Ramsey rams it late

Sorry for the delay on how the game went. My friends and I had tickets to the last NY Red Bulls game of the season against Philadelphia last night. To keep it short, the game was amazing and they clinched the last spot in the playoffs. New Jersey however, is a hell of a maze to get through after a night of shouting and drinking.
HIGHLIGHTS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4eSKkHlE8w

Now to The Arsenal!...

Quite an ugly victory to say the least. From a historical point of view, a 90+ minute goal to win 1-0 was never in Arsenal's resume. It was kind of frightening to watch at times, but if are an avid arsenal fan as myself, you wouldve seen some positives such as:

Mertesacker/Koscielny partnership

"Offense sells tickets, Defense wins championships," is the quote to go along with this paragraph. Defending for any team requires a number of techniques. Understanding your partner is a huge part of those techniques. Per and Laurent just might be the strong center halves we've been missing. They both seem to have a genuine love for tackling and challenging for aerial balls. I'm not just defending these guys because they simply play for Arsenal; you can tell these two have a commanding presence when played next to each other. 

SZCZ

The major part of the defense block is the goalkeeper. Not only is SZCZ strong between the posts, he's also showing signs of a future leader. After Ramsey's goal with only 5 minutes remaining, he still ran the length of the field to tell everyone to keep their head, and to focus until the end. He, out of all the players, knows how we sometimes hit the self-destruct button in a matter of seconds. He knows this because he's always on the end of it. Either way, it is starting to look like the triangle of Mertesacker, Koscielny, and SZCZ are on trustworthy terms with each other. 


RAMSEY 

The boy who notched the winner. He has 2 goals and 3 assists so far this season. It's safe to say you saw the impact of the change Wenger made. Ramsey took off Arshavin, which meant Rosicky would be pushed to the wing. He's a fine player, but he doesn't have the jolt behind him like he used to to make bolting runs in the final third of the field. Wenger knew this and made a great sub. With Ramsey getting forward, Van Persie wouldn't be so isolated like he was for most of the game. 
This is such a plus for Arsenal because we're starting to see Ramsey in a more forward roll in the midfield, with Arteta and Song dropping and playing behind him. It seems that Wenger has plans to fill that hole that was missing when Fabregas left...More on that next post!


  

Arsenal v Marseille PREGAME

Not much to say. It's a battle of french wits. Wenger vs. Deschamps. The captains battle, Van Persie vs. Mandanda. The stadium looks electrified. It's time for the beautiful game to kick off!

Tune in to FOX SOCCER CHANNEL (142 for cable) (406 for satellite)

MASSIVE 3 points

I just watched the highlights of Arsenal v Sunderland about 16 times. Never have I had that much ambition to sit on my ass and watch youtube videos before. This was a huge 2-1 victory for us. We jumped to the top half of the premier league, which I have to say didn't look right without Arsenal FC's name up there. It was almost a bad joke that we were 15th place before the game.
For the first 30 minutes, we looked like a team of championship quality. Within the first 30 SECONDS, Tomas Rosicky played a beautiful weighted aerial pass to Gervinho, who controlled it and paced forward until he squared it off at the 18-yard box for club captain Van Persie....aaaand then the fat lady sang. It was a beautiful shot to the low right post and the Sunderland keeper had no chance. That brings VP's tally to 6 goals so far this season. In other statistics, it was the fastest goal scored this season so far, and it sure will be a tough one to beat.

However, as every footy fan knows, a 1-0 scoreline always comes with some jitters. Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson equalized with a dead ball free kick and left SZCZ with no chance. It was quite impressive for anyones standards.

One of my favorite things about this game was seeing Arshavin wiggle his way through 3 defenders in close proximity and almost score a hell of a goal...it would've been truly a sublime strike. That quick footwork is something I value as a player, and it is part of my own personal playing style. The crazy part is it looked like it came out of nowhere. All of a sudden Arshy turns on his jets and literally dances through 6 lanky legs.
Sneaky.Fucking.Russian.

Anway, we reached the 83rd minute at 1-1, until a free kick opportunity called Van Persie into action once again, and HOLY SHIT DID HE DELIVER. Upper 90 shot at the right post, there's no doubt in his captaincy after that performance.

Watch the highlights, with great critique and commentary here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYHawq34W7k

GOOOOOCHH

Another post about the U.S. National team. Sorry you readers from foreign countries, but you're gonna have to put up with it from time to time. We lost by a score of 1-0 to ecuador. Early on, I had some panic attacks when Steve Cherundolo was having a hard time keeping up with the speed of the attacking line of the south americans. The goal came from a very good delivery from a cross to about the 6-yard box. Tim Ream fell asleep for a split second and let Jaime Ayovi slip in front of him, and he headed the ball with ease to the low right post.
Heres the rest of the highlights..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohRYqcM1RhY

Not too upset about the result though, and for those who watched the game, you might have a slight idea why. Onyewu is back and looking sharp as hell.

This was his first full 90 minute game in over a year. You would think he would be pretty staggered from an injury that has severely haunted him for the past two years, yet he was completely unhampered. I think he won about 90% of his aerial battles, and cleared ball after ball with precision. Tim Ream, as much as I love the guy, might have a challenge for center back since Gooch looks to become a staple in the back line once again.
In my opinion, his form has a lot to do with his club. He already has 4 appearance for Sporting Clube de Portugal since he joined in June. He's playing regularly and is very consistent in his performances...think he might even have a goal tallied up. Either way he wasn't seeing this type of playing time at standard liege, his former club. If players get no practice and no opportunities to show their skill and maturity, they won't grow as players. Lucky for the U.S., Onyewu is happy where he is in his career.

"I'm just happy right now." I'm in a good place. I feel confident, and a lot of my past injuries are behind me, so I think I can focus more on progressing and going forward from here."
- the Gooch