Guest Post – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
Oct 21st, 2012 by 'holic
A huge debt of gratitude is owed by me to Take a Bow Son, called up to oblige with this match report as I correctly called my likely lack of a consistent signal in the wild west (Well, Cornwall actually). I still haven’t seen the game so I should add the proviso that the author’s views may not represent the views of the blogger. I doubt it though, as we normally share the same rose-tinteds. Thanks again TaBS. A pint at least shall be your reward next Saturday.
Just call me Serge Gnabry. I’ve been called up by ‘holic for a couple of pre-season friendlies in the past. Held my end up, no problem, write it up, bang it out, nothing to worry about. Ready for the Premiership? No problem mate. Describe the glut of goals, welcome another victory away from home and high five anyone who turns up. Right? Err no. Rather like Serge I found myself in the midst of a nightmare.
How do you pick the bones out of what just occurred? No idea, so let’s talk first about Naarwitch. There are many reasons to dislike Naarwitch:-
One – As far back as 1973 their incompetence allowed Ralph Coates, in Tottenham colours at Wembley, to strut his “uber Bobby Charlton cut” to the max.
Two – Their kit, reminiscent of a Rothmans Isthmian League Special, has always irritated.
Three – In the opening game of the 92-93 season their comeback from a half time 2-0 deficit to win 4-2 at Highbury arguably signalled the end of George Graham’s nod to creative football in favour of an approach which was as dysfunctional as it was conservative. That change of tack announced the end to the hope that we had legitimately had of jumping into the void that Liverpool had only recently vacated as the Club that would dominate.
Four – In more recent times Delia Smith, drummed out of the Band by Morrissey for her increasingly drunken bass-playing turned her hand to cooking. Anyone who has followed her recipes to the letter, and I mean to the letter, will still blame Morrissey for that ill-considered decision.
Five – Most recently, the cat-calling by the Combine-Harvester boys at Sagna’s broken leg at the Emirates last May hardly endeared themselves to the less inbred part of the crowd that day.
Sadly however, and in the wake of such a dispiriting defeat, that is as much hate as I can muster. Yesterday cannot be added to that woeful catalogue of Naarwitch’s past misdemeanors. We cannot blame a poor referee, nor can we blame a desertion of the footballing Gods. We cannot pontificate on an over-physical approach by the home side, nor can we find any reasonable excuse for the paucity of our play. We ultimately got what we deserved. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Arsene’s chosen side threw up no surprises. Koscielny’s injury made the centre-back pairing (both with something to prove against Norwich) easy. Giroud, fresh from his midweek goalscoring exploits, was retained as the central focus of the attack. Out on the right , and in the light of a rather longer sojourn in Poland than the Ox might have initially expected, Gervinho was chosen. Not many would have quibbled with the selection.
The first 20 minutes betrayed no real sign of the horrors that were to come. Dominant in possession, Arteta, comfortably our best performer on the day, perhaps our only performer, and Ramsey established a foothold in midfield that allowed Poldolski two sights of goal. The first was squandered when the German required too much time, whilst the second fizzed past the far post. Earlier on, Pilkington had provided the only scare when his shot went just the wrong side of the post.
On 20 minutes the alarm bells began to ring. Tettey hit a low and swerving shot from 23 yards that Mannone could only parry. In stepped that walking refrigerator, Holt, to finish easily from 6 yards. It is perhaps harsh to blame our 3rd choice keeper for spilling a moving ball, but to parry the ball centrally rather than push it to less dangerous areas surely indicates culpability. The brutal truth is that Mannone is a young keeper still learning his trade. He has now arguably cost us points up at Eastlands, at home to Chelsea, and now at Norwich. Goals change games in more ways than the scoreline. The Arsenal first team is not the place for such a raw custodian to keep learning. With Fabianski out until January at the earliest, Arsene must turn his mind to the signature of a keeper at the first opportunity. Mannone, willing though he is, will continue to cost us points for as long as he is between the sticks.
The home side’s goal did not have the desired effect. In fact, quite the opposite. Passes began to go astray, tackles were lost, and moments of danger to the Norwich goal were few and far between. Cazorla, the source of so much that is good, was pushed more and more into ineffective areas and bar a couple of sweet turns, was denied the space to bring his wondrous football brain to bear. In front of him, Giroud toiled to no great effect, whilst on the flanks Podolski, after a bright start, did a passable impression of the invisible man, and Gervinho, slightly more effective on the left than on the right, was unable to find any kind of final ball on the rare occasions that his dribbling threatened to undo the Norwich defence. Instead, it was the rare sorties forward from the home side that more readily threatened a second goal and Turner flashed a free header wide from a corner when his teammates might more readily have expected the net to bulge.
Half time then. Surely a steely glare and a few well-chosen words from Arsene, and perhaps a less cerebral approach from Bouldy, would have the desired effect? Wrong! The second half started in pretty much the same way as the first had ended.
Ramsey suddenly seemed unable to find a red shirt, Cazorla saw less and less of the ball and both Gervinho and Podolski were anonymous. Any substitution could not come quick enough. The German made way for the Ox, but in truth both Ramsey and Gervinho would have had no legitimate complaint had it been their number flashed up by the fourth official. In the event, the Ox’s contribution was over before it began. Given a needless kick the first time he received the ball, he laboured on for 10 minutes before calling time. On came the little Russian, borne of Blackburn love and in tight as you like shorts. Could he make a difference? Nope. Moments to encourage the belief that there might yet be a sting in the tail for the Norwich faithful were few and far between. Giroud was unable to wrap his foot around the ball after a Jenkinson cross invited a flap from the otherwise unemployed Ruddy, a Cazorla free kick found only the keeper’s midriff, and Arteta’s weak effort provided a first shot on target from open play in the 85th minute.
At the other end Norwich’s lead might have been doubled when Holt found himself clean through after a slip from the captain. Thankfully, Holt decided to pretend he was a footballer and tried a delicate chip when other more pragmatic options were available. Just time for Gnabry to take his Premiership bow in place of the suffering Ramsey. To be fair he didn’t look out of place, and got on the end of Giroud’s knockdown. Sadly, he blazed the half opportunity high wide and not so handsome. A last minute half chance for Gervinho, snuffed out by a last ditch tackle, and then the Final whistle, prompting the biggest celebration of cousins since Adam and Eve threw a surprise party for their grandchildren.
Panic? Not quite, but frankly Mr Shankly we were nowhere near good enough. This was as bad as it’s been for many awhile. Early days, but unless there is a massive improvement in the coming weeks (including a stellar performance at Old Trafford), we may well look back on this day as the day when any pretensions to challenge for the top prize were brutally exposed.
My Premiership debut? It wasn’t meant to be like this ‘holic!
336 Responses to “Guest Post – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”
A fine first post Serge in undoubtedly unsettling circumstances. I cannot properly express my disappointment in the lack of fire in our bellies. In Arsene I trust but with the top three playing as they are, something has to give. Appreciated the references though. Cheers til next week mate!
Meeja harlot 8)
This charming man is still pissed off!
Good to see there’s an able number 2 to step in. Damned losing …
Just seen your glorious drink in the preview Dr z.
Awesome.
I would have published that if you were as big a meeja whore as your mate 😉
Haha.
I’ll do anything for a shilling!
Heh, cheers ‘Holic.
Best I keep a low profile – you never know when and where Interpol might be lurking…. 😉
Also, tabs, excellent piece, in the circumstances.
Nice 1 tabs,that had to be hard considering the game you where reporting on it was awful and as you said nobody to blame this time but ourselves.
Excelent PL debuet tabs.
I ranted on the previous drinks, but not sure if it went up (a few problems on my end, oo-er) Here it is;
Sunday Bloody Sunday, the day after Sad Arse Crappy Saturday.
After the final whistle I decided it was best to get the fuck off the internet and go into total football lock out mode, MOTD was recorded but not watched, I wasn’t in the mood, esecialy as I’d already heard that our “rivals” had all managed to grab victories from a losing position. AaaaRRRGGHH.
Instead I had a few bevvies, played some darts, it’s quite therapeutic to be able to throw sharp objects at a target when feeling a bit peeved, before retiring to watch some tv which, to my surprise, had programmes and films and stuff that had nothing to do with footy, who knew?
After waking up refreshed this morning afternoon, I ventured back onto the net to pick through the debris of the aftermath, only visiting the sites that I trust, (ie Arseblog and here) to see what others had to say. The reactions are, as always, varied and I can agree with almost all of the arguments being put forward from the mildest to the extreamist, because that performance, and I mean that in the loosist sense of the word, was as baffling as it was lethargic as it was pathetic as it was avoidable.
But, being the glass half full kind of chappy that I am (mainly because I’m always in the vicinity of a beer tap to replenish said drinking vessel) I’ll first try to find a positive thing to say about what we witnessed yesterday………………
Here goes;
The positive aspect of yesterdays performance is that surely it can’t get any worse then that!?
Sorry if any of you were expecting more flowery, happy thoughts, but I’m afraid there weren’t any. Now, I know we can’t win them all, I don’t expect us to, but yesterday it didn’t even seem like we were trying, we were second best in every aspect of that match and it made for painfull viewing. I can accept the fact that we will lose to a better team, as was the case against the Chavs, they outplayed is in midfield, by cutting out our supply lines and closing us down well, but with all due respect to Norwich, they are not a better team then us and although they stiffled us well, they didn’t really have to do that much to stop us playing, just stand there and hold position, we looked clueless.
Fact – Santi Carzola has scored more goals from outside the box then any other player in the top five leagues.
If this is true, then why the fuck did his first shot not happen until the game was almost done? But it wasn’t just him who seems scared to have a go, I posting this at HT;
A lot of pocession, but not really used to great effect. I would like to see a few more attempts on goal, we’re not shooting enough.
I then posted this around the 80th minute;
Finally a shot.
Looks like Gnarby comming on.
Now, I realise that football has changed with all the new fandangled tactics and reliance on statistics and what not, but the simple fact remains if you don’t shoot the liklihood of scoring diminishes, it’s not exactly rocket science is it? And all the tippy tappy in the world will not change that fact.
From the front three, Giroud had a go, but got no service. Poldi, a player who incidently hasn’t managed a whole 90mins in the PL this season, was rumoured to be carrying an injury, raising the question of wtf he was doing there in the first place, was well off the pace. Gerviniho was, well, Gerviniho. Now I know that a lot of you like him and I respect that, but to me he’s way out of his depth, he often takes the pace out of our attacks by running into and not at defenders, he also has the look of someone who’s constantly fighting/getting tangled up with the ball, I half expect him to fall flat on his face. However, what he lacks in panache he usually makes up for in effort, but not yesterday when he seemed happy to just stroll around the field.
The midfield was shoddy, surrendered pocession too easily, even headers won always seemed to either go the wrong way or directly to their players, Arteta gave it a go, Santi was pretty anonymous and poor Aaron was again asked to play in a position in which he’s obviously not comfortable in.
As for the defence, Bouldy can drill them until the cows come home, but I believe it won’t make a shit bit of difference because of the simple fact (sorry my opinion) that they don’t trust Mannone. At the time I didn’t blame him for the goal, even though I now realise he should of done better by coming out stronger for the rebound, but these things happen to all keepers, so that’s not the reason. I’m afraid he’s just not up to PL standards and the defence know that and that makes them jittery, there was one occasion yesterday when he came off his line but made no attempt to get the ball, only god knows what he was thinking, another heart in mouth moment came from a cross where their guy had a free header. You can see that his uncertainty spreads through to those in front of him, every pass back takes on a suicide look, the Norwich crowd picked up on that after the first few fluffed clearances and the noise/expectation levels from them were raised significently even when our own players had the ball near him.
I’ve stated before that I thought it was a mistake that we didn’t bring in a better back up option in the last transfer window, to fail to do so in the next window would border on incompetance, as the old saying goes, a house is only as good as it’s foundations and the chances of winning anything without a proper keeper, one that exudes confidence and has the trust of his coleagues, are virtualy nihil.
I like others would love to blame the Interlull, but that’s bollox, top teams want the best players and the best players play for their respective nations, this is not a new phenominum and like it or not it’s not going to change any time soon. All the top teams are in the same boot as they all lose players, that Norwich didn’t have as many players away as us just meanss that their players are not of the same standard as ours and the fact that we surrendered the points to opposition of a percieved lower standard makes it all the more disturbing, we weren’t up for it and if that is due to being pysically tired or mentaly “not in the right place” then that is what has to be addressed over the next few days.
All in all a very bad day at the office, but luckily we won’t have to dwell on it too long as there are a bunch of Germans hoving in to view on the horizon.
Sorry ‘holics, it was a bit long that, if you managed to get through it all then have a drinky poo on me, cheers and as always, COYRRR’s.
I enjoyed it TaBS, cheered me up a bit 🙂
Spot on tabs, spot on.
Can I just add, and I feel like I’ve been saying this weekly for the last half decade, that the time has surely come to get to the bottom of what’s causing our atrocious injury record?
Training too soft? Training too hard? Crap physios? An old Indian curse on Gunnersaurus? I don’t fucking care what’s doing it – work it out and fix it. If you don’t know what the problem is then chance a few things and work it out.
It’s October and I’m already looking at the Schalke game and wondering who on earth will be playing on the flanks. Plus contemplating a clanger from our third choice keeper. And wondering where both our full backs are. And praying that the guy who is meant to lead this team comes back OK after taking a year out on what looked a nothing injury.
This seems to happen every season without fail and, unless we fix it somehow, we’re not challenging for anything. Who do Chelsea have injured at the minute? What’s the name of their third choice keeper? Fucked if I know.
Beyond that, it was a collective shit day. Not too much point singling out scapegoats.
What I want to see now is a fast, purposeful start against Schalke.
Internet problems at home so a brief word on the run.
It’s all covered by Tabs, H2H, zico and N7.
No need for me to repeat any of it, except to say that it was unacceptable and very avoidable.
The keeper situation is well documented. Even a fit Szcsesny is inconsistent and needs experienced help
Our keepers are all slightly different grades of the same thing and a serious look at keeper coaching is needed.
To enter a season with an injured number two, and a number three you couldn’t give away was, frankly, ridiculous for a club of Arsenal’s stature.
The panic in the defence is induced by mistrust of the keeper, and Santos, a player I really like, didn’t help yesterday with his positional indiscipline.
If Arteta, who tried in vain to drive the team yesterday, is our holding midfielder, then Ramsey must be one of our attacking midfielders.
Further comment is really superfluous.
And Arsenal without Gervinho would be like a fish without a bicycle.
Fatigue ? In October ?
These are trained athletes between 20 and 30 who played last Tuesday.
Please do me a favour.
So I have repeated some, most probably, after all.
Best I return to my dysfunctional router.
There was a game yesterday?
Sheila Take A Bow (Son).
We need to start playing better and do it now. Only question is, How Soon Is Now?
I guess we can keep making Smiths puns but maybe That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore?
Cheers tabs.
If it wasn’t for rum, yesterday would have been a complete waste of a day.
spuds have the french no 1. sitting on the bench. how the fuck could we have not bought him?? instead we have a keeper not good enough for hull.
it was obvious after 30 mins, the game plan was to shut out caz, so why did wenger not change the formation and tactics.
out of the title race after 8 games. same old same old.
however, as we only pay the 4 highest wages we can only expect to come 4th. last year we overachieved due to the genius of RVP. we now sold him for some unproven no mark and replaced our most physical midfielder ( who can also play CB if needed) with a midfielder who hasn’t played 5 games in a row for about 4 years.
i haven’t spent half a minute working in football, but i can see a flaw in the plans there!
Panic, Lars?
Utter garbage. I hate guest posts. 😉
Now to read the post.
Heh
😀
Dire!
It would be easy to find fault with Manonne but the shot was not easy to deal with. I have seen more seasoned keepers do much worse. For me, I don’t blame him at all. As for the team, I think they saw how Norwich got pounded recently and allowed themselves to get overconfident, only to be shocked by what they were up against.
H2H, not really. But Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I want – a trophy of some sort 🙂
And heh@Steve T!
Good guest post tabs, even though there was nothing much to say about that performance I guess
Onwards to Schalke
On the plus side, none of our rivals won this weekend.. Tottenham lost, Newcastle drew, Everton drew
Evening all.
Good efforts Tabs. Not really much to add. We have all spoken about the problems that we have or potentially face. Sometimes we get away with it. Days like yesterday, we don’t. I think we all feel the frustration at what we perceive to be glaring deficiencies in the squad.
Yesterday was quite simply not acceptable. It was not as if Norwich had to work that hard. They just worked a bit harder, that’s all. As Tabs says, we can not look to blame anyone or anything other than ourselves.
The keeper situation is well documented. I agree entirely with Trev and the point re Shezza is very valid. He has made more than his fair share of mistakes. He has bags of potential and could be something special in the coming years. But he is a long way short of achieving what he can achieve. His mistakes have been tolerated partly because of the lack of quality that went before him. I said at the end of the transfer window that I hoped the error not to bring in a top class keeper would not cost us. Well, you decide?
For me our problems are a little deeper than just a keeper. You only have to look at the bench for yesterday. Martinez, Djourou, Coquelin, AOC, Wilshere, Arshavin and Gnarby. Please forgive me if I do not get too excited at the amount of “game changing” players in that lot.
AW needs to get players up and playing. We have a crucial game on Wednesday night. We need to discover some sort of consistency and fast. A poor showing on Wednesday will leave everyone with doubts.
I do think we need a bit of a reality check. I do not want to get all doom and gloom but our start to the season needs to be put into perspective. If we fail to get 4 points from the next 2 league games then it will be our worst first 10 game start for nearly 20 years. Certainly the worst in the Wenger era.
There is some hard work required in training this week. Time to learn from yesterday and then just bin it.
Keep the faith.
If we are really counting the Spuds, Everton and Newcastle as our rivals then it is perhaps worse than any of us ever thought.
Can I mention one other thing that really infuriates me? I really hate it when we have forwards that just amble back when the ball is lost. The we regain possession, the break is on, the ball is played through only to find that their genuine laziness means that they are offside. It drives me nuts. Such a waste. It happened a few times yesterday and resulted in me very nearly trashing the TV in total anger.
Just saying.
Mannone has a habit of parrying shots into the middle of the area, it’s as if he’s never had a day of coaching in his entire life, nor the common sense to realise that getting the ball away from goal is the way to do it.
Reality check for Steve T – Perhaps we need to accept that we are a fairly average to useful side capable of playing really well, rather than a very good side capable of being poor. That goes for too many individuals as well, who seem incapable of playing well consistently. We are not that good a side, certainly not one capable of winning the league, but should have enough to finish top four.
We have one player who never seems to have a bad game (Arteta) and a couple who play well three games out of four along with too many who have the odd good game in three and one or two who are in the side by sheer luck IMO.
Cheers for the kind ones all.
I can’t disagree with anything H2H, Trev, N7 and SteveT have added.
A real bugbear of mine, and one on which I would have focused more, had I left the writing to this morning rather than the alcoholic fug of last night, is our inability or perhaps our manager’s unwillingness to change our shape or formation when it is clear (as it was yesterday after at most an hour) that what we were trying to do plainly wasn’t working.
Going into the last quarter of the game yesterday, it was obvious that barring a lucky break we were simply not going to score. We were not creating any chances worthy of the name, and Cazorla, on whom we rely for most of our creativity was being pushed further and further to the periphery of the game.
Back in years gone by, Arsene thought nothing of throwing on two forwards (Kanu and Wiltord) to supplement Bergkamp and Henry, if we were chasing a goal. The subsequent formation was always a bit of a mess but it made things happen.
Since we have gone 4-3-3 Arsene always stays true to that formation. We have all witnessed enough games where for example Bendtner has come on for Theo and played out on the right instead of up top.
The only occasion in recent memory that I can recall Arsene changing the formation was away at West Brom 2 seasons ago when he threw Chamakh on (where is he btw?) went 4-2-4 and forced a draw.
I have no idea why he doesn’t try it more.
TABS – can’t argue with anything in your post.
H2H @10 Congratulations in conjuring a positive from that fucking dire performance….
‘The positive aspect of yesterdays performance is that surely it can’t get any worse then that!?’
Just been watching QPR v Everton – I think we will really struggle against the Krauts on Wednesday and against QPR on Saturday unless there is a major improvement.
TaBS – excellent post, mate. And Bang on with #30. I think that is one thing that infuriates many with Arsene. If what you’re doing isn’t working…then TRY SOMETHING ELSE.
Damn.
BMBD.
Good point, tabs at 30. Perhaps,without Feo, we didn’t have the personel for that on the bench though 🙁
tabs, there have been two or three other occasions where we have switched to 4-4-2 (Everton at home when we came back from 1-0 down after Saha scored after being a mile offside and we won 2-1 comes to mind) but in general I couldn’t agree more. Two times did we lob the ball from some distance towards Giroud and twice did he win the headers back to our players and Gervinho and Gnabry respectively could at least produce attempts at goal. Why not just chuck a few players up there and go long every now and then when Plan A doesn’t work?
Steve T: “Time to learn from yesterday and then just bin it.”
Amen.
“Perhaps we need to accept that we are a fairly average to useful side capable of playing really well, rather than a very good side capable of being poor.”
Spot on Nonny. But why are we only a fairly average side etc? Could we be better with what we have??? Never be afraid to ask the question.
“Back in years gone by, Arsene thought nothing of throwing on two forwards (Kanu and Wiltord) to supplement Bergkamp and Henry, if we were chasing a goal.”
Tabs, that was my point. We don’t have anything like a Kanu or Wiltord in reserve. We certainly do not have a Bergkamp and Henry. If only……….
Forgot to say I agree with N7 about the injuries too. Sure, Sagna breaking his leg when falling on an av board is bad luck but there is no way that always and without fail being the team with the most injuries can be down to just bad luck. InjuryLeague on Twitter posted a stat that said Chelsea players have missed six games in total this season due to injuries. Six games in total for all their players combined, that is, and according to the same source, our players have missed 53. Fifty-fucking-three! That is an average of almost seven players out per game which is absolutely ridiculous.
Lars. Sell Diaby to Chelsea and that will soon even things up…..
Steve, that could be worth a try 🙂
Kidding aside, as much as I can empathize with Diaby it surely must be time (and has been for quite a while) to accept that his body just can’t take playing at the level required without breaking down.
He would probably become fit again, Steve T.
This lot have a pact with the devil.
This reminds me we missed Diaby far more than we missed Feo yesterday.
Arsenal were on the menu and ripe for picking, so Delia Smith, her Maitre-D’ and waiting crew sharpened the knives and set the table and made their plans to serve up some Norfolk Punch mixed with a lemon yellow twist to spike the Gunners guns.
That Norwich could cook Arsenal’s goose seemed as likely as mustard sauce on a strawberry soufflé. But right from the very early stages this turned out to be a kitchen nightmare of flaming proportions for The Arsenal. The Gunners were never really in the mix and failed completely to light the fire and stir the pot of passions in the travelling faithful. Arsenal’s gas was at a constant peep, their flame rarely reached regulo one, there was no steam in the broiler. I’m afraid, they lettuce (ouch) fans down badly.
For anyone expecting a gastronomic extravaganza, the fare served up at Carrow totally lacked backbone marrow and the ingredients were as enticing as boiled sparrow. A defense that had begun to look as solid as a clootie, suddenly sprung as many holes as a wedge of Gruyere. A midfield hotter than a chilly-filled Vindaloo suddenly became tamer than a Coconut Korma. And a hot knife attack that could cut through glacier ice, today couldn’t have melted an ice cube with a microwave oven.
Arsenal stunk like the methane gas that used to kill canaries before Humphry Davy invented his lamp. Frankly, there was no way that these Canaries were there for the killing. It was Arsenal who got the bird, played like Big Bird and were trotting turkeys two months before Christmas. There was more duff than plum.
No doubt the Interlull had some impact. There was no Theo and Santi’s legs looked tired. But there was no excuse for Arteta and Ramsey who’d had their feet up for most of the fortnight. Gibbs attacking flare was missed. He’s developed a potency that Santos will never achieve. But other than Gibbs, we were close to what has become our first pick team and we couldn’t make one thing happen in the front third. No excuses – it’s a night for pie, humble crust, humble filling.
This was an Arsenal I thought we’d left behind. Where was the swashbuckling Poldi who runs at defenses and fires at the slightest sight of the opposing goal? Where was the Vermaelen who wins everything in the air? Where were the crisp, fast passes on which Arsenal thrive? Where did the constant pass-backs to the keeper and ensuing Don Vito up-field boot come from?
Could Mannone have done better for their goal? Probably. Is there any merit in blaming him for this surrender? None. Like the river that runs through Norwich, you Wensum you Loosesum.
The three points scorned today should have had us sitting nicely poised in forth place on 15 points. The doomers are out in droves and apparently, like last year, we won’t even be competing for a top four place this season. Are Arsenal out of the race for the League? No – Gordon Ramsey F Word – way!
I’ll be at The Emirates in person when Arsenal murder Schalke on Wednesday night. I have no doubt they will. I’ll be cheering louder than most when Jack Wilshere takes the field against QPR next Saturday. I’m down and have a flatness nearing pancake proportions. Am I out? No way. I’m cooking and I’m coming to the boil. I’m flying on Tuesday and I’ll see you at The Tolly if you’re coming to the next two games, holics.
Evening West Upper, Lonestar, and cheers.
Ollie – That’s a fair point, but even with the personnel on the pitch, AW might have thought of going with Giroud/Poldi or Giroud/Gervinho up top with Ox/Arshavin out wide just to mix it up, but he stuck rigidly to the same system even when the subs were made.
Lars – Yep fair enough, the West Brom game was one that came to mind but as you point out I’m sure there have been other occasions, just not enough of them in my opinion.
SteveT – Can’t argue with that. We don’t have the same quality now as then, but I still think the point stands to a degree. Even with lesser players it might be argued that some (Bendtner/Arshavin etc) have been shoe-horned into a system that does not always play to their strengths.
If you look at the bench v Chavsi;
Martinez
Mertesacker
Santos
Djourou
Walcott
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Giroud
Compared to yesterday;
Martinez
Djourou
Wilshere
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Coquelin
Arshavin
Gnabry
Then it’s pretty obvious why there was no Plan B.
Heh BtM , a feast 🙂
Good point H2H
BTM I think you a made a bit of a meal of that
Lars @ 36
Those stats tell a story – ludicrous.
Football is an uphill struggle if you can’t keep people fit. Not just because of the time they’re out, but also the time you spend easing them back into the team and waiting for them to become fully sharp again.
We’ve been right up the top of the injury table for years now. It cannot just be luck, and it is probably the single biggest factor (maybe just behind money) that has contributed to our silverware drought.
It must be addressable and it should be addressed.
Just look at the goalkeeping situation. How many teams manage to go season after season with the same keeper? Joe Hart – fit every game. Cech – barring the Hunt incident, nearly always fit. Brad fcuking Friedel – 500,000 prem games in a row and he’s in his 60s now. How about us? Almunia takes a knock, so Flappy gets a run. Then Flappy takes a knock, so Chezzer gets a run and locks down the role. Then he gets hurt too. No wonder the defence always looks disorganised.
Please fix Arsene.
BtM – made a bit of a meal of that.
One of your best, sir ! And not a drop of whine. 😉
Wuif – great minds cross posting !
Steve T @35 – I don’t think our apparent first choice front three is a good blend at all, and I don’t think, despite his goals this year, that Gervinho is worth a place in the side. If you think about his actual performances, I think he’s had about one decent half so far this season. He would never be in my team anyway.
Giroud…. I just don’t believe a player who seems incapable of hitting the ball cleanly is in our team. He works hard, he can hold the ball up sometimes but he doesn’t offer much of a threat. He had three total miskicks yesterday and when he’s missed those sitters earlier in the season, he has missed them in spades. They haven’t even been close to hitting the target. For all his effort he has looked (and sounded in the press interviews) like a player who is struggling to cope with playing for a top club.
Podolski… odd one this. He either plays well or stinks. I don’t quite know what to make of him, as he’s been pretty average played central but he doesn’t really convince playing wide.
It’s a shame we’ve signed a real gem in Cazorla but haven’t matched that quality with the strikers we’ve bought. Wenger is supposedly looking for a striker for January and I’m not surprised, to be honest.
Defensively we could be ok if Wenger did the brave thing and dropped his captain, but that ain’t happening. I also expect Sagna to come back in no matter how well Jenkinson is playing, which would be a shame. He’s been consistent and good.
I also don’t know if Wilshere, Arteta and Cazorla is going to work. We do need more creativity in the side but where’s the steel? Arteta can’t do it all.
Not very optimistic and that’s not based on one defeat, it’s more to do with too many games where we’ve looked short of ideas. I think a lot of people are forgetting how bad we were creatively in the first two games and although we’ve had a couple of big wins, we don’t test the keeper enough.
The thing about complacency is a constant under Wenger and it has been happening for years, even when we were a winning side. That comes from the top IMO.
fare(ly) similar Trev
N7 –
They just keeperight on happening.
Even in 2006 when we got to the CL Final we fielded 7 (or 8 ?) different left backs !
Last year we had our 4 regular full backs and three makeshifts all injured.
Maybe they should give up football and start up a band instead. How about Injury and the Blockheads. 😉
Clever,Trevor
Steel Nonny ? Have you seen Jack’s new thighs ?
Wouldn’t want them wrapped round me – for several reasons. 😉
Trev – isn’t that an observation best left to Wolfgang?
Just sayin’ like.
BMBD.
Maybe Lonestar – but he didn’t. 😉
Heh! Trev – always the opportunist.
BMBD.
Have read all the above. I’m still waiting for the reasoned arguments for an alternative.
Enjoy wallowing in misery, guys.
Night all
Good evening,friends.
Tabs,good post,mate,i quite like your style of writing.
Nice posts all around from the usual suspects with BTM clearly sticking out like a sore thumb (in a good way).
One thing i noticed yesterday(apart from our obvious faults) was that we didn’t move the ball around fast enough,our normally crisp,triangular passing combinations in the midfield went AWOL,a lot of our players looked like they were running on heavy legs, i don’t pretend for a second to know the solution to the above problem(or observation,if you wish) but i’m sure Arsene and his back room staff will have noticed it and i hope we see a massive improvement on wednesday.
On the issue of our players sustaining too many injuries,i do not believe it’s all down to the fragility of our players,it’s obvious referees do NOT protect us enough in the domestic competitions (how many of our players have ever got injured in the UCL?),opponents feel so free to kick our players,just from yesterday Chamberlain is subbed into the game and the defender lashes into him carelessly and the referee does nothing,at a point in the second half Giroud contests for an aerial ball,the defender clatters into him from behind right under the referee’s nose and the referee doesnt even call a foul. Last week against Westham Diame goes in late on Arteta,a clear yellow card offence,did the referee give the card? No. I could go on and on,you might be tempted to say they are just little kicks and nothing serious but the fact is that this things have both psychological and physical effects on players,Wilshere wasn’t injured by a single kick,it was a collection of “little” kicks his body had taken over a sustained period of time that resulted in the stress fracture that he is just coming back from after 14 months out. The psychological effects are that these players are humans not machines,they know when they aren’t getting a fair treatment from referees and unconsciously/subconsciously they take mental notes not to contest for 50/50 for balls because they are mostly worst off it.
That said,i think how we play on wednesday will give a clearer picture as to where our season is headed,it will NOT define our season though.
Up the Arse!
Tabs, A substitute teacher is a very brave individual, knowing full well the students will be waiting to pounce, on any weaknesses. You’ve earned your drink, and then some 🙂 We’ll get our groove back, and be singing KC and the Sunshine Band’s ‘That’s the Way I Like It’ in no time! 🙂
BtM. Deep, interesting and well composed as always. Definitely food for thought.
See you Weds.
Interesting drink Cent, not in terms of referee protection, true or not true as it may be but in terms of the psychology of players in 50/50 situations, could have some legs to it. Happy that Wilshere was still going all in against Arteta and that in training, he’s one player we don’t need to have any doubts about going for the ball.
As for Delia Smith, as Christmas looms on the horizon, and for anyone who remembers the Craddocks, may all her mince pies taste like Fanny’s. 😉
Tabs. I agree whole heartedly. We have bought players and played them out position for ages now. How many players have we bought that play in the attacking midfield role, only to stick them out wide? Do you remember me banging on about the balance of the squad?
Nonny. I agree with a lot of that. Gervinho is an enigma. I sometimes think his legs move at twice the pace as his brain. On occasions he has been very good. On others he has just been dreadful.
I am still prepared to give Giroud some time. I am hoping he can be our new Alan Smith rather than turn into the next Emile Heskey.
I think we are 3/4 players short. I also think we have been 3/4 players short for the last several seasons. But as Snir pointed out some months back. That will never change until our transfer activity stops being a replacement service and purchases become an addition to the squad.
Excellent post, Tabs. Not a word to disagree with (except perhaps the bit about Isthmian league strips, unless you are thinking of Sutton Utd’s old shit and vomit strip of the 1970s.)
Steve T@28. A shout out to Corp. Jenks in that regard. There was one moment when he was caught upfield, ahead of Gervinho. Pilkington, I think it was, broke down the left for Norwich. Jenks sprinted back, passed Gervinho, caught up with Pilkington and got a tackle in. Too little of that sort of effort on Saturday.
@37 🙂
Nonny @29 and others re Don Vito: I agree that he is no more than a middle of the table Premiership keeper, and that is not sufficient for a team with title ambitions. Top keepers win or save six to ten points a season for top teams. With Holt’s goal, though, it is unfair to say he tried to parry it towards the middle of the goal, and put that down to a coaching failure. The ball squirted off the underneath of his forearms having reversed its outswing after dipping and bouncing in front of him. If you look at the slo-mo up to that point he has it covered with his hands, and would have tried to hold it or push it round the post. It could have gone anywhere once it hit him, but went in just about the only direction where Holt could get to it before the BfG. Of course, a top keeper would have probably instinctively have been a foot further out to take the ball on the bounce, but the margins of error are that fine. Nor was giving up that goal the biggest reason we lost.
BtM@40: Tasty.
Nice effort Tabs considering the paucity of worthy material you had to access! 🙂
A culinary delight as ever BtM! 😀
Certainly an incomprehensible below par performance from the lads yesterday, however as Don Oxon has intimated; not sure i understand why all of the pessimism has prematurely reared it’s ugly head?! Furthermore, much of it emanating from the regular “half-full” quacksalvers! Please elaborate because as Wolfie might paraphrase; “one bitter swallow, a spoilt summer does not make”! Keep up the faith; it was dire but not as irreversible as some are professing! 😎
Cent@58, SteveT@64: Perhaps the answer is to keep playing Gervinho in the middle. His runs are so random, it must confuse the hell out of the opposing defenders, and that might open up some points of the triangle.
Ned. If Gervinho is the answer then I genuinely dread to think what the question is???????
No doubt this is the find of the weekend, and even better in my case I am consuming a local product, Moo Joos, which is an oatmeal stout brewed by Brau Brothers Brewing Company of Lucan, Minnesota. Truth be told, I expect it will be the find of a considerably longer time than a single weekend, and having bought a six pack it may at least tide me through to Arsenal v. Schalke. Although fearing a bad reaction to Norwich v. Arsenal I went out and got an extra six pack of Left Handed Milk Stout, just to help with tiding me over.
Steve T: An existential one.
Nurse Abb. Not entirely sure how many will be singing KC and the Sunshine Band in unison outside of the Quackery, but it could be argued that is what the Quackery is for I suppose. 🙂
Aw, what the hell. If we can go on a good run I’ll be in with singing any KC and the Sunshine Band song you want. Considering how quickly I am giving away my dignity here, I have no idea what lengths I would go to if we can get around to winning some silverware.
Fuck it! No relief to be found here. Think I will mosey over to a Spurtz site to savour their misery – Surely they must be way more pissed off than we are right now. Surely..
🙁
8th Ball: Put me down for one of the Black Guys in the back ground – I still may have one or two of those “flares” or “Bell-bottoms” as you Yanks called them:
http://youtu.be/dd–tIkrVoA
And there’s not many who’d admit to that, GT.
Very interested to see how we respond against Schalke, mind
They beat Dortmund (defending Bundesliga champs) 2-1 away from home. They can play. It’s our first real test in the champions league this season
Schalke are a good side beyond a doubt. They press high and like to attack on the counter. Disciplined defence. Oddly they haven’t won the league for even longer than our neighbours to the east, but they have won plenty of cups.
Ned@65: I don’t really agree that the ball moved that unpredictably in the air, but even if it did Mannone is holding his arms in the wrong angle. It’s pretty basic, you must always angle your arms so that if you don’t control the ball then at least it won’t bounce straight towards the only opposition player within a mile. It wasn’t the biggest reason for the loss, I agree with that, but still dreadful goalkeeping.
From where I was sitting, the Mannone ‘save’ and the Ruddy one in the second half looked pretty equivalent, outcome excepted 🙁
Anyway, new week, new hopes. Let’s get this fucking right now.
After all, the weekend finished on a happier note thanks to Troyes’ late winner against Marseille.
Good morning,all.
Wind,my observation about the referees,as you rightly said,might be true or not,but seriously,how amny of our so called injury prone players were perenially injured before they joined us? I do not know why our players get injured the most but what i do know is that it’s not a co-incidence,there is definitly something wrong,it might be our training and rehabilitation methods,it might be referees not protecting us well,it might as well be that our players are actually fragile but in the end,something is wrong.
Ned@67,i’ve thought about that too.
Steve T@69,the question would be “how best to harness Gervinho’s talent to the benefit of our team?”
For you Ollie. For You.
NorCal’s getting up at 2am (bis time) to try and score tickets to Montpellier inside or outside the family enclosure, that’s what cheered up my weekend, along with getting to witness a very good friend of mine’s Baptism yesterday evening, a thing of beauty to see, he used to be a London Red Manc, saw the error of his ways a few years ago & now supports… Fulham. The better choice as now he can go & see his team when he wants pretty much, forging the connection he has with them 🙂
Londoners should support London Clubs (but not Millwall (racists) or the Spuds (throws up in his mouth). Chelsea also a deplorable choice unless supported circa 2003 (What you say? They didn’t exist before then?) 😆
*Emerging from football lockdown.*
Is it safe to come out now?
Nice debut TaBS. You’ve captured both the event and its effect on my mood.
What the fuck was that?
Tabs,
Top post Tabs – and as usual, a sound perspective and always a pleasure to read.
Nonny @ 49 – I find it hard to disagree with most of what you say and I draw no pleasure in saying that.
N7, from the previous thread – makes a valid point in contrasting the 25m Dzeko substitute that Citeh can make by comparison to where we are at.
I hoped we would have been competitive this season, but that doesn’t look likely so far from what we’ve seen.
Zico,
Your analysis on the previous thread is, as ever, thoughtful, interesting and well founded. I think the point you make about the travelling and how players suffering from tiredness is very similar to the one Nonny makes when talking about complacency coming from the top down.
Players have been so obviously pampered in the past and many are forgetful of the most basic fundamentals in putting in the hard yards week in week out.
But I do feel you’ve been slightly unfair on Bouldy though. Instilling defensive discipline is not an outcome that can be reached in 8 games and from listening to Nigel Winterburn talk about Bould referring to the hours they put in to attain that level of defensive nous and how he (Bould) did not expect to see real change until much later in the season.
I honestly think there’s been real change in the defensive area. I admit its not perfect, and that chances are still being given up, but if I may also refer to Arsebloggers point this am about how we’ve only conceded 6 goals so far this season which is up there with Chelsea at the moment.
And while the Mannone situation is hard to defend – its a far better argument to suggest the No 3 is not good enough, when its was not too long ago we were having the same conversation about the No 1.
I think our primary difficulty is in the creative area and our lack of potency up front.
Wind my friend, we are in with a gentle breeze.
You have mail and a ticket. Probably not the best seats you’ll ever get but 4 together and my kids and I will be excited just to be there.
Have a good morning everyone. I’m back to bed for a few more hours.
Proud to be a Gooner.
WEll played, NCA! Sleep well.
Nice one NorCal.
Joe, we have conceded the same number of goals as Chelsea? Interesting – generally, I consider the Chelsea defence to be there for the taking, and said as much in the last drinks.
Just saying. 😉
zico@87: heh!
Well in, NorCal!
Joe: “Players have been so obviously pampered in the past and many are forgetful of the most basic fundamentals in putting in the hard yards week in week out.”
That is, unfortunately, probably very true in many cases.
Steve T,
Sorry Buddy didnt get a chance to reply the other night about my Optimism regarding 4th,
To be Honest the way i see it is we are a better side than last season have our first choice full backs returning (will make a huge difference at both ends of the pitch)as well as the return of a mainly competent keeper (The other 2 are not fit for a circus).
Above all weve got the return of Jack to help Cazorla influence things higher up and create chances and space as well as getting his boot in,Add to the pot Tottenham are weaker than last year and Newcastle had the best season they could hope for last year and i think we will scrape by again.
Is it good enough for Arsenal no and you know my thoughts on that but im afraid untill people stop parting with their hard earned and funding the farce things wont change,
Re: Joe @84. Lucid points, as ever.
Router is down again so, while I am ‘roaming’, thought I’d ask if folks are meeting in The Tollie before The Schalke game or only afterwards ?
I remember posting on here a few years ago remarking that we were just in a damn unlucky period with injuries(called Blockheads now in cockney rhyming slang thanks to Trev)and that what goes around comes around.Now it seems to be getting worse despite lots of money having been thrown at it with new treatment centres etc.
Maybe it’s time to start looking at the Physio staff because since 2009 when Colin took over from Gary the situation has definately not got any better.
I know it is not nice and not Arsenal to go around sacking long serving personnel but I think in any functionning entreprise at least questions would be asked.
On a side note for Ollie .Did you have any luck sourcing the ticket for Schalke away for me?If you want to get hold of me please use this email washedupinfrance1@gmail.com which I created for this purpose.If not thanks for trying and maybe get to see you in Gelsenkirchen.
They were embarrassing not fit to wear the shirt.
Challenge for the title ? wake up the coffee is bubbling.
Joe @84,
Good stuff, but I don’t share your current positivity about the defence.
I’m sure Steve Bould will eventually get it sorted and, at the beginning of the season, I, like you, thought that there was an immediate improvement.
In the meantime the players, and my, confidence seems to have evapourated. I have that horrible feeling again that we are going to concede every time we are attacked.
It is a mystery to me how such individually good players make such a collective shambles of it.
I don’t actually blame Jenkinson at all. He has improved beyond recognition, and his pace and determination are terrific.
I think Vermaelen seems a bit distracted with the responsibility of being captain, but it is behind him where the real problem lies.
From the stands, I never have any idea, at any kind of set piece or cross, whether the keeper is going to come or stay, and I don’t think he has either. Time and again we see this sort of in-out-in-out hokey cokey jig as he advances and then steps backwards. When he does come out, my perception is that he rarely gets anywhere near the ball.
It’s not all his fault. Some of the marking and challenging by other defenders has been non-existent at times, but he has no authority about him to do anything about it.
Can you imagine Jens Lehmann looking the other way as two defenders allow an unchallenged forward to nod in at the back post ?
This is exactly the sort of situation that grates with me. Not the lack of an unrealistic £40million super signing.
But the failure to address an issue that could have been easily solved at least two years ago.
Some will say there’s no point criticising but this is a blog which invites opinions. That’s all it’s meant to be – an opinion, not “wallowing in misery”.
What can I do about it all ?
Nothing ! Just talk and keep handing over my cash.
Beautiful day all. 8ball and Gooner Terry (waves)Do you fellas remember The Bump? It was the name of the dance popular back then, went really well with that song. If you got carried away, you cound send your partner flying off the dance floor 🙂 Downright dangerous, if you’ve been drinking 🙂 Speaking of dangerous, everyone ready for Schalke? Found a pair of catchers mitts (made entirely of VELCRO, sending them to Don Vito (bless his heart) 🙂
’til tomorrow – back to land without internet …………
Ah, just read Arseblog before I go. Seems he agrees about the keeper situation. Not just me then ..
Wins ball in midfield with bone-cruncing but perfectly fair tackle in the style of the EP17 then chips ball out to the right wing with a defence splitting pass.
Runner?
Definitely not just you Trev, you wallower you….
Well in zico.
Where was that lucky striker on Saturday evening?
Watching a stuttering stream and pulling what passes itself for hair out by the roots, as it happens Baff. 😉
Well, I can be just as serious as the rest of you 🙁 Feel better now ?Nah, didn’t think so. Don’t think anybody went overboard with what was on their mind. Maybe not agree with it all, but it’s all good. Gervinho should be given carte blanche to do what he wants, WHERE he wants!!! Vito is OURS for the present, so I will cheer him on, pretty sure he feels distraught enough, taking all the heat (unfairly so). What surprises me is how quickly some have forgotten how well we perform, when we click on all cylinders. We’re awesome when we do! Speaking of awesome, Norcal you fit the bill 🙂
Afternoon All,
Thanks again for the kind ones.
As regards Mannone, I think H2H had it absolutely spot on in his epic post @10, as does Trev @95. It is not just his mistakes per se, though they have been costly enough, and will only get worse as the initial adrenalin rush of finding himself in the first team wears off. It is the jitters that he transmits throughout the whole Defence. Put simply, he commands no authority. Look at the needless rush from goal on Saturday in the first half which might have cost us another goal.
It is superflous to say how crucial the goalkeeping position is, but the position is about so more than just the saves he makes, it is about authority, organisation and confidence. The rest of the side take their cue from that.
It is no coincidence that our best defensive period of last season was between September and December when Schez enjoyed his finest spell. In the final third of the season, and as both Schez’s form and fitness waned, and his authority dented, the whole Defence began once again to look panicky, Norwich at home being an example.
Bouldy can drill the Defence until the cows come home, but until there’s a goalkeeper between the sticks that they all trust then there will continue to be moments of hapless defending.
Nor, as Trev says, does it take a great deal of hindsight to have recognised in the summer that this might turn out to be a problem.
All that said I do agree with Joe @84 in that the major flaws on Saturday were further up the pitch for which they all, with the possible exception of Arteta, have to take their fair share of responsibility.
Well in Dr Z.
*wallowing in misery here* 😉
Trev, Tabs, frustrating isn’t it? Hardly rocket science either. I am not sure I will ever understand it. It all seems very basic to me.
Certainly is Steve.
Steve @106, that is the most frustrating thing of all.
Spot on, as ever, Trev @95
Afternoon gents.
Good stuff above, two or more sides of arguements that I agree with.
Funny that, I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere else where counter pole opinions both seem right in their own ways, fascinating.
Tabs, Trev, I’m glad you agree with my “lack of confidence” theorey.
I was scared it was just me seeing ghosts. I had a quick look again at the Norwich game (sucker for punishment) and ffwd to the bits where we were passing back through the defence, The BFG seems really scared to pass it back to the keeper, his lack of confidence leads to hesitation and as we all know hesitation in defence can be deadly.
I don’t blame Vito, he’s in this position due to our incompatance in finding suitable back up, let’s not forget that if we are all aware that AW was willing to let him go to the first club that offered a 50% off voucher to the cinema then the players know that too, this, to use a commenly carted out phrase in footy, must make his position untenable and all the rhetoric in the world (“Mannone can be number 1”) won’t change that simple fact.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20029793
heh, oh dear
washed up, no news yet.
H2H, and others, I noticed that lack of confidence from the defence and the difference in that respect with Szcz as soon as Vito played his first game for us this season. Sadly, the situation hasn’t improved.
Well, after a few more hours of sleep I feel……still tired. But no worries. Tickets have been nabbed, although being a rookie ticket buyer and having to get 4 together ( 2 of which are junior Gooners) made me more nervous than a back four shielding a Mannone.
I don’t really care for the clubs family enclosure rule. I was fearful that I would be unable to get 4 tickets together if I waited for the family enclosure to sell out then I would not get 4 together. Again I am sure it was rookie error, but it is/ was nervy.
I share the frustrations of people in the above drinks, but I am still smiling for the future. 😉
Now to find tickets for away at Villa. Does anyone know a reputable ticket broker to get tickets in the away section? Washedup’s story makes me very nervous especially if I am plunking down the cash for 7 tickets.
Cheers all
Heh Ollie @111, you couldn’t make it up.
H2H – as much as a cinema ticket? No wonder he stayed 😉
In all seriousness though, you’re completely right. Though Arsene’s public pronouncements are only for the benefit of the player, and must therefore be taken with a pinch of salt, once it’s clear that he is prepared to let someone go, presumably because he has lost faith in them, it is very difficult to then ask the other players to show that faith themselves.
Blogs was on the money this morning imo.
Time for liveners all round methinks, my tab. (I will of course present a receipt to Lars when he’s next around).
A pessimistic aura on the optimists’ blog.
NorCal, good stuff.
I would start with a phone call to the Club, long-standing supporter from foreign climes, once in a lifetime opportunity to watch Arsenal away from home blah, blah blah. Bit of a longshot, but you never know.
Failing that, I would have thought Ticket Exchange and Twitter are your best bets.
I don’t want to rain on your parade, but I have to say that chances of getting 7 together in the away section strike me as fairly slim, but I rarely travel away these days so there will be others that will know more than me.
Uncle Charlie. Not so much optimist or pessimst, more realist this time around.
Tabs, I just checked out Arseblog, good read and pretty much the stuff we’ve been discussing here.
I’ll have one of those liveners, it is Monday after all. 😉
NorCal: no ‘ticket broker’ can ever be considered reputable IMHO. They’re touts.
What you need is connections, and, as I recently found, sometimes, twitter 😉
tabs, Ticket EXchange doesn’t do away fixtures.
Where do they get these stories?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-news-misfit-andre-1391925
Tabs,,,in line for succession?
It was one of those murphy’s law experience…By God everything went wrong!
May i please say my HIs to the good lads and ladette(read ABB) at the bar. Times like these we remember
Virtual bar, true frends….as always, on lars tab..cheers
Thanks Tabs and Ollie..
I know it’s a long shot. Have same feeling about ticket brokers. Ridiculous prices for maybe getting tickets, not to mention maybe just losing your money.
Clive also said to call the club, it’s worth a shot all they can say is “no”.
Worst case, we go undercover and sit with the villains. Doesn’t seem to be difficult to buy those tickets.
Thanks again everyone.
Ollie @119 Ah, fair enough.
Kenyan – Haha, I don’t think so! Having to write that one up merely served to increase my admiration for ‘Holic who does it every week.
I wanted to leave work early. FAIL. Some cunt assigned something for me to do.
Did I mention it was a gorgeous, warm enough and sunny day out there?
Well it was, but sadly, it will already be dark when I leave.
Ollie come on now plenty of them about 🙂
TABS
Great write up I wasn’t livid as I always get because it was after all Norwich and securing three points against them should not too hard if you actually try to succeed.
Before the game I was reminded by my step dad how we threw away two points against them at home last season the game we both attended at the time, however I was certainly thinking we have definitely learnt from that game right? No chance…
We are back were we started and we are back here again with the same old issues year in year out. We always manage to find a bogey team in the league who will cause us big problems? Not sure why this keeps happening to us but you would think it would be addressed as it happened quite a bit in recent seasons. I’m not going to give anything to Norwich because frankly speaking/writing there was no effort on our part. These rather shocker results have happened way too often for a club we all love. Are the players not ambitious enough? Or is the manager making the wrong choices. Either way I don’t want to hear any excuses we had a bad day at the office it was simply a complete pile of shyte and harsh words needs to used at certain individuals if not the team as whole.
Anyway I don’t want to moan all evening, tough game ahead as Shalke will be on form as the managed to beat Dortmund on the weekend so I’m expecting a 110% effort from the lads.
Time to leave work now…..a drink for everyone of their choice please barman!
*is confused*
Plenty of what, Arthur?
I have an admission to make: I randomly met an acquaintance at the Eurostar terminal when leaving on Saturday, and I seemed to remember that the last time a similar thing happened, we had lost.
I tried to forget that bad omen.
Ah fuck it, if only the players had tried. It was such a baffling and shocking performance.
OK, I want to forget, but I think the staying later than planned at work on a monday morning makes me feel all gloomy. 🙁
Gorgeous and warm enough……women I would guess, Ollie. 😉
I am also not convinced at all that the current job is in any way likeable.
The way I see it at the moment, it’s a mess and it is extremely boring….
ah, maybe, NCA. Not in this fucking office though….
Trev,
Believe me Trev, I’m not trying to condone the current Goalkeeping situation.
I’d be the first to agree that Mannone is not good enough and he also strikes me with terror everytime a decision has to be taken on a set piece or any high ball for that matter. I was merely pointing out that we had the same situation with the first choice keeper in the not too distant past so in that context – there is an improvement of sorts if you can call it that.
I actually feel that Wenger would have been more than happy to let him go. Do I think Wenger will buy another keeper? No I don’t. I think the reports about Martinez are very positive and he will most likely promote him. But if the Fabianski situation gets any worse – then I think he might enter the market. On the laws of probability – what are the chances of both poles being out simultaneously? Probably quite slim.
The goalkeeping situation excepted, I really do see an improvement in our overall shape and structure. As I said, its not perfect, and we will still concede. But there are things I’ve seen this year that I havn’t seen in previous years, when I always thought we had the right players – but the wrong coaching approach. For example:
Jenkinson and Gibbs are much improved players. They know when to attack and more importantly when to hold their ground. This is no fluke. Its because someone is obviously working with them and they’re keen to learn.
I also feel the offside trap is being used far more this season.
Our approach to corners has changed where we at least try to be more threatening than we have in the past and we do seem to be more structured in defence with zonal marking.
Also the gaps in front of the back four – is now much tighter and disciplined. One of the primary reasons Song was cut loose imo.
This is improvement imo. And its largely down to Steve Bould from where I sit.
Now its not perfect Trev, and I think that it will take time. But its a start and a far cry from the clumsy keystone cops approach of yesteryear.
The goal we conceded against Norwich was as much down to Santos, who played Holt onside, as it was to Vito who should have pushed the ball wide. And you’ll always get that when there’s change to the back four. So far this season, Mannone, Santos and Kos have all played at differing times mainly because players have been injured.
The defensive side of things has been a bugbear of mine for the past 7 / 8 years now and I have been scathing about how its been handled. And I really do think the problem is absolutely the managers making. Mannone should not be at the club, but I would not want that to be reflective of some of the otherwise positive things I’ve seen so far this season.
Come January – I think (and hope) Wenger will enter the market for two forwards as I can’t see Theo being kept any longer. Giroud, for all his efforts, is a plan B option and not someone who naturally compliments the technical side of our attacking play.
Nice points Joe, but if I may….
I think we’re pretty toothless at cormers. We had quite a few of them against Norwich, but I can’t remember a single one that looked in the slightest bit menacing.
Fuck it, I thin I’ll go now.
If it were so urgent, surely someone would have given me a call rather than send e-mails.
Plus I’m sure my current job doesn’t include on-call duties, so fuck it, it’s late enough, they’ll get the files tomorrow.
Wiltord on TV. Pundit for French Ligue 2.
Hope your evening improves Ollie.
Ollie cunts that is..;)
I see you went home then Ollie 😉
heh, Arfur.
I sure did, Harsha!
Good evening,’Holics.
Ollie,i just got off the phone,Arsene called to say you should PLEASE stay away from acquaintances of any sort before and after matchdays. Thanks in anticipation of your expected co-operation.
@Tabs123…well in all the same
heh, Cent. Quite difficult to ward off random events like that 😉
Joe, you and I mostly agree on almost all things, but
Threatening from corners?
I must be watching a different team.
One of the minor niggles I decided not to air in the last round of drinks.
Ollie,i was kidding.
Can’t kid about such matters Cent.
Ollie is a blog and gooner legend, if him running into “acquaintances” really influenced a match outcome, then we’d never win again. 😉
About the corners – in the first few games we had Mertesacker doing the old Steve Bould routine with near post flicks but I noticed on Saturday we didn’t try that much, if at all. I don’t recall a single near post flick on anyway and thought during the game that we’d abandoned it.
I hope that doesn’t mean Bould has already been reduced in the ranks to cone collection, but seeing the way we’ve defended recently it would not surprise me 😉
Arthur @126 Cheers mate, good to see you around these parts again, and heh @137.
Good post Joe. Pretty much agree that although there is a long way to go there have been distinct improvements in our defensive set up, and that will improve further once we get our keeper back.
H2H, Dr Z agree with you on the potency, or lack thereof, from our corners, but the way I read Joe’s piece he was talking about defending corners. Might be wrong of course. 🙂
I read “we try to be more threatening from corners…..”
If you look you might see it too 😉
Nonny, I recall us doing that ‘near-post’ routine a few times over the previous season or two. Well I remember we scored a goal from that and people said ‘it’s back!’.
So I think the ‘oh look we do it because Bould is back’ is a bit of a fantasy (even if I’ll agree we seemed to be doing it a little more often at the starts of the season – it still led to a single goal, mind. We had shitloads of corners against Sunderland and couldn’t score).
Sadly, we’re just still generally shit at corners. We do score the odd goal from there, but we’re hardly Stoke or, er, Bordeaux.
Corners????? Don’t get me started on corners. We are the worst on the league. We can’t take them, we can’t defend them.
End of.
Yes I saw it Dr Z!
The whole piece however was about defending. Context, dear boy, context.
Until such time as Joe tells me I’m mistaken, I’m sticking up for him 😉
Speaking of corners, we had 17 against Stoke at the Britannia. Threats on goal 0. (Could be my memory but I remember being irked by this at the time.).
It would be nice to see our big guys actually attack the ball – there is a distinct lack of aggression generally in our team, has been for a while, I feel.
Conceded one goal from a corner all season Steve. As I said before there’s a long way to go, but there have been marked improvements in that area this year.
H2H,i really didn’t mean to offend anyone with that post and i unreservedly apologise to Ollie and indeed anyone else who my post may have offended.
Context?
You don’t expect me to be still following stuff by the time I get to a second paragraph?
Jeez, tough crowd.
Re: Nonny @146. Bould reduced in the ranks to cone collection? No, sir. That would be me. 🙂
@155 🙂
Dr. Z is correct on our being non-threatening from corners at the attacking end. Didn’t mean to agree with Joe about everything, of course, but on Tabs’ suggestion I just reread Joe’s drink @132 and it seems to be entirely about our defensive play so I guess he means threatening to defend corners. Maybe Halloween masks could help on that score? 😉
I suppose that would really be to defend corners threateningly, though …
Halloween costume for defending corners:
http://www.meijer.com/assets/product_images/styles/xlarge/1000896_68378M_A_400.jpg
Good man 8Ball 🙂
Hey Tabs. 🙂
Wilshire apparently played another 90 minutes for the U-21s this afternoon.
http://www.arsenal.com/match-menu/173440/reserves/everton-res-v-arsenal-res?tab=report
Will he be ready for the weekend? Arteta could use a rest one of these games I would imagine. Or Cazorla.
Seeing as Sagna played another 90 minutes this afternoon too, he seems about ready to come back into the senior side too. No criticism intended for Jenkinson by the way. I would say they should both be used, but neither one of them overused. Depending on their relative form after they’ve both seen in a few games, I say let their form determine who is the main man.
Wilshere will take Ramsey’s place if anyone 8 ball.
But he will be on the bench 😉
I saw the corner issue the same way as Zico, if I’m wrong then I’ll just add that we’re pretty shit at defending them too.
(Well were not, but let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good arguement. 😉 )
Cent mate, I, was in no way shape or form offended by what you said and I can’t imagine Ollie or anyone else was either.
Pull up a beer and have a chair. 😉
H2H,thanks,mate.
8 ball,on Wilshere,i followed the minute by minute tweets of the game,it sounded like he was quite involved and he created the two goals we scored,one was a direct assist and the other a pre-assist,when he is fully fit i expect him to take Ramsey’s place in the starting eleven,we need any form of creativity we can get whilst maintaining our defensive shape and Wilshere puts in a shift at both ends of the pitch.
We may have only conceded one goal from a corner but I can think of 3 times just off the top of my head( pun intended) that there have been free headers that didn’t score only because it was poor finishing, not great defending.
At the other end, we only score off corners when there is a second ball. Almost never off the cross directly.
NorCal succeeded in his early morning quest, looking forward to next month now 😀 Hope you feel well rejuvenated later mate 🙂
Something completly different;
In a way we have been spared the big headlines that a shock loss of this magnitude would usually generate due to the fact that the story de jour which once again is the ugly state of racism in our beloved game.
Now, I’m no fan of Septic Bladder and his empty slogans and I do realise that the KIO (kick it out) campaign kinda falls under the realm of barking without the threat of having the teeth to make a decent bite, but I personally think the players who refused to wear the shirts are more part of the problem then they are the solution, the way I see it, it’s a bit like the dolphins protesting Greenpeace.
Maybe the campaign doesn’t have the neccesary clout to punish or ban racists, but it does try to highlight the problems By boycotting it these individuals are willingly undermining the campaign and taking away the little power it does hold. Does that make you feel proud Rio, Jason and co?
Let’s look at it from a different angle, hypothetically;
What do you think would of happened if a white player, let’s say for example a former England captain (as is Rio) came out and said he wasn’t going to don a KIO garment?
When asked why he refused to participate, he came with the explanation that he didn’t think that him wearing said t-shirt would really change anything and the organisation had no real power.
What do you all think would happen then?
The proverbable would hit the fan,and rightly so, covering the game in excrament from north to south and east to west, that’s what would happen.
Yet, this is the exact same reason being peddled out by those who chose not to support the scheme this weekend. Now I’m not saying that the non t-shirt wearers are racists, but to a degree they are showing intolarance and they certainly are playing the race card, ironically against an organisation that was set up to make their workplace a more tolarable place.
The whole timing of the “protest” is pretty sad too, you’d think that after the despicable way that Danny Rose was treated and the whole hullabaloo surrounding the Serbia – England clash that players in England would want to put on a united (I hate that word) front.
Don’t get me wrong, I applaud those who stand up and fight injustice, but Rio F is nothing but a fucking hypocrite, making inapropriate statements about “choc ices” one week while bemoaning that the crackdown on racism is not good enough the next. You can’t have it both ways son. A racist is a racist no matter what the colour of your skin.
Sorry to go off on a tangent, I just wanted to get that out there.
So, lets completly clear our minds of everything that has to do with racism and intolerance and focus on ze Germans…………………………
OH.
Only 167 posts?
Well you could say the happy train derailed slightly over the weekend.
However the Arsenal way is to focus on the next game. Arsene appears to have his mind clearly focused on challenging Tottenham in the aftermath of defeat, what with a good old derby at home coming up in three weeks. What’s up with Coquelin? Why the need to play mostly tiring internationals in the middle of the park?
I wouldn’t mind a more vibrant defensive Arsenal on Weds night. An ugly 1-0 in the 69th will do me. I wouldn’t rush Jack or Diaby back for Sat, but it would be great to see them both on the bench. Would it be spoilt for me to ask to see a Rosicky in training snap later this week?
What’s your poison tonight guys?
As much as I appreciate the olive branch Tabs – I did actually mean offensive changes in corner taking too.
I know its hardly the most convincing of arguments Zico, especially when one considers the indefensible poverty of our attacking play of late, but to my mind – getting Per up front to try the occasional flick on, the goals Vermaelen scored (against Cologne) and Kos (against Citeh) showed that there was at least some attention in trying to make efforts in this area – which is a damn sight more than the “hit and hope” strategy of the past. It shows some element of work in our set pieces (albeit not enough you may well argue) but I still think it’s more than we’ve done in recent years.
The teams general ability to “header” the ball has been a skill that has been unforgivably ignored and underdeveloped over the past number of years. It’s just never been something that we do very well. And this, in some way, is why the Giroud signing is perplexing.
I think its important to have a plan B for teams like Stoke for example. You need to be more physical and to be aerially combative. Giroud might provide a solution on this front – but he does not compliment our usual way of play. Especially against teams who put 11 men behind the ball (Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich…..) and condense the space in the final third. Then it takes technique, creativity, vision, pace to unlock defences. Don’t get me wrong, I still think Giroud is an important player, but he would not be my first choice centre forward.
Bugger!
Dr Z is gonna take the piss all day tomorrow Joe 🙂
Never mind.
Why wait? 😉
Good post H2H.
I think Roberts was well meaning but I agree with you, he’s turned his ire on the wrong people. Kick it Out aren’t responsible for the disciplinary system or the subsequent punishments handed out.
As for Ferdinand, not the brightest match in the box I’m afraid.
Heh Dr Z 🙂
“What do you think would of happened if a white player, let’s say for example a former England captain (as is Rio) came out and said he wasn’t going to don a KIO garment?”
He’d probably be treated like the Grand Imperial Wizard of the KKK, whatever his reasons were.
bt8b@162: the real news in that report on the U21s’ game against Everton is that the kids are letting fly from 25 yards out, and hitting the target.
Ned,
Right on. Let it fly a few times. Sometimes they go in. Sometimes Mannone …I mean, the ‘keeper spills it out front. Sometimes they take a weird deflection and go over Szczceny ‘s…… I mean, the ‘keepers head.
I think Eisfield has a future. He is a better Ramsey that can hit the target. Hope he can make the step up. Glad Jack played well. Hope he gets some first team game time this week.
Headers ?
Giroud flicked on a couple on Saturday but there was noone behind him anticipating and making the run to get on the end of them.
Right, Monday night, game on Wednesday, time to get positive.
Any pre-match revellers due in The Tollie on Weds ?
Posting quickly while the router is routing for a few minutes.
Fecking thing spends more time out of action than Diaby. 🙁
Hope to install areplacement tomorrow
NorCal@178: Eisfeld is held in very high regard within the club. He is clearly an outstanding prospect. Not that it has anything to do with it, but he comes from the same town in the former East Germany as Hans-Jurgen Riediger, who was a prolific goal scorer for the Dynamo Berlin team in the late 1970s/early 1980s that won 10 league titles on the run, before injury cut his career short in season six of that sequence.
Re: NBN. Thanks for the interesting tidbits about Eisfeld. We Cold War buffs will take any scraps we can get. 😉
The drinks are getting more & more inconsistent by the day… 😕
Guinness for you to put things straight then, Wind.
tabs, Rio Ferdinand really does come across as a bit of a tool.
8ball@163: I don’t expect either of Jack or Bac to play tomorrow (not even sure either of them will be in the squad), but I suspect that they’ll both be on the bench for Saturday and that at least Jack will get a few minutes on the pitch and then they’ll both start in the cup game next week.
Having both played 90 yesterday, Lars, I very much doubt they’ll be in the squad indeed.
Ollie, the only reason that one or both might be in the squad tomorrow is that we don’t seem to have too many others to put on the bench at the moment 🙁
Good morning,all.
H2H,Re Ferdinand and others who refused to wear the KIO shirts,the problem is many of them feel KIO is just a decoy and doesn’t do enough or anything at all in the fight against racism,maybe Rio expected KIO to stick up for him and his brother by calling for Cunterry to get a longer ban than the four matches he(cunterry) got,he hasn’t come out to state his reasons for not wearing the shirt but i suspect his reasons won’t stray too much from the above assertion.
I can’t make my minds up about any of this.
I know I’M not a racist because I think both Rio and Terry, are cu**s.
Looks like ‘prunage’ isn’t a French word. Oh well, ‘pruning’ came to me in English, sometimes I just struggle.
heh zico, right.
heh at Mr Goram in two minds about this.
Like wizards sleeves, the pair of them, my fellow countryman.
Just popping in for a quickie…
Excellent debut from the Meedja Strumpet. 🙂
Et tu Brute! 😉
Great post @10 by H2H too… a pint of BM for you on the bar!
Zico @ 189 Agree with that one completely! 🙂
Looks like I got here just in time for breakfast, cheers Dr C.
Heh @ Zico 189. I’m all for equality too. 😉
Here in the Lowlands, we all have bikes.
I enjoy cycling around the scenic countryside and have often fantasised about winning as many Tour de France’s as Lance Armstrong….
Now I have.
H2H 🙂
Ping
Tabs,thanks for the assist.
Did your internet connections go off at the same time,people? That goal was open for 4 minutes +.
Well in Cent.
Thanks,cent.
Thanks,H2H. My mind is playing tricks on me.
Heh@198 🙂
In my opinion, Eisfeld is a young Fabregas from what I have seen of him. He appears in line for a promotion next season.
As for this season? I need to see us utilising our bench to it’s fullest please.
Anyway, back to laying off this cold 🙁
Enjoy drinks Holics, it’s strictly honey and lemon for me at present 🙁
Has ‘holic not returned from the far reaches of Cornwall? Maybe we should send out a search party with brandy snifters.
Afternoon all.
Nicely debuted tabs.
Still a little angry at the p*ss-poor display of whatever it was on Saturday and our new found mid-table level. Meh.
I have decided to shout a little grumpily at the players tomorrow until we return to playing the wonderful football that we have shown quite frequently this season (Saturday excepted).
I have been gifted a ticket so will hope to see a few of you pre-/post-match.
Anyone care to guess the squad tomorrow? Injuries and caution-in-returns is starting to take its toll on the squad.
No Jack, Bac, Theo, Szcz, Diaby, Ox, etc. Another chance for Gnabry for shine? Arsh as an impact sub again? Front three of Poldi, Giroud &….? Might help the time to pass.
@ 190 ‘Prunage’ (n) of prunes?
Then again, put back the water and ‘plumage’ is something altogether different.
Dr.C @ #193
Doing your SAS impersonation again?
Seeing as Arsenal have opened up a new “flagship” store at Brent Cross Shopping Centre for selling Arsenal merchandise, I was wondering if the North London cognoscenti among you can identify whether Brent Cross is an area where you are likely to find (PICK ONE: exclusively, mostly, some, a few) Arsenal supporters, or if Arsenal have chosen to try to move in on other clubs’ territory by locating there. I ask the question because I had a look at the map, and Brent Cross appears to be halfway to Wembley and a little north in the direction of Watford.
Brent Cross story link: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/lee-dixon-at-arsenal-brent-cross-pictures
8ball – Brent-X is world famous in NW London. One of the very first shopping centres (you call ’em malls) in the UK. I hail from that vicinity as does Clive and a few others. There used to be plenty of Gooners in NW London. I’d imagine there still are. You didn’t think The Arsenal would miss a trick to earn a few bob did you?
8Ball, I can’t directly answer your question as I am no longer a resident.
But I remember when Brent Cross first opened in the 70’s, at the time we’d never seen anything like it, a shoping centre, or mall as you would call it, was a new phenonomen in the U.K.
I recall that I went with my brother and mum to visit this new fandangled retail outlet and, probably due to my tender years, it seemed like it took forever to get there, in fact we were so far away from “civalisation” as I knew it that the busses weren’t all red and some of them weren’t double deckers. It was a shock to the system, I can tell you that much. 😉
Thanks for the info, TS, but you answered a multiple choice question with an option that was not among the possible answers. Also, “plenty” is a highly subjective term depending on your point of view. Then there’s the meaning of “world famous in NW London.” I hope and expect Clive will provide greater clarity. 😉
H2H. Similarly, a highly informative but prevaricating answer. Good to know the red busses didn’t make it out to Brent Cross though. Sounds like what we know in the States as the ‘burbs.
TS
Wenger is hardly likely/unable to rock the boat much. Should be similar line up to sat. It will be a chance to re-group and get it back on track. Thats usually the Wenger way.
This game has Coquelin and Kos’ names written on it.
And Manonne will continue to get experience.
Sorry I’m not a little more up-beat, but I do have a sick note 😉
Get well soon G’town.
An Auntie Beechams special will have you sorted sharpish.
Does the Northern Line tube station called Brent Cross get you to Brent Cross shopping centre, or was the shopping centre located far away from the tube stop, as it probably would have been designed to do if the States-side engineers had been involved in the project back then?
H2H – Spot on. I remember the opening too. It was the set of ‘Rollerball’ made real. The 113 took me from door to door 😉
8ball – So ‘plenty’ is less accurate than mostly, some or a few? You’re not an engineer by any chance are you?
@219
Yes re: tube plus additional info on bus routes thrown in gratis @ 220. If memory serves me right, the station came after the shopping centre.
Is that accurate enough for you or has it not ticked your boxes?
Come on Clive, 8ball’s posts have got Clitterhouse written all over them.
8ball, not literally before you get all pedantic on my ass again 😉
Gt @ #217
Aaah, ‘The Mannone Experience’. That’s not going to get me off my grump. Get well soon!
H2H & TS
Thanks guys. I’ll try 🙂
TS- Grump away, they know they deserve it 😉
H2H- I’m going to pop back to the pharmacist this eve, so I’ll put Auntie Beaties on the list. Thanks. 🙂
(roaming, again)
See you under The Brollie TS, 6.15 ish ?
This could mean 2 pints in 4 days. Better find a good hangover cure. 😉
Re: TS @220. Sorry about that engineers remark, even if it wasn’t directed at ***British*** engineers in any case. Not being an engineer, I really have no idea what it is they do anyway but I probably should have blamed the American planners and developers. In any case, the British planners and developers seem to have gotten it right and suburbia was made a little bit more urban in being connected to the city by the overall transit grid. Not sure then why H2H was riding the non-red single decker busses to get there though when he could’ve been on the tube. Of course, he might have had to go nearly to central London first to get the Northern Line. I’ll have to check my transit map. 🙂
Goonertown,get well soon,mate.
Mannone vs Huntelaar, no problem ……….
So it’s come to this….discussing shopping centres!
I’ll stick to self-medicating. 8)
But Zico, where do you buy your meds. Through the mail?
Where did all these posts come from?
Buy?
Dr Feelgood does not own a dog, only to bark himself 😉
Trev @228,i seriously hope/pray our players don’t allow that situation arise because there will only be one outcome.
8Ball from wiki;
The London Underground stations nearest to the shopping centre are Brent Cross and Hendon Central, both on the Northern Line. According to the council, both “feel very remote and lack adequate pedestrian links and signage”, and the 10 to 15-minute walks are through “a hostile pedestrian environment.”
A 15min walk for a mum with 2 nippers would have been too long, hence the bus trip.
Nowadays I use different means to trip.
I don’t know if this is more true in Wireless than Optics, but I am absolutely staggered at the poor grammar of the people I work with, both in French and in English.
It is genuinely appalling.
Cent
Thanks mate.
I’m discovering a new found respect for Jeremy Kyle!
How random is that? 😆
Zico @ 229?
😆
Ollie@235,
Don’t ever come to the States. Our grammar and what passes for communication would shock you.
If you read any of my posts you will see that even our “educated”
lack a certain sumptin’.
😉
I proved my own point. 😉
Massive heh! @ Dr.z @ #229 *hangs head in absolute shame*
8ball @ #226 – That is why I am a great fan of your postings and musings. Fish, wibble, etc.
Ollie @ #235 – Pls tek that bak. Im an wyrless man ind mine spilling & gramma is absolootli perfick.
Trev – I’ll bring the adrenalin shots in case 2 pints in 96 hours proves to be too much.
Oh feck ….. forgot about Huntelaaaaaaaaaaaaar. I wish I could forget about our GK situation. Double meh.
My Grammer is pretty appaling too.
But she’s old so we usually let her bad behaviour slide. 😉
You going on Saturday as well, Professor?
*And the coat that was handed to zico the other day is handed back to H2H, for whom it fits quite snugly*
Pace the dunce cap too mate, I can’t even spell grammar, d’oh.
TS,
Cuntelaar is over rated, fuck him.
Unfortunately not Doctor.
….But I am travelling to Reading in the school holidays for a halloween fest in the away end of an unimportant domestic trophy. Should a happy away-day win or lose.
I may also get a chance to see us host Montpellier. If I do, I’ll be trying to drink Skol on Swedish plastic and will don a two-horned helmet.
H2H knows 🙂
Mine wasn’t much better – “on whom it fits quite snugly”
You didn’t mean Dutch Cap, I hope? 😐
Pity TS.
A man needs a hand to keep the Tollington in profit. Trev may need to increase his intake further 😉
Hah! Another brilliant Feelgood idea. Get Trev to subsidize the DLL board’s debts and offer a vital line of credit to the moutain of defecit in Stockholm.
I’m quite sure, however, that you won’t be lacking in ‘helping hands’ come Saturday.
Ah, so you saw through that ruse – for Tollington read the Feelgood Foundation.
God loves a trier 😉
Boo at weekend-games-boycotting TS.
H2H,
I had to look back at my post just to make sure I did not misspell “grammar”. Haha.
Wind,
Looks like I should have waited for the family enclosure to sell out. My excitement to get any tickets may have cost us a decent seat. Lesson learned. Just call me Mr Receptacle.
He/She/It certain does zico.
I miss you too Ollie x
My bin is still full of Saturdays shit performance. Should be digested by this afternoon and squarely put behind me. Or is that out me behind?
Mad Cap…the whole lot of you 😀
BMBD
Question: Is Andre Santos the new Eric Morecambe?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-train-ahead-of-schalke-04-pictures
NorCal, a seat is a seat at the home of football, nothing more, nothing less. I’m just grateful to be going to my 1st CL Group Stage game 🙂 And would those better seats outside the family enclosure really have been worth the risk of the game selling out or no more sets of 4 seats being available?
You did great, you can apply the experience you’ve gained for the next time you visit the Emirates. I mean, hindsight is a beautiful thing, no? 😉
TS @ 247, if you get a chance to go to the Montpellier game next month, may wander near the Tollie with NorCal to say Hello 🙂
TS – I think the team would more or less be the same from the weekend
Don Vito
Jenks Per TV5 Santos
Arteta Ramsey
Cazorla
Gerv Giroud Poldi
It does leave us a little short on the bench though. May be he will bring in Coq alongside Arteta and play Ramsey/Cazorla out wide. Giroud will be benched if that happens
TS and Harsha,
Have a feeling Poldi will play thru the middle tomorrow. He knows the opposition well and has scored against them the last few times they played. Ramsey on the wing, al la bennyjune of last year.
Bench in quite thin with both theo and AOC out we lose the option of speed injection. A once deep squad is thin again. Oh to be a Gooner.
Surely he cannot start the same team. I accept his striker options are limited but he really has to freshen things up. Otherwise the risk of another flat performance s far too great.
NorCal, you might be on to something there. But on the other hand that would mean the Coq in midfield and absolutely nothing on the bench in terms of midfield options (I am counting on neither of Jack or Frimpong to be in the squad). Bit of a tricky one, this.
Hmm, seems I somehow managed to miss Harsha’s post@260 that said pretty much what I said too before posting 🙂
I see one of Stan’s other teams (St Louis Rams – his first love?) is playing at Wembley on Sunday. Presume he might drop into the Grove on Saturday?
Imagine the psychological difficulties that would follow if your first love was a ram?
Might explain the silence, I s’pose 😉
Heh z @266.
You really are wicked.
Now I have a dreadful image in mind.
Yeah, it is a god-awful moustache….
Blimey. I enter the bar to catch up on the football chat and what do I get? A full, no holds barred run down on Brent Bloody Cross. Grow a pair people. Shopping centre talk should be banned on here, even if there is an Arsenal shop there.
Is there an Arsenal shop in Brent Cross? Haven’t been there for 20 years. Last time I was there I saw Pat Jennings in the car park.
Good commercial move to open a shop there I should think.
Steve, anything to keep us from thinking about Saturday is very welcome in my book 🙂
Not shopping Lars. I draw the line at shopping.
Well, I just ‘grew a pair’, how do you fellas manage to sit down 🙂 And just what is this highfalutin talk of grammar at the bar? 🙁 Agree Steve T, shambolic, totally 🙂
Steve T
Heh.
So I shouldn’t run up to Brent cross on my visit next month?
I thought it was a top London attraction based on the comments.
Tower or Brent cross. Westminster or Brent cross. Choices choices.
NorCal 261, doubt it, Gervinho’s more likely to start in the middle I would say.
Good point Nurse. Perhaps you can assist a few here who clearly need some sowing back on?
Mr Receptacle. It’s a roundabout. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
😉
Hey Steve and company 🙂 Did you guys read the Tactics column at Arseblog? Seems Gervinho is best left to his own devices 🙂
Steve, but what if the shopping talk is about Arsene going shopping for a decent goalie that doesn’t break down every five minutes?
Steve T,
I’m so confused. There’s a brothel at Brent cross?
So I can go round about and float my boat?
Lars, If Arsenal are at all saavy, they will NEVER reveal they are in the hunt for a GK. Should be done very quietly, so as not to further undermine Vito’s confidence. And Woj too, cause when he comes back, it’s gonna be tough for him, mentally. Very worrying and has been on my mind for some time 🙁
Heh @ 278
Harsha, Norcal, Lars – Good stuff. I’m in the middle. I expect a bit of necessary rotation with a dash of shake-up. I’m guessing Kos & BFG will be our CB pairing. I think Gerv may find himself on the bench. If Coq plays could Santi join the front three?
Wind & NorCal – Would be a pleasure to put faces to pseudonyms.
Bath – Well Silent Stan is in town for the AGM. He could make two games back-to-back (shock horror). Rumours of his arrival in London alongside BtM are, I’m assured, purely coincidental.
Steve T – I’m sure you’ll find plenty of sewing kits when you visit Fenwicks.
Big game for us tomorrow night. We simply have to bounce back from that horror show at Norwich with a dominant performance and a good win. The consequence of any alternative is unthinkable.
Focus and fight FFS you fuckers.
TS,
Would have to admit I know little about the Germans. Are we better off to play our only speed ( Gerv) through the middle or play a big target man( OG). Regardless, there needs to be some shift otherwise if there is the same performance and team as at the weekend then it will not be pretty.
Italian
Jenks. Mert. Verm. Santos
Arteta. Le Coq. Santi.
Rambo. Poldi. Gerv.
Chasing bring in OG. And Gnabry. Leading Rambo can drop deeper.
Or whatever Arsene thinks. 😉
I would maybe run with that NorCal as I definitely think the team needs a shake up after Saturday but would be concerned that we knock OG’s morale by dropping him. It was our inability to make chances rather than to take them that was the biggest problem. Pity AOC is out – but I think a change in MF is required. Is Diaby still crocked?
Is Diaby still crocked?
Is the pope a Catholic? 🙁
Yes, it’s a decent guess NorCal. Personally, I think Gerv deserves the bench after Saturday but I’m not convinced we have a better alternative at the moment. I am also sure that Kos will get some game time. It would be really brave to play Martinez in goal but that’s highly unlikley given the ramifications.
TS: what if Wind is called ‘Wind’ and NorCalArsenal is, amazingly, named ‘NorCalArsenal’?
OK, the odds are about as long as for your average ‘holicpound these days…. 😉
Sorry Norcal, what was i thinking. Front three could be Poldi – Giroud – Ramsey. That’s feasible.
Ollie
What odds on my family name being Storey?
What odds on me having a sibling called Toy?
OK, you know me but imagine if you didn’t 🙂
I’ve had a look at tonight’s available game, not much doubt about which one I want to watch.
Going to be the obvious Lille vs Bayern.
Hey Chelsea down already 🙂
Can we have the final whistle for the CL games now?
arsabeatbarca
Yup inside three minutes 🙂
And Man U, it seems, abb!
Oh Ollie ! The best thing for Vito, would be if Schalke weakly test him on a regular basis tomorrow, keep him engaged, whilst building up his confidence!!! Brilliant, will send my memo post haste :0
Hi Arthur and Ollie! 🙂
arsabeatbarca
Looks like they like to copy each other…..
Cuntelaaar trips over his……… Labia, of course. Mertesaker quickly out to Arteta…….. The break is on….
Bayern 1-0. Dodgy penalty given by English ref.
Arthur, Fraid I’ve lost you there, who copy who? Gosh, I hate it when I’m so slow…and savvy is how it’s spelt 🙁 Just for you, Ollie :/ )
Surely,Le Coq has to score off a muff from Cuntelaaaarr?
Hi, ‘holics!
Just turned on the TV and barely have I digested that the Manks are 1-0 down than they go 2-0 down! And then Barca go behind as well.
Braga are very impressive. Ha ha! I do hope all the scores stay the same.
Chelsea down as well. I’ve probably jinxed everything by watching it though.
Well played NCA.
FunGunner!!!! Yippee, she’s back. Cheers FG!
Whoops. Sorry. Didn’t notice all the ladies in the bar.
*red embarrassed face thingy*
Hold up….
Celtic 1 up against Barca
What did I tell you? I knew I’d jinxed it.
NorCal, Nice goal 🙂 Even nicer assist! Peanuts for everyone!
Hi, abb – lovely to see you. Champers?
ooops, Fun beat me to it.
If the score stays that way in Spain they’ll rename the stadium the Och Aye De Nou Camp.
@ 310
ha ha
Oh FG, missed you! Been trying to handle the lads all by my lonesome….very daunting task 🙁
Yes thanks ABB for the assist. And Ollie for the goal scoring chance.
Totally off topic. Anyone ever eaten at the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower? Worth it, or skip it?
I’m sure you coped womanfully, abb – and I expect the lads enjoyed it, too! 🙂
Espn can’t think of a better abbreviation for Spartak Moscow than SpaM?
I am offended for them.
Chelski are lucky not to go 2 nil down
Your most welcome NorCal! FG, I have ‘grown a pair’ recently. So I’m not sure how womanly I am at the moment (if I detect a Five Oclock Shadow, I’ll know I’m in unchartered territory). Shakhtar looking very ominous !!!
Ollie @ 286, 😆 😆 😆
I’ve run like the wind when I’ve been near trouble… 8)
Well in NorCal @ 300.
Hey abb & Fun 🙂
@ 317 arsabeatbarca
Ooh! Can’t wait to see your “pair” in action, if that doesn’t sound too creepy and weird.
bonsoir, Wind. Studying hard, I hope?
Heh, Nurse ABB. if the transformation becomes complete you may have to move a little further south, to Miami.
HI Wind! Hey H2H! Wind, who are you watching? This Willem, very impressive, methinks.
I’m annoyed, whenever I think of making merriment (on Twitter for example) at Man Yoo’s Expense, they pull one back before I even get a chance, the bastards 😡
Good news though, saw RvPrick on ITV 1 as I checked in my older brother as he watched the game in his room, never felt anything, complete indifference with a standard passing insult 😀
NorCal 313, I haven’t. I know a couple of people who have. Think they were very happy with it.
Willian is tricky. Been linked with us in the past, but most recent links are to the Spuds.
Fun, I’ve been studying so hard I injured the tendon in my right arm from writing/note taking 🙄
abb, hey, I’m not watching anyone, I’d rather study to be honest, only desperate to see the Arsenal although hearing that Celtic went ahead at the Nou Camp piqued my interest, no Sky Sports at home so nowt I could do about it :p
1-0 to some cunts in Lille. Thanks to cunty ref.
You see! Iniesta equalised, flip me X_X
Thanks Ollie. Who would have thought so much planning went into 6 people traveling abroad. Was easier when I was single and 24.
@ Wind
Ouch! Never mind, it will be worth it in the end. But you are allowed a *little* bit of fun and fresh air as well, you know.
I’m getting my fun & fresh air next month at the Emirates Fun 😀
Come on Juve!!! Oops, forgot where I was for a mo. Wind, not too much sympathy from me, cause you’re young 🙂 FG, got a razor to spare 🙁 ? NorCal, I always get lost in Miami, part of the fun! And NorCal, Paris is the bomb, specially at night. Very romantic 🙂
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
@ 331 Wind
Excellent. Which match are you going to?
@ 332 abb
A razor? Pfft. There is nothing “unwomanly” about speaking up or standing your ground and if anyone tries to tell you different, send them to me…
More surprises: Juve 1-0 down (sorry, abb).
Just need Lille to score 2 goals really.
I have to mention that I feel honored and privileged to be privy to the FG-ABB banter. And, may I add, it’s almost as good as having an honorary pass to the women’s privy at the precise moment when they are growing a pair of pairs. 😉