arsenal suck! my match ratings

what a game today. bolton wanderers kicked our ass, and rightfully so. they outplayed us all over the pitch. particularly their back four. i just want to let the bolton faithful know that what follows is not an excuse, nor is it an attempt to belittle your boys' accomplishment today. (my ratings are out of 9)

jens lehmann 8 -- lehmann was the best man on the pitch for arsenal today, although the scoreline may suggest to some that he wasn't. the first goal by abdi faye, the rocket header, was beyond lehmann's reach, and at that point he'd already turned away a few good chances on the net. and the second goal, nolan's steal and his pass to stelios giannakopolous was unstoppable. the game would have been much, much worse without jens. and his anger throughout the game, particularly following the uncalled faye handball and the simultaneous elbow from diouf, was absolutely called for. these incidents would have pissed off the most relaxed player. well done today, jens.

sol campbell 5 -- i know he's doing two jobs now, since pascrap cygan is in at left back, but the heroic sol campbell was not on the pitch today. he wasn't directly responsible for any of the goals, but he did a terrible job bolstering the back. the worst part about sol today was that he was unnoticeable.

kolo toure 4 -- kolo! you have been damn fine this season -- at times -- but your consitency is for shit. today was piss poor. watch the replay of faye's header, kolo. you were the jackass who should have been covering him when that cross came flying over. where were you? nowhere to be found, that's where.

cygan 5 (8) -- two numbers for pascal cygan indicate his actual performance and his personal performance. if he was any other left back in the premiership he'd have had a weak, albeit average game, but it still was one of pascal's best outings. he had a tough job, covering diouf, and he didn't do too bad as far as shutting his charge down. but how many free kicks did he cough up in dangerous areas? too many.

lauren 7.5 -- the best outfield player on the pitch today. he worked non stop, covered for toure, and made a series of key defensive plays that made the right an untenable approach for bolton. too bad he's aging, there was a time when he'd have been able to run like that all day, but we could all see him burning out by the seventieth minute. perhaps if everyone else had done their job he'd have made it through the whole game. still, eboue did all right in relief, so at least the right side wasn't a floodgate opening up when lauren left.

gilberto 2 -- just plain terrible. the worst man on the pitch. people talk about us missing viera and assume we miss him because we are stuck with young cesc. bullshit! we miss him because we're stuck with gilberto. if he makes the starting brazilian world cup team ahead of lyon's juninho the brazilians deserve to lose it all. gilberto coughed up the ball more than any other gunner. and his worst cough up cost us a goal. all he had to do was to tap it out to touch; instead, he tries to bring it under control and has his pocket picked by nolan. bam! goal. i sure as hell hope hleb comes in for gilberto instead of fabregas (and where the hell was flamini, arsene?)

fabregas 7 -- he was one of the only guys who threatened the net; he ran the pitch tirelessly; his passes were effective; he played a physical game; it was nice to see that his form wasn't slipping even if everyone else's was. no wonder he was pissed off enough to slam his gloves into the bench when he left the pitch. reyes played well in replacement, but he might have been a better replacement for gilberto or:

freddie 6 -- due to toure and gilberto, freddie rarely saw the ball. he was all right when he did see it, but he never really got started. at least he didn't get stuck on the other side covering for cygan like last time.

pires 5 -- maybe the fact that he had to cover a little for cygan lowered his performance, but pires rarely made a pass today, and that is his game. moreover, he could have scored on the loose ball after henry hit the post. his run at jaaskelinen was half-hearted. if he'd committed he'd have scored. shabby, robert. you'll never get back into the france squad if you keep playing like that.

van persie 6.5 -- the only gunner to score, and it would have stood if henry hadn't let his frustration boil over. sure he was off target once, but he was still a threat up front. he wasn't quite as good as he's been, but he wasn't awful either. bergkamp, his replacement, did nothing when he came on but get a stupid foul. van persie should have been left on the pitch and dennis should have come on for:

henry 4 -- what was he doing? practically nothing. he hit the post twice (and we all know that a striker of his quality must take his chances, musn't he?); he coughed up the ball; he overran passes; he didn't time his runs; and, worst of all, he seemed to give up after his second miss. and the fact that he took that chippy little shot at ben haim (at least i think it was the israeli captain) that cost us van persie's goal is, quite honestly, inexcusable. no player of his salt should ever make a mistake like that, and if van persie had done it to henry all we'd be hearing about is how he needs to "mature" as a player. and if that isn't bad enough, henry is the captain. that is not captain behaviour.

so arsenal sucked today. we were the second place team on the pitch, and rightfully so. and now we're the fifth place team in the premiership. the chase for the title is truly dead. what a day.

Neville Named Manchester United Captain

I like this choice for our new captain. Van Nistelrooy did a great job for five games but this cat is obviously the choice of the players and Sir Alex. Neville has been with the club forever and it is his time to shine.

qpr v. crystal palace (part one)

It may have taken a while, but here's Giovanna's first live football experience (in four installments):

I could feel the excitement grow on the way to Loftus Road Stadium as we got closer. After changing trains from Picidilly to Central, we got rid of the riff raff, and you could see the red and blue of CP and the blue and white of QPR fans dominating the seats.

Walking down South Africa Road you could see the Brits were taking this Champion League game seriously. The streets were closed off to traffic, and policemen stood within 50 feet of eachother along the road to teh stadium. Any signs of estrogen were quickly diminishing, being replaced by the smell of beer, fried chips, pasties, and the sharp pungent smell of malt vinegar.

I see a goodies tent just outside Loftus Road and buy a QPR scarf for Brad. The fella behind the counter is impressed that I'm there to see the game without being forced to by my football-crazed boyfriend. Gina and I are looking around with a growing excitment. This is going to be good.

the cobra

anyone who missed the blackburn v. arsenal game on the weekend missed one of the best goals of the season. robin van persie, the long awaited strike partner for m. henry, came on late in the game and proved why he is being chosen over the elder statesman, dennis bergkamp.

there he is, all by himself on the right touch line. he's got the ball and two blackburn defenders flanking him. he's parallel with the box and he cracks through the flanking defenders, heading straight for the third blue and white shirt bearing down on him. does he pass the ball? nope. he takes the kick with his left foot and goes for goal, beating friedel with an amazing strike, hitting the far post to make the ball go in.

wow!

after the wenger dubbed him the cobra. good name. who needs a fox in the box when we've got the cobra?