阿森納兵工廠足球俱樂部 Arsenal Football Club - 英超

http://www.onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=editorial&id=288

The Phil Dowd Show

By Kevin Whitcher

Online Ed: Is there an unspoken agenda against Arsenal?

There were a number of factors in Arsenal’s shocking concession of a 4-0
lead away to Newcastle. Some Arsene Wenger can take responsibility for, some
were simply outside of his control. Ultimately, a shocking refereeing
performance by Phil Dowd, arguably the worst ever witnessed in the history of
the Premier League, enabled Newcastle to equalize, but the Gunners allowed
the game to reach the point where his poor officiating made a difference.

Who’s the w***er in the black?

The first half was perfection. This was the stuff of champions in the making,
reminiscent of the great team of 2001-05 at their best. Allowed time and
space by Newcastle, they ruthlessly took advantage and sent a message out to
Manchester United, kicking off after 5pm. However, the one thing that was
totally predictable was that Alan Pardew would tell his players to start
making some challenges that would shake up the visitors after the interval.
Let them know you are there, rattle them, upset them, see if they can handle
it etc etc. Joey Barton was anonymous in the first half, but made his impact
in the second. Yet, Arsenal made it easy for him.

The visitors were evidently not prepared for this by the coaching staff at
half time. So when, all too predictably, a bad challenge from Barton came on
Abou Diaby, the Arsenal midfielder rose to the bait and was duly red carded.
Hell, if you are going to suffer an early bath at Barton’s expense, the
least you should do is break the bastard’s nose. Make it worth it. Diaby
meekly pushed him over by the neck and for Barton, it was job done.

A man down, it prevented Arsenal controlling the game and allowed Newcastle
encouragement to have a go, which they duly did. Wenger cannot be blamed for
the injury to Johan Djourou. Where he can be blamed is the fact that, instead
of a January transfer window centre back purchase, he had to replace him with
the hapless Squillaci. The manager gambled by not addressing this weakness
with the ￡40 million he has in the bank. Today, he started paying the price
of losing that bet. How much longer he continues to suffer as a result
depends on the length of Djourou’s absence. Suffice it to say, should
Squillaci need to start the game against Barcelona on February 16, I shall be
placing a seriously large amount of money on an away win.

The manager can also be blamed for putting Tomas Rosicky onto the field. This
player is history. He contributes nothing and has become pointless. He is
past it and will never recapture the form he once possessed. A waste of
space. One would like to have thought that a bit of experience might add
composure to the side, but it simply did not happen. Regarding Eboue for
Walcott, Arsenal would have been better to leave Theo on just to give
Newcastle something to think about at the back, given their only chance of
attack was on the counter.

Now for Phil Dowd. If the first penalty was pretty soft, then I will have to
find a new adjective for the second. Szczesny was manhandled to the floor
after the first spot kick had been converted in a manner not dissimilar to
that of Diaby’s dismissal, and yet it was the keeper who received a caution.
Dowd was happy enough waving yellow cards liberally as long as they were to
Arsenal players, his inconsistency absolutely stank. By the end of the game,
I was remembering all those decisions that seemed to go Manchester United’s
way when it comes to the award (or non award against) of penalties, and
wondered if there was an agenda against Arsenal amongst the game’s
authorities in this country. Could Arsenal ever win the league with handicaps
such as Dowd’s display and the leniency shown to United (such as the penalty
not given at Blackpool when they were 2-0 down)? Regular contributor Ian
Tanner has built up a wealth of evidence about how United are favoured by
referees and Dowd seemed to be single-handedly trying to hand them the title
in the style of Mike Riley in 2003.

However, if Djourou had not been taken off injured (or someone other than
Squillaci had entered the fray), I believe that the ball would have been won
in the situations that led to the two penalties. If Arsenal had eleven
players on the field, they would have found it easier to keep possession and
take the sting out of Newcastle’s attempted recovery. The Gunners played
enough of a part in their own downfall for Dowd’s incompetence or plain bias
to matter.

The feeling at the end of the game was ‘There goes the title’. And yet,
ultimately it was a case of there goes the opportunity to make up two further
points on United’s lead. The result at Molineux meant that Arsenal were a
point better off in their attempt to catch United than they were this
morning. And critically, the feat of the ‘Invincibles’ will remain a unique
one in modern times for a while longer yet.

Ultimately, the conclusion of today, in spite of United’s defeat, is that
Arsenal are not resilient enough, and do not have the strength in depth to
win the title. I sincerely hope I am wrong in that opinion.

The current issue of The Gooner will be available from sellers outside the
stadium next Saturday at the game against Wolves. For those who cannot make
it along to the match, it can be bought online here.

5th February 2011


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【OnlineGooner】菲爾·多德主演
OnlineGooner 2011年2月1日 作者 凱文·惠徹
新聞來源：http://www.onlinegooner.com/arti ... ditorial&id=288
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難道是潛規則？

能讓阿森納在4-0領先紐卡斯爾的情況下被逼平的原因當然很多。有些可以讓溫格來負責
，有些則無可奈何。但凌駕其上的無疑就是菲爾·多德的驚人表演，幫助紐卡斯爾富有爭
議性地創造了英超聯賽歷史上的最強的落後扳平，但對於槍手來說，他們的努力最終只是
悲劇性承託了主裁改變比賽走勢的能力。

[圖]它是這場比賽的w***er（譯註：一般來講，***等於ank)

上半場比賽是完美的。讓我們彷彿看到了2001-05年那支冠軍級別球隊的身影。紐卡斯爾
能做的似乎只是趕緊把比分通知給下午五點開球的曼聯隊。不過主教練帕杜肯定還做了另
一件時，就是在中場休息的時候讓自己的隊員開始用鏟球來騷擾一下客隊。反正大勢已去
，只能讓它們儘量用傷人的辦法挫挫銳氣了。於是乎，那個上半場默默無聞的喬伊·巴頓
開始大顯身手了。當然，用這種方式踢阿森納，它最來勁。

客隊顯然對於主隊中場的佈置毫無防備。可以預見地，巴頓爆鏟了迪亞比，阿森納中場隨
即中套，拿了紅牌就下去了。話說要是上半場巴頓就這麼搞，忍到下半場迪亞比怎麼說也
得打碎那混蛋的鼻樑骨吧。結果迪亞比只是「推了」一下它的「圍脖」就完事了。

計謀得逞，人數佔優，阿森納對比賽失控，這令紐卡斯爾則越發大膽，而且的確沒有一點
客氣的意思。「小新」受傷不能怪教授吧，頂多只能說他沒在冬季市場買球員又一次使得
霉運召之即來，他又一次打出了手上唯一一張牌，斯奎拉奇。現在看來，教授把傳說中的
4000萬存在銀行裡比花出去更像是賭博吧。新的一盤賭局又開始了，賭局的長短視「小新
」的傷勢而定。再具體點說，2月16日又要殘兵對陣巴薩，按常理我們又應該押寶客隊贏
，是吧。

另一個備受爭議的地方就是派上羅西基。屬於他的美好瞬間已成往事。他上場後乏善可陳
，登場顯得毫無意義。他的經驗並沒有提升球隊。而用埃布埃替換沃爾科特也值得商榷，
小老虎留在場上或許可以讓對手惦記著後場，迫使其只能選擇防守反擊。

重點是那個菲爾·多德。如果第一個點球算是吹得比較「軟」的話，那第二個點球我就找
不到形容詞來形容了。「小波」在失球後被摁倒在地，怎麼說程度上和之前迪亞比的紅牌
無二致，可是卻被警告。只要是面對阿森納球員，它就總是很樂意把黃牌掏出來揮舞，尺
度不一、令人作嘔。這讓我感覺對手好像是曼聯了，對手很容易獲得點球，相反我們幾乎
沒機會獲得點球。這就是傳說中對付阿森納的潛規則嗎？阿森納贏得聯賽的代價就是缺胳
膊少腿嗎？阿森納就不能獲得向對曼聯那樣仁慈的吹罰嗎？本站的Ian Tanner曾統計過曼
聯被裁判照顧的種種證據，現在看來新的證據還在不斷湧現，而多德正在像2003年得麥克
·萊利那樣一手將獎盃獻給曼聯。

儘管，如果不是小新受傷、斯奎拉奇準備不足，我相信比賽即便有那兩個點球還是可以拿
下來的。而如果槍手保持11人在場上，控球會更加輕鬆，也許紐卡斯爾根本就沒有反撲的
機會。槍手們的不佳表現還是為多德的表演提供了舞台。

比賽結束時的第一感覺就是「冠軍又遠去了」。我已經準備好心情去看積分榜的差距又添
兩分。可是莫利紐球場那邊的結果使得阿森納反而追上了一分，而唯一「不敗賽季」的神
話又一次得到了保護。於是重新整理心情總結今天的比賽，阿森納的韌性還不足，陣容厚
度依然不足以配得上冠軍。當然，我也真誠地希望我的想法是錯誤的。


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