Emotional rollercoaster ride
Jermaine Pennant sentenced to jail
Sam Allardyce reckons this is Pennants wake-up call. I'm not convinced. He has had lots of wake-up calls, and following every single one of them he has stated that he don't have any attitude problems. Still his lack of professionalism has been obvious for years for anyone with their eyes open. Pennant's eyes have been well closed. All he has seen is an illusion of his own greatness. Is anything about to change? Feel free to hope, but I don't. What a vaste of talent!
Robin van Persie at St.Mary's
It has been like a emotional rollercoaster ride to follow Arsenal this season. It has been ups and downs, twists and turns. At half time we were one up in Southampton playing 11 against 10 following David Prutton's sending off. We were cruising - to a draw. Again we saw one of our goalkeepers at fault for yet another lead going down the drain. I'm not going to dwell about that now. Robin van Persie's well deserved red card annoyed me most at the time. Only minutes before he had been told to keep his cool. Then he rushed into a pointless tackle in the middle of the park. Second yellow and goodbye. Do we have another young boy about to vaste his talent on our hands? He came to Arsenal with a history of conflicts from his time at Feyenoord. We have also seen signs of his hot head earlier this season. Arsene Wenger reacted in public. That's a first. His rage was obvious for all to see, and of course it prompted speculations that van Persie was on the verge of a fall out with Le Boss. I doubt that will happen. There is one significant difference between Pennant and van Persie. Robin doesn't run about pleading his innocence. He accepts the criticism and gets on with his job. Furthermore, Wenger's outburst is due to his own frustration of not achieving the results he hungers for. Wenger has had to handle young hot heads before and he prefers his players to be very competitive. The trick is to find that slim line between competitiveness and stupidity. It is enough to mention Patrick Vieira and Ashley Cole. Ashley immediately recognized the situation coming to van Persie's defense talking about his empathy with him after the game. I believe Robin van Persie will learn. Unlike Jermaine Pennant he hasn't given me any reason not to do so. I reckon he will be back to face Portsmouth.
Shootout at Bramall Lane
The rollercoaster ride continued in the replay at Bramall Lane. No controversies this time, but is was a fierce encounter that took me through the whole range of emotions. A typical cup tie that in the end warmed my "old" nostalgic hart. It started with the shock of nearly conceding a goal in the opening seconds. It continued with frustration as Arsenal dictated the game completely, but was unable to score the winner. Extra time came and went. Fear crept in as penalties was needed to settle the tie. Then the joy. The players got their reward for working their socks off for 120 minutes giving us a display that brought my thoughts back to the days of Frank McLintock and Tony Adams. Pride is the word. Quincy and Cesc was a sight, but the name of the moment was to be Manuel Almunia. Praise when praise is due. Not just for the penalty saves, but also for making match winning saves at crucial moments. Goalkeeping like that earns you at least 10 points a season in the league. Imagine if he could play like that with consistency! Sadly, that is probably just what it is - imagination. When the rush of the moment wears out I bet he will get lost again chasing a ball when he shouldn't be and dropping a ball he shouldn't have dropped. All the errors that cancels out his great shot stopping ability. However, he has earned his moment of glory. He was a major contributor to sending Sheffield United out of the cup and to me falling asleep a happy man.
Another build up
So for Portsmouth. After the frustrations from Bayern and Southampton tuesday night was the first brick in the build up to make the impossible possible. The target is to eject the germans from the champions league next week. For us to go into that battle in the right state of mind it is vital to get a positive result from the Portsmouth game on saturday. Bearing in mind the twists and turns of the season Robin van Persie is likely to provide us with the winner.
Sam Allardyce reckons this is Pennants wake-up call. I'm not convinced. He has had lots of wake-up calls, and following every single one of them he has stated that he don't have any attitude problems. Still his lack of professionalism has been obvious for years for anyone with their eyes open. Pennant's eyes have been well closed. All he has seen is an illusion of his own greatness. Is anything about to change? Feel free to hope, but I don't. What a vaste of talent!
Robin van Persie at St.Mary's
It has been like a emotional rollercoaster ride to follow Arsenal this season. It has been ups and downs, twists and turns. At half time we were one up in Southampton playing 11 against 10 following David Prutton's sending off. We were cruising - to a draw. Again we saw one of our goalkeepers at fault for yet another lead going down the drain. I'm not going to dwell about that now. Robin van Persie's well deserved red card annoyed me most at the time. Only minutes before he had been told to keep his cool. Then he rushed into a pointless tackle in the middle of the park. Second yellow and goodbye. Do we have another young boy about to vaste his talent on our hands? He came to Arsenal with a history of conflicts from his time at Feyenoord. We have also seen signs of his hot head earlier this season. Arsene Wenger reacted in public. That's a first. His rage was obvious for all to see, and of course it prompted speculations that van Persie was on the verge of a fall out with Le Boss. I doubt that will happen. There is one significant difference between Pennant and van Persie. Robin doesn't run about pleading his innocence. He accepts the criticism and gets on with his job. Furthermore, Wenger's outburst is due to his own frustration of not achieving the results he hungers for. Wenger has had to handle young hot heads before and he prefers his players to be very competitive. The trick is to find that slim line between competitiveness and stupidity. It is enough to mention Patrick Vieira and Ashley Cole. Ashley immediately recognized the situation coming to van Persie's defense talking about his empathy with him after the game. I believe Robin van Persie will learn. Unlike Jermaine Pennant he hasn't given me any reason not to do so. I reckon he will be back to face Portsmouth.
Shootout at Bramall Lane
The rollercoaster ride continued in the replay at Bramall Lane. No controversies this time, but is was a fierce encounter that took me through the whole range of emotions. A typical cup tie that in the end warmed my "old" nostalgic hart. It started with the shock of nearly conceding a goal in the opening seconds. It continued with frustration as Arsenal dictated the game completely, but was unable to score the winner. Extra time came and went. Fear crept in as penalties was needed to settle the tie. Then the joy. The players got their reward for working their socks off for 120 minutes giving us a display that brought my thoughts back to the days of Frank McLintock and Tony Adams. Pride is the word. Quincy and Cesc was a sight, but the name of the moment was to be Manuel Almunia. Praise when praise is due. Not just for the penalty saves, but also for making match winning saves at crucial moments. Goalkeeping like that earns you at least 10 points a season in the league. Imagine if he could play like that with consistency! Sadly, that is probably just what it is - imagination. When the rush of the moment wears out I bet he will get lost again chasing a ball when he shouldn't be and dropping a ball he shouldn't have dropped. All the errors that cancels out his great shot stopping ability. However, he has earned his moment of glory. He was a major contributor to sending Sheffield United out of the cup and to me falling asleep a happy man.
Another build up
So for Portsmouth. After the frustrations from Bayern and Southampton tuesday night was the first brick in the build up to make the impossible possible. The target is to eject the germans from the champions league next week. For us to go into that battle in the right state of mind it is vital to get a positive result from the Portsmouth game on saturday. Bearing in mind the twists and turns of the season Robin van Persie is likely to provide us with the winner.
posted by Norwegian Gooner at 22:28
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