We got what we wanted out of last night’s game, perhaps not the way we would have liked, but it showed again that this team has the spirit and character to keep going when others might give up.
There was a lot for Arsenal to overcome yesterday. A terrible pitch, obvious tiredness from the midweek game against Porto, Hull’s consistent and tactical fouling and one of the worst officiating performances I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t just include the referee in that, both his assistants were hopeless too (at least twice the ball was clearly out of play and they didn’t flag).
We started well enough, Andrei Arshavin putting us ahead after 13 minutes. We worked the ball nicely down our right, Bendnter fired it in, Arshavin’s control was immaculate and while he got a bit of luck going past the defenders the finish was sublime. 1-0, just what we needed and Hull were completely on the back foot. So much so that after about 25 minutes their fans were growing most impatient. You could hear them start to get on their players backs after yet another hoofed clearance. I was going to text someone to say we needed to take advantage of this. I didn’t for fear of jinxing us. Next time I have to remember not to even think it.
Just a couple of moments later Hull got a penalty. The ball was clipped over the top of our defence to Jan Venegoor of Hesselink of Hull and he was a mile offside. The assistant referee was looking straight at it and kept his flag down. It was a costly mistake for us. He continued, Sol Campbell made contact and Venegoor of Hesselink of Hull went down, as I think any striker would. The debate about whether it should have been a red card for Sol was a bit maddening. Surely the debate should have been about why the offside wasn’t given.
I watched Phil Brown afterwards say it should have been red because it denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, which is absolute bollocks, naturally. Venegoor of Hesselink of Hull didn’t have control of the ball. It was behind his head. Unless he was going to do a Higuita style scorpion kick there was no way he was scoring, and with all due respect to the player he doesn’t look supple enough to do that. Still, the penalty was given, Sol got a yellow card and Jimmy Bullard smashed it home to make it 1-1.
Not long afterwards Hull picked up their first yellow card of the game, which is quite remarkable given the way they’d been playing. For example, Sagna and Eboue had combined down our right, Eboue was in possession of the ball, and Fagan (doesn’t deserve a first name) grabbed Sagna around the head and dragged him to the ground. The assistant saw it, spoke to the ref, and the ref didn’t book him. How is grabbing someone around the head off the ball not a yellow card? On the other side Mendy was niggling his way around the pitch and got away with at least three or four clear fouls. It was tactical by Hull, deliberate to stop us getting into our stride, and it worked in the first half.
Unfortunately for them they lost their heads a little bit. As Dawson was being booked for his crude lunge at Denilson, George Boateng decided he’d try and poke Nicklas Bendnter in the eye. If Phil Brown wants to talk about the ‘letter of the law’, as he did in his post-match interviews, the minute you raise your hands to a player’s face you’re off. Sly shit like poking someone in the eye is the work of a nasty cunt too. He got a yellow, it should have been a red. Somehow Nick got booked as well. Just a few minutes later and there was a bit of justice. Sagna broke towards their area, nicked the ball in front of him and Boateng went straight with his studs into Sagna’s knee. It should have been a straight red, he got another yellow but two of them meant his game was over, and rightly so.
It was interesting to hear Phil Brown say afterwards Boateng had not let him down. I’m assuming that’s because he instructed him to go out and behave like a fucking thug. So half-time and it was 1-1. Playing against 10 men in the second half had me confident, but credit to Hull, they worked hard and made life very difficult for us. And they worked hard properly, without resorting to dirty stuff. We huffed and puffed but struggled to create very much at all. Theo Walcott was introduced and almost immediately set up a goal. He cut it back and it arrived to Andrei Arshavin whose wild hack over the bar was abysmal at any level. I know people can talk about Bendnter’s finishing but the Russian has missed three open goals in a week too.
Eduardo came on, Hull got men behind the ball and without the craft of a Nasri, Cesc or Rosicky in midfield we looked a little short on ideas. Thankfully, in the 93rd minute, Denilson thought ‘Hey, I know. I’ll have a shot’. He fired one in from distance which the keeper really should have dealt with quite comfortably. Instead he parried it straight back in front of him, Bendtner was on his toes anticipating the mistake and he side-footed it home to win us the game.
It doesn’t really need to be said how crucial that goal was, does it? A draw against 10 men would have been disastrous, in terms of the chase for the title and perhaps for morale. Instead we got that wonderful feeling you get when you score a last minute winner. Credit to Bendtner for staying focussed right to the death and to the team for keeping going. Afterwards Arsene said:
It was a very big win. When you play a difficult game at midweek there is a lot of mental tension. And we came here and won today, so of course a big three points. We have desire and mental strength and we never give up. And for such a young team that is great.
It sure is but what makes that even more enjoyable is the obvious pain it caused Phil Brown. Call me a small, petty man if you will, but I took enormous pleasure at how gutted he was afterwards. That must have hurt a lot. Let’s face it, if we’d stuck four or five past them he’d have had to admit we were a ‘level above’ or some such bollocks, but to hang on with 10 men until the 93rd minute and then get beaten … hahahaha. I love it. He’s a Sadsuma.
Overall, it wasn’t the greatest performance ever, there were mitigating factors of course, but at the end of the day the three points was all that mattered. We now have a week off before we play West Ham, time to rest some weary legs, recharge the batteries and get focussed on that.
It makes for another pleasureable Sunday all the same. Breakfast, the papers and I might watch Phil Brown’s post-match interview again – hahahaha.
Till tomorrow.
