EPL 2005: Day 31 (Arsenal 4 – Norwich 1)

Posted by Pierre Igot in: Football
April 5th, 2005 • 5:11 am

This game was not televised here in Canada, so we had to make do with the Sunday highlights show.

It looks like Thierry Henry was back to his usual, cocky self with a well-executed hat-trick that takes him to a total of 23 goals in the EPL this season (30 in all competitions), and should ensure that he wins the Golden Boot once again.

Gilberto was back with a new hairdo that makes him look like an older version of Jermaine Pennant. His return will have little impact on the rest of this season, but there is hope that the 2005-2006 season will be better for him and for his club. The key question remains whether Patrick Vieira can really deliver and whether Arsène Wenger will get another tough mid-fielder in the Edu mould (assuming that Edu leaves), in order to have proper backup in case of injury or lack of form.

The Gunners were unable to keep a clean sheet and, while the Huckerby goal was nice, it is quite clear that it all came from yet another Lehmann blunder. In addition, the German keeper was handed a two-game suspension in Europe by the UEFA today for a bottle-throwing incident. Let’s hope that this suspension will not have any impact on Arsenal — in other words, let’s hope that Wenger gets another proper goal keeper for next season and gets rid of the German with the hopelessly flailing arms altogether. He simply is not good enough.

Elsewhere, Manchester United were somewhat improbably kept at bay at Old Trafford by a rather fortunate Blackburn team. (Let’s hope that they’ve used up their capital of good luck and magnetic goal posts and will be left exposed in the FA Cup semi-final in 11 days.)

Southamptom were unable to get more than a freak goal against Chelsea, who are now 13 points clear at the top. They simply have an incredible number of points at this stage, and, when you think about it, it all boils down to these unconvincing 1-0 wins early in the season. Had these 3-point wins been the 1-point draws that they should have been (on several occasions), we might still have a contest. Oh well.

The scenes at Newcastle were rather shameful and will surely have put a big dent in the Magpies’ hopes of staging an upset against Manchester United in the other FA Cup semi-final. I suppose that most people will have already bet on a Manchester United – Arsenal final, in which the Red Devils would be the favourites given the recent track record between these two teams.

This week will probably be a week of boring Champions’ League football, with real football fans having no choice but to support Lyon, who have a good chance of making it to the last four.


9 Responses to “EPL 2005: Day 31 (Arsenal 4 – Norwich 1)”

  1. vaag says:

    Well, real football fans could watch some excellent Champions’ League games yesterday and today, with disappointing Lyon as the only exception. You must be a fake football fan!

  2. Pierre Igot says:

    I don’t know what was “excellent” about the games. I fast-forwarded through the predictably boring Milan derby, Liverpool were not too bad for half a game, Lyon were disappointing but are not out yet, and Chelsea were their usual big bully selves. Excellent stuff? Hardly…

  3. vaag says:

    “…big bully selves”, please behave yourself! You are a nagger, you never ever give credits to those who deserve it. That makes all your comments about football meaningless, in the same way Arsenal’s so called “beautiful, flowing attacking football” is meaningless, because they can only play it against the minor clubs of England. Against the big European clubs they failed time after time.

    If anything is “predictably boring”, then your comments are.

  4. Pierre Igot says:

    Just what exactly is your problem? No one forces you to read this blog as far as I know. If you are such an expert on footballing issues, start your own blog.

  5. vaag says:

    You tried that one before. Well, you are the one who publishes and stimulates your readers to comment. I simply deliver. And no, I’m not an expert and I have no intentions to start my own blog. But when you haughtily write “with real football fans having no choice but to support Lyon”, you obviously think you are an football expert yourself (and I could give many more examples).

    Chelsea-Bayern München was a decent, attractive game and fun to watch, manly as it should be ?football is not a game for sissies?, but not rough at all, and even with an excellent referee (I felt sorry for him for his late penalty misjudgment). Chelsea was seriously challenged by Bayern for most part, but during the last quarter of the game Bayern was outclassed by them (as Arsenal was outclassed by Bayern, remember?).
    The problem is with your remark: “Chelsea were their usual big bully selves”. That’s really folderol. But as Arsenal fan you will never admit this and give credits to Chelsea. In that sense your comments on football are just some small fan talk and nothing more.

  6. Pierre Igot says:

    I don’t think I am an expert. Where does it say that I claim to be one? It’s all in your head, mate. Of course my comments are “small fan talk”. So what? I just don’t like the physical side of this Chelsea side, that’s all — in the same way that I don’t like the physical dimension of Manchester United. Whenever big bullies win, I am disappointed. That’s all. My personal opinion, mate. Of course you are entitled to your own, but don’t make me say things I haven’t said.

  7. vaag says:

    Please, don’t call me ‘mate’ ( I’m not British).
    You an expert? Intrinsically you are claiming it all the time. It’s all about the impact of these little words you are writing: with ‘real’ in ‘real football fans having no choice…’ you are claiming that you can judge what real football fans (=neutral, objective watcher) should think. Consequently those who don’t follow you are no ‘real football fans’. Only experts can make such a claim;
    with ‘there is no doubt’ in ‘there is no doubt that Real Madrid’s football is much more attractive…’ you are playing exactly the same trick.

    Now, my head is fine, thank you, but I have doubts about yours. ‘The physical side of this Chelsea side…’, now I from my part would say: it’s all in your head.
    And then this ‘big bullies’-cliché — I mean, don’t you get bored yourself with writing this? I wonder who the real big bully is here.

  8. Pierre Igot says:

    Sorry, but I am afraid I am really not interested in arguing with you any further.

  9. vaag says:

    No problem with that. I have made my point (= ‘You never give credits to those who deserve it’).

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