[Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

[Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby rvtheace » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:43 pm

Ability, attitude, and luck. That’s the stuff that title winning teams are made of. While Arsenal still have little more than an outside chance at winning the big prize, a defeat today would have surely ended our hopes for the season. A match against a desperate Bolton, played on a cold, wet afternoon, was certainly going to give Arsenal a severe test of their title credentials.

Adebayor was given a break on the bench, and Robin van Persie lined up at the front with Bendtner. The Dane has not proven to be an outright goal scorer, and van Persie is yet to wash off his rust – as was evident when he shot a great chance straight at the keeper. Fabregas produced several hopeless passes on the wet surface, getting his defenders into all sorts of trouble. Diaby on the left was completely ineffectual as expected, thankfully, Clichy was his usual rampaging best. While we managed to start bright, our spark was slowly being doused in the wet waters of the North East.

The stage was set for tragedy, and when Mathew Taylor headed home from a great Bolton move, you had to wonder if this was the end. Our woes were compounded greatly by a moment of sheer stupidity from Diaby, who produced an awful tackle and gave the referee no choice but to send him off.

The Gods were not done teasing us though, as Taylor produced his second brace against us (does that make it a brace of braces?) thanks to a wicked deflection of Gallas. The true culprits though were Clichy and Flamini for getting too cute in a very dangerous area and losing the ball.

Yet another dismal first half ended with Arsenal praying for a miracle. The omens were better as the second half began, bright sunshine peeking through the overcast sky. The Gunners could not find any openings though and soon, the rain had conquered the Reebok once again.

Wenger made his moves, bringing off Bendtner and Senderos and throwing on Adebayor and Walcott. The team slotted into a 3-4-2. It was a bold move, but one that was absolutely necessary.

Bolton are not the team they used to be under Allardyce, and a defensive mishap allowed Gallas to sneak in at the far post and tuck in a neat finish. It was another important contribution from the captain.

Van Persie and Adebayor did not look capable of scoring even with passes delivered on a platter, but still, we pulled a few tricks out of the hat and won a penalty. Ade received a lovely ball played to his feet and he produced a back heel that fell precisely into Flamini’s path. The Frenchman’s shot was blocked but Hleb charged towards the loose ball and just managed to nick in front of the defender, got caught, and went to ground. Up stepped van Persie. Sweetly struck, no problem, 2-2. GAME ON!

Given Bolton’s precarious position, they could not afford to sit back and play for a draw. But time ticked on, and it looked like both teams were in for a major setback, albeit in contrasting contexts. The match spilt into injury time and then came the moment that brought many a red and white roof down. Hleb made a purposeful run into the box and cut back for Fabregas who tried to centre the ball. He failed to find a team mate, which was probably a good thing, given their hapless shooting. Instead, a couple of deflections off Bolton players guided the ball into the back of the net to seal a phenomenal comeback.

It will still require a minor miracle for Arsenal to haul in Manchester United. But for now, the excitement of that win can keep us hoping. A triple serving of Liverpool is up next. Let us make short work of them and keep our machine rolling till the end.
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby Fordy » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:50 pm

top report as always mate
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby StLGooner » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:01 pm

F**k me, that was good and quick. :clap:
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby Good_Eye_Sniper » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:18 pm

Cesc after the winner -
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In need of some Ex-Lax it would seem :shock: :scream:

Well rescued lads :clap:
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby niko197 » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:57 pm

good report! :clap: :clap:
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby singaporegooner » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:03 am

First half, i was cursing and swearing esp after diaby got sent off.
Second half, i was grunting everytime a chance went begging.
Injury time, i went berserk when the winner snuck in.
Seriously, its becoming a bad habit of Arsenal's to make things difficult for ourselves to win games.
But hats off to the team for digging in deep and getting back on level terms, and finally winning the game.
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby Git » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:32 am

Good report as always.
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby target_locked » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:11 am

Dream comeback.
The first half was quite especially as bendtner was ruining everything coming his way and van persie looked rubbish. There was no co-ordination between the front two. The midfield was working hard but Diaby was hopeless. He thinks he's maradona and tries to dribble everyone instead of giving a pass to a team-mATE.He got red-carded and They scored 2.

Second half started slowly but evrything changed when gallas scored and wenger made his substitutuions. Walcott was great with his burst of speed and adebayor showed again how to hold a ball properly to bendtner (altough he lacks a good first touch). From then arsenal looked like scoring when waves of arsenal attack began to exploits gaps and finally the game went the right way.
Huge boost for the upcoming liverpool game,!!
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby arseman » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:38 am

I wish people would stop slagging off Bendtner this way, I know he wasn't great yesterday but he's only 20, and there's still lots to come from him I feel. And remember, back in December, Ade had some poor games against Boro and Portsmouth, and people were clamouring for Nick to start ahead of Ade. We can't expect everyone to do a Cesc and walk straight into the first team at 18.
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby SE13 » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:47 am

From the few micro seconds that BBC Manchester United Of The Day showed, I didn't think Bendtner looked that bad!

Anyhow, nicely written report. Thanks RV :biggrin:
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby Cheese » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:12 pm

Nice report matey :clap:
“What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.”
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby rodney » Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:32 pm

How the hell you can blame Flamini for that second goal I don't know. He recieved the ball from Clichy and was knocked off it before he could do anything about it. Clichy should have just hoofed it clear. Gallas should have shown more bravery than to turn his back on the shot.
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby singaporegooner » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:39 am

Clichy should have hoofed the ball up field as far as possible...
But then again thats always how Arsenal play out of the defence when they are in that position. Not the first time this has haunted Clichy(read Birmingham's equalizer).
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Re: [Bolton Wanderers 2-3 Arsenal] Terrific Ten

Postby rvtheace » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:03 am

rodney wrote:How the hell you can blame Flamini for that second goal I don't know. He recieved the ball from Clichy and was knocked off it before he could do anything about it. Clichy should have just hoofed it clear. Gallas should have shown more bravery than to turn his back on the shot.

True, it was mostly Clichy's fault, but Flamini seemed unaware of the player charging behind him and was looking across the field for a pass. If he had known how close he was to being dispossessed he would have (or should have) cleared it faster or at least shielded it better.
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