A Very Personal Journey
Oct 29th, 2012 by 'holic
Nick Hornby and I were born three months apart. We shared a Thames Valley upbringing and grammar school education, and a rose-tinted memory of watching Arsenal in the sixties. Thereafter the gaps start to appear. I had a settled family background denied to him. Most noticeably he learned to write properly and I throw words, tenses, and grammar into a vast stewpot and pull them out again at random.
Had I ever got the opportunity to meet him I would have asked him if his footballing education stretched to solo visits to the local clubs. As a pre-teen I followed the local Isthmian and Athenian League teams when Arsenal were away. The early teens saw me jumping on the train to venture further afield and invariably that might be the short journey down the Great Western line to Reading. I learned a great deal at the old Elm Park ground.
Reading showed me the other side of the coin I had the pain of experiencing following Arsenal. The big boys didn’t always beat the little boys. I also had the pleasure of sharing a beer or two with Robin Friday. If you have to ask who he was then Google ‘the greatest footballer you never saw’. Luckily I did. Do I still have a soft spot for them? Not on Tuesday night I don’t, although I will still feel more than chuffed for them if they get results against our rivals this season.
In the sixties and seventies Reading attracted a stream of players who weren’t quite good enough for the Arsenal. Players I had watched in the Gunners reserves. Thirty and forty years later I expect to see a good chunk of the current crop of young Gunners talent. Four days before a trip to Old Trafford is no time to be risking those who will face such an examination at the weekend.
So as previews go I haven’t a clue what to predict. Reading are likely to utilise their squad to a degree as well. The best guide may be the U-21 meeting three weeks ago when we came out on top 2-0. That’s good enough to have me planting the ‘holic pound on a slightly more nerve-wracking 1-2 to the visitors. It will be interesting to see how many who played that night feature at the Madejski, or MadStad, this time around.
I’m looking forward to meeting some old friends as I make the short journey down the M4. They will be Arsenal supporters however, and not the sheep and pig worriers I used to live around. I’m looking forward to seeing Thomas Eisfeld and Serge Gnabry lighting up the night. I’m looking forward to getting home from an evening game at a decent hour, hopefully with sufficient recall of events to pen a brief report before hitting the sack.
I doubt though that I will be experiencing another Fever Pitch moment. Or describing one with a Hornbyesque gift.
576 Responses to “A Very Personal Journey”
Thirst
Holic,
You caught me offsides again.
From the end of the last drinks:
on 29 Oct 2012 at 8:11 pm194NorCalArsenal
From Laws of the Game (see Interpretations and Guidance for Referees, Laws 2008/2009): “Any defending player leaving the field of play for any reason without the referee’s permission shall be construed to be on his own goal line or touch line for the purposes of offside until the next stoppage of play. If the player leaves the field of play deliberately, he must be cautioned when the ball is next out of play.” So there was an invisible defender on the goal line.
So based on the rules. If the QPR player went out of bounds he is considered to be on the goal line until the next stoppage of play. If you watch the linesman he follows the play all the way to the corner flag and then just stands there thus indicating the last man was on the end line. I think that is what the explanation was to Hughes and he just doesn’t know or agree with the rule. Hahahaha.
Now to read the new one.
Cheers
Fecond
Or turd, as it turned out.
Good stuff ‘holic.
Let’s not also forget that this game also pits Arsene against a new manager whom before he was leading Reading into the PL and starring in Bottom was too a star of the gunners reserves. 😉
I prefer the musings of the barman to the middle class angst of Hornby.
Have a small Tia Maria on me, ‘holic.
Well if you’re driving, surely you can’t miss your stop.
Cheers, ‘holic, I enjoyed reading, now go and enjoy Reading. Safe trip for your shortest journey of the season (unless we draw Swindon away in the Cup at some point!).
Another win and a favourable draw in the
next is all we ask…
Nice preview ‘H. I too will like to see Eisfield and Gnabry,i was wondering if it would be a good idea to play sir Chez? You know,just to warm him up and sharpen his reflexes for O.T.
*hurries off to google the “greatest footballer you never saw”*
Excellent – do we get to big up Robin Friday again?.
Booze, football, girls and drugs – the patron saint of the Feelgood Foundation.
Enjoy your trip ‘H.
I enjoyed reading, now go and enjoy Reading.
Very good, Ollie.
See what I mean zico?
Hornby wouldn’t have repeated his old “I used to drink with Robin Friday before games” stories.
Getting like Uncle Albert round here 🙁
Nice one mate. Remember going away there in the cup in 87 or 88. Could n’t get in the away end. We won 3-1 from memory. Charlie scored, do remember that, so was probably 87.
Hi everyone. Holic, Only two things I disagree with in your writeup. First is that Woj needs to see some game time against Reading, he shouldn’t start against Manu cold. Lot of pressure on him. Second point of contention is your remark about your writing ability. Remember, I know talent when I see it 🙂 Hoping the best for all in Sandy’s path. Nite all.
Stop it.
Nick Hornby could never have carried the street cred to drink with Robin Friday. 😉
Robin would be dining out on tales of drinking with Goonerholic, had he lived.
Like I do. 😛
😀
I knew Friday was a legend, but I just read something that made him even better;
When City travelled to Brighton, then Brighton defender Mark Lawrenson was marking Friday so tightly, that Friday decided to kick Lawrenson in the face, resulting in a sending off. Friday then broke into the Albion dressing room, and shat in Lawrenson’s kit bag.
http://flairweekly.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/flair-icons-1-robin-friday/
Heh Zico.
Just finished reading his wiki profile and boy,was he a nutcase.
I quite admire his will power because i noticed he had a knack of not quitting till he achieved anything he set his mind on.
H2H,i noticed the bit about mark Lawro and i couldn’t help myself but give in to a cheeky smile.
@ 17
Carlos behaviour. 😉
Friday managed by Sitton would have been quite something
Great post, as usual. Hoping to see Gnabry tomorrow night, looks a talent.
Already the mind races ahead to Old Trafford.
Like most others, I am not overly optimistic, all things considered. What I will say is this:
I hope that the players appreciate a few things. I hope they appreciate that this is Arsenal, and that they will have the finest away support in the country roaring them on. I hope they appreciate that they have a manager who has put his faith in many of them, who has his critics and needs and deserved a fillip.
I hope they look at those Utd players and realise that this is not a better team than we are. Not man for man. But I hope they all know that this fact alone is not enough. That we need to go out there and fight like our lives depend on it, to scrap for every inch and to believe in one another.
I hope they look behind them and see the best defence in the league. I hope they look at the Spanish genius in midfield, the 100 cap German international on the left flank, the model pro in the holding role, the French top scorer up top and the English prodigy on the right.
Most of all, I hope they look at Jack Wilshere, who will show them how to fight for the badge.
I hope that they see all of this, that they take it all in and that they realise that the only thing standing between themselves and a win is whatever’s in their own heads just now.
I know Arsene doesn’t do blood and thunder, but I hope someone stands up in that dressing room and gives a blood boiling pre match speech that clenched fists and narrows eyes.
And then after that I hope they get out their and beat the red scum on their own patch. Because, mark my words, they’re capable of it.
Come on you Gunners.
Nice one N7.
You forgot the bit about them being a bunch of glory-hunting cunts. 😉
Oh, and I hope someone remembers to kick fucking Evra up in the air a couple of times, the snidey little over the hill twat.
Give that man a drink
Fine rallying call N7.
N7, I’m so going to shamelessly pinch some of that on Friday, if my sozzled old nut remembers 😉
Zico, that just goes without saying.
Kind of like sir purple nose is a blubbering blow hard who would have won a lot less if the refs weren’t such biased tossers.
Now first a good run out tomorrow and then a good beat down of those scum suckers at the toilet.
‘Holic @ 26
No shame required gaffer, anything for the cause!
Nonny, Sitton wouldn’t have lasted two seconds. Friday felt no pain and didn’t bugger about if you upset him.
N7, I’m getting ready for work, but I had to rave a bit on your rousing call to arms. A drink of your choosing awaits you, mate. You know, we have some really talented fellas here. Would be terrific if someone came up with an official holic prayer for Arsenal. One we could recite before each game 🙂
30 abb
If memory serves, the right honouraale Rev AL came up with such a prayer, you’ll have to back drink to find it though.
N7,top post,mate,i wish someone will manage to read that to the players pre-match on saturday.
Esso, the trip was ’72 and the Pat Rice tasty goal game. Came horribly unstuck courtesy of two chapters of Hells Angels afterwards.
End of an era, that day.
NorCal – That is only if the player remains off the pitch. As long as he comes back on the pitch the offside is judged by his latest position.
Same thing happened on Chicharito’s goal vs. Chelsea when Cahill was off the pitch after the Dutchman’s shot (in the goal actually), but comes back and Chicharito IS offside.
Fine call to arms N7 @22.
Much like the Agincourt address.
I do wish AW could read it and would use it.
Not to forget zico’s footnote @23
Snir,
I agree. The rule is vague about re-entering the field. Did his momentum carry him off or did he just run off? Also every view I have seen of the play, it is hard to see where he is when Ramsey plays the ball. My initial thought was Arteta was offsides when Ramsey hits it. The linesman is looking right down the line standing at the corner flag. You would think he could see everyone. Arteta was not offsides when giroud heads the ball no matter what Hughes saw.
Missed call, maybe. Three points? Hell yeah!
Cheers, ‘holic. Picture 23 could be our defensive pairing tomorrow?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-train-ahead-of-reading-pictures
Most definitely not our defensive pairing in picture 21, unless Arsene clones himself and names both of his selves in the team. I meant to say picture 21, i.e. Kos and Djourou.
37 – NorCal – If you leave the pitch you are inactive as a defender and therefore if you have any sense you stay off the pitch until the ball is cleared, unless you are in the goal itself. The inside of the goal is an active area, and if you’re in there you play everybody onside. It doesn’t matter if momentum carries you off the field but you’re not supposed to simply run off it as that is leaving the field of play without permission. A player playing everyone onside can’t just hop off the pitch and make himself inactive.
On Sunday Cahill was in the goal and got out of it as quick as possible. By the time the Brazilian hairdresser hit his shot, Hernandez was offside because Cahill had got out.
For Arteta’s goal he is standing on the goal line almost, when the ball comes off Ramsey, and he is offside at that point.
Nonny – if you are off the pitch without permission you are deemed the furthest defender and ruled as if you’re standing on the line, therefore everybody is onside.
You cannot simply stay off the pitch. You have to come back on to the pitch.
Nonny,
As soon as you pass the end line, whether on the goal or not you are still active but are deemed to be on the end line thereby playing everyone onside. Whoever was tracking arshavin is who went out of bounds. I do not know if he got back on the field and past Arteta at the time Ramsey hit the ball. The linesman is standing right on the corner flag during the entire exchange and has a fairly clear view of the entire incident. He said it was a goal so I will take it. Also, the players on the field in real time had no objection. Even whoever was tracking arshavin puts his head down thinking it was a fair goal. Only in slow motion and multiple views can you really say he was offsides. I have not seen a camera angle that clearly has the entire field in view.
Anyway, goal counts and three points to us. The Liverpool disallowed goal and the manure allowed goal were more obvious and aggregious. Poor weekend for the refs, again.
@holic. Yeah forgot Reading was always full of bikers. Upside meant it was Sulphate city. Kid at uni came from there; used to re-supply everyone after trips back home.
Nonny, the inside of the goal is not an “active area”, for the simple reason that there is no such term in the Laws of the Game. There is only “the field of play”, and the inside of the goal is not part of that field. If momentum takes you off the pitch, you are considered to be on the pitch at the point on the touchline closest to where you are. If you are behind the goal line, outside or inside the goal itself, you are consequently considered standing on the goal line. The ref has to allow you to leave the pitch (i.e. in effect declare you temporarily not part of the game, which is why you then need his permisson to re-enter it again) but until he does so you count towards offside or not. It doesn’t matter if you’re injured and can’t move either, until the ref tells the medical staff to attend to you you are still in the game.
There are no angles that show clearly where Mackie was after having tracked Arshavin in the moment Ramsey and Nelsen clashed for the ball, and there is also one aspect that haven’t been discussed much: if the ball came directly from Nelsen to Arteta, then it doesn’t matter where Mikel was in relation to the other defenders. I have yet to see an angle that clearly shows Ramsey touching the ball and unless the ref is 100% sure that was the case, he can not make an offside call.
N7@22: now that’s a proper rallying call – good work!
Nice one, N7 @ 22
I could argue that the club could offer you a role in writing pre-match pep talks. I’m always a fan of blood and guts rallying calls to set the mind straight.
Morning all. Here must be the only place where it’s harder to find a parking space during the holidays than at other times. So I’m parked in the street again, bah.
Morning Ollie. Hope the meter isn’t too expensive!
Cheers, Steve T. Thankfully it’s free around here. The area is possibly a bit dodgy though.
I have a ticket. West Stand Upper. Hoping for:
Martinez
Jenkinson, Djourou, Miguel, Santos,
Yennaris, Eisfeld, Coquelin, Arshavin,
Gnabry, Walcott
Do we have a pre-match watering hole?
Enjoy the game, BTM. See you at the Liz sometime 🙂
Congratulations BtM.
Seems a bit extreme to conjure up a tropical storm just so you can stay behind and see the reserves but there you go….. 😉
PS – Hope Her Nellieness is staying safe!
Morning all. Nice start to the day holic. I love the bit in the film of fever pitch where the young Nick is standing in his red and white in the middle of the reading end. “Got it from a tout didn’t I,” is the explanation.
We may pass each other on the way down holic as I will be heading from Bristol. Thanks to Arthur and others for parking tips. All gratefully received. Like others I am hoping to see the two young German lads play a starring role.
Good stuff BtM.
See you all in the Holiday Inn for about 5ish then. Here you are holic, your title for the match report. “From the Tolly to the Holly.”
Enjoy people. Hope to see a few of you later.
Morning all
Nice warm up by Holic for N7´s post! 😉
Great stuff.
Weirdly have a bad feeling about tonight, but quietly confident about the weekend. With no evidence to back it up at all!
Hope i´m wrong tonight and spot on at the weekend
BtM, you have a text.
Morning All,
Good to see everyone again, and to meet Steve-o on Saturday.
Not much to say about the weekend that hasn’t already been said. I thought Jack and Bac were both better than anyone could have reasonably expected. Jack wasn’t joking when he said he was in a new side – of the other 9 outfield players he would have only played competitively before with Sagna, TV5 and Ramsey, and even then TV5 and Ramsey were both injured for much of Jack’s first full season.
Very tough on Jenks. Arsene is a patient man but I thought his decision to retain Andre the Elephant was impossible to justify. The first half showed that Santos hadn’t learned anything from Wednesday night and on at least 2 occasions QPR got down our right hand side with Santos lolloping back from the half way line woefully out of position. Better sides will punish us, and on no account must he play at Old Trafford. Jenks, Coquelin, Miquel and Yennaris will all do a better job in the position than Santos.
Hats off to Mannone at the end for making himself big. What on earth were TV5 and Santos playing at in the build up?
Can we now consign as a failed experiment Ramsey playing on the right hand side at home against sides that will sit deep? Fair enough up at Eastlands if we want to keep things tight, but against the likes of Rangers he offers very little from that position save for honest endeavour. He looked a much better player once he moved infield on Jack’s substitution.
Cazorla’s miss pretty much summed up his afternoon, and the goal arrived just as patience was beginning to wear thin. I must admit I haven’t seen anything which has convinced me it wasn’t offside, but heh who cares? Anything that makes Narky Hughes unhappy is fine by me.
Not one to stay in the memory banks for long, but a win is a win is a win.
Great rallying cry N7. Excellent work in the last set of drinks from all the regulars.
Nice preview Holic. Should be interesting. A very different team tonight. Will be tight I think.
Martinez
Jenks, Kos, Djourou Miquel,
Coq, Arshavin, Frimpong
Walcott, Chamakh, Gnabry.
Come on Arsenal!
ahem “our” right hand side = “their” right hand side
Nice post Holic, that Robin Friday seemed like quite a lad.
Well said N7 @ 22, I could envision myself there on the pitch taking in all the things you mentioned, excellent stuff 🙂
Regarding offside, that interpretation is a new one on me. We were always taught/told that the only area off the pitch that kept a player active was the section inside the goal. It seems highly ridiculous to me that if you’re going full pelt to cut a cross out and end up in the crowd that everyone else is played onside, but it seems them’s the rules. Over the years I have seen defenders at the top level taken off the pitch through momentum and stay off it, waiting for the ball to be cleared before running back on because to do so immediately would play everyone onside, but it seems highly experienced and capable defenders, including the famous back four we had, didn’t know the offside law either.
Personally I think the interpretation I grew up with, erroneous or not, is the common sense one.
Nonny, Tony Adams et al knew the rules but they were different then. The offside law has changed quite a bit in recent years to promote attacking play.
Nonny, common sense is a rare commodity.
Nonny @58
One of the reasons the interpretation was updated was because a defender’s momementum would take him off the pitch and he would then wait behind the line until the danger had been cleared, with the current version, its in the defenders best interests to get back on the pitch as quickly as possible!
As regards common sense, not much call for that in refereeing these days, everybody wants consistancy and that doesn’t always equate to common sense……
Finally, I Gooner Ref when we need one!
Nice write up. Looking forward to it.
Come on Gunners! I need a win to cheer me up after a tough couple of days!
Looking at the 18-man squad that team is good enough to get us a win.
Afternoon All,
Mundanity has prevented earlier re-entry to the bar, and recovering from TWO pints of the black stuff in 72 hours.
The second of those two pints was provided by a £5 note waved from the hand of the Guvnor as I entered the Tolly on Saturday, to find him with fellow ‘Holics, not under a Brolly due to the inclement conditions, and at that stage, not even under a Tolly Table.
Good to also see zico, Tabs, snowy, AL, Steve-o very briefly, and BtM who I have almost missed twice now, as he came to establish the placement of the Holic Pooooond. I have absolutely no idea what else he said, but I will look forward to hearing a bit more of it next time we coincide.
In the absence of any ladies knees to feel, as per the previous Wednesday, I settled for a very agreeable chat with Steve T.
Well, he chatted and I agreed (!) as we sat in the widest possible position on the end of the table.
A top crowd of Gooners, and a pity Tabs had to make an early exit on the pretext of having to collect his ticket from another pub. In truth, I think he had spotted my growing potential, and was afraid I was going to drink him under the said table. 😉
As for the game, it’s all been said.
A QPRhahaha defender rushed offside, back onside, should have got goal side, the linesman on the side said Arteta was not offside, the goal was given onside and the ever greyer Mark Hughes failed to see the funny side. Tough shit tosspot.
Jack, as Tabs said, was playing in a new side and looked like he had never been away. If he can stay fit we will all enjoy a player immensely who, as Arsene once said, was better than Fabregas at the same age.
Nice drinks above from H2H and zico.
Apologies for any I have missed but back drinking time has been severely limited.
Holic, you do yourself a big disservice with the self assessment of your writing skills.
Good luck and safe journeys to all the travelling Holics, and other Gooners, tonight. Another chance for some yoofs on the fringe to shine.
The Trev Pooond is staying in the pocket, which will interest noone, but it would otherwise join Holic’s on a 2-1 victory.
COYRssss.
Who’s the bastard in the black @ 61? 😉
Ollie, sorry, I missed you off the list.
Must be ‘cos you left just after I arrived. 😉
Gooner Ref,
Good to see you again. So referees don’t use common sense these days?
Who knew ……
Hey Dr. T The bar has seemed quiet in your absence so it’s great to see you back and having recovered from the Guinness overdose. Growing potential indeed. 🙂
Congratulations also on the award for the paragraph with the most occurences of “side” not including “Old Ironsides” in any way. May I add that your assessment of ‘holic’s writing is spot on. We must cure him of his excessive modesty.
Easy Nonny we need at least one on our side.
😉
Cheers 8ball. 😉
Nonny @ 66 and that’s one of the more polite things I get called, if ever we get miked up there’s going to a lot of very ‘interesting’ reports…..
bb8 @ 62 you might be pleased to see me (now thats a first!) but I suspect the players wouldn’t be of the same opinion!
Trev @69 us refs use common sense? if we used that we’d never go out on the pitch
Norcal @ 70 don’t worry about Trev, I always get worried if I’m not getting abuse, start to think the players aren’t trying
Afternoon all.
Welcome back Tabs and Trev, I was begining to get worried. 😉
Talk of the day still concerning Arteta’s strike I see. I personaly thought he was offside before he headed the ball onto the bar, but as the tv angle didn’t cover the entire line then I can’t be sure. A good point, that was made above by NorCal, that none of the QPR players appealed for the offside decision, well one did, albeit in a halfhearted fashion, the rest were all way too busy letting their heads drop in despair.
http://watchhighlightsonline.blogspot.nl/2012/10/video-mikel-arteta-goal-vs-qpr-header.html
I’ve watched it many times and I’m still no wiser.
But the simple fact remains that the goal stood and we took the three points and how nice it is that finally we’re not on the wrong end of one of those dodgy decisions.
H2H,
Personally, I couldn’t give a monkey’s.
We have more than our fair share of bad decisions, and anything that leaves Hughes angry and frustrated is just fine by me.
Three days debating a debatable offside ? Meh ! 🙂
So Clattenburg has been “stood down” from this weekend’s fixtures and “is unlikely to take charge of another game until this matter is resolved”.
Good to see that the referees will get the same treatment as the players for an alleged offence. Surely you all must remember when Suarez and Terry were alleged to have committed the same offence how they weren’t allowed to play until the matter was resolved………
Oh….
Trev.
I’ll use any excuse to post a link to that goal. Plus I’d gladly gayly frolic (easy Wolfie) in a bitter sweet pool of Sparky’s tears.
Re 77
Like this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owzhYNcd4OM
🙂
H2H, pause the video at 15 seconds. You can actually see the QPR defender there and I think that shows that Arteta is marginally offside but it is very, very tight and if we can’t decide after freezing replays, how on earth is the lino going to make the call in real-time?
Trev and H2H,
It’s been a leisurely debate and as I have said almost every time, ” it counts, I will take it and move on.” I am sure we will have one go against us at some point. We are playing at the toilet this weekend after all.
Anyway, hope the travelers today have a safe and entertaining time. I will look forward to the hashed together report after the game.
😉
Good spot Lars.
Heh, cheers, Trev, yeah I didn’t spend much time indoors but I think I was the first to spot you when I was there 😀
Evening all. Looking forward to a pressure free evening demonstrating the superior talent of our yoof and first team hangers on.
COYRs
I miss GoonerTerry, where has he been lately? Got any ideas if you’re about Snir? Hope its not Hurricane Sandy running interference… 😕
Jeez,
This is getting like another place where the “debates” make your eyes bleed…..
Goal was given and Hughes was majorly upset – what’s not to like?
For the travellers tonight – Tollie on Tour – go for it! 8)
Goal was given and Hughes was majorly upset – what’s not to like?
That’s all there is to say indeed.
Once more(!), zico is the voice of wisdom.
zico – my thoughts precisely, as posted @75 😉
Just “instantly” renewed my car insurance online with Aviva.
It took 40 minutes 🙁
@88
Apologies.
Got bored. 😉
Want some instant coffee to ease the pain, Trev?
I am quite happy that this week will only be 3 days.
89: you work for Aviva, zico? :s
In line with my new drinking habits I’m on a whiskey only diet this week. I’ve lost two days already 😉
No doubt this is old news to most people but I just found it myself. It’s about Liverpool’s communications director making threats to a blogger, which the club have since apologised for.
http://duncanjenkins.blogspot.co.uk
Ollie @92, never occurred to me, but they do all speak with a certain ‘broad bricht moonlicht nicht’ ? 😉
Old news indeed, Nonny :p
Think Lars covered that one Nonny – incredible stuff.
I think I have another hour left of being at work. Not pleased at all, but at least I can watch the game on TV at home tonight.
Casual assist.
Plays a clever reverse pass before nipping out for a while …..
scramble in the box and …..
Heh @ 92
Maybe I do – I sure can’t count 😉
in off my own backside …. the only way I ever score.
Enough Wolfie 😉
heh Trev. Comical finish, but they all count.
What time is kick-off tonight? 7.45 or 8?
7.45, Ollie. You can find such information on a website called “arsenal.com” 😉
Trev, nice unintentional goal there!
Great ton Trev. Sorry I missed you on Saturday.
Nice one, Trev.
A goal is a goal and all that.
Cheers, Lars and heh. Too lazy.
Another shitty goal. Are you sure you weren’t offsides?
😉
Norcal, nah too many behind the line….
Squad: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-names-18-man-squad-for-reading-clash
Anyone have a stream of this game?
selection of them here Bearded http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=175528&part=sports
Thanks Eandy!
No idea what to expect from tonights game and after looking at the squad list I’m not really all that wiser. I suppose it all depends on how Reading line up, but to be brutally honest I wouldn’t be able to tell the differance between a reserve team or their best XI just by looking at a team sheet.
@Arsenal: Arsenal team to play Reading: Martinez, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Djourou, Miquel, Coquelin, Frimpong, Walcott, Arshavin, Gnabry, Chamakh.
@Arsenal: Substitutes: Shea, Meade, Squillaci, Bellerin, Yennaris, Eisfeld, Giroud.
Cheers Eandy, seems to be a few high-speed streams there so let’s hope they can deliver on what they promise.
Tonight’s selection:
Martinez, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Djourou, Miquel, Coquelin, Frimpong, Walcott, Arshavin, Gnabry, Chamakh
Substitutes: Shea, Meade, Squillaci, Bellerin, Yennaris, Eisfeld, Giroud
H2H@115: me too, I guess the only player I know is a sure starter if they are playing their strongest team would be Pogrebnyak but other than that I must admit I haven’t the foggiest.
Yerr just too fast fur me, zico!
An interesting lineup on our part, in any case. Really looking forward to seeing Martinez play for the first time.
For no rational reason at all, I have a feeling Chamakh will score a goal tonight 🙂
Lars, hope you are right. Damn shame what has happened to that boy.
Cha-who? 😉
Hookah for a Hat trick?
Hookahs?
Thats Feelgoods terrotory. 😎
Squillaci to come on and score the winner.
You’ve read it here first. And last.
And Only.
Squil-who?
😉
French commentators not up to scratch. ‘Jason Roberts, who won the League Cup with Wigan in 2006’. Er no, he did score the goal that kicked us out in the semi, but if I recall they got trashed 4-0 by Red Mancs in the final.
COYRRR’s
Sloppy start
Early scares …get settled in guys come on.
Is that chamakh or a peacock?
Away supporters in great voice.
More blind refs officiating, that was a clear corner.
Brilliant from Martinez!
Jaysus, Rubbish dedending.
Well played Reading ..well taken actually.
Booo, not Roberts the knobend
Shit defending. Kos and miquel left him open.
Was it Frimpong who gave the ball away? It was him or Coq I think. Shoddy.
Think it was Frimpers indeed, Nonny.
What a shitcunt 😉
More shoddiness. 3-2 then?
Kos makes a great striker. What shit.
Kos …OG …why again?:(
Kos scores…………… Oh.
Not to be one that gives up but nah, this game we’re not getting back into. I never really feel this way (and hey, I was on the “winning” side of Germany-Sweden just a few weeks back) but this game is over.
Boring old sod I am, heh?
OK 4-3 then.
Jaysus, this isn’t looking good.
What sort of bizarre save attempt was that? :s
And oh, to my credit, I wrote that before the 3-0…
Fuck, we’re in a mess.
Disaster.
No one even tries to close him down. WTF.
what the fuck is going on???
okay…for fucks sake ..start to play guys.
The last time I saw a ricket like that from a keeper, it was when I was watching ladies football. It was that bad.
Shambles of a performance so far.
I think I’ve seen a similar one not that long ago, Nonny.
Actually might have been Mannone but the striker was thankfully offside 😉
He’s tried a showboating palm away there and literally slapped it the wrong way, into his own net. What a bell.
Really unfair Nonny, ’bout the ladies football. Has nothing to do with anything has it?
Theo, that wasn’t very good, you could/should have hit that earlier without the 2 stupid touches.
It was a great chance, the old bloke who used to wear 14 would have scored that while sleeping. 😉
All we need is a goal before half-time. Two would be even better.
lazy from Arshavin yet again. He’s just putting the ball into areas with no idea of who is within thirty yards of the pass
Tne way wer’re playing I’d be surprised if we had two shots before HT
It’s true Nonny, Arshavin’s passing has looked very random so far.
Adams with Tom Watt in the crowd. That would be interesting to sit in front of, with Adams moaning in rhyming couplets and Watt defending Wenger to the hilt.
And again. Seriously. And he’s in the middle there so…..
It’s a competition of shit passing at the moment.
Look, I can do worse than you!
Seriously, are they all on drugs?
Oh dear.
Eight nil anybody? Fucking shit.
I thought 4-3 was possible.
5-4 seems very unlikely.
This is seriously unreal and painful to watch, I do hope for some serious rollicking done by Arsene and Bouldy during HT ..I mean …this is just ridiculous performance.
I hope they’re going for a piss and an early half time pie, because if they’re going home already they are cunts.
Seriously, what the fuck is going on?
Yep, I was thinking just that Nonny 174.
Has anyone checked the keys to the CMC?
Arshavin putting balls all over the place but actually to no one. Coquelin is just walking everywhere. Really poor. Really really shit.
Who is playing defense? Absolute shit. Even for reserves, play for the team and the badge.
They could at least hang on until HT, Ollie 😉
That would certainly be more discreet :p
What the actual fuck. I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I came in to 3-0…
I kind of preferred the previous League Cup teams who had 7-8 youths and the rest as first team in need of time.
Now the balance is reverse and you can see the so-called first teamers in all their shiteness 😉
Wahey, a shot on target! The only way is up.
The only players I feel sorry for are those with a whiff of the first team in their nostrils, because Jenkinson, Walcott and Koscielny are going to suffer most. The likes of Arshavin, Djourou and Chamakh have zero future at the club so they don’t care and the rest are largely going to get games in the distant future (like the next two or three years), if they’re lucky.
Come on! A goal before half-time and this tie is ours.
Yep, I’m with you on 183.
Frimpong really winds me up. Fuck off back to Twitter and get off the pitch.
Ooooh, naughty chanting. We want our Arsenal back indeed.
Load of fucking crap.
Love the travelling gooners. Class as always.
You sure? I heard ‘we want our money back’.
Ollie, on the telly it sounds like Arsenal..
Get in, Theo. Class finish.
Feoooo!
My 184, I stick by it 😉
Theo! Class
Finally!
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh. Walcott.
Oh wait… 🙂
What can we expect when Le Boss declares this is the very least of our worries this season. It’s much more important for us to make up the numbers on a Tuesday and Wednesday in Europe.
Oh well at least the players will be able to look back over the last seven years champions league qualification medals with lots of pride.
Please Arsene and the board sort this out sooner rather than later.
Do these guys even practice together?
Finally. But seriously that was absolute shit!
1 back, we’re in with a chance, no matter how slight.
Dis-fucking-graceful!
If you shoot you might score
Won’t do him any good though. He could score five world class goals and he’d still be on the bench come Saturday
Well..no communication between defensive players ..hopefully Feos goal is going to be the lift we need…seriously ..unreal.
Or just Tabs it.
Not sure at all Nonny.
I think he was only on the bench last Saturday because he was only coming back.
No we know why Mannone plays.
It’s not possible to look less “I don’t give a fuck” than Arshavin is it? Surely…
Shamefully bad, I could count on one finger the amount of players in red that look to give a shit the complacency running through the club shown in all it’s glory, We want our Arsenal back indeed.
Fuck-a-doodle-doo
Nb1, it’s been the least of our worries for years and years, and we’re nearly always done well in that competition (sadly without winning it though), so nothing’s new and you certainly can’t put the performance tonight down to that.
The good news is that it will be difficult to beat 8-2.
yo tabs
We can still win this.
Can see Giroud coming in, and right now I would like to see Eisfeld in instead of Arshavin ..I always root for the little Russian but what he just shown is absolutely disgraceful performance…reminds me why he is not a starter in first team, he is so gifted with the skill…but the desire is there only in some moments, what a shame.
Hope u watched that goal garguns, walcott fuckin glows!
This was the worse Jenks game in Arsenal shirt, I am counting that Koln friendly too.
Are we turning up this one? I am optimist.
Oh dear our best chance of silverware gone already – I was going to say there’s not a single positive after the 1st half but Theo’s finish was tasty.
Still far too little far, far too late.
Never mind Arsene knows……
Well, one in the other onion bag for a change.
I honestly don’t think this is over. If we get a fairly quick goal to make it 4-2 then Reading will probably start bricking it. They were starting to switch off the last 7-8 minutes and despite being utter crap we have started to create stuff.
And I am there with Ollie, if we bang in one shortly after second half starts, we are still in, but we need to improve lots.
I can’t believe what I just watched. Sometimes I wish I didn’t care at all.
That starting eleven should be good enough to get a result at Reading but I think we may be seeing Chamakh and Arshavin for the last time. Except Arshavin probably needs to hang around with Gervinho hurt.
I like Coquelin, but why isn’t he running at all? Is he hurt? If so why is he out there?
Alright Ollie,
Well if we nick another one I suppose we’ve got a game, but I cant hold out much hope when we look like conceding every time Reading get within 40 yards of our goal.
Exactly, Lars&Eandy. I hope all the players watched Lorient vs Ajaccio at the weekend.
Fuck-a-doodle-doo-what!
Not remotely fucking good enough.
I’d make three subs now. Fuck this game, there are one or two out there who should have their arsenal careers ended tonight. Messages need to be sent.
It’s still winnable, but I hope there are teacups hitting walls right now.
New striker and goalkeeper in January looking a must, I’m afraid.
Oh, and I think it’s time to give Theo the money and get him signed up.
Credit to the away support, again. I want my Arsenal back as well.
At the ground shocker first half. Very important goal at the end of first half!
We can do it COME ON YOU REDS!!!!
Hello Arthur! Hopefully the waking up act in the last 5 minutes can carry on for another 45.
Please take the peacock off and arshavin and Coq.
Eisfield, giroud and yennaris on.
Give me 45 minutes of running and play some fucking defense.
W
T
F
No sub? Rocket up the arse then I hope.
Come on Arsenal!
Let’s do it!
NorCal, Just woke up. What is the score?
come on…let’s get this done
And win a fucking header.
First time the Away boys have really showed there displeasure in an audible way which is never a good sign for them at the top!
N7, Couldnt agree more no fuckers going to buy the dross so at least show the rest half arsed performances are not tollerated at the club
What is happening? O.o
Go back to bed ABB. nothing to see here.
Effort please?
First time the Away boys have really showed there displeasure in an audible way which is never a good sign for them at the top!
No it’s not the first time, I remember Fulham 2 or 3 years ago.
Where are Denilson and Bentner when you need them?
Five minutes have gone no possession in the Reading half wtf
Well it sounds dreadful. I take it we’re behind 3 points. How did this happen 🙁
Well that wasn’t the start to the half I expected.
I’ll go back and hide into my hole, this isn’t looking good now.
Koscienly is crap 2nyt
get in subs earlier this time please Arsene
Sorry abb, words (not nice ones anyway)can not describe how bad this performance has been so far.
Koscielny making Roberts look like Messi….again
I see we’ve solved the problem with not being able to head the ball at all by just shooting our corners onto the first defender so no-one will notice.
Reading 4 – 1 Walcott
why no yellow when you leap in the air to block it with your hand?
damn almost Serge!
H2H, I’m not seeing the game, so I’m counting on you fellas to tell me what the hell is going on out there… 🙁
Gnabry seems to have a trick or two in him.
Would like to see Eisfeld soon. Not that his introduction will fix this mess, but I’d like him to get some minutes on the pitch. A good prospect and he’s earned some time on the grass, in contrast to a few others.
ABB,
We spotted them a 4 goal lead with no effort and horrible defending. We let them score on just about every trip they made into the box. Horrible passing, no communication and little effort.
Oh, and Jenks can hit a low cross! Positives!
Thats the way guys! ..COME ON YOU REDS!
No need to go mental, refs don’t change their mind, but to be fair to Chamakh it was a fucking handball and should have been a penalty.
Sprinting to moan at the lino was the fastest Chamakh has moved in 12 months….
Here we go. About time.
Got to be the end of Chamakh.
ABB,
Attack looks a little better this half but our defending is shocking. Kos looks out of sorts. Jenks had a poor half. They aren’t doing anything special except beating us to the ball.
NorCal Thanks! My refresh isn’t working. Sounds like nothing is is 🙁
Bad sub – Gnabry was just getting into the game.
Giour… eh… Djourou!
That’s TWO!!!!
Goal to beefcake
What. A. Goal
Get in! Play him every game Arsene, he’s quality.
And get Theo back in the first team.
Yes!
OG wonderful header!
Ollie,
Cannot remember them signing that, Thought that had more to do with calls for Cesc as Song was having an absolute stinker, Maybe wrong, Great header and far better last 10 mins Arshavin looks like he’s even trying wonder if Bould got him by the throat 😉
Giroud has to be starting…..end of
My worst nightmare. Djorou and Giroud on the same pitch.
Arshavin just doesn’t give a shit does he. Wandering about.
Chippy @ 268
I remember it. Final game, season before last: “spend some fucking money”. The Cesc/Song thing was a couple of seasons earlier.
A few players starting to emerge with some credit from this second half. Coquelin has upped it. Theo looks like he gives a shit. Miquel looks out of position but committed. Giroud, obviously.
Come on lads.
Oh, and fucking fantastic from the away support.
Giroud is immense!
Get Arshavin off and we’ll have a full team on the pitch.
Giroud. He cares and wants to play and score. Come on. Need another one in next 5 minutes.
Shame that Chamakh wasnt there to tap that one in…didnt count with the goalie to spill it like that …lacks that instinct.
Left foot, top corner Giroud. Please.
I like Esifelds movement
Eisfield should have started.
Giroud has run more in 15 mins than Chamakh has in 75.
N7, Ollie,
In that case the 3rd time then 🙂 ! Hopefully 3rd time lucky and they take some notice lol.
Eisfeld.
Well, if we can’t find the place for Eisfeld to start the next game, why not put him in goal? Would probably be a step up.
Shame! very close!
This is the Milan 2 legs from last season compressed into 90 minutes I fear
Speaking about legs, almost again, Giroud.
Close again. Why did we not play in the first half? So depressing to watch us mail it in for the first 40 minutes.
Going to run out of time here, sadly. If only they had started playing before going 4-0 down.
I feel like Helen Keller, can’t see or hear the game. Come on Arsenal!
How good does Eisfeld look? A touch of Pires about him…but quicker
Eisfeld is top class ..everything he has done he has done right so far.
In the first half I was wishing I WAS Helen Keller.
Oh Nonny 🙂
Only came in at 4-2 luckily.
Are there any police in Reading ‘cos Arshavin is taking money under false pretences.
Eisfeld, on the other hand, looks great.
ABB, less than 10 minutes left. We have been the better team in the second half and could have won if we didn’t completely give them the first 40 minutes. It was a absolute horrible display.
Koscielny’s gone back in time two years. Dreadful display tonight
Btw bath, yes, pity to have missed you on Saturday.
Kos has been shit.
Kos is not playing well. The lack of playing time has really hurt him.
It’s like always. It hurts a bit extra when you see what we actually CAN do when we are trying. Giroud is absolutely fighting for every ball.
Hey Trev, missed you. Yes, sounds like too little, too late. What a damm shame.
TABS-ed it again.
COME THE FUCKING FUCK ON
Get in!
A goal from a corner?
Fuck me.
Shoot from anywhere. Plaster the goal
That’s THREE!!!!!
Left it too late. It is Milan all over again.
KOS!
WHAT an attack that was. That lead to the corner. Not a pretty one but my god we fought for the seconds and we got the corner. If only… if only…
That should be a sending off for Kos. Definite second yellow
Fucking hell kos.
Kos in the right net this time, come on Arsenal!!!
And then lucky to stay on the pitch.
Think Kos has been in the CMC tonight.
It’s the four minute warning. Bombard the cunts.
Fuck’s sake, deflected wide. Great stuff Feo
Unlucky Theo.
That was it
OH MY GOD!
A body check from Kos. How has he stayed on?
Ah fuck
Off to bed then.
GOAL FEOOOOOOOOOOO
FOUR FUCKING FOUR
No way
HOW????????
Chamakhs first touch is a fucking bulldozer
Oh. My. Goodness.
Never in doubt !
We are the Arsenal…we are the best
aaaaaaaaahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa
GOD FUCKING DAMMIT YES!
YEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!
GET THE FUCKETY FUCK IN
What a game irs been so far.
Whatever happens in the next 30: fuck you Jason Roberts you timewasting cunt!
And that last sub?
Thank you.
Come on now!
This is crazy…
So excited by that I’ve gone blind. Helen Keller ambition realised 😉
We got Fergie extra time there
Football can make you look a fool and it has me tonight in a good way 🙂 Come on Arsenal !!
Its in our hands
Took them long enough but from 60th minute there was only one team on the pitch.
Ha-Haaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Thanks for making that sub Reading…idiots!!
HAHAHA! THIS IS INSANE!
Come on Arsenal, finish these cunts off.
Both Giroud and Eisfeld have been awesome since they came on.
Readings last substitution bit them in the ass…..
ABB do you not get BEIN sport channel? Cause they are showing it.
Un-fuck-ing-be-live-able.
Un. Fucking. Real.
Now finish this.
Seriously, that last sub and the little timewasting routine on the throw in, the extra minute was well normal.
Theo huge second half. Two goals, two assists. Sign him up.
Well played travelling Gooners. Brilliant as usual.
Holic, TS, Steve T, snowy, BtM our boys nearly took a hell of a beating.
Enjoy the rest. What can possibly go wrong now ?!
I am grinning like an idiot here now XD never in doubt indeed..Ollie and Lars know! 😀
Don’t stop now!!!!!!!!!
nice of us to give them a 4 goal start….what the fuck kind of a match has this been
Now LET’S GET IT DONE!!
This Walcott bloke looks good…is he under contract?
Someone go get Toby out of bed. Or maybe just leave him.
I hope the muppets who walked out after 35 minutes did go home, the muppets
Djorou?..why do you not close him down ffs?
I haven’t got a clue how this will finish…….. what a difference in the performance between the 2 halves.
Will Kos get sent off……..?
Why does the defense not stop ball? Someone has to step up and stop the player with the ball.
No way this goes to PKs
I’ve got a man crush on Eisfeld…he’s bloody good
Don’t give it to Arshavin ffs.
If we just keep our heads cool we will win this. Don’t give Reading any room to breathe and for fucks sake, don’t give the ref any reason to produce yellow cards for us!
Goal awarded to Feo. *mancrush*
Arshavin ffs! how can you be so casual?
Eisfelt, by the way, has been really, really good.
Must say I can say I’m glad I didn’t go to bed just there.
What ever the boss said at half time I wished he had said at the beginning of the game…..I’m happy to be proven wrong mind.
Apparently Giroud and Coquelin threw their shirts into the crowd at FT, thinking it was going to a replay.
Mad night.
Cmon Arshavin ffs
Must drive Giroud mental…working like a dog…only for Arshavin to pass it to Reading
Our traveling support is (again) amazing
A bit nervous of a penalty shootout with Martinez on the pitch. Having that said, this might be the night of general redeeming.
Come on lift the corner over the fucking defenders now.
Theo with bags of confidence now..only good before ManU game ..can see Poldi-Giroud-Feo attack starting there surely.
Perfect cross again. Attack the ball ffs
Nice cross Theo
Coquelin is still in slow motion.
Laughing – someone in another place describing Brian McDermott as Eddie Hitler.
It’s been that kind of night I’m expecting the Russian or Chamakah to score a 30 yard winner !
GOOOOOAAALLLLLLLL
Chippy!!!!!!
He choses his moments, that Chammy lad.
Chippy, you are Mystic Meg
22 yards that will do lol
Whoa……bout time
Chamakh…too fucking funny!
Cha – whooo???
Chippy you oracle! CHAMAKH!
The Chamak Combak …
Fuck you Chamakh-haters. Seriously.
So we are winning?! 🙂
Now stop the ball!!
Fucking Mayans.. Chamakh scoring from outisde the box.. Fuck end of the world
The supporters are rocking the house!!!!
5-4
I told you Chamakh would score!
BLOODY ARSENAL
Fucking lovely bunch.
Chamack-attack
It’s a MIRACLE!!!!
Feel for Miquel. He’s shown a lot of drive and quality second half.
Go on Mead! Enjoy your evening!
I’m dusting off my Hookah right now.
Feelgod, can you send Ivana home with some……tabac?
Is he related to Raphael?
Chippy you absolute oracle!
“SIT DOWN IF YOU’RE 5-4 DOWN”
Good one Kos. I think he is redeemed by now.
May I point out that Giroud has been absolutely brilliant in holding the ball up front?
Looks like we have another “vampire” of a keeper.
Lots of extremely tired legs out there now.
Great save there
How is that a foul?
Offside but great save
I believe you are right Lars. I’d say 40, but it might even be in the region of 44.
Pass the ball you lazy sod
6 may be?
Shit and piss. 5-5
Koscielny plays them onside and appeals for offside
fuck 🙁
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
our keeper is shit
Uhhh maybe not, tited looking bunch, worked their socks off tonyt
Can we have Eisfeld defend our penalties?
Ooooh to to wire!!
Poor shot really. Good idea, poor execution
FEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hat trick for Theo. If he doesn’t start Saturday, Wenger is a cunt
Well done Arshavin
FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
FEOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What. a. fucking. game.
Jesus
Very well done Arshavin. He’s been running all game. Quite a bit of crap and bad passes but, ah, well. If only for this moment I’ll look to what he has done well.
And Theo, good goal lad.
Madness from the goalie
six five to The Arenal, six five to The Arsenal, six five to The Arsenal, six five to The Arsenaaaaaaal
7-5
FUCK ME
What a game.
Chamaaaakh!
Hookah!!!
Chippy 35 yards?
I need a drink
Can you Adam n Eve it????
Chamakh from ouside the box.. Sandy.. END OF THE WORLD
I love you Arsenal.
You mad bitch.
Unreal.
Er, never in doubt. 8)
I hate to big myself up but at 184: Ollie knows!
NEVER IN DOUBT….
Mental.
And the winning combination is lucky piss before injury time=>theo scores.
H2H, you’re Podi’s new teacher I take it?
Seven five to The Arsenal, seven five to The Arsenal, seven five to The Arsenal, seven five to The Arsenaaaaaaal
I really really hope those people who fucked off after half an hour did go home.
Ollie, you never said 7-5.
Watching Arsenal is like getting drunk and having a hangover all at the same time
Keep the faith Gooners
Theo Walcott, sign the fucking contract. PLEASE
What N7 said at 446.
W
T
F
I saw the light.
I never ever thought I would see this happening. Sure it was Reading, and not Germany away like the last game like this I saw, but fuck me, I want to have a few beers now. Who’s with me?!
So. 7-5. XD
I challenged old time gooners to find a game as crazy as this one.
Boring Boring Arsenal !!!
I told you Chamakh would score twi…. uuh, hang on! 🙂
From being piss poor to being brilliant to despair again to class …sums up our play…and also Arshavins night..he was frustrating but he kept on working, spirited performance from whole squad.
Well, NorCal, at 172 I said 5-4 was unlikely so I got that right too 😀
Still laughing !
holeeey craaap. my heart is hammering, mouth dry, fingers twitching. that was incredible. absolutely the wildest game of *anything* i’ve ever seen. hat trick theo, eisfeld the edge, and our defense in complete shambles. i need about six pints just to get myself into working shape.
Just set the Tivo to record the re-run tomorrow morning. Chuffed to pieces with that second half. The first half was like watching an episode of The Walking Dead though.
Still can’t believe that….but Walcott – my goodness what a performance
Yeah, Eandy. And at the 89th minute I had abandoned all hope on Chamakh….
ABB,
You gotta watch that, but start a halftime!
Ollie, way to keep the faith. I am shocked at how many of us kept watching!
Awesome job away support. If you don’t enjoy the emotions of that game you need to stop watching. Now lets hope that wakes up the entire squad to always fight. Always!
That simply cannot be good for the health. How many emotions can a man go through in 3 hours?!
Seriously – sit down with Theo in the morning and make a sensible agreement.
Sajit – That’s the maddest game I’ve seen since Spurs chucked it away against ten man City in the cup, when Keegan was City boss.
And now it’s time for bed and dreams of Dreamy Feo. 😉
Downside if I may: Feo’s gonna be knackered and now I don’t think he’ll start on Saturday.
Great performance from Giroud, and Chamakh suddenly came alive during extra time too.
Feo disappeared at times but massive massive contribution.
Dont fuckin believe it…..this einsfied kid….he is like a better version of ramsey
And also as said..Ollie and Lars knew! 😀 this game was fucking mental to say the least, when it was 5-5 I was bricking it. Theo, sign the contract, Arsene..give him extra 15k a week he might settle with, start Giroud at Manure and give such speeches you had to give on HT during this game before EVERY game, because I dont know what you said …but I want it in liquid form and I want LOADS!
Goodnight Nonny. Now I can of hope the bloke we were debating before half-time went home and feels like a cunt 😛
Disgraceful really.
Listen to me very carefully I shall say this only once.
Give that money to Theo. I don’t want him anywhere near my team as an opponent. Just as I don’t wanted certain Dutch, and now he and his one-man-team awaits us on Saturday.
Bring on the Red Nose.
What an absolutely crazy and utterly insane game! I have to be up at 5 tomorrow and should be off to bed sharpish but there is no way in hell I’ll be able to go to sleep now…
Just worried that Walcott having had 120 min tonight maybe tired for Saturday.
lars, when the adrenaline wears off in a couple three hours, you’ll be good…
not much sleep, though. sorry.
snir and i were texting through the thing, both of us going mental. and to think i wanted chamakh off at minute 60.
Of course he will feel it Sajit, but he hasn’t played that much this season, and it is just tuesday today. He’ll be able to play. And he’ll be fired up and brimming with confidence after this.
Tomorrow’s headlines please….lets start with you Ollie…
I am just listening post match interview with Walcott and Jenks. Interesting thing is that Jenks is exhausted, and Walcott looks like he might play one more game like this.
30 Yards I reckon but alas not the winner 🙂 I’m going for a lie down ! Cannot even begin to describe what I just witnessed,
Sajit, I haven’t – the 5-4 win at the lane was lovely, Turning over Anderlecht 3.0 was probably up there for the old timers and of course for Drama Anfield will never get beaten, But for a total goal fest of epic proportions and weirdness between performance levels over two halves that was something else!!
Jenkinson claimed the goal with Theo in the post match interview…bit dickish! LOL
I’ll be surprised if Theo starts on the weekend. Will AOC be back and then Theo off the bench early?
Having played 120 minutes, there is of course no way that Theo can start on Saturday but could I just say that I thought Chamakh was better than I have seen him in a long, long time. Not just the goals which were both beautifully taken, he looked to have got a bit of spring in his step back.
NorCal I agree wholeheartedly. It’s a wonder so many didn’t give up. Of course I SAID I would but I could’t bring myself to stop watching. This is the moments you remember, even if it wasn’t a final, moments like these are what you will remember in your Arsenal career, having a pint, talking trivia.
heh Kenyan, sadly I don’t guess that. Or the lottery numbers :'(
My thought exactly NorCal, share the 90 between Ox and Theo.
5-4 at the lane.. I always felt as if we were in control. despite the odd strikes from the scum…
This was madness.
i cannot wait to hear the reports of the folk who were there. holic will have one HELL of a story to tell…
With you Lars, though I thought he took a while to get going.
Mind you, I remember the first half now, not a single one of our players was good.
Indeed scruz; I don’t know if we’ll have the report tonight now!
Here’s my headline:
Reading The Game Was Unbelievable
our first half was a complete shambles, ollie. do the players not know each other? how could the defense (from everyone!) be that bad? and sooooo slow?
when theo got the goal at the end of it, though, a very thin jacob’s ladder broke through the clouds…and the rest of the team climbed up it into the heavens.
Assist?
ollie, probably a ten pinter…just so he can calm down enough to type!
Speechless…..
oooooh, nicely done, ollie. i thought i’d have tabs’d it…
You finished that one-two very well, scruz!
Theo should be ready for Saturday and IMHO, has earned a start especially as Gerv is out. We do need to tie the boy down as well.
scruz, yep – no problem, even with just two hours or so of sleep I’ll still be high on adrenaline when I wake up tomorrow so I’ll just keep going 🙂
the return pass was tops, ollie.
lars, just get up an hour early and watch from the 45th minute, and you’ll be adrenalized all day…
i just want to scream aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh at the top of my lungs for about fifteen minutes, jumping around and pumping my fists.
Anyone else thoroughly enjoyed Jason Roberts feeling like a cunt and moaning after the end of normal time whistle?
Ollie, I think the problem with hour first half might be that the players, like you, hadn’t checked Arsenal.com and thought the game started at 8.30 😛
Ok, time to calm down and finish off the department budget. Might just be my most inspired yet 😀
Ollie@508: you are certainly not alone.
Cheers Scruz, I’ll open the window and see if I can hear you.
At the 93rd minute, after Feo had missed a chance, I was already to switch everything off but went for a lucky piss (though I didn’t expect it to be lucky at the time).
At 120, when the penalties looked inevitable, I went for a lucky piss, and unlike the previous one, I was really thinking we might score.
Some nights, it just works in strange ways.
Ol @ 508 it was beautiful.
Haha @509 Lars 😀
Right, better go to bed, and I’ll catch up with the other place tomorrow, one day after everybody else.
Mind you, much better than the ‘avoid it at all cost’ I was preparing myself to just over an hour ago!
Goodnight, folks, sweet, mental dreams!
Ollie @508 – I did. 🙂
Ollie,
How fitting that it was his substitution that gave us the time. And he was unable to play anymore, just sit there and watch us finish them off. Crazy. Still crazy thinking about how it happend. Lets hope we learn something from it.
Eisfeld is a handy little player. Things really picked up with he and giroud coming on. People slam AW for his substitution choices but today’s really changed it. Also Peacock and Theo played better with those 2.
sweet dreams, ollie.
i was so happy to see jason roberts moaning. all that time wasted early on, and then not enough added on. too bad, sucker.
norcal, did you hear me? not fifteen minutes, but a good yell from the loading dock just now.
I’m not surprised Jenks was exhausted. If there is a gooner in the squad, it’s him. Despite what was going on early on, he never gave up – he played right-back, midfield and right wing. I’d like to know how much ground he covered. He was magnificent and although i can understand it if he wants to claim the equalising goal, I hope when he sees the replay that he’ll realise the linesman was fucking useless and the ball had already crossed.
Coming back and winning that game after the first half defensive shambles and lackadaisical midfield play against three grossly biased officials was just fantastic. I bet those wearing Arsenal shirts who left at 0-4 (can’t call them fans) are feeling sick.
Marouane Chamakh – all is forgiven 🙂
Theo Walcott – I take it all back.
Andrej Arshavin – what can you say? Abysmal one minute, amazing the next – that’s AA all over.
Nighty Ollie.
My head is still spinning…
It’s nights like this that those of us who never leave until it’s over are rewarded. MASSIVE props to the travelling Gooners, even at 4-0 down all I could hear was the away fans.
Have no words for what I’ve just witnessed.
Thank God I skipped school.
Would have been absolutely shite not to be a part of that game.
Wow.
I’m absolutely knackered.
norcal, i was plumping for eisfeld and giroud from the start. not enough creativity with frimps and coq; should have been one or the other. coq, eis, and gnabry in the midfield, with arsha/giroud/theo would have been a taste treat. though chamakh did acquit himself with the goals today, at least justifying his inclusion in the squad.
We were defensive with frimpong and Coquelin at least in theory but got shredded and had less going forward. Eisfeld gave us more flowing football and Giroud gave us that second attacker( besides Theo). And then Chamakh’s pre game hookah wore off. 😉
@520
As for Ashavin – more like abysmal for 115 minutes, magic for 5
It looked to me that the ref had blown for the goal before jerks spanked it home but apparently not.saying that watching that I wouldn’t have been surprised if an Alien came down ripped of his clothes done the YMCA then proceeded to score a hatrick with his knob, Bemused!
NorCal@525: I assume the idea was to start out a bit defensively to allow the team to get into the game gradually, but it didn’t quite work out… Arsene’s gamble with only making two subs in regulation time also paid off meaning we didn’t have to go down to ten men when Miguel got injured. Brian McDermott made a massive mistake in completely needlessly using up his third sub in stoppage time. Not that we could know that beforehand, but you rarely see the most experienced managers do such subs since you are screwed if you don’t manage to defend the lead.
if anyone wants a laugh (beyond norcal’s pre-game hookah comment), read from minute 85 of soccernet.com’s gamecast. the guy even calls for wolfie!
Can’t go to bed, too pumped.
I thought poor Theo was going to cry when he realised the ref had robbed him of the hat-trick, which is balls anyway because on the replay from the side he’s already blowing his whistle before Jenkinson scores.
Still… WIN
Wenger’s eyes look very weird post laser surgery. Got lifeless eyes, black eyes. Like a doil’s eyes 😉
Sorry, I mean Miquel of course. Bit of a spelling misstook there.
though he’s a bit of a tit for calling roberts’ substitution “canny”.
We had many experienced players on the pitch tonight, but I was feeling safe only when the ball was in Eisfield possession.
Composed and calm, with wide passing range and more than decent shot. I think we got a player there.
Walcott had 9 shots – 7 on target…..
Just in the car trying to get back to the m4.
Bizarre.Totally bizarre.
Still just wow. Glad I was home to watch it live and share it here in the virtual bar with real friends. Corporate cup game or not, that was awesome.
Lars, totally understand the reasoning of the defensive start but the players were not even awake or aware there was a game going on.
Also, are you still planning on going to Villa away? We are going but are sitting behind enemy lines. Too impossible to get 7 away tickets. If your there maybe I can buy you a beer. On my tab, oh.
LO @ 533 – that boy looks the business.
So was Theo playing as a central striker to get his hat trick tonight then?
You’re there, not your there. I suck at English.
Trev, not sure we really had a formation once giroud came on. Theo, chamakh, arshavin,giroud all popped up all over the field. I think that actually helped our attack. They had no idea who they were matched up with.
Walcott scored a hat trick with all 3 goals scored in added time – must be some sort of freak record
Cannot believe missed watching this live. Was at work, had the BBC live scores page open and in between conferences was taking looks — saw 4-0 at one time, 4-2 at another, then 4-4, 4-5 and then the final score.
Cannot recall ever seem anything like that in a serious top level football match. We do really have the capacity for the surreal and the bizarre. 🙂
Can’t wait to watch the recordings. Last few days I have posted a few times why we should keep Theo as he is entering into the peak of his career. Nice to see him making his case.
And nice to see Chamakh score. Whatever happened has happened, but if this gives him back the confidence with which he started for us, then we would have a very decent back-up option for Giroud without having to change the formation.
NorCal, I will be at Villa away (in the Arsenal section) and Montpellier at home. Will be in London from the day before (or the evening, rather, think I am arriving fairly late on the Tuesday) the Montpellier game and fly back to Sweden on the Sunday.
What a crazy, magical game…..a bigger come-back than an elephant’s foreskin. 🙂
Evening All
Can’t wait to read Holic’s report tomorrow. From a Comedy of Errors to Absolutely Fabulous all in 123mins is no mean achievement. What did AW do and say at HT? Oh to have been a fly on the wall.
Just wish I had been at the game, here’s to a decent home draw in the qtr final.Let’s hope the goal scoring rubs off on our Man U eleven. Giroud is beginning to look the part,he must start on Saturday.
As always COYRs
NorCal,
Exactly.this obsession with being a central striker is stupid.
He will never, physically, be a central striker with the power to dominate Premier League centre backs.
Coming inside running past a full back into the box is another possibility entirely.
He started as a ‘wide’ player tonight and scored three. Where exactly is his problem ?
What ? Money ? No ……
Still chuckling here …. 5 – 7. !!!
…and when Jenks made it 4-4, thousands and thousands of Sperz fans went “oh fuck, celebrated too soon again!” 🙂
Lars,
Wind, my 2 older kids and I will be at the Montpellier game. Perhaps a pint before or after that one. I’ll just have to lock my kids to a bike rack or something outside the Tollie. I believe TS said he too may be going to that game. If not maybe a different time. We will be in london from Tuesday evening thru Sunday as well. We are actually staying in Birmingham on Saturday night. Who family, including a friend from B’ham and my mother-in-law will be at that game. We will be the group that is escorted out after we score and my 5 year old stats singing” Lu Lu Lu Lukas Poldolski”.
Have a good night.
Mine is!!!
Whole family….Christ I need to proofread. Still too amped up.
NorCal and Trev: I couldn’t work out our formation either, they all seemed to play in all positions at once. I do however think it was a 4-4-2 with Giroud and Chamakh up top and a hell of a lot of movement and interchanging of positions.
When’s the DVD comming out?
That was fucking EPIC!
NorCal@548: great, we’ll sort something out!
AW said post-match that he went 4-2-4, 4 7-5 score
Tim@453
“Watching Arsenal is like getting drunk and having a hangover all at the same time”
That game was what watching arsenal is all about…fuckin awsome.
Even at 4 nil down I never stopped believing….faith will move mountains…On to old trafford where revenge will taste oh so sweet :-]
OK, I now have to be up in less than four and a half hours so I really have to go to bed no matter how much I am still buzzing… have a good night all!
Can’t wait for the official ‘holic report,somehow I don’t think it will be tonight. 😉
What a game to have been at, legendary.
Wanger Out. 🙂
Lars – After Giroud and Eisfeld came on there wasn’t really that much of a formation.
It was more like – Go on, be strikers, the lot of you. Just score…
🙂
Sadly the best words ever used to describe a game belong to Slur Alex.
Football.. bloody hell
🙂
Little known fact;
This is the first time that we’ve ever come back and won after being 3 goals down. (4 goals down too 😉 )
Looks like Chelsea are doing an internal enquiry over the Clattenburg thing. It will be interesting to see what they do if it turns out to be bullshit, because they’ve knee-jerked themselves into a corner in the aftermath of a defeat.
If it turns out to be bollocks, I’d expect whoever made the claims to get fired, and perhaps Chelsea to be in serious trouble because they are, it seems from here anyway, just trying to get Clattenburg into serious trouble. They could have ended his career over this claim.
“I just felt sorry for the fans, they stuck with us. A big part stayed and supported us and I give them credit. I give the ones who left less credit.”
He could have added “The cunts” to that.
Goodnight all.
What a silly game. I don’t know what to make of that. The team tonight, probably has never played together in a competitive game but they got better as the game went on. having 2 big men upfront in Chamakh and Giroud has unsettled Reading on set pieces. I don’t mind seeing them together again specially if a team parks the bus and there is no way through. Walcott deserves some credit and a new contract. The best of tonight were the fans, 4 nil down and they were still cheering on the team. We have the best away fans in the country.
If there’s one thing that really pisses me off in football, it’s the making a substitution to waste time when there’s nothing left on the clock.
Reading done it today and it backfired worse then Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. At 90 mins it was 4-3 Reading, the fourth official put up his sign for 4 extra minutes, In the 93rd minute Chuch came on for the anti racist t-shirt refusing, dumped by the beeb for crappy blog writing, never make it as a PL striker, relegate every team he’s in, self rightous cuntrag Roberts. Allowing Arsenal to score in the 96th minute.
Gotta love it. 🙂
Forgot to mention Eisfield. what a player? this kid is special and needs more game time.
we pulled a newcastle on them, only this time we were the away team, and won the game handsomely!! and that Eisfield kid, reminds me of Cesc when he was first introduced by Prof Wenger…lovely stuff
Watching this match was “A Very Personal Journey” for me in it’s own right (tying in the title of the post, clever, eh?). First half I’m wondering if we’ve lost the plot, why the youngsters are not interested, can’t we make a pass?….oh, Theo scored, were only three down…..we don’t score the third until we are into stoppage time, I wonder..didn’t we learn our lesson last year with AC Milan by laying down while they scored four?..and came up one goal short? Then the extra, extra, extra time….don’t know the rules or how that works, just know that we’ve been jobbed by that before.
The support was absolutely outstanding, I truly hope no Arsenal supporter left that stadium. They will forever regret it.
I will never ever forget it.
Can’t believe we came back to win it. I had to leave at halftime to take my daughter to chorus practice where I was sans computer so only found out after getting back home and checking the scores expecting the worst. After Theo scored the first one though it probably made the possibility real even if not very in everyone’s mind. I guess we didn’t give up after all then? 🙂
Yes few away fans left at half time but not many, probably thery were from the prawn sandwich brigade that attend the home games only. But the majority stayed and I thought they were outstanding, they did not stop supporting the team.
Before I hit the hay.
I gotta give props to the excellent away support who once again did us proud and a special shout out to the guys that gave OG and Le Coq their shirts back.
Sc gooner. Yes I like Eisfield, I’m a bit surprised he is not in teh first team already, he is a tidy player, his passing is measured and loves to conbine with others.He keeps things simple and effective.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
@526 Tim “As for Ashavin – more like abysmal for 115 minutes, magic for 5” you re damn right…i think he should have been sub’d right before miquel got injured…his legs were giving in, and then he popped up with that shot/assist for Feo’s 3rd.
@WC#574, i hope Eisfield he gets a place in the starting xi..and yes i like the way he keeps his passing simple but effective.