Arsenal on Wednesday

[bobo the clown]

.....and then the two of them could try and get themselves 20 Players?

Who they could Park after a Drive to Craven Cottage before Players Tipped to perform like Camels and then be transferred to Chesterfield ?

It'd be Menthol of them.

If they get a man sent off, they'd only have 10 Players!

... & wouldn't be at Full Strength !!

[Lord Kangana]

They wouldn't be at (Capstan) Full Strength then.

You absolute nice person bobo, my computer froze whilst posting that, and now I'm just a JCL.

[ohjimmyjimmy]

All's fair in love & tar .

[bobo the clown]

I was wondering if Bish has got back yet & if he's been chipped out of the ice which will have formed around him and his bike on that journey ....

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

my computer froze

Harsh winter, this.

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Thats why you heard nothing through the grapevine...it was frozen solid !

[Lord Kangana]

You are my sunshine that will thaw it .

[thebish]

I was wondering if Bish has got back yet & if he's been chipped out of the ice which will have formed around him and his bike on that journey ....

you don't know how close to the truth that is Bobo!!! my heated grips failed at Watford Gap - and so I was riding without them with a windchill factor of -267Kelvin over my fingers all the way!! and then - as Athers said - the fecking NW traffic?? the M25 is a pussycat in comparison! had I been in a car I would actually never have got there...

anyway - I did get to the ground with 30mins to spare - and parked very nicely in Middlebrook without any bother...

sat for the first time in the upper tier - what a fab view from up there - have always sat down below before with the cheap tickets!

my thoughts on the game (in no particular order..)

1. first 20mins - looked like a 6-0 dicking... they had 2 one-on-ones that they conspired to feck-up and were passing circles around us... looked like being a long a tiring night as we were doing all the running..

2. then we clicked into shape... one of the things that impressed me was how we kept our shape - and all the players seemed to know their role in it. Bloke next to me kept yelling at wheater to charge out and close them down - when (it seemed to me) - that's EXACTLY what they wanted him to do so they could skip past him and surge into the giant hole he had left.. but no - he kept his shape and it genuinely frustrated arsenal. OK - them missing the 2 one-on-ones was good fortune - but I think we then frustrated them and their game when a bit tits-up. I have to say that after the first 20mins or so - this was a thoroughly DISCIPLINED and ORGANISED display from us - fantastically so!

3. Wheater DID step out when he needed to - and mopped up a huge load of stuff on the edge of the box - great performance. for all the grief he gets - Knight looks fine alongside wheater.

4. NRC - ideal captain - covered every blade and made at least 3 SURGING lung-busting runs into the box - no wonder he was dead in his boots and had to be subbed!

5. Ngog - does everything - battles, holds up the ball, links play (works well with eagles - imagine what he might do with chungy??) - does everything, that is, except inspire any confidence that he is actually capable of converting one of those half-chances...

6. Petrov - defines the word mercurial... he put in a couple of SUBLIME crosses - but then curled countless corners a mile out of the danger area. he is more than capable of taking a player on - and is dangerous when he does - but often doesn't... him and eagles swapped wings for some reasons for the last 15mins of the first half - but then swapped back for the second... (was given MOTM for some reason - shudda been NRC)

7. Arsenal - look a bit flakey... after the first 20mins when they looked like they could do anything with the ball and take us at will - they went off their game - got niggly and whiny - got away with several acts of mindless brutality - and just looked very ordinary. of course they still found time to hit the post and the bar - but there was never (after the first 20mins) any sense of inevitability that they would score..

8. A win would have been lucky for us - given their post and bar and the 2 one-on-ones that they fluffed - but it was very much the case that for the last 15mins there was only one team likely to win it - and it wasn't Arsenal. It was NOT the usual case that they camped in our half for the last 10mins battering us with wave after wave of attack - in fact - they were easily nullified - almost as if they'd settled for a point with 15mins to go.. WE were the ones taking the initiative and making the running.

9. Here's the thing - Coyle subbed some people (mostly due to tiredness) - but he did NOT (for once) sub Moo - and we did NOT (for once) go on to concede... got it, Coyle??

the thebish graph of psychological activity......

Cold and expecting a total dicking ---------> Cold and watching a total dicking sensing the inevitability ------> looking at the clock and noticing we had lasted 30mins and buttocks had unclenched ------> a surge of optimism that is is half time and still 0-0 ----------> a sinking realisation that Coyle was giving a half-time talk ------> total certainty that arsenal would over-run us in the first 10mins of 2nd half ------> marking off the clock in 10mins spells and trying NOT to let hope steal in -------> seeing Tiny Tears come on and KNOWING he would score ---------> getting on top and failing to stop hope steal in --------> groaning at 3mins extra time and knowing they'd score a late winner -------> the ref blowing up and me wishing he'd have played an extra 5mins! -------> cold but zipping past the mother of all car-jams coming off middlebrook and grinning inside helmet ------> getting to room to find face has literally frozen in grinning rictus - have to put head in sink of warm water to free it up! -----> falling asleep and not waking until 9:40am....

a good day!

[thebish]

I fancy us to beat you lot comfortably. You've been absolutely rubbish at home this season, and we have Sagna, Arteta, Coquelin and possibly Gibbs all returning from injuries. Can't see anything other than an Arsenal win. 3-0.

coming back to comment further??

thought not.

nob!

[Annoyed Grunt]

Not seen the highlights of our villa game yet, but didn't sound as if we set the world alight exactly. I'm going for a 0-0 draw...

if there's one score it WON'T be - it's 0-0! Arsenal WILL score - that's a given.

[thebish]

Not seen the highlights of our villa game yet, but didn't sound as if we set the world alight exactly. I'm going for a 0-0 draw...

if there's one score it WON'T be - it's 0-0! Arsenal WILL score - that's a given.

ahhh - GG knows the power of the double reverse back-handed cushioned lobbed top-spin uber-jinx!

(and - for her correct prediction - it wins her a full body massage with oils of her choice!)

[Annoyed Grunt]

Sensual.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Not seen the highlights of our villa game yet, but didn't sound as if we set the world alight exactly. I'm going for a 0-0 draw...

if there's one score it WON'T be - it's 0-0! Arsenal WILL score - that's a given.

ahhh - GG knows the power of the double reverse back-handed cushioned lobbed top-spin uber-jinx!

(and - for her correct prediction - it wins her a full body massage with oils of her choice!)

You'll get defrocked as, I suppose, will she.

[Worthy4England]

I gave up with the BBC years ago

Apparently they've given up with us too, and the other nine teams who played last night, by having MOTD on Tuesday and not even giving the other half of the league an MOTD2. Made I so angry I had to bust into somebody else's blog to complain.

I can understand why they might want to show all the big teams, who played the might before. Who in their right mind would want to watch the minor teams, like Bolton and Sunderland....














And Arsenal.

[Gooner Girl]

Not seen the highlights of our villa game yet, but didn't sound as if we set the world alight exactly. I'm going for a 0-0 draw...

if there's one score it WON'T be - it's 0-0! Arsenal WILL score - that's a given.

ahhh - GG knows the power of the double reverse back-handed cushioned lobbed top-spin uber-jinx!

(and - for her correct prediction - it wins her a full body massage with oils of her choice!)

You'll get defrocked as, I suppose, will she.

didn't know there was a 'prize' on offer for getting the score right! And there i was just happy with the satisfaction of proving thebish wrong

[TANGODANCER]

Jakerbeef's view of the match:

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