Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Arsenal 1 West Brom 0 – highlights
Monday 18th August 2008, 9:02AM BST.
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Watch highlights from West Brom’s visit to the Emirates Stadium in their return to the Premier League.
Albion hope to stay in the Premier League but were always up against it after Samir Nasri scored on his debut.
Nasri struck from six yards after four minutes following Denilson’s cutback.
Nicklas Bendtner headed wide and Emmanuel Adebayor missed with a low shot across goal as the Gunners failed to score a decisive second.
West Brom went close through Do-Heon Kim and Ishmael Miller, who both forced Manuel Almunia into action, while Johan Djourou made a clearance off the line.
Please note that due to rights issues, these highlights are not available outside of the UK.
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It`s not often one can be encouraged by defeat, but encouraged i am.
As yardsticks go, Arsenal at the Emirates is a bloody big stick……with nails put in it for good measure.
I thought we came out of the game with a good deal of credit, and more importantly hope,
and not the false hope/ blind faith of previous premiership campaigns.
Fans have mentioned Hoef having a bad game, it would be difficult to disagree with that, however i do feel he was badly exposed at times due to Cech allowing his man too much space, dont get me wrong, i am not finger pointing, Cech was asked to play a role that was patently alien to him due to injuries,
the guy will shine when he gets to play in his natural position.
With the return of Tex and RoKo from injury and Zuvi from the Olympics in tandem with some more signings, i genuinely think we will be OK.
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All in all I took some positives from this defeat, the first half proved to be very frustrating as we didnt seem to be able to string 2 pass’s together, TM words of wisdom seemed to have almost done the trick during the break as we came out much more confident and took the game to Arsenal. Hopefully we will bolster the striker position that was left a defecit by the lone ranger TM imposed on Miller (understandably an ideal tactic against a team like Arsenal) , should the signing of Valero add more flare to the midfield I would hope to see more options available for a pass up front against lesser opposition.
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Starting to loathe the bias in the Premiership reporting already
Ok we were not as good as Arsenal but everywhere you look you cant find a balance commentary on the match…its all about the Big 4 and the impact on them!!!!!
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It was pure quality and a joy to watch despite the defeat.
4 signings in the next 10 days plus the 5 out injured and we`re on for a great season.
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Forever I agree with all you said. We conceded because the middfield did not follow their runners but there you go. Certainly no disgrace in defeat and a lot of positives to take from the game. With the injured players and Zuiverlooni back we will be a different proposition, that allied to a few more signings and I am very confident we will do well. I though Meite and Barnett played very well and looked a decent combination.
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1 Forever.
Good measured comment and I fully agree. I only watched on the telly but was encouraged by how quickly our players recovered after a shaky start. Must pick out Barnett who has improved much more than I would have thought possible (full credit to the coaching staff as well as the lad himself.) Kim looked totally at home. Miller still improving. Like you I don’t think Hoefkens was as bad as people are making out.
The other pleasant surprise was the refereeing. Has the ref’s ethos changed since our last Prem experience or is it just that Howard Webb is a very good ref and not a big headed tw*t like Poll and his cronies. I suppose this will become clear when we experience the dubious pleasure of Reilly and Styles etc.
The next two weeks could be very big for us. Can’t wait.
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Can only echo the sentiments expressed above – lots to take heart from… lots of decent performances, Barnett and Meite looked solid, the midfield looked confident and I thought Miller did all that was asked of him.
I also thought Carson did well. He dealt with the pass backs well, he was good positionally and he gave the defence confidence.
With a few additions / returns we don’t look bad at all….
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Think your boys did well and can take a lot of positives from the game. Like us, your defence needs tightening a little. Other than that I think maybe that you could just have enough to stay there. Good luck with the next one.
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3. Blackcountry Kid…..forgot to say…you’re gonna have to get used to the bias. The only way to change that is for the team to make them sit up and take notice.
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Not the great start but at least we were better than Liverpool.
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we went past wembley on the way i thought awwwww we bin there twice aye boing boing
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Does any Albion Fan here know the name of the song at Albion when we score. all i know is that it is the crashing of Symbols.
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All i can say is you all must have watched a different match to me because we was terrible in the 1st half and a bit better in the second half. And also when we play Bolton in a couple of weeks time were going to have a right thumping.
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