Sláinte, And Saints Await
Dec 31st, 2012 by 'holic
Had our trip to St Mary’s come at any other time of the season I would have made an effort to get there, never having been. My trips to Hampshire go back to the bad old days of the Dell, where visiting supporters were housed in conditions that would have caused uproar if they were animals. That old caged and crumbling terrace with threadbare facilities is a reminder why it is worth paying a small premium to watch games in safety and some degree of comfort these days.
Promoted to the top flight again this season Southampton had the toughest of starts, losing to both Manchester clubs and Wigan before we tore them apart 6-1 at the Grove. They have slowly but surely adjusted however, and will escape the bottom three for at least 24 hours should they beat us. At home they have beaten Aston Villa, Newcastle United, and Reading, whilst the likes of Fulham, Swansea City, and Norwich City could only draw there. On Saturday they ended 2012 with a point at Stoke they would have gladly accepted beforehand, but will feel frustrated about having led 3-1 at half-time.
Ricky Lambert, who should not be carelessly dismissed as a journeyman striker, has scored eight goals for them and provides the main threat. Defensively, before Saturday, the last team to score more than one against them was West Bromwich Albion back at the start of November. This will be a test of our occasional potency in front of goal.
There is precious little solid team news available as I write, although it is expected that Per Mertesacker will have recovered from the bug that ailed him at the weekend. I suspect he will return to the starting line-up alongside the skipper, although I would pair him with Laurent Koscielny. As for the rest I wouldn’t expect further rotation, unless there are any unreported knocks from the win over Newcastle. I can only recall Jack Wilshere getting roughed up by Tiote a few times, so if he needs to drop out there is a ready made replacement in Tomas Rosicky.
The evening will be an emotional one for Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, products both of the Saints youth set-up. It will be interesting to see if any special bets crop up on them both scoring tomorrow. As for the ‘holic pound I am guided by the market. Favourtism is shared by 1-1 or 1-2 to the visitors. I won’t punt on the draw so the single goal triumph it is for me.
Thanks for reading and contributing in 2012
Some of you have already celebrated the new year, and all will have done so by the time we kick-off. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for taking time to read this year and for all your contributions via the drinks, Twitter, or Facebook.
The New Year is no longer a cause for riotous celebration here. We will raise a glass to ‘holicdad in the early hours, then think happy thoughts about him, and drift off hoping for better days ahead.
That doesn’t stop me from wishing all of you, wherever you are, health and happiness for the year ahead. I have had the good fortune to share some truly enjoyable moments with many of you in this past year, and look forward to many more yet.
Thank you all. Let the transfer window madness begin…
362 Responses to “Sláinte, And Saints Await”
Err – Amen to that ‘h.
Quik bit o’ backdrinking – ta tabs, and Trev – i’ve seen you in the flesh remember…
Happy hoooo haaa all
And seconed tooooo?
And thired an’ all???
I’ll stop
now
Missed the 5 15
In the shit – again.
See ya tomorrow, in the Phantom Zone. 8)
Up the Arse!
Yes, Holic, tomorrow is unlikely to be an easy one and I’ll be happy with an away win of any shape, size, shade or color.
I wonder if we may see Corporal Jenkinson make a start? Overall he has impressed me more than Bacs this season. I’m hoping Ollie G will get more front time and I think Santi might benefit from an early seat in favour of TR7.
Whatever the team, lets’s hope for commitment, pace and of-course WIDTH (Heh, Steve and Ben!) – enjoy the game have a great New Year and don’t forget to open your back door to let the Auld Year Oot before you open the front door to let the New Year in! (But being a son of Stirling -you’ll be very familiar with a’ that an a’ that)
Thanks ‘Holic for your measured and mature blogging throughout 2012, always a pleasure to get away from the manic over-reaction elsewhere on the net! Look forward to more in 2013.
Thanks to you ‘Holic and all the oyher drinkerd in the bsr for an entertaining year and here’s to ahappy and prosperous New Year to you all
Our thoughts especially for GoonerTerry and the others recovering from illness
COYRR
Thanks for a superb read all year.happy new year to you.
Cheers for that mate and all your blogs in 2012 and for getting me in when it mattered in February against the swamp dwelling wankers – will never forget that. And being such a great host when Big Mathers came down in November.
Happy New Year to all ‘holics! Those I’ve had the pleasure to meet and those I have n’t yet and those I may never will. You’re all stars for frequenting one of the absolute best blogs. Ever.
Got a few tales of the old Dell (crumbling shithole sums it up). Remember the Tom Tackle Boys? All mouth and trousers. Anyways all the best everyone. Bit pissed already and aim to get more so!
Work forbids me to drink alcohol for the next 2 days ( how rude). But I still raise my glass to all here. Enjoy the new year and things to come.
Cheers all. Hope to meet more of you in person in the coming year.
Cheers ‘holic for another year of excellent blogging, your ability to bring perspective is much valued here. Wishing you and all the family the very best.
Thanks Guv’nor. Tip-top blogging throughout 2012. All the best for 2013.
Top man NorCal.
I’ve been hanging around in the old bar for hours. 😉
Cheers H2H.
Enjoy your evening. Hope your establishment is not too crazy this evening.
Shut up you tarts, as Delboy would say. It’s you lot that make this place.
Thank you. End of 😉
Your header graphic needs more Rioch for 2013.
Good stuff guv’.
The Saints have highly improved since we last met, I’m glad they stuck with thyeir manager as I thought it would of been a travisty had they given him the tin tack after he’d got them so far in such a short amount of time.
So long as we attack and not defend like we did against the Toon we should be alright.
==
Nor Cal.
Cheers, I’ll be open for another hour or so for a (by invitation only) drinky to see out the old year. I’ll then close up and see in the new year with the fam’, can’t be fucked with all the hassle a party on a night like this brings.
==
Thank you ‘holic for this wonderful site, over the last few years it has grown from more then just a blog, it’s now a community of which I’m proud to belong to.
Thank you ‘holics one and all from wherever on this green earth you may hail or reside for also making this place the best virtual bar on the web.
To you and yours I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2013.
Happy new year all,me personally will be glad to see the back of it,one of my best friends a spurs fan unbelievably!but the best of fellas, a real topper,two young kids a new wife every thing going for him,the happiest guy u could wish to meet,took his own life in July miss him dearly especially when we play them as we’d always go on the sause together and it would end in tears for him.here’s to 2013 and a big meh to 12.make time for friends and family and enjoy them while were here, holics have a good 1.
Health and happiness to you, too, ‘Holic, in the coming year. You just run the damn finest bar in the whole blogiverse. Heaven knows where we’d all end up if here wasn’t here to come to.
A finer bunch of inebriates you couldn’t hope to find. A Happy New Year to every single one of you. And a glass raised to silverware by spring.
Happy New Year, all. This Yank has been doing his best to snap out of the doldrums, but I dare say it’s been a losing effort thus far. It’s been a bad, bad month here in the States, and while the regular drop-ins from our beloved Arsenal has been some salve, my spirit for banter has been eroded by the atrocities we’ve suffered and, even worse, the vile “debate” that has continued in the days and weeks since. It makes one appreciate this fine establishment all the more, though I’ve often been at a loss to provide anything of value myself.
But here’s to hoping that the tabula rasa of 2013 presents the opportunity for better times ahead, for all of us personally and for the team that brings us all together. And thanks again to all the Holics for always being a sight for sore eyes, you ragged lot. A round on me, if only as an apology for the melodrama, and let’s put another seven past Soton in the ‘morrow.
Victoria Concordia Crescit. Can’t think of a more beautiful or apropos phrase. Come on you Reds, you goddamn beauties.
Top quarter century? If so, not bad for the momentous last post of the year. Thank you ‘holic for a great year of writing about Arsenal, and your constant good humor and judgment. It is often said “Let your conscience be your guide” but in this case I rely on my instincts which tell me that in all things Arsenal I can let ‘holic be both my conscience and my guide. Or something like that. 😉
Oh Holic , I have a song in my heart for all holics. “Today you are YOU. that is Truer than true. There is NO ONE alive who is YOUER than YOU! ” ~ Dr Seuss 🙂 Amen.
Right, the new year has arrived here in Sweden – so I have only one question:
Have we signed anyone yet???
🙂
Happy new year all!
all the best for a great 2013 on and off the pitch for gooners around the world
1017 am news years day here in sydney
31C today,off for a swim
go you gunners
Happy New Year you lot 🙂
Happy New Years right back at you lads and lasses! Teddy Bear Hugs!
FIRST………….
of January 2013.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Well in H2H! Hi Eandy, Lars and 8ball!
Oh, Sydneyred, You too! 🙂
H2H,
Appears that you Tabsed it. ABB lurked in on the new year.
Now that its a new year I need to look at my schedule for when I can come to a game again.
Should I come in the spring or early fall. Choices, choices.
A new season or round out this one. Choices, choices.
NorCal, Hope it stays quiet for you (no jinx intended) Proud you are part of the American contingent at the Bar 🙂
Thanks ‘holic for all the words, wisdom and insight that you have brought to all of us this past year. I greatly appreciate all of your hard work and dedication. I look forward to the win tomorrow and wish you and yours a happy new year tonight.
Well in abb, you GMT New Year’s ringer in, you.
To all the other sad fuckers posting on here in the early hours of jan 1st, Happy new year!!!
Geoff,
Haha. Looks like its mostly us sad fuckers over here in the new world that are always a bit behind the times who are posting and waiting for the new year.
Us left coasters look to be the last to join the brave new year. Still 7 hours.
Scruz, Tim and I will have to wait.
ABB, thanks for the above. I appreciate it.
Lets start the new one on the up and make it 5 in a row. Cheers.
Thanks again all, but hail each other. You really do make the drinks.
If this lot make the drinks, I’ll stick to water 😉
What are you doing up? 😉
Happy new year y’all.
Slainte
I’m watching Harry Potter, ‘h, and trying not to spew after downing half a bottle of red wine. Bit pisht.
Merry everything and all that.
Coma time..!
Feck.
That is all.
HNY. 8)
Happy New Year All!
Hope 2013 is better than 2012 for all of us, let’s kick it off with an away win at St Mary’s and 3 points 😀
happy new year, ‘holic. a glass of finest santa cruz syrah in memory of holicdad, and all who have gone before us.
and to everyone here, tonight and every night, may you all be blessed with abundance, health, and the deepest of joy…
i am full of, among other things, gratitude for this place, and for arsenal. let’s ring in the new year with a pelting of the saints!
Reposted from the end of previous thread, more appropriate here…
“we should be anticipating reports from Impressive Failage, sydneyred and any and all other Australasian (assuming that includes New Zealand, of course, but please correct me if I am wrong) who have actually experienced the wonderful and magical year of 2013.” #172
——————————————————————————
Nothing so wonderful about it in NZ just yet, guys. But whaddya expect on waking up after New Year’s Eve?? Try again tomorrow…
And happy hangovers to all of you too!
Oskar
PS: Could someone tell me if I can get ALL Arsenal games (Premiership and CL) on TV in England, same as I currently get here? I’m seriously contemplating moving back home, but not if it means missing my regular Gunnery diet. I’m happy to pay, just so long as it is possible. Cheers.
Good day to all holics from a scorchingly hot Auckland under the bluest skies in the world. May 2013 bring you all a miracle, namely BtMs predictions!
Once again Holic thanks for allowing us all to spew forth our nonsense — it really is the best virtual bar in the world.
Special hello to arsebeatbaca for visiting Arse Down Under! Hope to see more of the rest of you on NZ’s premier Gooner site!
Almost there you far-flungs on the West Coast of Americaland. Hang in there.
Happy New Year ‘holics
Happy New Year all!
(just like the last one, this one sees me with a bug, probably yet another bout of tonsilitis, hopefully not as bad as after Schalke)
Have we signed anyone yet then?
Morning all, hope you find the new year to your liking so far 🙂
Going to have a fairly busy day today, time to pack up our stuff and go back to Stockholm and then of course I’ll be off down the pub for the game. Really looking forward to that, haven’t been to the pub since Reading away!
Oskar: you can not get every Arsenal game on TV in the UK, the Saturday three o’clock ones are not on. However, every game can be streamed or watched at various pubs, I am quite sure that wherever you would decide to live there would be a pub not too far away that will show every game. And besides, if you lived in the UK you could actually go to the games every now and then 🙂
Right, bags to pack and a car to drive…
Happy new year everyone!
Thanks holic, as others have mentioned for maintaining such a brilliant forum
Happy New Year from a rainy South of France.
Thanks to Holic and all the contributors to this formidable blog.
2013 Year of the Gooner
Rainy in that part of the country too, washed up.
Fed up with being ill again though. 🙁
Ollie,I think everybody feels a bit ill this morning,but mostly self inflicted.
Is there an ill looking smiley?
Yes washes up, only it’s called a smilley 😛
*gets coat*
Thank you.
Happy New Year Holic and Holics
and
best wishes for 2013
*boilk*
COYRs
Oh my head.
Morning all.
HNY
Hi All
good day down the beach
watched GALAXY QUEST tonight with the family….always a good laugh.
will be streaming the match sometime during the night
off for some kip meanwhile
soton 1 gunners 3
due to time difference match has already been on here !!!
Not self-inflicted here. Not had a drop yesterday in fact. Just some bug I picked up in London.
Happy new year to you all, wish you all the best the year has in store.
Ollie, get well soonest.
Recover quickly Ollie.
Ollie, get well soon, mate.
That transit through Kings Cross has always been a health hazard 😀
Gary Neville frothing at the mouth about diving, Gareth Bale and “do we want winners or do we want fair play awards?”
It’s a difficult one, but I do know one thing.
What we don’t want is any more players with hands for feet
Happy New Year all !
Ollie, get well soon.
Holic, serves you right ! 😉
You didn’t wander too far north up the Sevensisters Rd did you Ollie?
Chernobyl’s got nothing on the marshlands. 😉
Get well soon.
Happy New Year everyone, hope it’s a good one for you all.
Get well soon Ollie.
Great preview ‘Holic. Don’t think today’s game will be as easy as it’s being billed. It’s certainly unlikely to be the romp that it was in September.
Like you, I’d like to see the Captain make way for the returning Big German, but I think that’s unlikely, and I guess Kos will find himself on the bench again (after what I thought was a very good performance against Newcastle, despite the 3 goals conceded.)
Would also, like you, love to see Rosicky get some serious minutes under his belt today, whether it be for added impetus if we need a goal, or as a calming influence if we are defending a lead.
I wonder also whether Jenks might get a run out to give the ailing Sagna a bit of a breather.
The Gunners to sneak it to make it 5 in a row. 2-1 looks on the money to me.
Nonny@68 🙂
Nearly time to head back to the Juicer. Hurrah! 🙂
Haven’t seen Clive around these parts for a wee while. Hope everything’s alright Sweeper, and a very Happy New Year to you.
A happy new transfer window to you all.
*Deadwood for Sale*
Today, I shall mostly be trying to ignore that pain behind my eyes…..
sorry to hear about your lurgi Ollie – at least it wasn’t self-inflicted 😐
Man up Dr Z and get back on it! 🙂
I have a wrestling contest planned later tabs – me and a crate of Peroni.
Thanks all.
That’s the spirit Dr Z 😉
Afternoon all.
Auntie Beechams, anyone?
Happy New Year!
Back at work already for what looks like a shit day.
Will have to follow the game on here and arseblog while trying not to kill someone. 😉
Close game but I will go with 3-1 with a late goal to secure the win.
Cheers all.
Hope it gets better soon Ollie.
Cheers ‘Holic and best wishes for the new year to you and yours.
Now let’s see if we can do it on a cold and windy evening at The New Dell. A real test of building confidence and the consistence for which we all crave.
#UTA!
Happy New Year to all the Holics God bless you all
ping
We’re fielding an unchanged side, just as i expected. Come on you rip roaring Red and Whites.
Hello Arthur. The holy goalie in for Saints today…
I know I’m on 1-2, but just saw Stan James offering 66/1 against 2-4. That is worth a few ‘holic pounds I reckon 😉
Here, the usual streams for the match, I see Bloodzeed is broadcasting, so I hope the game will go with the flawless quality of the stream:) http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=180499&part=sports
Just wondering if anybody found a stream. ESPN3’s website says “Your event is about to begin. Please stand by.” which sounds semi-hopeful but I don’t trust it fully.
Eandy. Our posts crossed. Thanks. Let’s just Arsenal’s crosses don’t hit the post and come out. 🙂
CoMoNUReeeeeeeeeeeedddddddSSSS!!!!!!
No good results from earlier games. Time to show up lads. Give them a high tempo game start to finish.
Come on you …purples!:D
COME ON YOU
REDSPURPLE STRIPEY GUNNERSHere We Go! Cheers everyone!
happy new year, all. and, we’re off!
(thanks for the espn3 suggestion, bt8b, tommy smyth and all.)
Oops, pardon – CoMoNUMaaaaroooooooooooooonnnnnnsssssSSS!
Oh my head, one less bottle of scotch in the world! Only just made kick off
cheeky santi!
Nice one Sant!
boruc has his slippy gloves on. yay!
Lurky Oxon wellies one…
just add an ‘i’ 🙁
Oooh..that would have been spectacular from Santi
morning, nurse. 🙂
Hey Oxon, first one of the year!
away fans in brilliant voice.
Well in Oxon.
Their goalie not in it at all..shoot lads!
Morning Scruz 🙂
well in, oxon.
boruc having a ‘mare, and just grins. pressure him, boys!
Their keeper’s a bit of a mong, we need to pressure him.
great tackle, thomas!
Good tackle by TV!
Thank you abb, scruz and H2H.
COYG
COME ON ARSENAL!
Most welcome, Sir 🙂
Ok, warm up over. Time to PLAY 🙂
cheers, og. let’s see a hat trick from you. 🙂
poor jack. his nads are getting a workout this season. happy birthday, jack!
A Card is in order here! Hope Jack ok!
LJW gets it in the goulies…………….again.
Ouch..poor Jack knackered to his privates again -_-
not liking arsenal playing 3/4 speed. alka-seltzer at halftime with their oranges, please.
There goes the customary aimless Vermaelen long ball…now let’s play football.
Terrific cross by AOC!
nice pressure theo on boruc forcing the bad pass out, good hard work by the ox to get in the cross, and it’s a corner.
that comes to nought.
Theo doesnt win anything in the air, we need an outlet.
We need to pick up the pace!!
Come on Arsenal!
i see our tactics…lull them to sleep in the first half, then wake them up rudely in the second. yeesh.
Come on
is that a wake up call, then, arsenal? COME ON YOU GOONERS.
Here we go again
Sagna assist!
Is it only me or does Sagna look jaded as hell? He is lacking that pace in first few yards so visibly today.
Sagna fucked up again, that was terrible.
Poor defending.
Saw that coming. Text book errors.
POdolski … Sagna … GOAL!!!
Oh, wait.
Well fuck me sideways ..again ..
horrible, horrible defending. sagna again with the cross-goal “clearance” that leads to a goal. the curse of turning 30?
Cheerio all. Just setting off on the long drive oop Naaaarth so as to get to work bright and early tomorrow. Keep sending out the good vibes, and fingers crossed that the match is on 5Live.
COYG
lol bt8b…
Hmm. I have a bad feeling having read the drinks that came in while I was typing my last.
Hey ho.
COYG
sagna having a definite nightmare, especially the last five minutes.
Sagna not playing very well
Sagna WTf?
Jenkinson on at halftime?
Sagna please wake-up
Sagna having a mare again today …oh well
We are super static…wake up lads!
and in!
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYESSSSSSSSSSS
This is so feckin’ predictable, yet again! Start playing some feckin’ football and stop underestimating your opponents you arrogant cunts! No cohesion what so ever and both flanks are playing like cunts. Start moving about you feckers!
how lucky was that.
YYYYYEEESSSS
Equalizer.
Hey, whatcha you know 🙂
Get IN!
og scored for us. i guess he came over from mancs in the van cuntface deal.
You’ve been thrown a frickin’ bone, now pick it up for feck’s sake!
Are we allowed to shoot or what?
FFS SHOOT!
Is that the third goal Souton have scored for us this year?
second cross straight across the box to no one by the ox. come ON.
Pass and move for feck’s sake! Stop playing this complacent, lethargic shit!
hold the run, theo! yes, norcal, the third.
Unlucky Feo
lucky to be even at the half. better in the second, please.
DanC to give the halftime talk? Go DanC!!
two defensive fuck ups on both sides…hopefully we will start to play with much more urgency and purpose in second half.
We need an outlet, we have no presence in their box, our hold up play is non-existent and the only movement upfront is Theo making basic runs.
Dan C 🙂
7-3 again?
We cannot just keep starting the same XI over and over.
We also can’t keep sleep walking through first halves.
Someone needs to grab this game by the scruff, and I’m looking at our midfield three here.
Need to pick it up in the second half. Out back-up four play can be tough to watch at times. C’Mon Bac get in the match.
We’re a little complacement after winning 4 on the trot and Southampton are pressing us all over the pitch and appear to be working harder and look hungrier.
Anyone for 8 goals in the 2nd half? 🙂
What a feckin’ shocking half of football!
It’s all between the ears with this side! Too many arrogant players who just feel like they just need to strut around to get a result against too many sides! I hope Arsene and Bouldy give them what-for in the dressing room!
Both flanks and especially the fullbacks are having shockers! No outlet for the central defenders or the midfield three! Sagna in particular is playing like a muppet! COYBG!
Cent, OX doing his part 🙂
Move Theo left and bring on giroud for poldi
But we have to wait until 70 mins for that
Bt8B, 😎
Wouldn’t mind seeing OG…uh, for a variety of reasons 🙂
I had the same feeling as I did whilew watching the Newcastle game, we looked lethargic for most of that half. We finaly woke up after they scored which is not ideal but at least it kick started us into action.
Jack´s our best player by far today, a little more effort from the rest in the second half and this game is there for the taking.
COYG.
Drop points this match you feckers, and you’ll all be off this transfer window! 😎
Abb almost everything i said is points towards the inbalance Theo as alone striker brings to our team.
Central midfield not doing it. They need to wake up, get it moving faster and get it wide more often to bring the front three into the game. Also need more from Gibbs going forward and Sagna needs to get over whatever his problem is and start playing again.
I blame Ramsey
No OG to the rescue yet! They should all be good enough not to need the big-unit for this relegation fodder! Come on Feo, show us why you’re worth 100k! Jack’s on half that and he’s your younger bro and showing you up!
Geoff @187,
Heh!
Watching Arsenal is funny.
Ok Ok Ok. see you guys help me learn 🙂
How is Wilshere showing anyone up when the lack of supply from him and Cazorla to the front three is the reason we’re playing shit?
Looks like between DanC, Nonny and N7 we’ve got things sorted. Got to make sure the players checked the blog at halftime though! If Theo’s invisible so is Podolski and it’s probably because we don’t have enough energy or control in midfield. TR7, anyone?
our defense starting sloppy. even two pieces of cheese toast and another cup of coffee aren’t enough to quell the nausea.
a bit better on the break, but it’s slow motion redux.
More hustle and drive by AOC.
again, sagna. get it RIGHT.
What is wrong with Sagna?
nice high pressure.
Sagna must be on a boilk.
Can’t ESPN find an English speaker to do commentary? This Scottish bloke has invented a few new vowels.
A little Mozart would play nicely right now, 8ball 🙂
Bt8B,
Agree re TR7! On for Arteta! Need more driving incision in the middle of the park! Arteta looks leggy yet again!
nice, h2h.
jack’s going to be celebrating his birthday tonight in the emergency room. maybe someone can give him the key to the HT consumables cabinet?
Jack’s extremities getting a beating today 🙁
Oh feck! Gervinho’s warming up! That’s all we need now!
Far too predictable and easy to defend against!
never seen Sagna playing this sluggish and poor …seriously …whats going on Bac?
Ooo Woj WTF
lucky there. good hands by chezza.
Scary stuff!
Sagna all at sea again.
Come on Arsene surely you can see this too.
tr7, jenks, and og, please.
SZCZ not walking comfortably? Near SAGNA og there!
Abit of organised defending and this side goes to jelly! Attack is the only form of defence for this group of players only problem is they can’t attack right now. Time for the big-unit I think!
why was theo trying a shot there? he had two in the box. not convincing today, theo.
Voila! 😎
og for poldi. theo out left now. come on, hfb…
OG for Poldi
Does Mr.Sagna have his mind on other things?
Anyway, here comes our HFB!
We’re asking for trouble at the back. C’MON.
Szszcezny, nice saves! Giroud is on.
And here he comes, OG 🙂
facepalm, theo.
Watch us keep the ball and pile up the pressure.
COYBG!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
Does Walcott have a friend in row ZZZ? Why is he crossing there and then waving at them?
Another scrappy three points lads! Come the feck on!!!
Good linkage between AOC and Gibbs…
nice pressure on boruc by og, boruc finds touch with his pass. keep it up!
We’re still not on the stick.
So so poor!
COME
ON
ARSENAL
whew…Woj dangerously cought in two minds now.
tommy smythe: “that was very agricultural”, on schneiderlin’s tackle for a yellow on santi.
Why on earth arent we shooting, Boruc didnt have to do anything tonight and hes clearly not in it, test him guys!
Sagna’s hung-over! 😎
sagna’s passing has no strength at all.
Did you all see how much trouble Sagna had running back after he lost the ball?
Something is clearly wrong there.
He looks like that for sure DanC
If there ever was advert for transfer-window replacements, here it is! Shockingly bad! TR7 please come on now!
yeah, h2h. it’s been all game long. ever so slightly limping as he runs. is jenks on the bench?
a bit better, nice hustle by gibbs to win back the ball given away by jack. if theo puts in a better cross…
Sagna really limping badly! Why is he still playing!
what do you figure, danC, tr7 for arteta, jack dropping deepest? or keep arteta at the back and put him up for santi?
First half against Newcastle was us playing well but without tempo. This is us playing quite badly. Hope we’ll get a lucky second! We need one! Don’t have the energy after yesterday night to be angry or anything. Just stating that we’re not that good today, and that we’ll hopefully pull through in some way shape or form.
We’re lucky there, he was not offside.
Next three fixtures in the premiership: Man City@home; Chelsea@away; Liverpool@home! Drop points here and we go into those fixtures with a hell of alot to do! 🙁
southampton all over us at the moment, and we keep giving the ball away. definitely poor, toby.
Sagna must be subbed right the hell now.
gervino on for…theo?
COME ON ARSENAAAAAL
My two favourite players coming on, go on bits make me eat my words!
augh, no, the ox. hopefully gervs can reprise his earlier form against southampton. and aaron on for santi? why no tr7?
Ramsey and Gerv in -_-
Scruzgooner, take off Arteta and bring on TR7. If we can’t defend we might as well try to shoot it out! Oh look, Gervinho and Ramsey are on! For feckless sake, what a joke!
Abismal display so far
Santi and Ox off, Ramsey and Gervinho on.
Baffling sub…if Santi is going down, TR7 surely is better option than Aaron
I have no clue as to why Rosicky isn’t on the pitch.
Having that said I haven’t seen him in training the last week. But still.
Anyhow. Plenty of time left to grab a goal if we could just get some accurate passing going. I’m worried but one good attack might be enough. Come on you reds!
maybe tr7 is still in the red zone.
what the hell, slipping and sliding all over the pitch. can we not clear the ball with possession?
Lol! This is like watching a high school playground kick-about! 😀
Ramsey releasing the ball earlier and looks a much better player for it!
Finally a shot.
oooooh, nice try mikel…
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Arteta 🙁
Unlucky MA8.
We’re playing bwith ten men, Sagna is a shadow of himself.
We just can’t keep the ball at the moment.
Have to give credit to Southampton; they’ve competed really well and don’t deserve to lose! 10 years since they last beat us!
Gervinho NO
Bradford-ish display so far …painful to watch..we need more shots from medium distance like Mikel just showed..our passing is not accurate enough today so lets simplify things..smash passes from wide to the box for OG or shoot from outside the box …anything will be better than what we are showing so far ..
Almost Gervais…keep it up!
Bath, I can’t even get mad at him, because I expect him to do shit like that.
Then he trys to prove me wrong with a decent effort.
Sagna having a western today
Why the feck does Gervinho ever shoot these days?! He couldn’t hit the proverbial…
Come on ffs! 5mins left!
C’mon You reds!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
So disappointing
No defence, no midfield, no attack and should be fresher that Southampton! Very very poor!
Our midfield is non-existant..
agreed, dan, if they’d had better play in their final 3d it could have been embarassing.
still in it with a minute to go, though.
That was the chance.
Fuck.
That was our best chance 🙁
that was the best move of the game so far. gibbs shoulda shot…
Ooooh close:(
This is our worst performance of this year………… Oh.
Cannot see this as a top 4 team, sadly.
taken together, as far as i am concerned, this game and the newcastle game show why theo is NOT worth the £100K/week he’s reportedly asking for.
WIN THE BALL, arsenal.
Gibbs did the right thing, but the movement in the box, I’m looking at you flipper, was feckin awful.
hopefully not starting the year as we mean to carry on. 🙁
i suppose he did, but it was also the expected thing. with boruc in goal, he might have done well to surprise him.
Well played Saints.
Arsenal, a performance to forget. Really poor. As someone mentioned earlier, Bradfordish performance. I don’t mind us losing, as the regulars will know, losing is part of football, but a boring draw without us putting together more than one single good move in 94 minutes is really bad.
I’m hungover as well. What kind of a day has it been.
Dogshit performance. The only player we had who was better than his opposite number was the keeper, and that’s only because he had to do a few things and Boruc never had a save to make.
Arsenal just didn’t close down the Saints in midfield all game. Barcelona gets the ball back within three seconds of giving it away. It looked like we were content to let them keep it for three minutes today. 🙁
Individual and collective poor performance. I’m not sure the attitude was 100% right but well played Southampton
Useless! Good day ‘holics and enjoy the post-mortem! “They play when they want to”! The new motto of the shower!
Felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. 🙁 We didn’t deserve the point.
Frustrating, dissapointing, lucky to have a point. Poor all around, cant single out one player except Jack who would have a good game.
well, i am off to finish making a veneer hammer. happy new year everyone, and let’s see some business in january, on and off the pitch!
Bt8b: that’s a GREAT point about Barca!
1 step forwards, 2 steps back!
Useless bunch of cunts! There you have they didn’t even put up a fight!
Fuck that for a new year resolution!
To clarify. I don’t think Saints made us look poor. This game, we really did that ourselves. Saints, however, did quite alright and I can’t hold anything against them for the way they played. Took the game to us, tried their best, and really did put some pressure on us at times. Had they been a bit better this could have been a really bad day.
Mad as fuck, not for the dropped points but for us not being able to put more than four passes together, which, when you think of it is quite sad with players like this, and with employes that doesn’t do anything else most day of the week except practising to kick a ball to each other. Poor.
Having that said, four games unbeaten, 10 points out of 12. A few hard games coming up. 6 out of 9 and we’re still in it!
Disappointing. Why oh why didn’t we bring on Rosicky on?
Really very poor indeed. At the moment we either have games where we look like scoring a bucket load or have games where we never look like scoring. 1 shot on Target is just not even close enough to being good enough.
I have also lost count of the number of defensive errors we have made that have cost us this season. Very sloppy and very lethargic.
Not good, not good at all.
But what can you expect when you have to play an entire game with ten men?
I love Bac, but this was his worst performance ever, he was so clearly not at the races it was embarrassing. But we can’t just blame him, why was he allowed to stay on the field for the entire 90+ minutes.
None of the subs made a difference either, we lacked sharpness and our play was sloppy at best. Well done Southampton and here’s hoping for better days.
Anyone still thinking Walcott worth that 100k?
The game was crying out for intensity and some injection of pace. Was TR7 not on the bench?
Worst game I have seen Sagna play in recent memory. Slow, ponderous and mistake-laden. Definitely fatigued and then why not play Jenk?
Arsene used to have the courage to rotate the players over the holidays no matter what others said. Playing the same eleven of two days before seemed a bit of safe choice. Midfield needed freshening up with Jack — we were supposed to not repeat the mistake of overplaying him this time — and maybe even Santi getting a break.
It was also alarming with the ease Southampton got into our final third, and the number of 50-50 balls they won.
Away draws in Villa of this season and Southampton do not speak of a team with ‘good away form’.
Heh, BtM. I think he’ll be worth 90k or so in a year or two. Playing as a winger. Scoring a few goals coming into the pitch at times. Still young and I am sure he will be worth the salary (well, in the football world, of course it is not really a good idea to pay a person 90 000 pounds a week to kick a football. Never is, never will be) so I wouldn’t mind him signing for 90k. Or even 100k. If it’s a five year deal and we can get quite a few good performances out of him when he improves a bit more.
Having that said, of course he is not a long term solution to our nr 9 position. Don’t think he ever will be. But starting out wide in a fluid system that allows him to occupy that position at times? Sure. Sign him up.
New Year crock of shit, actually. Looked a very very ordinary team.
Oh, and sorry BtM, quite sure it was a rhetorical question. Sorry for providing a serious answer!
Now that’s the Arsenal I know. A ‘Champions League’ team playing lifeless and clumsy football against a bottom 3 team which doesn’t even belong in the same league as us. Quite frankly useless.
He never has been BTM. But for the sake of what is likely to be an extra 10k or so on the original offer we now have little choice. The option of letting him walk away for nothing is not an option.
Why no Rosicky?????? Surely the game was crying out for his energy rather than Flipper buffoonary???
Poor performance and confirmed several things we already knew: Sagna is winding down, we don’t rotate enough, the defence is far weaker without Mertesacker and Theo isn’t Thierry mk II.
Beyond that, not an enormous amount to say. Not going to slag off the players or manager on the back of four wins and a draw. It’s been a perfectly decent Xmas period, taken on balance.
Reinforcements needed in the window. And for god’s sake can we give a breather to Arteta and Santi at some stage?
COYG.
Bath knows.
Bath. If Arsenal play like an ordinary team we could be in danger of finishing in a quite undesirable place in the table, I would say. There are enough clubs close to us to push us way down where we don’t want to be unless we gets lots better without delay. Our subs had no impact either.
Agreed H2H – it’s sad to see but Bac’s a shadow of the player he was. Lost his pace and control. Where the fuck is Jenkinson? Again not injured but not a sub. And why Ramsey instead of Rosicky? Or Coquelin even? Can’t Arsene see how Ramsey time after time slows our game down? Riscky would at least have given us some forward momentum.
Yes, a poor display and if it was the only one I’d keep schtum but the poor games are coming at regular intervals – Villa, Norwich, Swansea, Wigan, and Bradford of course.
We’ll probably go and walk all over Swansea now.
You can never rely on this lot. If AW thinks this squad is strong enough to win anything he must have lost it completely. Without additions this month, we could have a season without European football. At least that means we could focus on the C1C.
Now Tim will come on and tell me I’m talking crap again.
Riscky = Rosicky
Hate to say but Spurs look far better side. I hope they fuck up as always but this Arsenal squad is too over rated if you ask me. Podolski, Walcott or cazorla will not give 3 performances on a trot. The game was crying for TR7. But of course Arsene knows best. Oh and for comfort out next 3 games are city, chelski and Liverpool. How about easy 12 points here. Lets give Gervinho an extended contract. If Sagna is so fucked up, why is wenger playing him ?
Again, I think Walcott will be as much human as the next person and look at this performance as the fault of the team, not him, and think twice before signing that dotted line. I don’t say that to be mean to him, but people in general has a tendency to blame others for the mistakes of the collective, not look to themselves. Not sure Theo did so much wrong this game, it’s just that he is still very limited in that central striking position when the game doesn’t pan out just the way that suits him. He’s a good finisher, he has nice pace, and his close control is better than it used to be. I like him, but I thought he should have been removed from the central position earlier in this game, getting Giroud on together with a midfielder interested in running into knockdowns (ie Rosicky). Have no problem with Ramsey, quite like the lad, but it just didn’t feel to be like he was the answer today. We needed someone a bit more piss-anty. Rosicky is a bit of a piss-ant. It’s his best feature.
All easy to say in hindsight, all easy to say when there is no pressure on ME. Still how I feel.
Bunch of cowards.
Gutless performance.
Well said N7 Gooner. Well said. Point I’m trying to make as well. Don’t want to make anyone the culprit here, especially not a player like Ramsey that at the moment is happy to get on the pitch. Overall a good christmas, and had we played like we have over the festive period all season we would be far higher up the table. Still hope to not see many more performances like this. And I think that is the thing. A point at Southampton happens at times. Such is football. It’s the performance that is infuriating, but I think the team has bought some credit with the last few performances so as long as we get back to business for the next game and claim a few wins against some of the bigger sides during the next few games, who am I to complain too much.
This year itself we have seen gutless performances. This was Norwich repeated all over except we scored a lucky own goal. Else Norwich , Swansea , man utd, suntherland, villa and countless games where we hardly had a shot on target. All our players looked drunk today. Hardly put 3 passes together. Hate to say but Fergussan would not have tolerated this. Don’t think these players have stomach for fight or winning. They are happy to play and don’t give a damn to winning mentality.
Toby, this is a game where Arsene of even 2010 would have started with TR7 instead of maybe Jack/Santi and Giroud instead of Ox/Poldi and Jenk ahead of Sagna. Not bringing on Rosicky when we needed (a) pace and intensity in attack (b) composure and organization in midfield play seemed wrong at the time , and not just in hindsight.
I am one of Arsene’s biggest fans, and there are many games in past where he has pleasantly surprised us by going against the grain of the self-evident even within the context of a match. But I am sad to say more and more his impromptu decision-making are turning out to be wrong.
For me the balance has never been there. We are playing without a ball winner for too long. It can work if your team presses like Barcelona. But here I don’t see Walcott, podolski or ox interested enough to win ball back. Jack is the only one who likes to stick but jack needs to play up. We are really missing a song type player to win ball back. And why we have stopped pressing opposition is beyond me. If our game is based on passing then surely we need to press and win the ball back. The tactics and team overall looks dis balanced
Toby @ 326
We’re on the same page.
It was a frustrating, first gear performance, but we’re on a decent run and I don’t think calling the players names is justified this evening.
The next four games are crucial. If by the end of Jan we’re out of the FA cup and 12 points back on Spurs then the abuse might be justified. Until then, it’s just the sound of people blowing off some steam.
Oh, and absolutely no point caning Ramsey. He was no worse than Cazorla today and he came on and ran his nuts off as usual. If we’re going to call the players cowards then it should be noted that Ramsey is as brave as they come: always wants the ball, always gives his all. In another era he’d have been a fan favourite. Fuck knows what the Emirates crowd would have made of early Ray Parlour or (god forbid) Perry Groves.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Looking forward to seeing us get the chequebook out this month. It will be a real worry if we refrain from doing so.
Guess I’ll have to do something healthy, get some fresh air, and make it a good new year myself. 🙁 🙂
Let’s try to put some perspective into all this. Spurs would have won that game. There you go, that’s where we stand. Sad, sad times.
Well the OX did take on defenders and made some really nice crosses. I feel confident in him and see what he is trying to accomplish, his end game, if you will 🙂 Jack took a couple for the team and no doubt is still hurting 🙁 Woj was Woj 🙂 Trying to find some sunshine here, folks 🙂
Agreed Dr F. Agreed. Especially the part of being one of Wenger’s biggest fans. I really am. I’ll never say a bad thing about the man, even though I am more often than ever saying that I think he is wrong. Point being, I believe he is taking some bad decisions at the moment, but I’ll never use that as a way to get at him on a personal level. I hope more people will have the tact to use that distinction after tonights game. Please, give Arsene any “advice” (ie stick) you want, gooners around the world, but don’t give him any personal crap. He’s too good a man for that.
But yes, as much as I believe in Ramsey, long term, Rosicky should have been on the field today. From the 45th minute, instead of Podi, if noone else.
Spot on again, N7. Not wanting to make this a pat-the-others-back-competiton. But spot on.
Guess I should go to bed soon. Still tired from yesterday and too much bubbly stuff (together with everything else that comes with the territory on new years!).
I’ll pretend to to that now. Will probably lurk for a while longer!
For those comming here bigging up Sp**s would you please, with all due respect, fuck the fuck off.
Sorry ‘holic if that’s breaking any rules.
*still lurking*
Well in, H2H. Well in.
Steve – I would prefer to loose theo than ever give anywhere near a 100k a week. So inconsistent, egotistical and just overrated in almost every possible way. There are far better players available for that money. In the final minutes when all we needed was a delivery into the box from a dead ball – he couldn’t even do that properly. Hat trick or no hat trick – the last 6/7 years he just has not delivered and only for his nationality he’d have been jilted a long time ago.
Neither could I understand bringing on Gervinho & Ramsey to inject any semblance of creativity when either couldn’t even so much as retain possession.
A piss poor performance against a team we should be walking over.
Just not good enough!
Three miracle signings required.
Proven striker
Midfield enforcer
Winger
Fankyooo
#337 h2h
Unfortunately, these days the severity of our situation is measured relative to Spurs..
Dont apologise H2H.
Can we please put the ‘Theo is a central striker’ rumour to bed. Once and for all.
We always have been and always will be measured against the cunts from up the road, that’s what local rivalrys are all about.
But to come here, even after admitedly a poor performance, even though we’re still unbeaten in our last five and big up the swampdwellers is a cowardly thing to do.
If the grass is so much greener on the other side then I suggest that those that wish to taste lush pastures go graze there.
I’m off before I post something I might regret later.
Peace Gooners.
Cheers Esso
IndianGooner — There may be a very genuine tactical reason why Arsenal of today doesn’t play pressing football. Pressing football, manic style a la Barca, can be played only when you can retain possession for most of the time as otherwise the team would be dead tired by the middle of the season. Arsenal team of the last couple of years cannot keep possession the way we used to. Look at the Newcastle match: even though we won 7-3 they had more possession at Emirates!! The kind of masterful keep-balls we used to be able to do we can no longer, our technical level overall has dropped that much.
Also I think it is a fallacy that in matches like this the team didn’t want to win or was gutless. We have played matches like this last season and managed to win due to sheer individual brilliance of RVP. The performances seem so ordinary because it is out of calibration.
The Arsenal philosophy is to focus on performance which would bring the result. And that performance is dependent on a type of tactical-technical collective effort that needs to be spot on in terms of pace, accuracy and movement. Which needs cohesiveness, a team that has been together. Which we haven’t had for a while. And hence the inconsistency.
The way to address that inconsistency is to find solutions within a match either by players on the field — and this is where I believe we are missing a trick by always playing Arteta in deeper position, today for instance Coq instead of Ramsey replacing Santi and letting Arteta move upfront may have worked — or by replacement and reorganization which is where Arsene has been lacking in last couple of years.
Insouciance is a term Arsene used to use to describe our playing style. It is in insouciance that has been missing a bit from his strategy-substitute management from the bench.
BtM, your post at #7 has never rung truer than now.
First of all I thought Ramsey looked good when he came on, combined well wth Jack. Couldn’t say the same with Arteta and Cazorla, though, as our midfield honestly looked like the weak link both in defence and attack.
And by saying weak link, I mean to say that it caused us to be unable of controlling the ball enough in dangerous areas. Our midfielders, I feel, defended too deep. Not enough pressing. It is almost like we are comfortable sitting back with men behind the ball.
On the ball, yet again our plays are slow and ponderous. Southampton was far more dangerous than us, even though man by man we should be superior. All of which means, tactically and collectively we were clueless. I remember in the firsthalf there were more than a couple dangerous crosses made to Walcott, the kind that Giroud has a good chance to bury. Yet when Giroud came on, not a single decent cross was made for him. It’s shocking really.
And regarding Walcott, tonight’s game was not a fair one to judge his performance. He played all right, but the team as a whole was lethargic.
To finish, a draw was a good point considering how poorly we played.but a point away at Southampton, and in particular our performance was way below standard. Arsene knows too, I’m sure. I hope he knows how to fix this, though.
PS. Happy New Year from Indonesia you Gooners.
H2H@335, I don’t think Spurs is being mentioned to piss people off. As someone said that’s who we’re competing with. 18 points currently behind Utd & we finished 19 points behind them last season. We don’t compete with them anymore.
Ponderous, careless and lacking invention. A shambolic performance which suggests a team that has lost the will to live. Given the opposition, the worst I have endured for years.
And AW’s answer? Gervinho (hopeless, but we all knew that) and Ramsey (horribly out of form, but we all knew that). Where was Rosicky? Am I wrong in remembering him as largely responsible for the turnaround last season? And hasn’t he looked as lively as anyone in his rare appearances this season?
I hate to criticise the master, BUT……
Oskar
PS: Would commentators please stop talking about Arsenal’s ‘passing game’. That has been missing for several season now. Am I the only one who’s noticed?
Having had a very quick back-drink (well, more if a back-glance), my biggest surprise is that people still seem surprised that we are only consistent in patches.
I have no idea what Arsene said in his post-match interview because the sound was turned off when it came up on the screen which was quite interesting because I focused on just looking at his facial expressions and let me tell you that whatever he said in that interview he was fucking fuming.
BUT…
I feel there is little point in throwing any toys out of any pram and I don’t see much point in trying to appoint blame (though I am sure some will try to pin it on Ramsey – who I thought was quite good when he came on – as usual) becasue this was a collective failure.
I will however comment on one idividual player, and while I want to point out once more that I am not pinning the entire blame for this game on him, Bacary Sagna hasn’t exactly put himself in a stronger bargaining position in the last two games. Today must have been by far and away the worst I have seen him perform in an Arsenal shirt. And what was perhaps even worse, he looked disinterested at times and also had a go at Chamberlain once when he himself had played an absolutely crap pass two yards behind Chambo.
So, in essence this wasn’t good enough by any means but let us not give up just yet.
Drinks on me, to be served in glasses that are half-full 🙂
Oskar: you can not get every Arsenal game on TV in the UK, the Saturday three o’clock ones are not on. However, every game can be streamed or watched at various pubs, I am quite sure that wherever you would decide to live there would be a pub not too far away that will show every game. And besides, if you lived in the UK you could actually go to the games every now and then 🙂 Lars @ 52
______________________________________________________
Thanks Lars, useful information, much appreciated.
Actually I did get to a couple of games while in London last August … guess which ones? Yep, I watched the home game against Liverpool and then made the trip up to Old Trafford!
Until I left the UK in 1967 I was a Highbury regular, back when you only had to show up to get in. The complications (and horrendous expense) involved in getting into those two games last year was not encouraging for someone now retired I have to say.
Cheers
Oskar
All in all that felt like a point saved rather than two lost.
Good teams press hard on Cazorla to stop him pulling the strings in midfield; less good teams hoof the ball over him, which is what Soton did today. We never got control of the game in midfield, so we didn’t create many chances. I don’t think pushing Arteta forward and bringing on the Coq instead of the Ram for Santi would have changed that.
Sagna looked well off the pace by his standards. I hope that he is having a Vermaelenesque bout of loss of form rather than starting the terminal decline some mention above.
Theo very in and out today. His signature already elsewhere?
Does Gervinho not do those exercises in training where you have to sit down then get up again quickly? Whenever he loses the ball and ends up on the ground he takes forever to get up.
That was of course August 2011…
Oskar
That was bloody dire – its hard to think of anyone who played particularly well – and Bac had a complete mare.
Only one positive – we lucked out big time and got an undeserved point.
Hopefully this will dispel any complacency and ensure badly need reinforcements are brought in PDQ.
Shocking performance.
Our two full backs are costing us dear. They are constantly out of position and, if that is down to their attacking duties, they need cover, help, assistance, rescuing – call it what you like, but get someone the bloody hell back there with them.
They rarely stop a cross coming in, and our centre backs are pulled all over the place as a result.
Their efforts going forwards are little or no better – one decent effort each today, against Southampton ffs.
No disrespect intended to Southampton who worked hard and wanted it more than we did. Now where have we heard that before and before and before and before and ………….
Walcott looked every inch the £113,000 per week striker (I believe someone calculated) NOT !!!!
Whatever else he thinks he might like to do, and in whatever position, he has to be able to win one physical challenge per game and occasionally hold the stuffing ball up. Non-existant today. Completely.
Too many players, late in the game when it was still to be won, pulling away from physical challenges in important areas.
Gervinho’s cameo was the predictable pathetic waste of time, but did include the only moment of entertainment when he lay on the ground making love to the Invisible Woman following his attempt to tackle their right back.
Hopefully that is the last time we will ever, ever see him (just avoided the illegal abusive noun, there) in an Arsenal shirt again.
Don’t usually bother posting anything for 24 hours after a performance like that, so as to avoid ranting hysterically.
That was a performance too far for me though. Utter sloppy shit.
Lars, AW looked fuming on the bench towards the end of the game. Was watching the game on TV with commentary in a language I don’t speak well (so much better than listening to commentators whose first language is allegedly English, and it makes just as much sense) so I only had body language to go on. He was fuming and hurting.
The next 4 matches will make or break this season of ours: FA Cup tie and 3 Ptemiership matches against the Mercenaries, the Chavs and the Red Scousers! As said above 10 points out of 12 isn’t bad from the past 4 games, with still a game in hand. Everything’s still mathematically possible but what is very very very worrying is why the same mistakes keep being made by those on and off the field on matchday?! No personal responsibility being taken by those on the field and tactical ineptitude by those off it! Come on for fecks sake, sort it out; we’re not far off and even the addition of 3 signings will not change these basic and blatantly obvious problems! It’s not rocket science for fecks sake!
Lars –
For the record I actually rate Ramsey – just not as a creative midfielder or as a winger.
But I’m most uncomfortable about the Walcott situation or any suggestion that’s he’s remotely worth more than what he’s been offered.
As for Bac – maybe he’s pissed, maybe he’s just off form – but he’s consistently been the best right back in England over the past 3/4 years so on that basis he deserves the benefit of the doubt IMO but I do see where your coming from.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Might not be your cup of tea, I’ll warn you now. Sorry.
Bath @338,
totally agree. And everyone seems to have forgotten that we STILL need a credible back-up goalkeeper.
And, please, not Buttery-Bill Fingers from Division 3 of whatever football backwater takes your fancy.
Good Night.
Bollocks.
Happy I could help, Oskar!
As much Deadwood must be shifted this transfer window as they are surely transmitting an air of “it doesn’t matter if you’re shit, they’ll still keep you around”! Even sending them out on loan would be better than having that negativity around the place! Recalling our hungry players currently out on loan may help too! Hell, I’ll even have Denilson back right now!
Good evening,all. I understand your anger and disappointment, but here is a food for thought you all; somewhere in Africa a 21 year old boy knew before hand that for him to watch todays game he had to walk alone through a bush path for close to 1 hour to get home after the game, he went ahead to watch the game, his beloved Arsenal didn’t get the result he had hoped for, infact he was frustrated by their performance but he’s not going to blame or abuse individual players or even his fellow fans, he’s just happy he watched the game and got back ‘home’ safely.
Does anyone really question RVP now for leaving what is so clearly a sinkin ship?
Ive defended AW and his moves and the players for a couple years mow and im just tired. Worn out.
Theyve let us down too often
If i could fire them all tonite, i would.
Where is steve bould kicking ass and sense into thrse lifeless lazy shits?