Thursday, March 12, 2009

Arsenal - Roma Wrap Up, With Video Highlights/Shootout


Morning all. That was some match yesterday huh? Well, not really the first 120 minutes or so but the shootout was good for us. We played pretty much like complete shite throughout the match, with rare moments of good build up play and the occasional half decent chance.

Roma got their equalizing goal early on, in the 9th minute from Juan, who had just right before that gotten himself injured. Somehow he managed to get all the way up the field, then convince Gallas to not even touch the ball as it went all the way across the box in front of the goal, and finish past Almunia. I was astounded how Gallas and also Toure could just leave a ball rolling in front of our goal like that. It's defending 101 and it's one of the first things I teach my 8 years olds, that you have to clear the ball from in front of your own net. I don't know what they were thinking and we're really lucky they got their heads on straight after that. The defending was just awful and it didn't look good for the rest of the night, but I think it was a bit of a wake up call for the defence because Roma didn't look all that threatening for much more of the match. The odd chance here and there, but nothing Almunia couldn't deal with. He actually is a good keeper regardless of what some of you say.

There was a chance Roma could have had a penalty right before half time for what looked like a foul from Clichy on Marco Motta, but after watching the replay Clichy didn't even touch him. I think diving should be a red card. It just makes the game sissier. Stand on your feet and try to score a damn goal.

The match wasn't very exciting after that. Eboue was crap, Bendtner was crap, it wasn't Nasri's best day, or van Persie's for that matter, but we managed to keep Roma from scoring again, and that was the main task. Eventually we got through to extra time, at which point I had to leave for class, but I brought my lap top you see! Luckily my professor is an Aston Villa supporter and understands how important this was to me and let me have the match on my computer in class.

So right when I plugged it in and got everything up and running we were preparing for the penalty shootout, and boy was that nerve wracking. I'm sitting there, right in the middle of a test on viruses, bacteria, and sanitation, and meanwhile Eduardo is missing the first penalty of the night! It was awful, and I hated it. Right up until the point where I loved it. The video tells the story better than my words can.




Vucinic's penalty was just awful wasn't it? I'll admit, I wasn't the most confident to see Denilson, Diaby, and Theo taking a penalty. I've seen Kolo take plenty, and RvP, and I knew Nasri could handle it, but for some reason when I saw Theo and Denilson stepping up I was nervous. So brilliant work by them to convert those penalties, and the joy the squad showed after it was a great breath of fresh air. You haven't always seen that from this squad but you could tell this win really meant a lot to them. Penalty shootouts will do that to you. I was elated of course and put my test to the side so I could celebrate in my chair for a couple of minutes. And I still got the best grade in the class. Boom, Outta here.

So it's on to the quarter finals, where we'll face either Porto, Bayern, Barca, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man United, or Villareal. I don't want any of the English teams next round really. I want Barca but I suppose it's safer to get Porto or Villareal. We'll probably get United or Liverpool though.

That's all I've got for the day. Enjoy that video of the shootout and leave me your thoughts. Cheers.

Oh yeah, and apparently an Arsenal fan got stabbed by some Roma fan that jumped on a bus of Arsenal supporters. Yeah, that's a good way to get over your loss Roma. "Hey, we just blew our chances in the Champions League, let's go stab a guy!" Apparently it's not a match in Rome until someone gets stabbed! That is the best solution by far Roma, anytime you can't win just stab people until you feel better, because that makes football much better. You really are presenting a good image for your city before the Champions League final. I hope you all kill yourselves.

Follow me on Twitter. Out.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree totally about the match. After our dominance of the first leg, it was like two totally different teams yesterday. This was payback for last year at Anfield, when we played good enough to advance but did not.

Almunia was our man of the match I think. Not so much for the shootout, but for a couple of early saves that kept us from blowing it right at the start.

I'm still completely shocked that the likes of Denilson, Diaby, Sagna made their penalties.

Anonymous said...

I support this kind of match result of arsenal cause having much sugar may taste bitter.

JT said...

lol- some gooner got stabbed by a Roma fan- just tells more about their passion in Rome.

I was jumping all around the place when we won that match

JT said...

I knew that we were going to win, but 4-0 (and could have scored more)is a great result. Villa, make us all feel better and lose today, thank you

Unknown said...

I hear that Justin..

"Come onnnnn you Spurs" LOL

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