T*ttenham have nothing.
Actually, nothing. Against one of the weakest Arsenal sides they will have come up against for many years, a side down to 10 men and lacking in confidence, they showed absolutely no ambition and deserved to be punished for it. They haven’t beaten us in the league since 1999 and you could see how terrified they were all through the game. Modric’s pathetic miss at the end told you everything you need to know about that football club.
Losers.
Then there was their fans, chanting “Same old Arsenal, always cheating” as Gael Clichy lay bleeding on the ground, having quite clearly sustained a nasty wound to his head. A few weeks ago, the police found out a pretty significant section of their away support for the yobs and racists that they are. Their chanting at Gael today wasn’t racist, it was just the nasty, bitter, jealous yells of a group of extremely unpleasant people, people who represent a club which is ugly at its core.
On the face of it, we should be pleased with a point, yet it always felt as though the game was there for the taking. And it should have been ours to lose, had Mike Dean not made the first of many cowardly decisions when he ludicrously disallowed a perfectly good goal by Eboue.
Eboue’s frustration was obvious, but his response was childish and inexcusable, displaying an attitude to be expected from a Sp*rs fan, not an Arsenal player. His booking for dissent was idiotic and I’m convinced that it was his petty behaviour after the Modric incident rather than the little kick out itself which made the referee to send him off. Why else did he take such a long time between booking Modric and sending Eboue off?
We’re not great fans of Eboue here on UpForGrabsNow, but I really do admire the loyalty of those fans who have stuck up for him this season. I can’t help feeling that he mocked that loyalty this afternoon.
The backlash is likely to be severe, and Eboue will have to play out of his skin when he returns from suspension if he’s to command any sort of respect with most Arsenal fans again. Wenger is a loyal person who clearly sees something in Eboue as a footballer, but you wonder how much longer his patience can last.
There will be those who wanted to see Arshavin today, but I think the boss was right to keep him on the bench. He still hasn’t trained with the rest of the squad and it will be far better to ease him in over the next few games. Eduardo will be itching to make his first team return, and while everyone (including us) laughed at Wenger’s saying his return would be like a new signing, I think it’s actually going to feel even better.
In terms of our season, it’s going to be a long hard fight for a top four place. Villa have been lucky, but they’ve bagged the points and sit seven clear of us. Chelsea are on a poor run and are within five, but are likely to prove resilient as the season wears on. If we can hit form, we can still catch both clubs. We just need to hit form now.
It also looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of Nicklas Bendtner over the next few weeks as Ade’s hamstring popped in the first half and he’ll miss the rest of February.
As always, delighted to hear your thoughts. Just stick ‘em in the comments and we’ll have a right old chinwag.
Tags: Arsenal, Emmanuel Eboue, tottenham hotspur
February 8th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
a point with 10 men isn’t too bad… otherwise mixed blessings as usual…
eboue out for at least one game – good
bendtner in for x amount of games – bad
i started counting the amount of moves that broke down when the ball reached bendtner but it got depressing so i gave up… if he’d had bagged that effort at the end i’d have forgiven him everything… but he didn’t, so i won’t.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
ade was worse then bendter, was sorta pleased when he got injured. means we will see more eduardo and AA23 as well. read an article about how maybe ade isnt playing his best so he might get a move at the end of the season. maybe milan or barca got that idea in his head over the summer, cos he has been pants this season.
have been one of those who supported eboue this season, but was v.dissapointed about his big f*ing mouth, very annnoying… but his football was ok uptil then. he did cost us the game tho.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
To be honest, am disapointed in eboue…what a useless player!! playing with eboue is like having ten men on the pitch..this guy cost us the game today….!! adebayour’s injury is a blessing in disguise, the guy is useless these days, no fight and no effort….the sooner he leaves, the better we shall become…we are going to see more of eduardo and if he scores goals for fun, adeb should forget it….arshavin should come in for eboue…and am praying that denilson gets a knock and rest for some time as well…these boys have made the season harder than we had expected…..clichy has become a liability these days, he needs a rest, so thats good for the team…..
February 8th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
We are the ones that have put the presure on Eboue, and he is fighting every game to prove his worth, what he did today was wrong but we cannot stop supporting him. he could have left in january but stayed to fight for his place at least lets respect his loyalty
February 8th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
We do not have enough pace up front when Bentdner and Rvp play together. All said a solid performance. I can’t understand the critics who knock Almunia, he played confidently and exceptionally well today.
I have always stood up for Eboue and appreciate this tenacity, but today was just obscene. I think he an emotional guy that can’t cope with the pressure. Too bad, as Jo says he was delivering a nice performance.
Let us not forget that Chelsea looks to have lost the plot. Maybe they will continue to implode.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
While a point away down to 10 men is admirable, it never should have happened in the first place. The goal was perfectly good – I can’t see what Dean saw no matter how many times I watch it. That aside we NEED the points. The 5 points behind Chavs can be made up but only if we start to win games when others drop points. We cannot continue to draw – this is almost the same time as the Brimingham incident last season and we drew far too many games at that time which allowed the Manc sot grab the title. I would much rather win 2 games and lose a third than draw all three. Mathematically it’s still more points to win 2 and lose 1 than draw all 3. We’re down 2 more players in an already thin squad and firepower is at an all time low with Adebayor out and no right winger. Arshavin has to play now and Wenger cannot continue this 2 man defensive midfield. What do both Song and Denilson bring to the pitch at the same time? Denilson looked horrible today and gave away possession cheaply. Song performed great but really it illustrates that these youths cannot perform consistently. Wenger is in danger of playing th UEFA Cup next season and with Villa and Everton on the rise, the top 4 is now being challenged by 6 clubs and Wenger is starting to be on the back foot of them. For Everton’s relatively low income they easily splashed 15M for Fellaini because Moyes knows he needed that player – why can’t Arsenal do the same? If we really need a player why do we have to haggle so much over the price? I don’t expect us to be Citeh but if a player we need is worth 20M then pay the 20M and stop trying to heckle the price down and then give up interest on them and put in some 17 year old to try to fill the position.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:58 am
What eboue did was inexcusable..
Everyone deserves a chance but he blew it this time.. A lot was riding on this game and he had to have his little childish tantrums..
He is not a team player and he showed it.. every decision that goes against this guy on the field has to be a debate with the referee.. what the fucks wrong with u eboue.!!!!!. eveythings about u isnt it..YOU FOOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
February 9th, 2009 at 3:06 am
Red Five:
What game were you watching
Bendtner was at least solid leading the attack almost by himself. ANd he showed shitloads more commitment that that joke Adebayor.
I guarantee you that if Bendtner had of been on in the first half when Eboue smashed that ball across the face and Adebayor just loped in towards it, then Bendtner would have scored.
Honourable mention to Song. I have not rated hinm at all this season, but he really showed he does have a future at the club.
And those who say that Eboue was useless. he was a best player until he got sent off (his attitude/mouth is a bit of a problem). He had a perfectly good goal disallowed and his runs were first class.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Yes gooner…… but eboue probably cost us the game.. all that good work he did in the first 30 min was all for nothing.. simply because he’s pride got in the way..
and what pride may i say…
February 9th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I think the ref got word from the linesman or the 5th official before the 2nd booking and that’s why he waited to book him. Eboue got what he deserved, and quite unfortunately so did we.
$64,000,000.- for me question is whether Eboue can somehow be reformed. Maybe he needs to go on some kind of retreat, talk out some childhood trauma with a therapist or something. Bring in the sports psychologists! Make that psychiatrists. Somehow he’s gotta grow the heck up, he acts like a 4 year old.
Also, he did give little push to a Tottenham player in the box before he scored, so the ref got that one right as well. Pues. But yeah, other than all that, he was brilliant, really great runs, touches, etc., and he’s probably even better in practice when there’s no pressure on him, which would explain why he’s getting into starting 11.