What a tricky tie it is today. A trip to Lancashire has never been easy for us and every victory we have had has been nothing short of a trip to hell and back. It goes back all the way to a difficult cup tie at Burnden Park in the early 90s. The Gunners have always seemed to struggle with Bolton’s tactics, succumbing to a series of tame defeats, the most forgettable of which was a 2-2 draw back in April 2003 which effectively put an end to our title hopes.
There have of course been happier times as well. Who could forget the stirring comeback last season when Arsenal, two goals down and a man down at half time, rallied to a delightful 3-2 victory? The bizarre F.A. Cup Fourth Round replay the season before which saw Arsenal win 3-1 in extra time, two players missing penalties in the process, Bolton having a man sent off and Adebayor missing an open goal & then getting two? And of course the incredibly tight 1-0 victory in March 1998 that constituted part of Arsenal’s awesome 10 match winning run to the title.
Today isn’t going to be a walk in the park either. It’s going to be a hard fought physical battle reminiscent of Normandy. We are going to be kicked about as usual but its now down to our character and how well we respond to the challenge. That said I’m fairly confident we have the quality & the determination to come back with all 3 points in the bag.
Speaking of getting kicked about; Le boss is urging the referees to not allow Theo getting kicked out of football by the games bully-boys. Theo has recently become the target after scoring that sensational hat-trick against Croatia and is now a marked man (as we saw in Kiev). Le boss said:
“Unfortunately for a player who gets a name for being dangerous, the first answer he gets is harsh treatment. We do not expect presents from anybody but we want protection from referees.”
There have of course been happier times as well. Who could forget the stirring comeback last season when Arsenal, two goals down and a man down at half time, rallied to a delightful 3-2 victory? The bizarre F.A. Cup Fourth Round replay the season before which saw Arsenal win 3-1 in extra time, two players missing penalties in the process, Bolton having a man sent off and Adebayor missing an open goal & then getting two? And of course the incredibly tight 1-0 victory in March 1998 that constituted part of Arsenal’s awesome 10 match winning run to the title.
Today isn’t going to be a walk in the park either. It’s going to be a hard fought physical battle reminiscent of Normandy. We are going to be kicked about as usual but its now down to our character and how well we respond to the challenge. That said I’m fairly confident we have the quality & the determination to come back with all 3 points in the bag.
Speaking of getting kicked about; Le boss is urging the referees to not allow Theo getting kicked out of football by the games bully-boys. Theo has recently become the target after scoring that sensational hat-trick against Croatia and is now a marked man (as we saw in Kiev). Le boss said:
“Unfortunately for a player who gets a name for being dangerous, the first answer he gets is harsh treatment. We do not expect presents from anybody but we want protection from referees.”
“I thought Wednesday night, for example, the target was not the ball. If a guy plays hard it is down to Theo to deal with it. But if the guy targets Theo, he has to be punished.”
He has a point there as well, if a foul is being committed, deal with it accordingly. The ref’s are exactly like two-faced from Batman, the ugly side is for arsenal & the normal one’s for Chelsea and other despicable clubs ran by *****. For instance, If Theo was a Chelsea player, the Kiev captain would have been sent off, but since he plays for the Arsenal, the ref turns a blind eye and calls it a “part of the game”.
Moving on, Samir Nasri could make his return to the side today.
In other news, Arsene believes Denilson can effectively fill up the void left by Flamini. I had been expecting to hear this since quite some time. Speaking to Arsenal.com, Wenger said:
“Denilson has different qualities to Flamini but if you look at the numbers at the end of the season you will see he is a very good player. You look at the assists he has had since the start of the season, the balls he wins, the interceptions he has and the distance he covers”.
He more in the mould of Cesc but he has the quality and the temperament to succeed at the highest level. He has put in a few good performances (spare the one at Fulham) and my guess is as good as anybody else’s. We’d have to wait and see at the end of the season.
Finally, Robert Pires thinks we are better than last season despite losing three mid-fielders (Does Hleb even count?) and reckons we can lift a trophy or two this season. He says:
“I think they have moved up a level. The players are much stronger; they are a young side that has gained a lot of experience.
“I have a very good feeling about Arsenal this year. I don't know whether it will be the Premier League or the Champions League but I believe they will win at least one title this season.”
Don’t you just love Robert Pires?
Here’s hoping to all 3 points today.
Cheers.
5 comments:
I fear a draw today, our defence will get found out by Kevin Davis
I know how tricky it can be, but I think we should be able to get all the 3 points.
i certainly think we have the quality but i just think that the players will be tired and it will be down to us being clinical, which is what we havnt really been recently lol. Chances created to chances converted has to be fairly low!
Mate i just the HTML in with a space between each code, i dont use any special HTML or anything, sorry i hope this helps lol.
denilson can really make his mark this season....why????....i think its the quality of cesc that makes his neighbours looks really good and when he is absent they look really ordinary
the Denilson that scored today?
you prize piece.
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