeing changed the direction of the game. Both referee Andre "the Lost" Marriner and the AR missed a painfully offsides Jan Vennegor of Hesselink and then rewarded the Hull striker for clearly initiating contact with Sol Campbell in a non-scoring position, by gifting the home side the penalty. Jimmy Bullard equalized for the Tigers and the game went downhill from there.

Arsenal spent the next 73 minutes lost in the wilderness. Andrei Arshavin was particularly wasteful with posession and seemed to want nothing more than to equal Nick Bendtner's effort last week against Burnley. He missed at least 3 sitters by my count. But everyone has an off day and you can't discount the wonderful first goal he scored.

And while I'm at it, bravo to Sol Campbell! Sure he's lost a bit of the game since his heyday anchoring the Invincibles back line, but he is still an able, experienced defender. There is something inspiring for this Gunner when seeing the big bald guy wearing the red shirt and showing his all in defending the Gunners goal. While I was sorry to Zayitte injured in the clash between him and Campbell, the tackle (a clean one in which Sol got to the ball first) was robust, resolute and hard-nosed. Campbell brings a steely attitude that stiffens the Gunners' back line significantly.

The important thing for Arsenal supporters is that the side showed resilience against a very determined Hull team fighting for its Premiership survival. Champions win even on the days where they struggle. Arsenal secured the 3 points they needed to keep pace with their rivals, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Amazingly, despite losing RVN for the season, the horrible loss of young Aaron Ramsey, and Cesc, Nick Bendtner, Rosicky, Walcott, Diaby, Arshavin & Gallass for crucial periods, this Gunners squad is right in the race for the title. We're not getting excited about battling for the 4th spot, as we have been the past few seasons. We've still got our eyes on the trophy. And we're on to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. And with the exception of Arshavin, the Gunners have done it largely with talent they've developed internally.

As frustrating as Arsenal has been at times this year, their results have shown the value and promise of Arsene Wenger's footballing strategy and management philosophy.

Strap in, it's going be an exciting ride to the finish line!

46-Year-Old Blogger Committs to UW

The storied list of University of Washington quarterbacks may grow in leaps and bounds as this 46-year-old has verbally committed to play signal caller for the Huskies, "if I return to college someday."

Ridiculous, right? Yeah, almost as silly as 13-year old children making verbals to USC. Good God, have we not learned anything from the Todd Marinovich?!

Sure, the kid has some good indicators and skills for his age, but he's 13! He's project to grow to 6-5?!

Yeah, I'm projected to grow to 6'2" and a six-pack-laden 185 pounds of mean, football-slinging muscle...if I get into shape...and get on some steroids...and don't have a midlife crisis before then.

The Wonderbread Express Rides

Fabulous night in Seattle last  night for the last regular season game for Sounders FC in their inaugural season, with a come-from-behind 2-goal resurgence to nab the 2-1 victory over red hot FC Where's Waldo?

The comeback was fueled by the scoring prowess of slow white guys Nate "SloJack" Jacqua and Brad "Porkchop" Evans.True to form, SloJack worked his ass off, but looked fairly impotent all game, drawing the inevitable derogatory comments from Section 119...and then he scored, of course. Evans also got a fair bit of stick from our group, mainly for impersonating The Invisible Man in the midfield...and then he scored the winner.

So, this post is for you men of The Wonderbread Express. Slow white guys (Including myself here, too), we salute you!

In its entirety, the game was quite fantastic. Sounders started off with energy and purpose; they looked like a team that realized it hadn't won for its home fans since early July. A couple of offsides violations nullified good runs and a nice goal from Evans. But completely counter to run of play, FC WW? midfilelder Atiba Harris was allowed to run the ball to the edge of the 18 and take a low, driving shot that neatly beat Keller to the far post. The air went completely out of the balloon at this point. The fans were shell-shocked. The players stunned.

The sounders players carried that torpor into the second half. It wasn't until the 60th minute that the team began to show signs of life. After Porkchop threw a Dallas defender to the ground and drew a yellow card, the team looked like it had regained some sense of determination. Freddie Ljungberg played prominent in both goals, driving the ball deep to the endline before sending through a cross that Montero just missed and Jacqua, as the lucky, wide open recipient, couldn't fail on, and the score wad equalized in the 64th minute.

Ljungberg's work effort got another cross through, in the 84th minute, that Evans, making a nifty nearpost diagonal run, flicked over the keeper's hands for the winner.

Bring on the playoffs!