A Fantastic Day Of Sport

Well what a day I had. Two of my teams getting massive wins helped put a smile on my face that'll probably last all week. The mighty Arsenal travelled to the blue side of Manchester and returned with a morale boosting 3-0 victory. To make things better, the Browns shocked the world by beating the reigning Superbowl champions in their own stadium, recording a historic win in the process. So you could say I'm feeling pretty happy this morning.

First up was the Arsenal - City game which kicked off at 4pm. I was still at work when the game began but slyly managed to follow the game through BBC Sport's updates on the internet. As soon as the clock struck 5pm, I was out the door and quickly in the pub for the second half. I missed Nasri put us 1-0 up but have since seen the goal and it was a real beauty, a lovely finish from a confident player who has started this season brilliantly. I of course missed Man City's red card too but I have heard it was deserved. And last of all I also missed Cesc's penalty miss, not one of his best efforts I understand. However, I did catch the second half, so I feel obliged to comment on what I did see.

Despite City playing with 10 men the game had a very open feel to it and they looked pretty dangerous going forward even thought they had the disadvantage. But as the game wore on, it was obvious City just didn't have it on the day. Arsenal soon began to dominate possession and ensured the win when Alex Song put us into a 2-0 lead. A ball into Chamakh was cut out by the City defence but thankfully it fell to Song on the edge of the box who rifled it past Joe Hart for his second league goal of the season, and his second in the space of a week. City pressed on but couldn't break through thanks to Fabianski. The young Polish stopper had a great day, recording a deserved clean sheet, which is apparently our first one away from home for 10 months. His saves against Silva and Boateng were particularly impressive. With the came coming to a close, Wenger gave a run-out to Theo and Bendtner and it was the latter who rounded the match off with a delightful finish. The tireless Nasri managed to keep the ball from going out and then played a superb ball into the path of Bendtner, who calmly slotted the ball around the onrushing Hart to make it 3-0. A fantastic away win and just what the Gunners needed to re-establish our title aspirations, while putting Manchester City firmly in their place at the same time. You can have as much money as you like, but it will take some time before they gel as a team and start winning trophies.

After Arsenal's victory, it was time to turn my attention to the day's NFL games and the Browns. There was no way Eric Mangini's men were waltzing into New Orleans and beating the Superbowl champions I thought, and I was not alone; Nobody expected a Browns win, certainly not the people around me in the pub and the pundits on the TV. But the Browns came through for me, and battled to a hard fought 30-17 win. Unfortunately I was not in a position to watch the game. At the pub, my friends and I had to make do with the Rams - Buccaneers game, which was entertaining but obviously I would have preferred to have been watching our miraculous victory at the Superdome. Still, the Rams lost in the last 10 seconds, and my friend Simon (the only Rams fan in the room) nearly broke down in tears at his team's collapse. Commiserations mate, I feel your pain.

So it's now established that Reggie Hodges is the best punter in NFL history, right? My tongue-in-cheek comment aside, that fake punt and his amazing run was really something special, especially the way he glided past Lance Moore and kept chugging his way to the 10 yard line where he was finally stopped. His 68 yard run set up a Browns field goal and as we know every point counts in the NFL, especially when you're facing the Saints in their house. In fact, the Browns had a very successful day as far as trick plays were concerned. Cribbs's lateral pass to Eric Wright on a punt return was impressive, as was Peyton Hillis's pass to Colt McCoy. When plays like that come off and work to perfection, you really have to give credit to the players for executing, as well as Mangini for taking the risk. Of course, credit must also go to Rex Ryan and his defense. When was the last time Drew Brees threw 4 interceptions in a game?! I doubt he even did that in high school! Obviously Brees had an off day, but you have to give major props to the Browns for being there in the right positions to make those big defensive stops. David Bowens is feeling on top of the world no doubt, with his two interception returns putting the cherry on top of yesterday's win. Just an amazing day for the Browns and I feel so proud to be one of the faithful. I don't care if I'm from Cleveland or not, there's no reason for me not to celebrate this win like any other Browns supporter. I love it.

So the Browns head into their bye week full of confidence and Arsenal are back to second in the league, hot on the heels of Chelsea. Sunday October 24th 2010 was a fine day indeed, one I expect I'll remember for some time.

Thanks for reading.

Sayonara Shakhtar

Arsenal cruised to another Champions League victory last night at the Emirates, where they easily dispatched the Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk. The Gunners strolled to a 5-1 win, with former Arsenal man Eduardo grabbing a late consolation for his new team.

It was an assured performance from Wenger's men on the night. I was expecting the match to be a bit closer but Arsenal soon put any fears I had to rest. The opening few minutes were cagey, as both sides appeared to be testing each other out but it wasn't long before Arsenal capitalised and took the lead. After the Shakhtar keeper spilled a corner (doing his best Fabianski impression), Djourou pounced on the loose ball and poked it into the path of Alex Song, who ambitiously attempted a Cristiano Ronaldo-like 'Rabona' shot, which deflected off the defender and bounced kindly into the back of the net to give us a 1-0 lead after 19 minutes. It was pretty funny to see Song attempt such a move but he got the result he wanted, a good goal in the end. I think Song had a decent night, he made no mistakes that I could see, but I do worry that with his increase in confidence over the last 18 months or so, he maybe thinks he's a bit better than he really is, especially going forward in attack. I just have concerns that his constant need to join in on the attack will some day hurt him, as the back four becomes instantly vulnerable when Song leaves his position. But hey, I have no complaints about him until he makes that mistake; Song is a quality player for us. Speaking of the defence, I was very impressed with our pair of centre backs last night, especially Djourou. I know the guy has had injury problems over the last few years, but I have always been a fan of Johan and it has irritated me in the past when Wenger would go with Silvestre over Djourou, for one example; beyond frustrating. He performed well last night with Squillaci, as Shakhtar looked pretty toothless in attack overall. They even made Fabianski look good, who to be fair to him made a very good save in the early minutes of the second half. More games like that in the near future please.

Arsenal continued to press after the first goal and doubled their lead just before half time with a beautiful goal from Samir Nasri. An Alex Song cross was expertly controlled by our young Frenchman, who calmly got the ball down and lashed a shot past the helpless Shakhtar keeper for a two goal lead. Nasri has impressed many fans so far this season, as he continues to carry over his form from last season. The guy can't put a foot wrong. Leading 2-0 at the half, we were cruising and the game was pretty much done and dusted.

After Fabianski's save from Adriano just after the restart, Arsenal took control of the game and never relinquished it. With just over half an hour to go in the game, Djourou was brought down in the box and Captain Cesc stepped up to take the penalty, comfortably scoring from the spot to put the game to bed, 3-0. I was glad Wenger took the decision to start Fabregas and he deserved his goal. You could sense he was a bit rusty early on in the match, which is to be expected after a three week break, but Cesc quickly returned to his normal playmaking self. Denilson replaced him after the penalty, where I expect Wenger had an eye on this weekend's game against Man City; we all want the captain to be fit and rested ahead of that crucial clash.

After going ahead by three goals courtesy of Cesc, the floodgates opened up. Jack Wilshere, who played his last game for a couple of weeks ahead of his impending suspension, had a brilliant outing and thoroughly deserved his goal. After some good work with Rosicky, Jack took a rather heavy touch but still maintained enough poise to calmly lob the ball over Shakhtar's keeper to make it 4-0. Probably the best goal of the night, it was so well taken, and the build up was vintage Arsenal. Only minutes later it was 5-0. Nasri chipped the ball over the Shakhtar defence into the path of Chamakh, who after glancing at the linesmen rolled the ball into the corner of the net for a deserved goal. Everybody including Chamakh thought he was offside, but thanks to a great decision by the linesmen the goal stood and the game was over. Nasri's pass was a thing of beauty too.

To cap off the evening, the returning Eduardo entered the fray for Shakhtar and scored an absolute peach with eight minutes to go. An innocuous ball entered the Arsenal box where Squillaci couldn't quite get to it, but Eduardo connected perfectly with a superb effort which flew past Fabianski to make it 5-1. It was a really nice moment for our former number 9, as the fans, Arsenal and Shakhtar, rose to applaud Eduardo for his well taken goal. It really is a shame that we got rid of him this summer, as he obviously still has feelings for the club and many fans still hold him in high regards. I hope he can resume his career in Ukraine and find success there.

All in all it was a good night of football. Arsenal are now 3 from 3 in the group stage, and barring any meltdowns we look sure to make it into the knockout stages for another year. Next up is a tough trip to Manchester to face Mancini's City. I will be at work unfortunately (GRRRRR) but hopefully I can make it to the pub for the second half. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for reading.

Counting On Colt

First things first; I have a confession to make. Unfortunately I haven't been able to keep tabs on my beloved Brownies so far this season, not really. The week 1 game against Tampa Bay... I was in Spain. Every other game since... I've been here in Bath with no internet access for close to a month. I've managed to catch some highlights on friend's laptops, I've followed games on my girlfriend's Blackberry, but it's not been much fun to tell you the truth. I was even able to watch other live games in a pub in town, but not the Browns.

Alas, I have finally arrived into the 21st century with broadband back in my possession, complete with my beautiful yet flawed Cleveland Browns. Let's get you up to speed with what I know so far:

Peyton Hillis. The man is an absolute beast. Despite knowing bugger all about how our season has been going, I made absolutely sure I knew about him. He has been a revelation this year and I love it. I was pretty shocked the other day when I read that Jerome Harrison had been flogged to the Eagles but my worries subsided immediately when I remembered we have a battering, bruiser of a running back with the number 40 emblazoned across his chest (and back). It's clear to all that Hillis is going to be the go-to guy now until Montario Hardesty is ready to start his pro career, which won't be until next year anyway. In fact, with the injuries in Cleveland mounting every day, Hillis has become the focal point of the offense, and is single handedly keeping the Browns in each game they play. Long may Hillis's success continue in Browns Town, I'm still getting over that one handed catch he made last week... stunning.

And that's about it. My 2010 Browns knowledge ends there. I understand our defense has been pretty shoddy (no change there then). I know we beat the Bengals in a close one, and have been pretty competitive in the other games we have lost. But still, any fan hates to see their team sitting at 1-4, and it doesn't make things any better when a trip to Pittsburgh is up next.

I hate the Steelers and I'm not even from Cleveland. I have no affiliation to the city apart from my child-like love for their sports teams, yet, I still despise the Steelers as much as any die hard Browns fan does abroad. I'll never forget our 13-6 victory against them last year; I celebrated that win with as much vigour as I do when Arsenal smash United or Spurs. Plus, it was amazing to see Big Ben get sacked so many times that night... oh how his o-line struggled.

However, eager as I am to see the Browns play, I am not expecting a repeat result from 2009. Our quarterbacks Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace are suffering from ankle injuries which means the Colt McCoy era begins ahead of schedule, tomorrow night in Pittsburgh. Our rookie QB is being thrust into the deep end for his professional debut, by facing one of the top defenses in the NFL. Our young Colt was never expected to see much action this season, apart from holding a clipboard on the sidelines in an effort to learn the professional game, but things change quickly in the pro's and Colt will have to adapt quickly It's going to be some task for him to guide the team to a victory but stranger things have happened. Look at Max Hall last weekend, who made his first NFL start in an upset win for the Cardinals over the reigning champs Saints. Who saw that one coming?

So we're all counting on Colt now, and I wish him the best of luck in tomorrow's contest; he's gonna need it. Our offensive players can help him out by playing out of their skins, and our defense can help by not giving him such a mountain to climb. Here's hoping anyway.

My next post will likely be on Wednesday, where I'll write something about Arsenal's Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk. I'm hoping I can get to the pub Tuesday night for that one. I missed the Gunner's comeback win against Birmingham today as I was at work, so I'm not really in the position to comment on their performance and victory.

Thanks for reading.

I Am Still Alive

And so is this blog, for anyone wandering where I've been for weeks. Since moving to my new digs for my final year at uni, my housemates and I have had a nightmare trying to get our broadband set up. Hopefully this will all be sorted out by the end of the week, and I'll be back blogging again soon.

It's amazing how much you miss having no internet access for a couple of weeks. It'll all be better soon though...

Sucker Punched In Sunderland

Arsenal travelled to Sunderland today in a late kick-off and the result was a disappointing 1-1 draw. I feel sick. Sick and pissed off. Phil Dowd managed to ruin what could have been a good game, with his terrible and inconsistent refereeing. An absolute joke.

First of all I should make it known that Sunderland deserved to grab a point. They played extremely well against us in the first half, keeping possession for most of the 45 minutes, a feat that few teams can perform against us with such ease. We did look a bit slow to start the game, never really getting into our flow and the slick passing we loyal Gooners are accustomed to failed to materialise as the Black Cats dominated possession.

Despite Arsenal's failure to launch, we took an early lead in the 13th minute against the run of play. And it was some goal, which will undoubtedly be one of the oddest you'll see all season. Anton Ferdinand failed to play the ball, as his clearance struck Fabregas's right foot and the ball ricocheted about 40 yards into the back of the Sunderland net. 1-0 to the Arsenal just like that, a complete fluke but gladly accepted (you could see the Arsenal players having a bit of a laugh about it during the celebrations). We managed to keep Sunderland at bay until half time, and we started the second half brightly as our passing began to come together.

Although today's game cannot exactly be called a classic (not by any means) there were still a lot of positives to take from the match. For starters, our defence were on top of their game this afternoon. Squillaci and Koscielny were outstanding; they were dominant in the air and on the ground, and look to have slotted into this Arsenal side with ease. Two fantastic performances from our new boys. In fact, the majority of the team played pretty well today and I can't really think of any particular individual who should be singled out for criticism. Wilshere was quality, as was Nasri who was at his dazzling best. Chamakh did well to lead the attack, and Rosicky also played pretty well (apart from his penalty miss... wow did that cost us in the end) when he replaced Fabregas in the first half (here's hoping Cesc's injury isn't a nasty one).

And now for the negatives. Hold on a sec, there is only one. And it starts and ends with Phil Dowd. The 47 year old Premier League official had a terrible game. Alex Song should never have been sent off. His first booking he received was laughable at best, as Song barely made contact with Steed Malbranque at all. His second yellow card was controversial yet again, as Malbranque decided to try and collect the ball by running through our midfield monster. Well that didn't work, and so the former Tottenham man decided to just fall over instead. Out came Dowd's little black book and Song was dismissed with over half an hour left to go in the game. Phil Dowd, you are officially a moron.

And the rest is history. Rosicky wasted a chance to secure all 3 points by blazing his penalty over the bar and despite resilient defending from 10-man Arsenal, it was not enough, as Darren Bent equalised in the 95th minute when there was only supposed to be 4 minutes of injury time. Thanks again Mr Dowd! Like I said earlier, Sunderland's efforts this afternoon warranted a deserved point so I'm sure their fans are over the moon with this result. But I am not. We had a chance to go top of the league this evening, and I fear that dropping 2 points today will cost us in the long run. Put it this way, I am going to be one angry Arsenal fan if we lose the title in May by 1 or 2 points.

Alas, this is football and these things happen. We've got to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off ahead of Tuesday's Carling Cup game at White Hart Lane. Ol' Twitchy himself will no doubt put out a strong team, probably his first 11, so our kids will have to be at their best if we are to progress in this competition. I hope Wenger mixes in some of our starters so the kids have some experienced guys to lead them out there, as this is a cup we have a great chance to win this year, like we do every year, so I want Sir Arsene to take it seriously. Hopefully I will be able to catch the game in the pub as I'm moving back to Bath tomorrow for uni again. If I have the internet I'll try and write something about it, but you'll just have to wait and see!

Thanks for reading.

Something To Braga About

At last I have returned from my Spanish adventure, and have had a lot of catching up to do in the world of the internet. My Browns lost the season opener (not much of a surprise), my Indians have already decided where they're going on holiday as they are just going through the motions now, and the Buckeyes are 2-0 with wins over Marshall and Miami. Ohio State football is my new passion this year, as I have yet to really get into the college game, so I will just refer to them as THE Buckeyes, as they are not yet MY Buckeyes (give it some more time and devotion though).

However, my Arsenal were kind enough to wait for me to get home before they started their Champions League campaign, against Portuguese side S.C. Braga. I did miss the weekend game against Bolton, but I caught the highlights on Match of the Day and that was satisfactory enough for me considering I was on holiday. But I was lucky enough to get home just in time for last night's game, and I'm extremely glad I was able to see it. I was pretty confident ahead of the match, we usually seem to do well in the group stage of the CL, especially at home. My confidence was rewarded in the end thanks to a dominating performance and a thumping 6-0 victory. I won't bother giving a match review as you can everything you need to know right here. But I will share a few thoughts and feelings on what I saw; I'll try to be brief!

Fabregas was magnificent as always. His penalty was very well taken, and his header was a nice finish also (it's always nice to see a midfielder like him score a goal with his head - it just doesn't look like it should happen). His passing was exemplary and yet again he proved how valuable he really is to us. From what I saw against Bolton, Cesc was at his play-making best as it looked like he had a big part to play in all four goals that day. Against Braga last night, he carried on his brilliance from the weekend and he completely ran the show. Arshavin continued his good start to the season as well; he looked dangerous on the ball, took his goal well, and apart from a few wayward passes the little Russian put in a fine display. I was glad to see Chamakh get another goal for himself at the Emirates, after a some nifty but very odd work from Jack Wilshere (like a back-heel pass, but with his standing foot... it was really weird). Carlos Vela, the "king of the chip shot", also played well when he came on for Chamakh. His first goal, which of course was a chip over the keeper, was beautiful and his second goal was finished nicely from a pretty tight angle. I am still unsure if young Carlos will fulfil his potential - the hype surrounding him a couple of years ago was pretty high, with many fans (high expectations attached) itching to see him in the red and white. Vela has struggled so far in his still-early Arsenal career, but I don't think this can be entirely blamed on his performances alone. I believe that Wenger has yet to give him a real chance to show off his stuff, and I don't really know why. When we had a few strikers out with injury a season or two ago, Wenger seemed reluctant to hand Vela a place in the starting eleven on a regular basis, and when he did Vela was stuck up front alone against teams like Stoke and Hull, who would kick the crap out of the young Mexican. However, so far Vela has started this new season impressively and if he keeps scoring goals in the minutes he's given, I hope Wenger will provide Carlos with more opportunities, not just 10 minute cameos in games with lost causes or blowouts. Keep on trucking Vela, I'd like nothing more than to see you become an Arsenal great.

All in all, last night's win was the beautiful game at it's best, and an Arsenal win with plenty of goals never fails to put a smile on my face. Now that the Indians' season is practically over, the posts here on Escape To Forest City will start to take on a dominant Arsenal theme (didn't they already?). If I can get down to Twerton Park a few times this year I will also write some stuff about Bath City, so this blog will end up being pretty football filled. I will still be writing about the Browns, but if they are too hideous to watch, I may end up avoiding them like the plague, and we'll see how the Cavs get on too in the post-LBJ era. So apologies to any of my readers who are not interested in the Arsenal stuff... maybe you'll learn to love it, with time... right?

Thanks for reading.

Escaping To Espana

I'm off to Spain for a week, beginning tomorrow so there will be no new posts until the 14th at the earliest.

Thanks y'all.