We Brits tend to love a story of the underdog winning out against the big man. This spills out into our every day life. Give us a sob story and we are out there routing for the underdog. It often fits perfectly in our view of soccer or football matches. Not of course if your team is the giant brought to its knees by the poor man's team of course.
Yesterday Bradford City added to the woes of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger when they beat his team. Here are the all important figures
Bradford City 1-1 Arsenal - Bradford win 3-2 on penalties
Scorers: Garry Thompson (BRD) 16', Thomas Vermaelen (ARS) 87'
Penalties:
Doyle scored, Cazorla missed, G. Jones scored, Chamakh missed, Darby missed, Wilshere scored, Connell scored, Oxlade-Chamberlain scored, R. Jones missed, Vermaelen missed.
Lineups:
Bradford: Duke, Darby, McHugh, McArdle, Meredith, Thompson (Ritchie Jones), Doyle, Gary Jones, Atkinson (Turgott), Hanson, Wells (Connell).
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Cazorla, Ramsey (Rosicky), Wilshere, Podolski (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Coquelin (Chamakh), Gervinho.
Opinion
Bradford are a League Two side. This means they have less expensive players than Arsenal. Additionally their ground will not be as all singing and dancing. In other words they are the proverbial poor relations. At one time Arsenal would have easily seen off a league two team side such as Bradford City but not yesterday.
Bradford were glorious in their triumph. Hold that thought both sides only managed a one, one draw during the match.
Bradford have apparently become expert at sinking those penalty shoot outs into the back of the net securing wins. Does this mean that they have also learned to play a better standard of defensive play during the match rather than just looking for goals? You never can tell.
Penalties are bad news to the England Squad, unlike Bradford City. So many times the nation's side has not done enough during the 90 minutes nor extra time to secure a win and has faced penalties. More often than not that has been the kiss of death to any win.
Many famous football players in the UK have endured the "walk of shame back" from a missed penalty. It has happened so often that England players must dread a penalty shoot out. It is common knowledge that now many hold back rather than offer to step up to the mark and take part.
What Bradford players and the coaching team must be asking themselves today is can they pass on their valuable know how to the England Sqaud. Of course it would be better if England could win a game by being the best team on the pitch during a game but the country would settle for a penalty win. Any win would be gratefully received let's face it.
So congratulations to Bradford City. Fair enough Arsenal are not playing to their max right now but to secure any win with such a list of players in the other team is baffling.
Guess you have to give credit to Yorkshire team, Bradford City. Well done.
Will the England manager select from the Bradford team in the future?
Yesterday Bradford City added to the woes of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger when they beat his team. Here are the all important figures
Bradford City 1-1 Arsenal - Bradford win 3-2 on penalties
Scorers: Garry Thompson (BRD) 16', Thomas Vermaelen (ARS) 87'
Penalties:
Doyle scored, Cazorla missed, G. Jones scored, Chamakh missed, Darby missed, Wilshere scored, Connell scored, Oxlade-Chamberlain scored, R. Jones missed, Vermaelen missed.
Lineups:
Bradford: Duke, Darby, McHugh, McArdle, Meredith, Thompson (Ritchie Jones), Doyle, Gary Jones, Atkinson (Turgott), Hanson, Wells (Connell).
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Cazorla, Ramsey (Rosicky), Wilshere, Podolski (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Coquelin (Chamakh), Gervinho.
Opinion
Bradford are a League Two side. This means they have less expensive players than Arsenal. Additionally their ground will not be as all singing and dancing. In other words they are the proverbial poor relations. At one time Arsenal would have easily seen off a league two team side such as Bradford City but not yesterday.
Bradford were glorious in their triumph. Hold that thought both sides only managed a one, one draw during the match.
Bradford have apparently become expert at sinking those penalty shoot outs into the back of the net securing wins. Does this mean that they have also learned to play a better standard of defensive play during the match rather than just looking for goals? You never can tell.
Penalties are bad news to the England Squad, unlike Bradford City. So many times the nation's side has not done enough during the 90 minutes nor extra time to secure a win and has faced penalties. More often than not that has been the kiss of death to any win.
Many famous football players in the UK have endured the "walk of shame back" from a missed penalty. It has happened so often that England players must dread a penalty shoot out. It is common knowledge that now many hold back rather than offer to step up to the mark and take part.
What Bradford players and the coaching team must be asking themselves today is can they pass on their valuable know how to the England Sqaud. Of course it would be better if England could win a game by being the best team on the pitch during a game but the country would settle for a penalty win. Any win would be gratefully received let's face it.
So congratulations to Bradford City. Fair enough Arsenal are not playing to their max right now but to secure any win with such a list of players in the other team is baffling.
Guess you have to give credit to Yorkshire team, Bradford City. Well done.
Will the England manager select from the Bradford team in the future?
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