QUOTE(giotto @ Feb 6 2011, 10:59 AM)
The collapse was certainly helped by the ref's decisionmaking, which was rather appaling. First, Barton was throwing in challenges like he had a quota to do so before even being booked. He did it in the first leg where we lost and he did it again last night. I mean that challenge on Diaby, its tackles like those that breaks legs. No doubt Diaby was rightly sent off but when refs don't book these tackles, it only encourages on field thugs like Barton to continue doing it.
It was Diaby's violent conduct that got him sent off, but if you take into account the incident in which Szczesny was rightly booked for time-wasting after the penalty, the perpetrator wasn't sent off although his conduct in bundling Szczesny to the ground is considerably violent.
Man's sports? Inconsistent refereeing? Vague laws of the game? or convenient argument from a sour grape? I'm sure a lot would pick the last. Doesn't change the fact that decisions from the men in black are inconsistent at best. And I feel it's extremely ridiculous to accept statements like "sometimes decisions go your way, sometimes the other way so it's best to control your own destiny". The greatest matches in the game were and should be conjured by footballing geniuses, and not through inconsistent and controversial decisions by the men in black. They should serve as the mediators, and not the aggravators. It's a shame the rot has deteriorated to this degree.
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After the red card, i think Arsenal completely lost it. It's almost as tho we pushed the "self destruct button". We couldn't hold the ball, and that is super important when you're 1 man down. We should have just kept the ball, maintain possession and suck up what's being thrown at us. I think mentally, the players lost it after the 3rd goal. That was a soft penalty to be given. One of the softest i've ever seen. It wasn't even a handball and to begin with, the player was not even in a goal scoring opportunity. Dowd's completely got it wrong. I think a penalty is given when a player is denied a clear scoring opportunity. I can't remember who the player was, but he was completely not in any clear scoring opportunity. I would accept it if its a handball by Rosicky.
Soaking up pressure has never been the current generation's forte and hopefully, will never be. Although '1-0 to the Arsenal' may sound amusing, unless you want to bear with Graham's defensive team all over again, soaking up pressure is too Italian for Arsenal.
Wenger: "We are guided by the way we want to play football".
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Nevertheless, it was 2 points lost rather than 1 point gain against Man Utd who coincidentally lost. The game was shocking. In Arsene Wenger's words, mathematically we lost 2 points but it was the psychological damage that is bigger.
I think this is too big of a reaction. If Arsenal's proven pedigree that included the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira and Campbell took ages to recover from the psychological damage inflicted at the end of the long unbeaten run, who is to say Man Utd wouldn't need time to recover from their relatively lengthy unbeaten stretch? Or perhaps many think Man Utd's Rooney, Giggs and Ferdinand are mentally stronger than the Arsenal's very own history-making team?
In the context of an intense title race, which one is more damaging psychologically? Arsenal's collapse or Man Utd's unbeaten run ended at Wolves? But yeah I think I'm starting to understand why some Man Utd supporters are conceited to the extent that they keep harping on the ABU nonsense. Some of the people here are feeding their ego. Dang I'm guilty of this too
. In any case, it's ridiculously shortsighted to take only Man Utd into account. Other teams like Chelsea are slowly regaining their form. Man Utd is only another team challenging for the title, have some respect for other teams like Chelsea or even Man City.
Haven't you noticed Arsenal's steel this season? Scraping victories, confronting physically bigger teams etc? Again a lot may say I'm delusional but I'd like to think of myself as an optimist.
Victoria Concordia Crescit fellow gooners!
Feb 6 2011, 11:52 AM
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bloody diaby...put him on ebay, aw!
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