What a start

I went to see Plymouth Argyle take on Sheffield Wednesday today because I wanted to take my mind off of what I thought was a certain defeat to Arsenal.

So imagine the shock when I looked at my phone and saw that Villa had taken the lead. I expected Arsenal to give an immediate reply followed by a complete thrashing (as they have done in the past). But they didn't. Instead they only just managed to get the equaliser.

Now many football fans would be disappointed with a draw after being in a winning position for so long but personally I think it was (in some ways) a better result:

To start the season with an away win against (in my view) the team most likely to win the title would have made things even more impossible for Martin O'Neill. Expectation at the first home game of the season (v.s. Reading on Wednesday) would have been astronomical and could have created an air of tension if the team failed to immediately deliver.

Also I think that the results on the opening weekend are at best misleading. The (stupid) international friendlies have acted like a golf handicap - the 'biggest' teams had more players away on international duty so their opening day preparations have suffered more as a result. Although Arsene 'Wenger' Whinger preferred to focus more on the amount of football played in his after match interview, the damage would have been more to do with the lost time and loss of mental focus than fatigue. After all, you prepare for a football game by training and playing football so a 90 minute game with two days rest would have been good for match fitness.

I'm just hoping that last seasons uncertainty at Villa Park has been replaced with an air of optimism and belief.

...Suppose I should say something about the Argyle game. They certainly seem to play better going forward with Holloway than they did with Pulis (Whose style of play was quite frankly dull as f**k). However it would seem that they've swapped their attacking inability for a defensive one. Every time Sheffield Wednesday went forward (which wasn't actually all that often) they looked like they were going to score. More than one chance missed by the narrowest of margins and I can't recall an occasion when there was a strong defensive intervention in the final third.

Also we were in the terrace (which is in its final season at Argyle) and it pissed it down in the first half. We had no roof and worse still no waterproofs. Needless to say the wife and I got well and truly soaked.

I still prefer terraces to seats though...