Arsenal 3-0 Sheffield United – 23/09/06 – (Barclays Premiership) 24 September, 2006

Lovely Jubbly.

We got our first domestic win at Ashburton Grove yesterday but the three nil score line doesn’t tell the full story. We didn’t really play that well and it was very nearly a 0-0 draw. We were definitely the team with the possession ad we had the most chances but we really weren’t on form. We played much better in the games against Villa, Man City and ‘Boro yet this was the only one we managed to win. To be fair, we were playing Sheffield United, and they had 9 players out for this game; they battled but there were just not good enough really. Our defence was on form though and were proving impossible to break down, in fairness we deserved to win, maybe not 3-0 though.

We started off well and the 59,912 watching thought we were in for a real footballing treat. Then after about 15 minutes we got sloppy and careless. Gallas had an amazing chance to open his account for Arsenal and was played through on goal but his shot went just wide. We needed that early goal really, I think if he’d of scored then or if we scored in the first half an hour it really would have been a thrashing but we went to half time with the scores still tied at 0-0

I thought it wasn’t going to be our day and it’d end up nil-nil or even worse, them grabbing a late goal. I was thinking it’d been a poor performance but if we do score and win it I’ll still say how crap we played. One goal doesn’t make things all better, we still played shit football for an hour; but when we scored we found our confidence and added two more.

Also Henry was terrible today. People have been saying he doesn’t give a shit and should be left out until he’s fit/bothered but I’ve always stood by him. However today I saw what everyone was talking about, he made sloppy passes and seemed to just amble around the field. He just didn’t seem to give a shit at all. The weird thing is that on paper it’ll show one assist and one goal and he’ll think all is forgiven. However I think I speak for us all when I say I want to see a bit more effort from the skipper and show us why he’s the best striker in the world. I wasn’t calling for him to be subbed unlike some of the others sitting around me because I know sometimes Henry is quiet all game but then has little flashes of brilliance which is what wins games.

Bill Gallas might have been rueing his miss in the first half but he made up for it on 65 minutes as he made it 1-0 to the Arsenal. It was started by Henry who had one of those moments of genius I was talking about; he found Cesc and gave him the opening and he battled through the United defence and played it to Gallas who smashed it into the back of the net. Ashburton Grove erupted in joy and relief.

Not long after Gallas’ first Henry made a run down the left wing beating The Blades defence, he cut inside and played a short cross which was deflected in by Phil Jagielka to make it 2 goals in 5 minutes.

The 3rd goal was scored by the skipper, Thierry Henry but it was Eboue that should get the credit for this one. He made a surging run down the right and whip in the perfect ball for and unmarked Henry 3 yards out who headed (yes headed!) past Ian Bennett. 3-0. Game over. Those dirty northern fans who’d be shouting at us all game had had enough and were leaving to which we replied: “We can see you sneaking out. We can see you, we can see you, we can see you sneaking out.”

So for the majority of the match we were awful, despite that I think we deserved the win. All we needed was the confidence from the first goal, even though this came well into the match, that’s what got us going. Three points in the bag and we are racing back up to the top of the Premiership. Sheffield United are still bottom, our next games are against 19th and 18th so no excuse to drop points there.

Yesterday could’ve been an even better day for us as Chelsea left it late to get the points against Fulham and Reading were beating Man Utd 1-0 until Ronaldo equalized with 15 minutes to go. Pompey play tomorrow but Chelsea are top again for now.

There’s some more good news this morning: The Beast wants a permanent deal and says he’s not just here for the loan. Things look the same way in Madrid with Reyes so I think everyone will be happy. He had this to say to the News of The World:

I am not at Arsenal simply for the loan period. I feel that my future is here and I want to show that The Beast can triumph in England. One of my big motives in joining Arsenal was to repeat the success they had in Europe last season.

For me the best part of that quote is him referring to himself as ‘The Beast’ and in the 3rd person. Legend.

Also we drew West Brom in the League Cup yesterday, that’ll be a good test for the kids. I think it would be brilliant for our youngsters to win the League cup one day, I’d go to Wembley Cardiff to see the final. Our next match is Porto at home on Tuesday, it won’t be an easy match. Hopefully some more build up to that in the next few days. See ya.