Hull v. Arsenal; Liveblogging the first half

Good morning all! I’m going to skip any introductions or media roundups because if you wanted that stuff you could follow me on Twitter. Let’s just say that Chelsea and Villa overcame tough opposition and a red card to claim 3 points so, that means 3 points here against Hull is critical.

For Arsenal, there are no changes from the lineup of last week except you could say Nasri is moved back out left. On the other side, Hull are lining up with a 4-5-1 as expected — the bus is parked in front of the goal and we should see a real stinker from the Tigers.

Kickoff any second now, COME ON YOU REDS!

The FSC folks are claiming Hull is playing a 4-4-2 but Giovanni is a midfielder not a striker. That’s a 4-5-1 if I ever saw one. Irregardless, it’s no 4-3-3 which they played at Emirates.

1′ — Corner to Hull — a lucky escape for the Arsenal
2′ — raise a pint for me Matt!
3′ — they are calling for a yellow on Clichy, uhhh, right, that’s a yellow. Arsenal look really shaky to start they need to get their heads in the game.
7′ — Adebayor wastes a good chance deep in the Hull box. He’s really struggling at the moment, and we really need him to come on.
11′ — Ok, Hull has settled into the shape that they will keep for the rest of the game, I told you it’s a 4-5-1.
13′ — Ade drops deep and traipses through the Hull midfield, earns a free kick which is deflected for a corner.
14′ — DIABY WITH A TACKLE A++++ WOULD WATCH AGAIN!!!
17′ — Adebayor drops deep into the Arsenal half to claim the ball, makes a good run, passes to Eboue, who passes the ball to Hull. This has happened at least three times now, so we will call this “Pattern 1” from here on out.
20′ — Giovanni to take a free kick from a stupid foul this has happened three times now so we will call this “pattern 2.”
23′ — Arsenal have lots of possession and move the ball side to side with aplomb. Maybe we could get Hull to set up a goal on the side line?
26′ — uhhhh, they are blaming Djourou for some shaky stuff at the back, but that was all Aluminum’s fault for me.
28′ — HOLY CRAP! van Persie’s rocket is pushed off the crossbar by the Hull keeper. That was a hell of a shot and great save to the Hull keeper. Arsenal are putting a ton of pressure on Hull right now.
30′ — Adebayor scores!  Woo hoo! That will get him off the snide. What do you want to bet he scores a hat-trick today? The fans are singing the Adebayor song.
36′ — Eboue with a wide open shot and elects to take it with the outside of his boot, it was such a poor shot that it knocked out satellite out for a few seconds. I have no clue where these guys are calling this from, Matt.
41′ — Yawn… come on Arsenal, let’s get a second. This Hull team looks like utter crap. How did we lose to these guys?
44′ — Man, Hull can’t even string together two passes. It’s almost as if their entire game plan was to play a 4-5-1 and counter attack, now that they are down a goal, they don’t know what to do. Arsenal too don’t seem to know what to do with the lead, should they hang on or get more or just kind of play around?

Well, kickers, we have a lead going in to the second half despite some rather lacklustre play on both ends of the pitch. That said, I’d rather win a boring 1-0 game than a 3-2 heart attack inducing game. Anyway, check out the second half over here.

0 comments

  1. Hey Timothy.

    Love these 11:30 kickoffs – ’cause I get to have a pint in the second half…

  2. Hey – do you know if the announcers are actually there? Or are they calling the game from a studio – like ESPN does?

  3. They have got to be in the studio. The “color guy” sounds like the guy that was in the studio after the Chelsea/Stoke City game.

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