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Saturday, November 08, 2008

Nasri, Samir Nasri


pic: GettyImages, Soccernet

Very rarely do I get something right while predicting for this Arsenal side, but the man from Marseille ensured that I got something correct for a change. In my preview for today's game, I mentioned: The tactic has the danger of leaving Bendtner completely isolated and not giving Manchester’s defense any worries. In that case, Nasri might be the only real game breaker as Cesc would be too bogged down by doing everything on his own.

Well Nasri provided to be the game winner as he scored both goals, the second one a beautifully struck shot, to down Man Utd 2-1. The game once again provided that Man Utd are a team that consistently get help from refs no matter which stadium they play at. Today, neither Rooney or Ronaldo were booked for obvious fouls, a penalty for Arsenal was turned away and the ref allowed 6 extra minutes of injury time to be played as opposed to a maximum of either 4 or 5 minutes extra stoppage time for an injury to Almunia. It is remarkable that Man Utd lost considering this was the weakest Arsenal team to have taken to the field in more than a decade against them. Unlike Arsenal, Man Utd were at all full strength with no injury problems and they were even able to rest quite a few players midweek in their Champions league fixture, including Rooney who has scored 6 career goals against Arsenal, including 4 as a Man Utd player and two when at Everton. In fact, Rooney scored his first professional goal against Arsenal back in 2002 ending Arsenal's long unbeaten run.

Overall delighted at the result, especially since I had to wake up at 5:30 am to watch this game.

2 comments:

nitesh said...

All Hair Nasri...what a sweet victory even after missing several key players, coming together as a team and snatching the win...a breathless encounter.

Sachin said...

I know. What a win. Just hope the team gets enough confidence to carry on. A big game away to Chelsea at the end of the month but before that they play Villa and Man City..

overall, a nonstop game though. Quite amazing.