Newcastle Vs Arsenal | Premiership 05/12/07

[rachel83]

would like to see walcott come on

Agreed.

[insomnia]

C'mon Arsenal!

Find a winner!

[SE13]

Get Diarra off before he gets himself sent off!! Three attempts to hack a player down a couple of minutes ago, luckily he missed them all, otherwise he would have been off.

Time for Theo, me thinks.

[Gunflash]

Newcastle are battling hard. It's tough for Arsenal. We're hanging on now. Newcastle are piling on the pressure. A fourth corner in a row.

[SE13]

Desperate defending at the end here...

[Gunflash]

That's the game in hand out of the way and the gap's settled at four points. We were hanging on. I don't think we ever got hold of the game as we did against Villa. It's two points dropped though.

[Trina]

hmm 1-1, can't comment on the second half as I was up and down stairs every 2 minutes

Looking forward to the Match Report!

[SE13]

Two point dropped, or a point won?

For me, it was quite dismal. Great start to the game, but we never capitalised on it, and allowed them to come back into it. In fairness, when they did score, it wasn't really a surprise.

More thoughts later, but if we are losing players in TACON, we need to seriously examine who is covering at the back....

On the brightside, four clear at the top, and the unbeaten run in the league carries on. Wenger has to ring the changes for Middlesbrough, and we really need players back from injury, sooner rather than later.

[Reverend Gooner]

1 point gained that is for sure!

WHERE THE HELL were the substitutes, we needed Walcott on to stretch the game down the wings.

I thought Bendtner was great when he came on and apart from the goal Ade was close to awful. He ruined so many passing moves in that game and his diving was not needed either. Ade is such a hot and cold player, i still don't know how i feel about him.

That was awful simulation by Sagna but it is a first offence so i will let him off.


Almunia was amazing today. A dodgy keeper would have buckled but he was perfect all game, i am truely happy with him as number one

It was a total sending off at the end by Barton but to be honest we were so bad i am not going to lament that. Gilberto's passing was worse than Gerrards for England against Croatia.

Who is back for sundays game?


4 point lead and we deserve it, however we cannot perform like that again. Fair play to Newcastle too, respect to their players (except Barton) although Allardyce can go f**k himself.

I now going to delve into a bottle of rum, i have been cut to the quick by this match!

[absolutely_fabregas]

dunno why you are so down people

-newcastle away from home in the current circumstances, fighting together to get out of a bad run, big sam factor etc

-we were missing 4 of our most important players


They hunted in packs and were 110% committed, and deserved a draw if not more , we cant expect to win every game, and towards the end it was backs to the wall stuff. I would have taken a draw at 70 mins and was shitting myself towards the end.

Theres a time and a place for the slick passing, adebayor and eduardo!! it wasnt then!

Our midfield didnt really get forward enough, and it was long ball for a bit, but that was due to newcastles tactics of playing high up the pitch.

On the positives i thought diarra was excellent tonight

eduardo shouldnt play left wing,he is a poacher with an eye for goal, play him where he is going to benefit the team, he is too lightweight to play left mid against a team like newcastle(tonight)

[rodney]

Jesus that was such a frustrating game. There were 4-5 players who were far too casual tonight, or just put in poor performances. Going into the game I knew it would be tough after Newcastle had lost their previous 2 home games and they would want to correct that. I expected us to perform a lot better than that and at the end of the game I am happy with a point. We could have easily lost the game at the end and in the second half we didn't offer much going forward so I'll take a point.

The game started off so well, we got the early goal that I wanted and I really thought that would've been the time to go in for the kill and go for the second. A second goal would have ended the game and the fans would have been on the teams back. Instead we just let Newcastle back into the game. It was a great goal from Ade and despite the fact he didn't have a great game his critics have been saying judge him on goals. He scores a fantastic goal and doesn't play well and people still moan. He done his job tonight and it was his superb finish that puts us a further point ahead of United. As I was saying I really thought we should have pushed on from that point onwards and gone for a second. Instead we allowed Newcastle back into the game and after a couple of good chances and good tackles Newcastle gained their confidence back and the crowd were behind them. Going into half time I was worried that we would really need to battle to win this game, as I couldn't see us scoring again.

Second half carried on from the first. Newcastle getting their tackles in and the Newcastle fans jizzing everytime a half decent tackle was put in. Jesus christ if they saw the football we play week in week out I doubt they'd be able to cope. The goal came from a situation that has pissed me off many times. It frustrates the hell out of me when we're under pressure and don't just get rid of the ball. To be fair I am often proved wrong as we do play our way out of those tight situations, but tonight we came unstuck. If Eduardo, or Ade had just kicked it clear we wouldn't have conceded that goal. Was a good finish from Taylor and Newcastle fully deserved to get back into the game.

We carried on battling and without Flamini I thought we would struggle, but Diarra was absolutely superb. There was times when he beat 3-4 Newcastle players and carried on going. It was exactly the performance we needed and exactly the type of player we have lacked in recent seasons going into these types of fixtures. I agree Diarra's passing isn't up to scratch, but he played for Chelsea that is to be expected. Hopefully Wenger can work on Diarra's passing and attacking side and we will see a massive improvement in him. I will point out though he isn't in the team for his attacking abilities. He is there to shield the defence, break up play and allow our attacking players to play.

The problem was though that Wenger played Gilberto a second defensive midfielder and we didn't have a player who could take the ball and create something which is why I would have gone with Denilson over Gilberto and I think against Boro that will be changed. Gilberto was awful again tonight, his passing over 10 yards is disgraceful. It has never been great, but in the last two games it has just been shocking. With Diarra and Flamini I think his time at the club is at an end with two younger and better players in front of him.

Now onto Thomas Rosicky. We all have seen glimpses of how good this guy can be, but there have been too many performances like tonight where he just isn't in the game and when he gets the ball doesn't do enough with it. Imo he is as good as Hleb and Fabregas yet both players are majorly outshining him. Eduardo was just not the right player for this match. The physical side didn't suit his game and he is still adapting to English football. I won't criticise him as he is new and its too early to start criticising him. I thought Clichy was far too relaxed on the ball tonight and I don't think he was at his best tonight.

The positives tonight were that we had four of our first team players out tonight and three of whom are vital to the way we play. We are now a further point ahead of United and still unbeaten. Sagna was once again magnificent at right back and Toure and Gallas have formed an immense partnership. This may look like two points dropped, but after taking in a lot of factors it is a point gained. We move onto a Boro team where I am expecting 3 points now and a vital win before a huge game against Chelsea.

At this stage of the season if you'd said to me you would be 4 points ahead of United and unbeaten I would have snapped your hand off. So onwards and upwards. Come on you Gunners

[Fabrestuta]

A point away at St.James park is never a bad thing, but I just can't help feeling disappointed. There's not much difference between 6 points clear and 4, but this is going to give United a bit of a confidence boost.

[rvtheace]

We are clearly struggling to control games when we are in the lead, something that needs to be rectified.

I can't believe Eduardo is still being played as a left winger! He is deadly down the middle, so just put him there, please.

[CLS]

trust our luck to play them when they decided to fight , newcastle wanted it bad last night and id say that was a point gained as they looked the most likely to nick a win

yes we are without key players but ade needs to stand up and stop falling as soon as someone touches him and improve on his first touch ,
but a great goal i have to say

[Cheese]

We are clearly struggling to control games when we are in the lead, something that needs to be rectified.

I can't believe Eduardo is still being played as a left winger! He is deadly down the middle, so just put him there, please.

he started down the middle but was piss poor so i hink Arsene thought Rosicky would make more of an impact so he swaped them round.