To Hull and back

By Boris Mellor
January 18 2009

At 4.30 pm Saturday the world was, from an Arsenal fan's point of view, looking very rosy. Manchester United, Chelsea and Villa were all about to drop points. Then the late show began and by 4:50 pm Arsenal were left with a mountain to climb. That's why I hate Setanta 5:30 pm kick offs.

 United scored on 90 minutes to beat Bolton, Lampard scored on 90 minutes to give Chelsea 3 points, and Villa converted a disputed penalty on 80 minutes. If Arsenal failed to win at Hull then they could be six points behind the jammy Villains. Having lost five games now means that every match is a must win, knowing that your rivals have won adds to the pressure, and I do worry about the mental toughness of this team.

 

Indeed I had been irritated by talk of revenge on Hull, when talk should have been of redeeming themselves for being so lousy the first time round. Wenger admitted they had underestimated Hull in the first fixture, that is none too clever, but water under the bridge now.

Wenger stuck to the same team that beat Bolton, not that he had much choice with the only unused subs being Fabianski, Vela, Ramsey, Gibbs, Merida. He really is down to the bare bones.

In my preview I wrote that Hull had spent much of the time defending against Villa at the KC; however, everyone knows that the Gunners defence has a glass jaw and they came at Arsenal like a bat out of hell.

It took a good ten minutes or so before Arsenal got into the game, but when they finally did they dominated without making that many chance, and the couple they did were wasted. When the goal came it was from a brilliant Adebayor header on the end of a devilish RvP corner. It was a classy header, the height that Ade reached and the direction he put on it.

For a long time after that Hull were never in the game, true Arsenal lacked sharpness in the final third, but they were controlling the game. Then on 65 minutes Clichy had one of his now, far too common aberrations. He decided to stand off Mendy, and then when Mendy crossed he waved a despairing leg at the ball deflecting the ball onto Cousins head for the goal.

Does anyone keep a list of assists by teams to their opponents? Because if they do Arsenal must be top, plus they could add in the own goals.

So what should have been a stroll turned into a torrid affair with Hull sensing blood. Fortunately Rvp and Nasri showed the determination needed to win the match. On 82 minutes Nasri passed an RvP assist into the far lower corner, and on 86 supersub lashed in Robin's third assist. Game set and match; now Arsenal looked solid as they played out the last few minutes.

Considering the weakness of the squad I found this a pleasing match. Mainly because of RvP's performance, at last he is showing determination and team play. The prodigal son has returned at last. Nasri's performance was also very satisfying. He rarely plays well outside of London, certainly not oop North in the cold and the rain. This time when a good display was needed he delivered.

The late show

No doubt it was stressful not finishing it off until the 82 minute, but Chelsea and Man U fans had to wait until 90 minutes. There is something going in the Premiership this season that is making every match a difficult one. Even Man U and Chelsea with all their resources are finding it hard to finish teams off. It is not just about Arsenal, there is a trend here. I am not convinced it is because the level of the league has gone up, time will tell.

For a large selection of Arsenal Books, DVDs, PC games AND MORE at Bargain Prices visit the Arsenal Times Store CLICK HERE

How late it was, how late

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 18/01/2009 12:11

Arsenal Times
18/01/2009 12:11

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:01:24:09:41:42 by Padre Pio.

Reply Quote Report

Bwana Wenger
18/01/2009 12:36

with the way we are playing, the lowest we will finish is definitely 3rd..

Warning: Supporting Arsenal is not for the faint at heart... It requires hard balls...

Reply Quote Report

AJ The Gunner
18/01/2009 13:12

Excellent read. very spot on.Was Impressed with RVP.my man of the match. I'm also not conviced the level of league has gone up.The ref's are getting worse.

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
18/01/2009 13:44

Thanks AJ. You could say ref didnt do us that bad, Djourou might have concede a pen with some refs. It was 50% 50%

Reply Quote Report

Zainy
18/01/2009 14:21

Personally i think the standard has dropped a little. But i think that generally this current era is a little poorer talent wise than the last. Not significantly so though. I think that none of the big four could say this is their best team in the last decade except maybe pool which is why they are even in the title race despite not being the best footballin side.

Reply Quote Report

AJ The Gunner
18/01/2009 14:21

As for the ref's; i meant in general and not referring to the game.Dubious decisions has been the order of the day for ref's since this season.they really are getting worse.as for the game,Djourou was lucky.

Reply Quote Report

Bring back stepanovs!
18/01/2009 15:48

yea nice read spot on and yea totally agree with all the money in the game the standard has gone up and anyone can beat anyone on there day.And agree about the reffing something really has got to be done

Reply Quote Report

swissgunner
18/01/2009 18:54

I just think it is like Wenger says. Teams are just not willing to have a go. We beat Manu & Chavski because they at least tried to play. Pool are a "big four" team that is really very similar to the rest & you can see they have been grinding out results without being pretty & really very fortunate on a number of occasions..

Course the refs have been totally@#$%&as well but you couldn`t single out one team that has had it all good...

All I can say about us is thank god RV has stepped up otherwise we really would be @#$%&!

Reply Quote Report

Merlion96
18/01/2009 19:10

Right.
When teams attack us......

Reply Quote Report

swissgunner
18/01/2009 21:18

I take it back as Villa really have been lucky with refs so far this season! Got to end soon!

Reply Quote Report

Bwana Wenger
19/01/2009 03:58

villa's bubble will burst and all this villaing and worrying will be nothing but a distance memory. Villa will eventually finish 7th or at best 6th in May.

Warning: Supporting Arsenal is not for the faint at heart... It requires hard balls...

Reply Quote Report

mapleleafgooner
19/01/2009 04:20

Quote:

BwanaWenger
villa's bubble will burst and all this villaing and worrying will be nothing but a distance memory. Villa will eventually finish 7th or at best 6th in May.

I hope u are right. I certainly do not want to rely on another team's bad case of food poisoning to make it to the CL for next year.

Reply Quote Report

zombiez
19/01/2009 07:26

Ref should have spot that unfair sliding on Djourou after RVP hit the post. Thats a definite penalty. So its back to square.
We played well and won the game.

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
19/01/2009 08:02

We need to start checking out hotels now

Reply Quote Report

Gooner from the Alps
19/01/2009 15:49

tightest prem season since a long time!
everything from first place to uefa cup is possible
lets hope for the best and see how far we can go!

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net