FA: Arsenal vs Chelsea | 15/2/04

[Adam]

The master of tempo. Edu really imposes his play on games when he comes on as a sub. In some ways, he is better than any other player in our team at what he does.

 

[Anonymous]

edu was very good. :mrgreen:

 

[GoonerGurjit]

Its really quite bewildering how AW picks Gilberto over Edu. Toure's got a lot of plaudits this season for being our most improved player but surely Edu can't be far behind.

 

[Adam]

He's had the best debut touch and pass, and probably one of the best debut goals. He isn't doing too badly.

 

[n_henry]

I just saw the goals.... what a cracker from Reyes. I was half asleep (still am), but man, what a player!

He just came out of nowhere to score...he seemed to be pretty anonymous in the first half - I wonder how he transformed so suddenly. Not that I'm complaining.

Oh, a Titi and Jose strikeforce is just.. :angel

 

[quattro]

watched the whole thing live. first half wasn't that bad aside from gilberto constantly losing the ball and that awful clearance from lehmann which was effectively turned into a mutu goal we were holding on. second half started and it looked to me that a draw would be good enough if we could find someone to score even just one goal as i believed we could hold them to their solitary goal for the match. when reyes got the ball at 56 he was relatively far away. the lack of respect from the chelski defenders gave just enough space to fire. and what a peach! five minutes later it was pires passing the ball that looked like it was about to be stolen when vieira stepped in, looked to the left and found reyes AGAIN. two goals for reyes two goals for arsenal. what we have here is big game player. reyes may have scored the goals (as was his job) it was a brilliant team effort. what a coming out party for reyes.

so who's the one-man team now?!

 

[pamilih]

I was expecting the goals to come from Pires or Bergkamp not from Reyes after the Boro night.... ops:

 

[Mark]

i know we're all really happy that reyes scored and rightfully so, but i think there are some things we should be concerned about.

1. gronkjaer was perfectly onside and we didn't pick him up, we were lucky there and could've been 2 goals down at the break.

2. lehmann's clearance which lead to mutu's goal was terrible. like against leeds he cost us a goal and although it didn't cost us the game those times, it might in the future, which we can't have. it's a shame because apart from these mistakes he is a great keeper.

 

[n_henry]

i know we're all really happy that reyes scored and rightfully so, but i think there are some things we should be concerned about.

1. gronkjaer was perfectly onside and we didn't pick him up, we were lucky there and could've been 2 goals down at the break.

2. lehmann's clearance which lead to mutu's goal was terrible. like against leeds he cost us a goal and although it didn't cost us the game those times, it might in the future, which we can't have. it's a shame because apart from these mistakes he is a great keeper.

Oh, haven't seen the Lehmann 'clearance' properly yet, but he has fairly often looked very dodgy with clearances, punches and when he handles corners...don't know whether he's too risky, or just stupid sometimes. :?

Hope he improves those little aspects of his game soon. But for the most part, as long as our back four are on their game, we'll be fine.

 

[Anonymous]

, saha doesnt even compare with reyes.

exactly..cause they are two very different types off players..
let it go Yaar! :wink:

 

[skart14]

Three goals now...doh!.... ;D

 

[JazzG]

I think some have missed out on another point (someone may have mentioned it but I can't be bothered to go through 18 pages to check!)

Many people don't realise how many 1-0 wins Chelsea have had, once they get ahead they refuse to let go. Man utd went 1 behind and tried everything but couldn't get one, they tried so hard but Chelsea wouldn't let them score. Any hole in the defense was being plugged by Makelele and with Terry+Gallas in fine form the strikers were being taken out of the game. Our team showed a lot of bottle to get back into it, 99% of teams would of rolled over and died but not the Arsenal against Chelsea!

One can only imagine the effect this result will have on them, the fans are distraught, they finally thought they had done it but once again we have beaten them. Some of the Chelsea players looked like they were gonna cry, they looked upset as well.

We gotta keep this going and take them out at the Bridge as well. By beating them there we are basically making it a 2 horse race, I'd prefer us to be in one of those instead of a three horse race.

 

[Anders Limpar]

JazzG,

...good point! But then we need to keep manure at a distance by ourselves! Can't count on Chelski stealing points from them if they have nothing o play for! But that is worth it, isn't it?

 

[JazzG]

If they do take points from them than that is a good thing!

If we can keep this 5 point gap and beat man utd at Highbury we will have a nice lead over them, still 13 games to go though, that is 39 points to play for!

 

[Sammer]

Many people don't realise how many 1-0 wins Chelsea have had, once they get ahead they refuse to let go. Man utd went 1 behind and tried everything but couldn't get one, they tried so hard but Chelsea wouldn't let them score. Any hole in the defense was being plugged by Makelele and with Terry+Gallas in fine form the strikers were being taken out of the game. Our team showed a lot of bottle to get back into it, 99% of teams would of rolled over and died but not the Arsenal against Chelsea!

.

Very good point, JAZZG.

It is amazing, with how much spirit, skill & strenght we broke them down in the 2nd half.
Chelsea´s defensive midfield is so damn strong (Makelele & Co.). This game might turn out as one of the most crucial games this season. The team´s confidence should be sky high after the game on Sunday and it seems that we are mentally capable of retrieving excellent performances under pressure (see: game at San Siro).

And what´s even more scary for our oppenents: Titi wasn´t even on the pitch

 

[Jkreffer]

Liverpool or Portsmouth yet mind you. Either will be tough games and i dont realy fancy either. Still we should win either of these. Great game and great display from Vieira, Campbell and Bergkamp. Chelsea will be up for it next week.

 

[Adam]

Anybody notice Gallas wholeheartedly swearing at someone after conceding a corner against Reyes? (they just had a sprint for the ball)

I wonder who that was aimed at.

 

[lewdikris]

1 Scott Parker - 12 million pounds

1 Claude Makelele - 16 million pounds

1 Frank Lampard - 11 million pounds


.... 1 Patrick Vieira? Priceless.

 

[JazzG]

1 Scott Parker - 12 million pounds

1 Claude Makelele - 16 million pounds

1 Frank Lampard - 11 million pounds


.... 1 Patrick Vieira? Priceless.

In the first half those 3 were ganging up on him and tbh were getting the better of him, Paddy was losing his composure but in the 2nd half he came out a changed man and with Edu's help got the better of those 3.

 

[Anonymous]

Those at the game yesterday what did you make of the atmosphere?

I thought it was crap at usual, especailly at 1-0.

But it was fantastic after Reyes scored. It showed we were capable of creating a decent atmosphere, we just need to do it when we are losing and playing badly