A bit of perspective perhaps..Eboue, sorry mate you got mugged.
on April 18, 2011 at 8:20 amWe played Liverpool, a team who annihilated Citeh earlier in the week and were in full pomp yesterday.
We made them look mediocre, we controlled the game and but for fortune itself and some last gasp defending it was 0:0 at 90 mins. We harried, created, expended all energies to score and it just wasn’t happening (perhaps a return to 4-4-2>4-2-4 might have borne more fruit)…and then we got a bit of fortune in the award of a certain penalty on Cesc by the impressive, hard-working Spearing.
RvP dusted himself off and struck his penalty well, sending Reina the wrong way and getting himself booked for taking his shirt off during the celebration. At 98 mins on the clock surely its time for the whistle?
Incidentally, for someone who allegedly went bananas over a silly, needless yellow (pot calling kettle Mr Van Persie) if you are suspended for an important game because of that celebration due to a culmination of 5 bookings I will be extremely annoyed.
So back to it, it was a case of keeping Liverpool at bay, cool heads needed to prevail. Song, who wasn’t really in the zone kept hacking and barging into Pool players outside of our area and the ref gave a foul on Lucas, legitimately so although again Lucas made it look more than it was.
A poor free-kick ballooned off the wall, up and towards the corner flag, Lucas went for it and sensing Eboue right behind him stopped his run to allow Eboue to clatter into him. I don’t blame Lucas for it, who wouldn’t try it on in the 110′th minute to get a last gasp penalty, especially when the ref had already given one and we know they love to even it up.
It was an easy decision for the ref following poor positional play by Eboue. Eboue had had a great game and showed a lot going forwards, I have been really impressed with his return to the side and his willingness to drive forwards and attack. His naievety however in this instance frustrated me considerably.
When you are chasing down a ball going towards the corner flag you do not want to be behind or goal-side. You need to be herding him towards the by-line so if he turns on you you have the space to tackle and clear it for a corner. If you are goal-side its easy for the player to play it back to a team-mate and if you are directly behind if the player turns into you its a soft penalty but they get given every week.
I feel sorry for Eboue and I can imagine Alan Davies on the podcast right now screaming about it, but it’s poor play at crucial times in games thats cost us this season and I’m concerned it will continue to do so. That said, for the entirety of the game, Eboue was a threat to the opposition, he created and put pressure on the Pool and he can be pleased with his overall performance, but he got mugged.
Mathematically its not impossible, nor implausible, but we need to be winning games. Lets start that against the Spuds or we might as well all go on our summer hols…
WG.
Once again, our naivety came to the party, when we needed to show cool head. Again we failed to win a match that Liverpool wanted us to win. I have given up the faith for this season. Hopefully, next season will be better, but first we must show some of the under achieving players the exit. Heading that list should be Eboue, who was at the center of yesterday’s debacle.
Hi Michael, thanks for commenting.
Its clear to see, Arsene doesn’t let Steve Bould, Martin Keown or anyone teach defence at Arsenal.
Its worrying that common sense that I can see as a player, doesn’t apply to trained professionals.
WG
Only Arsenal could f’up so royally. Liverpool had two junior full-backs playing. Carragher was stretchered off. No Gerrard. Carroll was substituted. Suarez was not so effective. All of this and we still couldnt win.
Always trying to play through the centre. Where was the variety? No 20 goal-a-season striker on the books imo. RvP is the only striker at Arsenal frankly. We must bring in a proven goal-scorer next season
I still really like Chamakh, I’d like to see him on the same pitch with RvP, I think they could really compliment each other, but Arsene can’t see that.
The tempo of the game at times seemed like some of the players were having a Sunday stroll.
On a positive note I think Sczcesney should be the number 1 next season. The money can be used elsewhere – the 40 million or whatever sum was mentioned in the press.
The lad looks quality and seems to be very assured between the posts.
I like Sczcesny a lot, he’s going to be a great professional. He’s got the focus, the ability and the desire to go a very long way.
As a goalkeeper, you play a large part of the game in your head, keeping your concentration, reacting and organising so mental strength is a must. His confidence and fortitude will serve him well.
WG.
Ditto on Sczcesny…Arsenal definitely do not need a keeper…….but how much would have someone like Parker helped us over the last few weeks – great gutsy defender and extra creative spark from midfield, not to mention not afraid to shoot from distance! If West Ham are relegated he would be worth the investment.
There is a lot being made of Nasri being nominated for Player of the Year and a lot of vindictive being sprayed around against Arsharvin Denilson Eboue etc but for me the most disappointing player in the last half dozen crucial games has been Nasri. He is a shadow of the player he was earlier in the year and slows down our attack so much by taking the ball into the corners fiddling around showing skill in getting it out again but usually it involves a backpass to the midfield cause while he was fiddling the bus usually gets parked! I must be frustrating for Walcott to go steaming down the wing and look to cut the ball back to RvP only he aint there!!! And if Bendtner or Chamakh missed as many scoring opportunities as Robin in the last 2 weeks …….Oh the nasty names they would have been called!
We are all disappointed with that last minute nonsense, and Eboue should have been more professional and not fallen for Lucas’ ploy.
Thing is tho’ the team were back into the slow, slow, quick, quick, slow routine that every other team now know how to play against.
We were just not good enough, unfortunately.
Agreed, I thought we had the match of them over the whole game but didn’t stick anything in the bag. Luck or not, its goals that decide games.
Lets hope for a ManYoo collapse!
WG