Firstly I must apologise whole-heartedly for the sincere lack of activity on my blog since early November. The pressure had obviously got to me to produce exemplary quality in football blogging week in week out and I am pleased to report I am now fully rejuvenated after undergoing the necessary psychiatric treatment.
So what have we missed? A fair bit actually. Harry Redknapp's self-proclaimed title challenge has hit the rocks, managers have been sacked left, right and centre and two sexist bigots have lost their jobs with Sky.
(I've also bought an Arsenal home shirt with 27 EBOUE on the back).
Right we might as well get Saturday over with then. Newcastle United produced an astonishing comeback at St James's Park which saw a team recover a four goal deficit for the first time in Premier League history. Ironically the draw saw Arsenal move one point nearer to the top of the league after Wolves produced a fine workman-like display to (finally) beat an abjectly mediocre Manchester United side on the day who I think will probably agree that this defeat was always going to be 'when' rather than 'if'.
In many ways the afternoon epitomised why we absolutely adore the Premier League. 41 goals at an average over 5 goals per game summed up the tempo, passion, quality and of course we won't forget some horrible defending and sub-standard refereeing from the league that lies so close to our hearts.
Unfortunately from our point of view it was a second half to forget. It will feel to the boys like not just a loss but maybe two or three losses and this is compounded with the injury to the excellent Johan Djourou (at 4-0 coincidentally) who has been a revelation similar to the impact that Vermaelen had last year.
I was a bit astounded at the disappearance of Mr Dowd after Cheik Tiote's wonder strike but I was later informed he'd actually started the pile up on top of the Ivorian midfielder that ensued after the goal.
Now before we move on to the Phil Dowd lambasting I want to make it one hundred percent clear that I am not one to go out and castigate referees willy-nilly as I have huge respect for how difficult the job is. In fact I will often take out my dismay of bad refereeing decisions on particular poor individual performances (normally Denilson) but fact-of-the matter is Dowd bottled it.
Perhaps this was the aftermath of the whole Moyes-Fabregas midweek witch-hunt which apparently should have resulted in Cesc seeing red for his comments at half time, (although Gary Neville calling the ref a cunt results in 7 minutes of injury time)- convenient.
I'm not going to bang on about particular mistakes because they're all there to see, one of the penalties was particularly laughable, as was The Pole in the Goal's booking, but to cut a long story short I hope Dowd gets hit by a lorry.
Fantastic result for the Toon incidentally which will see them comfortably survive now I think. They're a huge club and belong in the Premier League. Fair play to them.
OptimistDom time now.
Would United still have lost after seeing Arsenal win 4 or 5-0?
Maybe not.
Will the team bounce back against Wolves and Stoke at home?
Probably.
Do United have to play The Death of Football, Chelsea twice and Liverpool and Arsenal away?
Yes.
Summary: Point gained.
I do love being a Gooner for this very reason. I genuinely don't believe there is even a team in League Two capable of letting a 4-0 lead slip in half an hour, it truly is almost laughable and sooner we replace that geriatric French muppet at centre back (Not the half Polish one) I will sleep all the more easily.
In local news midfielder Michael Shaughnessy of David Collett Hall is apparently considering retirement from further IMS fixtures. Although no statement has been officially released it appears that the industrious playmaker may be attempting to create more time for his studies.
Friend and team-mate Joseph Berry told This Week In English Football that he was "bitterly disappointed to hear about Michael's sudden retirement. It's surprising as he's had a decent season, but we respect his wishes."
This will be the second player from the mid-table side to retire from the game this season after Joseph Hicks also departed in October 2010 after he was linked with his schoolboy heroes Leyton Orient who have put together a sparkling FA cup run and will face Arsenal in the 5th round.
We await full confirmation on Shaughnessy's decision.
It's good to be back anyway.
Ciao!
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