Skip to main content

Red star - Arsenal








How about this for a test of Arsenal’s “cojones”? Stepping into the furnace of one of Europe’s most intimidating venues, with a collection of kids and first-team misfits, they emerged with three of the most satisfying points to provide the strongest answer to the criticism that has poured down on them since their pitiful defeat at Watford.
In many ways, winning in this manner will taste sweeter than if they had cruised to a three-goal victory. Arsenal had something to prove tonight: they had to dig deep, to show their mettle. They duly did just that, eventually claiming all three points through a stunning overhead kick from Olivier Giroud.
Jack Wilshere said Watford captain Troy Deeney was wrong to question Arsenal’s character in the aftermath of their meltdown at Vicarage Road. Deeney was not the first to do so, and will not be the last, but here was a statement of intent from Wenger’s side that will surely restore some much-needed faith across the club.
And what a valuable experience this would have been for the likes of Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and the brilliant Reiss Nelson, who shone from right wing-back. There will also be encouragement from the performances of Mathieu Debuchy, making his first appearance since November 2016, and Wilshere, who continues to impress whenever he plays.
The thumping, jumping Rajko Mitic Stadium, nicknamed the ‘Marakana’ for its febrile atmosphere, was ready for the occasion almost an hour before kick-off. Red Star’s glory years, which included a European Cup triumph in 1991, have long since passed, so the club were not going to pass up on a welcome opportunity to remind a modern-day European giant what Serbian football - and its fans - can still produce.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Countries That Disappeared In The 20th Century

    New nations seem to pop up with alarming regularity. At the start of the 20th century, there were only a few dozen independent sovereign states on the planet; today, there are nearly 200! Once a nation is established, they tend to stick around for awhile, so a nation disappearing is quite uncommon. It’s only occurred a handful of times in the last century. But when they do, they completely vanish off the face of the globe: government, flag, and all. Here then, in no particular order, are the top ten countries that had their moment in the sun but are, alas, no more.     10. East Germany, 1949-1990 East Germany , formally the German Democratic Republic or GDR ( German : Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR ), was a state in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War period. From 1949 to 1990, it administered the region of Germany that was occupied by Soviet forces at the end of World War II —the Soviet Occupation Zone of the...

Propaganda posters

I WANT YOU! Originally published as the cover for the July 6, 1916, issue of Leslie’s Weekly with the title “What Are You Doing for Preparedness?” this portrait of “Uncle Sam” went on to become–according to its creator, James Montgomery Flagg–”the most famous poster in the world.” Over four million copies were printed between 1917 and 1918, as the United States entered World War I and began sending troops and material into war zones. We Can Do It!  We Can Do It! is a WW II era American wartime propoganda poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as a tool to boost worker morale. Surprisingly, the poster did not enjoy wide popularity during World War II. It was rediscovered in the early 1980s and widely reproduced in many forms, often called “We Can Do It!” but also mistakenly called “Rosie the Riveter” after the iconic figure of a strong female war production worker. The “We Can Do It!” image was used to promote feminism and o...
13 Olympic Moments that Changed History   Paris, 1900: First female athletes   Women were never allowed to compete in the Olympics until the Paris Games in 1900, when their participation in lawn tennis and golf events secured a position for female athletes in future Games. The London 2012 Olympics signifies a new gender milestone with the debut of Women's Boxing, and it will also be the first Games in Olympic history with female athletes from every competing country.    Berlin, 1936: Owens breaks records     African-American athlete Jesse Owens broke records and won several gold medals, shattering Hitler’s aim to use the 1936 Games as an example of the “new Aryan man.” Owens later befriended his German competitor in the long jump, Luz Long, and the pair's lap of honor became a symbol of the triumph of sportsmanship over Nazi ideology.     London, 1948: Wheelchair athletes compete   English doctor Ludwig Gu...