All posts tagged Champions League

EPL: Arsenal vs Chelsea (10th May 2009) – Emirates Stadium (Review & Opinion)

by Sarosh Waiz on May 10, 2009 in Arsenal, Football with 2 Comments

Disappointment again for all the Arsenal fans after falling prey to Chelsea and losing the Super Sunday clash 4-1. A lot was not expected today from Arsenal, but still the fans were expecting a better result for Arsenal. Unfortunately, despite Arsenal’s attacking mentality and free flowing football, Arsene Wenger’s tactic’s went wrong yet again today. Although I would agree to the fact that in terms of quick passing and moves, Arsenal was playing very well but the problem was revealed when Chelsea gained the possession and came attacking towards the Arsenal goal.

Arsene Wenger tells everyone that this team has great potential, but I am sorry to say that players like Alex Song and Denilson, might have potential, but that potential is not upto Arsenal’s standards. There were two main areas that I could identify left a loop hole for Chelsea to exploit. The first problem lies at the position of the holding mid-fielder, and by now we all know that Alex Song or Denilson is NOT the solution to that. Why can’t Arsene see it himself? Or is he just too stubborn to understand and accept what everyone is seeing? Flamini gave us that edge, and we never retained him. We need a strong player with the right mentality and with the right confidence who can play for Arsenal, we need a proper solution! 

The second position is the Arsenal defense, and we need to fix it. I can’t get one thing… correct me if I am wrong. We sold Sol Campbell when he was about 30 and didn’t give him a contract extension to retain him. Similarly, we let go of Lauren, Vieira and even Pires and never thought of giving them longer contract extensions because of the Arsenal policy of not giving more than a year contracts to players who are aged 30 or more. Do you think we should have got Sylvestre or Gallas who were nearing 30, and that too, both from our RIVAL teams? Why don’t we get this policy shit straight then? Why did we need to lose our loyal players to get players almost the same age from our rival teams…? Well.. Forget it! I just don’t know what else to say…

The point is .. that after the 3-1 defeat against Manchester United all the fans were expecting a better result today from Arsenal and Arsene’s tactics so that the fans and the club could regain atleast some honour back. It is such a pity … that the result was even worse.. 4-1… and that too at the Emirates Stadium!!

One more thing that I cannot understand is that, why does Wenger always use the 4-5-1 formation when that never works for us? It was the same against Manchester United.. and the same against Chelsea today! On top of that, previously when Wenger was asked if he was looking at getting some new signings in the summer after the Champions League knock out… and Mr. Arsene Wenger replied in his own typical way that  when Diaby and Bendtner is already in the squad, bringing someone else would be unfair to them… 

I am speechless now… I am just speechless because I am pissed to the core!!

Arsenal Fan, Suleiman Omondi, Hanged Himself After Their Champions League Defeat on 5th May 2009

by Sarosh Waiz on May 7, 2009 in Arsenal, Football with 8 Comments

This is to inform all of you who don’t know that an Arsenal fan in Kenya, hanged himself after the horrible Arsenal defeat in the UEFA Champions League Semi-Final against Manchester United.

Suleiman Omondi, aged 29, was found hanged in a middle class Nairobi estate wearing an Arsenal shirt after he left depressed from a pub. It was reported that he took some drinks and broke down in tears during the final minutes of the match. At another source it is also reported that he left around at half time when Arsenal was 2-0 down after arguing with a Manchester United fan, and later was found dead as he hung himself from a rope at his house. The police are still investigating the actual reasons for his death.

Arsenal lost 3-0  against Manchester United that night and this result has hurt and depressed all the Arsenal fans from around the world. But Suleiman was affected so badly that he couldn’t take the depression. BBC representative in Nairobi has said that this incident has shocked everyone in Kenya, and I am sure everyone one of is shocked to hear this. As reported further, Suleiman seemed to be in good spirits before the match an even till the team conceded the 1st goal in the 8th minute. But after the 2nd goal he broke down and got really upset, and then, a Manchester United fan taunted him after which he got really angry and held the Manchester United fan by the neck and pressed him. Other people intervened, and he left the pub in rage. He was found dead on Wednesday morning.

Check this news out at the BBC Website. Brawls are common in Kenya and there have been other such cases in the past.

PS: This is a wake up call to Arsenal. This is how much it hurts all the fans when you play hopelessly. It might just be financials for the Arsenal stakeholders, might just be business for the Arsenal Board of Directors, might be just another job for Arsene Wenger, might just be a career for the players … but this club is the LIFE for all the supporters…! May Suleiman Omondi R.I.P.

Review: Chelsea vs Barcelona (2nd Leg) – Stamford Bridge (UEFA Champions League) – 6th May 2009

by Sarosh Waiz on May 7, 2009 in Football with 3 Comments

After the boring first leg between Barcelona and Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League Semi-Final on 28th April 2009, a lot was expected in today’s game after Arsenal was knocked out from the Champions League Semi Final by Manchester United on 5th May 2009.

Chelsea was the boring team who kept piling up in their own half and Barcelona was the team who was going for it as expected. Chelsea did dominate the game because of home advantage on Barcelona, but on a typical defensive style of play. As possession is usually the key in such big games, and its all about taking opportunities.  Personally being an Arsenal fan I love Barcelona’s style of play and although they are strong in attack but in yesterday’s game it was all about physical and strong play from Chelsea that troubled Barcelona.

Iniesta - Image Courtesy TimesOnline

A lot of controversial fouls and cards in the match, but at the end of the day Barcelona pulled it off and is the team that will go to Rome to face Manchester United in the Final of the UEFA Champions League. By now I believe Chelsea shoud learn a lesson of going out there and playing open football rather than piling up in their own defense. They had to pay for the their style of play in the 1st leg when they thought that they would go to Nou Camp and it would be good enough for them to just play with one striker and pile up in defense to stop Barcelona take the home advantage. I am sorry to say this, but this strategy has hit them back in their own faces. It’s about time they should be fearless and play some football. And as a lot of Chelsea fans would be crying on the penalties that they didn’t get… well you get what you deserve because mostly Chelsea is the lucky team when other teams keep crying and the referees dont give fouls against Chelsea… you have to pay off somewhere don’t you? Its a fair world after all ;) …

 

Three Cheers for Iniesta and Barcelona!! Atleast now I am excited to see some great football in the Final, because if Chelsea would have went in the Finals, the game would have been assumed to be boring already. Yes yes I know a lot of you would tell me that Arsenal lost 3-1 from Manchester United and Chelsea is still a better team.. but you know what? I am still proud to be a Gunner because we love to play open football and in both legs against Manchester United we never piled up in our own half and defended for 90 minutes, and I would still congratulate Manchester United for a great game.

 PS: By the way.. I am still wondering why did Chelsea had to play with 9 defenders and one striker? But way to go guys .. you really defended well!! Three Cheers for the Chelsea defense as well! But I guess Iniesta’s shot was too good that even 9 defenders couldn’t stop it? Train your defenders well for next year ;) …

Review: Arsenal vs Manchester United (5th May 2009) – Emirates Stadium – Semi Final (UEFA Champions League)

by Sarosh Waiz on May 5, 2009 in Arsenal, Football with 8 Comments

A lot was expected and promised with the Arsenal fans for today’s match by Arsene Wenger and the players. The fans were asked to be at the Emirates Stadium and give a Volcanic reception. Arsenal was to give a fight back that Manchester United couldn’t have sustained. Arsenal didnt even prepared for the penalties, since Arsene Wenger boasted to be so confident that Manchester United sounded like a they would not do anything.

Well to start off with a basic analysis, for the first 5 minutes Arsenal looked to score and it seemed that the game might go to the penalities if Arsenal doesn’t win it straight off. Just three minutes after that, Van Der Sar’s goal kick landed in the Arsenal danger zone and Christiano Ronaldo’s cross went straight in to the path of Park Ji Sung because Gibbs was unable to clear the ball since he slipped. GOAL – Manchester United. After that, Arsenal’s free flowing football did not come out that well since the pressure of scoring three goals to go through was building up on them. 

 

Park Ji Sung Taking the Shot

Park Ji Sung Taking the Shot

 

 

In the 11th minute, Ronaldo scored on a 41-yard free kick again, and Arsenal’s dreams of going to Rome for the Champions League Final went down the drain. All the supporters looked upset since the game was almost over. Honestly, I did lost interest at that time because I didn’t know what to do. But still I managed to watch the complete match, knowing that Arsenal was not able to create any chances and now actually they had to score 4 goals to go through. The seats were getting empty at the Emirates Stadium, and all the fans started to return home upset by the game their team couldn’t even sustain. 

In the second half, I did try to keep myself glued to the couch because I convinced myself to watch this game as just another football match, and it started looking better. But on the 61st minute.. Boom!!! 3rd Goal!! 3-) to Manchester United. What a counter attack… there was no one to defend? And what the hell was Djourou doing?  He let ronaldo take the shot and didn’t even try to slide in or atleast block him one way or they other? Poor defending really!

Arsenal did score in the 75th minute from a penalty, that was earned by a red-card challenge by Fletcher on Fabregas. The final score Arsenal 1  - 3 Manchester United. Manchester United goes through with 4 aggregate goals and will face either Chelsea or Barcelona in the Final in Rome. Thousands of empty seats could be seen when Wenger shook hands with Ferguson. At the end of the day, all I can say is well played Manchester United, and they really did. They were quick, fast, determined and they knew they had to score, unlike our superb striker Mr. Emmanuel Adebayor!

Even though this team is young and there is a long way to go, but my question to all the Arsenal supporters out there is that when we are trophy-less since the past 4 seasons, do you think it would be easy to hold on to our star players when other clubs come in with great offers? Now expect to see a few big names leave the club this season, and a few new young ones in the team when the next season starts. Do leave your comments and subscribe to my blog to get further updates on new posts.

A Gunner For Life!

Arsenal vs Manchester Utd. (2nd Leg) Emirates Stadium – Only a few hours to go!

by Sarosh Waiz on May 5, 2009 in Arsenal, Football with 1 Comment

Only a few hours to go before one of the biggest match at the Emirates Stadium is about to kick off between Arsenal and Manchester United. Manchester United won the first leg, and the match was unexpectedly one sided as Arsenal failed to make a mark at Old Trafford on 29th April 2009. Although the Gunners were fortunate to only lose by 1-0 as Man Utd. did waste a lot of chances that could have most certainly knocked Arsenal out of the competition. A lot is expected out of Arsenal tonight, and all the fans are back and ready to support the club. Even the Arsenal players, specifically Samir Nasri have called the fans to be very strong in their support when Manchester United visit the Emirates Stadium tonight. Arsene Wenger has also mentioned that Arsenal has not practiced for the penalties tonight, which should mean we are prepared to beat them with a atleast a 2 goal difference!    

Uefa Champions League
 

Arsenal is going to go in the match as underdogs after the 1-0 defeat at the Old Trafford and they need to balance their attacking options with effective defending. Glad to know that Van Persie is back for today’s game but Sylvestre is injured and is out because of a groin problem. According the my understanding, the following is the team that is going to start today’s game from the Arsenal squad:

Almunia

Sagna – Toure –  Djourou – Gibbs

Eboue – Fabregas – Song – Nasri

Van Persie – Adebayor

  I’m signing off now wishing we can pull it off tonight and beat Manchester Utd. with a good goal difference!! Nothing beats that! Fingers crossed! Goodluck to all the Gunners out there! Hail the Gunners!

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