Ok, let’s get the bad news out of the way first. I have a cold and a hangover, a coldover if you will, and it’s making my coffee taste like mud. This makes me sad.
On the plus side though Arsenal won 3-0 last night against Hull so that makes me happy. A fairly drab first half exploded into life in the last few minutes when Arsenal were awarded a free kick just outside the Hull box. Samir Nasri, for reasons best known to himself, bumped into a Hull player and gave him a little kick on the foot while the ref’s back was turned. It was a bit sly, I have to say, and there wasn’t really any need for it. Especially as the Hull player wasn’t that little knacker Steven Hunt. But, you know, fuck them. A little bit of aggro is no bad thing and it’s nice to see the lads sticking up for each other.
This sparked a bit of pushing and shoving and Hunt and Barmby both went for Nasri, pushing him in the face and such. I think they all ended up with yellow cards or something but the incident was significant. Hull were hard-working, having had no game in midweek, and had more or less stopped us from playing. For whatever reason the scuffle seemed to sap the life out of them and when we got another free kick in a similar position a couple of minutes later, Denilson curled it in over the wall to make it 1-0 just before half-time. A classy finish and all of his goals this season have been rather excellent.
In the second half it was pretty much all Arsenal. Hull might have equalised when Steve Bennet gifted them a penalty. I still have no idea why it was given. If that’s a penalty then there are 25 penalties every time there’s a corner or free kick. Geovanni, a man who once cost Barcelona a hilarious £20m, stepped up to take it. Facing him was Manuel Almunia, a man for whom confidence is just a word that applies to other goalkeepers. He took it, Almunia saved it, and as Geovanni was about to head home the rebound, that little knacker Hunt came in and headed it wide. Gloriously hilarious, compounded by Phil Brown’s anguish on the sideline. Most amusing indeed and you have to say justice was done. The save won’t have done Almunia any harm either. I’ve been worried about him and this doesn’t make all those worries go away but if the guy is playing you want him to do well.
Just a couple of minutes later we went 2-0 up. Diaby played some nice stuff with Song on the edge of their box, got to the byline and squared it for Eduardo who did his very best to miss it but from a yard out even he couldn’t do that. Like Almunia he’s been struggling and the goal will do him good. He was a lot more involved yesterday, one magnificent turn on the edge of the Hull box saw him one on one with the keeper but he poked it wide with his right foot. A shame, it would have been an awesome goal, but scoring the one he did will be a good confidence boost.
After that there was no way Hull were getting back into it. They just went about the place being horrendous orange cunts, in every respect, while we tried to score some more goals. It could have ended up 5 or 6 to us but poor finishing prevented us giving them a proper hiding. The third goal came from Abou Diaby, who had one of those second halves which makes you think ‘Goodness me, he really could be a fantastic player if he could do this on a regular basis’. Almost everything good we did in the second half went through him and when he latched on to Arshavin’s pass, he made a chump of McShane, I think, and smashed it in off the keeper. I really hope he can add some consistency to his repetoire, if so he’ll be a wonderful asset. And I like the fact he’s cultivating an afro, this pleases me greatly. There should be more ‘fros and beards in football.
We had to fight. We had problems a little bit to start because we left a lot of physical strength in our last two games at Liverpool and Burnley on Wednesday night and it took us some time to get into the game and to find the pace.
Of course Phil Brown was moaning about the ref which just goes to show you what a humungous orange cunt he is. He got a free penalty and he has the cheek to moan about the ref? What is wrong with him? He’d bleat like a goat even if they won.
And while I’m on the subject, have you ever heard anything like the coverage on ESPN? From Jon Champion’s continual snide remarks about the club, the empty seats, the fact that Almunia might have moved before the penalty (like every goalkeeper does), to the post-match cuntfest with Ray Stubbs trying to qualify everything with ‘If Hull had scored it’s a different game’, to the halfwit, work experience girl they had on afterwards interviewing Arsene, it was shambolic and most irritating.
Fuck them. The fact is we’re now in third place, just 2 points behind United with a game in a hand, and all credit to the lads for what has been a very productive week. Two difficult away fixtures and a game at home against cunts who were sent out to harrass and stop us playing football has produced 7 points out of 9. Yes, we were frustrated after the Burnely game, but in the cold, harsh, hungover light of day, I think we can be pleased with our week’s work, especially in light of the other results this weekend.
So, until we travel to Hull later in the season, fuck off Phil Brown, fuck off Brian Horton, get fucked Steven Hunt you itinerant cunt, and now we’ve got a week off to recharge out batteries ahead of the Villa game.
In a quick Sunday round-up, Theo Walcott talks about his shoulders in the News of the World, the Dutch FA are resisting any compensation claims from Arsenal over Robin van Persie and that’s about.
A final word for Man City and Mark Hughes. He was sacked yesterday, his replacement in the ground as they beat Sunderland, and Kolo Toure was sent in to tell the players he’d been relieved of his duties. Utterly classless from City, you have to say, but then that is exactly what a prick like Hughes deserves. After his boorish display when we played them in the Carling Cup I don’t have the slightest bit of sympathy for him. I hope he cried, the fucking Ailsa from Home and Away looking cunt.
Right, I must now have Lemsip for breakfast. Bleurgh. Have a good one, folks.
