At Least the Season Started

The season started today and the Gunners hosted Aston Villa and their new manager Martin O’Neill. The Arsenal had some injuries to deal with plus AW left Cashley on the bench because he is likely out the door soon, and therefore had to pull in Freddie before he was ready. Also AW put Henry in upfront though he looked tired and rusty all day. The lineup was:

Lehmann
Eboue Toure Djourou Hoyte
Hleb Cesc Gilberto Ljungberg
Adebayor Henry

The Arsenal started off well and attacked often but there were scenes from last year of the team either trying to get Henry the ball or trying to pass the ball in to the goal. As a result, there weren’t too many shots and the few actually taken weren’t well executed. Arsenal looked to have a late goal, but it was disallowed due to offsides and the match went into halftime 0-0 with the Gunners looking OK. The 2nd half started the same way, but Villa scored on a corner that was headed in by Mellberg in the 54th minute. Lehmann should have stayed on his line, but came out to collect it and instead collided with two others and could only watch as the ball sailed in the net.


Being down a goal in the opening match at the Grove got the team a bit more fired up and Les Boss put on RvP for Ade in the 66th minute. Robin isn’t one to shy away from taking a shot, and he brought a bit of life to the match. A few minutes later the place went up in a roar as wunder-kid Theo Walcott was subbed on for Freddie in the 73rd minute. Let me just say that Walcott really has pace, a good eye for angles and the goal, along with a good touch, especially for a 17 year old. Just to prove that he isn’t all hype, he sent in a beautiful cross just over RvP’s head, but right to the feet of Gilberto who slotted it home for the equalizer in the 83rd minute. Not much else happened after that, though the Arsenal tried to get a winner but didn’t seem to have it in them.

For years I haven’t really been too annoyed with international friendlies or tournaments, but this year you can really see the toll it took on some of the players like Henry and Lehmann who seemed to be going through the paces today. The club should be able to rest most players and send out the kids against Zagred for the midweek CL 2nd leg match.

Plymouth didn’t have much luck today either as they lost on a late game goal to Sheffield Wednesday at home. Their short unbeaten streak ended, but there is still a lot of season left to play. Holloway’s boys play in a Carling Cup match at home against 2nd Division side Walsall. They return to league play on Saturday at Stoke


The last major golf tournament of the year is on right now, and I don’t know why I’m writing instead of watching, but I guess it’s because the wife is out, the kid is asleep and I have a few minutes of silence. Anyway, the PGA Championship is being played at Medinah outside of Chicago and there are a ton of players right up at the top of the leaderboard. Before I left the couch, Luke Donald and Mike Weir were tied for the lead at -13 with Tiger lurking just behind them at -11. Overnight rains made the greens soft and there was a flurry of birdies to start off the day. Things have settled down a bit but it should be an interesting finish and great day of golf tomorrow.

Enough for now.

Adios.