Arsenal Hold On to Win Game of Ass at Aston Villa

I was not planning on watching this match. I had other things to do and frankly thought that it wouldn’t be the prettiest game of football. I was right. This was an ugly affair. Did anyone play well? Maybe John Carew. He had Gilberto’s number, but then Gilberto was playing out of position. And Carew’s finishing was about as good as Julio Baptista’s or Jamie Aliadiare’s. No, this was a mid-week match-up that should have been passed over in favor of folding laundry, ironing some shirts, or watching a repeat of Miami Vice. Frankly, the score should have been 4-4 with the amount of chances on offer. Arsenal’s makeshift backline of Djourou, Gallas, Gilberto, and Hoyte were woeful and Villa’s four not much better. I suppose Olaf Mellborg had a decent evening. He did make up ground after being caught out of position on a few occasions to stifle Arsenal runs into the area. But I’ll remember this non-encounter more for the continued crap form of Baptista. To put it simply, he was terrible. He had no touch, couldn’t pass, and his shooting remained absurd. The goal came when one of his attempts went horribly wrong. He pulled it far left but into the run of Diaby whose deflection took it the wrong side of Sorenson. Diaby was also noteworthy in his ineptitude. He gave the ball away far too often and on one occasion played an awful ball to Freddie when a simple pass would have sent the aging Swede clear on goal. The match did have one interesting point. Instead of Arsenal dominating and not being able to finish, Villa arguably had the better of play, especially in the second half when Arsenal were pinned back in their own half for minutes on end. No, what is interesting is that this was a match in which the Gunners were terrible and managed to win, something we’ve not seen for some time. And I must put in a word about Martin O’Neill. I like the guy. I like his passion, and his wit, and his dorky tracksuit that he wears on the sidelines. But I didn’t like the way he argued every bloody call that went against his squad, even when he was obviously in the wrong. It made him look foolish. Almost as foolish as Julio Baptista -Sanford