The season 2012/13 started off with a tedious match. Song and van Persie had gone and we started with an Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0.
The we had Stoke 0 Arsenal 0The third game saw us away to Liverpool. Here’s what Gfor60 said at the time…
Liverpool 0 Arsenal 2
That was a lot of fun. 2-0 to the Arse brings back such happy memories. Was it really 23 odd years ago?
Even Howard Webb couldn’t take the smile off my dial…in fact, did he have a good game with any bias, if any, going our way or was it my imagination? Personally I thought he turned down a fair penalty when Suarez seemed to be pushed over. Maybe he’d had the chance to see how he’d been conned by the little worm in the first half when he gave Per a yellow which wasn’t deserved. I suspect that a brush with a little finger nail would get Suarez diving.
The first quarter of an hour was a bit nervy. We were telegraphing passes which were being picked off, Jenks seemed to have put his boots on the wrong feet, and that toe-rag Stewart Robson was praising the scallies to the skies. I thought he’d been banned from commentating on Gooner matches? At least the Ox, Pod and Santi were looking sharp.
But then we settled and started playing. Maybe Abou Diaby read my comment last week (Yeah, don’t tell me :o) ) but this week he was an absolute pleasure to watch for a full 90minutes. A season like this from Abou and we’ll be asking “Cesc? Who’s he?” Indeed the run and chance he laid on for Ollie deserved far better.
By this time we were one up and the visiting gooners were out-shouting the kop. Shades of the goal Pod scored in the pre-season friendly. Intercept, lay off to Santi, run 50-60 yards and take the return in your stride. Class goal. Pity we didn’t go in two up but Olly still has 5 games to go before he matches Thierry’s start!
I was expecting a great deal more effort from the scallies in the second half but with Jenks having straightened out his footwear, Per and TV solid as rocks and Gibbsy having his best game of the season our midfield of Santi, Mikel and Abou was good to watch as was the interpassing twixt Abou, Santi, Pod and back to Santi which resulted in our second. A bit of help from Reina but a well worked goal.
Then some positive activity from the Pool. Mannone had looked fairly secure in the first half, one nervous ‘‘shall I or shan’t I go for it?” moment aside, and another similar in this half but a couple of good saves and some well timed blocks from Per and TV kept our third clean sheet of the season and our first 3 points. The table looks far more sensible now!
Elsewhere….
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
