6am Burnley v. Arsenal

This is a very early match and I’ve promised a few people that I’d meet them at Doyle’s so this will be a very short blog. All that, and there’s no news. Here’s the BBC sport preview a match recap will follow at 8:30 am PST.

Up the Arse!

Update: an away win in the FA cup, that’s the important thing, right?  Eduardo is really picking up now with 6 goals in 4 starts and this was nothing less than you’d expect from him if you’ve seen his last 3 matches.  In the 9th minute the ball was played in by Toure, Dudu juggled it with his right knee, got pushed in the back, and regained enough composure to slot the ball into the left corner.  Sure, the keeper should have done better and come out to stop the play but I think last season Arsenal might not have scored that goal: which is exactly what Dudu was brought in to do… do.

After that there was a long stretch of mediocre play by Arsenal and a few decent chances by Burnley.  Arsenal did their level best to make Burnley look like a decent side.  During this spell there was some seriously deficient play down the right side and Eboue has to be goat of the game.  Unimaginative, unskilled, common, lackadaisical, what other adjectives can I use to describe the play of Eboue?  I mean he did it all!  Honestly, I think he probably completed less than 5% of his passes.  But that wouldn’t be unusal for him, no he took it a step further.  The moment of the match for him came when he was slotted in down the right side, managed to get around his marker, evaded a tackle, and then dribbled into two defenders instead of playing the ball anywhere.  Then!  THEN!  He started yelling at Eduardo.  He really is a cunt.

This was the same Eduardo who only moments earlier had played in an absolutely perfect ball to Bendtner who dribbled around the Burnley keeper and side footed the finish.  So naturally, he just shook his head derisively at Eboue.

If you’re looking for match video and want to see the two goals, I always recommend the Arsenalist.

There was some drama in the 60th minute when Lafferty got a straight red for a rash challenge on Gilberto.  In live action it looked like a two footed challenge and straight red.  In replay it wasn’t really that bad of a challenge but Lafferty did lunge, studs up, over the ball and the ref was right on top of it.  It may be a bit harsh from a Burnley perspective but it was a dangerous tackle and Burnley were rightly reduced to 10 men.  Not so that you’d notice it by the uninspired play that followed.

Lastly, Lehmann looked very shaky.  In fact, the whole defense looked shaky with him in goal.  He flapped at the ball early in the match and escaped with a bit of luck when a Burnley player headed a free ball into the crossbar.  Even worse than that no one wanted to play a ball back to him which led to a few sketchy moments at the back with players dribbling around rather than back passing and letting Jens clear the ball.  Clearly the squad is uncomfortable with him in goal.  Adios Jens, you nut.

That’s about it.  Just note of thanks to Mike, and his two friends Mike and Jesse for coming out at 6am to watch the match it was fun to watch a match with company rather than sitting here in my livingroom in the dark.

Till tomorrow!

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