New Hero

By Boris Mellor
May 1 2011

There were quite a few fans almost hoping Arsenal would lose as it might speed up a clear out. But I only had to see some obnoxious Man U fans cockily marching over the Fiszman Bridge to banish any such thoughts from my mind. I got a feeling that Karma was going to bite these big heads in the backside.

It was a sunny day and the crowd were angry about the past week, but subdued, they hardly responded to the calling out of players names, and Lehmann got the loudest cheer. Meanwhile talk at the Rocket had been of how fans didn’t care if Fab left, and that perhaps it was time for Wenger to go.

The first half bathed in glorious sunshine was played in a mostly subdued atmosphere. Normally matches against the top four, Tottenham and Barcelona are played in a frenzy of shouting and jeering; but the ambience was relaxed, as if it didn’t matter. Arsenal played lots of tippy tappy, but with no cutting edge, fortunately the antics of Rooney and the Referee began to irritate the crowd, and slowly the noise level built up.

The crowds temper heated up even more after Vidic used his hand to direct Walcott's cross away from the incoming Robin van Persie - an offence missed by the referee. I was at the opposite end and was unaware what had happened, but a friend text me that Sky said it was a nailed on penalty and sending off.

Arsenal went in at half time clearly having been the best team, but not having really tested the Man U keeper. We have seen this quite a few times against top clubs, plenty of possession but no end product. So it was with concern that Arsenal fans took their seats for the second half.

It looked like it was developing into squeaky posterior time, and Man U had 11 men behind the ball, if you include the referee who made some fine tackles against Arsenal.

But the crowd didn’t get time to get anxious as Arsenal got the goal they deserved after only 56 minutes, Ramsey passed a low finish into the corner of the net from a Van Persie cut-back. It was very skilfully put out of van der Saar’s reach.

Arsenal didn’t stop looking for a second, and Man U got a few breakaway chances, but Sczcesny was magnificent and almost single handedly kept them at bay. I would hate to make a criticism as he had such a fine game, but he needs to take care when putting the ball back into play, he gave Man U too many chances to re-launch an attack.  Djourou got injured and Squillaci came on causing a few hearts to miss a beat. Not long after Eboue replaced the tiring Walcott, the crowd behaved well and pretended not to notice. Meanwhile, I was inundated with texts expressing concern about the substitutes. However this was the weakest Man U team I have seen in a long time  and they failed to capitalise on the weakened defence.

Indeed Ferguson had intended to beat Arsenal and Chelsea to prove that this was a strong Utd team. I am afraid he lost his case this time around.

Indeed they were so poor that the Arsenal faithful didn’t start whistling until the last 90 seconds. The Gooner nation departed in high spirits singing all their favourites, except the Wenger one. Brian of BOF did his best to get it going, but not only would no one join in, but we were also rudely told to shut up. However the crowd sung the praises of their new hero Ramsey, and can watch MOTD for the first time in a very long while.

Bitter Sweet

It’s always good to beat Guildford Rovers and our spirits were high in the Bank afterwards, but we also felt sad that the season had been thrown away, that a great opportunity had been wasted. As one of the Bank of Friendship posse commented “What have we done? Two more years for Wenger and Chelsea’s title!” He also passed round a photo of a very fed up looking Dr Who, who refused to respond to the taunting of Arsenal fans.

At least they didn’t win the league at our ground, and they probably won’t win it next week either. Meanwhile the wonderful Spurs seem at risk of going out of Europe. Happy St Totteringham Day (Yes I know, but it’s not going to happen, 12 points and better our GD?).

What Have we Done? 2 More Yrs for Wenger and Chelsea's Title

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 01/05/2011 20:38

Arsenal Times
01/05/2011 20:38

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:08:19:30:33 by Padre Pio.

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Gunners R Us
01/05/2011 21:29

its been a very long time since i have heard that MOTD music

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dixon9
01/05/2011 23:27

Well, there's no doubt you have made the run-in not such a foregone conclusion ...although they still have to be favourites.



"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.

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Padre Pio
01/05/2011 23:33

All you got to do is beat them and your in driving seat

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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ExPatRed
02/05/2011 03:58

Whoever got cocky before this one is a complete d**khead, one of the consistent top 4 teams, away from home and with the passing ability and attacking flare that we have all seen. Just stupid assuming a victory. I predicted 2-2, thought it would be high scoring but we got well done. 1 pen each IMO but whatever...

BTW You aint seen cocky until you seen cockneys.

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Padre Pio
02/05/2011 09:07

Yes you are right they were probably Cockney Man U fans

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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Bergmars
02/05/2011 10:29

Nice retort Padre.

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ExPatRed
03/05/2011 16:19

An excellent retort it would be if only it wasn't the standard childish bickering rather than talking about football and our respective teams/performances. Maybe an over 18 rule on the forum? IQ that is.

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Bergmars
03/05/2011 16:44

Sorry mate but its relevant to your team,its a fact that there are more Citeh fans in Manchester.

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Padre Pio
03/05/2011 18:43

Well I am well over 18 and its a long time since I was deliberately pushed by a gang of cowardly fans, one of me and about 8 of them. But I decided to take it in good humour.

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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Bergmars
04/05/2011 09:08

To answer the thread,what we have done is proven our players do not have the fortitude when the going is tough or something rides on games,when the pressure is removed we can beat any team.
Occasionly we get a good result when it matters but not consistently.

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AJ The Gunner
04/05/2011 12:53

i don't even know what to make of this result.. it just gives wenger more deluded rhetorics to spew out.i keep wondering these; if we had won our 3 previous games or was it 4, would we have beaten utd??? if utd were not distracted by their cl game would we have beaten them..i'm not taking anything away from the team but winning this game is pointless cos it only serves to make wenger have more grounds to continue his madness..

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷��♀� or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇��♀�

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SandyB
05/05/2011 03:36

Quote:

i'm not taking anything away from the team but winning this game is pointless cos it only serves to make wenger have more grounds to continue his madness..

Win or lose doesn't matter Wenger will continue the madness anyway..

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Padre Pio
05/05/2011 09:17

he thinks he has got away with it

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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Bergmars
05/05/2011 10:01

He has,nothing will change,I will still get peed off by the same mistakes and waffle.I will still be a follower of the club I love,Wenger will still be here and still be preaching his economic miracle.
I resd an article by Terry Venables on Wenger,he said Wenger needs to go back to being a manager rather than acting like a director.

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