Once Again Arsenal Stoked

Stoke City 1 - 0 Arsenal
Match Report

Oh man what an awful game to watch from an Arsenal perspective.  When I saw the line up I knew it was going to be a long game, and when I saw Arsene Wenger and Steve Bould giggling during the 1st half I knew the squad wasn't prepared to match Stoke City's intensity, an play with that frenetic desperate no holds barred approach Arsenal's title challenge needed in today's match.

The Good - Wow! Not a whole lot of good things in this match, but if you press me on one thing I would say Ox.  I cant for the life of me explain why he didn't start, this was the type of match Ox should be starting.  Ox's energy attitude and physicality are all things you need when playing against Ogre's in Ogre Land.  When is the last time you can remember Ox writhing wallowing and complaining after being fouled? When The Ox finally came on he was bright lively and created a couple of wonderful scoring opportunities.  My only knock on Ox would be his honesty, I felt he should've went down in the box late in the match, just to see if the shitty ref felt guilty enough to award Arsenal a penalty.  Desperate times call for desperate actions and Arsenal were beyond desperate at that stage in the game.

The Bad -  Arsene's decision not to start Ozil Ox, and Flimini.  Ozil has had 10 days off and that's plenty of time off, especially considering the fact that Arsenal are very much in a title race AND Arsenal dont play midweek AND Arsene hardly EVER rotates for league games.  It was pretty obvious at halftime that Podolski had dipped into Diaby's medical marijuana and Rosicky just looked tired warranting the manager to make some changes sooner rather than later.  I felt if the manager was going to rest a player then it would be Jack.  If your squad is going to be playing a bunch of animals, then your going to need to play at least one animal, and Flimini is Arsenal's animal, and the team needed Flimini's attitude and intensity against Stoke City. 

The Ugly -  Stoke City fans, The Britannia Stadium, the first half were all very ugly, but not half as ugly as Charlie Adam and the refs performance.  Charlie Adam is the dirtiest player in the BPL, not just his appearance but his play on the pitch.  He's fat out of shape and slow, and since he's playing in the midfield, he's always going to be late for tackles.  Charlie Adam doesn't care about being late for tackles, his attitude is since I ran all the way over here, I might as well do the river dance on somebodies shin bone.  The beauty of it all is he ALWAYS gets away with committing terrible fouls.  That brings me  to the ref who refused to give Charlie Adam any cards, and awarded a soft penalty to Stoke City.  How does the ref think its possible for a human to jump in air and kick a ball with is hands by his side.  The decision was terrible and gave Stoke City who created nothing all match a beautifully wrapped gift and all 3pts.

Final Thought - Flat uninspired performance at the wrong time against the wrong team at the wrong place with the wrong referee.  Arsenal must now pick themselves up get back on track and get ready for next weeks FA Cup Quarter Final match against Everton, their last opportunity for cup.  That's right I said it, lets hope not, but lets be honest, it aint looking so good.  COYG!

Peace Out,
Blanco