chanreborn
chanreborn
chanreborn

back on time to watch sunday night football

2010/10/22 17:58:39 網誌分類: 波經
22 Oct

I WILL BE AWAY BUT BACK ON TIME TO WATCH BIG SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL... COME ON ARSENAL.. DON'T LET ADEBAYOR TO SCORE THIS TIME..

Can Arsenal shut down Tevez and David Silva?

By Myles Palmer

 

What do we know about Arsenal's next opponents?

Manchester City v Arsenal is on Sunday at 4pm.

Well, the biggest threat is David Silva, a two-footed magician who has now found his Valencia form.

While Carlos Tevez is very strong, sparky and determined, David Silva is exceptionally nimble in everything he does. Not many forwards with that much pace have his vision or the skills to hit runners so often and so accurately.

Manchester City beat Lech Poznan 3-1 on Thursday night and Adebarndoor got all three goals. He had not scored since their game against Aston Villa game in May.

Silva’s left foot cross allowed Ade to score with a glancing header from 10 yards and he slotted again for 2-0 at half-time. After Lech got back to 2-1, the Silva pass for Ade to make it 3-1 was pure magic. A Messi pass and his last of the match, as Roberto Mancini took him off to a standing ovation.

In City’s controversial 3-2 win at Blackpool, Adebayor was embarrassingly inept and Mancini pulled faces every time Ade lost the ball. The manager took him off and City scored within seconds. And then Mancini told the press now well Ade had played because he knew he had to start him in the Poznan game.

That Blackpool match should give Arsenal hope because the City midfielders could not get near Charlie Adam, Ian Holloway's £500,000 signing from Rangers, who gave them the runaround.

There were no goals for 67 minutes, then Tevez scored, sub Harewood equalised, Tevez immediately scored again, and Silva made it 3-1.Then Gary Taylor-Fletcher pulled another goal back in 93.

Carlos Tevez is good in big games. He dribbles thirty yards to make a five yard pass. His tenacity is phenomenal. He protects the ball with fire and passion and never cheats, never hides, never gives up, never gives the defender a breather.

I love Tevez. He’s one of the very best footballers I’ve seen in the past five years. He never moans that he's being treated like a piece of meat, although he has been. More than any other footballer : parked at West Ham, rented to Man United, where he ran his guts out to make Ronaldo and Rooney look good, and still they refused to buy him off Kia, his agent.

All along I thought that buying a striker from an agent was a precedent Sir Alex never wanted to set. Something in his DNA rebelled against that concept and United still miss Tevez. His stats did not tell the whole story. Or even half of it.

Carlos Tevez is special because he is one the few millionaire footballers who knows why he is paid all that money.

He grew up in Fort Apache, a housing project c reated by the junta prior to the 1978 World Cup, when the military dictators did not want the world’s media to see Argentina’s underclass, who were mostly descended from the indigenous Indian population. A few had escaped extermination when the country was formed. So they rounded up the underclass and stuck them in a 22-block zone that became known as Fort Apache, four miles north of the city centre. In this crime-ridden slum, where 30,000 people  struggled, there were some football teams for youngsters. As a six year old playing “baby football" , Tevez learned how to be aggressive in defending the ball. But while he was in bed at night he was often frightened by gunshots.

As a kid in Buenos Aires, he was a Boca Juniors fanatic, and he joined Boca after the coach who discovered him got the job as their academy director. Carlos Tevez became South American Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2004, signed for Corinthians in Brazil, led them to the title in 2005, and became the first player to win South American Footballer of the Year three times. Not everybody knows that.

Sunday is a massive game for Arsenal, as Fabregas has said.

With the skipper an hour into his comeback, and Vermaelen still out with an achilles, and Jack Wilshere suspended for the next three domestic games, Arsenal’s midfield might be relying too much on Nasri to hold the ball AND get shots in.

City’s attack and defence are strong but their midfield is weak and that's where Arsenal might win the game, even without Wilshere.

The only good thing about having a player suspended for three games is that you know when he’s coming back. If Wilshere was injured, you wouldn’t know when he was coming back. As it is, he can train a lot and play in the Ukraine on Wednesday, November 2 and get some match fitness for Newcastle at the Emirates on Sunday November 7.

As a gambler, I think City v Arsenal is one to avoid.

On this Friday morning, I don't have a clue how the game might pan out. I can't call it. Chamakh gets goals and I fancy him to score again at Eastlands. But City are far better than Shakhtar and Birmingham, even if they're not as formidable as Chelsea. They have England keeper Joe Hart, who can pull off very good saves. But you already know all that. 

 

Oct 22, 2010

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慳妹
慳妹 2013/01/10

chanreborn:

Happy anniversary to you and Little Bee!

慳妹
慳妹 2012/01/10

chanreborn & Little Bee:

   

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花姐
花姐 2011/12/07

看完真的茅塞頓開

非常認同「人生有破缺,喜悅自相隨,人生無破缺,喜悅從何說。」

你很幸福有如此賢妻

祝夫妻恩愛白頭偕老

chanreborn
chanreborn 2011/02/17
Wilshere and Szczesny give Arsenal far more authority and guts

By Myles Palmer

Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1

Villa 26, Van Persie 78, Arshavin 83

____________________________

The key player in the Nou Camp will be Szczesny.

So pray that nothing happens to Arsenal’s goalkeeper between now and Tuesday, March 8th.

Barcelona’s style is cleverly-timed runs onto sharp little passes, which c reates a lot of one-on-one chances with the keeper.

Wojciech Szczesny’s fine positional judgement makes him a master of making opponents shoot into the side-netting or just past the post.

On the goal, he was a bit unlucky because David Villa, a razor finisher in these situations, slotted between his legs.

By contrast, he got lucky on the loose ball after his save, when the scrambling Messi headed in but was flagged offside. Messi wasn't offside.

For me, Szczesny was Arsenal’s best player last night for that reason. Making Messi miss was the name of the game.

Yes, Koscielny played his finest game in an Arsenal shirt.

Yes, Jack Wilshere played with remarkable authority at the heart of the team. England need to play Jack football, Fabio - not Capello football.

Yes, of course, CL knock-out ties are a game of four halves.

Arsenal lost the first half 1-0 and won the second half 2-0 and halves three and four will roll round 20 days from now.

Arsenal raised their tempo after half-time and the game turned on 68 when Keita and Arshavin came on.

Keita replaced Villa to stiffen Barca's midfield, which was running out of steam, and allowed young Busquets to go ball-hunting further up the field.

Arshavin’s arrival (for Song) allowed him to link in a cool manner with Clichy, who played a killer ball forward into the box with his right-foot and gave Van Persie a chance to hit a mighty left-foot shot on the half- volley inside the near post of Victor Valdes for 1-1.

Valdes has always had flaky moments. That blunder by allowed Arsenal back into a game that Barcelona were still playing mostly in Arsenal's half.

Still, defending deeper can be good. You can only counter-attack if your opponents are in your half of the field. You can attack too much in a game. If you attack less, you often score more.

Frankly, Fabregas, Eboue and Walcott had been crap.

All three played crap. Only a blinkered, badge-kissing nincompoop would say any of those three played well last night.

Arsenal had nothing on the right flank but now, suddenly, that was where the winning goal came from after a fabulous move.

The cool Koscielny picked up the ball in his penalty area, passed to Bendtner, who passed infield to Wilshere, then quickly forward to Fabregas, who instantly released Nasri with a superb ball down the right flank.

Nasri could have tried the obvious with a low cross to the far post but chose instead to play a lovely pass which allowed Arshavin to curl his sidefoot shot behind Abidal and into the net from 15 yards.

That quality goal gave Arsenal their first victory against Barcelona and it set the seal on the pulsating, rocking, thrilling night that the Emirates has needed since 2006.

Sporting Gijon was a factor last night because game was much harder than the Wolves game was for Arsenal .

After two and half years of staggering success, and intensifying pressure, Barcelona are showing signs of burn-out, so Pep has to husband his resources very carefully.

Coming back off an international break, which is mostly where Barcelona d rop their points, he conceded an early goal at Gijon in a game that was very passionate, intense and physical, since Gijon are fighting for their lives just above the drop-zone.

 I was really enjoying the game but as the second half went on I was thinking : This is taking a lot out of Barcelona !

Indeed, it was a helluva battle that was taking a lot out of both sides.

Just as the commentators began to say that David Villa was about to be taken off, he glided onto a wonder-pass from Messi and chipped the keeper from the edge of the box and it finished 1-1.

Success brings a heavy schedule.

The more games you win, the more the pressure is on you. To handle that you need character and guts. Wilshere and Szczesny have given the team a lot more personality and authority than it had last year.

Big characters, big difference.

As Rufus Thomas said, age ain’t nothin’ but a number.

_________________________________________

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Eboue, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy; Song (Arshavin, 67), Wilshere; Walcott (Bendtner, 77), Fabregas, Nasri; Van Persie. Subs not used Almunia (gk), Rosicky, Denilson, Squillaci, Gibbs. Booked Song, Nasri, Van Persie

BARCELONA (4-3-3): Valdes; Alves, Pique, Abidal, Maxwell; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta (Adriano, 88); Pedro, Messi, Villa (Keita, 67). Subs not used Pinto (gk), Bojan, Mascherano, Milito, Afellay. Booked Iniesta, Pique (misses second leg)

Possession :Arsenal 47% Barcelona 53%

Shots on target Arsenal 8 Barcelona 7

Man of the match: Szczesny.

Referee Nicola Rizzoli (Italy) 

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