Sunday's matches

Pepe LeFrits

1-1 HT between Villa and West Brom, cracking match at a frantic pace. Fingers crossed KANUUUUUUU gets on the scoresheet

Raskolnikov

Mellberg's goal for Villa should give me a few points in the old fantasy football, he should have had two even!

smemon

ive a feeling arsenal will lose today. boro have a decent side, on their day could take on anyone.

boro shouldnt give arsenal time like they had against everton, and they have alot of experience and big game players, viduka, jimmy etc..

would be a decent bet for a boro win.

Pacifico

smemon wrote:

ive a feeling arsenal will lose today. boro have a decent side, on their day could take on anyone.

boro shouldnt give arsenal time like they had against everton, and they have alot of experience and big game players, viduka, jimmy etc..

would be a decent bet for a boro win.

Viduka is banned

Southgate, Ehiogu, Reiziger, Christie and Davies are all injured

smemon

Axel wrote:

Viduka is banned

Southgate, Ehiogu, Reiziger, Christie and Davies are all injured

arsenal are without vieira, campbell, edu, gilberto.... evens itself out. plus parlour will out to prove a point.

highbury pitch size will suit boro if they go ahead, their good at keeping things tight and being hard to break down.

pressure on arsenal to keep the record going, always a bad sign when theres pressure on arsenal. arsenal midfield will be tested if boro put 5 in theirs.

Pacifico

smemon wrote:

arsenal are without vieira, campbell, edu, gilberto.... evens itself out. plus parlour will out to prove a point.

Gilberto starts.......As does Reiziger

gandalf

smemon every the optimist where Arsenal are concerned

That damn ref in the Villa game cost me money and Fantasy footy points, the git !!!

Pepe LeFrits

Great reception for Razor and nice to see Dein giving him an award before kickoff.

Cesc has cut off the mullet!

Pacifico

1-0 Arsenal. Excellent goal from Henry. After a stunning pass from Reyes inside his own half

Pacifico

Hmm 1-1. Job.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Job took the goal well, hit it like a bullet. That was a cracking free kick from Henry, nearly knocked down the crossbar he hit it that hard, shame it did not go in, would have been a fairer reflection on the first half, it was 70-30 posession in Arsenals favour at one stage.

Not sure about Arsenal cracking under pressure, did they not go unbeaten for a whole season or is that a different team.

DamoRed

1-2 A thunderbolt from Jimmy

DamoRed

1-3 Thunderbolt from Quedrue this time! What's going on?

Thanx 4 The Fish

2-3 Immediate response from Bergkamp.

Seems that Quedreue has been ok'd to play for Ireland.

DamoRed

2-3 Some order restored by the Ice Man

gandalf

2-3 Bergy, looks like its a defensive game !!!

Thanx 4 The Fish

Yeah, defences are on top in this one alright Bergkamp has been carded and would want to be careful, seesm to be losing that Ice Man composure. Just completely ballsed up a free kick too. Pires on for Ljungberg now, Arsenal are going all out here.

PHB

affs I want to be watching this!

Thanx 4 The Fish

Pires on, Pires scores, Henry with the assist after a bit of a tussle in the box

Thanx 4 The Fish

And reyes, 4-3 direct from the restart

DamoRed

4-3 Pressure?....what pressure?

gandalf

Yep times like this I am tempted to get Sky but then I remember the evil that is Murdoch Media Corp !!!

Healio

4-3 to arsenal

gandalf

OMG !!!! Go Pires Go Reyes Go my fantasy footy team !!!!!

GuanYin

This is nuts. Are Aresnal giving teams head starts now?

Something tells me there are more goals here....

Thanx 4 The Fish

While I would like to think there are, and I would not rule them out, Arsenal seem to be settling in now, and Mid can't break them down.

As for the evil Murdcorp, why cut off your nose to spite your face. This is worth all of whatever it is I pay to get he games just this game and I would have been happy enough but there was two others this weekend, and another few last weekend and since Murdoch is going to make the money anyway, might as well watch the game with some decent coverage and not a lineker ear in sight.

Pacifico

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

might as well watch the game with some decent coverage and not a lineker ear in sight.

Gray is as bad if not worse

Fan zone is good though

Thanx 4 The Fish

Henry with another to finish it off for the borough. Quick break with Bergkamp and Pires linking up and Pires setting up Henry with a ball across the box.

gandalf

Thierry is God !

GuanYin

Classic game, Arsenal were dodgey at the back, but this was a performance of mammoth character and champion's steele.

When Campbell, Edu and, of course, Viera come back into the team they will be scary....

Thanx 4 The Fish

Arsenal equal Forests top flight record coming back from 3-1 down with 4 unanswered. When Reyes Bergkamp and Henry turned it on they really tore Middlesborough, who really put it up to them, apart. In fact it could have been 7-5 with the number of chances that went begging in this game. Great game to watch, good goals, great action, slick football and two teams who were playing attractive footy.

Pepe LeFrits

What a match!

Forking out the squids to get Sky was so worth it, if only for today's match

Gonna go watch the analysis then add my 2p.

The Clown Man

And that's why I love football. What a game.

A pure pleasure to watch. Arsenal can turn it on like no other side in the world imho. The fluidity of it is immaculate.

I just hope Mourinho can take a few tips from that performance and somehow create a team that can challenge.

And what a difference Pires made. I mean that guy was central to every single attack after he came on. The passing and movement between pires henry and bergkamp was just awesome. And fair dues to Bergkamp cause he really did exemplorate a good captains appearence. He was playing like he was 25 again. Superb.

PHB

Jesus ****ign chirst I'm so pissed off.

I'm sitting at home before the match thinking about whether or not I should bother going down to the pub to watch it.
I decided againist it eventually thinking that Middleboroughs defense wouldn't hold up and Arsenal would breeze through.
I check the score Henry puts em in front, then a bit later I look at the score at its 3-1

So I leg it down to the pub, max of 7 mins away.
By the time I get there its 4-3 to Arsenal and the match is boring for the next 20 mins

god dammit I want sky

Thanx 4 The Fish

Is quite ceap to get when you consider how much it costs to watch a couple of games a month in the pub. At least it is for me. Two pints a half, two halves a game, two games a month, about 20 quid which is the difference between normal sky package and sky with the sports options.

PHB

I'm with ya man!
I'm totally with you, unfortunately I don't own the NTL line and thus can't get it.
If they only offered some online option that would allow you to watch games online streaming

I've already spent 40 quid this month on drinks at the 3 united matches

mr_angry

WHY DID I GO TO PLAY INDOOR FOOTBALL AT 5?!?!?

Only saw as far as the 35th minute. Looks like I'll be waiting for MOTD2 tonight.

Pepe LeFrits

mr_angry wrote:

WHY DID I GO TO PLAY INDOOR FOOTBALL AT 5?!?!?

Only saw as far as the 35th minute. Looks like I'll be waiting for MOTD2 tonight.

You're a disgrace to Arsenal fans everywhere

The Job goal came out of nowhere and turned that game on its head, thankfully so as it turns out!

Bergkamp got MOTM, his career really is having an indian summer. Reyes was superb again, he's now on 5 goals in the last 5 games. Henry doesn't look 100% yet but 2 goals and an assist isn't too shabby! Cesc was very impressive again, great run beating 3 players to set up the third goal adding to his assist on the second goal.

Defensively though that was poor. Cygan had a good game I thought with the exception of the second goal, he was caught out on the first too but that was collectively poor defending. 3 great strikes by Boro but I feel if only by the law of averages that Lehmann should have stopped one of them.

smemon

given a scare today arsenal, a bit lucky though getting straight back in it.

no midfield rock for arsenal, thats where you miss him. both midfields were non existant.

a couple of years ago the 3rd goal would have killed arsenal, not the case this time, perhaps they haved learned a bit.

gandalf

Jaysus would you like some cream on that slice of humble pie there smemon

Saw the goals the 3rd Middlesborough one was Lehmans fault his positioning was very dodgy, still a great shot though. Cygan looks like he had one of his crap games, hopefully Campbell will be back soon and relegate Cygan to the bench.

vorbis

was at the Arsenal match today. It got well nervy at 3 - 1. Cygan played ok, he just seems to have shocking lapses of concentration in matches, does he get bored? Henry was also pretty casual for some of the second half. Reyes and Bergkamp had excellent games. I also thought that the Highbury crowd was better than usual, at 3 - 1, people really began to get behind the team and actually made some decent noise. What a match though

Töpher

The refereeing in the Villa game churned my stomach.

redspider

That was an amazing game by Arsenal. Their heads didnt go down at all at 3-1 down and they came straight out of the traps literally to respond. Its unbelievable that Bergkamp is so influential at 34 and pacy too. What magic vitamins is Wenger giving the squad? Why are all Arsenal players so fast ...... I'm not implying anything dodgy here but Bergkamp was faster last year than the year before and can outsprint 20-something defenders!

Yes, Reyes was very good, Henry less influential but still played his part, such as the first goal, great finish, and the last one. He missed several though and as I've pointed out last year, Henry is in fact a poor finisher in percentage terms. Its just that himself and Arsenal create so many chances.

Arsenal's weaknesses were shown though, and they are Lehman and Cygan. That may be their undoing in tougher matches, although with Campbell and Viera back that may reduce any attacks.

In comparison with Forest's run in 1978:

W D L Percentage
A 30 12 0 80.9% (102 pts out of a maxium 126)
N 21 21 0 75.0% (63 pts out of a maximum 84)

So for me, Arsenal's record has already beaten that of Forest.

At this display of form shown on Sunday, Arsenal will go unbeaten for ALL of this season too!

PHB

Lehman still seems like Arsenal weak link, I felt two of those goals were totally his fault

The Clown Man

In fairness though, what a cracker of a goal from Queudrue. I thought he had a great game. Lehmann could be forgiven for expecting the cross from that position but what a bloody strike from Queudrue!

They were saying in commentary that Queudrue actually qualifies to play for Ireland. Nice target for Kerr...

Pepe LeFrits

Quite possibly, going on yesterday's performance he'd make a nice alternative for O'Shea.

mr_angry

I still think Cygan's the weak link in the Arsenal team. The problem is that he's a superb defender for 80% of the game, but he just completely switches off from time to time, and un-does all the hard work. Lehmann has his dodgy moments too, but all-in-all, I think he's a good keeper. He couldn't have done anything about 2 of the goals on Sunday, and last season he made a lot of important saves that nobody really gave him credit for. Is anyone really any better? Howard? Dudek? James? Cudicini? They've all made their fair share of howlers aswell. Look at Shaka Hislop on Saturday! Poor man...

redspider

Lehman should have saved Quedrue's shot for goal. It was long range, towards the centre of goal. Lehman was asleep, was half expecting a cross and was slow to react and move to save the shot - its a silly goal to let in and 100% his fault. He also could have done more with Hasselbaink's shot.

In terms of better keepers, the list is long. Given, van der Sar, Niemi, ect. Lehman is well past his sell by date, but this Arsenal team are so good they dont need a goalie and can afford to let 3 goals in. They wont be able to do that in the CL or against better PL opposition.

PHB

Yeah but it isn't just this game with him.
He is targetted by a lot of teams because of his temper, they know he is possibly the only weak point in the arsenal defence(when at full strength)

I'm just thinking back about last years CL match, I can't remember exactly but wasn't it a goalie mistake that allowed Chelsea to score?