Arsenal the only top 6 team to win yesterday, Bye bye Marlon and guess what? Arsene didn’t see anything wrong for the penalty

March 22, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa 

It was a strange day yesterday for top 6 teams. Man Utd lost to Fulham, and by all accounts were outclassed too, Chelsea lost to London rivals Tottenham (but sometimes even the very best teams lose to Tottenham) and Everton, despite taking the lead in the first five minutes, lost to struggling Portsmouth.

Villa now find themselves being only concerned with Everton and Arsenal in the short term, so the results were 50/50 for us, as Arsenal won 3-1 at St James’s Park . If we wish to remain on level points with the Gunners, we need to win this afternoon at Anfield. That’s going to be a very big ask for a team very low on confidence to beat another so high on confidence after putting 4 past both Man Utd and Real Madrid.

I won’t say we haven’t a chance today, because not only would that be defeatist but I also don’t believe it. Villa are one of those weird teams that pull it out for the bigger occasions and it wouldn’t be totally shocking if we won. I don’t fancy our chances, but I am not writing us off.

The Hare becomes a Wolf

Marlon Harewood was apparently on the brink of joining Nottingham Forest on loan this week but rejected the chance in favour of a loan to Wolves. This way he won’t have to move house and he joins a team who currently look likely to be Premiership next season. The rumour seems pretty solid and also implies that he will join them proper in the summer.

Well I say “Good luck to you Marlon”. He hasn’t really been given enough opportunities at Villa and on some of the occasionshe has played he’s scored good goals. Whether he is cut out for a team chasing Champions League though, well I can’t say he is. But he can be a good player for a team like Wolves so I wish him well.

Arsene disagree’s with a decision that went against Arsenal!

Finally, nothing to do with Villa but I was watching the game on Setanta last night and Arsene Wenger said at the end of the match that the penalty Newcastle won and wasted, should never have been awarded because he saw nothing wrong. Well, whether it was or whether it wasn’t I couldn’t help thinking what his comments would’ve been if it had been the exact same incident but at the other end and the ref had not given a penalty. Then it would miraculously have been a clear penalty that the ref is a fool for not giving!

I know it’s not Villa-related but the guy does my head in sometimes with his bias. Whenever a player of his does something wrong; he didn’t see it, but when it’s against him he suddenly has eyes in the back of his head!


Comments

26 Comments on Arsenal the only top 6 team to win yesterday, Bye bye Marlon and guess what? Arsene didn’t see anything wrong for the penalty

  1. villian on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 10:50

    2. Yeah it was a fault on Almunia.

  2. GR on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:00

    3. “Whenever a player of his does something wrong; he didn’t see it, but when it’s against him he suddenly has eyes in the back of his head!”
    Absolutely right, man.

  3. dan on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:09

    4. yeah some of wengers post match comments are grating even for us fans. especially when weve lost and he trots out the same lines every week, to be fair i enjoy the ‘i didnt see it’ line for 2 reasons… 1. hes protecting the player, not publicly slating him before hes had a chance to deal with it in house and 2. it winds up the oppo something chronic!

    to be fair with the penalty, taylor is a fucking slimeball cunt and he did go down lightly but youd be wanting it given if it was against your team, just a shame munia didnt make it worthwhile and snap the prick in half before he had a chance to forearm one of our players and then get another in a headlock, while not even recieving a card!

    if you werent competing with us for fourth id be happy to see the villa doing well,,, and if it can somehow be at one of the other 3’s expense love to see you in the cl next season, it nice to see that not every club with a big owner goes around unsettling other teams players showing a big lack of class and then throwing toys (and managers) out the pram when daddys money doesnt buy instant success

    anyhow good article mate

  4. Na-Sei on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:18

    5. Listen Mate the bottom line is Aston Villa are CRAP! whether Wenger sees anything or Not Aston Villa are CRAP!! Martin O’neill will NEVER be on the level of Wenger and neither will any of his teams! U will NEVER play champions League football with your that one trick pony! Martin O’Neill has been sussed out, he over used Agbonlahor and now he has lost confidence and its all down to MON, POOR Management! Agbonlahor has scored ONE goal in his last 14 that’s not champions league quality at all!! Or even World Class! U see, the prolem with O’Neill is that a real manager would NOT call Ashley Young and Agbonlahor WORLD CLASS! what a joke! Arshavin is WORLD CLASS! Villa Fans get Real!!
    Oh well enjoy EUROPA league next season!
    GUNNERS for Life!!!
    Ha ha ha!!!

  5. jhgf on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:18

    6. people who support villa shouldnt even speak about wenger, learn some respect

  6. Na-Sei on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:29

    7. ASTON VILLA ARE ONE MAN TEAM!!! ASHLEY YOUNG WORLDCLASS??? DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH!!! I WOULD RATHER HAVE ARSHAVIN, ROSICKY, NASRI AND WALCOTT OVER YOUNG!!
    Ashley Young has Never played against Top Notch players like in the champions league on regular basis like WALCOTT has!!
    Aston Villa are Pretenders!

  7. BG on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:31

    8. as if fat Sam, Rafa, Scottish red nosed cunt, Phil Brown, you r little northern irish lpprechaun or any other manager would have said something differently…. stop taking vain shots at Wenger, he has his flaws but 1 it wasn’t a pen and 2 he only said what all manager would have said in a similar situation….

    You’ve had a good season and finishing 5th will be a success… reinforcement and then maybe next year you can challanged the big 4….

  8. Spike on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:34

    9. No fella, actually Wenger said the penalty looked harsh and having read quite a few match reports from journo’s, most of them felt the same.

    Look, I know it must ne painful that your short lived dream of finishing top 4 has ended, but get over it.

    Arsenal have had a shovking season by their standards while Villa have played out of their skins, yet we are above you and in truth are lookin up, not behind us.

    I think you could get a nervy 0-0 at Anfield today meaning we are closer to the top 3…. Well, we can dream as well!

  9. steveG on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:36

    10. Wenger’s so called biase is a good thing. what with a media thats sickeningly ant-arsenal. just look at how significant they considered a youtube shot of fabregas ’spitting’, yet largely ignored videos and pictures that proved Phillip Brown was lying! Even when a bayen munich official made clear there was no such incident involving fabregas, the media went silent instead of backtracking.

    so hail le professor.

  10. Goonerman on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:38

    11. Villa have had so much luck this season but its all run out now.

    Rather jumped up team with supporters who don’t understand quality and top flight football

  11. steveG on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 11:41

    12. ‘Doing your head in’, watch out you may have non at all come end of season with the way the gunners are now matching.

  12. Blurr.... on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 12:29

    13. As an arsenal fan i think villa is too young for Champions League.

    Ashley young i think he got potential to be world class player but not in Aston Villa, Real or Milan maybe.

  13. peter on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 13:50

    14. sorry but its true why you pickin on wenger when any manager would do the same? could it be because arsenal have just pulled away from you? dont see you gettin anything today at anfield maybe earlier in the season when agbonlahor was in form. form is different to class and though i quite like aston villa i dont rate or like agbonlahor. ashley young is good, but i would put him on a par with lennon; QUITE skillful, very fast. nothin on theo

  14. That boy Laursen on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 13:53

    15. I also watched the game last night and I think it’s fair to say that we should stop thinking about CL now. We have absoluetly no chance, especially with our low confidence and stubborn manager. It was a good thing that Everton lost yesterday as I think it’s far, far more likely that we finish sixth rather than fourth at this stage. Sadly I think we’ll get a hamering today as Liverpool will be really up for it. 4-0 is my prediction. And oh, please start with Carew today!

  15. Brice on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 15:40

    16. You criticize Arsene, but its his full, never wavering belief in his team and players that has seen us get over our slump and pass you lot. Martin O’Neill could learn a lot of lessons from the same thing you are slating Wenger for.

  16. L on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 16:42

    17. Why do you need to make this point , Wenger has said what all mangers would have said including MON.

  17. L on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 16:43

    18. 3 NILL DOWN

  18. Spike on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 17:20

    19. Make that 4!!! Then thing is tho, why bother entering the Inter Toto again if all your manager does is throw the UEFA Cup game in some deluded belief that his team can finish in the top 4? makes no sense.. But, no O’Neill’s a genius isnt he?

  19. KO on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 17:41

    20. MAKE THAT 5

    CL YOU HAVIN A LAUGH!

  20. fuckface on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 18:09

    21. 5 – 0 yes you are definately a Champions League team. yet again MON’s tactical brilliance prevails!! and Aston Villas superstar players put in fantastic performances in a trademark match. You guys dont even deserve to compete in the intertoto cup!

  21. fuface on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 18:15

    22. Lets see what MON has to say about the penalty aswell. They were both definately penalties thats for sure but maybe he’ll see something wrong with them like Wenger did.

  22. dknash on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 18:55

    23. You guys are a bit late to the party; perhaps you were lacking confidence? I can’t blame you a bit seeing as how your club has nearly managed to fail at the easiest task in all of sport twice now.

    Perhaps you guys can update your crest to further reflect your grand accomplishments? Can’t use stars, but maybe you could add dots for each time your team underachieves and scrapes out a fourth place. Might look like someone’s target practice before long, though. And you’ll need a new motto as well: pardon me, what’s the Latin for “marginally competent”?

  23. VC on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 19:21

    24. Make that 5-0. Ha Ha! It doesn’t pay to start crowing until you have actually achieved something!

    [MB: Show me where I 'crowed']

  24. jimmy on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 20:11

    25. arsenal fucking scum your all shitbags shite side of north london

  25. Josh Cann on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 22:38

    26. HAREWOOD IS A GOD

    theres a saying you dont no what uve lost until its gone,, im sure this will be the case if harewood leaves.

  26. Joe gooner on Mon, 23rd Mar 2009 0:05

    27. I’m a gooner and I was hoping Villa would win today so that we can catch Liverpool and finish second And hopefully Villa can finish 4th at the expense of Chelsea but that result was really embarassing O’neal has been hyped up for so long in England because he is british tactically naive and came short at the top level and he proved it again what was Reo -Cocker doing as a right back goodness me. O’neal has run out of ideas all his tactics have been sussed out. Its simple there is no passing and try to open up teams. all he does is tell Ashley Youn to cross the ball into the box- Milner cross the ball into the box and hope the big Fellas wll nod it in, the other trick hoof a long ball to Agbenlahor to run into. once those tactics have been stifled by teams Villa players don’t have a clue what else to do. So wake up Villa fans I think your players have the talent to play the ball on the floor and open up teams rather than those cheap tactics. Get rid of O’neal.

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