Pigs on the Wing

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
11 Feb	4:00 PM	P	Wigan Athletic (H)	2	1	Win

I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little sick of the media and the constant stream of bile directed towards Arsène Wenger and his charges.

After Arsenal had completed yet another enthralling comeback on Sunday, all the talk was of the penalty Wigan should have had, an offside decision that the referee's assistant, admittedly, got wrong and the reaction of a certain Thierry Henry to the time wasting Wigan had indulged in.

For forty-five minutes. David Platt went so far as to say that Thierry owed Chris Kirkland an apology. Er, why? Apparently, it's okay for small clubs to time waste, that's what they're supposed to do, but woebetide anybody who dare question that right, or even worse exalt in the fact that that time wasting could only take Wigan so far.

Personally, I think I would have hated it had it been my goalkeeper on the end of Thierry's goading, but I would also have seen that it was a clear case of chickens coming home to roost.

In my view, if anyone was owed an apology last night, it was Johan Djourou whose nose was splattered across his face by Emile Heskey. Now, I'm not saying that Heskey did anything deliberately, but for Andy Gray to say, and I quote, "Six of one half a dozen of the other," defies belief.

It wasn't even 3 of one and half a dozen of the other, but it's not in Sky's interests to present an Arsenal player being wronged, is it? This must be why they never mentioned Adebayor's "goal" being disallowed for offside, even though he was level when played through.

So the fat man in a golf sweater returns north unhappy again, it's interesting to me that he brought up the Senderos incident when talking about the penalty he feels he should have had last night because that should never have been a penalty.

Perhaps the rules need clarification, because for all the claims of "stonewall penalty" in the Sky studio last night, I don't really see how the mere action of putting an arm on someone's shoulder either a) precipitates the kind of fall Heskey produced yesterday or b) means a stonewall penalty.

And let's be clear on this, Flamini didn't tug, he didn't shove, it was just an arm, and as soon as Heskey felt it, he went down like a groupie at a heavy metal gig.

Enough of Wigan.

When I last wrote, Arsenal were about to head into a Carling Cup semi-final with Tottenham, I wrote at that time that someone would be looking to make names for themselves.

As it happened, over the course of 210 minutes, there quite a few players able to do this. Julio Baptista, who scored Tottenham's second at the climax of Tottenham's best 20 minutes of the entire tie, brought Arsenal back from the dead.

Emmanuel Eboue and Alexander Hleb were instrumental in the White Hart Lane turnaround whilst Cesc Fabregas, ably assisted by Denilson, was utterly dominant in central midfield.

Not for the first time in Arsenal Tottenham semi-final history, Tottenham were utterly guilty of celebrating prematurely - Martin Jol's switch to defensive tactics once 2-0 up were unbelievable and rather than dredging up conspiracy theories regarding Aaron Lennon, perhaps Spurs fans would be better centered on focusing on the poor management which cost them so dearly.

"Two nil and you f'cked it up." It reverberated around White Hart Lane that Wednesday night, though I think there were some who still felt Tottenham would be capable of turning it round at Arsenal.

Well, I was there and let me say this, Tottenham were crap. Utterly crap. They scored with their one shot on target, most of their play centered on giving the ball to Paul Robinson, shifting upfield and letting him hit it hard as he could.

Arsenal, on the other hand, were dominant. Even without Fabregas. Denilson, with Gilberto at his side, demonstrated that we have more than just Fabregas who is capable of conducting our high tempo orchestra.

You can never be sure about anything in football, much less youngsters and how they will progress, but if Denilson doesn't make it here, I will be shocked. That being said, it was the introduction of Tomas Rosicky, Gaël Clichy (and how this guy has come on this season) and Fabregas which really took the game away from Spurs.

Rosicky's willingness to shoot directly contributing to the opening goal with just 12 minutes left, collecting the rebound from his own shot, he slipped in Emmanuel Adebayor who'd not been having a great night to slide home and send everyone, but especially the red section, mental.

Despite the general relief and euphoria, I wasn't convinced it was over, and so it proved when a free kick was very harshly given against Denilson. Again.

"This is in," said the bloke behind me, a prophet of doom? Maybe, but he was right, Mido sent the cave dwellers behind the goal mental, and simultaneously silenced the other 55,000 in the ground. You've never heard a stadium so silent. And for five minutes we looked in trouble, Mido's shot on the turn skidding just wide, heart stoppingly, wide.

In extra-time though, there was only going to be one winner. Ricardo Rocha; on his debut appearance in a North London derby making the clearance of the season, stooping to head a shin high ball, Jeremie Aliádíère returning the clearance, with interest, into the back of the net.

A tremendous strike, though he perhaps had more time than it looked initially. Ali's glee was obvious as he tore off to celebrate with the manager below us. I've always had hopes, perhaps naively, for this guy, maybe he'll never make it here, but it would be good to see him playing in the final next Sunday.

Of course, the clinching goal was put down to Pascal Chimbonda, it was really Rosicky's goal. "Little Mozart" is starting to directly affect games now, where before his contributions were often positive but more to do with how we were playing.

it was great to see him getting a poachers goal on Sunday. An Arsenal player in the six-yard box? That must be a pig I see flying over the Pentonville Road.

User Comments

gooner10

Posted on 18 Feb, 2007 at 09:28 AM - Reply

omg! finally someone who agrees that there is some sort of a conspiracy going on! I hate those bloody commentators and they talk as if their words dont influence the spectators! every SINGLE word they say affects the viewers opinion on the incident! if they said it was a penalty, people would argue that it was, and the opposite if true too. I could always sense if that bloody commentator was biased against a particular team and recently many have been against Arsenal (foreign players eh? suck by balls)...even AFTER seeing the REPLAYS for a GOOD FOUL by an Arsenal player, they would BLATANTLY say that it was a foul. good decision by the ref. period. what a load of fcuking bullshit. screw the commentators. i'd rather have the tv on mute when I watch nowadays.

trista

Posted on 18 Feb, 2007 at 09:04 AM - Reply

andy, lawrenson, fat sam, and alll .... honestly there's something really messed up with these people. ths kind of mentality is what causes england to continue to go downhill. you'll never get better just by being negative. besides, teams just think they can stop arsenal by taking a physical approach, instead of improving on skills, tekniks, etc... all arsenal has to do is just add more steel and bite in the team to match them physical, that'll neutralise them effectively. and still beat them on better skills. why dont these english think like this is mind boggling.

Aussie Fan

Posted on 17 Feb, 2007 at 11:11 AM - Reply

The only person who seems not to mind the Arsenal is poor old Marty Tyler!! LOL
I Loathe Andy Gray typical North Eng Mentality. Everyone hates the Gooners from Up North. If Chelski didn't have English Players they would hat on those Corrupt Mofo's as well. Bottom Line is, we are envied by the Country over, Our team is the Only Reason the League has Credibility world Wide now is cause of Arsenal. Fom the History of the EPL, When was the last time a team had 3 Brazilian Internationals playing on their rosters? The French,And even the Spanish have had no choice but to pick players from the EPL THAT IS ALL DOWN TO aRSENE,AND HOW HE HAS CHANGED THE FACE OF EPL IT HAS ATTRACTED PEOPLE. Henrys individual recognition Worldwide has also bought recognition. He has been robbed of European and FIFA Player of the year twice, but he done well to be even runner Up. ESP. With the Votes from S.AMERICA AND ASIA GOING TO SPANISH AND ITALIAN LEAGUES. WE ALL KNOW HOWEVER THAT THE ARSENAL REVOLUTIONISED THE KICK AND CHASE GAME THE EPL ONCE WAS.

DREW REMEBER

Posted on 17 Feb, 2007 at 04:08 AM - Reply

I'm a really big arsenal fan.. all o f you will probably question my statement after hearing my comments but I will state them anyway... STOP COMPLAINING I am so sick of hearing arsenal fans complain about the calls that did not go there way or the way third parties interpret comments FORGET ABOUT IT do you realize the way you come off? it doesn't matter what you believe should have occured all that matters is the way you publicly state you opinion and the way Arsenal (meaing he team and fans) has been stating thier opinion surely is reason to dislike Arsenal... WE DESERVE IT. Stop crying and move on.. believe in our team and our talent and all will be well.. STOP CRYING, PLAY THE GAME. AND WIN

Mr Delvin

Posted on 16 Feb, 2007 at 11:41 PM - Reply

Thank god someone else has seen what i have always suspected,that Sky TV and Andy Gray in particular are biased against the Arsenal. That Wigan game was just unbelievable for some of the stuff that was said in the analysis after the game. Andy Gray claimed that it was okay for Wigan to time waste because because of the size of their club compared to Arsenal. Unbelievable! David Platt for all his Arsenal connections is getting on my nerves big time.Before the home game against Man U,he was telling everyone who wanted to listen on Sky Sports News that Man U would win the game emphatically.After the Wigan game he claimed Thierry had to apologise to Chris Kirkland because of his reaction after the first goal.God forbid if it had been Wayne Rooney,they'd have been saying that its okay because he's only showing passion and if you took that away from him he would become a poorer player for that reason!Now Arsene is been accused of being the reason for the national teams failures.If its all the foreigners faults how come these so called world class players havent won jack since 1966.There were no foreign players of note until the formation of the premiership in 1992,so that argument reeks of the blame culture that exists in English football. Bolton regularly play with only two Englishmen, namely Nolan and that Kevin Davies but no-one ever mentions that.Lastly did anyone see that pathetic dive by Campo?if that had been one of ours............

Richard Keyes

Posted on 16 Feb, 2007 at 01:07 PM - Reply

Its so predicatable that after the Bolton win there was hardly any mention of what was an enthralling game. Not on Radio (TalkSport is a joke) not on John Barnes Football night, not on any of the sports channels ... had it not been for the internet you would have hardly realised that it was a great game to watch and a enthralling performance by Arsenal. How typical.

Brando

Posted on 16 Feb, 2007 at 12:42 PM - Reply

Andy Gray hates Arsenal. As soon as we scored to take the lead he went quiet for at least 5 mins. Mark Lawro hates Arsenal, negative comments all the time during the Bolton game. People can't wait to see us fall!

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