New Money
I’m left with a strange feeling in the aftermath of the Man City game. We lost, are in 5th place and wasted a chance to get back in the title race, but despite all of that I’m unbelievably proud of our team and the way we played. For large parts of the game we exchanged blows with the richest club and best squad in the premier league and did not back off or look overawed in any way. In fact when we did go one goal down there were no heads that dropped and no players feeling sorry for themselves, the team responded with a show of spirit and fight in a manner that we have rarely seen in previous seasons. That never say die attitude is one only a true team where everyone pulls their weight has and is a testament to how far this team has come since the start of the season and is something that gives me comfort for the rest of the season.
The match itself was described by many pundits as one of the best of the season so far and a credit to the premier league. Two teams with attacking intentions went at each other for 90 minutes moving the ball well and counter attacking with speed. The first 10 minutes saw us under a period of dominance from Man City with but the team defended well, weathering the initial storm and starting to mount some attacks of their own. Ramsey had an effort on goal which Hart saw late and had to get down quickly to keep out and Gervinhio lashed a shot at which rebounded favourably for the Man City keeper. At the other end Balotelli turned in the box and had a shot from 6 yards out but Szczesny closed the space superbly and blocked the shot again highlighting his worth to this team with a solid game between the posts.
At the break we would have been the happier team going in to the tunnel, however soon into the second half Djourou’s hamstrings gave way and we had to bring on Miquel into a defence that was already depleted. The reorganising that took place undoubtedly unsettled the team for a short period and contributed to the goal. Balotelli was given too much space on the right wing and unleashed a powerful shot which Szczensy got a hand too but Silva was there to knock in the rebound. 1 – nil to City. Instead of giving up, the goal fired the team up and we had a number of chances coming from Walcott and Van Persie. Arsene brought on Arshavin for Walcott but the Russian’s slump in form continues as he couldn’t execute a cross field ball that would have put Gervinio through on goal. Chamakh also came on to little effect. Towards the closing periods of the game we did have a penalty shout for a handball by Richards which in all honesty would have been harsh but I’ve seen them given and Thomas Vermaelen had two long range efforts that had Hart scampering but were not to be. Our response after the goal was admirable and caused Mancini to bring on Milner for Balotelli to provide some extra protection.
In the end it was a disappointing result, but the team can hold its head up high and know that it competed extremely well and on another day RVP would not have been ruled offside or one of the efforts from Vermaelen would have flown in. Also it is important to note that we have now played all the teams above us away so have dealt with all the hardest fixtures in the calendar.
Old Money
In other news we have drawn the European giant that is AC Milan in the champions league. On the one hand they were the hardest team we could have drawn so that sucks. However, Champions League draws have never been kind to us and we seem to raise our game against the biggest teams so this will be a tie that I for one will be looking forward to. For players like Arteta, Ramsey and Koscielny etc… this will be exactly the kind of tie which they joined Arsenal Football Club to play in and you can bet that they will be up for it (and exactly the kind of game Na$ri joined Man City to play in!)
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