We should’ve won but I’ll settle for a tie and the feeling of “knocking” Chelsea out of the title race. Kalou probably should’ve given Chelsea the lead with minutes to play but Arsenal were the ones that had more real chances to score (they always do). Great first half for the Gunners, we were able to play wide football and pressure Chelsea for long stretches without conceding anything defensively. Baptista would rather have been fouled than shoot and he got his wish when Khalid Bouhlarouz brought him down – penalty decision was easy. The sending off might have been a little too harsh, but whatever – doesn’t matter.

Baptista and Juggernaut: All strength, no skill

Thierry Henry was seen in the stands, he had the “Man, I would’ve scored at least twice if I was in there tonight” look on his face. I think a lot of Arsenal fans are writing of the disappointments of this season to missed chances, and more specifically our primary strikers not being in there to finish them off. I think RVP and Henry not being fit is about 60% of the problem, we still have issues in central defense (Senderos) and we do need a gritty power striker in addition to the ones with finesse. Baptista was a good idea at the time but the guy turned out to be like Juggernaut from X-Men – no skill, all force.

There were too great Arsenal passing sequences today, of course we didn’t’ score but it was nonetheless great to watch. The early passing play which Adebayor drilled straight to Czech and the Fabregas back-heel pass to Adebayor in the second half were both of very high quality. It brings a tear to my eye when I see such chances not being taken. Even struggling Eboue had a chance on the late counter-attack but his rocket shot grazed the bar. Gallas had a chance to give the Gunners a 2-0 lead but he made a mess of the free header.

It was strange to see Arsenal play better when they were even rather than a man up. I think the defense needs to be given a lot of credit for staving of Chelsea in the final 15 minutes. After William Gallas allowed SWP to service a cross which Essien nailed home, he did step up and made sure that that mistake wasn’t repeated. I don’t know what to think of Gallas, in some games he’s brilliant and in others he’s playing with an IQ of 50, you just don’t know which one will show up. One reason I like Gallas is because he goes forward and tries to score, which is something we need more off. Oh crap, I just got reminded of how we still haven’t filled the hole left by Pires. That’s always depressing.

Fabregas was awesome again, he’s got the exact weight to put on the ball down to a science. It’s hard to believe he just turned 20 and he’s not even close to being how good he will eventually be. If there’s one guy on Arsenal that gets me excited about the future, it’s him. Denilson was in great pain after his injury and I’m no doctor but it’s got metatarsal written all over it. Hopefully he’s alright.

I would like to have avenged our Carling Cup defeat with a win, but as I said before, I’ll take this result. Finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the premiership is the exact same thing.

Gilberto Penalty + Julio Baptista Fouled 1-0

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN5U-RidFUE]

Michael Essien 1-1

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Final Score on ESPN

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It was Chelsea’s first team versus Arsenal’s second in the Carling Cup Final. No Henry, Lehmann, Gallas, Eboue, Adebayor, Gilberto, Rosicky or Hleb in the starting lineup for the Gunners, Arsene Wenger staying true to his word about playing his youngsters giving them what they deserve – a Cup Final. But when it was all said and done the ghost of Didier Drogba wasn’t done haunting Senderos. Drogba supplied a great header to a Robben pass and Senderos was way too late to contest Drogba. 2-1 Chelsea the final.

With a little more experience, slightly better defending and Henry instead of Baptista in there, this would’ve been Arsenal’s game. But take nothing away from Arsenal, their youngsters showed no signs of big match nerves and if anything it was the veterans that let the team down.

Equal possession early on but Arsenal playing much more confidently and creating chances for Fabregas and Baptista after carefully dissecting the Chelsea defense. Baptista unleashing a strong effort between John Terry’s legs which Czech managed to get a finger tip on. On the ensuing corner, Chelsea fans starting throwing stuff on the pitch as Fabregas is about to take the corner. Drogba can’t clear the corner and Fabregas gets the ball right before some nifty passing by Arsenal finds Walcott all alone with just Czech to beat from seven yards. The youngster makes no mistake. His first for Arsenal comes at a crucial time. The commentators were pure Chelsea supporters, they kept making excuses for John Terry everytime they had a chance.

Theo Walcott 1-0

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yXOcnRt5xs]

After twenty minute Chelsea had yet to manage anything of consequence with Lampard’s effort being blocked nicely by Senderos. At this point the commentator mentions that Arsene Wenger has yet to beat Jose Mourinho which makes me very angry for some reason. Arsenal are on a 3 on 2 break when Baptista waits way too long before deciding on doing anything and ends up giving the ball away. On the counter-attack, the off-side flag incorrectly stayed down and Drogba was alone on the right with just Almunia to beat and he did so by going through his legs. Just before Chelsea scored, Arsenal had a chance to go ahead 2-0 but instead it’s 1-1. Traore having some serious trouble in the left-back position with Toure having to help out too often allowing Chelsea to create chances and Drogba and Shevchenko focusing their attacks entirely on Traore.

Didier Drogba 1-1

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A nice run by Diaby on the left really showcased his skill but after an exchange of passes, his shot had no string from 10 yards out and humbly rolled to Czech. Arsenal, after regressing for about 10 minutes showed creativity and desire to go forward. But nothing on either side of any weight until Baptista is too late to connect with the header from the right and Czech collects. Later on Aliadiere breaks down John Terry and all he’s got to do is beat Carvalho but the Portugese gets a good foot on it. Arsenal with a great chance to take the lead. The commentators really love John Terry, they blame his injury instead of giving Aliadiere credit.

Second half starts out with a flurry with Arjen Robben reading the Shevchenko run but the pass is an inch too far. Abu Diaby finds open space on the left and the pass to him is perfect but his shot across goal is saved by Czech who covers the goal well. A better effort by Diaby might have beaten Czech. Diaby was running rampant in the second half, forcing free kicks and causing problems for Chelsea. This guy just made a case to be playing in the Champions League.

The contact on the John Terry injury was purely accidental – he wanted to score and Diaby wanted to prevent it from happening, nothing malicious on the part of Diaby whatsoever. Terry is substituted and Essien drops back to defense. On the other side, it appears Walcott can get past Wayne Bridge anytime he wants and Arsenal probably should have looked more to exploit that advantage but Chelsea go off the hook there. At 66 minutes, Traore replaces Eboue, the youngster was having his share of troubles on the field today, especially early on. Alexander Hleb replaced Diaby which was a little suprising, Diaby was playing well and covering the length of the field with his runs.

John Terry Knocked Out

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TERXgr5lZ00]

Adebayor came in for Aliadiere who had a decent game and anytime there was service for him, he made something good of it. The Arsenal youngsters had a good overall showing, it was just moments of lapsed concentration that cost them this one.

Late in the second half is when Drogba struck for his second, a goal that would have been easily preventable had Senderos done his homework and paid even a little attention to what Drogba wanted to do. Arsenal didn’t have a single decent corner in the game with Czech collecting most of them easily. Exact same could be said for freekicks with Fabregas and Baptista’s efforts always hitting the wall, we really missed Henry here.

Didier Drogba 2-1 (These Korean commentators are awesome)

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In the end, it was mayhem, red cards were everywhere. An injury time brawl ended up with Howard Webb dismissing Jon Obi, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor. Adebayor continued to jaw at Webb and had to be hauled off the pitch. He’ll definitely be facing an FA charge. Here’s a few pictures that tell the story:

After the final whistle, I just switched it off.

The only player on Chelsea that I wouldn’t throw acid on is Didier Drogba. Too bad he doesn’t play for Arsenal.

After being sent in by Maureen late in the second half against Newcastle (who stink worse than Frank Lampard) in a scoreless game, Drogba again showed why he’s one of the best in the business. Here’s some Chelsea vs. Newcastle video I uploaded on YouTube:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS1bXSM3M7g]

A lot of talk (link1, link2, link3) in the football blogosphere is pitching that Arsenal came out on top (theoritically) in their 1-1 draw with Chelsea over the weekend. I seem to be among the few that think they blew two of the three points that were rightfully theirs. Going up 1-0 at Stamford Bridge with 10 minutes to spare is a luxury no club can afford and we were good and lucky enough to be there. So why the Freddie Ljunberg for Robin van Persie substitution happened is unexplainable seeing how van Persie was playing excellent as a holding forward and was causing headaches for Chelsea throughout the afternoon. Suprising also was the non-reaction by Wenger to the introduction of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Arjen Robben, the latter coming close to scoring twice soon after coming in. Is Jens Lehmann to be held responsible for letting in a goal in from 35 yards of which he had a clear view? It’s easy to ignore these points when the prevalent attitude seems to be one of joy over a measly point being earned while we’re more than a dozen back from the league leaders, Manchester United.

The Arsenal don’t settle for a 1-1 draw, regardless of opponent or venue. Yes, we are young and are plagued by injury but when the opportunity to earn three points is there, one has to snatch it at all costs. Arsenal were not expected to win this game but could have done so with a little more care. Or perhaps I’m expecting too much of the current squad and should rather pat them on their back for a point well earned. No, Arsenal were not expected to win but they had the opportunity to and lost it because after going up 1-0, a sense of complacency set in and in the end we were lucky to escape with a point.

Dave Gilbert is bang-on in his analysis of the squad:

Until Wenger/Hill-Wood spend some serious duckets on someone that weighs more than 25lbs wet for our midfield, and gets a serious partner up front for TH-14 we will be playing the “spoiler” role in the EPL for seasons too come, meaning at best we will be giving the title to either MAN U or Chelski by beating one or the other.

That sums it up. Bad game against Fulham, good game against Chelsea. Nobody knows what’s next.

Gunners could’ve won, but still manage to hold Chelsea without half their real team.

Comments welcome.

Flamini 1-0 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOCTupg0VrM

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOCTupg0VrM]

Essien 1-1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sh4nslrs2w

The flamboyant Portuguese fag quoted:

‘We are a team adapted to the reality, which is why Arsenal cannot beat Bolton at Bolton and why Chelsea under me have played three matches and got three victories at Bolton with zero goals conceded.’

‘For my concept of football, the best football is the football adapted to the circumstances. ‘You cannot play against Bolton at Bolton the same you play at home against Watford. My feeling is that some teams and some managers play every game with the same philosophy, with the same game principles and with the same game strategy. ‘Sometimes they beat someone 6-0 and sometimes they lose a game they shouldn’t lose.’ One of the strengths in football teams is to adapt to different realities which is what I am trying to do with Chelsea in England and Chelsea in Europe. Chelsea cannot play in Europe the same way it plays in England.

‘We’ve played some matches at home with three defenders; we’ve finished some games with five players in attack. So Chelsea is an attacking team but adapted to the reality. Against Bolton if you don’t defend as we did in the last 15 minutes, you have no chance.’

Seems to be a fair assessment of what Arsenal have done wrong against physically ‘tougher’ teams such as Bolton and Fulham. Arsenal have a well-known tendency to string an extra three passes when a shot would suffice. It’s evident that Fabregas, Hleb and Rosicky would prefer to rely on their talents than play a physical game even when circumstances demand for it. Isn’t winning the ultimate goal rather than playing “beautiful football”? I mean, you’d bang Britney Spears but you wouldn’t marry her, would you?

So is Mourinho that wrong in saying that Arsenal don’t know how to “adapt” to circumstance and will struggle under their current philosophy. I’d like to think he’s just being a bitch again but something tells me theirs a tinge of truth in his words. I love the way Arsenal play and when they’re in rhythm, they’re both unstoppable and a pleasure to watch but over the last few years, I think I’d prefer Chelsea’s results rather than Arsenal’s style.