Morning gooners
It's been an age since I last wrote, since the build up of the West Brom game. After such a promising start to 2011, I've been a bit disheartened about recent games. This by no means states I'm a glory supporter, readers of this blog will know by now I am a firm believer in this team. I hate writing negatively, and many other Arsenal blogs have written negatively so I thought I would stay clear till the dust settles.
Last week, against Blackburn, we almost blew it. It seems now we are in last chance saloon regarding the Premier League. We needed to beat Blackpool, and after a great start by the Seasiders, it was a lovely surprise to see us counter and take the lead.
Our first goal was pretty much the classic Arsenal goal. Diaby, who had an excellent game, won the ball and played the ball to the revitalised Cesc Fabregas. The skipper dinked a great ball over to Robin van Persie who had the awareness to fire across goal for the onrushing Diaby to finish off neatly. A lovely, lovely breakaway goal.
We doubled our lead shortly after, with Jack Wilshere sliding in Emmanuel Eboue who controlled nicely and lashed a terrific effort into the top corner. With his left foot. Cracking goal.
Our lead should have widened before the interval, with Samir Nasri unlucky with a couple of efforts and van Persies shooting a little wayward. We went into the second half leading 2-0, and as expected we came out in the second half under the cosh.
Credit to Blackpool, they sensed they could get at us. We've been a tad fragile in recent weeks and they went for it. We were fortunate when they scored. First, a bad challenge by Wilshere, who would still receive a booking, didn't stop the play. The ball dropped for the Blackpool player to play a lovely through ball for DJ Campbell (I believe) who nicked it past the returning Jens Lehmann. Penalty. But thankfully, as Taylor-Fletcher was supporting, he controlled the loose ball and slotted to make the game interesting at 2-1. If the penalty was given, Arsenal would be in a nightmare position with no keeper on the bench. After the game it was revealed van Persie would go in goal...hmmm.
For the next 15 minutes or so Blackpool increased the pressure. We defended well, although on a couple occasions Koscielny went sliding in far too often, and on another day could easily of conceded costly free kicks or penalties.
Again, our third was awesome. Great defending by Abou Diaby allowed him to chip into Cesc, who flicked the ball down the wing for substitute Theo Walcott. From there he drove in and crossed for van Persie, giving the striker the simplest of tap ins. Classy goal. And that won us the game. Gibbs and Ramsey both came on, and at one time on the pitch, we had Walcott, Wilshere, Gibbs and Ramsey all on the pitch in a Premier League game which was nice to see.
3-1, job done and we're still in the hunt. But only just. We played great football, took our goals well and hopefully restored some confidence. We can ill afford any more slip ups, and we need to crank the pressure on Man Utd.
Last night and this morning, the news is dominated of takeover issues. My thoughts are this. Do not despair. Stan Kroenke has bid his time at Arsenal, is on the board, has the sporting background and is wealthy. This means we will have one owner. Fine. Hopefully he has the contacts and knowledge to take us forward. It is either him, or fat boy Usmanov. I know who I would prefer.
To follow more on the takeover, follow these guys in the know.. @MarkKleinman and @timpayton
Well that's it from me, hopefully it hasn't been a bad return to blogging! Please ignore the rustiness, I have been out of the game for a while and to expect me to hit high standards so soon is mental. Hopefully with a full pre season under my belt I can get back to standards next season.
Thanks for reading
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