The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Manchester vs London
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This week we feature a huge story from the Premier League – the thrashings of Spurs and Arsenal. You can listen to these and other stories on our weekly podcast and can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.
Good
I think this week’s good and bad are fairly obvious – the two Manchester clubs’ thrashings of the two North London clubs. Let’s start off with the Manchester City away victory at Tottenham. The 5-1 win did not flatter them at all, they bossed the game throughout and though the plaudits went to Bosnian striker Dzecko for his four-goal haul , Spanish star David Silva and Argentinian forward Kun Aguero absolutely tore the Spurs defence to shreds . If we were unsure of Man City’s title credentials beforehand we most certainly know all about them now. An hour later the red side of Manchester responded to the marker laid down by City by slaughtering Arsenal 8-2, with Wayne Rooney scoring a hat-trick and Ashley Young grabbing a brace . Can anyone stop the two Manchester sides?
Bad
I think it’s fair to say that it won’t be either Spurs or Arsenal as both were completely outplayed by their northern rivals. Spurs were torn apart by the quick passing and movement of City and some poor decision-making of their own throughout. Yet again goalscoring proved beyond them despite creating a hatful of scoring chances. Arsenal did manage to score twice but the fact that they allowed eight goals to go in – the first time since 1896 that they had conceded such a number – meant that they were humiliated at Old Trafford. Yes, they had a host of players out through injury and they also had a player sent off but they lacked courage, bottle, throughout. Lots of problems in the northern part of London then.
Surprising
Arsenal responded to the 8-2 stuffing in surprising style, however, promising that all fans who went to see their team humbled at Old Trafford will be given a free match ticket for another away game in the Premier League. The north London club will be writing to the 3,000 fans who went north with the offer, although they won’t pay for the travel. It will be interesting to see if the fans can choose any game they want or whether the game will be decided – perhaps a January away game at Bolton perhaps. A nice gesture from the club, but they’ll be hoping they don’t have to repeat their generosity!
Vocabulary
thrashings : Heavy defeats
flatter : To praise something too much
they bossed the game : Completely in control, were on top
the plaudits : the praise
four-goal haul : Scored 4 goals (haul=collection)
tore the Spurs defence to shreds : Was so much better than the defence
the marker laid down : The challenge
grabbing a brace : Scoring twice
were torn apart : Completely outplayed
a hatful : A large quantity of
a host of players : A large quantity of
a stuffing: a heavy defeat, to lose by a large number of goals
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