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Rotherham report

  • Thread starter Anonymous
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A

Anonymous

Guest
Not a bad game at all and well worth it for £5. Didnt have bad seats either, quite central in the West lower. I feel sorry for anyone who left early, they missed alot :wink: Anyway, onto the game...

Got into the ground at about 7:40 and the teams come out and I see Kanu doing the duties of the captain, and Im thinking 'why is he captain?', but then again we didnt have many other alternatives. Happy to see Cesc lining up too in what was a quite attacking formation

Early on I felt Rotherham held their own and they did so for most of the match. Their moment of the first half was Byfield forcing a decent save from Stack. I felt Arsenal looked decent in the first half and most of our attacks stemmed from Edu and Cesc, and also Aliadiere who was a handful all game. Fully deserved his goal and was probably MOM from an attacking point of view.

Aliadiere also had another chance at the start of the 2nd but unfortunately put his shot wide by the narrowest of margins. I felt Cesc improved on a solid first half and was a bit more influential in the 2nd, playing some quality through balls and also getting the confidence to have a go, one shot was just wide and the other he completely screwed but we dont need to worry about that. Overall he had a good game and got a standing ovation from most of the crowd and it was thoroughly deserved. Highlight of the 2nd half was probably the amount of abuse Rotherhams #24, Chris Sedgwick got. If I remember rightly he fouled Clichy and came in for some right stick. Bad thing was he set up Byfield for his ladt minute header (good cross and finish though), but it wasnt so bad because we got about another 45 minutes worth of entertainment ;D

Into extra time we went and within minutes Rotherham were down to 10. The very fast Quincy broke through, and attempted to lob the onrushing goalkeeper Pollitt. His shot was actually quite weak, but Pollitt threw up and arm and had to go. Unfortunately Ronnie Moore decided to sacrifice Sedgwick, so that was the end of the stick for him, and brought on their sub keeper Gary Montgomery. Rest of the 1st extra time period was pretty uneventful.

2nd half was a bit better but we wasnt really too eager to press for a winner. We had a goal disallowed through Wiltord, and Edu had a stunning free kick met by an equally good save from Montgomery. So, it came to penalties

Swailes stepped up first in front of the North Bank and scored to put Rotherham 1-0 up. Wiltord then missed, at this point his confidence must have been so low and I felt really bad for him. Rotherham then went 2-0 up before Edu scored to reduce the deficit. Rotherham substitute Mullins then missed and Aliadiere levelled it up. Rotherham then scored again before Cygan stepped forward and slotted his penalty low to the left of the keeper and into the bottom corner and a sigh of relief was breathed. Byfield then hit the bar for the visitors, so we had the chance to win it, but the pacey Quincy saw his penalty saved. Sudden death was upon us

Each penalty was scored here, most notably a top corner beauty from Spicer, an equally good penalty from the Rotherham keeper Montgomery and one from our own Graham Stack made sure things were level at 8-8. Back to the beginning we went. Swailes stepped forward for Rotherham but this time Stack was equal to him and saved his penalty. And so to Sylvain Wiltord. If we needed anyone to put this away, it was him, and he did. Struck low into the bottom left hand corner. Hopefully this will do his confidence the world of good

Match ratings
Stack - Made a few good saves but looked dodgy at times - 6 (out of 10)

Hoyte - Fairly solid performance - 7

Tavlaridis - MOM in my opinion. Had a very solid game. Great in the air, won alot of tackles - 8

Cygan - Didnt do anything stupid, which is a bonus - 7

Clichy - I didnt feel he was that great but at the same he wasnt **** - 6

Cesc - Grew in confidence throughout. I really hope he lives up to the hype - 7

Edu - Had some good moments - 7

Thomas - Looked good on the left, pretty fast and tricky - 7

Captain Kanu - Did OK but his problem is he doesnt know when hes done too much. Got an assist, even if he didnt mean it - 6.5

Wiltord - Was pretty ineffective, but scored the winning penalty - 6

Aliadiere - Constant threat up front, very pacy. He or Wiltord should start on Saturday - 8

Subs
Smith (for Thomas) - Did as well as Thomas did, but hes left footed, so that will work for him I think - 7

Quincy (for Cesc) - Looked a handful also, very fast and a box of tricks - shame he missed his penalty - 6.5

Spicer (for Hoyte) - Didnt really have much to do - 6
 

Taozhe

Well-Known Member
Nice report :)
Its a shame really that we did not do as well as we hoped we can. needing to go on penalties against a struggling first division side is not really that encouraging as many were screaming for Arsène for the youths to play.

They are not ready yet.. and maybe cos we are missing bentley and senderos .... contributes to the problem.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Yea I was gutted Bentley was injured, and Id have liked to have seen Senderos play
 

SuperBob

Active Member
Top post, Well done to Wiltord after putting his penalty away, why wasn't Bentley playing anyone? Do we know what injury it is?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Alexone234 said:
Nice report. Did everyone meet up for bowling?
Im new around here so Ive got no idea. Maybe someone else knows :wink:
 

The Premier

Active Member
Here I've had it all wrong for the past while. I thought this trick of giving up leads in games was something you were trying hard to overcome, and here it turns out you train your young'uns to do exactly the same thing. So see here - I don't want to hear any more whining about leads lost late - it is obviously club policy.
 

jc8gooner

Well-Known Member
Here I've had it all wrong for the past while. I thought this trick of giving up leads in games was something you were trying hard to overcome, and here it turns out you train your young'uns to do exactly the same thing. So see here - I don't want to hear any more whining about leads lost late - it is obviously club policy.


All three of your posts are a load of **** so far. You are not funny. Piss off.
 

The Premier

Active Member
jc8gooner said:
Here I've had it all wrong for the past while. I thought this trick of giving up leads in games was something you were trying hard to overcome, and here it turns out you train your young'uns to do exactly the same thing. So see here - I don't want to hear any more whining about leads lost late - it is obviously club policy.


All three of your posts are a load of **** so far. You are not funny. Piss off.
Tut, tut now. Don't get your undies in a knot. Just having an idle go at England's second best team.
 

USArsenal

H.Y.I.C.
ahh, talking about Chelsea, huh? since they are, as of now, 2nd in the table..... heh..


oh, where is ManUre? 3rd i believe...... :lol:
 

jc8gooner

Well-Known Member
I guess you are one of Man Utd's biggest fans. Been to Old Trafford twice and hoping to go next time they play in Canada.
 

nnn

Member
Odds are you first heard of them when they toured the states in the summer eh ? I bet you check espn every monday lunchtime to check the results eh?
 

The Premier

Active Member
Born in England, years ago; been a United supporter most of my life - have accumulated a few shares over the years. Circumstances have taken me to a few different places in the world, each on a semi-permanent basis. Been to OT perhaps 8 - 10 times. One does what one can.

FWIW, I think Arsenal fields a very good club on most days - it plays attractive football more often than does United. My point is only that I prefer a team that always threatens to find a way to win - wins ugly from time to time, and I don't think Arsenal has that quality often enough to be considered consistent world beaters. It'll be interesting to see what happens if AG gets built, and Arsenal gets the benefits of a strong cash flow.

I think that Wenger is a good judge of quality, and has done a very good job in assempling a competitive team. I think that Wenger's faults are two-fold: his team often seems to play at the edge of the rules - I think that he has to bear the responsibility for the disciplinary problems Arsenal encounters from time to time; and that he relies too much on his core of top-notch players. The season is long, and you have to take your chances with your youngsters and your supporting role players from time to time, particularly during the early part of the season.

I lurk here because I think Arsenal continues to be United's main rival, and because there are often interesting discussions among your members.

I don't think I'm a ****, but of course, even a mirror can't show all of one's faults and blemishes. I certainly don't mean to offend anyone.

There, bared my soul.
 

jc8gooner

Well-Known Member
A bit more of a constructive post is nice to see. Sorry for calling you a ****.

I think that Wenger's faults are two-fold: his team often seems to play at the edge of the rules - I think that he has to bear the responsibility for the disciplinary problems Arsenal encounters from time to time

Yes we do have disciplinary problems but no, we do not play at the edge of the rules as you say, we are a fair side generally. Top of the fair play league at the moment ahem.
 

invisibleman18

Established Member
hey "the premier" what do you mean England's second best team? I could have sworn that the team you are refering to are actually at the top of the table. I guess being in second place implies being second best and thats not the team you are referring to.
 

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