Good morning kickers, t-minus 10 minutes until kickoff and nothing to report. Just sitting here watching footballing fraud Gordon Ramsey take the piss out of a bunch of butchers.
More coffee needed!
Uhhhh, strange lineup: Eduardo up front (YAY!) and Diaby and Song partner in the middle.
Oh and Eb*ue on the right.
How much you want to bet Eb*ue gets a straight red?
2′ — Chris Eagles put’s in a nice cross defended sufficiently by Arsenal.
4′ — The camera pans to the Boss and I have to say Wenger looks tired, and old. This season seems to have taken a lot out of the man.
6′ — !!! Song makes a critical tackle as Burnley nearly break into the box. It was a stab at the ball, lazy tackling, and I thought for sure it was going to be a penalty but Song got the tackle 100% right. WHEW
9′ — Sagna has an audacious shot on goal, though to hear the announcers it was a cross. I’m giving benefit of the doubt to Sagna there.
12′ — Eb*ue earns a free kick and Captain Dudu puts in a decent effort from long range, just needed a touch from Vela and that was a goal.
13′ — Another important save by Song, man, he’d be great in the League Championship.
20′ — Arshavin dribbles from shoulder to shoulder and plays in a ball to Vela. I was hoping he saw just a glimmer of space and had a shot but as it turns out, Vela was wide open but the ball was played too hard and the attack fizzles out. Grumblings in the stands…. hmmm…
24′ — Just as the announcers were blowing smoke rings up Burnley’s ass, the Burnley defense makes a mistake, Arshavin latches on to it and plays a good ball in for Vela who nutmegs the defender and chips in a beauty over the sprawling keeper. Brilliant “Arsenal” goal.
30′ — The announcers mention the condition of the pitch, did you know that Arsenal lost thier head groundsman to Real Madrid? It’s true.
32′ — Am I the only one who thinks Diaby is putting in one of his typically lazy performances?
36′ — Loads of possession for Arsenal which was starting to lul me to sleep before Eduardo put in a good ball that nearly fell to Vela for his second. I wouldn’t have thought that the Vela/Dudu combo would be particularly effective but they seem to compliment each other nicely.
40′ — the stands clear out as everyone goes for a beer. I hadn’t noticed that about Eb*ue, Darkhail, I’ll have to watch. Arshavin with a third poor corner. Gods, Arsenal suck at corners, even Arsaviour cannot get them right all the sudden.
44′ — Burnley misses a golden chance as Fabianski comes for the ball and makes a hash of it. Every corner is aimed at Eduardo. A little bit more creativity there would probably result in another goal.
End of the first half and I do have to give credit to Burnley, they are attacking a bit more that I expected, clearly Arsenal’s latest results left the Burnley boss thinking they could come in to Emirates and get a result. Frankly, though, Arsenal don’t look likely to conceed unless they make another huge gaffe.
All right, 10 minutes of Hooters commercials and we’ll resume this.
Gorm, it’s not Eb*ue’s heart, it’s his head. He’d certainly be one of the fan favorites if he wasn’t clearly mental.
46′ — Second half kicks off and I choose Adebayor over Drogba. Because Adebayor is crazy but I could never see him giving fans the finger and tossing coins back into the crowd.
48′ — Beer and a “brat” is £7 and I’m pretty sure that it’s a no-drinks-zone in the stands.
49′ — THEO THEO THEO! The supporters are staying on the concourse and I don’t really blame them, it’s snowing.
51′ — I was just sitting here thinking, “Song has at least been trying to get the ball forward for once” when he suddenly plays a ball in to Eduardo who puts in one of the prettiest finishes I’ve ever seen from an Arsenal player, cheeky little volley. Lovely stuff.
Pure class.
Dudu is the shit.
55′ — 5 minutes for Arsaviour to get a goal. He hasn’t really looked threatening but still, comeonandreicomeonandreicomeonandrei
60′ — Burnley makes some subs, yawn. Which team are you going to see Matt?
63′ — Yeah, Matt, I’m not too excited that Wenger is leaving Eduardo, Diaby, and Arshavin on, all of them are struggling at the moment. Diaby in particular looks like he’s about to collapse. Either that or he’s back to just not caring.
67′ — words, eaten, as Diaby makes an important run back to stop the Burley counter after Gibbs gives the ball away. Theo and Rambo set to come on. Matt, Citeh, ‘Boro, and Stoke, those are the choices.
72′ — THEO THEO THEO!
78′ — Uhhh, the commentators are giving Theo shit for not being a good finisher. Come on, this is his first game back after the injury.
83′ — Poor decision from the linesman there… LOL EBOUE!!!
85’ — Aveline is crying, I gotta help out, I’ll remark if something good happens.
All right ladies and gents, good win, fun match to watch and next up in the FA Cup is Revenge of the Hull. More importantly it’s a great way to kick off Wednesday’s match against Roma.
I’ve got to get ready for 5 a side so I’m out of here. Have fun out there today kids!
Has anyone noticed how Eboue’s passes are always rockets… every time he passes to anyone they always have a hard time controlling it.
Please give Eboue a break. He plays with the heart the whole team needs. I like his dedication, and hope that he’ll get some goals soon. His drive is great.
Drogba or Adebayor?
Death is not an option…
Hey, how much is a beer at The Emirates? Can you bring coffee into the stands, or is a totally beverage-free zone? (Got the go ahead from the wife – heading to Mecca in the Fall/Winter.)
Can’t wait for Theo Theo Theo!!!
Solid first half, good runs by Eboue.
Great finish Vela!
Come Arshavin get your corners on target….
Love that Eduardo is wearing the armband, as well. This is fun.
Time to take Dudu off however. RvP?
Not sure yet, Tim. Probably a mid-table team, like you usually do.
Here come Theo and Rambo.
Diaby tracked back to defend nicely there.
Love how all the subs share a blanket on the bench.
The announcer just called Alex McDonald “Alex Rodriguez”. These guys are shit.
Does Walcott start on Wednesday? I think he does.
EBOUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well Tim, your footstool, Song, played a monster game. Admit it.
Ade, RVP and Walcott can learn a lot from Vela and Edu about clinical finishing.
Ha!
In your face to all (ok, not all, but most of you):
Best players of this match: Song, Diaby, and Eboue!!!!!!
Nice.
Rub it in T-Town.
What!!!!! No response from Tim.
MOTM was Song, by a country mile; Eboué looked like a footballer, not a mentalist; Diaby looked like (half a) Vieira and Gallas hardly put a foot wrong, with only one screw-up near the half-way line and a nice recovery.
All our favourite donkeys had good games. What the hell do we do now?
MotM Song proving that even a blind Donkey can find a nut in Arsenal’s midfield.
Cue the Arsene Wenger “I told you so’s…” He’s like a slots player, keeps feeding coins into the Eb*ue and Song slots and when they do hit and pay back 1/20 of the money he put in then run around the casino proclaiming how he was right all along and that they would pay off.
Not even close. They have to do that week in and week out for the rest of the year before I’ll start singing their praises.
As for Song, it was a Championship team that tried to play Arsenal’s game and had a poor game, Arsenal’s starting holding mid SHOULD have a good game.
Yes, Tim, I was waiting for “it’s only Burnley” 🙂
But they can only play who they are given. Of course we’d rather have Cesc and Rosicky but we haven’t got them (yet). I agree that Song and Eboue aren’t the solution to all our issues, but they have improved recently, no? Surely that’s all we can ask; that they listen to the critics and put the effort in. If they drift back into laziness then I shall personally wire up the microphone and PA system for you to complain from the rooftops. We’re into the next round, and easily. Let’s hope it is the start of some form, just in time for the run-in (in all competitions).
If we beat Hull, or should I say when we beat Hull, our next test would be a resurgent Chelsea with Essien rounding into form.
If I can skype into your PA system, then we have a deal fourstar!