Sunday 8 February 2009

Spurs 0-0. No thanks no Comrade Eboue

The dust has not settled yet on this afternoon's 0-0 draw at Shite Hart Lane, but my immediate reaction is that despite a great deal of frustration, we have done bloody well to escape with a point from a Spurs team that was desperate to win.

The headlines are not going to be pretty. Arsenal were pretty poor during the opening exchanges and gave the ball away a lot. That said, there were one or two bright moments and Eboue was finding some joy drifting onto the left wing. In fact, I saw nothing wrong with the goal which was disallowed by Mike Riley, although replays showed there was the slightest of pushes in Woodgate's back. But the massive talking points are Eboue's red card and Adebayor's injury.

The fact that Eboue managed to get a yellow card for dissent early on in the game was pretty stupid. But even as an Arsenal fan I thought he was being a prick towards the ref, constantly going back to the incident and bizarrely trying to make a one man wall where the free kick was being taken from. But having got a silly yellow card, Eboue kicked out at the rat-faced Modric and sent him spinning to the ground. The fact that Modric had trod on Eboue's toe whilst going for the ball seemed to be the reason the red mist descended in Eboue's pea sized brain, but the ref had no choice but to give Eboue a second yellow.

With Arshavin now available and Walcott hopefully back sooner rather than later, this has got to be the end of the road for Eboue. He is a complete twat for making a difficult job all the harder for the rest of the team.

The other piece of bad news was Adebayor pulling up with a hamstring injury in the middle of the first half. I thought it was odd at the time, as it didn't look like he had really hurt himself. I was half expecting the magic sponge to allow him back on the pitch. Anyway, he went off on a stretcher and was replaced by Bendtner, who did his usual routine of frustrating nothing mixed in with occassion moments of looking ok. What surprised me though were the pictures of Ade climbing the stairs back to the dug-out later in the game. I guess his leg may have been heavily strapped under his tracksuit, but he didn't look that bothered. And neither did his team mates as he came to sit down next to them.

Now, I don't think that Ade faked his injury, but I am very unconvinced by him this season. Whilst Dawson took a heavy knock in the first half and was visibly wincing with pain, I am not sure there are many Arsenal players out there who can take a knock and continue the game. Sagna and Kolo are pretty tough, but not many others. Ade, on the otherhand, is turning into a massive jessy. There is something of a sick note culture at Arsenal. If you feel the slightest twinge, or you realise you are not as fast as Corluka, you take a precautionary early bath and look after yourself. As Ade made clear over the Summer, he has retirement planning to get on with.

Anyway, enough of that. The second half was generally much better, and the 10 players left on the pitch did very well. We may have even sneaked a goal towards the end, but massive credit to Almunia as well, who made an excellent save against Modric in extra time.

Mixed feelings overall. A lot of relief that we didn't lose but also a lot of anger that Eboue, yet again, behaved like an utter tit.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alright Ted.

I'm waiting for one of the blind optimists to mention that we're still on this unbeaten run...

Anonymous said...

have you ever had a hamstring injury? they are nearly impossible to play with especially immediately after receiving the injury...i don't think that in this instance there was any lack of toughness though i understand your point

K man said...

We're really struggling to make Champions League football next season now. The games are running out.

Eboue has had his last chance. But I am annoyed that Wenger keeps sticking with him - surely Eboue must be consigned to being Sagna's deputy, nothing more.

It was a well earned point in the end and I agree that Almunia was excellent. I thought Gallas and Song were good but Toure has really lost form this season - maybe we should have taken the City £10mn for him after all.

The good news is that Edurado was on the bench, Arshavin will be ready soon, Rosicky is in training, Walcot and Fabreags will be back within a month. They will make a big difference.

I don't think we'll miss Ade much - he hasn't been good recently. I've always had my doubts about him - he's not a team player at all.

Anonymous said...

well now i m scared.....Villa 8 points ahead...and coming top 4 looks a big task ahead of us now .

Villa not dropping points and we are drawing with clubs against which we should have won....and we are yet to play Big 3 in later stages .

Now i guess our fight will be with chelsea to come in Top 4 as i cant see villa losing 2 matches consicutively [ sigh ]

Obsinho said...

Wenger did seem genuinely mad at Eboue in his post-match interview. Which does make me hope for the best, and that the Eboue experiment is over at last. Chances of a bid for him coming in the Summer?

The attmepts to spin it on .con make me not so sure though - not reallt what I want tom read after more dropped points.

I'm hoping Ade's rest will do him good. It will only benefit us if Nick/Eddy/Arsh/Vela come in and have a stormer, so Ade would have to fight his was back in. Thing is, Wenger often doesn;t care who is on form, but picks his standard 11 as often as possible. Hence EBoue's almost ever-presence this season. And Ade's to be honest.

Anonymous said...

To follow up on Obsinho's point about the spin on Arsenal.com - I do find it rather insulting to my intelligence when the club, manager and/or player try to make up foolish excuses for poor results and performances.

We watch the matches and follow our club closely, and though we are not privy to behind the scenes information, many fans are not ignorant about the causes for their clubs' weaknesses or what is required to solve the issues.

That said, can we get Big Tone in as defensive coach now? (Even though I recognize our defense has been performing much better recently).

Anonymous said...

With Arshavin ineligible for the FA Cup match v. Cardiff. And Eboue suspended. Is it likely Wilshere might get the chance we've all been waiting for?

Si said...

Eboue is a tosser. After reading the interview with him in The Guardian on Saturday, I almost started to feel for him. But now he can go and fuck it. Fucking cunt of a player, I wish him a proper going over. I hope some nutty Herd members find out where he lives.