Boring Boring Boring!!

Midweek football continued this week and though I am a bit late in posting about it I really thought I should be doing it and here I am with my report on the game I watched - Arsenal vs Man City. I preferred to watch this one over Chelsea's game against Wolves assuming it would be nail biting one keeping me at the edge of my couch but no, it was boring, boring and only boring.


Jo got a rare start in Man City's first team this was a shocker!! What was Mancini thinking??!! Jo would score a goal against a team in form and that too Arsenal. That was ridiculous to begin with and I proved right. He hardly made a difference to the game and till the end I could see only one team on the pitch and that was Arsenal. What a game they had only to be denied by the woodwork more than twice and the man between the posts for Man City – Joe Hart. If it weren’t were for these two factors Arsenal would have won atleast by a 5 goal margin. Man City never looked aggressive and they had come with a negative mindset which might not help their cause in the long run. A top team who has ambitions are to play against Europe’s best team cannot be negative. There wasn’t any entertainment till the 90^th min when Sagna dint seem to agree with a decent tackle by Zabaleta and the two were seen like two wild bulls locking horns with each other and the referee Micheal Jones was left with no other choice but to send them both of them off which did seem to be harsh on Zabaleta though. Luckily his red card has been rescinded after City’s appeal which otherwise would have meant him missing three games. Arsenal have decided against appealing Sagna’s red card which automatically gives him a three match ban. And with no goals throughout the game I couldn’t agree with the Arsenal faithful chants of Boring Boring Boring targeted against an ultra defensive away team!!


Let me get back to one of the factors which prevented Arsenal from scoring i.e. Joe Hart. What a game he had. He single handedly kept the Arsenal strikes at bay saving his team. He has once again shown why he deserves the number one spot ahead of Shay Given. He is one of the best goalkeeper’s in England and should be a regular for England henceforth atleast. Special praise for Zabaleta and Kompany for their skillful, hard but sensible defending. These three seemed to be going through their job whereas the rest seemed to have gone to a deep slumber. Tevez lacked the support he usually gets from his midfield and he seemed ineffective against some good defending by Arsenal.


Arsenal have grown as a team but they still lack that final touch which would not only give them wins but also titles. They have raw pace which is an advantage against most teams. They have learnt to defend in the opposition’s half preventing counter attacks. All that is needed is for them is to put the ball in the back of the net as much as they can to kill the opposition chances of any comeback. When they do this they will surely be as good if not better than the invincible Arsenal team which included Henry, Pires, Viera, Bergkamp among many others.


Chelsea were expected to win against lowly Wolves but all they did was score an own goal, resulting in a defeat which wouldn’t hurt more than losing the title. They have to realize that unless Man Utd lose 2 or 3 games in a row they have no chance to win the title. They could better concentrate on the Champions league which is still missing from their Trophy cabinet.


After a hectic holiday season, the FA cup this week is a welcome break for the teams playing against lower division clubs. Manchester United would be fighting against a down and dusted Liverpool team which carried on with their poor display this season with a loss against Blackburn. Watch out for more upsets in the FA cup. Signing off…..