Good morning, Gooner Nation
It's taken me a few days to be able to write again. Like many of you, I lost a loved one on Saturday. Her name is Lady Luck and she was a good kid. Shame on me for thinking this season would be any different luck-wise than the last few campaigns.
In my previous post, August 28th, I had mentioned my concern with alMUnia, "But, admittedly, I am concerned with Almunia. This guy can make a fantastic save but in a blink of an eye he can make a complete ass of himself". Unfortunately, the madness of alMUnia reared its ugly head (again) and as quickly as we were up 1-nil he was found to have brought down Shrek Rooney and there it was, 1s and shared spoils. It's clear that Shrek was dragging his left foot and looking for the penalty, which Dean promptly obliged. At the end of the day, as fans we can blame Shrek for the whole debacle but this penalty never gets awarded if alMUnia doesn't commit himself in the manner he did.
I used to play a bit of keeper in my day and their rules are very straight forward but filled with consequences, if off: you commit to the ball knowing you will get there first, and pray to God that you make contact or you stay in goal and take your chances with the shot. It's one or the other because if you commit to either half way you're likely caught out. The decision must be made in the briefest of instances. I can't help but think that alMUnia's decision to rush Shrek was ego-driven. If you look at the camera shot from behind the goal you can easily tell that the angles are poor for Rooney to do anything; plus, both Capi and Sagna are rushing back to stand him up. Also, Rooney's first touch launches the ball towards the corner flag. To me, that is the indicator that this is not even a scoring opportunity and more of a defensive clearance. I can't help but think that alMUnia wanted to put his stamp on the game. Why else would you rock that stupid, blonde Mohawk creature? Attention. Stupid hair or ego-driven intent does not matter as he has shown that his decision making is very poor despite his wonder saves here and again. I would think that Arsene Wenger will have to address these decisions at some point; in truth, I don't think he will because their minds are so delicate and his being dropped would likely mean him asking for a transfer. Fortunately, City have Given already.
All tied at 1-1 and seemingly everything to play for. I had relaxed a bit because I knew United would score. I knew it would be dubious and I knew it would be unjustified. This is what happens, and this is what is expected when you play at Old Trafford.
Less than five minutes from alMUnia's moment of madness we had another inexplicable event occur. Abou-boo Diaby produced a finely executed, uncontested own-goal header. As reported on Sky Sports today Abou-boo would label it a "silly mistake". I'm glad he can use such a cool descriptor as "silly". In my mind, that word can be replaced with a few choice expletives. I'm not going to throw the boy under the bus because everyone makes mistakes; humans are not infallible. Up until that point I felt Diaby had proved his naysayers wrong; I still think his overall match was better than both Carrick and thug-life Fletcher. I've spent some time this week trying to figure out if Diaby was trying to head the ball towards alMUnia, or off to the side of the goal, or maybe he thought it was an offensive try. I'm not sure.
I have sympathy for Abou-boo because I went through a similar, inexplicable ordeal. I was backing my car out of the garage and for one reason or another I turned the wheel too early and nicked the door frame, ripping some of the paneling off of the wall but thoroughly denting my bumper in the tune of a $325 repair. Why? No fucking idea why. In a split second I made a decision to turn the wheel, it happened to be too early, and the result was a fucked up bumper and nice, fat repair bill. At the end of the day, we all make Abou-boos and as long as they aren't repeated we live, we learn and we get on with it.
As the Arsenal went down 1-2 and we pressed for the equalizer I honestly felt we would get it. If Capi had not been so anxious there at the death we might have equalized with a RVP smash but it wasn't to be.
I had mentioned in a previous post that Eboue ought not play unless Sagna is injured. I meant that; I still mean that. Eboue's match was more of the same: errant passes, waving hands, and complete and utter wandering. You would think that Eboue has Alzheimer's with his poor decision making, wandering, and blatant lack of positional know-how. Eboue is not a midfielder and should not played in that position. Ever. Even writing his name makes me sick to my stomach. Thank God he'll be gone for awhile for African Cup of Nations 2010.
I can think of two big instances where Eboue hurt the Arsenal. Eboue's dive and resulting yellow card was just sickening. Kablooie! It was justified and part of me wishes he had been sent off. It's as if the boy has an inability to learn. In the past he has gone searching for cards and been on the wrong end of the call; nothing has changed. I wonder if he even thought about what a dive would mean to his teammate, Eduardo. Of course not, he has dementia. Instead, Eboue dove at Evra, and he merely moved out of the way. Hilarious and sickening as it could get. I am worried about this consistent repetition of behavior because he has not learned from his mistakes. Will he ever learn? No.
Now, the other massive mistake was Eboue's inability to field a cross from the left side of the pitch to the right. This particular setup, I believe, came from either Arshavin or Clichy and instead of hitting the half volley or receiving the ball in-step Eboue did neither and tried to toe-stomp control the ball; as expected, the chance went wasted. Eboue Kablooie! The reason this particular chance gets to me is because a shot on goal could have meant a deflection and tap-in for RVP. Also, we had superior numbers in the penalty box, which increases the opportunity for a cheeky, lucky goal. I don't think Eboue gets that. I don't think he has the cognitive ability to think that far ahead. Kablooie! Now, if Bendtner had started in front of Eboue Kablooie I would expect two key things from him 1) staying in his position instead of wandering all over the pitch 2) hitting the mentioned setup half volley and putting it on goal. My only explanation for starting Eboue Kablooie over Nick is that AW must have been concerned about Evra getting forward. I respect that concern but Eboue didn't hamper his movement forward because he was never in the right position! Kablooie!
I've made it very clear in these postings that I do not like Eboue Kablooie as a midfielder; I don't mind him as a back-up to Sagna. I really hope that AW saw what I saw and we won't see him in the midfielder fold any longer. The sooner both Rosicky and Nasri come back from injury the sooner Eboue is ostracized to his rightful place, the Arsenal bench.
Enjoy the international break as City is up next and Lazybayor has something to prove to us Arsenal fans (fuck off). For me, I'm hoping B52 gets an opportunity to get stuck in on Donkeybayor and we all know that he'll try...
ArsenaLOS
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