Time For Gunners To Be Bulls In The China Shop
Feb 25th, 2010 by 'holic
“So, ‘holic, I suppose you’ll be doing lots of stuff about catching the train from platform nine and three-quarters to the big quidditch match of the weekend.”
“That’s Harry Potter, you pillock. Stoke are called the Potters because they are situated in the Potteries, where the decorative ceramics come from.”
Some of my colleagues are not the brightest! Eleven games remain, eleven cup finals if you will, and each of them in turn becomes the most important match of the season if the dream of landing the big pot is to be turned into reality.
This will not be a game for the faint-hearted. Stoke have taken over from Doulton, I mean Bolton, as the Gunners bogey side north of Watford. The Britannia Stadium has witnessed two consecutive defeats for the visiting Gunners, with Stoke Rockingham in the Premiership last season, and the FA Cup just five weeks ago.
Not surprisingly a number of Gunners appear to be as brittle as porcelain, as Arsene Wenger has already confirmed that Gallas, Diaby, and Arshavin remain out of contention, as well as the long-term crocks. Changes from the side that finally cracked Sunderland will be few, I suspect. Manuel Almunia is sure to be retained in goal as Lukasz Fabianski is still wearing a glazed expression after his performance in Portugal.
Having said that I would expect to see Sol Campbell preferred to Mikael Silvestre. Although the Frenchman did little wrong at the weekend I don’t think anyone would doubt the physical presence of Campbell may be an important factor against the likes of Fuller, and the infamous throwing from Delap.
I also think it is possible that Wenger may be considering a recall for Bacary Sagna at right-back, and while some would consider that harsh on Emmanuel Eboue after his solid display last week, it is possible that the Ivorian will be included further forward. I’m not at all convinced that both Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott will be retained for what will certainly be a physical battle in the beginning.
I have to believe that we will have enough quality, and the correct attitude, to secure that elusive but critical win at Stoke. Therefore I considered the ‘holic pound long and hard. My Wedgewood have to be on the visitors to win by the odd goal in three, currently available at 15/2 from a handful of bookies. Let’s hope I make a kiln at that price.
So there we are. Let us pray wheel not be suffering feet of clay at 5.30 on Saturday evening. More that we can earn the right to display the full range of delft touches that could set us apart from our hosts. As usual, if you are going, have a good one, my old china plates. I have a feeling we will be fired-up for this one.
91 Responses to “Time For Gunners To Be Bulls In The China Shop”
DRINK!
ARSE!
Could you furnace me with a Guinness please.
I’m up for a night on the saucer.
Are you still in Portmeirion, Pip?
I’m struggling now. Shouldn’t have gone down this crockery road.
Feck!
Go on Meissen!
What’s up Snail? In the other place you get mong, here you get Ming!
😉
Pipped at the post. Well in Plymouth.
A dynasty I can live with. But a glass of Brandy is more handy. What’s on offer?
Yeah, that’s right, we’re gonna smash the potters. C’mon Arsenal!
A nice Asbach, Snail?
You’re right GunnerX, we wheely will 😉
Hand warmed I hope. Hit me with it!
The team I think will play:
———————– Almunia———————-
Sagna——Campball——Vermealen—–Clichy
————————-Song————————-
————–Cesc—————-Nasri————–
–Eboue———————————–Rosicky–
———————–Bendtner———————
I reckon Ramsay may not start, but I dont trust Denilson at all, so Nasri should play in his favourite position, Rosicky will track back more aswell, also brings more experience.
Walcott will not have as much impact at Stoke because of the dimension of their pitch. Also Eboue provides more cover for Sagna.
The only reason why we could but wont win this is because they are knackered,you just know that Delap is gonna play one of his best long throwing games ever.
Afternoon, all, here in Cali. I hope we score early and pin ’em back early in their half. I like the idea of Eboue’s craft, quickness, and insanity over theo right now. Actually, his craziness kinda scares me…
4-0. Let’s hammer ’em!
Brilliant again, ‘holic, you dazzled me by the glaze. I like Am’s team at #14 and think Sagna and Eboue can team up nicely to knock their wheel off kilter on the right side. I think Bendtner may apply the coup de grace this time, it if goes to 3-1 but otherwise I’m backing Fabregas and Vermaelen to score and it’s your guess who scores for Stoke from a Delap throw.
Excellent write-ups and a big thank you for helping us poor wannabe anglophones understand your puns with italics 😉
I’m pretty sure Silvestre will start next to Vermaelen. Despite his etrenal boo-boy status he is well ahead of Sol in all aspects of his game at this stage of their career. Sol may have become a trunk of a man but unfortunately he also has the mobility of a tree. I might also add that Silvestre is eminently suspect at left-back but he has performed very well as CD every time he was called there.
As Danish points out (can’t really believe what I’m writing!) the potters will hopefully be somewhat slowed down by the exhaustion from their 120 minutes against Merc Citeh and I think that an ever-improving Theo could do wonder against aching legs. Sagna, Eboue & Walcott on the right could sink the Brittania imho.
14 AM. I like your side but think that Rosicky may well miss out. I would not be too surprised to see Nasri further forward and Ramsey keep his place. Theo for the last 20 mins. Surely there wont be any blind alleys left after that amount of time????
This is a massive game for us. If we can get a good 3 points here then others will sit up and take note. I fully expect certain factions to think that we will drop points on Saturday. Time for us to stand up and be counted.
Keep the faith…..
Why cannot a player stand in front of Delap when he takes a throw?
Even if it is a few metres back, but in the line of sight, it might just throw him off a little and cause a higher trajectory.
According to the FIFA Laws: All opponents must stand no less than 2 m (2 yds) from the point at which the throw-in is taken.
Surely this is enough to disrupt the flight of the ball.
Why do we allow Delap to spend one minute getting a cloth and then feverishly drying the ball before a throw? Surely this is time-wasting and not in the spirit of the game.
I would be showing the ref the watch everytime he took a throw.
Then again…if Arsenal concede from a throw-in maybe they deserve to get beaten.
after fuller scores the customer header from a delap throw in, i think we’ll make the comeback and take 3-1. cesc, nasri and eboue (omg haha) to score.
I would go with this line up for me!
alm
sagna, sol, verm clichy
eboue song
Rosicky fabregas nasri
bendtner
Hi all,
Just finished digging my car out of the snow. (We got hit hard in central New York tonight)
I think Saturday will be a big day for us. With Stoke exhausted from their game mid-week, I don’t think it would be long until their legs go during our match.
Sorry to state the obvious but I would love to see E.E. get another start, but possibly up front instead of at right-back.
Would be great to keep a clean sheet just to morale’s sake.
3-0 to the Arsenal!
Why are we expected to win 11 in a row. I sat up high in the Emirates on Saturday and thought how fragile a team we really are. One nil up and give a free kick on the edge of the box in the last minute. Stoke will be much stronger than Sunderland, one nil if we are lucky.
I think Eboue should play at right back. It seems pretty obvious to me he plays his best football there. To me he’s only ever looked out of position playing elsewhere.
Campbell would undoubtedly start, having had plenty of rest since Porto. I disagree with your assessment that Silvestre did “little wrong” against Sunderland, being beaten soundly twice for what might have been easy goals against us were they a better side. His entire second half was a horror show. Still, after a long Arsenalless week, it’ll be good to see the lads get rolling again. I like Bendtner to put another one home against Stoke. Saturday is the first day of the rest of our season. Until the next one.
This game gives me the creeps…
But I do think we can do it, we nearly did it with the reserves, we should do it with a “full” squad.
Also it would be interesting to see what is the outcome between Chelsea and City.
MATT!??!
Are you Silvestre’s brother? Did you not see his poor effort to play Kenwyne Jones offside. Now that was slow!! That is only 1 of a number of mistakes he’s made just this season.
Maybe a bit of a scapegoat too at times, but he’s certainly not ahead of Sol when you’re playing away at Stoke against a big bunch of cloggers….
Silvestre… !?!? haha…. perhaps I haven’t picked up on your jokey tone?! I’m hoping you weren’t serious.
I’d have stuck with the Harry Potter references myself. You could’ve put a nice line linking Delap with Malfoy’s Hand of glory, how Cesc and Wenger have a Harry and Dumbledore-esque relationship, and even allude to how Vernaelen in a wig looks distressingly like Hermione….
Everyone knows Bendtner is slow. But we cannot doubt the power of his kick. He should occasionally stand back a bit and take long shoots. This is very necessary because we are a short passing team and we may not be able to get in the box because of the physical nature of stoke. And of course delap throws should be blocked. Campbell required to deal with them.
Failure to beat Stoke will mean that AW’s signing of wc kids have not worked and will be unlikely to work in future.
To play against Stoke, Arsenal shd get a leaf from those teams who have won. AW being arrogant and believse in his style is unlikely to do do so.
A draw is not good enough.
Cheers for that masterly summation Soccerfan
We have to forget about the two previous games there (especially last season, we’re a lot better now than we were in October 2008). Villa hadn’t won at Old Trafford for over two decades before this year, so our record at the Britannia is small fry frankly. We’ve won at tough away grounds like Goodison Park and Craven Cottage. They’re good but not unbeatable. Now let’s get the last laugh.
First time they are going to show a Stoke v Arsenal match live in the last two years here in India. Were we really as bad last year as reports suggest? Because I’ve often (read: always) found them over the top.
Not talking about holic’s report of course. Measured as always.
Win, and its a night on the tiles. Lose, well I don’t want to contempalte a third consecutive loss at that windy gusset they call a football stadium. After their midweek jauntings against City, Stoke will be full of pomp, but alas I do believe they will not have then limberness int their, erm, limbs that we will after a nice week off.
Rambotwk – I wouldn’t say we were especially bad when we went there last year, but it was a poor performance and another defeat in the rotten two month period where we lost four times in all and tossed away that two goal lead against Spurs. So it’s rather depressing to recall.
Heh at the Harry Potter gag. And the potterypuns.
A pastis for me today please.
Thanks.
Pint of 4X for me Holic
For a X rated game in which another team will try and kick us off the field. I would go for Sol as a no nonsense English centre half who will flatten you then pick you up and wish you a good day. Bendtner has to get the nod in front of the rest as we need his physical presence up front. He really dose win his fair share of headers. Have Cesc playing off him to latch onto the flicks and we are in business. I would also go with Ramsey as he seems to relish a fight as well as Song. This will be a fight, they can not play us off the field so as we all know after this game clear another treatment table. This season we don’t seem to be as soft, we can kick back ( not as much as I would like) but we can. We need Sol & Verm to hit the strikers hard just to let them know this wont be like last season. Get Bendtner to clatter the defender and Song to kick the nearest midfielder just let them know we will not roll over again. This is were the title can be won or lost, circum to their bully boy tactics and we will loose, stand up and be counted and we WILL win ! Their heads will be high after their mid week victory so we need go out guns blazing, lets not forget how a win there will boost our own confidence to.
Arsenal 1971 is correct that the title could be won or lost for us on Saturday. Let’s stand up and be counted indeed. This is where the January signing of Sol Campbell can be well and truly evaluated.
Cheers 8 Ball ! Sols strength and experience will be invaluable. He knows what is needed to win these games and we can win it !
Brilliant piece Holic,
Just what we got use to in this bar, we should fully use their tiredness to our advantage which mean run at them from the start, I want Eboue to do exactly the same as to what he did against Sunderland, keep running at their defenders! Walcott to take over when he falls flat on his face.
I would prefer to Campbell in the middle, sorry I have to disagree here but Silvestre is no match for Campbell as far as phisical presence in concerned and this exactly what we need.
I say 1:3 to The Arsenal and I will put my money where my mouth is!
I’ll have a straight ice cold vodka please barman…
I notice Stoke are 5/1 on Betfair to win tomorrow. Given our last two performances and results there, and given that Stoke are on a good run of form and we are without some key players, I would suggest those odds are incredibly generous. We certainly dont deserve our odds-on tag (4/5).
I really hope we go up there and win, it would be a stoking result if we can do that and it would really put us on a high as we head down the final straight. Given that we have a game in hand on Man Utd and Hilario will be in nets for the Chavs for a while means we are still right in this title scrap, despite everything that’s happened so far this season.
Come on you Gunners!
Ufff…punny stuff mate…
I agree about sol- more than the experience( don’t know of he’s experienced a javelin thrower taking throw-ins) his strength and height will surely help…
Tbh I’d like to see #14s team( incl sol and no silvestre) and theo for 25odd minutes…
Nasri seems to be up for a bit of roughing the opponents up- if he and song push their opposite numbers around a bit it’d make it clear that fab isn’t free to kick and maybe help indirectly open the midfield up a bit more? Rosicky eboue and bendtner don’t look like the kinds to back down from a little tussle too if it’s proposed….. we have to definitely be physical ourselves
What happens if we have some one like bartley start, then in the 1′ he tackles delap enough to break something, which would mean a red card BUT Stoke’s only practical scoring source would be gone…
With a 3 match ban not affecting him much, he could afford to take one for the team….
Vieira would do it.
Sorry to go off the subject here but I have just watched “An Audiance with…” show on Arsenal Tv Online and Tony Adams is a True Arsenal Legend, what a top bloke, players like him are hard to come by these days.
A true Mr Arsenal…!!!
One of the question he was asked was if he would like to come back and work with Arsenal.
Of course he said Asrene Wenger has got my number so I’m waiting for that phone call.
Come on Arsene we need a new Defensive coach bring in Tony!
So much love for Sol! Quite a contrast from when he left…
Honestly, lots of respect for the guy and whoever plays I hope he will have the game of his life but football is not boxing, it’s not about being big and strong (look at Cesc and Vermy) so I’m definitively not buying the argument that he should play because he his a big man. On the other hand he runs like I walk and I think that he is past the point where experience can always compensate for his loss of pace.
As for Silvestre I will quickly make a couple of arguments:
1) We cannot hope for a better squad player:
– starts the season fully knowing he is 5th choice CD (after Gallas, Vermy, Djourou and Senderos) and 4th choice LB (after Clichy, Gibbs and Traore).
– gets only few games and never for long runs (like 2 CC games as CD, then nothing for 6 weeks, then 3 games at LB then nothing for another 5 weeks then CD again etc)
– always has something positive to say about the team, the players etc. Not a hint of bitterness or anger in any of his interviews, he never complains.
– 100% commitment on the pitch, you can fault his skills/ability but not his commitment, he is probably still in fear of Rednose hairdrying sessions.
– more experience and titles than the rest of the team combined including Sol. I’ve read that he has a big influence on the development of young players and I can easily see why.
2) He is a scapegoat and like for the other boo-boys of the moment, the Internet echo chamber is not assessing him rationally. He is totally suspect at LB but his games as CD have all been at least decent if not outright good.
@26/bc is the perfect example. I watched that game 3 times and actually the most suspect defender on the pitch was Vermy. Twice he failed to align himself and fucked up the offside trap and once he was too far up the field and was bailed out by Clichy. But for now it’s the honeymoon between bloggers and Vermy so let’s blame Silvestre instead. If we’d leaked a goal and there had been more scrutiny on who was responsible, the scapegoating would not have masked the reality.
In then end I don’t really care who plays as I don’t think that much separates Sol from Silvestre. It just saddens me to see a great professional and an excellent squad player like Silvestre being constantly vilified for no good reason. He’s not the best payer in the team, granted but hey, try finding a better squad player than him. Pascal Cygan was an Invincible, he was no Sol but he derserved it nonetheless.
Is this the Potters Bar
pint of pride please guvner
I’m looking forward to seeing Bentdner and Eduardo playing together at some point tomorrow.I reckon Eddy needs a little and large show like he has with Croatia where he is prolific before and after his lay off
As for the team I think we’ll need a little bit more still in the middle than against Sunderland so I would think that Denilson will start ahead of Ramsey and Sagna ahead of Eboue. Rosicky and Nasri will start too imho.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the line up was something like:
Sagna, Vermy, Sol/Silvestre, Clichy
Denilson, Song, Cesc
Rosicki, Bendtner, Nasri
With Walcott coming in for the last 20 minutes. As usual I hope that we will see Vela too.
Excuse me myself, I meant steel not still…
Arthur,you mentioned ATVO.Last night was the 1st time i’d watched on a Thursday.What a treat.
Firstly “WE WON 5-0 AT THE LANE” a classic song that kept us going all the rest of the O’Neill years
And then the fairs cup final which I’d never seen such an inclusive highlights
full on pleasure
Hmm – shoot me for saying this Matt, but I think Eboue is a better squad player than Silvestre, non?
@AFC1974: He’s a better player no doubt about it, but if you remember last year he made a lot of fuss to be in the starting XI and hinted that he could leave if he did not get enough time on the pitch. We’ll see what happens this summer.
Can anyone here please tell me where THE HELL FRAN MERIDA IS?…………u holic?
Very good question. He was back from injury and played in a reserve game 2 weeks ago (against Stoke which we one 1-0 away btw, good omen). Since then now news.
We suffer from player congestion among the generation under the current team and I’m afraid some will seek greener pastures sooner than later, Merida among them.
Do we have a report from a travelling gooner? We are going to need you to be in good voice tomorrow, so start resting your vocal chords now and start typing.
We could use Merida to knock a few more in off the post, the way he did earlier this season. At Stoke I have a feeling Cesc will step up with another big performance. Merida y Fabregas no se vayan porque os necesitamos ahora y en el futuro. Barman, a rioja for me please.
I simply cannot have another glass of wine now
Oh no
*pours one*
What is your tipple, KT? I’m on a particularly fruity Hardy’s Crest.
Very drinkable.
Can we bring some of our ball boys to rough up the towel boys at Stoke? If you thought the name ball boy was bad, then how degrading must ball cleaner be?
What are you doing on Saturday young Potter?
Me sir? I’m keeping Rory Delaps balls dry.
Put the poor lad out of his misery.
Pint for me please barman.
Cheers.
Re Merida. My understanding is that he has still not signed a contract and that he is free to go in June. That might explain his lack of appearance. But with Rambo on th eup are we really that worried???
Xcellent again Holic….very funny H2H
Morning All,
There is a great article in the Telegraph about our work in the community that’s well worth reading.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7326648/Arsene-Wengers-revival-at-Arsenal-will-take-time.html
Our club really is one of a kind!
Hang on, ‘holic, I have just seen a puntastic title somewhere that would probably be fine here:
‘Gunners must rule Britannia or throw the towel in’.
Irish coffee please.
puntastic blog! best i’ve read in a while.
i for one hope we can ‘step up to the plate’, cuz if we overcome them ‘my cup will run over’. if they do their usual on us though, our title challenge will surely ‘go to pot’ and the trophy ‘cupboard will sadly be bare’ for another year. it just depends on whether they can hit us on our ‘glass jaw’.
Big incentive now – Chavs getting pumped and 2 men sent off to boot.
Come on Arsenal!!!
4 – 2 to Man City!!
Game on!!
We really could not have more of an incentive to give it our all against Stoke.
Did you see Bridge give Terry the eye and then not shake his hand at the start of the game?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjwEtC-cNOI
Hilarious!
Chelski getting done 4-2 has now turned our game into a cup final. If we win and we must win the gap will be only 3 points with a easier run in ( on paper and yes the game is not played on paper ) But we have not had the frailties this season against the smaller teams, well not as bad as last season. Delaps long throw must be all we worked on this week as we know it’s coming. No matter what we have to be the first to the ball. A win today will really put the cat amongst the pigeons and send us into a great position.
Come on Arsenal you can do it !!
Whoever invented the plot this season should be rehired on the spot. We have 3 more weeks of Hilario in the Chelsea goal unless they bring in their 3rd keeper. Who knows what may happen at Stoke today but let’s keep our fingers crossed it’s all to the positive.
To add insult to injury 2 red cards so bans on the way for Chelski and long may Cech be out. long live Hilario.
Now is the time for this team to show maturity.
One a piece at half time, I’m sorry but drying the ball with those towels is an utter joke this should be banned! It takes 10 seconds to do so and unsettles the team, next time when we take a free kick can we please have the pitch patched up cos it looks fucking awful!
Bendy brilliant header, we definitely win this game. Come on lads we seem to have matched them phisicaly too.
Come On Arsenal…Come On Arsenal…
Ramsey just got his leg broken, what a fucking nightmare!
There is no justice 🙁
Wow. Wow. Wow. What a team of winners!
Great response. But, my thoughts are completely with Aaron. I’m sure we all wish him a speedy recovery, however I dread the worst.
Andy Gray is a waste of human embryo. He needs to shut the fuck up as I am going to chin that cunt.
do we all agree Campbell is better than Gallas?
The bit of experience we need in the run in
horrible shame for Ramsey who I see as Fabregas understudy
maybe this will delay cesc’s departure
great result at the end
I’m really just hoping that Ramsey will be able to walk after this one. Couldn’t care less about the title on a night like this. Got what, 10 more games to get that piece of metal. Having that said, it was a great response and I really do think we will se team spirit deluxe from the Arsenal for the rest of the season.
Ramsey. Get well. Not for our sake but for your own.
Seriously. Can’t get my head around this, “washed up”.
“maybe this will delay cesc’s departure”?!
I would fucking let Cesc leave tomorrow if it meant the difference between saving Aarons foot and it having to be amputated (which has happened before in situations such as this).
We’re all into this to win and as regular readers know, I love the Arsenal to bits, but I would never think in those terms. Never.
I really hope this isn’t career threatening like serious knee injuries.Ramsey is the player who I really rate and look as the future of the Arsenal.Cesc will move on one day and a player who chose Arsenal over Man u has obviously got great judgement.
I hope and pray his injury will not destroy a future legend
Just went on again to post a “I’m sorry”-message to you, Washed Up, even before I read your answer. I’m just seeing red at the moment and jumped the gun a bit (or, very) early.
Hope there are no hard feelings.
I just don’t know what to say, the tackle looked bad but who can say if it was filled with intent, Aaron just moved the ball on far too quickly for the Stoke donkey – however it’s the conditioning that accepts this is how you beat Arsenal that is the real problem. I just hope beyond hope that Ramsey will play again – it looks to be a terrible injury and I think he is the future of our midfield.
Spirited way to end the game lads – we should have already had it in the bag but Ramsey wasn’t awarded that pen earlier for no apparent reason. Did I imagine it or were the Stoke morons chanting ‘one Ryan Shawcross’ after the sending off.
What a shit afternoon despite the result.
Toby ,no worries.
why is it only Arsenal that get our youngsters legs broken?
It’s all to do with the “they don’t like it up’em” philosophy which has been proved wrong all season except those sad souls from Stoke.
“This will not be a game for the faint-hearted.”
Fuck
God bless you Aaron I hope this injury will not stop you from playing again.
Get well soon my son, be strong and never stop believing!!!
This one goes to Ramsey from all Goonerholics!!!
My heart, and thoughts, go out to Aaron and his family tonight. That was horrible.
I am gutted for the bloke.
I’m afraid Aaron will need as long a recovery as Eddie or Djourou. My thoughts are with to his parents too, it must be fully horrible to see one’s son in such a pain.
Good luck to you Aaron, we all wish you a speedy recovery!
If anyone has been brave enough to watch it again (which I’m not!); was it malicious or reckless out of control? I suspect the latter from watching it live, but would be good to know your thoughts.
83 washed up…plus anyone who has said the same (unfortunately I haven’t had opportunity to read the whole thread). All very true. It sucks…and amounts to a media campaign waged singularly against Arsenal Football club. It is disgusting!! It is the kind of campaign that legitimises a professional footballer deliberately kicking another professional…..in the name of football.
Hardly professional….hardly football!
This MUST be resisted.
Great result. I wish the talent that is Aaron Ramsey a very speedy and full recovery.
Keep on believing.
What a knob Tony Pulis is. Had a dismissive dig at Arsene during the post match interviews. Then he pulls this corker…
“Everyone else at this football club sends their condolences on the incident, we wish him well for a speedy recovery and as a fellow Welshman I am devastated”
Condolences? Fuck me! I thought he broke his leg badly…
He is that kind of player, Stoke is that kind of club and, unfortunately, England is that kind of place
There are lots of opinions flying around, so let’s throw some statistics in the mix. A look at the Premier League’s disciplinary table shows that Ryan Shawcross is the 4th worst disciplined player in the Premier League this season, as measured by the number of times he has been cautioned. Read differently, by most of England, he is the 4th most committed player in the league. In his commitment, he has the support of a lot of friends and team mates. 5 Stoke players participate as the 15 worst disciplined players. There are a total of 27 players in this list, as many share joint 15th, which gives Stoke an almost 25% share of the honours. This is the highest participation rate by any team, with Sunderland sharing the glory.
If you look at the team table, Arsenal is the 2nd best disciplined team behind Fulham, while Stoke is 18th. Take a bow Mr. Pulis.
To all the English xenophobes ranting about the record of Arsene’s teams, I’ll bite. Bad news, however, folks. The League disciplinary table shows that Arsenal has shown steady improvement under Wenger. When he joined as manager in 1996, Arsenal were last in the league on the disciplinary table. They improved every year subsequent to that, and broke into the top half of the table for the 2000/2001 season, when they were ranked 4th. They have been in that half of the table ever since, with the exception of the 2001/2002 season (which, admittedly was a pretty big drop).
‘holic. I enjoy your column and, like you, enjoy arseblog. And very much enjoy Arsenal. Which is why, with due apologies, I have repeated these comments on arse’s blog as well.