Arsenal out, Man U in (final score)
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**yettycom clearing throat****..... as much as i'm not happy about manu beating arsenal...i'm afraid my sympathy remains only within the premiership.... If Arsenal manages to beat Chelsea, then i'm afraid they'll reach d end of the line, cos "Los Galacticos" will put an end to the "wannabes"omo naija wrote:It's time for arsenal to count dere fans well surely u wont be one of 'em, come may...well i only look at this game as match practice for Tuesday when history will be made...but still i blame Arsene for this game what was he think when puttin Aliadere or watever for this match and restin TH14 and Reyes...well its moreorless a reserve game fitness for aliadere and other players had an off game just look at Pires nothin lost we still have another double this season for sure
God is good to me and all who love and follow him.. Amazingly, he's also loving to all those who dont know him. What a mighty God he is!
Eagle Winged wrote:Biafra, please stop talking nonsense. You were never a fan in the first place. Bloody bandwagon jumper more like!
Manure can have the F.A Cup, we've got bigger fish to fry. We had the consolation of the F.A Cup last season, now we've just returned the favour. But they better not go thinking Sunderland or Millwall will be pushovers.
Eagle Winged,
It doesn't matter how you bad-mouth me. My mind is made up. I am inclined to sway allegiance 'cos those lassNALs don't worth a hoot. Hw can you explain all those threat of thunder by your T/Henry only to fizzle out to Man U that didn't even feature Van N? Did you see the goal? The zig-zag pass simply got the keeper dizzying away from the hooker! Classical,I must admit, so stuff you with your lassNals. I am off!
You cant blame Wenger for the game....You just can't. It's human beings like you and I that play this game. The Arsenal has 4games lined up in 8days. Henry went to represent france midweek (which is fair enough) He was rested basically because of fatigue and the fact that there are more important games ahead. We all know the Arsenal don't have that kind of squad that the Roman built. So, Arsene had to plan with the scale of preference, which he has been doing very well, even though we were just unfortunate to be playing a Man U team that really had one life to live. If you are a gunner, you will know that FA cup slip, right now, though painful, is not the end of the world. The CL is the big pot that we have never tasted. So lets hope the Arsenal will bounce back again like they know how.omo naija wrote:It's time for arsenal to count dere fans well surely u wont be one of 'em, come may...well i only look at this game as match practice for Tuesday when history will be made...but still i blame Arsene for this game what was he think when puttin Aliadere or watever for this match and restin TH14 and Reyes...well its moreorless a reserve game fitness for aliadere and other players had an off game just look at Pires nothin lost we still have another double this season for sure
”The strength of the Team is each individual member. The Strength of each member is the Team.”
Phil Jackson..
Phil Jackson..
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Chief Goza
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Kai, I thought I was the only one that noticed!Biafra wrote: Eagle Winged,
It doesn't matter how you bad-mouth me. My mind is made up. I am inclined to sway allegiance 'cos those lassNALs don't worth a hoot. Hw can you explain all those threat of thunder by your T/Henry only to fizzle out to Man U that didn't even feature Van N? Did you see the goal? The zig-zag pass simply got the keeper dizzying away from the hooker! Classical,I must admit, so stuff you with your lassNals. I am off!
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
You cant blame Wenger for the game....You just can't. It's human beings like you and I that play this game. The Arsenal has 4games lined up in 8days. Henry went to represent france midweek (which is fair enough) He was rested basically because of fatigue and the fact that there are more important games ahead. We all know the Arsenal don't have that kind of squad that the Roman built. So, Arsene had to plan with the scale of preference, which he has been doing very well, even though we were just unfortunate to be playing a Man U team that really had one life to live. If you are a gunner, you will know that FA cup slip, right now, though painful, is not the end of the world. The CL is the big pot that we have never tasted. So lets hope the Arsenal will bounce back again like they know how. [/quote]
All those self-consoling words don't hypnotize me anymore. If FA Cup was all that unimportant, Wenger should have rested all his guns and tried out few starters. lassNals simply don't have guts when it gets gritty... the very reason why I don't think they will go anywhere beyond their present position in UCL, let alone dream of winning it. 8) 8) 8) 8)
All those self-consoling words don't hypnotize me anymore. If FA Cup was all that unimportant, Wenger should have rested all his guns and tried out few starters. lassNals simply don't have guts when it gets gritty... the very reason why I don't think they will go anywhere beyond their present position in UCL, let alone dream of winning it. 8) 8) 8) 8)
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Chief Goza
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O'boy, dem no ban you? Wetin you dey do for here?Waffiman wrote:Disappointing result but all will be forgotten if we get through on Tuesday. That is the game and we must not fail.
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
All those self-consoling words don't hypnotize me anymore. If FA Cup was all that unimportant, Wenger should have rested all his guns and tried out few starters. lassNals simply don't have guts when it gets gritty... the very reason why I don't think they will go anywhere beyond their present position in UCL, let alone dream of winning it. 8) 8) 8) 8)[/quote]Biafra wrote:You cant blame Wenger for the game....You just can't. It's human beings like you and I that play this game. The Arsenal has 4games lined up in 8days. Henry went to represent france midweek (which is fair enough) He was rested basically because of fatigue and the fact that there are more important games ahead. We all know the Arsenal don't have that kind of squad that the Roman built. So, Arsene had to plan with the scale of preference, which he has been doing very well, even though we were just unfortunate to be playing a Man U team that really had one life to live. If you are a gunner, you will know that FA cup slip, right now, though painful, is not the end of the world. The CL is the big pot that we have never tasted. So lets hope the Arsenal will bounce back again like they know how.
Tell me something..... I don't need to come out here to hypnotize you, and if you say "self-consoling", then i will claim it. I will claim it because everyone does that sometimes. Nobody said the FA cup was not important, but when you have 3cups to battle for, you will definately have preferences, especially when you have 4games lined up in 8days. "Lassnals simply don't have guts when it gets gritty"...I think you need to take those words back from where you got it from, because I really don't know how gritty it can get, when the Arsenal survived when they needed to take full 9points from their last 3 games in CL Prelims. Anyways, I think i know your type and you are definately not the only one in those shoes...You guys got issues with the Arsenal...why can't you guys just pull your pants up for now, until the battles are over.
”The strength of the Team is each individual member. The Strength of each member is the Team.”
Phil Jackson..
Phil Jackson..
Cygan would have played if he had not got injured on Tuesday reserve game.
Parlour would have played if he passed a fitness test.
Beating Chelsea will justify Villa Park failure
By Myles Palmer
_____________________________
Arsenal 0 Manchester United 1
_____________________________
REF GRAHAM BARBER had a bad game.
He should have sent Scholes off, booked Keane, and spotted a 24-carat handball in the box by Silvestre.
But Man United wanted it more.
Much more.
ALIADIERE started with Bergkamp.
Aliadiere has not played for three months.
This game was too big for him.
He could not handle it. Good player, good prospect, not his fault, game was too big for him.
Why didn't Reyes start? Because Arsene did not want to risk injury to him.
ARSENE’S team selection said it all.
It said : The FA Cup is less important than the chance to play Real Madrid in the Champions League semi.
He was saying, "Tuesday night is the big game. If we beat Chelsea, we play Real Madrid and we all wanna see Real Madrid v Real Arsenal : Ronaldo v Henry, Carlos v Cole, Zidane v Pires, Beckham v Vieira."
SIR ALEX did not have Ruud VN, but he had tactics that worked.
His game-plan was : three wingers, five in midfield, Darren Fletcher chugging around like a tenacious Bundesliga up-and-downer, feed it out to Ronaldo, who will attack their 18-year old left back.
Clichy was left one-on-one far too often, with Pires and Edu giving him no support.
Sol read Ronaldo’s crosses well. But they were predictable crosses, rarely to the far post.
First 12 minutes, Arsenal were good.
After 2 minutes, Edu headed over the defence and Bergkamp broke away and went wide left into the box and keeper Carroll got out well and saved with his hand and on the rebound Dennis went for power rather than a curler into the top corner.
Wes Brown stooped to head off the line and O’Shea cleared for a corner.
Pires took it, ball cleared, Edu chipped against the bar, Toure headed from three yards - and Carroll clawed the ball away.
After 12, when Clichy fouled Ronaldo, who was beating him on the inside, Man United began to take the game over.
On 25, Pires missed a simple header from six yards.
So on 32, Pires lost the ball to Gary Neville and the ball went to Vieira, who came out and tried a risky pass that found Silvestre, who knocked it to Keane, who passed to Gary Neville, who slipped it forward to the unmarked Giggs in the box on the right.
His low cross was made-to-measure for Scholes, who has been burying such chances since Le Tournoi in 1997, and before.
I said, "That's it - game over!"
I often say that, and I'm wrong. Often say that and change my mind later in the game.
But that Scholes rocket had a certain finality about it.
CLEARLY, MAN UNITED WANTED IT MORE.
32 minutes, game over.
Arsenal’s game is pass and move and there was no movement.
Edu looked up again and again to see....no run! No movement !
HALF TIME I thought : With Thierry, Dennis looks elegant.Without Thierry, he looks slow.
There was no explosive breakaway threat, so the play was squashed into midfield, and that suited United methodical passing game, which takes the ball into wide positions.
United are far better at scoring from crosses than Arsenal.
At half-time I would have brought on Reyes for Freddie, and told Dennis to float around from the right
Second half, Arsenal created almost nothing.
IN 57 REYES AND HENRY came on for Aliadiere and Pires.
Jose Reyes looked very lively, showed plenty of bottle and purpose.
Reyes was the most-fouled player in the Spanish League and you can see why.
He is a sublime improviser with a lovely knack of putting the ball where you can't reach it - so you kick him.
Reyes is like a matador, except that a matador does not have three bulls coming at him from all sides.
For Man United it was : Pires has gone off, let’s start kicking Reyes.
In 61, Silvestre fouled Reyes.
In 65, Reyes flicked the ball round Wes Brown and outpaced him before Silvestre stopped him fairly on the 18-yard line.
On 66, Reyes flicked a Toure pass sublimely for Edu, who didn’t have the bottle to smash it from 25 yards. Edu hesitated and then miscued his shot.
In 68, from inside his own half, Reyes zoomed off on an electric slalom past Silvestre and Keane.
In 69, Henry played a pass square and Reyes outfoxed Silvestre in the D, but hit his right foot shot two yards wide.
REYES was, suddenly, a huge threat to Man United.
In nine minutes he had produced three moments of pure genius.
In 72, Scholes kicked Reyes viciously on the left knee.
The tackle was so late it missed the bus back to Manchester.
The ball was six feet away !
A TYPICAL SCHOLES ASSAULT.
It was a red card tackle. Barber only gave him a yellow.
Reyes had treatment and went off for more treatment and came back and finished the game. But now he is out for three weeks with medial ligament damage.
Scholes has fouled Arsenal out of the FA Cup, and maybe the Champions League too.
HENRY, by contrast, played like a prat.
He didn't participate in the last 35 minutes.
He only took part in the disappointment.
LAUREN was being turned inside out by Solsjkaer.
He won't be there next year.
A proper right back will be signed .
VIEIRA was marvellous, despite his knee injury.
If Parlour and Gilberto had been available, I doubt if Vieira would have played. Parlour would have been invaluable in the last 3 games.
Pires could not have been fit. Have we ever seen him taken off so early?
Edu has been wonderful for the last 8 weeks, but poor in the last two games.
TUESDAY NIGHT?
Every season brings a moment of truth.
Victory over Chelsea will justify the bizarre selection at Villa Park.
Such dramatic games are the highlights of every sporting year.
And I’ve always been a highlights kinda guy.
The highlights transcend the mundane, the ordinary, the everyday.
I look back on life’s highlights, and flash on them, and get high.
Life, for most people, is mainly routine.
Only 10% of life is vital experience.
The rest is waiting.
Parlour would have played if he passed a fitness test.
Beating Chelsea will justify Villa Park failure
By Myles Palmer
_____________________________
Arsenal 0 Manchester United 1
_____________________________
REF GRAHAM BARBER had a bad game.
He should have sent Scholes off, booked Keane, and spotted a 24-carat handball in the box by Silvestre.
But Man United wanted it more.
Much more.
ALIADIERE started with Bergkamp.
Aliadiere has not played for three months.
This game was too big for him.
He could not handle it. Good player, good prospect, not his fault, game was too big for him.
Why didn't Reyes start? Because Arsene did not want to risk injury to him.
ARSENE’S team selection said it all.
It said : The FA Cup is less important than the chance to play Real Madrid in the Champions League semi.
He was saying, "Tuesday night is the big game. If we beat Chelsea, we play Real Madrid and we all wanna see Real Madrid v Real Arsenal : Ronaldo v Henry, Carlos v Cole, Zidane v Pires, Beckham v Vieira."
SIR ALEX did not have Ruud VN, but he had tactics that worked.
His game-plan was : three wingers, five in midfield, Darren Fletcher chugging around like a tenacious Bundesliga up-and-downer, feed it out to Ronaldo, who will attack their 18-year old left back.
Clichy was left one-on-one far too often, with Pires and Edu giving him no support.
Sol read Ronaldo’s crosses well. But they were predictable crosses, rarely to the far post.
First 12 minutes, Arsenal were good.
After 2 minutes, Edu headed over the defence and Bergkamp broke away and went wide left into the box and keeper Carroll got out well and saved with his hand and on the rebound Dennis went for power rather than a curler into the top corner.
Wes Brown stooped to head off the line and O’Shea cleared for a corner.
Pires took it, ball cleared, Edu chipped against the bar, Toure headed from three yards - and Carroll clawed the ball away.
After 12, when Clichy fouled Ronaldo, who was beating him on the inside, Man United began to take the game over.
On 25, Pires missed a simple header from six yards.
So on 32, Pires lost the ball to Gary Neville and the ball went to Vieira, who came out and tried a risky pass that found Silvestre, who knocked it to Keane, who passed to Gary Neville, who slipped it forward to the unmarked Giggs in the box on the right.
His low cross was made-to-measure for Scholes, who has been burying such chances since Le Tournoi in 1997, and before.
I said, "That's it - game over!"
I often say that, and I'm wrong. Often say that and change my mind later in the game.
But that Scholes rocket had a certain finality about it.
CLEARLY, MAN UNITED WANTED IT MORE.
32 minutes, game over.
Arsenal’s game is pass and move and there was no movement.
Edu looked up again and again to see....no run! No movement !
HALF TIME I thought : With Thierry, Dennis looks elegant.Without Thierry, he looks slow.
There was no explosive breakaway threat, so the play was squashed into midfield, and that suited United methodical passing game, which takes the ball into wide positions.
United are far better at scoring from crosses than Arsenal.
At half-time I would have brought on Reyes for Freddie, and told Dennis to float around from the right
Second half, Arsenal created almost nothing.
IN 57 REYES AND HENRY came on for Aliadiere and Pires.
Jose Reyes looked very lively, showed plenty of bottle and purpose.
Reyes was the most-fouled player in the Spanish League and you can see why.
He is a sublime improviser with a lovely knack of putting the ball where you can't reach it - so you kick him.
Reyes is like a matador, except that a matador does not have three bulls coming at him from all sides.
For Man United it was : Pires has gone off, let’s start kicking Reyes.
In 61, Silvestre fouled Reyes.
In 65, Reyes flicked the ball round Wes Brown and outpaced him before Silvestre stopped him fairly on the 18-yard line.
On 66, Reyes flicked a Toure pass sublimely for Edu, who didn’t have the bottle to smash it from 25 yards. Edu hesitated and then miscued his shot.
In 68, from inside his own half, Reyes zoomed off on an electric slalom past Silvestre and Keane.
In 69, Henry played a pass square and Reyes outfoxed Silvestre in the D, but hit his right foot shot two yards wide.
REYES was, suddenly, a huge threat to Man United.
In nine minutes he had produced three moments of pure genius.
In 72, Scholes kicked Reyes viciously on the left knee.
The tackle was so late it missed the bus back to Manchester.
The ball was six feet away !
A TYPICAL SCHOLES ASSAULT.
It was a red card tackle. Barber only gave him a yellow.
Reyes had treatment and went off for more treatment and came back and finished the game. But now he is out for three weeks with medial ligament damage.
Scholes has fouled Arsenal out of the FA Cup, and maybe the Champions League too.
HENRY, by contrast, played like a prat.
He didn't participate in the last 35 minutes.
He only took part in the disappointment.
LAUREN was being turned inside out by Solsjkaer.
He won't be there next year.
A proper right back will be signed .
VIEIRA was marvellous, despite his knee injury.
If Parlour and Gilberto had been available, I doubt if Vieira would have played. Parlour would have been invaluable in the last 3 games.
Pires could not have been fit. Have we ever seen him taken off so early?
Edu has been wonderful for the last 8 weeks, but poor in the last two games.
TUESDAY NIGHT?
Every season brings a moment of truth.
Victory over Chelsea will justify the bizarre selection at Villa Park.
Such dramatic games are the highlights of every sporting year.
And I’ve always been a highlights kinda guy.
The highlights transcend the mundane, the ordinary, the everyday.
I look back on life’s highlights, and flash on them, and get high.
Life, for most people, is mainly routine.
Only 10% of life is vital experience.
The rest is waiting.
Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, 1996 to 2018. I was there.
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Chief Goza
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Lie, lie for you - you are banned. It was there for all to see, but you no dey respect am!Waffiman wrote:I get bet for the league game, not FA cup.Chief Goza wrote:O'boy, dem no ban you? Wetin you dey do for here?Waffiman wrote:Disappointing result but all will be forgotten if we get through on Tuesday. That is the game and we must not fail.
I see say you don go seek out your favourite writers, wgheel out their 'usual' rubbish to buttress.
Well, make I help you with some too...
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
-
Chief Goza
- Egg
- Posts: 513
- Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:13 pm
Ferguson the master with the final word
FA Cup semi-finals: United manager revels in chance to teach 'Le Professeur' a lesson again
By Jason Burt at Villa Park
04 April 2004
This time there was not one handshake but two. Both belonged to Sir Alex Ferguson. Before kick-off and he sought out Arsène Wenger; at the end it was the Arsenal manager forcing himself to reach out to his opponent. The ghosts of 1999 - and that FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United - had returned. To haunt and taunt. Maybe it was the decision to house the United support in the Trinity Road stand, directly behind the dug-outs, maybe it was the sheer pressure of it all, maybe it was mental and physical fatigue. Maybe it was just one of those days. Maybe the seismic shift in English football had just discovered a fault line.
But from the moment Wenger walked, stiffly, along the touchline, head down, hands stuffed in his suit pockets, both he and his players appeared out-of-sorts; a tetchiness to their play, to his manner. His constant implorings to the fourth official, Steve Dunn, became more and more frantic as the match slipped away and the frustrations of the Arsenal players were directed at each other. Robert Pires shook his head slowly when substituted. Thierry Henry raged at every misplaced pass. Surely they will not implode now.
Ferguson marched by - clapping the crowd, shaking hands and did not stop until he had sought out Wenger, forced him to turn around and grasp his arm. Wenger appeared surprised. It set the tone. Ferguson, and United, were in control. After losing that semi-final five years ago Wenger refused to acknowledge his fiercest rival, something the United manager has remembered and used as fuel to fire his determination. He felt the slight. "He says I was not gracious in defeat?" remarked Wenger beforehand. "Maybe that's one of my weaknesses."
And Ferguson was always going to probe it. Post-match and he did an extraordinary thing. He attended a press conference. It's an irritant he doesn't usually subject himself to. But he was in control again. This time he had points to make, more goals to score than the single strike from Paul Scholes which ended Arsenal's hopes of emulating United's Treble and extended Ferguson's record to 10 domestic cup semi-finals without loss. The FA Cup, at times an after-thought, had been imbued with deep symbolism.
"Semi-finals, when you win, should be enjoyable things," he ventured, perhaps aware of how sour Wenger's reaction would be. "I think Villa Park has a terrific atmosphere on occasions like this." There were contributions to pick out. "Ronaldo? Fantastic performance." Then Darren Fletcher - "a marvellous game" - and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer whose display made the absence of the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy "minimal": "His general play and his movement was top class." And finally the excellent Wes Brown. "Last Sunday at Arsenal was maybe the game that told himself that he was back," Ferguson said; and suddenly his mind was whirring over, probing more of his opponents' weaknesses. It wasn't just Brown who was back. The spring had returned to his gaffer, too. The full importance of that draw last weekend at Highbury - with United scoring late on - had dawned. "The longer the game went the better we got. Once Arsenal scored we emerged as a football team," Ferguson purred.
His lips almost smacked at the next question. How would the result affect Arsenal? Mentally he framed his response and then, with Tuesday's Champions' League quarter-final against Chelsea in mind, he presented it. "I think they've got a difficult time. I think maybe I got a bit of luck today and I think [Claudio] Ranieri is due a bit of luck, the pressure the lad's been under." Ferguson wasn't finished. "I wouldn't bet on them [Arsenal] on Tuesday night," he smiled. "Difficult game, not an easy one." Then he added: "The next week is a very, very big week for them. It had to be the least of their priorities today." Which, of course, it was.
Nevertheless he had landed a blow and tactically, also, he had out-witted Wenger to an extent that he felt confident enough to question the other's substitutions. "The Boss" against "Le Professeur" had thrown up an unexpectedly immature display by the latter who complained about the robustness of United's tackling, the damage inflicted on his players. And with a curious naivety he dismissed the victor's performance thus: "They scored a good goal from Scholes but after that they just played in their half and tried to defend." Ferguson's own tactical assessment appeared more precise - he had stretched the play early, used the flanks and tried to create space for Ryan Giggs. "Our idea was to play on the right-hand side as much as we could through Ronaldo and Fletcher," he said. As for the goal, created by that triumvirate, Ferguson added: "I don't know what happened to the Arsenal defence but they left him [Giggs] free."
Finally Wenger summoned up his defiance. He will have had his own assessment of that 1999 defeat - "losing that semi-final had a great bearing on our season" - in his mind when he said: "Our priorities are the championship and Champions' League. We have four games in seven days and they are only human beings, these guys." And ones whose frailties had - finally - been exposed.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/football ... ory=508241
FA Cup semi-finals: United manager revels in chance to teach 'Le Professeur' a lesson again
By Jason Burt at Villa Park
04 April 2004
This time there was not one handshake but two. Both belonged to Sir Alex Ferguson. Before kick-off and he sought out Arsène Wenger; at the end it was the Arsenal manager forcing himself to reach out to his opponent. The ghosts of 1999 - and that FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester United - had returned. To haunt and taunt. Maybe it was the decision to house the United support in the Trinity Road stand, directly behind the dug-outs, maybe it was the sheer pressure of it all, maybe it was mental and physical fatigue. Maybe it was just one of those days. Maybe the seismic shift in English football had just discovered a fault line.
But from the moment Wenger walked, stiffly, along the touchline, head down, hands stuffed in his suit pockets, both he and his players appeared out-of-sorts; a tetchiness to their play, to his manner. His constant implorings to the fourth official, Steve Dunn, became more and more frantic as the match slipped away and the frustrations of the Arsenal players were directed at each other. Robert Pires shook his head slowly when substituted. Thierry Henry raged at every misplaced pass. Surely they will not implode now.
Ferguson marched by - clapping the crowd, shaking hands and did not stop until he had sought out Wenger, forced him to turn around and grasp his arm. Wenger appeared surprised. It set the tone. Ferguson, and United, were in control. After losing that semi-final five years ago Wenger refused to acknowledge his fiercest rival, something the United manager has remembered and used as fuel to fire his determination. He felt the slight. "He says I was not gracious in defeat?" remarked Wenger beforehand. "Maybe that's one of my weaknesses."
And Ferguson was always going to probe it. Post-match and he did an extraordinary thing. He attended a press conference. It's an irritant he doesn't usually subject himself to. But he was in control again. This time he had points to make, more goals to score than the single strike from Paul Scholes which ended Arsenal's hopes of emulating United's Treble and extended Ferguson's record to 10 domestic cup semi-finals without loss. The FA Cup, at times an after-thought, had been imbued with deep symbolism.
"Semi-finals, when you win, should be enjoyable things," he ventured, perhaps aware of how sour Wenger's reaction would be. "I think Villa Park has a terrific atmosphere on occasions like this." There were contributions to pick out. "Ronaldo? Fantastic performance." Then Darren Fletcher - "a marvellous game" - and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer whose display made the absence of the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy "minimal": "His general play and his movement was top class." And finally the excellent Wes Brown. "Last Sunday at Arsenal was maybe the game that told himself that he was back," Ferguson said; and suddenly his mind was whirring over, probing more of his opponents' weaknesses. It wasn't just Brown who was back. The spring had returned to his gaffer, too. The full importance of that draw last weekend at Highbury - with United scoring late on - had dawned. "The longer the game went the better we got. Once Arsenal scored we emerged as a football team," Ferguson purred.
His lips almost smacked at the next question. How would the result affect Arsenal? Mentally he framed his response and then, with Tuesday's Champions' League quarter-final against Chelsea in mind, he presented it. "I think they've got a difficult time. I think maybe I got a bit of luck today and I think [Claudio] Ranieri is due a bit of luck, the pressure the lad's been under." Ferguson wasn't finished. "I wouldn't bet on them [Arsenal] on Tuesday night," he smiled. "Difficult game, not an easy one." Then he added: "The next week is a very, very big week for them. It had to be the least of their priorities today." Which, of course, it was.
Nevertheless he had landed a blow and tactically, also, he had out-witted Wenger to an extent that he felt confident enough to question the other's substitutions. "The Boss" against "Le Professeur" had thrown up an unexpectedly immature display by the latter who complained about the robustness of United's tackling, the damage inflicted on his players. And with a curious naivety he dismissed the victor's performance thus: "They scored a good goal from Scholes but after that they just played in their half and tried to defend." Ferguson's own tactical assessment appeared more precise - he had stretched the play early, used the flanks and tried to create space for Ryan Giggs. "Our idea was to play on the right-hand side as much as we could through Ronaldo and Fletcher," he said. As for the goal, created by that triumvirate, Ferguson added: "I don't know what happened to the Arsenal defence but they left him [Giggs] free."
Finally Wenger summoned up his defiance. He will have had his own assessment of that 1999 defeat - "losing that semi-final had a great bearing on our season" - in his mind when he said: "Our priorities are the championship and Champions' League. We have four games in seven days and they are only human beings, these guys." And ones whose frailties had - finally - been exposed.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/football ... ory=508241
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
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Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
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Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
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Chief Goza
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I thought Reyes had his knee cut in two by Scholes? After the wolf cry received no sympathy, suddenly there he is, ready fort Tuesday when he was 'going to be out for 3 weeks'.
Una people sef - get arrogance pass, yet no fit stand heat for kitchen. Una too cry wolf. Ljunberg was also 'out for 4 weeks', but hey, he'll just play against Chelsea and then we see. 'You never know in football'!
If #$%-null lose, they played with injured players. If dem win - hey, they are the greatest!
Waffi, here me clearly - treble dem no dey buy for Ojuelegba! He who had ears...
Una people sef - get arrogance pass, yet no fit stand heat for kitchen. Una too cry wolf. Ljunberg was also 'out for 4 weeks', but hey, he'll just play against Chelsea and then we see. 'You never know in football'!
If #$%-null lose, they played with injured players. If dem win - hey, they are the greatest!
Waffi, here me clearly - treble dem no dey buy for Ojuelegba! He who had ears...
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
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mister dolly
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Chief Goza
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- Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:13 pm
MD,mister dolly wrote:Fergie should go suck on an unripe lemon...he's the sorest of losers, and we will put him to shame tomorrow...nonsense..
As for you, ya bad bellus don rotten so teh, even if Wenger swear say im no see am, im go definitely smell am!
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
No worries, we want the main prices, we do not want another consolation like last season. If FA cup na una pinnacle, fine. I just pray we get past Chelski and we shall be flying again.Chief Goza wrote:I thought Reyes had his knee cut in two by Scholes? After the wolf cry received no sympathy, suddenly there he is, ready fort Tuesday when he was 'going to be out for 3 weeks'.
Una people sef - get arrogance pass, yet no fit stand heat for kitchen. Una too cry wolf. Ljunberg was also 'out for 4 weeks', but hey, he'll just play against Chelsea and then we see. 'You never know in football'!
If #$%-null lose, they played with injured players. If dem win - hey, they are the greatest!
Waffi, here me clearly - treble dem no dey buy for Ojuelegba! He who had ears...
No matter wetin you talk, Scholes assault on Reyes was not football and it was intentional and malicious. Hopefully with some injections he might just do the business against Chelski.
Llungberg, I hear will wear a special cast to play. Note Wenger did not complain about Llungberg, he said Llungberg was an accident, he complained about Scholes taking out Reyes, and quite rightly so.
Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, 1996 to 2018. I was there.
Waffi, that couldnt have been the only thing you saw in that game, could it.
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
. . . all about the players. Total posts: 725 and counting. . .
Blogzilla
KickOff Nigeria
I love Arsenal. Such entertainment!! The kind of soccer we want for the kind of results we hate!!!
---Polly waxes lyrical after Burnley nyansh the ARSE
Blogzilla
KickOff Nigeria
I love Arsenal. Such entertainment!! The kind of soccer we want for the kind of results we hate!!!
---Polly waxes lyrical after Burnley nyansh the ARSE
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mister dolly
Abeg comot my friend..only fans of teams playing in the ECL suppose get mouth for this thread...get it..KickOff Chief wrote:Waffi, that couldnt have been the only thing you saw in that game, could it.
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
That means all Gunner fans,
Fans of our second wife Chelski.. (our first wives Spuds can wait their turn)
Madrid fans (Khalela and Yettycom)
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Chief Goza
- Egg
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- Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:13 pm
KOC,mister dolly wrote:Abeg comot my friend..only fans of teams playing in the ECL suppose get mouth for this thread...get it..KickOff Chief wrote:Waffi, that couldnt have been the only thing you saw in that game, could it.
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
That means all Gunner fans,
Fans of our second wife Chelski.. (our first wives Spuds can wait their turn)
Madrid fans (Khalela and Yettycom)
Make you no mind these yeye wannabees. Shows you what they must have been suffering all these years!
We been wan leave them this year, make dem get a taste, so that e go pepper them more next year, but suddenly, they t hink they are the business. I tire. If na una be Man U, this universe for no contain una and other people.
Waffi:
You make me laugh. The same FA Cup, that for you pipu was 'winning things', is now not enough. Talk about 'give allow...' No worry, next season you will be back to where you rightfully belong - perpetual runner-up, if you get even that!
CYgan for play... Parlour or 'Sitting Room' for play..., etc. But in our case, two 19 year olds played (Ronaldo and Fletcher), a GK without experience (only 4 senior starts this season) played, a defender - Wes Brown (who has been out for the whole season) played, a striker - Ole Solksjaer (who has bee out the whole season) played, the best striker in the world (RvN) did not play, and the second best striker in the world (Saha) did not play. Go figure, and while you are at it, put it into perspective as well.
As for the tackle by Scholes - yes, poor tackle, but so what? Is that the first poor tackle Scholes has ever made? Have you ever renoewd Paul Scholes as a good tackler? What about the olympic diving exhibited by Vieira and Bergkamp? Yes, it wasn't important and you didn't want to win it, that's why your players were diving to con the ref and that's why your manager played 5 striker at a point. Why didn't he withraw the palyer that were 'injured', to protect them? It wasn't important after all, was it?
Abegi, make una all go siddon. Man U pass una any day (man pass man!
), so make una pull the other one. Treble dem no dey buy for Ojuelegba or Balogun! PS. And Waffi, I don warn you - YOU ARE BANNED, PLEASE DESIST FROM VIOLATING IT, BEFORE WE SEND ALLIED FORCES TO SEEK YOU OUT AND DESTROY YOU!
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
KickOff Chief wrote:Waffi, that couldnt have been the only thing you saw in that game, could it.
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
Oga Chief, Dennis deserved to be punished for that nonsense but how can you even call others divers? You funny oh! Remiands of Fergie calling Porto divers when he get Gary Neville (Man City and Arsenal at Highbury) Ronaldo, Van Diver etc. etc. My bro, abeg slow down. We go see una next season to pay back for those kicks and assaults.
Goza, you wey don disappear all season don show up after Manure manage beat us for the first time in a while. No worries, England's number one team dey for CL tonight, while una go join Spuds fans dey watch Eastenders.
Arsène Wenger at Arsenal, 1996 to 2018. I was there.
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Chief Goza
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- Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:13 pm
Waffi,Waffiman wrote:KickOff Chief wrote:Waffi, that couldnt have been the only thing you saw in that game, could it.
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
Oga Chief, Dennis deserved to be punished for that nonsense but how can you even call others divers? You funny oh! Remiands of Fergie calling Porto divers when he get Gary Neville (Man City and Arsenal at Highbury) Ronaldo, Van Diver etc. etc. My bro, abeg slow down.
Goza, you wey don disappear all season don show up after Manure manage beat us for the first time in a while. No worries, England's number one team dey for CL tonight, while una go join Spuds fans dey watch Eastenders.
E good say you sef talk say na 'all season' I don disappear, so it wasn't just at the turn of the year when we lost form due to obvious reasons. At least we were top till t hen, and I was still missing. So it wasn't just because we 'managed' to beat you now, was it? Lovely!:lol:
As for divers, una get am plenty - Pires, Viira, Henry, Bergkamp, Reyes, etc. Pray, tell me, when was the last time Ruud 'dived' for anything? Bad bellus!
Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
A wise man fears and departs from evil, But a fool rages and is self-confident.
-------------------------------------------------------
Many receive advice but only the wise profit from it.
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theYemster
- Eaglet
- Posts: 35657
- Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 12:25 am
- Location: ßos✞on ✈️ Mo✞own ✈️ Lægos
- Contact:
Thank you, hopefully, una go leave us to taste again next year...and the next...and the next until food finish for kitchen.Chief Goza wrote:KOC,mister dolly wrote:Abeg comot my friend..only fans of teams playing in the ECL suppose get mouth for this thread...get it..KickOff Chief wrote:Waffi, that couldnt have been the only thing you saw in that game, could it.
Let me give you a message for DB10, PV4 and the other ArSE divers when you see them later tonite: Olympic Diving isnt until later this year!
That means all Gunner fans,
Fans of our second wife Chelski.. (our first wives Spuds can wait their turn)
Madrid fans (Khalela and Yettycom)
Make you no mind these yeye wannabees. Shows you what they must have been suffering all these years!
We been wan leave them this year, make dem get a taste, so that e go pepper them more next year, but suddenly, they t hink they are the business. I tire. If na una be Man U, this universe for no contain una and other people.
O-Qua Tangin Wann! Die with memories, not dreams.™
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© ɹ ǝ ʇ s ɯ é ʎ ǝ ɥ ʇ" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯