Entries from September 2006 ↓

…and we all shine on. Like the moon, the stars and the sun.

Arsenal played their best football of this young season, without the services of Thierry Henry or Robin Van Persie, and came away with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United.

With his two main strikers ruled out due to injury, Arsene Wenger’s hand was a bit forced. He went with a 4-5-1 formation, Emmanuel Adebayor the lone attacker up front.

That meant the match was going to come down to a battle of the midfields, and on the day, it was Arsenal’s combination of Cesc, Freddie, Gilberto, Hleb and Rosicky that proved the stronger side.

Adebayor’s first touch still often leaves something to be desired, but he did the job he was asked, including drawing a penalty early on.

Gilberto was unlucky to slip while taking the spot kick, and the shot was saved rather easily.

It was not however, a sign of things to come, as the Gunners controlled long stretches of the match. That’s not to say that ManUre didn’t get their chances. Mad Jens made several good saves, including two excellent stops on Christiano Ronaldo, the first a shot that hit the German square in the face, and the second an amazing quick reaction save, parrying the shot with the tip of his fingers.

Arsenal kept plugging away. Late in the second half, the excellent Alex Hleb was taken off in favor of new signing Julio “The Beast” Baptista. The Beast immediately got into the thick of things, sending an excellent shot just wide of the post.

Finally, in the 86th minute, wunderkind Cesc Fabregas stripped Christiano Ronaldo of the ball a few yards outside the ManUre penalty area, found a streaking Adebayor to his left, and sent a pin-point through ball to the striker, who in turn, slotted the ball beneath the diving keeper.

Perhaps saving his best for last, Lehmann again made an amazing save, stretching just far enough to reach a Ole Gunnar Solskjær shot that was definitely heading in just moments after Arsenal took the lead.

After three minutes of stoppage time after the 90, it was 1-0 to the Arsenal, and a result that Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying is his best ever away to ManUre.

Two wins in a row now, and the team are starting to build some momentum. The Gunners will be looking to keep the good results coming when Sheffield United visit the Grove this Saturday. Kickoff is 10AM ET, and the match will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel here in the States.

Forgot to bring the camera this year, but I went to Oktoberfest last night with Josh, Deb, Jon, Lori, Nick, and Matt. Brought the stein pictured above and got it filled for $7.50. Not bad when you figure it's a liter of beer!

Also ended up getting one of these bad boys:

The Paulaner Hefeweizen was really quite good, but, being the designated driver, I only had a few sips of it, before distributing it out evenly to everyone else.

As usual, the brats were top rate, and the potato salad was once again second to none.

We all were having a great time, and once the Oktoberfest shut down for the night, the scene was moved to our local Irish pub. If I weren’t leaving for New York in a few minutes this morning, I wouldn’t have left everyone at the bar @ 1AM, as they were all still going strong. Can’t wait to hear about the rest of the night when I get back on Sunday!

Just checked out the second trailer for this Novemeber’s “Casino Royale” over on 007.com.

Holy crap does this look good!

First impressions are that this is going to be a very dark film, and that Eva Green looks as sexy as ever.

Check out the trailer yourself by clicking the image above.

Robin Van Persie draws a penalty kick, Hamburg’s keeper gets sent off, Gilberto converts the penalty, and sees another chance just miss, and Rosicky smashes in his first goal for the Gunners.

That was the story of this season’s first European night. No Titi, no Freddie, and, after going off after 25 minutes with an thigh injury, no Kolo.

A nice change of pace from the frustrations of the Prem, but it’s back to business on Sunday as a trip to Old Trafford looms large.

Kickoff is 11AM ET on Sunday, and the match is being broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Saw this on Joel’s blog today . First of all, the people who came up with a US flag doormat need to be beaten with their own shoes. Secondly, this just goes to show how little thinking George actually does. I’ll concede that this might be a PhotoShopped image, but, that doesn’t take away from the fact that some moron designed a doormat with the US flag on it!