Sunday September 2nd
Arsenal vs Portsmouth
I headed to this game quite excited, I expected to see an open
attacking affair as Harry Redknapp’s sides tend to go at sides early
in the season even away from home. Additionally all eyes would be on
Calamity James as he was mooted to get the England spot over Robinson
who himself had been making howlers recently. I was expecting an
excellent atmosphere as the stadium would be full of Arsenal season
ticket holders and members unlike the pre-season tournament and the
Portsmouth fans are renowned for their noise.
Upon arrival first things first, off to one of the food vans for a dog
with the lot, food inside the stadium is quite pricey, $AUD12 for a
hot dog! We were seated above and behind the away fans which made for
a wonderful day as insults and chants were traded between the two sets
of fans. My participation in these was somewhat minimal being a
neutral patron - I couldn’t chant for Arsenal that was like stabbing
my beloved Reds in the back!
At the first whistle the Arsenal fans were on it and the Emirates in
full voice was electrifying to hear, I can’t imagine what the Kop must
be like 
Both sides started sluggishly, Portsmouth were content to
sit back, which I didn’t expect. Arsenal were getting their run
through Hleb and Rosicky out wide and Van Persie and Adebayor through
the middle. The Arsenal flanks worked well with Clichy and makeshift
right back Flamini getting forward in support, or beyond at any given
opportunity. Having seen him in the flesh Clichy is a more than
adequate replacement for Cole, and I can’t help thinking Cole may have
left because his place was in jeopardy. Clichy is lightning quick,
whilst he lacks the finishing of Cole, he’s more content to play the
setup.
It wasn’t long before James proved that he shouldn’t be England’s
number 1 with a poorly timed, and unnecessary challenge on Van Persie
to give away a penalty. Adebayor stepped up and duly converted. I
have a video recording of the penalty on my friend’s camera, when I
get my hands on it I will provide a URL for people to watch it if they
like, I was trying to capture the crowd reaction to a goal.
After Arsenal scored, the result was only ever going to go one way as
Portsmouth continued to sit back and allow Arsenal to play without
getting out of second gear. They went two up from a corner when
Fabregas stationed at the near post reacted quickest to the loose ball
and turned sharply to place it inside the near post. I have a
somewhat blurry video of this goal as well.
At half time the sprinklers were turned on to keep the surface slick.
The second half started much as the first finished but quickly got
interesting when Senderos was adjudged to have fouled Kanu on the edge
of the box, and was deemed to be last man, so was duly presented with
a red card. From my vantage point I couldn’t tell if he was actually
the last man, I personally considered it a wonderful professional
foul, I’m not big on the concept but if it has to be done, it has to
be done, and this was for all intents and purposes great, no malice,
no ugly looking swipe and executed outside the box, I expected a
yellow. The resulting miss by Portsmouth led to the surrounding
Arsenal fans getting on their feet, pointing at the Portsmouth fans
and chanting “who are ya?” repeatedly, a wonderful sight.
On going down to ten men Arsenal pulled Gilberto back to defence to
partner Toure and played the rest of their lines as they were. This
paid off with Rosicky adding a third ten minutes later with a neat
finish beating James at the near post and once again questioning his
ability to be the main man for England.
The third goal seemed to spark Portsmouth into life and they finally
came at Arsenal and scored a freakish goal. Kanu seemed to be
controlling a cross on the turn with his back to goal, he mistimed it,
but in the process wrong footed Almunia - who had been outstanding -
and the ball rolled into the net. Arsenal shut up shop and went on to
win, they should have won by more when Diaby missed the goal entirely
with a header when it seemed easier to score.
Man of the Match: Gilberto, Rosicky got it from the main sponsor, and
Elaine and Thommo, Rich agreed with me. Rosicky was good all day, but
once down to ten men Gilberto was immense, he turned away more
Portsmouth attacks than the rest of the Arsenal side combined.
Rich took some sequence photos of the penalty, Fabregas’ goal and some
other sections of play, I will put these up somewhere and provide
links.
Some brilliant (sequential) pics:
http://tomfot.freehostia.com/avp/pen/
http://tomfot.freehostia.com/avp/corner/
http://tomfot.freehostia.com/avp/fk/
http://tomfot.freehostia.com/avp/fab/
Editors note - I’m a bit worried about this lad, for a ‘Reds’ supporter he sure is attending a lot of the ‘wrong’ reds (Arsenal) matches. :-D
Thanks Tommy. Keep enjoying that lovely English weather. BJ
