Out of my Head

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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!

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.

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.

Henry's Here! Henry's Here!

Only, like, my favorite player in the entire world!

And, Arsene Wenger continues to play hardball with Bordeaux over Manouh Chamakh. Bordeaux senses that Arsensal is desperate for an Adebayor replacement and are jacking their asking price up. Wenger ain't playing. Does this guy have testicules, or what?!

"I like Chamakh, he is a forward that attracts me, but I already have (Theo) Walcott, (Nicklas) Bendtner, (Robin) Van Persie, (Andriy) Arshavin and Eduardo. I am in no rush.

"My offer seems fair to me, taking the market into account. Chamakh would be good, but there are other options should we wish to pursue them."

That Was Ugly

Talk about a game with no redeeming quality in it for a Sounders fan! The 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the lowly SJ Quakers was ugly all around. The Sounders to a man seemed to have nothing in this game.

How bad was it? It was so bad that by the 2nd goal, I could no longer complain about the refereeing and the horrible decision for a straight red card on Sounders James Riley. In fact, at the end of the game you'd be hard pressed to complain about the ref. The Sounders were so off-stride today that they wouldn't have stayed in it even under the best of refereeing.

How bad was it? You couldn't tell the Sounders were playing down a man for most of the match. I don't mean that in a good way.

Fortunately, Time Magazine didn't watch this game. Bring on Barca. And Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi better play!

Rumbling Into The Season At Emirates...

Adebayor gone to City. Now, Toure follows him. Arsene has some extra $40 million pounds to flash around in search of reinforcements, but the question is, whether he will open the club's wallet.

David Young argues that, while Toure was a good player for the Gunners, the move is a shrewd one, banking a nice profit for a player who is on the downhill swing of a good career.

As sad as it is to see the Ivorian go, it has to be said that in cold, hard business terms £16m looks to be a very decent price for a defender who has arguably lost a bit of his edge over the past couple of seasons and is now heading towards the wrong side of his peak years - and considering that he was bought for a mere £250,000.

The question of course, is now what, or rather whom? Rumours abound that Arsene is pursuing Brede Hangeland, maybe even Patrick Vieira. Wouldn't the last one be interesting? Even if all it did was save #4's career from an ignominous end in White Hart Lane, it'd be worth it.

Back on the US West Coast, my Sounders FC are down in San Jose to play the Quakers. New signing Leo is with the team but won't likely play at this time. It sounds as if Sigi will use Leo to finally solidify the left back spot. Though Tyson Wahl has played decently of late, the position needs strengthening. The sight of a left back with the ability to bring the ball up, the way right back James Riley does, should give MLS opponents jitters.

Another One Got Away

Anyway you look at the game Saturday afternoon in Seattle against the Chicago Dive, this should've been a win and 3 points at home. The Rave Green created many good opportunities, including 2 crossbar-clangers, 2 goal-line clearances and a point-blank shot on goal, following a Nate Jacqua header that should've scored (and probably would've on any other day). And yet, the result was the club's first scoreless draw in its history.

I can't say the Sounders dominated this game, but they controlled it. We worked the ball down both sides of the field, throughout, and maintained a pretty consistent level of posession. Like Tuesday's cup game, it seemed that we just couldn't buy a goal. Chance after chance came up just wide, just over, or saved one way or another. And yet, after Tuesday, I had confidence that we were going to score.

Nate Jacqua continued his hard work up front. Though, he ended up shooting blanks, I felt he had a good game. He was denied by some good goalkeeping. He did a lot of little things off the ball (he was first to the ball to clear a dangerous corner in the dying minutes) and he did a good job posessing the ball and linking with Montero and the midfield.

Steve Zakuani's speed caused the Chicago defense trouble all game long. Unfortunately, when he did get into shooting position, his shots were pretty tame. Maybe he's tired after three games in a week, but we need better shots from #11.

Alonso. It's great to have him back. Watching him rip posession from guys twice his size is just a treat.

Freddy Ljungberg had a solid game, but loses 2 points in my book: one for shooting straight at the keeper when the goal was there for the taking (Arsenal men have to do better than that), and secondly for getting ejected from the game. Yes, the ref was an asshole, but Freddy put us in a hole just minutes after we'd gotten a man advantage. Just walk away, Freddy. Yes, there is injustice in getting carded for a dive, while Cuahtemoc Blanco is treating the pitch like an Olympic-sized dive pool, but Freddy did dive, and not very convincingly.

There were some strange substitutions. LeToux for Zakuani. I felt Zak still had energy. Taking him off, just subbed speed for speed. Better to take off Montero, who largely wasn't involved (at least productively) after the 80th minute. Taking Jacqua off with a few minutes left also seemed odd. He was the only striker working hard at that point and he's proved he has the grittiness to grind away for 90 minutes until he scores. That, and with a man down, his height in the box was important in defending set pieces.

Tyrone Marshall did not play and I think that hurt us. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado has been inconsistent in recent games, particularly in marking runners up the middle of the box. Marshall seems to have better anticipation, and I think he pairs more effectively with Patrick Ianni.

And now, the ref. Disappointingly, I have seen some of the worst refereeing in my life in this first MLS season of the Sounders. Inconsistency, inability to control a game, unwillingness to prevent the diving and stalling tactics that suck the entertainment and enjoyment out of a match, and complete lack of concept of how to manage a game. Referee Baldomero Toro was all these things and more. Not once did he caution Chicago for their consistent, repeated diving, stalling the play on Sounders free kicks, or their own re-starts. Every kick Blanco is standing right in front of the ball. In 70 percent (I guesstimate) of the plays in which Blanco is challenged by a Sounders defender, he falls. Coincidence? Old age? Come on!

And then he awards Chicago a golden free kick outside the 18 in the final minutes of the first half off a horrible dive by Blanco (knocked off both feet by an inconsequential touch by a Sounders defender). When Freddy tries to get the same (and yes, it was a dive, but its consistency I'm on about here), he's carded and ultimately ejected.

Toro made some correct calls, but never in any consistency to amount to game management. And what's with the halftime conference with Blanco? That didn't look good at all.

And here's another problem with the MLS. While the game was exciting, the last 5 minutes were frustating and boring because of the time-wasting antics of Chicago. Seattle wanted to get on with it and try to score, but we had another plethora of on-field "injuries." As a fan, I find this really disappointing and un-entertaining. There are few teams in the MLS that play with the attacking style of the Sounders. Too many of them play the plodding, grind-it-out style. Throw the time-wasting antics in and you've got a problem for a league trying to build a fan base.

In England it's ok to be a Bolton or a Tottenham. You don't have to be exciting or particularly good because you've got decades of tradition and football's supremacy as a professional sport. In the MLS, you have a nation to conquer. They're not going to do it by asking people to pay $50 a seat to watch a bunch of men rolling around on the ground as the stretcher parade runs off the sidelines and back.

Sounders Get Title Shot in US Open Cup

Words are elusive at this late hour, after a dramatic, scintillating 2-1 Sounders FC win over Houston Dynamo at Starfire this evening. I am just going to soak up the blissful feelings and put words to the game later. Seven thoughts, though, in free-form...

1. This was a classic, match for the ages. And this team isn't even 1 year old!
2. I will not ever slag Nate Jacqua again. He played 120 minutes of gutsy, workhorse football and scored the equalizer that noone else seemed willing to score.
3. Freddy Montero. Getting better.
4. Subbing in Alonso made the difference in my opinion. He still gets my vote for Club MVP.
5. Houston sucks.
6. Tonight's referee may have been the worst yet.
7. Ahhh....victory!
8. Shot at silverware in our first season. Nice. Very nice.