Monday, November 13, 2006

The Great Football Weekend, Part Deux

If I had told you that Arsenal would dominate Liverpool 3-0 and asked you who the goalscorers would be, you would definitely choose Flamini, Toure, and Gallas, right? Of course you would. For those of you scoring at home, that is a backup defensive midfielder and the two central defenders.

Arsenal 3-0 Liverpool.
Flamini (41)
Toure (56)
Gallas (80)

Match Of The Day highlights (9:48)


Kolo makes it 2-0

Benitez was kind enough to play Gerrard out on the right, where he did exactly nothing. Henry did alot of tracking back to win balls, showing a ton of hustle that most other premier strikers in the world would not bother with because they would view it as beneath them - very impressive.

At this point it seems pretty clear that this Arsenal team can beat anyone, anywhere; they have already won away to ManUtd, and they certainly could beat Chelsea both home and away. That being said, I don't know that this group can be consistent enough to win the league over a 38 game season. That will come next year...

The big news of the weekend is that Barcelona wunderkind striker Lionel Messi broke his foot and will be out for at least 3 months. Backup striker Saviola injured his thigh and he will also be out for 4-6 weeks. That in addition to assassin striker & reigning pichichi Samuel Eto'o being out with a serious knee injury means that Barcelona will be up against it to defend their Champions League and La Liga titles this season (although they are currently in 1st place in La Liga).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barca's done. They might have been able to coast those injuries later in the season, but even some good / lucky January transfer work might not be enough. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, mind you.

Anonymous said...

Also, all three of those goals were great -- the through balls to Flamini and Toure were brilliantly placed, and any goal that involves Gerrard standing slack-jawed having screwed the pooch on man-marking is just that much more satisfying.

Anonymous said...

Let's be fair, here. Gerrard has never been professed to be an outstanding defender. He's adequate, for a midfielder, but his skills are far greater in ball control and finishing (although both seem to be missing this year). Maybe a move back to Center Mid is needed?