Theo!

By Boris Mellor
August 17 2011

I approached the game with all the usual routines that attend a midweek game. Disembarked at Drayton Park Station, something you can’t do on a Saturday, bought a copy of the Gooner and strolled across to the greasy spoon. Just in time as I got the last portion of lamb chops. That and a Hot Chocolate came to £10.40! I had spent £12.40 and wasn’t even in the ground. 

I joined Sydney Harbour who was having the chicken for a change, the cafe was nowhere near as frantic as it normally is, but I put that down to the fact that lots of people are still on holiday.

Simon68 rang in and joined us for his breakfast and it was time to catch up on holidays and stuff like that before we got down to business. Simon, always the optimist believes Wenger will make some signings.  I am not convinced but we will see, it certainly won’t happen before the second leg with Udinese.

As the ground began to fill up I could see a pattern, crowd density was its highest in the cheap seats, Club Level and Boxes were almost empty, and the upper tier had thickets of empty seats. The club did not announce the attendance so we were spared the usual irony from the crowd.  I would say about two thirds full, but the next match is sold out.

All the players got a good cheer apart from Bendtner, 50% cheered and 50% jeered, my request for a recount was overruled. Wenger was ensconced in the top left corner of the directors’ box, flanked by Ivan and Boro. The way he sat facing all match I was surprised he could actually see the game. Indeed if he had given a press conference and said he “hadn’t seen it” I would have believed him.

Growing Up at Last?

Arsenal started very brightly and Theo scored a great goal on 4 minutes, and that was the highlight of the match. Theo is a frustrating player, but he does score important goals that count. No one else, for Arsenal, looked like scoring, Gervinho and Walcott went on to miss sitters later in the game.

Udinese then took us all by surprise by playing quite well and having more shots on goal than the home team. Szczesny was the only item to have gone down in number from 53 to 13. The thirteen shirt proved to be lucky as he made several great saves and earned massive applause from the home crowd. The crowd remained positive throughout and tried to rouse the team to score a vital second. The team was clearly putting in the effort, but it lacked the inspiration. Even Ramsey couldn’t make a difference and the midfield was not inventive enough. For the neutral it was a fast flowing and entertaining game. I nil did not reflect all the goal mouth activity.

Not Quite Home

As the whistle went I looked down my row in the upper tier and realised that I didn’t recognise one person from last season. Maybe one or two will come back on Saturday, but the chap sitting next to me told me he had been offered a season ticket on the waiting list, which means the guy next to me has handed his in. My usual two halftime buddies had also decided not to renew, so it didn’t seem as homely as it used to.

The crowd left in a thoughtful mood, no chanting or singing, the main point of conversation was would 1-0 be enough at Udinese? With RvP to come back for the second leg there is still all to play for, but it is very finally balanced.