EPL: Middlesborough 0 – Arsenal 2

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Football
April 20th, 2003 • 5:25 am

Missed the whole first half because of the idiots at Sportsnet (Canada) who decided that baseball in overtime was more important than the EPL… They switched to the “broadcast” of the Arsenal game right before half-time, and promptly fed us a quarter of an hour of commercials. Never mind that the broadcast in question was actually taped! I suppose that Sportsnet were actually “relaying” a tape-delayed US broadcast and were not clever enough to tape the game themselves and SHOW it in full after the baseball game was over. So much for trying to be a football fan in Canada.

Anyway, the game seems to have been pretty dull on the whole — the only bright spots being the two goals, of course. Nice finish by Wiltord and superb free-kick by Thierry Henry. Simply put, he’s up there with the greatest ones.

A greater source of concern was the pretty drab performance of some other players such as Robert Pires. While he’s had a number of goals this season, in his playing per se he seems to have been resting on last year’s laurels. I just don’t see him putting in the extra effort required at this stage of the season. If he doesn’t wake up before it’s over, he’ll regret it…

Ashley Cole, Ljunberg and Parlour seem to be working harder… But now Ashley seems to have picked up another injury. Not the best time! Oh well. If we actually win anything this season, it will have been with blood and sweat — from most players anyway.

Meanwhile, Man U got a little bit of a scare against Blackburn — and we got a little bit of hope, until Dunn missed his penalty, that is. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why they didn’t use a more “seasoned” penalty shooter such as Dwight Yorke. After that, the outcome of the game (3 – 1) was pretty much inevitable… and we’re left with the same difference. This one will really go down to the wire!


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