A Very Small Peer At Wigan
Dec 28th, 2010 by 'holic
Apologies to those who came to seek out my take on the Chelsea game earlier today, and found yourselves greeted by a message that my webhosts had suspended my account. You will see one or two widgets are missing, and sadly the Spurs count-up clock has had to be mothballed (sorry Arthur), but it will be back later in the season! Hopefully that will keep the site open for now.
Other things have also conspired today to prevent me from previewing the Wigan game fully, which is a little ironic as I may not be able to view it fully either. I will be relying on a mobile broadband dongle and the netbook for a stream. The dongle is not a lover of streaming video, I have found previously. I don’t suppose anybody can confirm what sort of coverage TMobile have in Barnstaple these days?
Anyway, even if I can’t go through the in and outs of the contest I know you will want to discount the ‘holic pound from your selections, so here it is. 2-0 to the visitors is offered at around sixes, which may not look great value, but then Arsenal are hot favourites with every firm to reverse last season’s disastrous defeat on the same ground.
If you are going, drive carefully, and cheer yourselves hoarse, as usual. Hosting company permitting, I will be back with possibly an equally brief review of the game, assuming there is a light in my hotel room, after the game.
Cheers ‘holics.
234 Responses to “A Very Small Peer At Wigan”
Bring it on. Driving up tomorrow. Leaving at about 11 with my 2 kids. Their first away match. Proper daddy trip out. They are both very excited. Me? I cant wait.
1st? surely not
damn
Enjoy Steve, hoping for it to be shown live here in Switzerland as I made it out here this morning with a monster Hangover from las nights game!
Up the Arse!
For those lucky enough to be going sing loud sing proud; we are the mighty arsenal. COYRRG
Holic, my commiserations on your technology issues.
At first I thought it was ME that was suspended for cursing at Richard Keys last night when I tried to log on this morning.
So reassured when you reappeared tonight that I thought I would swear at him again in the last round of drinks. đ
I expect a few changes tomorrow night in addition to Cesc being suspended but surely we should have too much for that bunch tomorrow night? We have got to start putting a run together – this set of fixtures over the next week could really make our season.
COYRR.
Cheers not so.
I read that cesc was banned for 5 yellows. I did not realise he had played 5 games so far this season?
i hope our boys won’t get carried away after beating chelsea, they need to understand that every team has to be approached seriously and that you need to work hard in every game, i’ve seen so many half arsed performances by our team it makes me wonder if they ever going to learn…
3-2 to the Latics !
Have a safe trip.
Couldn’t get in with this earlier today, Holic. Sorry to hear that your nobs and things are playing up. Bit redundant in this fast moving week, but here we are anyway.
Kremlin Wall Breached Irreparably as Arsenal Go Mental
With its first (ever) correct prediction under its belt, the BtM crystal ball was in rare form this morning, waking up the house with a crystalline rendition of Move on Up. On a perfect night for football, Arsenalâs Young Guns out-fired and out-fought Chelskiâs very tired old men, making a mockery of the old âmen against boysâ propaganda weâve been fed by the politburo at the Kremlin for the last several grand planning sessions, and proving definitively that this was No Contest for Old Men.
This was definitely more âOh dear meâ than K G B from the soviets, as Arsenal finished at 3-1 on an evening where a much higher home winning score might have been the outcome, had all of the beautifully crafted openings carved out by an inspired mid-field been slotted home. As it was, the boys in blue were made to look as dangerous as PC Plod with burst suspenders and his trousers at his ankles; as much title contenders as Jack Wilshere is a contender for the World Heavyweight Title.
Arsene surprised by starting Theo on the right and Jack in the middle. Moves, which had they been made by The Famous Red Grouse, old purple nose up at Old Tarpot, would have been hailed as strategic master-stokes by the pea-brained pundits over-paid to ponder and push pens pathetically over pages of pish. Theo nullified any attacking threat that the most booed boy in blue might have offered, while still finding time to make one, score one and entertain the night away. Wishere had one of his best league games, and with the mighty Alex Song alongside, made Chelskiâs famed diamond midfield look more like base graphite.
The first rendition of âWeâve only got one Songâ wasnât heard until Alex slipped a beauty into Cechâs bottom left just before half time. That was surprising, as he had a sterling ninety minutes overall. His confidence on the ball is breath-taking on occasions, and he is imperious when running forward with the ball at speed. I knew, as soon as Songâs shot hit the net, that it was our night.
The Cesc and Theo show wrapped up the points early in the second half in a beautiful âyou scratch my back and Iâll scratch yoursâ move. Theo fed Cesc for the second before our captain slipped a perfect pass to Theo who slammed a beauty past Cech for the third. On moments like this, Walcott looks like a world-beater. He just needs to UP these moments.
In a night where we had no failures on the field, it would be remiss of me not to mention that from Block 91, Djourou and Kos looked superb (their goal excepted). Nasri starred on the left and boy, was it good to see remarkable Robin back up front. He was rusty, but some of his true class flickered sufficiently to have me wanting much, much more.
The handbrake was left home in the garage and it doesnât need a psychiatrist to let us know that a significant piece of mental baggage was thrown out of the old kit bag.
The Ballon de Lead for the evening goes to the two heavies who wouldnât let me in to Phibbers at 5.30 because I didnât have my membership card with me. âBut Iâve flown from Washington!â âDoesnât matter â thatâs the way we do things here mateâ. Strangely, the Tolly bar staff had no such sensitivities and were very happy to take my money till kick off and after. Makes you wonder. Phibbers never again.
The BtM star of food quality goes (one more time) to the Chip In Fish Bar for excellence in haddock and chips wrapped in yesterdayâs newspaper. Magic! (But watch out fellas, advertising your haddock supper at $4.20 then selling it at $5.60 ainât legal â not even in Holloway Road).
A beautiful night, on a beautiful night of football, on an even more beautiful night FOR football. Another one of these glass half full with half full again to overflowing please, barman.
Chelsea was a nice win but now it’s been and gone, full focus on Wigan now. No disrespect to Wigan but this is a game that we should win if only we play to our potential – something we have of course not done consistently this season so who knows which Arsenal is going to show up? Well, guess tomorrow will tell.
Come on Arsenal!
Really enjoyable last night and delighted with the attitude, workrate and quality the boys showed. JD was great in defence and will hopefully be first choice now.
The capitulation at the rugby ground last season was absolutely disgraceful. I hope they remember that tomorrow night and repay the travelling supporters for a shocking collapse.
Now let’s get on that winning run like the 97-98 season.
CoYRRR’s
Evening all. Was out with family last night so missed the match. Have been away for a week, so only have one observation to make (apologies if it has been made already)…. we beat the champions for the first time in years with, by all accounts, a great display…. and you get 57 drinks to your post. We lose and it’s about 200 odd.
It would give greater weight to the BnB brigade’s thoughts if they felt able to contribute whatever the result, rather than only when they spy the opportunity to revel in their doom and gloom.
PS – told you it’s be a good idea to play Theo in the big matches. My application for Pat Rice’s job is in the post….
Cheers, ‘holic. I was suprised to see the pub closed by the authorities earlier.
Dismayed your clock got stolen too :'(
I’ll have a Bushmills please, and good luck with the drive and hotel, etc.
Red Mancs just drew, let’s hope we can pile the pressure on.
Cheers.
Man Utd threw away the lead, that makes a lovely 24 hours
Make that a double as my slow mind has only now read the title of this old-fashioned pun.
A chance to close the gap tomorrow, and erase the memories of that horrible game at Wigan last season. Let’s do it and make sure last night’s result doesn’t go to waste.
Six nil at Wigan and we go top on GD! Steve T and the kids, be VERY vocal!
Fun moment at the Tollie after the match.
Fat Andy on the screen (unheard of course). Playing Chelski’s token goal in academic time over and over again. Then he starts drawing arrows into the centre of our box.
We assume he’s giving a dissertation on how Arsenal should have defended. We take exception!
“We lost one nil did we??”
” The keeper wasn’t there because he was dodging these f*cking arrows!”
“No mate, I want the keeper over here”
and best
“Who the f*ck cares?”
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The webhosts must be spuds and must be defeated!
Alright, not getting carried away, but the arrogant IOU fans who were in my face saying we are 2 points clear with a game in hand, Mmm lets make the 2 points clear history tomorrow and keep a clean sheet tomorrow, i would be pleased with a 2-0, lets bolster our GD please, and put a decent run of results, we will come away from Birmingham with all 3 points, rest assured!
I have a little question from all you holics?
How many times have we lost with Fabregas on the pitch ? Not coming on as a Sub later, but actually starting!
if anyone could help me with that ..
and i guess we might see the second Arsenal starting Xi tomorrow .. Im going with Arshavin, Rosicky, Squillacci, Eboue, Chamakh, Nicky B all starting tomorrow probably!
Schezzer
Eboue Squill Kozzer Clichy
Rosicky Denilson Diaby
Arshavin
Bendtner Chamakh
Nasri, RVP, Theo on the bench!
Still on a high after yesterday’s result, but I definitely agree with those urging that we maintain some perspective. Downing the Blues was great, but we always knew it wasn’t to be the end but simply a catalyst. We’ve done the ‘beat the rival’ part, now it’s time to do the ‘kicking on’ part.
It’s time to be ruthless. No mercy, no sympathy. From now on, it’s time to – as the man once said – “Just win, baby.”
And I had forgotten to read btm’s review!!!
Another drink please!
cesc has played 15 games this season.
we beat the champions[man utd] 2-1 in 08/09 and won 2-1 at stamford bridge same season
of the 250 games that cesc has started for us we have lost 44
@6: zico
Me too. I thot i had done something crass and the guv’nor had decided to suspend me. Breathed a deep sigh relief when i was finally able to log-on. What would i do without my regular drink from the ‘holic well of gooner knowledge. So sorry about your technical issues. Hope you get them fixed soon.
Still reliving last nights classic victory in my head. Can’t help but shake my clenched fists in the air each time i think ”damn we killed chelski”.
Briefly back to last night vs Chavs if I may; I’ve also gone west today, just down the road in Witheridge (who?), nr Tiverton ‘Holic.
Fantastic fun in the crowd last night – singing, booing (A Sole), jumping up and down going mental, all night – just like the old days!
Brilliant night, brilliant performance full of skill and fight in almost equal measure.
Sky, of course, claimed it was all because the Chavs couldn’t be bothered to play. More than one “news” service has claimed Djourou and Koscielny are our weak links. Well, while they weren’t perfect, I thought they both had tremendous games. Djourou bullied Dogsbreath from the start and they both played with superbly controlled aggression, as did the whole team.
Indeed, it was the manner of the victory, probably even more than the score, that has to give the team the belief to go on from here and really boss big games.
And while we’re at it, let’s give proper credit to Arsene Wenger for his choice, patience and persistence with the home-grown and nurtured players in last night’s team.
Compare and contrast with the subs that the Chavs brought on.
Pride and optimism here. Who’s next (rubbing hands!).
Come on Arsenal, win it for Steve and the kids!
mp hooker, that is damned impressive evidence that Cesc is God. Those attempting to prove otherwise, the gaunntlet has been laid!
Holic, have you tried viewing via athde.net? I have been able to watch all the matches that have not been available on the TV here in the US. It is free.
Don’t say I didn’t say it, we ARE gonna win the EPL no matter what happens, we are just by far the best team in the EPL period.
And even though this is an Arsenal blog, as a fellow Israeli, I feel this urge to express my deepest condolences to Tamir Cohen and all his family on the death of one the true greats of Israeli football and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in particular – Avi Cohen.
Avi Cohen 1954-2010 – R.I.P
Hello Holics,
For a while I thought I was banned from accessing this site from work yesterday…God that would have been awful…No access to this nice bar from here?!
Webhosters are spuds đ I am sure it’s because of the clock Holic
Excellent posts all round.
Anyway, Same application and we will get the win.
Time for RVP to score some goals!
Rum and coke, please
Damn that sounds great MP Hooker and thanks alot for the stat, but i think his significance has hugley grown in the last two seasons, we hardly loose when he starts, he is such a huge motivational factor, and i know for a fact that Samir Nasri plays best when Fabregas is NOT on the pitch, but thats just one player, rest of the 10 players grow when Fabregas is on pitch with them and they always play with the belief that just now Fab is either gonna score or provide a wonder-assist, last night he did all that!
Its seriously foolish of us to under-estimate his ability and importance for the team, He has been made the captain for a reason, and its about time we started seeing what Wenger sees in all our players!
Lets support the team, they need us more than ever before now!
COYG!
Have to admit to being quite a bit nervous about tonight. We have to be prepared for a very poor pitch full of holes and whatnot, but if we apply the same pressure to Wigan as we did to Chelsea then we should produce enough scoring chances to win it. Apart from Cesc I’d start with the same eleven and put Rosicky on for Cesc and tell them to just do to Wigan what they did to Chelsea. We need to build some momentum right now, rotation can be done later.
Pint of Boddingtons, please!
The Guvnor appears to be under pressure on his preview, barmates, so with apologies due to Warner Brothers and Calamity Jane, here’s my substitute for the real thing.
No Dead Wood on Stage at the DW Please, Coach.
Arsenal ride the Dead Wood Stage up to the DW Stadium tonight with the curtains flappinâ and Arsene slappinâ the reins. After last nightâs draw in Biringham thereâs a beautiful sky, itâs a wonderful Doris Day, and the Gunners are ready to Whip Crack-Away, Whip Crack-Away, Whip Crack-Away.
But as every Gooner knows, Wigan is not an easy place for a mid-week visit and when the Warriors come out of the hills, the Injun arrows are thicker than porcupine quills. Dangerous land and no time to delay as Arsenal âwhip crack awayâ for the second time in only 48 hours in the next crunch game on their way to this yearâs title.
The Lactics are labouring and languishing in La-La Land with a long limp to the lower leagues likely without labyrinthian labour or lady luckâs intervention. They should be there for the taking tonight but hey, thatâs exactly what I thought when WBA, Newcastle and the Spuds came a-visitinâ The Emirates.
Complacency and any thoughts that “we just need to turn up” would be Arsenalâs worst enemy. This is no time to Keel over, Howard. The entire team needs to be just as busy as a fizzy sasparilla to avoid any kind of Calamity Jane moment that leaves them looking like cattle in the shade of a cottonwood tree.
The team selection tonight is a puzzler for me. Weâve come unstuck in the Champions League when Arsene has sent a holding eleven out to rest the preferred starters. Heâll be tempted to rest tired muscles but, at the same time, AW needs to guarantee three points to maintain Mondayâs massive mental momentum. So Iâm expecting a few changes but none of high risk.
Predict Poler Fab preferred to Polestar Woj.
Iâd use Eboue, JD 20, Kos and Clichy in front of him, across the back. Although Squillâs reintroduction would give Kos a rest (Djourou was immense on Monday and is a must play), Johan and Kos need some playing time together to iron out some of their partnership kinks.
Alex Song needs to start I think and Iâd put Wilshere and Denilson alongside him, looking for the opportunity to introduce Diaby once control is established. Rosicky, Van Persie and Arshavin cominâ over the crest like a homing pigeon thatâs a-hankering after its nest, should be too much for a leaky lactics defense, with a sixty minute intro of Bendy for Robin planned to rest the Dutch fetlocks.
I think we can bring it home tonight by the light of the silvery moon with Steve T and the kids hearts a-thumpin like a mandolin a-plunkin a tune.
The swirling mists inside the BtM crystal ball started flashing AWAY WIN on Monday night around 9.30 and there are four pies on the red side of the globe and none left over for the pie eaters themselves. So four-nil it is, âHolics. Not quite good enough to elevate us to the penthouse â but, personally, Iâll take that faster than Doris can crack her whip and whp crack-away!
Make mine a sarsaparilly, barman. Pour one for Wild Bill and Calamity too and âSet âem up Joe, set âem up Joe, set âem up Joeâ
Hi Holic and Holics,
My Chavy mates are not in work today. But no matter what day they return back to their Chavy little seats, the result from Monday cannot be reversed.
I will just continue where I left off with them. They are and will always be a small club compared to us.
Back to Wigan tonight. Holic I hope your pound is spot on again. I’m also going for at least two goals and Nasri to score.
Now tonight I’m expecting Wenger to start with the same squad as v the Chavy’s as he would normally do. But with the Captain out tonight, my gut instinct is that with Nasri having to drop a little deeper, we may see the return of Rosicky or Andrey the Giant.
The question is, does Wenger make wholesale changes ie: Eboue for Sagna, Rosicky for Walcott or Chamakh for RVP, so to keep everyone fresh for Sat? Or does he play the reliablesâ from Mon and just tweak it? My guess is knowing AW it will be the later.
I am expecting whoever comes in tonight, to keep the consistency going. We are for the first time in many months, almost full strength and now have that added confidence required form our victory against the champions.
When you’re challenging for the title every fixture is potentially tricky. Especially playing twice within 48 hours.
A demolition of Wigan tonight is required. Especially when you take last seasons corresponding fixture in to account.
In addition if you look at the run we put together this time last season, not only were we victorious in the league barring Manure and Chavs up until the last few games when we were without most of our starting 22, but now with a more maturer squad, surely the time to go on a decent run starts now
Drinks all round Holic, I feel big today!
BtM is on a roll.
I’ll have a bourbon please.
Barman, I’ll have some of what BtM is drinking even if it is a sarsparilly just to back him in the four-nil to maintain Monday’s magnificent momentum. Come on you RRRs!!!
I’d be surprised if Barnstable has actually gone digital.
I wanted to pop in yesterday for a swift pick me up, after I took the celebrations of our victory over Chelsea a little too far (it was worth it though đ ) but, shock, horror, the door was locked. Thankfully you’re back, but some git has half inched the clock. Hope it returns soon, it belongs here like the old clock end dial now belongs in the Emirates.
Steve T, hope you and the kids have a cracking time mate.
Catelan, that’s a good point mate, some people just get high on being down I suppose, it’s easy to bitch. Come on lads lets live it up a bit.
BtM, you sir are a legend.
Here’s to another sterling performance from the lads, if we show the same application as we did on Monday, then we’ll be sitting pretty on (joint) top of the table later tonight.
Drinks all round please guv and Irish up BtM’s saspirilla.
Cheers.
Cheers, ‘holic.
Ran into your mate Ian at the Tolly on Monday night. Very dapper he was in his trendy headgear.
Up the Arsenal!
I enjoyed the article’s title… hopefully the game will follow suit.
Wigan pub. Cab booked for 6.30. 2 young people are about to grow up. Thanks for the kind words people. Come on you reds.
Evening all. Quick note to let you know I may miss the game. It is likely to be ‘holicdad’s last. Normal service will be resumed ASAP.
Sincerely hope it isn’t ‘Holic. All the best.
Best wishes in this difficult time, sir.
‘Holic, all the best to you and your family.
Holic,
football sometimes must take a back seat.
Best wishes to you and your family.
8 Changes from Monday…
Team in full: Fabianski, Eboue, Squillaci, Koscielny, Sagna, Diaby, Rosicky, Denilson, Bendtner, Chamakh, Arshavin.
Subs: Szczesny, Nasri, Vela, Walcott, Wilshere, Djourou, Clichy.
I echo the thoughts of all here ‘holic, I wish you and your family well
All the best to your family Holic and your father too!
We are one down! Damn it!
that looked like a dive…fucking comentators
25 minutes in, and our performance is nothing short awful. I cannot think of one single positive. It’s as bad as West Brom.
WAKE UP FFS.
I agree no fucking desire here we come again!
Fantastic goal!
Don’t rest on your laurels though.
Fucking work for it.
Much BETTER Holics!!!
Come on you Reds!!!!
That’s much MUCH better.
đ
Don’t go back to sleep now. Get stuck in.
1-nil down, 2-1 up for the Arsenal..
Hope to see more in the 2nd half…
I love Diaby, but as of now, no one in this world should start ahead of Wilshere. The reason being, Jack is the only player that drives forward with a direct manner as opposed to other players (Diaby, Rosicky, Denilson etc.) who don’t mind playing the “standing tempo” game we tend to play.
You can’t breach a defense when you’re standing.
Arshavin is so frustrating, he’s so skillful and so talented that I just wish he would try harder, if this is what we get out of him (Goal+Assist in 4 minutes when he was woeful up to that point) on 40% effort, imagine what a 100% effort Arshavin can do.
Poor first half. Wigan are very poor. We have just not played well. Too many changes.
Holic. Just read your last. Thinking of you my friend. Hope all is a tad more positive.
Agree re: Diaby and re: Arshavin.
Before Wilshere’s introduction, our midfield has looked …what’s the word i’m looking for ? clueless? hopeless? desireless? fucking awful? I don’t know… I actually think that Wilshere was our first player to go for a 50-50.
I’m hoping for a much more spirited performance.
was worried by starting line up – no inventive skill from Denilson/Diaby and both rusty and lacking in DM role which for me was Diaby’s fault – led to penalty (easy fall there)
What is Rosicky’s role – not clear – mind you I cant understand referee’s role in the tackles from behind
Happy when Jack came on and became more attacking, suddenly we were driving forward across the line
1st goal NB was hesitating to shoot but finally hit it, and AA put away hard chance having earlier missed 2 easy ones
2nd goal good feet by both AA ad NB
Now put them away you yellows
Now let’s finish off the game from the start of the second half, and stay focused.
Come on Arsenal heads up everyone!
Sad to hear abt ‘holicdad, ‘holic.
My thoughts are with you and your father, Dave. Don’t worry about the normal service, we’ll manage by ourselves.
All the best to you and your family ‘holic.
Dirty fucking CUNT! Off you go!
FUCKING CUNT!
get the fuck out! I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
I can’t believe it I can’t fucking believe it…
Why wasn’t Arsene making changes?
Set-piece yadda yadda
How many handballs there? and no one reacts!
We should have had a penatly!
Fuck!
Don’t even get me started here we were dire in the first 30 minutes and infact we did fuck all in the second I believe, they loose a man on the field we loose a fucking goal.
Same old same old!
And I have had enough od Squilacci….
I liked my team pick better.
BTM
I’m sorry but Arsene should take a blame for this one! Why the fuck play Squillaci for Johan?
I just dont get it sometimes
Wenger played roulette and lost. (OK you could argue a point is not a loss but you know what I mean).
Far too many changes and far too late with his substitutions.
Having got in front, why can we not play with the same intensity that we did when we were behind and with the urgency only shown in the last 5 or 6 minutes.
Another feckin goal from a set piece – when will we sort it out – it’s getting embarassing.
The only positive we can take from that performance is that we got a point – we could just have easily dropped all three.
Wigan were shit we made em look good! Games like these will remind us evertime why we shouldn’t expect solid performance each time.
I’m pissed off that’s two points down the drain again…
And why ohh why doesn’t Arsene replace tired legs?
ATG,
Djourou is making a come back from last season’s injury.. He is been eased in just like TR7 was doing last season..
What if we played Djourou today and got injured for the season? You would be blaming Wenger for it just like we did with Rosicky before his long layoff..
Im sorry but this really is wengers fucking fault! 8 changes? ok but at least replace the tired fucking legs. instead he sat down with his eyes closed and thought the cat would go away.
ps: At least we will win against city thats how it works. we will than be top of the world and than come crashing down.
Full Time 2-2
Arsenal looked like they were just putting in a shift at the office. Not much passion.
Wilshere’s great, but he’s a really young player – he shouldn’t be the one that everyone else is relying on – not that they seem overly bothered one way or the other.
It’s not life or death for me either, but it’s curious that they don’t show more urgency – including Arsene who should have made changes to get a 3rd goal BEFORE Wigan equalized.
I’m too dispassionate at this point to be devastated, but Arsenal underachieved so much in the performance today that it was still a bit sickening.
@ATG (80) – I forgot to mention that – Wigan were woeful.
I’m sorry but Rosicky is no captain material.
that league is there for the taking but the 2 people that are going to cost us are WENGER & FLAPPY. they were shit tonight but 2-1 up and we were getting out of jail,but WENGER’S resting of players cost us AGAIN,fuck me PLAY YOUR BEST TEAM YOU MUG.and to make it worse WENGER THE MUG will come up with stupid excuses to the press as usual,he wont take the blame for HIS STUPIDITY.fuck me that was shambolic and he only has HIMSELF to blame,WENGER YOUR TIME IS UP,GET THE FUCK OUT.
‘holic
very sad to read about your Father, wishing you strength during this….
433 @ 83
Nani was quoted recently as saying “Arsenal won’t win the league because they drop too many points against teams that you expect them to beat”. Who can argue with that, given how we have dropped more points to a rugged but lets face it, very limited, team tonight.
Every time we are offered an opening by Man Utd, we can’t reach out and take it. So bloody frustrating.
433 spot on about Wilshere look at him he looked like he cared Rosicky looked like he didn’t wanna know by the end!
Thrown away points like these will come back and haunt us, lads where on a high and Arsene just kicked it out of them again tonight with this awful team selection.
If it ain’t broken don’t fix it, guys not sure if you have noticed but whenever we have Kosc and Squilacci on the pitch we concede cheap goals or penatlies!
wenger is simply awful. what game was he watching? our midfield was slowly falling apart, couldn’t hold onto the ball, and he refused to make any changes until wigan equalized? can we really afford to give away 2 points with spurs (in fifth) only 3 behind? and wigan just added 25% to their home goal tally in a match against a team (allegedly) in contention for the title. what a farce? i’ve been an avid supporter of the manager and his methods, but there needs to be a clear out and a new defensive coach brought in.
shit ref.
C’mon Arsenal.
GAZ,
get over yourself.
Wenger out? Didn’t see you around here much after Monday night.
Not a happy bunny what was Wenger thinking, But tonight is not the night for me to go off on one there’s more important things in life and on that note Holic I wish you and the older Holic all the best and hope he surprises you by pulling through – all the best mate.
Now, I’m a fully paid up member of the AKB Club, but what the fuck was he playing at tonight? I could not believe my eyes when I saw the line-up. How the hell can he put out a team with hardly anybody from Monday in it? A midfield of Diaby, Denilson and Rosicky – how was that ever going to work? Niether Diaby nor Denilson is a defensive midfielder (in fact, I don’t know quite what Denilson is supposed to be) so we were always going to be vulnerable in the center and we were extremely lucky not to concede a second penalty just minutes after the first. If Song wasn’t injured, I can not for the life of me understand why he wasn’t even on the bench.
And why wasn’t Walcott on until after the equalizer? We had tons of opportunites to make the long pass in the final half hour but no-one who ran into space. And how hard can it be to place, for example, Chamakh in the six-yard box with no marking assignment on corners, just guard the zone! A player playing zonal there would have headed away that ball with ease.
But what annoys me the most is that putting out such a weakened team was an insult to Wigan and I don’t like that one bit. They have never behaved themselves badly towards us in any way and does not deserve to be looked down upon. Truth be told, this annoys me much more than the lost points. We are the Arsenal, this is not what we should be doing. I can handle dropping points or losing games or whatever, but for fucks sake at least let’s do it in style. This was arrogance for no reason at all, cut that out please Mr Wenger. Wolves were fined for doing something similar, and so should we be. This was a disgrace, and it would have been even if we had won.
Same old same old same old same old same old same old same old same old same old same old same old same old same old etc etc etc.
@ zico,i was on here praising the team on Monday,get the facts right me aul flower,im entitled to my opinion as YOU are,no one can defend Wengers team selection tonight,it was ridiculous in the extreme.The 1 player that should be rested forever is Flappy but oh no,he was left in the team.Again he was in no mans land from the corner,the guy is a total disaster.
‘holic,
take care of your father. All the best.
‘Holic 46
Sorry to read your note sir. Best wishes and I will be thinking about you.
Wenger is too much up his own arse to see his faults,this league is piss poor this season and is there for the taking,for fuck sake why cant he see this?????????
As I said earlier, football sometimes has to take a back seat. Plenty of other opportunities to vent our collective spleen, I think.
All the best, @Holic.
@ zico 100 True
All best to holic and dad.
All the best to Holicdad! Come on you almighty Gooner!
Wenger shows NO RESPECT for the fans of ARSENAL by his tinkering. It’s OUR CLUB NOT YOUR EGO,now GO.PLEASE GO.
Gaz, please introduce yourself next time you come over. I’m currently saying goodbye to someone worth a hundred of you, you pathetic cunt. Now fuck off.
Gaz,
you know very well posts like yours would be deleted by ‘holic.
Shame on you.
I simply think Arsene’s nasty habit of being too reluctant to make changes that so obviously need to be made cost us the game tonight. The starting line-up was too weak but we got away with it till the 80th or so minute when subs were so obviously needed to be made but no,AW waited his hands in pocket watching while Wigan gained the upper hand despite being a man down. He should hv introduced Theo and Nasri long before he did. He simply waited tooo long. Disappointing really, i wouldn’t feel any worse than i do now if we had lost.
@ Lars,
I totally agree! That’s what’s disappointing the most!
Wigan play some good football and Martinez is a very good young manager and gentleman! Arsene should have shown mutual respect to them, especially at the DW, before and during the game with his line-up and substitutions. It’s such a shame that he didn’t and made us look highly arrogant!
2 centre backs not even close to being good enough. Not even something that can be debated anymore.
Dave, my thoughts are with you and you family. God bless.
Well my thoughts are with you Steve, and the little’uns. First away game. Keep the kids in the Gooner faith. What a top Dad you are…
Holic –
My heart goes out to you right now!
@steve T. I don’t think Kos was bad at all. Was mostly rock solid and in the right place at the right time but le Squill was something else entirely. Was the weakest link in the defence closely followed by Eboue. Squillaci doesn’t radiate the composure and assurance expected of someone with his level of experience. I think i know now that Arsene knows now that JD has to keep his place.
Holic!
You and Holic Dad are Legends Sir!
What penalty? What happened to the penalty?
Mark Clattenberg had a decent game on Monday which helped us out, but what happened with these penalties that should and shouldn’t have been tonight?
Of Course Hansen couldn’t work out whether Nzogbia fell in or outside of the box!
I know these are heated reactions but it’s sad to see fans systematically turning against the team first whatever the circumstances and I’m not talking about Gaz who’s again showed he’s beyond hope.
Had the referee been just average instead of abysmally wrong on all penalty decisions we’d won the game as we deserved to.
We won the game and we got robbed. Twice. Plain and simple.
@110 holic. Stands and raises a glass to all dads everywhere, especially those in the Arsenal mould.
Keep the faith.
Matt. We were poor. Trust me. What is really poor is that yet again we have been undone by the same mistakes we have been making for years. You have a very valid point re decisions but i do not remember their keeper making too many saves.
We created very little and looked poor at the back. Now their’s a novelty.
I’m just as pissed as anyone else here at the performance, but I think Arsene fielded that starting XI in order to rotate and keep players fit for an extraordinarily congested period in our season and avoiding the ridiculous amount of injuries we have every season. I don’t think then that he did it out of lack of respect for Wigan.
Still, I think that we should have been able to play way better even with those players. The problem here was mental: our performance during those first 30 minutes were dreadful, absolutely awful . This where you need a player to step up and take charge of proceedings, and if Rosicky can’t cut it then who to turn to? Bendtner?Denilson? EbouĂŠ? ..
This Starting XI isn’t championship material, but even they could have beaten Wigan, but they just didn’t deserve it.
I think that RVP/Nasri could have shown some leadership, if not by screaming at Denilson (or anyone else for that matter) for being so rubbish then at least by leading by example.
Well, I thought that Sagna played really well at least, same for Jack. But that’s about it, really.
Arsene has got to use the hairdryer treatment on this bunch from time to time..
@’Holic
I know it won’t help in any way, but please KNOW that my thoughts are with you and your family during this difficult difficult moment.
@ ‘holic.So sorry about your dad,Sir. May God grant you,your dad and all his loved ones the strenght to be strong in this hour of need. My thots and heart are with you Sir. Best wishes.
…by the way Holics, I ran in to Leanne Sandserson (Former Arsenal Ladies striker) in the barbers this evening.
Yeah I know she’s a woman but she was a hell of a striker (50 goals in 2008/9 season, more than Ronaldo (42 goals that season)also going on to win the treble that season. She also helped Arsenal Ladies to win the quadruple during the 2006/7 season.
I had to salute her!
@Steve: We were poor but not that poor since we should have won 3-1 and everyone (except for Gaz) would have been praising Arsene’s wisdom to rest the most important players.
I’m really sorry for your kids, it’s really sad they got deprived of what should have been a perfect Xmas gift.
@RRF/118: They totally deserved to win considering they actually won the game but were robbed by two blatant refereeing errors.
Sorry to here about your father holic.
Matt. My kids have had a great time apart from the result. But we were poor. We had cracking seats and trust me, we were not good. We created very little despite how motd have tried to show it. No width yet again and we rarely troubled a poor wigan side. Yet again they wanted it more. And we were not good enough to stand up and fight for it. We have no excuse for tonight. I know there were many changes but that should not have had a massive affect. It was very lack lustre. How many more set pieces are we going to fail to defend properly?
Still, sat in my hotel room, kids are asleep and i have my new weller dvd and 4 cans of pedigree to keep me amused.
Keep the faith.
Good for your kids, at least it looked like we’d won it for most of the game so I suppose the positive experience was still there.
We have no excuse for tonight because we don’t need any. We did exactly what was needed to win the game 3-1 but we got robbed.
Enjoy the pedigree and good luck for the trip back home. Hopefully we’ll celebrate together next year đ
Matt. Poor decisions happen. Sometimes they go in your favour, sometimes they dont. But that does not excuse tonight. We are not ruthless enough when it comes to games like this. I have no idea what the stats were after the game. Would love to know how many shots on target and how much possession we had?
Is the cricket on tv tonight? Can’t seem to find it on any channel?
Sorry, my mistake. We kicked 9 bells of shit out of them in just over 3 days. Apologies for my error.
its funny that you can share a tear on a web blog about a football club. I dont know you Gunnerholic, but I love your blog and you make me smile so frequently.
I know what loosing someone important means, so my thoughts and my hearth are with you.
greetings from a depressing Vienna
Sorry to hear about you Dad ‘Holic, my thoughts are with you and your family during this difficult time. Stay strong fella.
Hey Holic,
I don’t post much here but read your blog every match-day. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Hopefully, they’ll put up a better fight on the weekend and a victory that will give you reason to smile.
Extremely sorry to hear about your sad loss Holic.
My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Deeply sorry to hear about your father, holic. As you’ve described for us time and again, Arsenal Football Club is a great vessel in which to retain some incredible memories. We may never meet, but thanks both to you and your father for sharing them with us.
Holic, my thoughts are with you.
Guys, stop with this madness, if we would have won AW would have been a genius that he could rest his players and win and now that we haven’t he’s useless. He’s totally right, we have 2 very very hard games come Saturday and Wednesday and he had to rest the players so they won’t be exhausted vs. City.
Let’s see what happens on Saturday, I’ve got a good feeling, West Brom are a good team and Man U’s away form hasn’t been great.
@Holic-I echo everyone’s thoughts..Best wishes
Maybe, rather than making sweeping changes, there should have been changes on one end of the pitch. Rest Clichy, Djourou but don’t rest Samir,RVP,Song. Then, in the next game the other way round.
That way atleast we would have had the firepower to make it 3-1 when it was 2-1
The thing is, Arsene thinks it’s a question of faith in his players. We know squad rotation is necessary with these fixtures coming so thick and fast but wholesale changes??
After halftime, we gave them too much space in midfield. I don’t know if it was our tactic to sit back. But we are not strong enough to sit back and defend a 1 goal lead. Surely, Arsene must know that. We should have been attacking the hell out of Wigan, held on to the ball in the middle.
I am sorry BTM, but Denilson was very poor yesterday.
For me, Arsene should have rotated either in defense or in attack. Not in both areas.
Another two points dropped because of our mistakes.
This is a low after such a high against Chelsea.
I will help myself to some rum.
Best wishes to you and your family ‘Holic.
Keep your chin up ‘holic. I wish you and your family all the best in this difficult time. Very disappointing result today and the players who got a chance to play didn’t make use of the opportunity. Thus, we don’t want to hear any crying from these individuals when they are decaying on the bench. Looking forward to a better performance and result against Birmingham on Saturday. Gunners4life!!
Snir. I think the point is that that starting line up consisted of comort all internationals and should have been more than good enough to take all 3 points. But defensive errors yet again have seen us drop points that we should not have dropped.
swap comfort with almost above……. Bloody phone.
Morning all – looks like some tension being built up in the drinks last night. When are you all going to realise that you’re too old to be in the bar after hours and that you just can’t handle it anymore…
Firstly, to the main man at the bar, sincere best wishes to you, your dad and the rest of the family. All of the people that come here regularly rely on you to keep us sane during the season and I hope the unanimous best wishes I am seeing above is of some help.
As for last night, well I can see why people don’t like the rotation but the games come thick and fast and this is Wigan, not Man City. Also, the players coming in are either full internationals (Eboue, Squillaci, Diaby, Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh Rosicky) or nearly (Denilson) and on paper should have been able to manage this. Maybe a case of too many at once though as they just never gelled as a unit.
However, once it wasn’t working I just couldn’t understand the lack of substitution. Surely the game was crying out for Walcott to replace one of Chamakh / Bendtner just to hang out on the half way line and keep their back 4 honest. Without Theo we just look slow.
Also, Arshavin on form is a mercurial genius with a big slice of showmanship. Off form he is a lazy sulking gurning lump. I love the guy but he isn’t turning up and for all the talk of his assists this year, we are struggling (and not winning) a lot of games in which he plays.
Final note – Fabianski is a good shot stopper and a better bet than Almunia. He isn’t a number 1 though. I’d like to see Chesney more.
Right, time for more coffee…
Steve T @ 138 – I agree completely. On a related point, I really like Koscielny but he does appear to have a touch of the Clichy about him in that he can just do something daft at least a couple of times a game…
For all the criticism of the rotations, interesting to see Martinex saying that there was no way the Arsenal players from Monday could have recovered in time. I agree, though, that subs could have come on earlier.
I think JD will be in the team from now on. Which is nice.
A cafe solo and some hair of the dog please.
Martinez… bloody hangover.
I fully support that Wenger rested the players that he did(8 changes) my only quarrel is that the players he picked didnt turn up and that he’s substitutions came late…like for instance it was clear that we could exploit them with pace and Vela and Walcott could do that but he waited and waited till we were desperate….instead of killing the game off
Holic am a long time reader and am with all in saying best wishes to you and your family in this time of need.
I would just like to apologise to all in the bar for getting induced into a sniping war with a fellow drinker last night.
In the circumstances, I should have left him to rant alone in the corner given virtually everyone else, more or less, managed to ignore him.
Hopefully we will have a more convivial atmosphere on Saturday night.
I’m keeping the faith.
Thoughts are with you and your family ‘Holic. My next drink will be raised to dads everywhere who have passed on the joy of the Arsenal to us all.
All the best
My respects to the main man and his family at a totally shit time that you’ll only ever understand if you’ve been there.
From a football point of view:
Considering that we were one point in front of Chelski Sunday, and now we are two points in front of them, having not lost any ground to manusa, things might not be so bad. Undesirable certainly, an opportunity missed… of course. But no more so than against Newkey and the brom at home. I couldn’t fault the commitment and effort collectively shown last night, unlike those two matches.
The fact is that getting results, when you have a ref/officials like that, are always going to be a lottery. After Koncielny got a punch in the face after 90 seconds of the start, and no foul given, I knew we would be against it.
The resulting move had a cross where the player handballed… that’s a booking then? The rules state that there isn’t any such thing as an accidental handball, there’s only deliberate handball (booking) or no incident. The next 10 mins had about 8 incidents that could have been a yellow for fouls against us… not even a foul given.
Then they have a pen awarded for basically Koncielny moving his leg out of the way so that there was no contact made on the white line of the box. The linesman was 20 yards away and had a clear view.
So the mentality shown to get back to 1-2 up by half time was a test of character that was passed.
N’zogbia gets sent off for a flash of the head at Jack, rather typical of the mentality that Wigan thought was pretty normal for the match, the look of surprise on their players faces said it all, they thought that it was ok to do that. A decent ref would have had that sort of behaviour buttoned up.
Ref didn’t see it either, 4th official flagged it (illegal under the FA’s rules). If it was a foul and a red card then the ball should have gone back to the point of the foul? (I don’t think play had re-started?)
So they draw level and fabianski gets caught in two minds where he should be during the manoevere rather typically.
Then in a similar position to their 1st half penalty a clear handball occurs, yet none of the officials can see it. Cesc was certainly spotted doing something similar.
The stand out feature of our players capabilities for me was bendtners lack of ability to control a passed ball to him (1st touch is useless) and AA’s ability to drift in and out of the game seamlessly.
Yet both turn up with goals
I thought Denilson had a good game btw.
Onwards and upwards. We take Man C lightly next week at our peril. They will be a sterner test than Chelski provided.
I’ve never piped up here before but I turned up as usual last night to have a quiet drink and let some of the chatter wash over me. What a surprise, then, to find every glass in the place raised (bar a small punch-up which, I gather, has been dealt with). I echo kidK’s sentiments – I too was choked up by the thought of a man I’ve never met having a difficult time and while that seems odd I guess it’s the times.
I’ve taken the liberty of purchasing a couple of bottles of single malt, ‘Holic: I’ve left the money beside the till. I hope they stretch to fill the glasses of the assembled and I raise mine too. We’ve never met, ‘Holic, but you’ve perked up my pre- and post-match drinks more times than I can count, and your dad is obviously a huge ingredient in that. I’ll pipe down now and resume my seat at this most accommodating and wonderful bar.
@ Cannonsense – I will join you in that toast in the memory of my own father who made sure that red and white blood of the correct variety flowed through my veins too.
I’d also like to join in with all the other well wishers in the bar. Thoughts are with you ‘Holic and your nearest and dearest.
Zico @ 144…. remember ‘holic’s wise rule on apologising! Especially in this case….
Dr C – Yes, wise words indeed (from experience ;-)). After the exertions, singing and drinking on Monday night I find myself back on the Lemsip Slammers.
Zico – No need for you to apologise from where I’m sitting.
Doc Catalan @ 150 yes I know, but……
TS @ 151 – cheers mate.
I have just been for some nice regular guinness at lunch time. Have now discovered that work is over-rated.
1, 2, 3……
“Whose that team they call the Arsenal……”
Pints are on me!
Holic
I dont know what to say. Did not read your comment yesterday im so sorry. May God grant you peace and give you strength to recover from your loss and to all of your family.
Cheers for the drink Zico
…. and who’s that team we all adore?
I’ve run out of Vodka so I’ll have to start dissolving my Lemsip in lager, at least it’s fizzy.
Dr C, any other remedies that you can recommend? What about a nice, healthy thrashing of B’Ham at the weekend watched from the comfort of a warm and orthopedically correct sofa? We seem to do well against most teams wearing blue this season.
TS – don’t forget to turn on the “vibrate” mode. Otherwise I think you have it spot on.
Zico – just in case there is confusion; no need to apologise. You dealt with him perfectly.
Holic respects at this difficult time – been there myself and its your kids who are to care for in the short term
interesting read on managers comments
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/Wenger-defends-Gunners-changes
A point earned seems more like two thrown away. I do not agree that AW made too many changes, this was always going to happen with two games in three days and still two more to come in quick succesison. That team should of been strong enough, with all due respect to Wigan.
I do however feel that a tactical blunder was made, we had players on the bench more then capable of turning a game, and lets be honest, if there was ever a game in need of turning it was last nights. Our second half performance was lethargic at best and with twenty minutes to go I was screaming at the tv for AW to ring the changes, unfortunatly unlike the entire population of this village in North Holland, he couldn’t hear me, the changes were made way too late to make any real impact and by the time they were made Wigan were happy to park the bus and protect the 2-2 scoreline.
I also thought that the ref had an absolute stinker, he hardly got a decision right all game, truly sub standard officiating was on show last night.
Still, all is not lost and with another away game at Brum coming up fast we’ll just have to put this behind us and concentrate on that.
Come on you gunners!!!
Drinks for the optimists plese sir.
Cheers.
=============
My prayers go out to you and yours.
Have read many but not all of the comments, so here goes.
In the absence of ‘Holic and the excellent but completely bonkers BtM, Arseblog has a very good summary of events today, to which I could add nothing useful.
What angers me about last night is that it is the same mistakes, yet again, that may well cost us a league we are cery capable of winning.
Walcott said in yesterdays press that the team must do all the things they did so well against Chelsea, in every single game.
They must all do their jobs both with and without the ball.
Hurray, I thought, finally it has clicked.
What then happens, according to admittedly brief MotD highlights, is that our left-back forgets to defend, and our left-winger doesn’t really bother.
Our keeper flies out of his goal to bring down a forward who, at that precise moment, was tussling with our own centre-half. Very lucky not to give away a second penalty – albeit that the first should never have been given.
Our keeper then races out of the centre of his goal at a ball he has NO chance of getting. With the keeper stuck on his post, the corner is nodded back into the centre of goal and Squillaci concedes the own goal.
Depressingly repetitive.
Fabianski played some very good games for us recently but, for me, this was the inevitable return to form of a nervous, error prone keeper whose decision making will never match his shot-stopping ability. Unfortunately, both qualities are equally important.
So many changes, and I will not attempt to second guess the manager’s reasons, but the one change (i.e. the GK) that could solve some of the communication and organisational problems, was not made. Szczesny must be one very frustrated young man.
Such a shame that, after a brilliant performance to defeat Chelsea, so many fundamental flaws resurfaced in the very next match.
Football aside, it remains only to renew very best wishes to ‘Holic and his dad.
Diaby, Rosicky and Denilson are all very fine players. Any two playing alongside Alex Song would constitute a strong mid-field trio. As a starting threesome they didnât inspire confidence, but in fairness, should have had more than enough potency for a lactics midfield devoid of very much at all, except heart.
Kos and Squil have had more games together than any other CB combo, so fair doâs on that selection. Eboue on the left surprised me. I would have rested Sagna â but that would have been a bad error. He had an excellent game. Bendy probably deserved a start and where better to give him a run out than against a bottom three team? Chamakh always runs hard. Arshavin doesnât ever, so at least we were balanced there.
Bad team selection. Not really. It wouldnât have been the one I’d have picked, but Iâm not nearly good enough to Arseneâs job and any plonker can get it right from a seat by the fireside.
So we were off. And we were nearly one nil down inside five minutes when Noriega just failed to make contact with a beautiful in-swinging cross from the left. Things didnât improve. A driving run by Charlie NâZogba, ended with a dive from just outside the box over Kosâ trailing leg. A perfectly taken spot kick and we were one to the worse, despite Fabiâs valiant effort.
Through my crackling and stumbling stream, up until this point, any ball Iâd seen go toward Bendy or the Meerkat had bounced right back from poor efforts at control. But these two suddenly came alive. From their keepers parry of a Bendy blast, a sublime piece of skill from Arshavin brought our equalizer. Minutes later, Russiaâs finest haircut put Bendy through for a very nice finish and 2-1 and off for the oranges and a half-time pep talk. So far, so good – Iâd have taken that at the start. The changes were working well.
Chamakh had a super header and Arsh just failed to finish off the kind of move that only Arsenal can conjure. Should now have been 4-1 and Gunners on easy street. When NâZogbia turned himself into a proper Charlie and was red carded for nutting Lightning Jack around 80 minutes, it should have been all over. It wasnât. Three minutes later, a very nice corner beyond our far post was headed back, almost under our bar and there was Squil to head it home for the equalizer. Two each.
Nasri and Theo came on in an attempt to recover the two points that were otherwise bound for the gurgler. That we should have had a penalty from Nasriâs late free kick is as undisputable as the penalty award that set the rot in against Spuds. Such are the frailties of todayâs officials that this one passed us by and the refs whistle sounded an inevitable, depressing away draw on a cold Wednesday night in Wigan.
Some have more serious matters to ponder tonight than loss of a mere two points away from home. Our thoughts are with you âHolic.
Trev: there lies the danger of relying on MOTD to assess the players performance.
Fabianski had a good game last night, couldn’t get to the penalty despite being really close and there wasn’t much he could have done about Squillacci’s totally surprising header either. He also made a couple of great saves, were they shown on Motd?
Arshavin (who we’ve not seen sweating like that in a long time) faded in the second half but had been excellent both offensively and defensively until then.
If anything Arseblog’s today just confirms there is something rotten in the Arsenal supporters mentality. Two blatant refereeing mistakes should make supporters of any team go ballistic. Instead it’s just the same moaning attitude that prevails.
It’s a rocky, bumpy season where no game can be taken for granted by the players nor the supporters. Both were guilty of it yesterday.
Indeed BtM there are many more important things in life than being robbed of two points.
We’re all behind you `Holic.
Thanks all for your kindness. Still in Devon. Apologies again for the lack of posting.
cheer up folks.we’ve got lots to look forward to.the match against money city is more important.a fit rvp + fab+ wal+ nas = lots of goals and the best football in the world.last season we scored 15 goals in the 4 games they played together.the next few weeks are going to be something to savour.sorry about ur dad holic.
Puts football in perspective, ‘holic you are an excellent author and guardian of Arstory. My sincerest wishes to you and your family and up the arsenal!
‘holic – thinking of you and the family at this difficult time.
Holic,
My condolences on your loss.
Good to know you have such quality subscibers to keep the match reports coming.
What about the snowed in Paddy at Arseblog?
Hi holic, I read your blog regularly and have commented once in a while. I am an Arsenal fan, originally from Nepal, based in Boston now.
From your blog, I have gotten a sense of how much your dad means to you and how grateful you are to him for the Arsenal upbringing.
Just wanted to say my best wishes are with and your nearest at this tough time. Cheers.
10.30am on Wednesday 29th. “Do I need my gloves Dad?” my daughter enquires. “Do you need your gloves. Do you know where we are going?” I then explain how far t’up North we are heading and how cold it is. “Yes, you do need gloves”.
11.15 and off we go. Kids in the back loaded up with assorted snacks, portable dvd player and various games for their DSI’s. It is a far cry from the days of the long journeys I endured as a child. If I was lucky I was drip fed the latest copies of Shoot and The Beano.
We arrive at our hotel at about 4pm. We check in to a warm and friendly welcome. “We are full tonight, lots of Arsenal fans up for the game” we are informed. Both kids smile in excited anticipation.
So we prepare. Layers and layers are donned to guard against the cold that never really materialised. We decide to get a cab too and from the ground. “Saves us struggling to find a parking space” is the reason I give. The added advantage of now being to have a few scoops does not escape my daughter’s thoughts. She is far too bright.
So in we go. Time for tea. A quantity of Steak pies are purchased and devoured hastily. At half the price of the ones at The Grove and just as tasty they prove to be excellent value. Even more so with the free mince pies being dished out by out welcoming hosts.
Time to take our seats. Both are impressed with the amount of away support. Both can not believe the empty seats dotted all around the rest of the ground. The team news is digested. I was for one was not massively disappointed with the changes although I do feel perhaps one or two too many.
I do not intend to summarise the game. All would have seen highlights at least and BTM has done a very good job @160 above. What I do have to say is that having entered the ground with high hopes and great expectations we all left feeling deflated. In my humble opinion we did not paly well. We started off sluggish and never really got going. Matt has eluded in several posts above that we were robbed by certain decisions, and to a certain extent I agree. The Wigan penalty never was although if as a defender you hang a leg out in the box it borders on an invitation for any winger these days to go down. How he missed the hand ball later on is also beyond me.
What I would say is that I feel it is remiss just to blame the officials especially when we contribute to our own downfall in such a predictable way. I am told that half the goals we have conceded this season have come from set pieces. That did not surprise me one bit. The Wigan 2nd was poor. very poor in my view. We just did not deal with a basic corner. Arsene today has said that no one has a voice in the back four and there is no one to take charge of the organisation at the back. That for me is very very worrying. It begs the simple question, “Why?” I am not big Kos or Squil fans. Neither has impressed me massively and I fail to see how either make us stronger than we were last season at the back. Oh how we miss TV5. Attack wise we created very little of note. We did not make their keeper work anywhere near as hard as we should have.
I also think yesterday showed yet again that we have no adequate replacement for Song. We can not expect him to play every week but we miss so much the type of performance he put in against the Chavs.
Arshavin again had one of those unbelievably frustrating games. So anonymous for parts. Bone idle at times, but then moments of genius.
The most frustrating thing for me is that it is the same old mistakes that have caused our downfall yet again. I say downfall as I consider this to be very much 2 points dropped rather than 1 gained. Arsene has eluded in his comments to what amounts to a lack of leaders. We again lacked any width at Wigan and yet again have been undone by 10 men at a set piece. In my humble opinion we could be on the verge of real greatness. But we have to address these problems. None are new and none should come as a shock to anyone. Only then can we expect the consistency that wins titles.
So we leave the ground and await our cab back to the hotel. Somewhat dejected me make our way to the meeting point. It is then that my lad bursts into tears. Bloody hell I think, what would have happened if we had lost? In my attempts to comfort him I discover that it is not the result that made him so upset, it is that he has lost his beloved Arsenal hat that Santa brought him a few years ago. The promise of a new one on my return to The Grove puts a smile back on to his face.
Match of the day, hot chocolate and a few tins of Pedigree for Daddy and it is time for bed. Despite a poor result and an uninspiring team performance we have all had a good time.
Thursday brings an alarm call followed by a cooked breakfast. A quick trip to discover Wigan Pier (don’t bother if you are ever up there) and off we go. A 3 1/2 hour journey home takes over 5 courtesy of road works on the M6 and the M1. But there is no moaning form the little people in the back. They are pre occupied with various electronic items, and they return home happy with their first Gooner away game safely under their belts. My daughter is has already started to check the fixtures to discover when we can all go again. Me? I really can’t wait.
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Holic, my thoughts continue to be with you and your family at this difficult time. God bless you all.
Great write up Steve and I’m glad to hear about your well behaved kids.
Good story Steve, your kids had a great time indeed.
On a side note I wish I could find Pedigree here, looks like it’s really worth a try.
Enjoyed reading your account of the game Steve. Glad your kids had a good time in their first away game.
On the subject of penatlies given/not given for handball at free kicks, including Cesc moaning on Twitter – can I just remind everyone of the Liverpool game at the Grove last season? Not too dis-similar to McCarthur of Wigan this time around was it?
That said, the ref was honking. But I think they all are – Dean, Dowd, Clattenburg, Webb, whoever – I end up ranting at each and every one of them. That’s part of football though, so we need to suck it up and move on.
Too early for a pint? It is Hogmanay after all. The real thing starts at 2pm today in the Guildford if any stray Holics happen to be in Edinburgh for the festitivies and want to join in!
Steve, what a lovely read! It put a big smile on my face, that’s for sure. Thanks for sharing that with us.
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And again, I’d like to express my best wishes to the ‘Holic family.
Nice one Steve
Steve,
I just started compiling a list of Premier League team blogs and adding them to the individual team pages on my site – you can find the link to Gooner Holic here –Â http://www.premierleagueguide.com/teams/arsenal/
Cheers,
Heh…. nice post Steve, but it seems Harry is a little confused!
Holic, my thoughts are with you and your family at this difficult time
Great write up steve
Zico –
You know me. Cesc was within his rights to moan.
He’s our Captain and was speaking out against the decisions made. More importantly the decision in contention involved none other than Francesc himself!
When you think about it, we were either robbed v the Spuds or Robbed v Wigan. Eitherway, the decision making process should be consistent, as it costs clubs points!
Its almost midnight here…Happy new year everyone!
Hope its an Arsenal year… đ
Steve T – agree totally with your analysis of our performance against Wigan.
I may, for once, have had only MotD highlights to judge by, but I have missed 1 game at home in our last 5 inconsistent seasons, and I am sure you will agree that you can tell almost instantly what type of performance is upcoming, as soon as we start to play.
Monday vs the Chavs was a fantastic performance.
From the first moment, even of MotD highlights, you could tell that on Wednesday, all our sadly often repeated defensive confusion and lack of covering was back.
The urgent pressing of opponents, so important and effective against Chelsea was gone.
The frustrating thing is that these players all train together, all offer the same wise words, and are all capable of brilliant performances.
This team is capable of performances that can be matched only by Barcelona.
All we need to turn a title dream into reality, is the same sense of urgency that was shown against Chelsea to be evident in every match.
That is not a moan, but the words and assessment of Theo Walcott following our victory over Chelsea, in which, with Alex Song and Fab, he was probably our man-of-the-match.
That though, is slightly unfair ‘cos they were all brilliant.
Happy New Year Gooners everywhere and kindest wishes to you ‘Holic.
Goonertown @ 180 – you and I are almost always on the same page – my point was not that the decision was right or wrong this season but more the fact that we got away with one last season – swings and roundabouts and all that.
Anyway I have just left the pub to bring in the new year in with my loving family – (its been a long day đ .
Can I just wish you Goonertown and all my fellow ‘Holics and Arsenal fans a very happy new year when it comes – here’s hoping its gonna be a good one!!
PS thinking of Goonerholic in particular at this time – once again, all the best and thanks for a great year of blogging.
Birmingham City. What can we do but hope for a Chelsea and not a Wigan kind of performance. Happy new year to all the ‘holics and a big thank you to the ‘holic himself. COYRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a quick note to let you know ‘holicdad joined Herbert Chapman at 2.20am. May be sporadic publishing for the next ten days or so.
My condolences to you Holic and your family. May his soul rest in peace
May the ‘holicdad rest in peace in that land where Arsenal win the title every season.
Sorry to hear that ‘Holic – deepest sympathies.
So sorry for your loss.
So sorry ‘holic. May the good Lord grant his gentle soul eternal peace. I’m sure he left this earth a fulfilled man knowing he left behind great people like you. Like someone said up there ‘holic, I don’t know you but i feel your pain Sir ‘cos thru your blog and the wonderful people who relate on its platform, you’ve enriched my life. May the Lord strengthen and support you during this period. And I know you may not feel like it but, Happy New Year Sir. Best wishes.
Thoughts are with you ‘holic. xx
I’ll still have a drink in honour of the great man, who can hopefully enjoy the great match in the sky.
Sorry about your loss ‘Holic. God has chosen this day and time to call him back. We will all join him when it is our turn.
Not the best start to a new year ‘Holic.
My dad died on my birthday 9 years ago, so I have some idea how you’re feeling.
All the best.
My thoughts are with you ‘Holic, may he rest at ease knowing we will win for him
Condolences ‘holic
Raise a Guinness to all the good Gooner times you shared. Condolences, ‘h.
Much love to you sir
My condolences too ‘Holic. Wishing you and your family long life and happiness.
Sorry for your loss, ‘Holic..
My condolences and thoughts are with you…
‘Holic, my thoughts are with you. All the best to you and your family.
My thoughts are with you and the family mate. Take care.
Sincere condolences ‘holic.
Thank you all. Today’s ‘holic pound is a hail Mary on 5-0 to the Arsenal, at 80/1.
Holic dad must be a wonderful man , full of love for life and also full of love for soccer.
On the other world , he will look after all of us .
Thanks goonerholic , your blog makes me forget about the long canadian winter, from november until april
Sorry to hear of your loss Holic.
Have been sitting quietly at the bar for several months now. Feel compelled to pass on my condolences to ‘holic and the family.
Come on lads, let’s win today for Gooners all over the world past and present!
Condolences sir.
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I’d like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
Hello The Wasp you are spot on and welcome to this friendly establishment.
Thank you kind Sir.
A pint of Smithwicks please. After Man U’s lucky escape, nothing short of 3 points required at the Brum.
Sincere condolences holic. My love and thoughts are with you and your family.
3 points vital today. Looks like a feisty affair in prospect. Need to be strong,keep our heads and not get intimidated by their approach.
The Wasp,
Spot on.. Lets do it for all the Gooners.. Past and the present..
RVP should have had 3 first half. May have made the holic pound a real prospect. Need to tighten up at the back. Good battling though.
Let’s not throw it away again boys.
Sincere condolences ‘holic. Of course it is not the same for us as for you, but the small snippets of stories and sometimes even longer pieces involving ‘holicdad that you have told us over the years really has me missing the man.
Thoughts are with you and everyone who knew him.
Own Goal Johnson. How sweet.
5-0 anyone?
Holic –
Sorry to hear that. My heart goes out
H2H –
Same to you
A well needed and earned 3 points coming up
The away support has been excellent today
Fact:
Djourou must feature in the starting XI from now on
Wonderful result ‘Holics!
Let’s dedicate that one to the ‘Holicdad.
Hear hear, True Storey
Goonertown – we look decidedly more comfortable when Squillaci is out of the team, that’s for sure – although they weren’t up against much tonight.
3pts for the Holic family. HNY!!
Ditto true storey. Good performance good win . Sure ‘holicdad is looking down and smiling. All the best ‘holic in these difficult times.
COYRRG!!!!!!
Very professional performance. Some scary moments in the 1st half but once nasri scored the result was never in doubt.
Looks like El Capitan is finding his form again.
Condolences to you holic, wishing you a good new year.
A quality professional performance today, not many injuries in the squad at last and we’re looking good for the second half of the season. Come on Arsenal.
I am with zico. Result dedicated to the whole holic family.
A display of skill and guile. We have lost games like that previously. Let’s hope we can have a repeat performance against citeh. Agree totally re centre backs. JD has to be a starter. Also agree with Wasp re Cesc. It looks like if has his mojo back.
Arsenal FIre Three Gun Salute as Last Post Sounds for Holicdad
In a victory dedicated to the memory of Holicdad, Arsenal blue into town and blue Birmingham away without really needing to blow anywhere close to top gear. The result was testament to Arsene Wengerâs mid-week match selection. Arsenal looked fresh and âup for itâ. Birmingham, who fielded the team that drew with ManUre, were flat and knackered in comparison and were never in contention.
Fox flicked over to St Andrews, only to reveal the stadium apparently one third empty and Alex McLeish looking like heâd had a couple of Hogmanay Hoochs too many. But then again, he always does. Our line up looked strong with the reintroductions of Djourou, Van Persie, Theo and Nasri looking particularly pleasing to this Goonerâs eyes.
Early play was slow tempo and scrappy with Birmingham niggling and trying to disrupt Arsenalâs flow. A foul just outside the box presented Van Persie with a dress rehearsal free kick. Moments later, the real thing resulted in Robin hitting the net for the first time in the league this season, courtesy of a deflection off Bowyerâs arm. Arsenal in the ascendancy.
But it wasnât all one-way traffic and it took a fabulous save from Fabianski to deprive former Gunner Larsson from a free kick from 30 yards. Minutes later our Polestar threw a beautiful ball to Nasri who carried it forward before laying it on a plate for RvP. Rusty Robin failed to take the opportunity. Robin did it again from 8 yards only five minutes later. Game should be over at 3-0 by now.
At the other end, a silly Alex Song block resulted in a free kick swinging onto Jeromeâs head. A beautiful nod on to Johnson threatened another set-piece horror equalizer, but Johnson the profligate thumped over from six yards.
One nil at the turn. By 50 minutes, Birmingham had racked up three yellows for nasty foul with Cesc suffering badly from a double foted stud-lunge. Bowyer in the meantime stamped on Sagnaâs thigh then, again unpunished, threw Bacs to the ground with the refâs back turned. What a nasty bar steward he is.
A great Cesc-Nasri move brought an outstanding save from Foster. But Arsenalâs second was coming and the delay was only about three minutes. Nasri to Cesc to Nasri â a beauty into Fosterâs bottom left â and a well deserved chorus of Na-Na-Na, Nasri, Samir Nasri from the travelers.
Another brilliant move of the âArsenal onlyâ variety ended with a Cesc rocket that Foster couldnât hold and it bounced Ding-Dong-Dann into the net for three-nil to the Arsenal. Wilshere should have scored his birthday goal moments later from a RvP cut-back.
Arshavin and The Rhythm King came on for Theo and Neutron Jack as Arsenal began to play practice ground football to run the clock down. Both almost scored with their first touch with Theo and Jack resting for the Shitty game next Wednesday, looking on admiringly.
A great start to The New Year with super performances all round. Only Birminghamâs second loss at home since around 1066 with last previous 3-0 inflicted by William Wallace and the Jacobite army. A home win on Wednesday will make it 10 points out of a Christmas stocking-full potential 12. Weâre up for that!
A particular note of praise to the Polestar, the Pole Between the Poles. Doubtless his clean sheet today will go unremarked by many. He didnât put a foot, hand or head wrong today. As his confidence grows, so will that of those in front of him. Well done Lukasz.
Exactly Zico –
Here’s to the Holic Family
BtM
Great “half-full” write-up as usual.
Will join you in a toast to Pole The Elder, the boy done great.
HNY to you, ‘Holic & family and all ‘Holics in the bar tonight.
We’ll keep the red flag flying at half mast until His Lordship returns đ
Cheers BtM!
The glass is always half empty or half full but looking at our last three fixtures I think a total of 7 points is a decent result considering that if we had won at Wigan we probably would have drawn at Birmingham. Today’s performance was one of our better ones, and if we can win at home against Citeh it would be the perfect way to set up the next two cup matches. I thought Captain Fab and Nasri were outstanding today.
Great result today but Jerome and Bowyer need to get punished retroactively by the FA since none of the four officials did anything about it. That is cruel animal behavior to purposely injure fellow player. It can only encourage more of the same if it goes unpunished. Especially considering Eduardo’s incident at the same ground.
Hopefully they will all be OK for Wednesday’s important game.
best blog on the planet.
my sincere condolences.