By Billy the Dog McGraw
This is a match that really doesn’t need a review, since it is obvious that the referee has decided on the game before we start. The only hope we have is that the growing audience on Untold means that Mr Dean might think that after we have predicted what he will do, he will trick us by being a fair minded man in the middle.
Possible, but doubtful.
Anyway, I decided to carry on the old routine by talking me old pal Dennis Bergkamp in his potting shed on the Enfield allotment park, before the game, and he gave me the run down. Dennis as usual has been looking at both the opposition and its history, and our team.
Here’s his report…
Blackburn is a diminutive principality set in Lancashire which boasts, in its tourist booklet, that it has at five streets from which terrorism has been almost totally eradicated.
Known locally as Blacheborne the town’s name comes from the original word for bleach, which tells you much of what you need to know.
History teaches us that two people lived and died in the town (probably of bleach poison) and their burial urns have since been found. And that’s by and large the history of the place. Quite an odd spot to put a football team really although it does explain why the ground is usually empty.
The main road in the area drives through Pleasington Cemetery and is known by the snappy title as Bremetennacum Veteranorum. The unpronounceability of the name explains why no one ever goes there.
As for the team…
Szychcyzczhcy will play in goal. There we are, that’s about that sorted.
But the back four? Koscielny may or may not play. Vermaelen may or may not play. Sagna will play, so will Mertersacker. So that’s two.
Who else is left? Jenkinson misses out through suspension, Gibbs is injured. So who else have we got? Ahhh… Nacho Monreal. That’s three. If neither of the injured centre halves (as we used to call them) can play then we might see Angha or Miquel get a game. I can’t imagine Squillaci playing, although you never know…
In the middle Jack Wilshere’s fitness is unsure, and even if fit, it may not be worth playing him against Mike Dean.
Abou Diaby could play, as could Rosicky if Cazorla needs a rest. Aaron Ramsey might also expect to get a start. Arteta should play. Ooops that’s four.
Up front it is the usual suspects: Podolski, Theo and Giroud, unless Mr Wenger wants Oxlade-C to get an extra run around and give Theo a rest. Oh and there is Gervinho who was a different player in the African Tourney. So maybe it is time to see him again.
As for the opposition here is the team:
Dean
Dean Dean Dean Dean
Dean Dean Dean
Dean Dean Dean
And by and large that is about that apart from the usual run of statistics.
We beat Blackburn 3-0 in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at the Millennium Stadium in April 2005 and I was there. What shocked me was that Blackburn only took up about half of their ticket allocation – and yet despite the huge demand from Arsenal fans, we were not given any extra tickets. Typical FA cock-up.
Blackburn last beat in the Cup in the 1928 semi-finals and that was their last victory in the competition.
The last time we played each other in the league was last season and we won 7-1. Unfortunately I was in Australia and missed it.
Although we are the second most successful club in the FA Cup, and have never been knocked out by a lower league club since Mr Wenger took charge, lower league knock outs were common in the past. York City, Wrexham, Peterborough… it used to be common place.
On the other hand Blackburn haven’t conceded a goal in the first two rounds they have played in.
So back to the front, as it were, here we go
Szschyscscsny
Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal
Arteta Diaby
Rosicky
Walcott Giroud Podolski
- Arsenal – Blackburn Rovers: we can expect the worst. The very worst.
- Misunderstanding Arsenal: misunderstanding football. Who has got it most wrong?
- Is Financial Fair Play really all for (or because of) Arsenal?
- Injuries and transfers. Looking forward to two cup games in four days.
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The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?
- Parent News - what is going on in schools these days?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed way to stay fit
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
@bob (the verb)
You are too much of a moving target for me to consider. In any thread, you have stuff all over. I don’t have the time to judge you on accuracy and precision.
What worries? (I didn’t see the game, I just read the BBC stuff.) There was a prediction that we would have a player sent off, which didn’t happen. There was a prediction that a call for a penalty would be ignored, and as near as I can tell, the jury is out on that. I haven’t seen a lot about Dean ignoring fouls by Blackburn and calling ghost fouls by Arsenal. Other than Dean being happy to see someone score against Arsenal, I haven’t seen much wrong in reports.
Having on the order of 20 chances on goal, and none scored. That is a concern, but it happens too all strikers and teams. Personally, I am more concerned about shots on target versus shots not on target. A shot on target that is blocked or deflected or hits the woodwork, could under slightly different circumstances be a goal scored. A shot that is not on target, is not going to worry anyone.
I can imagine Gervinho feels bad about missing his chances, especially after his AFN (or however you abbreviate it) spell. I know all the boo birds are saying that Gervinho never was a striker (for Arsenal). Other people missed chances too.
What would be nice, is if people recognized that Gervinho had an off day, and gave him some slack. But that doesn’t happen with the AAA around. My hope, if he plays against Bayern, is that he gets a hat -trick. And the idiots in the AAA will stil bitch about him.
A person can’t dwell on this loss. Vermalaen is back after injury, how did he look? Monreal is cup tied, do we look like we have a reasonable back 4 for Bayern?
Gord,
Sorry to be a moving target, mate, for you to consider; but, if one is being targeted, well it would seem better to be moving, wouldn’t you consider?
C’mon, mate, in all seriousness, what I think (if you’re asking me, or telling me) is that:
Gernvinho’s off-day is one of many such off-days which amount to a pattern of serial missing at the goal mouth. It is a well-recognized pattern of his, right now, which is why patience for him among the fanbase has worn so thin. Your kind to him and he does have some nice moves, though he gets too easily pinned in against the back line by the better defenses and has shown not much on figuring the way out, imo. He’s not (as yet) clinical and has had problems at the big near-goal moment from the ACN to the Ems. I wish him the best, but I think he’s so far a failed project at AFC.
As for shots on target vs goals scored, yes there’s always the chance that it’ll come good; but I think there ought to be a degree of difficulty posed to the goalie factor that’s taken into consideration. Players whose ball lacks guile just don’t score in the EPL, so shots on goal don’t tell me that much. But to each his own.