Arsenal vs. Chelsea(scores when they happen)

smemon

good result for united, plus it stops all the media rubbish about how arsenal are back etc and how chelsea have won it.

shouldnt have been a goal that free kick, 1st of all it was a dive from pires (surprise surprise). 2ndly the ref didnt clearly indicate to play on. from what i know, the ref doesnt HAVE to blow the whistle to restart play once a free is awarded but in fairness to chelsea and the keeper he should have.

the last thing i wanted was henry thinking he was clever and sly.

BaZmO*

PHB wrote:

Lucky lucky escape for Arsenal.
I felt Chelsea really deserved the win and Arsenal got lucky getting two goals.
The first goal was absolutely atrocious defending, very shocking, but Henry took it well.
the secodn goal, besides not being a free kick in the frist place, was very very look, and Henry got lucky it even went in, if it hadn't got a deflection Cech would have gotten to it.

Ok preformance I guess, a draw best reslt for United, although I wouldn't have minded an Arsenal win.

Lucky? Don't be so silly! Arsenal definitely weren't lucky. They outplayed Chelsea in the second half. Although Chelsea had the better run in the first half.

The only thing that was lucky for Arsenal was the fact that they awarded a free kick for ANOTHER Pires dive!!!

B.

super_furry

Thought Arsenal were the unluckier of the two. They dominated the second half and nine times out of ten, Henry would have blasted the ball to the back of the net from the kind of position where he managed to hit it over.

The Muppet

Overall I thought Arsenal had the best chances to win the game. Henry missing into a keeper less net is one for the archives. Pires dived for the free but Gudjohnson should have stood his ground and blocked the free, after all we have seen Henry score these before.

Good result for the chasing pack.

smuckers

That run by Robben if he squared it to Lamps he would have scored.

mr_angry

Fantastic game, loads of high-quality control and passing, and I thought a draw was a fair result in the end. Henry had the best chance to win it, but you also have to look at Lampard and Gallas missing free headers from corners. Robben and Duff weren't as effective as usual, but Almunia acquitted himself well. This kind of performance might do his confidence the world of good. Great save from Lampard's first-half shot, but it counted for nothing since Terry scored from the resulting corner.

I thought Arsenal were probably the better team except for their defending from set-pieces, which was atrocious. I don't see how Wenger can let it go on any longer. Its turning good results into draws and defeats, and we can't afford many more. Of course, it will help when Gilberto and Viera are back, but with better organisation it could easily be avoided.

Fabregas and Flamini were outstanding in midfield, especially considering the opposition midfield they were up against. The Chelsea 5 were very quiet. I think what was most commendable was the spirit the game was played in. Apart from the "Pires special", there were no bad tackles, no fights, and some hand-shaking and shirt-swapping at the end. Good to see.

jank

People remember that 3 out of 4 of arsenals first choice midfield were missing and the replacements were all 20 or younger!!

Not bad then when you consider that the much vaunted 5 man midfield of chelsea didnt have much of a show in the second half

250 million might buy you players but it wont buy you a team

Henry played very well imo and should have got his hat trick with a great through ball from cesc (17 only ****ing 17!!!)
Thr free kick was a goal no questions. Falmini will be a star for Arsenal. My mouth waters to think of what vieria and him would do in midfield

Also wasnt it a peno on the "challenge" on flamini, like a shoulder striaght into the back??

Arsenal should have won this but for bad defending from set pieces, I hope wengee works on it but i can see them now going on a good run through the xmas period and chelsea have to slump sometime right.

The league is anything but over however i agree with John Terry's statement of the title is between Arsenal and Chelsea this year

smuckers

The Arse player wasn't looking for it, hence shoulder to shoulder. Maybe Chelsea's slump has gone, all those 1-0 wins, not playing great, the defeat to City and the 2 goal surrender against Bolton.
Tiago was again Mr inconsistent, gave away possesssion on a number of times, when he's bad he's bad but when he's good he can very very good, if he could impose himself on the game, then he'd become a better player.

PHB

I must have been watching a different game to eveyrone else.

I thought Henry was absolutely woeful, didn't play well at all.
His first goal was good, granted, but after that he did nothing of note in the entire game, indeed even missed an easy chance to win the game.
The entire arsenal attack was completely impotent the entire game, with none of the players creating any decent chances.
They had a brief spell at the end creating good chances but that seems to have given everont the fake impression they were creating chances.
By 60 minutes they had a total of two shots on target, one of which was from a free kick.

Besides that I thought Arsenal defended very well, besides the set pieces, Campbell was his usually self, hilarious watchign Robben trying to get by him and Campbell jsut staring at the ball then taking it off him.

smemon

jank wrote:

250 million might buy you players but it wont buy you a team

id be very worried about that 250m worth of players that come back twice against the champions away from home. hardly lacking team spirit.

no questions over the goal resulting from the free kick?! your having a laugh! whatever about the way the goal was scored, surely the free kick itself should never have been.

a 2 horse race, we'll see tomorrow night. win against fulham and utd will only be 2 points behind arsenal, 7 behind chelsea. i wouldnt call it a 2 horse race. another MASSIVE game for utd against banana skin opposition. they did it against charlton and closed the gap, fingers crossed they can do it again.

yop

Thought it was a good game to watch, Arsenal totally dominated 2nd half and also thought Poll game them a lot of soft frees.

For Chelswee thought Robben was effective, Terry and Lampard were immense, Drogba was rubbish, Duff was ok.

Arsenal personally I thought that Reyes was uneffective, Fabregas was unreal for the age of him.
Henry did well, got 2 goals

On the goals definately NOT a free kick, this guy is a disgrace of a footballer, I know there are too many like him but himself and Ronaldo are too "kings" at the "art" and it is about time they were take aside by the FA for it.

I think Poll did ask Henry if he wanted to take it, I am not sure about the rule, I did a google and came up with this.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/Intramurals/soccerrules.html
Now he did not blow his whistle so if you heed the rules above then it should not have stood.
Makes no difference now.

Still it is good for Everton and United, that is if we beat Fulham tomorrow nite, put a few quid on Fulham to win + cole to score

LegacyUser

yop wrote:

On the goals definately NOT a free kick, this guy is a disgrace of a footballer, I know there are too many like him but himself and Ronaldo are too "kings" at the "art" and it is about time they were take aside by the FA for it.

Only difference being one is 19 years old and it is slightly more understandable. Well in my opinion anyway.

therecklessone

smemon wrote:

a 2 horse race, we'll see tomorrow night. win against fulham and utd will only be 2 points behind arsenal, 7 behind chelsea. i wouldnt call it a 2 horse race.

Why wait until tomorrow night? If ManYoo win tomorrow night they'll be 3 points behind Everton, currently lying SECOND in the table... :rolleyes:

And before this descends into flame wars, can the anti-Pires posters please lay off the Ronaldo comparisons, this is a thread about the Arsenal-Chelsea match, not the Battle of the Buffet...

On topic, I though Henry's 1st goal was the best of the weekend. His touch to kill the headed pass was simply breathtaking, and then to finish with three Chelsea players closing on him showed real class. Judging by the radio commentary and the Beeb highlights, Terry and Lampard were indeed immense. How the hell have England got such great options at CB? Rio, Sol, Terry, King, hell, even Southgate and Carragher! :mad:

Was a good match, and 2-2 was a fair result.

growler

i guess a draw was a fair result although it certainly showed that chelsea could have beaten arsenal today, it's amazing how often arsenal manage to win their big games in controversial circumstances , whatever Graham Poll's understanding of the rules what he allowed to happen today doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the rules or the game . Would feel a lot worse if chels haad lost though!

therecklessone

growler wrote:

whatever Graham Poll's understanding of the rules what he allowed to happen today doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the rules or the game . Would feel a lot worse if chels haad lost though!

Not what Gordon Strachan had to say tonight on MOTD2.

He says Philip Don told him at a managers-meet-refs gathering two years ago that this was prefectly ok. The ref asks the player whether he wants ten yards or not, if he says no then he's entitled to have a go. Strachan said he'd have told his keeper to make sure the ref was insisting on the ten yards before he tried lining his wall up, and Hansen hammered home the point by saying Eidur hould have stood on the ball until Cech was ready. He knew that the shot was coming, 'cos you could see him frantically waving Cech across the goal as he retreated.

Strachan also made a point that many managers don't bother attending the manager/ref meetings, so maybe that helps lead to confusion over interpretation of the rules (not saying thats the case here).

Jivin Turkey

PHB wrote:

I must have been watching a different game to eveyrone else.

I thought Henry was absolutely woeful, didn't play well at all.

In all fairness, if a player scores two goals in a game, I find it hard to believe anyone could label his performance "absolutely woeful". I think you must have been watching another game.

PHB wrote:

By 60 minutes they had a total of two shots on target, one of which was from a free kick.

Yet they had scored two goals from open play by then, and had a free kick that hit the target??? Something is not adding up here.

Jivin Turkey

smemon wrote:

no questions over the goal resulting from the free kick?! your having a laugh! whatever about the way the goal was scored, surely the free kick itself should never have been.

Yes he dived but so what. I do recall a different tone taken by you after Wayne Rooney did a similar thing a few weeks back. The difference is this was outside the box, there was still a lot of work to do. Every player will go (and does go) down easily outside the box, its football. And he is perfectly right to be able to take the free early. He is only hindering himself doing that, and its the opposition who are supposed to be being penalised.

smemon wrote:

a 2 horse race, we'll see tomorrow night. win against fulham and utd will only be 2 points behind arsenal, 7 behind chelsea. i wouldnt call it a 2 horse race. another MASSIVE game for utd against banana skin opposition. they did it against charlton and closed the gap, fingers crossed they can do it again.

:rolleyes: It says a lot when you are billing things like a home game to Charlton and Fulham away as "massive" games. In all honesty, Arsenal have gone through their bad patch but are still ahead of United even IF they win tomorrow. Chelsea are even further ahead. I really think the title will be decided between the two sides that played today.

_blank_

Lads, can I just say something about the free kick. I have already said it, but I'll say it again.

I am a qualified referee, so I know what I am talking about :eek:

Once the referee blows for the infringement, the team awarded the free kick can AT ANY TIME take the free kick.

As John Giles said this morning on Dunphy's show, if a free kick is given in the middle of the park, players usually just bend down, stop the ball, and get on with it.

Why should the referee let the offending team have any advantage, he is penalising them.

No matter if it was a free kick or not, what happens after it is awarded is quite clear in the rules.

AthAnRi

Yes he dived but so what. I do recall a different tone taken by you after Wayne Rooney did a similar thing a few weeks back.

Can i ask what your tone was? Did you say 'so what' then?

The free kick was perfectly legitimat. Gudjohnsen should have stood on the ball. It's would be worth risking a booking for the sake of a goal. AS for the free kick in the first place it should never have been a free kick. I bet Wenger didn't see that but when it's against his team he sees everything.

It's a good result for united but only if they win tonight. If they do they will be back on track for a title push. It's a pretty intersting campaign now that there is 3-4 teams in the mix as apposed to the usual 2.

Jivin Turkey

AthAnRi wrote:

Can i ask what your tone was? Did you say 'so what' then?

No actually, my tone was "he dived but these things even themselves out", go back and check if you want.

Anyway, its a totally different kettle of fish though when the incident is outside the box, there was still so much work to do before the ball even got near the goal.

The Muppet

seansouth wrote:

Lads, can I just say something about the free kick. I have already said it, but I'll say it again.

I am a qualified referee, so I know what I am talking about :eek:

Once the referee blows for the infringement, the team awarded the free kick can AT ANY TIME take the free kick.

In the case of a free Kick Does the ref HAVE to blow his whistle to restart the game ?

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Anyway, its a totally different kettle of fish though when the incident is outside the box, there was still so much work to do before the ball even got near the goal.

So It's ok to cheat if the player is outside the box?

_blank_

The Muppet wrote:

In the case of a free Kick Does the ref HAVE to blow his whistle to restart the game ?

Not at all. You watch any quickly taken free kick anywhere on the pitch. The ref only blows his whistle once. That is all that is needed, one whistle to signify the award of the free kick. After that, it is up to the team that has been awarded the kick to take it whenever they feel like it.

lili

henry didn't break rules.

johnor

Maybe it wasnt a free kick, gudjohnsen should have defintly stayed where he was...as henry said after he was just waiting for gudjonsen to move before he hit it...there are lots of "clever" players in the premiership who can see a decent oppurtunity to gain a free in a dangerous position, almost every team has one, theese type of decisions even themselves out over the season. If arsenal feel hard done by on the rooney penalty then they got their reward with the pires free kick yesterday and so on....

Thought chelsea looked very dangerous, could have won a few times in the second half lots of good movement from set piece/ corners etc. As the commentators where saying they dragged Campbell out leaving no great height in the Arsenal defence, clever work by mourinho..got to admire his changes very rarely do you see 2 players and a full tactical change so early in the game (45 min). Think drogba, duff and robben were all very quite. Robben had a good run i can remember but alumni did well to save.

Good result for the chasing pack, hope united cna keep the pressure up tonight...dont think itll come down to just these two, Boro arent that far off the pace even! at the mo Everton, Boro and United are still in there

mr_angry

To be honest, I don't particularly like quick free kicks when a keeper has to line up a wall, but it is the rules I feel are incorrect. What Henry did was perfectly in line with them. I'm sympathetic to Chelsea fans, but it has happened to Arsenal several times before. I remember Ian Harte scoring at Highbury for Leeds in a 2-1 win a few years back, and I think David Dunn for Blackburn at Highbury in a 3-3 draw. There's only so many times you can lose / draw games before starting to take advantage of the rules yourself.

_blank_

mr_angry wrote:

the rules I feel are incorrect.

Do you think that if a team is awarded a free kick they should then have to wait for the referee to give them the signal to start the game again.

This would penalise the team who has been awarded the free kick.

Imagine you are on the counter attack, and your player is fouled on the halfway line. Would it be in your favour to have to wait until the other team regroups for you to take your free kick, or would you prefer to be able to restart the game straight away, and continue on your counter attack?

We cannot make a rule for free kicks given within a certain distance of the goal. It gives an advantage to the team who have been penalised if we allow them to regroup. The whole idea of a free kick is to punish the offending team, why should we have any pity for them. Don't foul, and you won't be punished.*

*I am not merely commenting on yesterday's events.

BaZmO*

I assume most people here play Fantasy Football?

Anyway, just noticed that Duff was given a bonus point for his performance yesterday. I can't remembering him having such a good game, he was actually quite quiet tbh.

B.

AthAnRi

Jivin Turkey wrote:

No actually, my tone was "he dived but these things even themselves out", go back and check if you want.

Anyway, its a totally different kettle of fish though when the incident is outside the box, there was still so much work to do before the ball even got near the goal.

I'll take your word for it. However it isn't a different kettle of fish. It's exactly the same to dive outside the box as it is inside the box. It's still a dive.

any way that's besdie the point It was a fair result but one that will please all teams involved.

_blank_

Not that he needs to
http://www.football365.com/news/premiership_news/story_136884.shtml

A good point in there.

If Henry had have smacked the ball in to Gudjohnsson, or over the bar, or wide, would we have heard complaints?

I doubt it.

growler

therecklessone wrote:

Not what Gordon Strachan had to say tonight on MOTD2.

............

Strachan also made a point that many managers don't bother attending the manager/ref meetings, so maybe that helps lead to confusion over interpretation of the rules (not saying thats the case here).

Doesn't seem to apply to Mourinho, “I am more than unhappy; unhappy is nice word. I cannot say the word that is in my heart and soul. I know the rules and they are the same anywhere in the world, from top league to under-15 football.”
He revealed his anger was fuelled by an official presentation made to Chelsea’s players and staff in the summer on the rules regarding free kicks.

“In pre-season we had a top referee at Harlington with a screen, projector and presentation and an explanation of the rules,” he said, “so there is no doubt about it. One of the things he explained was walls, distance, whistle. Everything was clear. It was a top referee sent to Harlington by the ref committee. Today nothing.”

obviously some breakdown in communications there !

_blank_

And another thing.

What on earth was Andy Gray on about, the ref needing to be so many yards away from the free kick being taken.

Get a grip you moron :mad:

And then Quinn agreeing with him.

Didn't notice his mullet much this time though.

Gangsta

chelsea didnt create that much either from open play did they? ppl r sayin arsenal didnt create much, they scored 2, missed a sitter, penalty claim. there's enuf there to win it, u cant expect chance after chance with such a high quality defence.

wenger needs to stop being stubborn and work on the defence, there's a real problem. this was the best defence last year!

whoever finishes above Chelsea will win. man utd r just not there anymore for me.

gandalf

LOL Gangsta it is way too early to make judgement calls on anyone. I mean at the start of the season would you have said that Everton would be second.

puntosporting

I dunno lads i reckon arsenal are the biggest losers from a draw they have lost 2 points at home chelsea have kept there distance it was an excellent result for chelsea in my mind!

BolBill

puntosporting wrote:

I dunno lads i reckon arsenal are the biggest losers from a draw they have lost 2 points at home chelsea have kept there distance it was an excellent result for chelsea in my mind!

Agree.

As for Quinns mullet, its kinda gone

As for Andy Gray, words fail me

As for As fors, I'm finished.

Gangsta

BolBill wrote:

Agree.

As for Quinns mullet, its kinda gone

As for Andy Gray, words fail me

As for As fors, I'm finished.

he had a stupid mullet, made mullets look bad. mine's class

Arsenal were the biggest losers on the day, i must say 2soft goals. chelsea didnt create any clearcut chance from open play.