Out of my Head

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Title Finally Out of Reach?

Gunners express blows a flat and drops 2 critical points at Birmingham City, surrendering a 1-1 equalizer in the last seconds of a game they'd secured after 83 minutes of futility. This loss goes down to two people: Manuel Almunia and the coach who hired him.

First, Manuel "Hilario" Almunia. The lazily floating, unintentional shot from Kevin Phillips should've been parried over the bar to safety. No EPL-quality keeper with the season on the line should softly push the ball beneath his own crossbar. Those two points have almost certainly ended what has been an inspiring, highly unlikely run for the title. To have it end on a bozo play like that should finally end the Almunia experiment.

Now, the coach. For all his great qualities, Arsene Wenger shows too many judgement lapses at critical times. Almunia is top of the list today. It's been clear to seemingly everyone else aside from Le Profeseur that Manuel Almunia is not a top four starting keeper. He could keep for Everton. He certainly looks like he could fill David "Calamity" James' boots at Portsmouth. But for a title winner? Methinks not, and today's result is the strongest argument. Anyone else see the absolute brain fart of a toss out late in the game, straight to a Birmingham midfielder? Chelsea would've punished us on that. Or the ball he decided to punch to an opponent from the 12-yard line? What is any intelligent keeper doing trying to claim a hot ball 12 yards out in the middle of a crowd of defenders and opponents??! Let your defenders take care of that.

Now, Wenger has got to see defects like that and make the call to get himself a championship level keeper. If not, then he's got to share with us the drugs he's taking.

Final quibble. Why is he starting Theo Walcott? My guess, is that he's showing admirable, but misplaced loyalty, and trying to help the lad get a spot in an England team that doesn't need him. Walcott cannot be rated anything else than a once-intriguing experiment that has become a defect in the team's quality. Sure, he's got all the speed in the world, but he has nothing - nothing - in the final third. His crossing is poor. His finishing is not even MLS--quality.

Aside from two runs early in the game, Walcott was Casper the Ineffective Ghost. When he was subbed off, the team began to click and Nasri scored what should've been the game winner.

Sadly, it was not, and a great effort by the Arsenal has gone for naught. I doubt we can continue to rely on the leaders to so generously drop points for us.

Word of the Day is...

Whew!

As in, glad to see that ball in the back of the net after 73 minutes of wasteful, profligate footballing! Arsenal nicked 3 crucial, crucial points from a determined Hull side, courtesy of the Big Dane Nicklas Bendtner. The gangly young lad has discovered the joys of scoring goals and executed a Smash and Grab score off of Boaz Myhill's poorly parried block of a Denilson long-range attempt. The final result: Arsenal 2-Hull city 1.

This game was excruciating for much of the 2nd half, as Arsenal let 10-men Hull knock them off their rhythm. They failed to find their passing touch and Samir Nasri could not provide the creative flair missing from their injured captain Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal did not so much as get a shot on the Hull City goal until stoppage time. But the important fact is that they kept working until they created shots. Denilson was perhaps too hopeful in launching his shot from 35 yards out, but the resulting rebound proved the importance of taking shots.

The game started brightly enough as Arsenal got out of the gates in fine fashion, moving the ball around with ease and the resulting Arshavin goal seemed inevitable. The little Russian showed his skill in dribbling around and through two defenders before slotting past the onrushing Myhill. It seemed that Arsenal might better the 3-0 result they produced against Hull at Emirates earlier this year.

Diabolical refereeing changed the direction of the game. Both referee Andre "the Lost" Marriner and the AR missed a painfully offsides Jan Vennegor of Hesselink and then rewarded the Hull striker for clearly initiating contact with Sol Campbell in a non-scoring position, by gifting the home side the penalty. Jimmy Bullard equalized for the Tigers and the game went downhill from there.

Arsenal spent the next 73 minutes lost in the wilderness. Andrei Arshavin was particularly wasteful with posession and seemed to want nothing more than to equal Nick Bendtner's effort last week against Burnley. He missed at least 3 sitters by my count. But everyone has an off day and you can't discount the wonderful first goal he scored.

And while I'm at it, bravo to Sol Campbell! Sure he's lost a bit of the game since his heyday anchoring the Invincibles back line, but he is still an able, experienced defender. There is something inspiring for this Gunner when seeing the big bald guy wearing the red shirt and showing his all in defending the Gunners goal. While I was sorry to Zayitte injured in the clash between him and Campbell, the tackle (a clean one in which Sol got to the ball first) was robust, resolute and hard-nosed. Campbell brings a steely attitude that stiffens the Gunners' back line significantly.

The important thing for Arsenal supporters is that the side showed resilience against a very determined Hull team fighting for its Premiership survival. Champions win even on the days where they struggle. Arsenal secured the 3 points they needed to keep pace with their rivals, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Amazingly, despite losing RVN for the season, the horrible loss of young Aaron Ramsey, and Cesc, Nick Bendtner, Rosicky, Walcott, Diaby, Arshavin & Gallass for crucial periods, this Gunners squad is right in the race for the title. We're not getting excited about battling for the 4th spot, as we have been the past few seasons. We've still got our eyes on the trophy. And we're on to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. And with the exception of Arshavin, the Gunners have done it largely with talent they've developed internally.

As frustrating as Arsenal has been at times this year, their results have shown the value and promise of Arsene Wenger's footballing strategy and management philosophy.

Strap in, it's going be an exciting ride to the finish line!

46-Year-Old Blogger Committs to UW

The storied list of University of Washington quarterbacks may grow in leaps and bounds as this 46-year-old has verbally committed to play signal caller for the Huskies, "if I return to college someday."

Ridiculous, right? Yeah, almost as silly as 13-year old children making verbals to USC. Good God, have we not learned anything from the Todd Marinovich?!

Sure, the kid has some good indicators and skills for his age, but he's 13! He's project to grow to 6-5?!

Yeah, I'm projected to grow to 6'2" and a six-pack-laden 185 pounds of mean, football-slinging muscle...if I get into shape...and get on some steroids...and don't have a midlife crisis before then.

The Wonderbread Express Rides

Fabulous night in Seattle last  night for the last regular season game for Sounders FC in their inaugural season, with a come-from-behind 2-goal resurgence to nab the 2-1 victory over red hot FC Where's Waldo?

The comeback was fueled by the scoring prowess of slow white guys Nate "SloJack" Jacqua and Brad "Porkchop" Evans.True to form, SloJack worked his ass off, but looked fairly impotent all game, drawing the inevitable derogatory comments from Section 119...and then he scored, of course. Evans also got a fair bit of stick from our group, mainly for impersonating The Invisible Man in the midfield...and then he scored the winner.

So, this post is for you men of The Wonderbread Express. Slow white guys (Including myself here, too), we salute you!

In its entirety, the game was quite fantastic. Sounders started off with energy and purpose; they looked like a team that realized it hadn't won for its home fans since early July. A couple of offsides violations nullified good runs and a nice goal from Evans. But completely counter to run of play, FC WW? midfilelder Atiba Harris was allowed to run the ball to the edge of the 18 and take a low, driving shot that neatly beat Keller to the far post. The air went completely out of the balloon at this point. The fans were shell-shocked. The players stunned.

The sounders players carried that torpor into the second half. It wasn't until the 60th minute that the team began to show signs of life. After Porkchop threw a Dallas defender to the ground and drew a yellow card, the team looked like it had regained some sense of determination. Freddie Ljungberg played prominent in both goals, driving the ball deep to the endline before sending through a cross that Montero just missed and Jacqua, as the lucky, wide open recipient, couldn't fail on, and the score wad equalized in the 64th minute.

Ljungberg's work effort got another cross through, in the 84th minute, that Evans, making a nifty nearpost diagonal run, flicked over the keeper's hands for the winner.

Bring on the playoffs!

Sounders Play For Silverware Tonight

It's on in DC, baby. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Sounders of early season form show up.

The Eduardo Saga winds on with UEFA deciding that of all the countless divers in CL games over the past decade, the diminutive Croatian is the Johnny Dillinger of "simulation." Bullpucky. Someone in UEFA is sleeping with Celtic management. Joe Guarr points out the sheer hypocrisy of it spot on. You can't single Eddie out. If UEFA wanted to do something against diving they have to be consistent. Anybody want to bet that Eddie's 2-match ban will be the sum and total of their "campaign" against diving? Yeah.

Arsenal's response sums it up:

Arsenal says it is "deeply frustrated by the perfunctory and apparently arbitrary process that UEFA has followed in this instance."

Speaking of frustrating, Abu Diaby Doo is keen to get past his "silly mistake." Silly Mistake?! If that helps you move forward and actually play consistent, winning football, then it's a silly mistake, my friend...

...but in my book it's one of the dumbest moves I've seen in football. Ever. Well, other than a similar play in a U16 girls game last year, but those are girls, not professional footballers. Anyhow, my point is that Abu needs to set a high bar for himself in getting past the silly mistake. Dude needs to not only remind people of Patrick Vieira, he needs to become Patrick Vieira (ca. 2004), terrorize opposing players with his defense, nail pinpoint passes upfield to ignite the attack and, oh yes, SCORE!

When he does these things consistently, I will remove the Abu Diaby Doo label from him.

Start The Fire, We Found Ourselves A Diver!

There you have it, from no less a football authority than Le Profeseur, Eduardo is a witch and the football purists (and whinging Celtic supporters) are engaging in a witch hunt! Run, Eduardo, Run!

Anyways, bring on the big pile of ManUre! Go Gunners!

Sore Losers?

Celtic want to see Eduard punished for his PK-winning dive, which transformed the Hoops' eventual Champions League aggregate loss a 5-1 affair rather than a much tighter 4-1 loss. It's nice to see the Scottish team so righteous on this point. I'm sure they'll be the first to turn in any divers past and present on their own squad, right? Or, maybe this is just sour grapes?

I'm not for the dive. I think it's an ugly part of the game that takes away from the quality of football. However, it would be wrong to approach this on a case--by-base basis, depending on when teams complain loudly about a particular player.

Instead, the EPL (and the SFL, for that matter: watch out Bhoys!) should implement a consistent system for detecting and punishing players committing egregioius diving. I would like to see video review of all matches, and offending players (and there'd have to be some criteria established for what constitutes a serious diving infraction) given a 1 or 2-game suspension. Something like that would be liable to reduce diving to a minimal level.

But pick on our boy Eduardo just 'cuz the Celtic are hurting over being thoroughly outclassed by Arsenal over 180 minutes of football? That'd be wrong.

Huskies Start Their Season With the Win

My daughter and I went to Husky Soccer Stadium to watch the ladies begin their 2009-2010 season with a 2-1 win over Seattle U. We were a few minutes late to the game and Seattle had already scored. The Dawgs were sleepwalking through the first half so I can only imagine how they were scored on. They picked up the tempo towards the halftime and outshot SU 11-4 with a few very close calls.

The 2nd half was not really a contest. The Dawgs superior athleticism and skill easily brought the equalizer and they never took their foot off the pedal as they scored the game winner with about 30 minutes left, I think. Could've scored more, as well. Good start to the season!

Arsenal Win At Parkhead

It may have looked lucky, the way Arsenal scored two goals in a 2-0 Champions League match against Celtic, but the outcome was deserved by an Arsenal side that played smart and patient football and created dangerous attacks.

The Bhoys worked hard throughout the game, and created a few chances of their own, but were largely outclassed by Profeseur Wenger's Acedemie de footbal. The first goal, a free kick that bounced off defender William Gallass' back as he tried to duck out of the way, was certainly lucky. The second, although an own goal off Captain Gary Caldwell, was the result of another dangerous Arsenal attack and a dangerous cross from Abu Diaby.

Vermaelen continues to impress. Having a smart, tough central back in the game makes me happier about Arsenal than at any time in recent memory. Both Song and big Nick look like different players (and I mean that in a good way). I've started calling Nick the anti-Jacqua (you Sounders fans know what I mean).

Two away goals put the Gunners in the drivers seat in this pair of matches. All they have to do is hold on at Emirates and they're back into the Group Stage. The Gaffer warns against complacency. Go Gunners!

Two Wins in One Day! Me Like.

Arsenal Rings in the New Season With a Bang (and 6 goals!)
Well, Arsenal's first effort of the new season has me stunned. The Gunners poofed around for 20 minutes or so, then unleashed an onslaught of offense that was helped in no small measure by absolutely incompetent and unconscious defending from Everton.

Denilson got the Gunners going with a killer curving shot that left Tim Howard with nothing to do but leap after it, for appearances sake. Even better the shot came from some tidy, patient short passing from RVN to Cesc and then the young Brazilian.

American Timmy Howard was given lots of practice to look hapless, thanks to defenders who just decided that defedning on set pieces was sooo beneath them. Newcomer Thomas Vermaelen notched the 2nd goal of the game and the first in his Arsenal career, with a deadly accurate inswinging free kick. To be charitable, Tim Howard would've had trouble on his hands, even if Vermaelen had been marked. But he wasn't.

...of course, it was difficult for Joleon Lescott to defend well, what with City boss Mark Hughes chasing him all over the pitch like a lovelorn stalker.

The new defender was impressive on both sides. I have to say that I was delighted at his performance and am actually thinking positively about our central pairing of V and Gallass. Granted, Jo ain't DeeDee Dogbreath but Vermaelen had him chained and shackled and read the game extremely well.

Gallass bagged the third goal, on another unmarked set piece. And then young Fabregas snared a brace before Eduardo, a late substitute got his first EPL goal (the easiest of goals, at that) in over a season. Nice to see the lad score and am hoping for lots from the rehabbed striker. He looked sharp and hungry in the spare minutes he had on the pitch.

Not much you can say in a runaway game like this. Everything was going our way. This wasn't a scrap and battle with Chelsea, or Liverpool, so I'll take it for what it is: a very nice way to open what will be a long and challenging season. However, I can't for the life of me remember who that tall, shaggy fellow was that used to ply the front line for us...

My surprise of the game? Young Nick "Look, my shorts are staying on" Bendtner. With the injuires to the squad, Le Profeseur, put the lanky Dane on the right outside mid. He hustled on both sides of the ball. He was a monster for the Everton defenders to handle. He held posession when needed. He passed and linked up with his teammates and for all I could tell, looked like a man who might begin looking like more than 6 foot 5 inches of potential. Good game, Nick!

Sounders Actually Score!
335 minutes of scoreless Sounders soccer?! Has it really been that long? Wow. Well, a David Beckham WTF moment, and a red card, put the Rave Green in the drivers seat and set up a Steve Zakuani score, on as pretty a set-up play as you'll see. Fredy Montero played a smash and grab ball to the roof of the net in the 2nd and that was all that was needed for the Sounders to leave LA with a 2-0 victory and leapfrog the Galaxy into 2nd place.

Now, I'm going to rain on the parade. The Sounders didn't look all that good throughout the game, even with the man advantage. In my mind, they didn't work very aggressively, showed too much content with a 1-goal lead, were sloppy with their passing, and a host of other sins.

They're going to have to get a lot better, if they want to survive the last months of the season and all the road games that they've got. Still, coming out of LA with a win and 2nd place is a good day!

Two final thoughts:

1) LA was the hottest team in the MLS? Wow, they looked bad. If this is one of the MLS' best, we've got deep problems.

2) The MLS refs are nuts. Yes, Beckham's red card was deserved. That could've been a leg breaker. But the 2nd yellow on Marshall was a silly ref biting on what wasn't even a good dive by Landon Donovan. Look at the replay. That dive makes some of Montero's play-acting look positively Shakespearean. And while Eddie Lewis did strike at James Riley's head, it was the weakest of punches ever thrown. Give him a yellow card and a week's free lessons at the nearest self-defense course.