THE FOOTBALL THREAD Vol 2
- Thread starter fgl
- Start date
fgl
Well-known member
4Arsenal
1Bolton WanderersKoscielny 23, Chamakh 60, Song 78, Vela 83Elmander 44ArsenalManuel Almunia
Emmanuel Eboue
Laurent Koscielny
Sebastien Squillaci
Kieran Gibbs
Andrey Arshavin
Cesc Fabregas
Tomas Rosicky
Jack Wilshere
(61)Alex Song
Marouane Chamakh
Substitutes
Lukasz Fabianski
Bacary Sagna
Gael Clichy
Abou Diaby
(61)(72)Samir Nasri
Denilson
(72)Carlos Vela
Bolton WanderersAdam Bogdan
Gretar Rafn Steinsson
Zat Knight
Gary Cahill
Paul Robinson
Martin Petrov
(66)Stuart Holden
Fabrice Muamba
Chung-Yong Lee
(81)Johan Elmander
(81)Kevin Davies
Substitutes
Rob Lainton
Samuel Ricketts
Andrew O'Brien
(66)Matthew Taylor
(81)Mark Davies
Ivan Klasnic
Robbie Blake
(81)officialReferee
Stuart Attwell
Attendance
59,876
By Richard Clarke
Arsenal maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 4-1 victory over 10-man Bolton at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The home side created a string of chances in the first half but registered only once. That came in the 23rd minute when Laurent Koscielny nudged home his first Arsenal goal from close-range.
That profligacy would come back to haunt them just before half-time when Johan Elmander plundered an equaliser at the far post.
After the restart, Bolton put Arsenal under severe pressure but, just before the hour, Marouane Chamakh steered home a header at the far post. A few minutes later the Frenchman was on the end of a challenge that saw Gary Cahill sent off.
Alex Song and substitute Carlos Vela ran in late goals to give the scoreline a gloss incongruent with the tension of the afternoon.
But like the trips to Liverpool and Blackburn, Arsenal had been under a stern examination before emerging with a highly creditable result.
Ten points out of 12 is very handy return from the first month of the season. The mental and physical toughness of Wenger's young side has been questioned each year ever since they last won the title in 2004.
This lot are certainly made of stern stuff.
Emirates was both buoyant and expectant before kick-off. Somehow the international break had seemed much longer than a fortnight and, after Manchester United's late capitulation in the early kick-off, opportunity was banging loudly on the stadium doors this afternoon.
Despite that Wenger made six changes from the 2-1 win at Blackburn a fortnight ago. The Frenchman clearly had Wednesday's Champions League opener in mind.
He started with only a quarter of the defence from Ewood Park. Thomas Vermaelen had fallen prey to an Achilles injury but Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy were benched. Sebastien Squillaci debuted at centre half while Emmanuel Eboue and Kieran Gibbs were the full backs.
Like the Belgian, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie had both collected ankle injuries on international duty so Chamakh and Tomas Rosicky came in.
Jack Wilshere returned against his former side at the expense of Abou Diaby. Samir Nasri was back from knee surgery but only made the bench.
In their opening home game of the season, Arsenal had made a sluggish start before running in a hatful of goals. This afternoon, the first half would be something approaching the opposite.
In the opening minutes, Fabregas weaved inside Paul Robinson with ease before seeing his shot ricochet clear off keeper Adam Bogdan. Then a couple of minutes later, Rosicky's curled pass into the path of the sprinting Arshavin but the Russian's drive was blocked by the Hungarian stopper. From the corner, Squillaci nodded over.
Kevin Davies did forced a decent save from Almunia shortly afterwards but, otherwise, the pressure was coming entirely from Arsenal.
They had plausible shout for a penalty in the 20th minute when Gretar Steinsson felled Andrey Arshavin near the byline.
Arsenal looked likely to take the lead but then they often do. The real issue is putting the ball in the net when they are on top.
This afternoon they achieved it.
In the 24th minute, Wilshere spotted Fabregas sneaking to the far post and floated over an angled cross. The captain nudged the ball back into the penalty for Koscielny to prod home at the second attempt.
Having made the breakthrough, Arsenal set about pulling down the ramparts of the Bolton defence.
Fabregas scurried through but his shot was easily smothered by Bogdan. On the half-hour, Wilshere left Chamakh's low cross for the onrushing Rosicky but Bogdan pulled off another fine block.
Seconds later, Zat Knight distracted the scampering Arshavin enough for the Russian to fire in to the net.
Almunia's save from Elmander shortly afterwards demonstrated the slender nature of Arsenal's lead. However with the home side in such penetrating form you did not dwell on that for long.
Fabregas pulled off a fabulous pirouette in the centre circle before sending Arshavin clear once more. Again the Russian found the sidenetting. Chamakh then had a half-shout for another penalty.
Arsenal seemed to be cruising into half-time with their only problem their failure to turn their dominance into goal.
Just before the whistle, they were caught. Bogdan pumped a long ball forward and Koscielny's wayward back header sent Chung-Young Lee skipping clear on the left. With the Arsenal defence scrambling back, the Korean did well to steady himself and clip a gentle cross to the far post where Elmander steered home a header.
After a superb display of first-half football, Arsenal had fallen prey to a classic sucker punch.
And the effects had not disappeared when they re-emerged for the restart. Bolton were on top and pressing Arsenal towards their own goal.
The home side survived a few scares and Almunia made a superb close-range save from Stuart Holden. The keeper did not know the flag had been raised for offside.
Fabregas broke the shackles by sending Chamakh clear but Bogdan made a stunning one-handed save. Bolton failed to clear the resulting corner and, from the byline, Fabregas chipped a cross to far post for Chamakh to steer home a header. It was a carbon copy of the Bolton equaliser.
While Arsenal had taken the lead, suddenly referee Stuart Attwell would become the focus.
Davies had a nasty clash of heads with Koscielny in the area but, despite the crowd's request, the Bolton man was not shown his second yellow card.
Then in the 64th minute, Cahill went through Chamakh on the byline and received a straight red card. A decision that incensed the Bolton players.
Robinson might have followed him down the tunnel for a foul on Abou Diaby that would force the substitute to be replaced himself.
In the meantime, Song and Fabregas both went close from range, as did Elmander at the other end. With 14 minutes left, Rosicky drove wide when he should have hit the target.
By now the game had calmed down again. And Song's goal soon settled the result too.
The Cameroon international collected a low cross from Arshavin at the near post and cleverly clipped the ball around his marker before poking the ball home from an acute angle.
It was a fine way to score Arsenal's 1,000th Premier League goal under Wenger.
Vela made it 1001 shortly afterwards. The substitute raced onto a chip from Fabregas and coolly converted.
Eboue looked to have been brought down by Knight at the end but the referee waved away Arsenal's appeals.
It did not affect the result. The home side had their three points.
But this was one of those days when the result did relay the stresses and strains of the afternoon.
1Bolton WanderersKoscielny 23, Chamakh 60, Song 78, Vela 83Elmander 44ArsenalManuel Almunia
Emmanuel Eboue
Laurent Koscielny
Sebastien Squillaci
Kieran Gibbs
Andrey Arshavin
Cesc Fabregas
Tomas Rosicky
Jack Wilshere
(61)Alex Song
Marouane Chamakh
Substitutes
Lukasz Fabianski
Bacary Sagna
Gael Clichy
Abou Diaby
(61)(72)Samir Nasri
Denilson
(72)Carlos Vela
Bolton WanderersAdam Bogdan
Gretar Rafn Steinsson
Zat Knight
Gary Cahill
Paul Robinson
Martin Petrov
(66)Stuart Holden
Fabrice Muamba
Chung-Yong Lee
(81)Johan Elmander
(81)Kevin Davies
Substitutes
Rob Lainton
Samuel Ricketts
Andrew O'Brien
(66)Matthew Taylor
(81)Mark Davies
Ivan Klasnic
Robbie Blake
(81)officialReferee
Stuart Attwell
Attendance
59,876
By Richard Clarke
Arsenal maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 4-1 victory over 10-man Bolton at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The home side created a string of chances in the first half but registered only once. That came in the 23rd minute when Laurent Koscielny nudged home his first Arsenal goal from close-range.
That profligacy would come back to haunt them just before half-time when Johan Elmander plundered an equaliser at the far post.
After the restart, Bolton put Arsenal under severe pressure but, just before the hour, Marouane Chamakh steered home a header at the far post. A few minutes later the Frenchman was on the end of a challenge that saw Gary Cahill sent off.
Alex Song and substitute Carlos Vela ran in late goals to give the scoreline a gloss incongruent with the tension of the afternoon.
But like the trips to Liverpool and Blackburn, Arsenal had been under a stern examination before emerging with a highly creditable result.
Ten points out of 12 is very handy return from the first month of the season. The mental and physical toughness of Wenger's young side has been questioned each year ever since they last won the title in 2004.
This lot are certainly made of stern stuff.
Emirates was both buoyant and expectant before kick-off. Somehow the international break had seemed much longer than a fortnight and, after Manchester United's late capitulation in the early kick-off, opportunity was banging loudly on the stadium doors this afternoon.
Despite that Wenger made six changes from the 2-1 win at Blackburn a fortnight ago. The Frenchman clearly had Wednesday's Champions League opener in mind.
He started with only a quarter of the defence from Ewood Park. Thomas Vermaelen had fallen prey to an Achilles injury but Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy were benched. Sebastien Squillaci debuted at centre half while Emmanuel Eboue and Kieran Gibbs were the full backs.
Like the Belgian, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie had both collected ankle injuries on international duty so Chamakh and Tomas Rosicky came in.
Jack Wilshere returned against his former side at the expense of Abou Diaby. Samir Nasri was back from knee surgery but only made the bench.
In their opening home game of the season, Arsenal had made a sluggish start before running in a hatful of goals. This afternoon, the first half would be something approaching the opposite.
In the opening minutes, Fabregas weaved inside Paul Robinson with ease before seeing his shot ricochet clear off keeper Adam Bogdan. Then a couple of minutes later, Rosicky's curled pass into the path of the sprinting Arshavin but the Russian's drive was blocked by the Hungarian stopper. From the corner, Squillaci nodded over.
Kevin Davies did forced a decent save from Almunia shortly afterwards but, otherwise, the pressure was coming entirely from Arsenal.
They had plausible shout for a penalty in the 20th minute when Gretar Steinsson felled Andrey Arshavin near the byline.
Arsenal looked likely to take the lead but then they often do. The real issue is putting the ball in the net when they are on top.
This afternoon they achieved it.
In the 24th minute, Wilshere spotted Fabregas sneaking to the far post and floated over an angled cross. The captain nudged the ball back into the penalty for Koscielny to prod home at the second attempt.
Having made the breakthrough, Arsenal set about pulling down the ramparts of the Bolton defence.
Fabregas scurried through but his shot was easily smothered by Bogdan. On the half-hour, Wilshere left Chamakh's low cross for the onrushing Rosicky but Bogdan pulled off another fine block.
Seconds later, Zat Knight distracted the scampering Arshavin enough for the Russian to fire in to the net.
Almunia's save from Elmander shortly afterwards demonstrated the slender nature of Arsenal's lead. However with the home side in such penetrating form you did not dwell on that for long.
Fabregas pulled off a fabulous pirouette in the centre circle before sending Arshavin clear once more. Again the Russian found the sidenetting. Chamakh then had a half-shout for another penalty.
Arsenal seemed to be cruising into half-time with their only problem their failure to turn their dominance into goal.
Just before the whistle, they were caught. Bogdan pumped a long ball forward and Koscielny's wayward back header sent Chung-Young Lee skipping clear on the left. With the Arsenal defence scrambling back, the Korean did well to steady himself and clip a gentle cross to the far post where Elmander steered home a header.
After a superb display of first-half football, Arsenal had fallen prey to a classic sucker punch.
And the effects had not disappeared when they re-emerged for the restart. Bolton were on top and pressing Arsenal towards their own goal.
The home side survived a few scares and Almunia made a superb close-range save from Stuart Holden. The keeper did not know the flag had been raised for offside.
Fabregas broke the shackles by sending Chamakh clear but Bogdan made a stunning one-handed save. Bolton failed to clear the resulting corner and, from the byline, Fabregas chipped a cross to far post for Chamakh to steer home a header. It was a carbon copy of the Bolton equaliser.
While Arsenal had taken the lead, suddenly referee Stuart Attwell would become the focus.
Davies had a nasty clash of heads with Koscielny in the area but, despite the crowd's request, the Bolton man was not shown his second yellow card.
Then in the 64th minute, Cahill went through Chamakh on the byline and received a straight red card. A decision that incensed the Bolton players.
Robinson might have followed him down the tunnel for a foul on Abou Diaby that would force the substitute to be replaced himself.
In the meantime, Song and Fabregas both went close from range, as did Elmander at the other end. With 14 minutes left, Rosicky drove wide when he should have hit the target.
By now the game had calmed down again. And Song's goal soon settled the result too.
The Cameroon international collected a low cross from Arshavin at the near post and cleverly clipped the ball around his marker before poking the ball home from an acute angle.
It was a fine way to score Arsenal's 1,000th Premier League goal under Wenger.
Vela made it 1001 shortly afterwards. The substitute raced onto a chip from Fabregas and coolly converted.
Eboue looked to have been brought down by Knight at the end but the referee waved away Arsenal's appeals.
It did not affect the result. The home side had their three points.
But this was one of those days when the result did relay the stresses and strains of the afternoon.
tpiledriver
New member
fgl, don't you think fabregas passing was word-class during the bolton game?
rosicky started with the through balls, n after that fabregas kept providing killer dead balls to the strikers!
I wish arshavin would b less selfish anyway.
rosicky started with the through balls, n after that fabregas kept providing killer dead balls to the strikers!
I wish arshavin would b less selfish anyway.
fgl
Well-known member
2b honest I was gigging that niht & only caught the last 20 mins or so ... but from what I saw- its no wonder why every club in the world would luv to get their hands on Fabregas .... look at the ball he delivered to Vela for the last goal .. pin point & avoided any kind of off side trap - classic
extremers
New member
LOL! talking about the bolton game, I totally forgot about the match and happily booked tickets to watch Resident Evil Afterlife. managed to catch the last goal, wonderful offside trap buster, we're toying around Bolton, tiring them out before Fabregas passed the ball to Vela.
In another hand, 6 - 0 trashing could've been more if wasn't for Filipe's great saves and the nasty right post that denied Arshavin's thunderous shot. Fabregas, Arshavin, Chamakh, Wilshere and Song were on form. Nasri had a good start but lost steam in the later minutes. Considering he's just recovered from the "knee surgery", he played too well macam he lost no form during the healing period.
Anyways, Braga welcome to Champions League! (are you watching Tottenham? this is how we play UCL)
In another hand, 6 - 0 trashing could've been more if wasn't for Filipe's great saves and the nasty right post that denied Arshavin's thunderous shot. Fabregas, Arshavin, Chamakh, Wilshere and Song were on form. Nasri had a good start but lost steam in the later minutes. Considering he's just recovered from the "knee surgery", he played too well macam he lost no form during the healing period.
Anyways, Braga welcome to Champions League! (are you watching Tottenham? this is how we play UCL)
loldude333
New member
Eh Arsenal fans just some advice from a longsuffering Pool fan.........what goes up must come down, but what goes down doesn't necessarily come up again. We Pool fans know what that's like lol. Ask Leeds fans, theirs is an even sadder story.
loldude333
New member
Same old Man U and same old Liverpool too. And unfortunately, same old Chelski. I'm quite scared of the way they're playing so ruthlessly.
subversion
Moderator
subversion
Moderator
some of us adore individual players first, regardless of the teams they play for. we just wanna see these people play.
loldude333
New member
True what sub said. I started supporting Liverpool only after seeing Stevie G play. That was back in 2005. After 5 years, i've come to realise that the club is bigger than the man. If Stevie moves on, i will watch wherever he goes as he is still my fav player but Liverpool will always remain number 1.
subversion
Moderator
he he... my dad & i were always captivated by Ian Rush during the 'pool games.
extremers
New member
Crazy weekend games, Arsenal checked me into heartbreak hotel, yes it's a draw but it felt more like a defeat.
Man Utd vs Liverpool match was crazy too, totally have to give credit to Stevie G's second goal, Flecter flinched and the ball managed to squeezed through the small crazy on the wall and caught Van Der Sar from nowhere. But big up to Berbetov for the hat trick. Dunno how or what pushed him to perform and he did. Was rooting for a draw but didn't happen. Urgh. Congrats Man Utd, better luck at Anfield Liverpool.
Tonight, the Gunner's Mickey Mouse club is heading to Spuds to give them Youth Football 101. After reading today's New Paper report on Van Der Vart's 'But there was no banter over who is the bigger club. Spurs are the bigger club!' comment, I hope the young guns will give him a proper North London welcome.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!~
Man Utd vs Liverpool match was crazy too, totally have to give credit to Stevie G's second goal, Flecter flinched and the ball managed to squeezed through the small crazy on the wall and caught Van Der Sar from nowhere. But big up to Berbetov for the hat trick. Dunno how or what pushed him to perform and he did. Was rooting for a draw but didn't happen. Urgh. Congrats Man Utd, better luck at Anfield Liverpool.
Tonight, the Gunner's Mickey Mouse club is heading to Spuds to give them Youth Football 101. After reading today's New Paper report on Van Der Vart's 'But there was no banter over who is the bigger club. Spurs are the bigger club!' comment, I hope the young guns will give him a proper North London welcome.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!~
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