Archive for February 1st, 2010
De Futebol
I am sad today. Yes, that is right. I wanted Arsenal to win but just like my Philadelphia Eagles, the Gunners break your heart. Manchester United out gunned the Gunners 3-1.
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Nani was the key to the Red Devils attack. I said take Rooney out and force Nani to beat you. This is exactly what happened. I have ESPN, I mean ESP.
For most of the match, Rooney was a non-factor. The Rooney man had five shots. Four of those shots came in the second half.
Rooney scored one goal.
Nani took over the controls of the Man U attack. He ran the offense almost to perfection.
On the other hand, Fabregas had a really hard time directing the Gunners attack.
The only threat throughout the match was Arshavin. He had several great scoring opportunities.
The first one came in the 13th minute. Arshavin took off like a bat out of hell down the left sideline. His shot curled just wide of the net.
A few moments later Fabregas darted through the Red Devils midfield. Fabregas fired a great pass to Arshavin. Arshavin lost his footing and this scoring chance was wasted.
Nani drew first blood for Man U. He fired a wicked ball into the goalmouth. Arsenal’s keeper Almunia missed played the chip shot and Whamo bamo the ball is into the back of the net.
Own goal. Man U is up 1-0 in the 33rd minute.
Four minutes later Nani and Wayne Rooney played a great two man game that killed the Gunners D”.
Rooney fed Nani. Nani made a mad dash down the pitch. Nani nailed a perfect centering pass into the center of the box. Rooney killed the winner in the 37th minute to put Man u up 2-0.
The Fat Lady began doing her pushups.
Park Ji-Sung’s goal in the 52nd minute put the kibosh to Arsenal’s chances of mounting a comeback.
Thomas Vermaelen added a cosmetic goal in the 80th minute to make the final score a respectable 3-1.
In a sad postmortem of the match, three things stand out.
The Gunners forced Nani to become the playmaker. This should have worked but Nani stepped up to the plate and had a hand in two of the three Red Devils goals.
Arsenal could not take advantage of Manchester United’s weak back line. Wes Brown, Evans, and Evra played well enough to stop the Arshavin and Fabregas from scoring.
Arsenal’s attack seemed to be just a hair off. The Gunners were missing the spark and intensity they had in their previous matches.
Speaking purely as an Arsenal fan, I want to jump off the bridge, but hey, Arsenal is like Philly we expect these things to happen all the time.
If anything will go wrong, it will. This is the plight of Arsenal and the Philadelphia Eagles.
In Philly, we have a saying about our Eagles. This saying will apply to Arsenal as well. The Eagles will find a way to screw up a wet dream.
City defeated Portsmouth 2-0.
Emmanuel Adebayor and Vincent Kompany scored both City’s goals in this total whitewash of Pompey.
The dust has settled. The results are in and Chelsea is in the catbird seat with 54 points. Man U is second 53. The Gunners are third with 49. Tottenham is fourth with 42.
My final parting shot is this.
Arsenal will win the EPL.
Where there is hope there is life.
Arsenal and Eagles fans always hope for the best and expect the worst.
Go figure.
It could be worse than five points difference between Arsenal and the Blues.
