Wednesday 26 August 2009

New solidity continues as Celtic's challenge fades

Celtic were outclassed in both games, whatever the ins and outs of both games, whatever the excuses, whatever the pundits say, they were simply not good enough to threaten our passage to the Champions League group stages. Part of this was down to Celtic's lack of quality, but a decent chunk of it was because of several improvements Arsene has made to the side and setup since last year.

The whole team are playing for each other, we are pressing higher up the field and defending from the front, this means we are hard to break down, we are fighting for every ball again, we are no push over. Gallas and Vermaelen just works, Gallas is at home on the right and looks dominant again, while Vermaelen compliments him superbly, biting into challenge after challenge, eager to fight for every little loose crumb. Song is a rock, Denilson looks a year wiser, Diaby played with strength and discipline, and tonight Eboue was superb. Bendtner is a rough diamond who will continue to improve, Eduardo has the natural instinct of a hunter.

As you can tell I'm not getting carried away. The next couple of games in Manchester will be more of a test of our metal, however there's no doubt that the signs are very encouraging. The penalty was never a penalty, I felt very little sympathy for the chav that Celtic employed between the sticks though, Eduardo was felled by the slightest of clips and the referee was feeling generous. The later goals just seemed inevitable, Eboue's majestic second was sweet for a man who never deserved the abuse that he received from some brain dead morons last year, while Arshavin didn't take long to neatly slot home after cunning turn in the box.

The formation 4-3-3 appears to be working, but I think the key thing is that the team is playing as a team and working very hard, the spirit seems better and the drive is there, whatever formation we play if you lose that determination and desire then you will be in trouble. Some of the negative vibes from certain sections of the Gooner community are beyond stupidity, some people just want to see Arsene fail, they seem to relish criticising the current setup and will not be happy until millions of pounds are frittered away just for the sake of it, some even seem to just enjoy pretending to be Professors of football when they really are rank ignorami. I would love to see these doubters proven wrong, come on you Gunners, let's keep that fight going, let's keep working hard for each other and let's keep biting into those fifty fifty challenges as if there were no tomorrow.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree everyone is working there socks off still a bit worried about our stikers Van Persie and Bentner they need to get a goal perhaps they will save it for the Man U game also not convinced about Almunia not dominant in the box but apart from that everything looks good would like to see a coule of signings to give the squad real depth Mutadi or Veloso also why not put in a 35 million bid for Davis Villa the money is there i hope senderos stays as we will be a bit short if either Gallas or Villmalin get injured

Uncle Mike said...

Well done to The Arsenal. An effective game all around, even with that hiccup at the end. About time the little Russian beast got on the board, and Wilshere almost fed him a second. I'm enjoying this.

I was following the game on ESPN Soccernet, and I figured it was their usual Arsenal-hating, Man U-slurping tw@t doing it, as he said Eduardo got that penalty shot as a result of a dive. But on another site, every Arsenal fan said it really was a dive. Oh well, one dive in a game puts him, what, four behind Drogba's CL record from last season?

I'm not happy that Ramsey got dinged, but better him than one of the usual starters. Bring on The Devil's Own United!

Rhinogooner said...

I thought it was a dive and I was disappointed in Eduardo for that.

I really like Eduardo, but that knocked me back a bit. I didn't think he was that type of player.

Nevertheless, it had no bearing on the final result of the two legs. Celtic and the media are overreacting to new heights over this. Fueled by their bitterness and ignorance.

There really is no argument. Arsenal thoroughly crushed Celtic. Celtic gave a good account of themselves. But they couldn't live with the Arsenal. I didn't think we even had to exert ourselves very much in our two victories, to be honest.

marcus said...

I don't like that Eduardo dived because he's totally destroyed all the goodwill he'd built up all over the world. Even if he never dives again, he will now be known as a cheat and a diver. Referees will now look at him with scrutiny and I'm sure legitimate penalties won't be called because of it. It doesn't matter if I say he isn't known for diving before this incident, he's totally sullied his reputation. And it's given more ammunition for the xenophobic moral hypocrites in the media to use against us. The revolting hypocritical reaction in the media is far more disgusting than Eduardo's dive. Fantastic display and as you say, what's striking is that the team is fighting for every ball, closing down opponents, doing fantastic work OFF THE BALL, fighting for each other.

Anonymous said...

We were sloppy in the 1st half but turned it up in the 2nd and quality showed thru.The formation still needs a bit of tweaking but i know we will getit right and yes the team are battling now compared to last season.

Yes eddy dived but how many times have we been on the receiving end!!!What did anger me was ITV constantly going on about it,unlike gerrard against i think seville in c/l,roknobole against anyone,kuyt against us in c/l not much analysis on those was there??.

Now waiting for our drawn in the real business end of the C/L.