All posts tagged Semi Final

Why is Arshavin not playing against Chelsea?

by Sarosh Waiz on May 10, 2009 in Arsenal, Football with No comments

Already upset by the Champions League knock out of Arsenal against Manchester United, I was hoping that Arsene would atleast try to do something to regain some honour for the club against Chelsea in the Barclay’s Premier League tie at the Emirates Stadium on 10 May 2009 on Super Sunday. I mean it is just ridiculous to find out that Arshavin is not playing again because he had some flu and he is feeling ill?

I don’t know but I have a weird feeling, Arshavin was not given a chance against Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final against Chelsea about a couple of weeks back, without any specific reason? Although everyone was expecting Arshavin to be in the game, and no one knows why Arshavin wasn’t put on the field? Isn’t this just crazy? Okay I can forget that! Today’s match was another one against Chelsea that everyone was expecting Arshavin to play, but he is not there because he is ill… If we start noticing, Arshavin has been a part of all the fixtures against all teams and is always preferred by Arsene Wenger, which was also proved against Liverpool at Anfield, with the exception of the UEFA Champions League and the matches against Chelsea. 

I don’t know about you guys, but this can be possible because of two reasons:

  1. Either it is pure bad luck or a coincidence
  2. Or is this because of some sort of Russian connection?

It is very weird how he is not available for matches against Chelsea for some reason. Do ponder over this!

Apart from that, Alisher has said that Arsenal should spend more which of course all of us as fans do. But I seriously doubt that Arsene would do that. When he was questioned about signing big names after the Champions League defeat, he answered in his own typical style that the club already has Diaby and Bendtner, and it would not be a fair for for them to bring in new players. OHKAY!! I agree that Diaby and Bendner are potential good players, but tell me something for God’s sake:

“Does Arsenal exist to groom and make big players from unidentified ones or does it exist to play football and win something?”

I still cannot make out what the club and Arsene is aiming to do here? It is about time we show some spark and show that we belong to the big four and we’re not just an ordinary team who don’t know how to get their act straight! And come on, we need to take simple decisions better and need that hunger and confidence in our team. I cannot see the confidence that Arsenal used to have in our current squad and we seriously, I mean seriously need some players who can help change things around and who can help instill that confidence back in our team.

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!

Reply to Protests Against ‘Letter to Mr. Wenger: Arsenal vs ManU (Champions League 1st Leg 29th April 09)’

by Sarosh Waiz on May 2, 2009 in Arsenal with No comments

I am writing this post as a reply to my previous post, that was an open letter to Arsene Wenger for the problems I have been observing in Arsenal’s side. This came out as a harsh outburst in the form of an email/letter directed to Arsenal’s top management and Arsene Wenger.

The intention of that email was not to insult Arsene or Arsenal in anyway possible. And although I do know that I did get a lot of harsh and constructive feedback on my email to Arsenal from a lot of Gunners out there, and a lot of people already do consider me a so-called ‘disgrace to the Arsenal community’ as a fan.

Arsene Wenger - Champions League

Arsene Wenger - Champions League

In reply to this, I would only like to say that I cannot just sit quiet and keep supporting the wrong moves of the team I love. I like to voice my concerns as a fan and I just couldn’t take it specially after losing the game against Chelsea at Wembley in the FA Cup Semi Final as a result of the few mistakes that were made. I want to be part of the club I support and I believe in critical analysis. Apart from this, I just want to say that at least I did an effort to reach out to Arsene and the Arsenal management one way or the other.

The main objective that I wanted to highlight was that, Champions League is something that Arsenal has never won. But approaching the semi-final in such a loose and a lazy manner was not what I was expecting as an Arsenal fan. I don’t care if we win or lose as far as we are giving a good fight back.

I know this team is very young and yet they are in such a top position. Arsene Wenger is one person who I truly adore and respect as a person and my mail in no manner intended to dis-respect him. I also agree to the fact that this team will develop into a great team, but only if they stay together. Because as soon as they develop in to good players, other teams are ready to pick them up for higher salaries. To all those people, who said that these players need time to develop and they will develop in to a great team together, I just want to leave a question before I sign-off today. Do you think a lot of great players will stick to Arsenal against great offers if we don’t win any silverware this season?

However, I have calmed down yet again and I hope we do a better job in the second leg against Manchester United in the Champions League on Tuesday, 5th May 2009.

I would like to heart fully thank the following sites:
1. Tribal Football for putting this letter up as one of the main feature on their website’s front page
2. Online Gooner for giving a link to my Open Letter to Arsene Wenger

Signing Off…

Sarosh Waiz