Well, today is the proverbial biggest game of the season for Arsenal and Manchester United. The preview and inevitable pre-game transfer rumors are both out of the way. Now it's time to get down to business.
As the irrepressible Arseblog said in his call to arms: Manchester United are not our rivals, not our competitors, not our peers: they are the enemy. Treat them as such.
Lineups and your comments after the hop.
Arsenal (4-4-2): Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Djourou, Gibbs, Walcott, Fabregas, Song, Nasri, Van Persie, Adebayor. Subs: Fabianski, Eboue, Silvestre, Diaby, Denilson, Vela, Bendtner
Man Utd (4-5-1): Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Ronaldo, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Evans, Giggs, Scholes, Berbatov, Tevez
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239 comments:
1 – 200 of 239 Newer› Newest»"Manchester United are not our rivals, not our competitors, not our peers: they are the enemy. Treat them as such."
Uh huh, remember that when Arsene lays down for Fergie in the league soon.
What does Park do? I don't get the joke with that guy.
I have ESPN360, but I'm at work, this computer blows, and I can't play along in the comments if I use it. Ironic, eh?
Park is who Manchester United's Dirk Kuyt would be if Carlos Tevez wasn't Manchester United's Dirk Kuyt.
I'm so nervous I think I'm going to throw up.
That's what I was thinking, earlier the BBC noted Park's 'work rate.'
But Kuyt started all but like two EPL games this year.
Park strikes me as United's Bolo Zenden. Just really out of place on that team.
True confession: I love Park.
@Georger - no way we lay down in the EPL fixture. Arsene may jiggle the line-up a bit, but we're a strong team even if he starts Vela and Ramsey, Gibbs, etc.
@Mags - he's the only Manc I can respect
United aren't Pompey and Wigan, I'll believe it when I see that Russian fairy prancing over the corpse of VDS.
That's actual fairy, not Hotscots fairy.
So does no more Champions League on ESPN mean no more dumb neon Sony footballs? I sure hope so.
God it's going to annoy me off if we 'win' today 2-1 and lose on aggregate, then go to OT in a couple of weeks and spank them like 3-0.
he's not a fairy, he's a PIXIE!
Dear Baby Jesus,
3-1.
You owe me.
Black Francis is a Pixie. He's a fairy.
Hey, I like the neon football.
Now, the operatic Heineken ads...those are another issue entirely.
AND IT'S ARSENAL
ARSENAL FC
BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM
THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!!
C'mon you Gunners.
Italian ref (I only know him from the million Serie A games on FSC)
I'm going to cast my vote for "brownie", actually.
What's key about the Champions League semis is that the winner goes to the final. Well, I guess I can't argue against that Tommy
Fabregas = Sylar.
Jesus, could Ronaldo be any more of a douche?
I keep forgetting to ask: what's the deal with the kids?
"what's the deal with the kids?"
It's Arsenal's reserve side.
/low fruit and all that
@Mags - they are for SAF to feed on
Arsenal 1-0, 5-4 on PKs.
/hoping for a good game after last week's disappointments.
Park did some hard work falling down
Arsenal look crisp early on. Hope this keeps up.
Smurfs look a little scared.
thank you kolo. cmon you gunners!
Goodnight gunners. Thanks a lot Gibbs.
Dammit
whoops. welp, gnight.
so it's over then
Like I said, don't get what Park does ....
At least it was Park.
Did Gibbs fuck up? Because I still kind of blame Gibbs for the goal last week.
Hey, Ade:
Go earn your transfer price tonight, alright?
I really believed that as long as United didn't score first...
Thanks Baby Jesus, you can go back to fucking up the rest of my life.
Gibbs slipped on a slow, rolled cross that had no one to go to until Gibbs fell down.
Throw her in the hole.
Turn it off.
Wow.
And that really kills it. This sucks SO HARD.
oh. my. god.
does arsenal realize the game started 10 minutes ago?
I'm going to go puke
Manny was slow getting across, might have been shielded by his own wall.
RIP 08-09. We get nothing and like it.
So I can watch the Cavs tonight, then.
oh well
He scores the GOOOALS. He does the high-fives, but not with SCHOOLES
/have to make it fun somehow. damned United
Damn.
But if he was, then he didn't set it up correctly. That was a knuckler, not a curveball.
Jesus, that was a fucking rocket. Game over.
Well, now I have to somehow find stuff to do with my life until the start of next season.
The only way Gibbs can come close to making up for his fuck up at this point is to break Ronaldo's leg.
I will now wait for 101goals to get that goal up asap.
Arsenal, I'm glad to see that you are rolling over now and playing rope-a-dope with ManU for the league match coming up.
Almunia should have had that.
But Jonny Evans is still a rapist.
Got the volume off. I can't take 65 more minutes of Smyth.
God I hate United.
how does a club let somethinng like this happen? i swear arsenal play with no urgency or heart at the time you'd expect they'd be in good supply of both. truly diheartening
Johnny Evans is, no question, the most improved rapist for United this year.
Hey it's Hootie!
On the plus side, I don't have to worry about resetting my DVR for extra time.
"how does a club let somethinng like this happen? i swear arsenal play with no urgency or heart at the time you'd expect they'd be in good supply of both. truly diheartening"
A-fucking-men.
Arsenal your OUT
ManU your IN
*disheartening
/type pourly when furious/dejected
I wonder what Ray Hudson would say about that goal?
Rooney's yellow boots look even more ridiculous in the smurf kit.
On the plus side, I don't have to worry about flights to Rome.
Nice save, Manny
Might have to start worrying about double digits.
you know what the Arse are missing? a gerrard-type player to instill confidence and fire in the rest of the team.
/master of the obvious.
"Not an Arsenal flag in sight now. Its like a return to Highbury the Library."
LOW BLOW
Dear god that was a very mannish woman they just cut to.
ridiculous. now stuck rooting for Barca so the final isn't purely a "whom do I hate less" proposition.
I'm already guiness three deep. We laid done like every other team. Fuck that. I'm fucking sick. Although I there are a few gunners here to share in my dejection.
To be honest, Arsenal are missing Arshavin. They seem to be a completely different side when he's in.
I'm also not terribly impressed with Walcott lately, but that's a separate issue entirely.
i really am astonished. how in god's name can you not show up for a game of this importance/magnitude? i love this club but too often they play like outright pussies
@Magnakai: Cesc has gone missing, too.
But yeah, the Russian has become crucial to this team pretty damn quickly.
He was completely unmarked on that corner.
so help me, if we don't buy a CB and a DM during this summer I'm going to kick Ivan Gazidis in the balls
Take back what I said about the wall setup. The 2nd was purely down to being slow getting across.
Every now and then Wenger really needs to be more like Vizzini: "Did it ever occur to you that your JOBS are at stake?"
@Steve: I wonder more and more if Fabregas is being written out of the plot in favor of Arshavin, frankly. He's been nonexistant in both this game and the first leg.
I didn't think Cesc was even playing.
@nyk: you're gonna have to kick arsene, he's got final say on all transfer matters. arsene: "replace gilberto & flamini? eh the kids can do it."
@Roy - right now it's more like they don't give a damn about their phoney-baloney jobs.
They're getting a harrumph outta me.
Well, I was thinking it earlier, so I might as well type it out. Best as I can tell, this is Manchester's first-choice squad, with the possible exception of getting PFA PotY Giggs out there. It's not the same for Arsenal.
@mgf - I know that, but I can't bring myself to hurt Arsene
@ MG: "Playing" is one of those funny words...
With the way today is going, I'm fully expecting Chelsea to beat Barca tomorrow.
Really, Flamini, Gilberto, and even Senderos... That depth might have saved our ass this season.
I can't believe I just typed that about Senderos, but he would have been better than Silvestre. Gibbs is going to be really good, but fucking Christ, don't fall down son.
I swear I'm not watching a Spaktak v. (66)6'ers final.
The meteor never comes. I'm going to do something productive with those two hours instead.
Transfer Talk with Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth, brought to you by Soccernet, The Glazer Family, and Cunts!
Here you guys are - I just wandered into a discussion of Henry V and not Henry 14 and was very confused.
Just in time for the rest of this shit mess of a game.
@nyk: i know. even when he fucks up i try so hard to put the blame somewhere else but the more we play like this it's gotta fall on him (as much as it pains me to say that. atleast put some goals in get show some fucking pride please. oh and to those saying cesc might leave, i really hope he doesnt, what kind of message does it send when/if your skipper leaves you
@PR: Don't forget Senderos is coming back next season! Only a one-year loan.
I've given up on this game and am on thisisphotobomb.com instead.
No Bronx Cheer for Alumnia not evacuating his bowels on that one? Some crowd.
Gibbs is directly responsible, in my mind, for two goals. This one, clearly. Last week, he failed to even sort of come out of the goal mouth to mark O'Shea; he was completely ball-watching in the net.
To be fair to Gibbs, though, he's not first choice by a long shot yet.
The first one set the tone? Really? Who's the dickbag that said people shouldn't mock Smyth?
HERE COMES THREE
Ronaldo shooting from a free kick is something different? And a player scoring unmarked in the box is something different? Yeah you can't get a reading on these guys. Wiley!
No, with Clichy down he was pressed into service. He's had some great moments, but has made critical mistakes (although I blame the deflection off Silvestre as much as Gibbs for last week's goal).
I don't want to bitch about injuries. It's part of the game. But that's why United have a shot at 4 trophies still. They are WAY better 12-22 than any other team in the league.
Someone should make a gif where c-Ron is doing his pre-freekick ritual and when he does his intense stare at the football his head explodes.
this team habitually rips my heart out. 2 goals in the first 11 minutes?! jesus tapdancing christ
Okay, so I've mostly blown off the fact that Cleveland has a good basketball team, but with them being in the playoffs now and me living there and shit, I should probably watch that tonight (since re-watching this with my wife is totally out of the question at this point). Anything I should know about them?
@Mags - they have this kid named Lebron
@Spec-Or, you could just hire a sniper to do the same thing. Then you would have plentiful video evidence.
@MG That LeBron guy is pretty good I've heard
If Arsenal were real men they'd be breaking peoples legs right now. BE HUMAN FFS!
@NYK: For now, at least.
I guess I'm wondering if they're legitimately good or if it's all just him. We went down this road a couple years ago, and it just ended in the Spurs going all ManU on our Arsenal.
Fairy Dust Ivan wrapped up like the new born Christ on the sideline there.
@ Magnakai: they have some dude named LeBron James. I hear he's the next big thing.
@MH: They are so going to win the championship this year. Lebron has actually managed to take his game to another level and Danny Ferry has assembled a ragtag supporting cast.
I read the wrong shakespeare today. I should've gone with a comedy instead of a historic epic. Where is this ref getting these calls?
i'm glad three of us could make that joke.
Did Fabregas just get called for receiving a reach around there?
@MH: yea lbj should be enough incentive to watch just for the possiblity of what he might do. i'm a heat fan and you can't get me to turn away from a game b/c at any moment wade can do something brilliant/spectacular. lebron is the same way
". Where is this ref getting these calls?"
I don't know what you're talking about, and it's pathetic to suggest these calls are anything but inspired.
/those two United fans.
He's the only guy from the Cavs I could name. I also know they have a white guy with a fro.
@Mags - no, Fabregas was called for being the victim of a headlock
@Spec: So now would be a good time to jump on the bandwagon, then? Because I live in Cleveland and am a Liverpool fan; there ain't been much to celebrate lately.
so Kim grabs Cesc's head in mid-air and it's a foul on Fabregas. Got it.
Seriously Gibbs - that was a cross?
At least Arsenal have a truly fantastic looking pitch.
Shaka Hislop can give tips on how to get embarrassed by Steven Gerrard in the biggest game of your career.
Hey look, more sad Arsenal fans.
When Walcott can't use his speed, he looks confused.
Theo's touch is pretty poor tonight.
Did he really just call him rugged?
Handsome means he looks at himself, rugged means you look at him.
It really looks like Arsenal scoring is a practical impossibility.
So, who's actually coming back for the 2nd?
Two seconds of stoppage time eh?
Mercy killing (of time).
It's enough, Moleman, it's more than enough.
@ü75: That seems to be par for the course for him over the last three/four games.
I may come back. This is still better than work.
agreed. i'll still be here.
just an uninspired, inexcusable display. especially in a game many of these players called "the biggest of their careers" just pathetic
"It's enough, Moleman, it's more than enough."
Someone got TBL in my UF!
"But is it too much to ask for this team to come out and play with a fucking chip on its shoulder?"
From what I've seen of them this year ... yes it is. The exception being Arshavin, and sadly, well you know.
Sometimes it's good to have a player who actually lets his heart overrule his head sometimes.
Well, finnegans wake pub is appropriately. Its as dull as a Joyce novel in here. Four goals in forty five? Not likely, but dom spiro spero - While I breathe I hope.
Awesome Cleveland tourism vid (one nsfw f-bomb in here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY
That was rhetorical, Georger.
I'm sorry, I don't speak Japanese.
At the least they could goad someone into a card that would keep them out of the final.
It's half time and Jonny Evans isn't half of what Robin Van Persie is, player or rapist.
Rooney and PFA Evra on a yellow, one of them is going down, book it.
Assuming of course, that SAF is like Rafa and won't sub anyone before 65 when they're sitting on a yellow.
Oh wonderful, Becks is here. Today just keeps getting worse
Wow, happy to see Eboué - that's a first.
" Oh wonderful, Becks is here"
I honestly don't know who he plays for.
Holy shit, why are there police dogs at the Emirates?
dammit WSR, I wasn't expecting you to show up!
Wow, the Emirates emptied at the half.
Because Arsenal fans needs massive doses of smack to survive the rest of this afternoon.
Police dog is disturbing.
That guy go shopping at the half? Why does he have a plastic bag?
@ NYK: I was planning on avoiding everything until I could watch the match tonight, but a coworker ruined everything so I decided to show up and waste time here.
If there are any stapler-related murders in St. Paul today, I was here. You guys are all witnesses.
Police dog story time!
My senior year at Appalachian, when we beat Furman to goto the national championship game (first of three, eat it Andrew), the school essentially rioted and took over the streets. A town of 20k isn't prepared for that, and they have like fifteen cops roll out to squash 15k students who are piss drunk. Long story short, one of the police dogs freaked out from all the noise and turned on the cop, straight lit his shit up.
I'm ten minutes late and yet it feels like I never left.
Vela looks like he's really relishing the idea of going in.
Why don't they put the best striker in the world, Mr. Pink Boots in?
I love how ESPN pretends to give a shit about soccer by posting up the Copa Lib schedule.
Let's say I wanted to bet on Bendtner scoring 4 goals.... Wonder what kind of odds I would get?
Oh, nevermind, I'm streaming this from Mexico. My bad.
10,000 - 1
Don't ever tell me the odds.
And Chewie ... you should probably change the negative power coupling.
Still waiting on anything to happen...
@u75 - well, we will probably paginate pretty soon.
Turning off TV now
alright, I'm leaving work on that fucking note.
Djourou's fault. After he got beat by the backheel he hesitated and was slow getting back.
Fuck this. Maybe the Cubs are on.
Now Arsenal gets 2 goals, and I actually have a prediction come true for once. Right? Right?
Ah, its time for the POS player of the year to come on.
I'm totally watching the rest of this disaster.
Rafael looks like one of the stoners from the beginning of Supertroopers.
Berbatov's in the United "B" team. I'm trying to wrap my head around that.
I really have a hard time believing that there's still 20 minutes left of this shit.
By SAF's watch, there are actually 20 +8 minutes left...
SERENITY NOW!
I blame Howard Webb.
Not today, Magnakai. There's 13 minutes left on his watch.
This sounds really mean, but I can't wait til SAF dies.
Ooh, Red for Fletcher. Every cloud has a silver lining...
"This sounds really mean, but I can't wait til SAF dies."
I burst into uproarious laughter upon reading that.
Ha ha...
Too bad we let in three already.
I've been waiting for SAF to just leave United in hopes that they crumble and fall into the Championship.
Wishful thinking?
Dear Tommy:
Just because you got the ball doesn't mean you didn't foul him.
Thank you Graham Poll for teaching me something.
That was a brutal tackle; there was NO intent for ball. There should actually be a multiple match ban, I'm thinking.
Why couldn't it have been John O'Shea?
PK - here we go! 6 goals in 15 mins - no problem.
Is this game more or less humiliating than Real Madrid's loss to Barcelona?
Tommy couldn't even make an effort to conceal his ManU love and his disdain for the ref.
Hey, did you guys hear? Darren Fletcher got robbed.
My initial reaction was "less" but at least Madrid had made of match of it to halftime.
Much less. Real were dominated at home against their biggest, most hated rivals, essentially handing them the league.
Or is it more embarrassing than having Leiva Lucas score on you?
Enjoy Italy, Ade.
Roberto Rosetti immediately gives the penalty and waves the red card which rules Fletcher out of the final. Heartbreak for the United midfielder. Does Caroline Cheese really think Fletcher would play in the final?
Yeah, but like PR said, they were in it at halftime. They were in it after their second goal, really.
"What a horrible decision from the referee. Fletcher clipped the ball away from Fabregas after he went clean through but the ref gives a penalty to Arsenal and sends the United man off. He'll miss the final now, so, so unjustly."
"It was a brilliant touch from Fletcher and the referee has killed his chances of playing in the Champions League final. What a buffoon."
Good to see ESPN fired the guy who called the Spurs game for Gamecast.
Teek: Sub "Arsenal" and "CL final" and it's the same.
Or is it more embarrassing than having Lucas Leiva PLAY FOR you?
Fixed.
I suppose you have a point, and an Arsenal supporter would have a better perspective. I yield to you.
I'll be laughing like a Chinaman when Arsenal buy Lucas this summer.
I don't know what that means but I feel like being racially insensitive.
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