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This is cut and pasted from the 'Arsenal World' message board. Very fair and commendable, (especially the comment about Phillips!!)...

Morning all

And what a dissapointing one it is too

Okay , there are various ways to look at this defeat - We were robbed by a incompetent referee who thought there ought to be 23 stars on the pitch .????

As someone pointed out below THIS IS Graham Poll . This how he refs . We know THIS .

However THE TRUTH IS that ranting about the ref totally overides some glaring deficiencies in OUR side .

AGAIN 25 minutes in what should the score have been ?

Parlour was on fire , a storming performance , that at the heart of our midfield ,was leaving Vieira in the shadows , feeding the front with a regularity that did / would provide chances galore .

AGAIN it should have been at least two up before he was red carded . Knowing Graham Poll as we do would you not say that Parlour's first card was the result of rank stupidity on Ray's part ? The boy may be back in form but Jesus how many brain cells does he have ? . After that card he could have gone for anything and then went for nothing .

Sure you can argue about the details but with a little more intelligence he would have stayed on the pitch and we'd have probably won it with some ease . No doubt at the moment that at the moment Ray is our best player for me anyway . He's clearly playing for that World Cup place .

I thought Shearer was fantastic in trying not to get Ray sent off - Commendable

AGAIN we are looking at forward players (Henry excluded) who cannot for the life of them , sniff out a goal if even it were surrounding them full circle !

Personally I can see that Kanu and Bergkamp are quality players but not consistent enough at this level to aleviate the burden from Henry when needed .

Wiltord ? I could write a book about why he just is NOT the grade for Arsenal . Why is he here .? The most often used phrase I here commentators make about him is - " and there's Wiltord showing too much of the ball " to whoever - He simply does not cut it at this level no control-none-no finesse no subtlety, he has power but often forgets to take the ball with him !!! and is a wasted place .

I thought Vieira's performance very interesting -don't bother telling me 'he dominated' in his usual manner -he did'nt / he is'nt / he has'nt been - his passing was often atrocious and for periods was out-tackled . When Parlour was gone I thought Vieira looked ordinary . You can give it to me about me being anti Vieira if you want but clearly you're being blinded to the reality of it all

Let's face it - the reality is that if we had a striker poacher in the Wright class we'd now be sitting 6 points clear . I kid you not - the investment of 20 million on a proven striker would facilitate a Premier League title . IMHO there is no doubt about this . We will continue to

a/ be carried by Henry

b/ lose / draw games that should be finished after 30 mins .

The shame of this match was also that Campbell I thought had his best game for us . His often maligned distribution was almost 100% and the tackle was a candidate for tackle of the season . His pace has picked up and Shearer held no real fears for him even though Newcastle are very lively up front . I thought he was immense .

What happened at the near post ?? What was that all about ??

One massive dissapointment for me was Ash . He's coming through his recent poor patch with flying colours and what does he do ? He was toted about his ability to go down as if 'shot ' earlier in the season and I thought that professionally he had sorted this out . His response to Bellamy was terrible - this is a part of his game I for one despise and the Geordie fans attitude to him was totally justified . Some people accept this as part of the modern game . Personally I think there's no place fof it .

Another thing we should also take to heart - In his interview after Bobby Robson said "there are some people in this stadium who have got to learn to lose, I have we all have to " How right he is .

We must forget outside peripheral things even if they , like on this occasion, have conspired to defeat us -Henry will now be lost, probably for five six games , when really with better finishing there would have been no argument about the referee etc.

How stupid is that . ?

Finally we have to give respect / give credit where it is due , Newcastle were good last night they played for the whole 96 minutes - had to contend with a referee who was just as bad to them as to us and who took good advantage of us not being able to stop thinking that we had an entitlement to win . Well done Bobby Robson and his men they had a hugely difficult fixture to go top of the league and did the business .

We could do no worse than learn from them for the forthcoming trip to Pool

( and for Christ sakes please sell Wiltord and break the bank for Phillips or someone who can poach !! )

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

Answers

That guy has to be a geordie in disguise!!!

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

wow, quite enjoyable

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

F**k me, a gratious and balanced report. A pint for that man!

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

It's quite incredible is'nt it? He must have been born on Tyneside!!

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

Yes I like Phillips too. I've got one of those poachers he mentions plus a microwave and a toaster by them as well. They all work very well but I can't think why he mentions it here though.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001


What a great post. If only Wenger could be as objective.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

This deosn't suprise me in a way, genuine Arsenal fans are not a bad bunch, the media are tossers of course but I know quite a few gooners and those that regularly go are pretty fair, not the glory boys mind that have latched onto The gunners in recent years.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

Actually most of the Gooners were similarly balanced after the game. They probably don't see us as ultimate competition for the title and are therefore more prepared to let us enjoy the moment.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

Credit where it is due there also seem to be a few down-the-road who know their football. From Ready to Go (where I lurk from time to time + NEVER post abuse) by 'Leeds Mackem'

A few weeks ago we played a top side away. They were better than us for 30 mins, went one up then had a midfilder sent off. Last night the Mags play a top side away. Get battered for 30 minutes, go one down and the opposition have a midfielder sent off. OK different game (and the second sending off and penalty made a difference) but in our game against Liverpool at no time did i think we changed tactics, used width, passed it better than them etc. In fact at no time did it look like we had the nouse to get anyting from the game. Frankly, the Mags did last night. I don't so much hate the fact that they are doing well, more that we are so palpably poor!

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001


I actually quite like the Gooners and it's a point of minor sadness that they have so many tossers involved in their set-up.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001


Pretty decent unbiased report. Although it states the obvious as far as I'm concerned, it does more for me than any of the so-called proper publications.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2001

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