Day: November 23, 2013

Arsenal 2 Southampton 0

- Roshan

Delayed by about 15 minutes due to players having trouble reaching the stadium on time, the match kicked off at 8:45 pm IST. The match was almost a letdown after a really exciting Merseyside derby, filled with exciting attacking football, but still what Arsenal wanted was a quiter, no fuss game with a full 3 points against a visiting Southampton side. Arsenal welcomed Theo Walcott back from injury, but Mathieu Flamini is banned after amassing five yellow cards. Per Mertesacker returns after missing the defeat at Manchester United because of a virus. With 60,007 in attendance the match started with Arsenal dominating possession but lacking real grit and bite in their attack. Southampton also seemed more intent on sitting back and let Arsenal attack while they crowd the defense of their goal. And typically in such situations it was a huge mistake that led to the opening goal. Goalie Boruc made a huge gaff, trying to play a back pass too much and trying to dribble the ball away from Oliver Giroud. The French striker punished him by tackling the ball away from the goalie and putting the ball in the net. 1-0 Arsenal!

Southampton picked up their game and started taking more possession of the ball and pushed for an equalizer and at times it looked like they would get the deserved goal. Theo Walcott made his appearance as he replaced Santiago Cazorla in the 70th minute, while Tomas Rosicky, who had the flu but did recover in time, replaced an injured Mikel Arteta in the 74th minute. Arsenal would get their deserved second goal sealing the victory when a penalty was conceded by Jose Fonte after a foul in the penalty area on Metezacker. Giroud stepped up and converted the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom right corner.

Earlier in the evening I sat back with some coffee to watch the Merseyside derby and what a match it was. The first 9 minutes were filled with explosive attacking football and two goals were scored as Liverpool, who were the visitors, and Everton found themselves at 1-1. Liverpool would go into the halftime up 2 goals to 1 after a superb Suarez freekick goal but Everton took the lead with two goals by Lukaku. However 8 minutes before the end of the 90, Liverpool scored an equalizer and that’s how the game ended – 3-3 and a delight to watch!

A Few Wonderful Quotes

- Roshan

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshiped anything but himself. – Richard Francis Burton

Deaths in the Bible. God – 2,270,365 not including the victims of Noah’s flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers were given. Satan – 10

Jesus’ last words on the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” hardly seem like the words of a man who planned it that way. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure there is something wrong here. – Donald Morgan

George Bush says he speaks to god every day, and Christians love him for it. If George Bush said he spoke to god through his hair dryer, they would think he was mad. I fail to see how the addition of a hair dryer makes it any more absurd. – Sam Harris

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. – George Bernard Shaw

We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes – Gene Roddenberry

Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned.

Man created God in his image : intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent.

Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people. -Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. – Albert Einstein