Stealing a game and almost losing another

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I know.


I have been delinquent and not updated for a while.



I've committed the cardinal sin of letting work get the better of me :(



I wish I can assure everyone such a fatal lapse would not recur but I may forget this in my dotage ... a common problem with ageing men in that the blood fares less well in their constant fight against gravity and thus the brains get less blood compared to the smaller head below.

Now you know why 60-year-old millionaire Datuks chase scrumptious, willowy models AND fare better than their sons doing the same thing.

So, since I'm feeling guilty about this, here's an update covering our last two matches ...

NOTE: Less footie-inclined readers may want to skip to the very end. I have a Valentine's Day gift for you.

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The Arse 2
(Hall 81st o.g. Rosicky 87th)

Wiggling Wigan 1
(Landzaat 35th)

Fellow Gooners may agree with my view that we practically stole this game from strugglers Wigan.

We dominated the first half of the first half where Le Capitaine looked out of sorts and missing his usually deft first touch and blasting the ball all over the place.

It was like watching der Pussie playing.

After that Wigan took control and quite frankly they out-passed us in our own game.

The defence got caught out by a superb long ball from Matt Jackson which sent Julius Aghahowa (oooo nice name) probing deep in the Arse's box (yeah, I know how that sounds).

Aghahowa did well holding off Djourou's desperate lunges and also when Clichy came down to assist. His cross was poked away by Djourou but it went to Denny Landzaat who was left unattended when Gilberto rushed over to the Aghahowa crisis point.

Landzaat struck beautifully past Gilberto and Lehmann was left clutching air. I doubt our Mental Leman even saw the ball go past him.

Theo Walcott had rolled over and died after that early flurry. Cesc was pushing and prodding but his distribution was well covered by the hardworking Wigan midfield who shielded their back four magnificently.

They could have gone at least 2-0 up before half-time but then it was Emile Heskey who got the chances and we all know how deadly this fella is nowadays.

In fact he was so deadly that in the second-half he took out Johan Djourou with his elbow in a blatant foul that escaped the ref's notice.

In fact the officials took centre stage as the Arse started laying siege around the Wigan goal. We had at least 3 penalty claims denied and a perfectly good Adebayor goal ruled out for offside.

Worse, the stupid commentator was so obviously biased against the Arse - another victim of the "English team" syndrome - that when Clichy was barged over from behind, he said there was no contact. Even after watching the replay.

Twat.

Anyway, the referee seemed determined not to give any penalties in this match and he proved it in the 79th minute when Flamini knocked into Heskey's back and Heskey (like Yakubu the previous week) decided to fall over instead of holding off the challenge.

Wigan's Paul Jewell howled in fury, enthusiastically joining the Arsene Wenger Touchline Mime Show that had been running ever since the second half started.

Wenger had taken out Walcott and Hoyte for Flamini and Aliadiere after sending in Adebayor for the injured Djourou.

After that incident Flamini collected from Adebayor and sent in a hard cross which Fitz Hall turned into his own net just ahead of Henry (thus denying me 8 Fantasy Footie points).

Flamini was offside but I guess the linesman was making amends after disallowing Adebayor's perfectly good goal 10 minutes earlier.

But I think parents in Wigan would not be naming their children after Flamini any time soon.

Then right near the end, with the Arse in full cry, Tomas Rosicky released the ball to Adik who found Baptista on the right flank. Rosicky met Baptista's hard cross and scored his first Premiership goal for Arsenal.


Strangely enough, Rosicky first scored in a Champions League game (against Hamburg), then in the FA Cup (two against Poo) and only now a Premiership goal - in total reverse of the usual order.

Paul Jewell was livid and I don't blame him. His team played so well that I was thinking the Emirates would not survive its first year with its unbeaten record intact.

But we definitely got to stop giving our guests one-goal handicaps.


Boro 1
(Yakubu 57th pen)

Arse 1
(Henry 78th)

This was another game that we had to claw back our way in after getting shafted by someone; sometimes by ourselves.

In this game, after dominating the first half, we got shafted by referee Mike Riley when Senderos, looking ponderous for the 6th game in a row, bumped into Yakubu's back as he was bursting into the Arse box.

Yakubu is normally a strong bull of a striker who shields his balls well (yeah ... ) and holds off defenders easily with just one arm.

Yet in this game, he joined the ever-growing legion of players who are willing to take a fall for a good cause.

To make things worse, Senderos got the red card.


Mike "The Vulture" Riley was the same match official who didn't give us anything when Rio Ferdinand sent Freddie Ljungberg flying when Freddie broke clear during the infamous ending of Arse's 49-unbeaten match run and later gave a penalty when Rooney dived when Sol's stare hit him.

He was also the referee who ordered Petr Cech to crawl off the field for treatment when Cech fractured his skull last year.

Anyway it was back to 10 men and a goal down for the Arse. And we took the game to them.

Lehmann picked off a cross and threw it to Toure amidst shouts of "Handball!" from Boro fans who didn't see that the ball was still in the penalty area though Lehmann's left leg was out of it.

Toure sent in a long cross which Adik Bayor "headed" with his shoulder for Thierry Henry to score with just two deft touches.

It was a good game and a shame that controversy dogged it. Both sides passed well and created chances but for the Arse, it was another item in the long list of our grievances against Mike Riley.

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An early Valentine's Day gift for those non-footie readers. It's my new stories blog. Enjoy!




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