Author Archives: Michael Roberts

Theo Selection Is A Masterstroke

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What a fantastic few days for Arsenal fans – a great send off from Highbury, beating Sp*rs to fourth place and now yesterday it turns out that Theo Walcott is not just on stand-by for England but he’s in the 23-man provisional squad!

And with Owen and Rooney both doubtful it looks pretty certain that Theo is going to make history and go to Germany.

Which is unbelievable!

Sven is generally pretty, well quite frankly boring, in his England team selection.

We know Beckham and Owen are always in the team – regardless of form or full fitness, and it was a shock to everyone that Arsenal forward Theo is in the squad, despite not having any Premiership experience!

But unlike everyone else, I’m glad Theo has been selected.

Yes, it’s a gamble – but why not?

Let’s not be naive about this – Sven hasn’t just picked a random 17 year old from the street and put him in the England squad! He’s seen him first hand, Theo trains alongside world-class players and Arsene himself has apparently recommended him.

Darren Bent in my opinion has had a chance and been picked for a few England squads in the past, and obviously is not selected in the current squad because Sven has not been impressed with what he has seen when training with him.

Yes, he’s scored 18 goals in the Premiership but does that mean your International quality? Diego Forlan was the top scorer in Spain last season for f*cks sake – but would you have him ahead of Eto, Ronaldinho or Robinho? Hell no!

Jermaine Defoe is on stand-by, not because he hasn’t played that much but because Sven doesn’t think he’s good enough to be in the first 23.

People will point to the fact that Theo hasn’t appeared, nevermind started for Arsenal but people forget that Arsene Wenger has been preparing the young lad and this season is just too short for him. By the time the World Cup and the start of next season start he will be ready.

When Arsenal first signed Thierry Henry from Juventus Wenger had to prepare the Frenchman for several months before he was good enough to have an impact on the first team.

Like Henry, Theo would be constantly be flagged offside because linesmen could not gauge their phenomenal pace. So Arsenal have been working on Theo curving and arcing his runs to perfection.

All these young talents just need that chance to make their mark. Look what happened to Michael Owen in the 1998 World Cup and Wayne Rooney in Euro 2004.

And in all honesty, it’s not really that much of a gamble – generally from the 22-man squad that goes to these tournaments, only 15 to 16 of them will see any action on the pitch.

So is it really that much of a deal?

Let’s give this lad a chance!

What Was All The Fuss About?

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So Arsenal win at their last ever match at Highbury, finish fourth and overtake Spurs into the final Champions League spot. Even with a piss-poor penalty fron Teddy Sheringham.

Ever in doubt? 

The best possible send off to Highbury – emotional stuff!

Do I believe in fate?

Well Spurs went down with food poisoning, which when I first heard I thought it was a ploy to beat West Ham – if they successfully had the game re-arranged for later in the week you could guarantee that Pardew would play NO first team players, especially with the FA Cup Final only next weekend.

But surprisingly the game went ahead, and Spurs had to play at Upton Park. I thought Spurs would be successful in trying to con the FA and the Premier League.

But for once the authorities actually stood strong!

At Highbury it was a game no Arsenal fan could ever forget – it had action, goals, suspense – everything!

Arsenal went 1-0 up after 7 minutes thanks to Robert Pires, after a knock-down from Sol Campbell from a Cesc cross.

But then Arsenal conceded after minutes of the re-start, thanks to a goal from Paul Scharner who was an Arsenal fan as a boy. What a moment for him as he scored at the final ever game at Highbury.

And on 34 minutes Wigan went ahead from, it has to said, an audacious from David Thompson who saw Lehmann out of position and cleverly clipped his freekick into the near post.

But if anyone was going to be the star of the show then it was best player in the Premiership, captain of Arsenal and all-round genius Thierry Henry, who scored a hattrick for the perfect Highbury send off.

His first was a classic Henry goal, after being fed by fellow Frenchman Pires. The second was a cheeky goal, taken from a David Thompson pass-back. Then finally to seal the win and the 4th place in the Premiership, Freddie won a penalty which Henry converted with aplomb.

Could today have been any better?

It was the perfect day, the perfect send off and the perfect result.

I’ll see you in Paris!

Diaby Victim Of Not Being English?

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I’ve had time to think about the tackle by Dan Smith on Abou Diaby, who we now know is out for at least 9 months – a devastating time out for a young, promising player who really looked to have got into his stride at Arsenal.

I think it’s pretty clear that Dan Smith had no intention of getting the ball – various pictures and downloads over the internet can prove that, and I think everyone agrees that a yellow card for such a reckless, horrific and career-threatening tackle is totally ridiculous.

When I first saw the tackle on Sky Sports, I kept hearing co-commentator Brian Marwood defending the Sunderland player saying things like “he was going for the ball..” or “he didn’t mean to hurt him…”.

My first reaction was that it was a disgusting tackle, if indeed you can call it a tackle.

The reaction from the Arsenal players after the incident was spot on, with Toure, Fabregas, Henry et al showing their dismay at the whole situation, rightly condemning Smith for his pathetic and cowardly attempt to ‘win the ball’.

And apparently Dan Smith has had only a few professional appearances, of which his first he received a red card.

Not bad going for a thug.

The problem is that the tackle was totally uncalled for, it was at the end of the game when the match was well out of reach so the only explanation is that Smith was frustrated and obviously wanted to hurt Diaby.

Now the promising midfielder is out of the Champions League Final, out of action for 9 months and is going to have a hell of a time regaining the same form he had.

At the beginning of the game you felt sorry for Sunderland because of their situation, but afterwards after numerous dangerous tackles you just felt that this bunch of thugs can go f*ck themselves – as Henry said, are these guys actually playing football here?

Toure spoke out and said he could see it coming, which was sad. I was surprised that Henry and Fabregas came out for the second half – you thought that Wenger would rest them and you knew how Sunderland were playing that they could injure one of our players.

Unfortunately that happened to Diaby.

We’ve all heard about Arsenal threatening legal action over the tackle. They are right to look into it but it probably won’t get them anywhere – but it does highlight the problem of insufficient punishments to clearly reckless behaviour.

It does seem that the media in particular are glossing over this horrific incident – is this because Diaby isn’t English? I’m sure more people would kick off if Dan Smith injured Rooney in the same manner. In fact, if Smith did that to Rooney I am certain he would be booted out of the country!

You can be sure The Sun and similar newspapers would have Dan Smith’s picture on the front page behind bars with a headline: ‘This Man Ruined Englands World Cup Dreams…’

Because the challenge by Paulo Ferreira on Rooney was innocuous you cannot place blame on the Chelsea full-back. But you can guarantee if Ferreira had any blame for the injury, he would be public enemy number one.

No question.

But because they can’t blame anyone now they’re blaming the actual boots, which is a whole other arguement…

And if this happened to John Terry? You can be sure Chelsea fans would put pressure on Dan Smith like they did to Anders Frisk, to the extent where he had to retire because of death threats.

Am I condoning such behavour from fans? Of course not.

But I feel Mr Daniel Smith has got off very, very lightly.

And that’s an under-statement.

Emotional, Special, Totally Unbelievable – We’ve Done It!

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Jens Der Supermann

I was going to post something late last night, but it would have been an incoherent mess after one of the most emotional nights I have ever witnessed – obvious comparisons with Anfield 89’ and on the other side of the scale the FA Cup Semi Final against United at Villa Park a few season ago.

At the final whistle I almost cried it was so emotional!

It couldn’t have been a more tense game. I was frozen for the first 85 minutes – I couldn’t believe what I was watching. It was basically a performance that was a carbon copy of last seasons FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

But could we defend for most of the game and would our luck eventually run out?

Then Jose Mari, who made his appearance after 63 minutes won a, f*ck it I’ll say it, a penalty for a cheating the referee. Yes, there was contact, but if you’re going to give a penalty for that then it wouldn’t be an exaggeration if Arsenal were awarded 10 last night for what can only be called wrestling in the Villarreal box.

And this was it. On 88 minutes Villarreal get a penalty to equalise, and none other than the mercurial Riquelme is the man to even the game.

And you know if this goes in its over.

Arsenal haven’t been any kind of an attacking force all evening and if anyone is going to get another goal in extra time it’s going to be Villarreal!

But then Super Jens Lehmann stepped up and saved against all odds!

Unbelievable!!

Some of you might argue that there should have been a penalty in the first leg, but I’d also point out that Henry had a perfectly good goal ruled out at Highbury as well.

Plus, that Jose Mari is a f*cking diving tw*t anyway.


YEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

When that full-time whistle went I was bombarded with text messages, mostly saying “What a f*cking save from Super Jens!!”.

What a f*cking save indeed.

I still haven’t got over what happened last night, and it could not have been a more tense game and the roller coaster of emotions was intense.

Jens was clearly the best Arsenal player on the pitch, but you cannot deny Arsenal defended well, as well as of course we rode their luck at times.

What a night for Arsenal, what a night for football and what a night in El Madrigal!

Not Time For Sol-King Tonight?

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The Enigma Which Is The Yellow Submarine..

Here are some interesting statistics on Villarreal and Arsenal before tonights huge game:

  • Villarreal have played 11 CL matches, and only won 3.
  • In comparision, Arsenal have won 8 of those 11 games.
  • Arsenal are unbeaten in this years Champions League.
  • They have only conceded 2 goals at home, from 5 matches.
  • Arsenal have scored 6 away goals from 5 away games.
  • Villarreal have knocked out 3 British teams already; Man United, Rangers and Everton.

Villarreal are so dangerous because you know they generally don’t concede many goals, and have won when it has mattered. Winning only 3 games in the competition so far is amazing when you think they are in the semi-finals and only 90 minutes away from Paris!

The first leg saw a disciplined Villarreal team that when they conceded the first goal, they still defended deep and in numbers, and were seemingly happy with losing 1-0 – because it’s still all to play for when we play at El Madrigal.

But good news for Arsenal is that they haven’t won by 2 clear goals yet in the competition, which is what they will have to do to progress to the final.

Things do look good for Arsenal, but Villarreal did rest 6/7 of their key players at the weekend and – it goes without saying – they will give tonight absolutely everything. This is their cup final.

In comparison, Arsenal were embroiled in a tense and controversial North London derby that saw most of the key players (with the exception of Hleb and Ljungberg) make an appearence. Hardly the best preparation for the European game.

Also the impressive Senderos injured himself – possibly for the rest of the season.

The other main news regarding the Arsenal team is that Sol Campbell will make his return.

I for one have not been impressed with what he has done this season, although he did look much slimmer and in better shape against Portsmouth. But we didn’t win that game and would we have conceded that goal with Senderos at the back?

Who knows.

But Sol could not have a bigger game to show what he is made out of and show Arsenal fans he is focused and back on form.

Of course, he doesn’t have anything to prove since he has been colossus for us over the last few seasons – but now he has to step up.

Sol has been showing signs of sluggishness this season and that would worry Arsenal fans. Riquelme isn’t the quickest player in the world but his movement and technqique are fantastic and Gilberto will have to play the game of his life to keep him quiet.

Jose Antonio Reyes will have to have a good game – which he didn’t against Spurs on Saturday. Jose will surely be hyped up to be back in Spain and hopefully he can do what he did so well against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Wenger will keep with the same team that has served him well over most of the Champions League campaign, with the exception of Campbell in for Senderos.

Arsenal will have to be patient tonight because Villarreal are a shrewd team who will be happy if the scoreline is 0-0 with 15/20 minutes remaining.

They won’t panic and if they nick a goal then the game will become totally different and they will rely on the other team getting nervous. They will be more than happy with a 1-0 win, especially with extra time at home and with most of their players having being rested since last weeks first leg.

I’m not even going to predict a score – I’m far to superstitious for that!