Another Turning Point, Or Full Steam Ahead?
Jan 29th, 2013 by 'holic
After a hard day it is a welcome relief to put the feet up in front of another Arsene press conference. Thankfully busy today, I have missed the reaction to another masterpiece of him sharing himself with his audience while saying absolutely nothing. I watch him closely these days, and smile when he puts on his bemused expression. He uses his face to offer instant feedback to his inquisitors what he thinks of their question.
Today we learned that he thinks Brighton are a good side, Suarez is a good player, we are working on finding new signings in this window, but at the same time we don’t need anybody. Oh, and Barca won’t sell us David Villa, even though he hasn’t said we want him. I think that just about covers it. Arsene’s priorities have never included full and frank revelations of every last detail about the day to day goings on at the club. People will continue to form their own opinions based on very little factual information. C’est la vie.
We welcome Thomas Vermaelen back to the squad for the midweek fixture with Liverpool, a match of some significance for both clubs as we currently trail our respective neighbours in the hunt for European qualifying places. They too are strengthened, particularly defensively, by returns for Jose Reina, Jose Enrique and Glen Johnson (lock up your toilet seats). The key for us will be to keep the loathesome Suarez quiet. Regardless of his failings the Uruguayan remains a gifted goalscorer with a return bettered only by van Stapleton this season. With him in mind I have a sneaking suspicion that the skipper may well start the match.
In midfield Arsene may decide to retain Aaron Ramsey, back to form and perhaps even surprising himself in the deep-lying ‘Arteta’ role. Abou Diaby may remain fit but a little short of match practice to start such a critical fixture. Jack Wilshere took it a little easier on Saturday and Santi Cazorla had a day off. Both should be refreshed and ready to produce against the scousers. The form trio should start up front, and that means Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, and Lukas Podolski.
That the match will be a tense and close encounter, I don’t doubt. Providing nobody gives Suarez the opportunity to suffer another inner ear infection in the box I rather fancy a good old-fashioned 1-0 to the Arsenal, and have plumped for that as the ‘holic pound. Don’t forget Gunners Gaming are still running their competition for Box seats at the Aston Villa home match. Click on the banner above to learn more about how to win this fabulous prize. Thank you.
Ticket Prices Frozen for 2013-14
Most of you will have seen this announcement by now. The timing of the announcement is interesting, given that the Liverpool game went to general sale, and as I type members can still purchase on Ticket Exchange in 22 of 32 lower tier blocks, and all but three upper tier blocks around the stadium. Liverpool on a weekend afternoon may well warrant elevated status. On a cold January Wednesday they are clearly less of an attraction.
Whilst season-ticket holders continue to get reasonable value, those Junior Gunners, silver and red members (yes, and away supporters) most being being squeezed will continue to feel the effects of the cost of attending the Category A matches, and will continue to seethe at the number of empty seats they will see on the live television broadcast.
Whilst any freeze has to be welcomed let us hope that the club will consider looking at using a proportion of the increased television and commercial revenues to ease the burdens on the supporter base that has dug so deep to help the club reach this position. In a world of increasing income from other sources, allied to the annual reporting of profits (albeit as a result of selling the best players), there is a feeling that the club is in a position to achieve the hitherto impossible task of cutting prices for certain groups of supporter whilst correcting the under-investment in the team.
These two things are no longer mutually exclusive.
444 Responses to “Another Turning Point, Or Full Steam Ahead?”
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Plants one in at the hear post?
2nd?
As someone mentioned in another forum the announcement now is possibly to ward off any backlash after a transfer window where we get no one.
CL place?
oops, pardon – fat fingers again – why it’s “near post” o’ course.
Hear, hear re your post ‘h – hope AW keeps Rambo in that role as we wipe stuff with the scousers.
Up The Arse!
Eureka! Europa!
Ooh, that’s not part II. Confusing.
Excellent preview ‘Holic. Can’t see anything other than the side that beat the Hammers, especially in the midfield and forward positions. At the back, I guess Vermaelen will come back in, but I would like to see Kos retain his place alongside the Bfg. I think Kos is particularly well suited to someone like Suarez. That said the Verm/Mert combo kept him pretty quiet up at Anfield.
We should win, but for some reason I’ve just got a horrible feeling in my bones that the Mugsmashers might nick a point, probably for no other reason than that they can’t be anywhere near as dire as they were at Oldham.
Let’s hope I’m massively wrong, and we give them a hiding.
Very very well said on the ticket pricing.
Drink on the Bar Guv, and for anyone else in who wants one.
Come on the Arsenal.
1-0 to the Arsenal is the new 2-1 to the Arsenal
Good stuff guv´.
I used to be wary about games against the Mickey´s, not any more. The only player they have I rate is the buck toothed git and their manager doesn´t fill me with any kind of dread. They are has beens and a lesson to us that bad or under investment which could lead to a fall in grace is very hard to reverse.
3~1 to the Arsenal, the front three sharing the goals.
Good stuff in the last set of drinks H2H.
And if you´d induldge me, I missed the cut off in the last bar, a reply to Btm. (maybe this is the sausage you refered to
)
Btm, sir, as I said before, great read, I thouroly enjoy your posts and your boundless optimism is refreshing and quite contagious. I do however, respectfuly disagree with some of your points.
I can’t for the life of me see how dropping out the CL can be anything other then bad, not just for the coffers, but for the whole image of the club as a whole.
I’ll start with the monetary side. I’m not sure how you got to the 15mill prize money for the Europa League, but I believe that that is incorrect.
This is from Uefa.com.(figures from 2011);
Europa League
Each team that qualifies for the Europa Leagues collects a €640,000 participation bonus and also a match bonus of €60,000 for each match that is played in the group stage. That makes the minimum amount earned for Europa League qualification €1m, but ever team receive €140,000 per win and €70,000 per draw in their group games onto of the first €1m.
If a team wins all their group matches, they earn a total of €1.84m, just from the group stage of the competition.
A team then receives €200,000 for reaching the round of 32, €300,000 for the round of 16, €400,000 for the quarter-finals and €700,000 for the semi-finals.
The prize money for the clubs that go all the way to the final will be €3m for the eventual winner and €2m for the runner-up.
Compared to;
Champions League
Teams who qualify for the Champions League receive a minimum amount of €7.2m.
Each clubs taking part in the group stage receive’s a participation bonus of €3.9m, plus a match bonus of €550,000 per group game played. On top of that, the following performance bonuses are paid: €800,000 for every win and €400,000 for every draw in the group stage.
There are additional payments made to teams that progress in the competition with €3m the reward for advancing to the round of 16, €3.3m for reaching the quarter-finals and €4.2m for a semi-final place. The winners collect a further €9m, with €5.6m going to the runners-up.
In addition, participating clubs are entitled to a share of the market pool based on the commercial value of their domestic television market, the number of UEFA Champions League matches played and their final position in the domestic league table last term.
Also each team in the play-offs receive €2.1m.
That’s quite a difference and will leave a massive hole in our war chest.
The off field implications would be even graver for our business model, Europa League is the club footed, semi retarded, drooling half cousin (twice removed) of the CL, the two can hardly even be compared so vast is the difference in prestige. CL matches are broadcasted live on major tv channels, the spotlight on the EL doesn’t burn so brightly, not over here anyway and I’m almost sure that that is the case world wide.
I also have difficulty agreeing with your opinion that the business has to proceed the football, the cart before the pony, hen before the egg analogy. I think that it’s a BIG mistake. I fully understand the concequences of moving to our brand shiny new stadium, I understand that belts had to be tightened, budgets adheared to and compromises made. However, under-investment in the team has brought us to the position we now find ourselves in and I would like a little bit of clarity from the club as to why this is. I’m not talking about marque signings, just basic weakness’ that we all can see, but have failed to be adressed, the super dooper quality that we can’t find to replace the likes of Two (belly) Saints, Squidy and Flappy.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, and I don’t care what Adam Smith, Adam Sandler, Adam & Eve or Adam and the Ants has to say about it; The business of Arsenal is Football, once we lose sight of that simple fact then we are headed in the wrong direction and our business will fail.
We can go to Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Africa, Mars or wherever, but without a winning product we are nothing. Don’t take my word for it, check out the post above, directly from the horses mouth so to speak;
66arsenalKL
Delightful read.
Man U have a huge fan base here in Asia(I’m in Malaysia) which grows with every new bundle of joy delivered. As in any sport, the team that dominates the headlines through victory will always have the ear of impressionable lads keen to impress. Therein lies the dilemma.
Though inroads can be made, in the foreseeable no team will usurp Man U in this part of the world. The goal must be to offer an elegant and successful alternative. When Chelsea emerged in recent years with trophies to admire, they captured more than a few young hearts. Last year Man City did the same. Certainly no match for the Red Devils popularity but progress nonetheless.
So, since we have moved, United have increased their popularity while the other Mancs and the Chavs have got a slice of the pie, which leaves us where exactly? Not a trophey to piss in or a title to throw it at, but not to threat because we have the prestige of being in the CL……………….!?!?!?!
Oh.
Let´s not forget that fan´s in the devolping markets are not like us, they have no geographical or ancesteral connection to the club, our history will count for little and none of them will be overly impressed with our self sustaining model and hoard of honest cash in the bank, they want to don the shirt of the Champions or the cup winners, nothing else really matters to them.
Sponsers also want to be part of a winning team, I´ve felt for a long time that we fall short when it comes to the comercial (business) side of the business. Yes we were locked into long contracts due to the stadium, but surely that didn´t stop us looking into other ways of increasing our revenues? Take a look at how many sponsers Man U have, they have literaly everything sponsered and a large list of companies throwing cash at them. Even their training kit is sponsered, why isn´t ours? Why can they have deals ranging from potato chips to motor cycles, from vodka to wine and telecom companies in different nations all over the globe and we can´t. Do you honestly believe that failure to qualify for the Cl will improve our situation?
As someone above stated, “we have dropped the ball.`
Ofcourse all is not lost, we are not sinking or on the brink of destruction, a better second half to the season and we may very well be laughing….
But, for a club that has such an intellegent manager and supposedly has the recources to be doing better then we are I find it hard to fathom how we let ourselves get to this point in the first place.
I like Diaby starting this one with jack and Santi. He had his best game of the season at anfield ( I know that’s easy to say when he’s only played 2 games
.
I will go with a 3-1 as well. Poldi brace with 1 from a rested Santi.
Aah, Tabs saw it. Cheers mate.
Nice drink H2H.
I have been on here before wondering why we don’t make an investment in the club now to improve our standing and chances of winning something so that the business side has an easier job in the next few years while redoing the sponsorship deals. It seems backwards to me too. Sponsors and new fans pick winners and pay a premium to be associated with a winner. The last 2 years we should have taken on some debt and invested in the squad in just those areas that we all know need strengthening. An INVESTMENT that would pay dividends in the future. I am not calling for big outlays of cash but we are one or two injuries away from games played with no left fullback and no DM and no real striker. Why do we risk that!
Although I think we definitely missed a trick not adding last summer, i think there’s more to our inconsistency than that.
Did not spending any of it have any direct consequence on us losing away to Norwich, or at home to Swansea, or dropping points vs Sunderland and Fulham?
The players put together by the manager are good enough to be doing a lot better than they are in my humble and even though i think we could have been title contenders IF we had signed a couple of players last summer (not surprisingly a striker and defensive minded midfielder/defender), the facts remain this group has consistently underperformed all season.
After a really promising start, with even twats like Savage and Hansen suggesting we could win the league no less, things fell off big style and that has nothing to do with anything other than the manager’s inability to motivate gifted players and rectify defensive weaknesses that have persisted for several years now.
I was chuffed when Bouldy was given the number 2 jobby, but that chuffedness has disapated as the failings of the team and back four returned once again. Why the defence went back to its old ways, who knows? But I do hope the rumour probably perpetuated by the bitterest man in football; Stewart Robson, has no legs what so ever.
I have no idea what I am saying here? I was just going to simply mention how annoyed i will be if we fail to sign anyone because i really think we could win something this year with a couple of additions and I am dreading how bad things will get this season, home and away, particualrly after a defeat, even if it was to barca, IF the boss doesnt sign anyone. because that will be thrown at him each time it occurs.
But there’s always next year!
Thanks
Peace and love people, peace and love.
We’re signing no one and it’s all gonna be OK. It’s all. Gonna be. OK.
I am officially pushing back my tipping point to 31 August 2013. If we don’t spend some decent dough by then, I’ll be pissed. Until then – meh. This squad is good enough for a top four finish.
How’s that for sunny side of the street?
COYG
Nice one Norris.
Nor-Cal, it can be frustrating in the extreame, like why did we start the season with a keeper the boss admited he wanted to let go?
Baffling.
N7,
Please remember to bite your tongue when we get our inevitable injury to a key player. *Fill in as appropriate*
Even if the squad is good enough, and I don’t believe it is, it certainly has not shown signs of being consistent enough.
––—————————–
Tuppence worth ends
Thanks all, and great work H2H.
Watched last ten minutes of Citeh. The skunk is going to be a champion…
(sighs and clambers once more onto trusty white charger…)
NorCal,
I completely understand your frustration at the way things have worked out over the past few seasons and I share them.
I too have repeatedly asked myself “Why”?
One possible answer was that the people in charge were either stupid or corrupt. I decided that I didn’t like that answer. Although I had no hard evidence to refute the suggestion, I didn’t think it was terribly constructive; it didn’t make me feel any better and although I could test it by looking to see whether it helped me make accurate predictions about the future, all those predictions were so depressing that my options seemed to be limited to stopping following the game, or at least the club.
Another answer that occurred to me was that the people in charge didn’t care, but I didn’t like that one either, for many of the same reasons.
I found that the answer I liked best was that we’d had a certain amount of bad luck and that the powers that be were making their best efforts to turn things around. I noted that there were all sorts of rumours around that tended to support other explanations, and in order to explain these I was forced to assume that some of the rumours weren’t actually true and that they were spread by some who didn’t have the best interests of the club at heart.
I’m genuinely sorry to be writing once more in this vein. I keep reading opinions that are based on the idea that the club are making no efforts to improve their situation. I simply haven’t heard of any reason to believe this, EXCEPT that they have failed to improve things as much as we would all like.
Apologies, NorCal, there’s no reason to address this diatribe to you, expect that yours was the post that broke the camel’s back. I was even sadder to read the maestro posting from such a negative perspective. Please join me in a drink; they say things look better through the bottom of a glass.
COYG
The price of the ticket has double since emirate
Ticket to emirate GBP128
Ticket to Manunited GBP10
Ticket to Manucity GBP8
Zico
Very true. But knowing us we could sign David Villa tomorrow and before the celebration even dies down Gibbs break his leg.
Whatever happens in the next 48 hours we’re going to need a bit of luck.
Don’t get me wrong: if it were down to me I’d sign three or four players. But it’s not. And it’s pretty clear we’re signing no one. So I’m moving on.
COYG
I will miss tomorrow’s game,stuck at a Board meeting in Exeter.The side will rise to the occasion with a well merited 2-0. Giroud and Cazorla on the scoresheet.
Great desciption of a Wenger press conference guv! He has perfected the art of saying nothing in very entertaining fashion. I know a lady journalist who loves Wenger. She says he is very flirtatious and by far the most charming boss in the PL. Frankly I don’t give a toss about that and I will be extremely disgruntled if we don’t sign anyone even thoiugh I’m pretty certain we won’t. I put my concerns into a post on Monday
The annoying thing is that rumours of who we are going to buy in the summer will start on Friday. We will hear that Wenger will instruct his scouting network to look for strikers,defensive midfielders,goalkeepers etc. This intrigues me. How much briefing do they need? Doesn’t a scout look at players and if he sees a good one tells Wenger who then finds an excuse niot to sign him.
I’m perceived to be a bit negative by some posters as I don’t think all is as it should be at our great club but against our better judgement didn’t we all hope for a couple of top buys in? Instead it currently stands at 3 out (and strenuous efforts have been made to unload Arshavin who prefers money to football).and none in. Wenger of course knows best but his logic takes some understanding. Enjoy tomorrow and look out for Becks who may well be our big winter signing.
Got a lot of time for post @ 12 H2H.
I prefer the term “falling asleep at the wheel” when describing the clubs attitude over the past few years.
If, and it’s a big if, we don’t sign a decent few players by Thursday midnight AW will be rolling dice on the fortunes of the club again.
The board would then be guilty of allowing “the tail to wag the dog”.
Not good.
Oxon,
No worries mate. We have had some of the conversations before. Most of it stems from frustration in that we want the club to succeed. I want them to succeed both on and off the pitch and I want the self sustained model to prevail, both for the club and for my piece of mind that you can win without financial doping or unbelievable debt.
I don’t ever fool myself that I know all the info. I really know very little that I can say with certainty is fact. I believe in AW and think he wants what is best for AFC, including winning things. I just think that we have become too frugal and trust that our current squad will survive the rigors of a full season. This is where I think we fail. There are good players available that could strengthen our team. We don’t need £20 million signings. We need reliable, consistent contributors so that when we play 2 games a week for 3 months we come out still intact. Right now we don’t have that. Reasons? I haven’t the foggiest.
Cheers to all.
Oxon, no problem. Your contributions are important here. You have correctly noticed my mood has shifted, if only slightly.
Up until two years ago there was every reason to trust the party line. A huge development at a time when the financials that underpinned the move were tugged away like a cloth from a fully laden table.
The annual reports nowadays don’t lie. We have cash. We have glaring shortages in quality in the squad. I’m not saying spend it all. I’m not suggesting ludicrous targets and crazy money signings to disrupt what is being built.
I do want this club to achieve what it should given what we have at our disposal. That is all I am saying.
Well that, and it would be brilliant if it was Arsene who did it.
Sigh, I just want this window to close. I actually don’t care if we get any players or not, and I think the view that we should spend money on transfers right now because we have it is short-sighted; the main problem, competitively, for Arsenal in seasons past has been the club’s inability or unwillingness to keep the talent it already has, not acquiring new talent. I don’t know that it would have been a great idea to match Utd’s terms for Van Stapleton, but I do believe there’s a crossroads coming up for the club in terms of its salary ceiling (we’ve already seen that the canard about a “socialist” wage structure has been abandoned). The bottom line is that Arsenal is barely capable of breaking even without massive player sales, and if anyone wishes those sales to cease, then this pile of reserve cash will be mighty handy down the road. Pay today, or pay later, it all ends up the same, and I certainly don’t think it an insult that they’re being rather cautious with the cash on hand (though I do find it an insult that Dick Law has anything to do with Arsenal, but that’s well covered elsewhere). And, personally, I like the fact that we’re not in a rush to crowd out guys that have either come up through Arsenal, or more recent acquisitions who have shown a hell of a lot more love for the shirt that could be expected in such a short period of time. Ba spent most of his time lifting up his skirt for every passerby while at Newcastle, a club that took a chance on him when the word was his knees were made of toothpicks and art class glue. You’re in a fantasy land if you don’t think he’ll be doing the same again, soon, once his merry pack of agents decides there’s more fees to be made. Pass.
And I cannot be the only person who does not think David Villa would be the difference-maker for us getting into the top-four. Has anyone seen him since the leg break? Unless we’re getting a time machine as part of the deal, he represents at best a modest upgrade over the first string, and you don’t drop 15 milly on “depth.”
Mostly, though, I’m just looking forward to everyone being behind the players we already have, instead of the ones we dream of having.
That is not at odds either with the desire for sensible pricing. I could say I’m alright Jack, as I am leasing a season ticket, and have therefore been shielded from the policies that have seen other categories of membership badly done by. The club have divided and conquered. Gold members don’t give a monkeys about what the rest of the riffraff are going through.
That’s a generalisation, I understand, but none the less true for that.
Spot on cdoyle.
Roll on the end of the window. Roll on some actual football being played. To hell with transfer speculation.
@Holic, N7, Oxon
The thing I’m trying to figure out is whether everyone’s being a little too pessimistic, or if I’m being a little too rosy-eyed.
And I really can’t tell which position is more or less enviable. However, a drink for the lot of you on my tab, if only to keep the conversation going.
Oh, and NorCal, Zico, H2H, all good stuff … Christ, at this rate of buying drinks I’ll be getting a call from Amex.
Holic
I agree. Up till about 2 years ago I was fully prepared to cut the boss and board enough slack to suit and boot Fatty Robinson and I defended them vigourously against the usual slings and arrows.
But now it just seems the club and manager are stuck in the same rut where they act like we are still skint. One rumour i thought was interesting was the potential appointment of Marwood to a DD type position. That might work.
So my season ticket will stay at £985 next season. The cheapest in the ground. I will renew as I’m addicted and have the means. Unfortunately a number of my friends have reached the end of the line and won’t be renewing.
I feel the mythical waiting list will be truly tested next season.
The team ain’t getting better, and the prices are astronomical. Something has to give.
Cdoyle. I agree that some retention of talent the last 2 years would have done wonders for our squad. I will also say we would not have bought many of the players we bought if some of those had been retained so who knows what our squad would really look like now. I think we have done some very good business in signing the 6 Brits to their new contracts.
Where I don’t think we have succeeded is in letting certain positions get weaker in our 2 deep squad. Those positions have been the same ones for 3-4 windows now. They are left back, ‘keeper and DM. We need a good back up in each of those positions to survive the rigors of a full season.
Villa? I’d take him but I wouldn’t chase him. A true DM and a left back are more important to me. But I’m not in charge of even a fantasy team, so…..
Oxon,
Maybe you haven’t heard of anything that makes you think we are not interested in improving our situation but I would argue sir that the transfer window opened 28 days ago and we were short of quality in the squad. We were short of quality in the squad in summer. This hasn’t been addressed. Did we have no alternative to Villa or are we awaiting the return of Gervais?
Whether the manager is playing his chest and thus we are not hearing of anything has become a moot point. We had important games during January where we have seen the side start slow more than once and a few fresh faces may have livened things up a bit. Then again it might not. Either way we lost points against decent opposition when it was glaringly obvious to everyone, including the manager, that we need additional quality in the squad.
Instead it appears we are waiting for the last day of the sales to start even though our shoes have gaping big holes and its forecast for heavy rain. This isn’t the smartest way to conduct business in my opinion. If the board are comfortable with this level of inactivity it says a lot for where we are as a club.
To my mind holic is merely expressing the frustrations of Gooners sick of the soundbites and “tell-hem-what-they-wanna-hear” BS at the start of the window only to be told what “we-don’t-wanna-hear” by the end of the window.
Arsenal to do the scousers two nil (assuming we turn up in the first half).
The team ain’t getting better, and the prices are astronomical. Something has to give.
I don’t mean to single out Pete, because his is a sentiment that’s shared by many. But how sure are you that such is the case? And better from what point? I have trouble believing that this squad won’t be better — perhaps quite a bit so — next season, if only because of the continued development of Jack, Ox, Gibbo, Ramsey, Jenks, etc. Maybe that’s not sexy, but those are also all players signed to long-term deals.
Don’t think this squad is good enough to make the top-four this season? I can see the argument for that. But not believing that what you’ll see next season is going to be better is pessimistic in the extreme.
NorCal, I agree that we could use more depth, but January is a terrible time to go shopping for that. And we also have to accept that players want to go somewhere they’re going to play, which is why a Newcastle might be an attractive proposition where Arsenal wouldn’t be. That’s just spitballing.
Keeper, absolutely agree, and I still believe Arsene was on the right track with an older, Schwartzer-type who will be comfortable being primarily a bench guy. As for left back, absolutely, but I don’t see many squads with very good bench options there (Tottenham, so annoyingly, being an exception to that rule). I do get the feeling that in order to solve that particular problem, Arsene’s going to have to go plumb something from the outer reaches of his home country, because by the time you actually know a LB is good, they’re extremely expensive and already playing for Barcelona.
I’ll join cdoyle in being fairly optimistic about the future core of the squad. Assuming we can get through this season I see brighter days ahead – presumably we’ll add a player or three in the summer, keep the quality players we have and kick on from there.
I’ll also join Norcal in saying that, while David Villa would make us all feel better, I’d far rather see the money spent in the precise three areas mentioned above. That said, I have no idea who we should be looking at at GK and LB.
I’m starting to quite like the look of our first XI. Just got to get their heads in the right place, and that’s not something we can solve by spending money.
Cdoyle,
Maybe January is not the best time to fill those needs but this is not a new problem. We have had 2 years to get those straightened out.
Again, I am not looking for a replacement of Gibbs but a reliable backup. Hard to find maybe, but not impossible.
Cheers. Have one on ….. Lars’ tab.
cdoyle/ N7 Gooner
Ahh, memories… those were the days when I used to be called a rose tinter too!
I am always optimistic about NEXT season, but its how the rest of this one pans out that worries me! Especially the atmosphere at the grove and away from home too, which you could always rely on being fantastic.
John Cross in the Mirrir is already saying we are holding out for our summer targets.
So, that’ll be cavani, Lahm and Buffon for next season then.
@ cdoyle I’ve been waiting for the trend to change for 4 seasons now. Each summer we await a change in policy, but it hasn’t happened.
That trend is downwards and I seriously doubt we will see a change next season. We’re capable of making the Champions League but that’s more due to the failings of our peers than our own prowess.
For 4 seasons we’ve needed reinforcements across the park. We’re still waiting for them.
Unfortunately Arsene is reminding me more & more of the great Brian Clough. Defiant to the last, but increasingly detached from reality.
Oh, Lars is paying? How’s the lobster in this joint?
FWIW, I really did think Santos was the perfect backup for the LB position, in that he offered something a little different, but wasn’t going to be clearly angling for the first-team spot. Hope I’m wrong to give up on him, but he certainly seems to need a new beginning elsewhere.
I have it on good sources we already have a pre-contract in place for Cavani, it’s just down to sending out Dicky Law to Napoli to get them to agree to the very reasonable fee of 12 million quid and the pink boots Bendtner left behind in the Colney.
Just given up composing a massive “Review of the last two years” drink. It wasn’t getting anywhere.
Off to bed now. For the sake of Dennis, cheer up everyone. Please.
I’m out again tomorrow evening, but will look in first thing, and before and after I go. I hope to see some lightening of the mood. Maybe a ritual stuffing of the ‘smashers will do it. Here’s hoping. I’m certainly not confident about tomorrow’s result although we certainly have the talent to turn them over if we turn up. It’s a shame we can’t be certain that we will, but I hope that’s just lack of experience and the team will come good, given time.
Night all.
COYG
The lobster in here is fine, but we won’t activate it’s release claws…
If anything does happen by Thursday (or, in traditional Wenger fashion, but the early hours of Friday) it had better be someone worth all this angst. Anything but a marquee player now will be of little use in solving the immediate problem of being 4 points out of the last CL position.
That’s not to say I don’t have faith in the squad we have getting us there. They’re good enough all right, as we’ve seen when they all pull fingers together. But a couple of injuries…? We’ve actually been reasonably lucky with injuries to date this season, by comparison anyway. My permanently crossed fingers must be working!
Interesting observations from the Russian recently. No definite promises note, but still more encouraging than anything (nothing) Kroenke has said, ever.
A generous measure of Delamain Vesper to andCogGooner for his kindness in previous drinks. And snifters to anyone still needing introduction to life’s finest nectar.
Oskar
Holi’s 2-1 predictions have not been harbingers of happiness.
Just as I’d breathed a sigh of relief that The Arsenal were not to carry the curse of the Holic pound being waged on 2-1 to the home team, along comes Zico and says that “1-0 to The Arsenal is the new 2-1 to the Arsenal.”
Dang!
North Bank 1,
I would love to reply to your points in detail, but bed calls. Maybe another time.
‘Holic,
Sorry to be shellfish and not enter into a seafood punfest, but I really am knackered.
Oxon,
No probs. another time indeed.
Have a towel, ‘Holic. I may have spit up a little bit of me bitter as a result of the lobster comment.
Honoured and humbled that so many took the time a) translate b) read and c) provide serious comment on my last ramble (and even dave, dave made a typically thoughtful comment). There’s even some interest that Ollie and Steve are up for Part 2 – remarkable fortitude.
I hadn’t missed your piece, H2H – would I ever? I’ll come back with a brief response on Friday after Part 2. You guys all know I have no interest in anything other than the CL (“Top Three, One Trophy” etc etc). Ref your numbers, Deloiite’s says Fulham earned 12.5M as beaten finalists (with the usual slight of hand I made that 15M for a win
(not too shabby and not the death knell that it’s painted; and
“In 2010/11, the high value of the Spanish broadcast rights to the competition led to a market pool distribution of €5.9m to Villarreal, a losing semi-finalist, helping them earn €9m in distributions” indicating the impact of TV money in addition to the numbers you quote.
Again, thanks for humouring me and for the interest. I liked particularly the “written ON Scotch rather than IN Scotch” comment. Why I come here, Holics!
Thanks for the kind one gents, humbly apreaciated.
BtM I look forward to Part 2 and you setting me straight (easy wolfie)
===
cdoyle, NB1, Oxon, Pete, Norros, NorCal, N7.
I believe that we have a great team, a very strong first XI and some pretty decent back up, we’re just a little short………
And that’s what’s sooooo frustrating. I’m sure you all know Einsteins definition of insanity. We seem doomed to keep repeating the same cycle of being “almost theres”.
This is not new, we’ve been here for a while now, knocking on the door. Granted in years passed we may have not had the means to call in a locksmith, but surely now we can afford the keys?
Yes, we’ve got talented youngsters that will be the stars of the future that we can build a team around and in a few years they will click and we will be grea………
Hold on? Deja vu or what.
Yes we’ve signed a core of good players to “long term” deals, but you know as well as I do that those contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on if those lads get tired of being almost there and decide that they want to be somewhere else.
How many years did Cesc have left? Was RvP’s deal up? Was the lesbo’s?
Maybe, just maybe, if we’d of added the missing pieces to what has been for years an “almost there” squad then some of the aforementioned might of stayed, ofcourse this is a hypothetical arguement, but it’s harder to leave a team when your winning stuff.
I won’t be disapointed if we fail to bring in reinforcements before the window slams shut because, frankly, I didn’t expect us to do so. What worries me is that with his indecision and failure to strengthen what he himself knows to be an incomplete squad, the greatest Arsenal manager of my lifetime is fashioning a rod of brogdignagian proportions and handing it giftwrapped to those who wish to beat him with it.
Interesting preview Holic,
And your @27 sums up perfectly the ‘happy/resigned/angry at the transfer (in)activity’ thing.
H2H, good post in previous (and these) drinks.
Oxon, I will try to lift your post slumber spirits with a super positive prediction for a 3-1 win tonight.
Poldi, Theee-ooo, and Naaa na na na na na na, na na na na Giroud to score.
If Santi turns up with his shooting boots on, it could be 4 !!!!!!
H2h,
Yes the déjà vu aspect only adds to the frustration. Lets try something different. Lets add to the team instead of always replacing the team. We won’t win a trophy if every year we have to retool the team. A starting XI is great on paper but inevitably an injury or fatigue ( read jaded) happens an we are found lacking.
Just for the record, I am not that frustrated at this moment. I am fully behind the team and looking at the next month or so think we can get on a nice run and put pressure on Chelski and the spuds. That is, if we can break free of being theo’s team and show more than just “consistency in patches”.
Evening all. I have been catching up on several posts and drinks and as BTM has said, I will wait for the second instalment before telling him why he is wrong.
Only joking. J
What does amaze me though is this. I tune in late after another busy day to enjoy a pre match preview. Nice work by the way holic. I then read various comments that quite frankly I find staggering. My intentions had always been to wait until after the window was shut before passing judgement but the fact that some here think that it’s fine for us not to strengthen now I find mind blowing. Don’t worry, we can wait until the summer??? Did I really read that right??? We will be fine, just add the quality for next season??? I must have dropped into the wrong bar.
Any player who is anything wants to play in the Champions League. 4th place is far from nailed on. There will be many twists and turns ahead. But after the worst start in AW’s reign I would suggest that we face the toughest of tests that we have ever faced in securing Champs Lge next season. If we do fail to qualify, how many of these top players that we are lining up will still come to play here???? For those who think that is acceptable just go back to the recent Chelsea game. Now check out the bench and tell me which of the game changing match winners you are going to put on to turn the game around???
For those who still don’t get where we may have lost our way just a tad think about this. For some time now I have read nothing but vitriol directed towards Andre Santos. The worst player ever, too fat, too slow, too unfit, too fat slow and unfit, not interested, Andre the elephant, pack your trunk etc…… The list is endless. The world of Arsenal is about to end if we do not bring in another left back. Well I would suggest that a few have a look a bit closer to home. Two of the best left backs in the Premier League are graduates of the Arsenal youth system. Both decided to leave for pastures new. So for those who question the ability of our slightly rotund Brazilian and demand a replacement just bear that in mind. Perhaps if we had been able to hang on to the players we have then there would no need to chastise one of our own.
Rant over, for the time being anyway. I am off to a game on Wednesday and intend to focus on that.
H2H. Fantastic stuff above. That holic trip to Holland just gets closer and closer.
Trev, many thanks. Got your message. I will be in touch tomorrow.
That reminds me Feelgood,
Did you order those Consistency Patches ?
Not up for a seafood punfest, Oxon? How about a piscatorial singalong?
(Starts singing in a rich, beer-scented, off-key baritone) Salmon Chanted Evening followed by The First Cod Is The Deepest, That’s A Moray, A Summer Plaice, Never Mind The Pollocks, Smelt Like Teen Spirit, If I Haddock Hammer, Blenny And The Jets, Mackerel The Knife, Sole Man, American Pike, Where Have All The Flounders Gone, If You Knew Sushi (Like I Know Sushi), Over The Rainbow Trout, Maxwell’s Silver Hammerhead, I Don’t Like Barramundis, Devil Skate Drive, Bits And Pisces, Whale meat Again, I Had A Bream, Prawn In The USA, Anchovy In The UK …
Haddock enough yet?
Oskar
H2H … It’s all very well saying “Maybe, just maybe, if we’d of added the missing pieces to what has been for years an “almost there” squad then some of the aforementioned might of stayed,” (#52), but only if you buy the ‘wanting trophies’ line. Cesc aside all the star players who left did so primarily because other clubs were prepared to double or treble their wages … a much greater incentive, imo. How loyal would you be to your present employer if a similar company offered you such a deal?
Not winning trophies was never a complaint I remember from days gone by when, for example, Pat Jennings and Liam Brady played eight years for Arsenal with only a single FA Cup winners medal to show for it.
Not that the answer is double the wage scale, we simply couldn’t do that without oligarab backing or the kind of commercial success Man U have generated over decades. Right now we have the best of all possible Arsenal business models with the best of all possible managers minding the store. Long may it continue.
Oskar
Dr T,
I do indeed have a shelf full of consistency patches here at the quackery. Some are too thick, like a molasses. Others are a bit thin, but each packs a punch.
What’s your consistency of choice?
Theo was just here and ordered a case. He went with thin.
Santos, well he went with…..
I promised Tabs I’d be back for TDD so this is a preview
Villa has made it clear to FCB that he wants to leave now and that AFC is his preferred destination after his convos with Santi and AW convinced him.
Barca are refusing at the moment and want to sell him in the summer.
Did I mention I hate that club?
I’ll be getting home from work just about the time the match finishes but I’ll have it recorded for viewing at my lezzure as you Englishpersons say.
OTD @57. Quite overwhelming. Does something smell of rotting fish in here?
Ollie and Doctor Feelgood leading the weekly table in the You Ropey League (so far). Sure indication the end is near.
Rotting fish, bt8b? Could be Dead Guppies … assuming you know the original … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMqTat4dUoY
Oskar
With Feelgood, the end is always near.
He does it My Way
A step up from the CMC?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21254907
What’s that at 63? Fantasy Football. No idea where I stand, I suspect I still have a few injured players.
Although I did at least check my players a week ago, to see that transfers hadn’t affected my strict no-cunts policy.
Thankfully, I am a genius who can detect cuntiness from afar, so I had Cissé in my team, not Ba!
@ 66
Legalise?
It will be the death of the Feelgood Franchise.
Will no one think of the……street urchins?
Oskar@57: If anything could justify my decision not to go toe to toe with the bar over fish puns, it would be your post above. Awesome. have a drink, mate. And then I read yours @58; make it a double.
A genuinely positive thought occurred to me whilst knirding (gniknird) the overnight posts.
Many have, quite reasonably suggested that it’s all gone wrong over the past couple of years. Well, both of the last two summers were dominated by will-he-won’t-he speculation over whether important players would sign new contracts (2011 Cesc, 2012 van Persie). In both cases these sagas were long predicted – Cesc had long said that he hoped to return to Catalonia in due course and van Persie’s contract was widely believed to have only a year to run (H2H please note).
Well, as far as I’m aware, there are no players in that position now.
Justification enough for continuing with crossed fingers.
Work beckons (sigh). See you all later.
COYG
heh, good point Dr F!
Oxon – The only one would be Sagna, but people seem to be ready to part ways with him already.
I have to say I’d be livid if City get Villa. If they do, it merely means that they paid more. I am all for self-sustainability, but it has made us enough profit so that we CAN go the extra mile and get a player like Villa.
20m players aren’t players that we should be losing out on, these aren’t the Hazards and Gotzes of the world.
He won’t be getting more than 110k at City (as that’s what he’s getting from FCB). He’s looking to play football. Granted, he’d get more playing time at AFC, but we have to fucking bid enough.
Damn it, I really want us to sign him
Fine preview H. I’ll take 1-0 to the Arsenal but fear our defence will conspire to give you your 2-1 just when you go off the idea
.
Fleeting visits to the bar between pistes.
Just rediscovered Springbank. Lovely.
Steve T @ 55
I doubt there’s anyone on here who doesn’t want us to sign a player or three in the next 48 hours.
However, as it becomes increasingly evident we’re not going to do so, you do find yourself starting to look for some positives.
Personally, I’m a bit sick of all this transfer window bollocks. You spend weeks hunting down rumours, listening to the ridiculous ITKs on Twitter and then the whole thing builds to a crescendo on deadline day when….. we sign no one. And, because of all the hype, it feels like we’ve lost a cup final.
Well, fuck all that shit this time. We’re not going to buy anyone, I have no idea why not, and I’m going to save feeling like crap until we actually finish outside the top four. Because that’s what really matters this season.
I suspect we’re all experiencing the same thoughts and emotions this week. We’re just processing and rationalising them in different ways.
Thank fuck there’s an actual game of football tonight, eh?
COYG
N7. If we don’t strengthen in the window. If we don’t deal with the obvious deficiencies in the squad then are we as fans not entitled to ask why? Why has it not happened? We pay God knows how much to a manager, to board members, to scouts etc. If all of that does not identify one player that we can bring in to strengthen the squad then surely they are failing in their duties???
As I have said before. Never be afraid to ask the question. It does not make you dis loyal or anti Arsenal.
At times this bar is almost depressing – ‘holic can you clear out all those youngsters suffering from short term lack of silverware, we silver hairs have seen the ups and downs too many times
Either that or use my lotto winnings (Im still waiting but Im sure I can get a bank loan with my job prospects and my age differential) to give free drinks to eliminate their suffering – why should Lars have a monopoly on his generosity
Oskar ,thanks for the credit, but it isn’t me slaving out in the fields, no matter what the weather, preparing the vines. I’m too busy using my newly earned winter fuel allowance to keep the house warm
We old’uns can dream, and why not 3-1 for us tonight
COYR
Steve
Totally – people can and should ask those questions.
But, equally, people should also be free to just sack that shit off, settle in and enjoy the football.
There will be no shortage of folk online preaching fire and brimstone as the window slams shut tomorrow. It might not hurt to have a few going “fuck it, didn’t happen – let’s move on”.
I like David Villa. He’s a class player. He won’t solve half our problems. And yet tomorrow will inevitably play out as a zero sum game, where if we don’t sign him it’s the end of the world.
N7, can you use a global signature? You often speak for me – unlike Timmeh and the AST
Oskar – brilliant piscatorial sing-song.
“It’s a Moray” tops for me.
I’ll join you with “Prawn Free”, and the old hit musical “Aquarium”, “Anyone who Haddock Heart”, “Bream My Little Baby”, “The First Cuttle the Deepest”, “Khoi Sera Sera”, “O Sole mia” ……..
This is fun but have to go now.
Admirable N7,
I think I’ll join you in sacking off some shit.
Now if you could just let me know exactly what I have to do …….
http://www.football365.com/faves/8455147/Focus365
Interesting article.
H2H i agree with you, as you may or may not read in my superbly mediocre blog, I believe a 3-1 victory for us also!
Holic, a great post as per usual! I hope you get a well deserved pat on the back from time to time as your post for the majority are spot on!
N7 Gooner @ 17, you raise a good point about our team being good enough for a top four finish! I agree with you, but the depth in our squad is where we fail. Our first team is a great one, and with a bit of confidence and positive results we will be a great team. But they can’t play every week as we know. Bringing on sub par players to replace the likes of JW Arteta and Gibbs is not good enough! We need our class to run deep within the club! We need excellence, to push our outstanding players to retain their positions!Competition within breeds perfection!
Think this is worth a wee look …
http://youtu.be/h_f1N51Gv9c
Heh @84 !
Twitter moan.
I see arse2mouse retweeted Rob Harris announcing Brady to retire ‘at the end of May’.
gilbertosilver retweeted the corrected version later, that added 2014.
Is it once more a case of journalists rushing to tweet before even listening to the end of a sentence? Journalists should be banned from tweeter. I hate them all.
Anyway :
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/liam-brady-to-step-down-from-role-in-2014
Another sad day ahead
AL @84 Brilliant!
@84 Top Class
Ollie@82The world cup is awarded to Qatar and out of the blue PSG are bought out by the Qatari’s and dollop shitloads of dosh all over them.I know Platini is UEFA and the world cup is FIFA but going back to the fish theme,I think this reeks.I checked Platini’s wiki page and he has also held FIFA organizing and executive committees.
To be fair, washed up, the ‘Qatar’ thing baffles me a bit. I haven’t read the details, it was just titles on a screen as I was having lunch yesterday, but I don’t see any surprise. I mean, surely nobody expects the World Cup to have been awarded without at least some level of corruption or pots-de-vin? :s
Not sure what Sarkozy’s rule in awarding a World Cup is too. It’s all very confusing. And clearly corrupt indeed.
Gutted about Chippy. He’ll only be 58 in 2014. Anybody know the reasons why?
Holic @27 Perfect post.
Greetings Holics
Hope to see some of you tonight in the Tollie pre. match, bringing Gooner Kevin for a swift pint.
I had been feeling optimistic that reinforcements would have arrived by now but like the rest of you that feeling has now dissipated. What if we loose a vital player to injury tonight, then a panic buy is all we have to look forward to, as it appears no preparation has been made in this window to strengthen the squad.
Relying on injury prone players to see out the season and achieve a top four place or a cup final is wishful thinking. We have been here on so many previous occasions . I fear history repeating it’s self!
A tight game predicted. Please let’s keep Suarez at bay, 2-1 to us but likely to be edge of the seat stuff.
As always COYRs
How many weeks has Arteta’s 3 week injury lasted now ?
I can’t remember but it seems at least 3 already.
washedup – Ollie,
this is purely from memory and could well be wrong or out of date, but doesn’t Platini’s son hold some position at PSG ?
That couldn’t possibly be to help them navigate around FFP, I suppose?
3 weeks Trev.
Cut and paste as you see fit.
Trev, Arteta last played at Swansea on the 6th, so only just over the 3 week period at the mo.
Perhaps he’ll be back at the weekend? – Just in time to get crunched by the Orcs!
tabs and Trev – Arteta himself said this on Twitter on Monday:
Only out 2 weeks and it seems like 2 months for me!!Desperate to be back on the pitch!! Nearly there…
Arsene also said yesterday that Mikel (and the Coq too, by the way) has a chance to be back on Saturday so this time the famous three weeks may actually be three weeks!
Very interesting read, ‘holic.
I am very much looking forward to seeing Aaron playing deep again it’s an obvious place to put him, maximising his strengths as a player and a person. He has taken to it like a duck to water.
Deschamps, leave Diaby alone. It’s only a friendly and remember you broke him last time we lent him to you.
“there is a feeling that the club is in a position to achieve the hitherto impossible task of cutting prices for certain groups of supporter whilst correcting the under-investment in the team.
These two things are no longer mutually exclusive.”
I agree that must be the aim, maybe just a matter of time, now? As well as noting the unrest recently, they have previously been made aware that there is an overreliance on income from matchday fans as a proportion of revenue. They’ve already listened to supporters’ groups and gone some way to addressing the concerns of fans, but it’s economics which give the decisive push in these matters, I think. The fact that fixtures have gone to general sale in the last few weeks has sent a powerful message.
I note that Liverpool, though now totally sold out, took until today, whereas the identically priced Man City match sold out much further in advance. What that says, I’m not sure. But it probably says something.
Now to read the drinks…
N7 gooner with you all the way, for some reason i find transfer rumour depressing because most of the time we will be linked up with just about everyone and then the deadline reaches and we have bought no one.
Goal?
Hi Fungunner
AL @84.
:-) Brilliant….props to gunnerblog.
ooh well an assist is better than nothing
First Lady…..merci beaucoup for the assist (and saved you from the dubious goals committee ).
Also predictive text first offered “dubious gals committee”….. perish the thought.
Firstlady, especially when it saves you from a guilty self-assist!
Well in Ups!
Trev 93, never heard that one myself and doubt it, I’ll investigate.
Cheers for the info Lars.
Well in Ups.
Heh!
Makes you want to get the old set out, and practice your flick to kick skills.
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/chelsea/154804/snapshot-subbuteo-produce-awesome-eden-hazardballboy-figurine.html
Up, I suppose the predictive text was thinking about Wolfie then!
http://www.madeinparisiens.com/infos/article-psg-qsi-engage-le-fils-de-platini-22163.html
Trev, I nominate you as our French Football expert
Arteta last scored fantasy league points on January 1, when he played the full 90 minutes. I don’t recall, and haven’t quickly been able to find out when he was injured.
In the build-up to the Swansea match on Jan 16, the .CON said of his calf strain: “It’s a light grade one so it could be quicker than three weeks”.
Before the Brighton match on January 26, they said “Arteta and Coquelin are still out. Arteta is closer than Coquelin. It is still a matter of days for them”.
I can’t, quickly, find any statement that it would be three weeks, but the Jan 16 prediction hasn’t yet been shown to be wrong.
I accept completely the right of anyone to get p*ssed off about whatever they chose. Bear in mind that predictions and estimates are just that, and that ocasionally people will make mistakes. Please don’t assume that if the club makes an announcement that is wrong that may not neccessarily mean that the club is incompetant or that they are trying deliberately to mislead fans.
COYG
Ah, I see authoritative statements have been posted while I was researching mine at 109. Hey ho, good to see I haven’t contradicted anyone.
COYG
Arteta last played against Swansea on the 6th, not the 16th.
He didn’t score any FFL points because it was in the Cup!!!!!
103/014 fully agree
On to predictions 4-2 to the Mighty Arsenal. If my prediction is right having predicted the last two matches correctly (albeit to myself) I’ll have to talk to Holic so he can recover some of his money back since I cant remember the last time he called the scores correctly.
And who has said anything about the Club being incompetent or that they are misleading fans.
Geez – talk about moaning about non-existent moaning, or looking for negativity that simply isn’t there.
Well in Uply – and of course big props to gunnerblog. And tabs right bakatchyer re the ballsmotheringboy (disclaimer: should you bother to try, do please be careful where you break that one up)
Sorry too to hear of the former King of Highbury’s imminentish departure – all good things and that, i s’pose
Gettin’ pre-match nerves already. Right orf for a lightish luncheon, then some gentle limbering up to follow.(Pre-pub/stream etc.)
UReDS!
Regarding investment in the team, there still seems to be an assumption that the better players that AW requires are just sitting there, and he is refusing to buy them. I think we need to know who these players are – it’s all about the details. Have we missed out on Lewis Holtby, for example? Also, why would AW, who has the final say about sales and purchases, refuse to buy someone we could afford, wanted to come, and he felt we needed? For that to be credible to me, there has to be a good motive for him.
I agree with something Norris said, which is that we are under-performing. The problem as I see it is not with the ability of our players (by which I mean those from whom AW picks his matchday squad). I think it’s the extreme pressure they are under. There’s good pressure, as in “win the game or die trying”, but there’s also bad pressure, which has taken the form of widespread doubting of their ability. In every fanbase, there are people who doubt their team, but with Arsenal, it’s a national sport – not just among fans. We’re in a difficult position – we are expected to do well and compete with the three top clubs (nothing wrong with that), but our squad don’t have the background confidence of having won a trophy in the recent past, or with each other. ManUre, Chavski and Money City have that. Spurs or Everton don’t have the expectation heaped on them, (plucky Davids taking on Goliath). Liverpool have the expectation but at least they have won a CL trophy fairly recently. However good you are, if people keep saying you’re not up to it, you will question yourself and/or keep trying to prove that you are up to it, when you should be concentrating on your game. Vicious circle.
It also struck me that there is another possible confidence problem. Many of our players came to us as unpolished gems or stars whose lustre was waning. While this makes them hungry, I believe, it doesn’t give them the rock solid self-belief that a player like Rooney must have by now. They feed off the faith the manager has in them. Just a thought. In any case, I believe the problem is psychological. But I also think recent games show that we are starting to cope with it.
It won’t surprise anyone that I think we have good depth. The other day, I was able to make two viable teams from our squad, excluding players on loan, players AW rarely picks (Squillaci, Arshavin) and the yutes (except I think I used Miquel). Ideally, an experienced back-up goalie would be added, but I don’t know who is a realistic option.
Anyway – I will be relying on text updates later as I have to work, but UTA!
In other great news, ticket for Bayern has been bought
Hi, Firstlady! (wave)
Champagne for the lady, please barman. And keep a bottle on ice for arsabeatbarca in case she pops in. Ta.
Right, off now, back late tonight, with a bit of luck celebrating a convincing win. Any win, actually.
tabs 113 : preventive strike, innit?
12Holloway2Holland
gladly mr holloway, always a pleasure.
“I fully understand the concequences of moving to our brand shiny new stadium, I understand that belts had to be tightened, budgets adheared to and compromises made. However, under-investment in the team has brought us to the position we now find ourselves in and I would like a little bit of clarity from the club as to why this is.”
ok, but underinvestment for what? underinvestment to win the title? to win champions league? to get into champions league groups?
the club from 06 till say last year has been investing on average 15m per summer transfer window for players. how can that ever be put into comparison with the budgets of the united chelsea or city who invest SPECIFICALLY to win titles (?)
i find it difficult to comprehend how you on one side agree and undertsand the limitations and on the other claim underinvestment (?)
surely the move to the stadium should have given us a clue that whatever investments are made in squad players (till repayment of stadium) would be just enough to keep the club in the champions league money making positions. therefore the club since 06 has been investing just enough for its PRIME OBJECTIVE.
the clubs prime objective since grove move is the champions league money…not titles…therefore expecting the kind of investments that bring back titles is a bit naive and out of touch with reality.
as for clarity, if i were ceo/president of a company like arsenal i wouldnt let the customers know everything that goes behind the scenes, why should i? these are private and confidential matters between the owners and the directors/managers. not for public consumption.
surely you recognise that the transfer budget of a team ( investment) is an indicator of its targets and objectives. we cant complain about underinvestment when we know that the investments being made are just enough to keep us in the champions league., which is the prime objective of the company.
as for arsenals business being FOOTBALL, i dont disagree, but for you and me to enjoy this football, some entrepreneurs have to sit down, invest their money and organise various departments and make them all run as efficiently as possible so that we enjoy that product. right? they will also do it for the profit, they arent kids to do it for the romance of it. right?
as for “dropping the ball” again i dont disgaree, i find it very hard to explain how the pr team only secured 5,5 m sponsorship deal, but then again these were completeley new territtories for arsenal football club so to speak, its like your first day in the army..the old guard will “eat” you alive till you learn. dont forget we were the ones asking them to sposnsor us, not the other way round. in such relationships you are usually dealt the bad hand and get on with it.
patience my dear friend…maybe the next decade surprises us all…and as far as im concerned it will definately be worth the pain and the wait.
when the manager and club invest on jack aaron as early as 15 and 16 and `17 years of age and the rest, they are looking 10 years ahead and beyond, thats how academies work. this process keeps going on till the momment when a generation clicks (see united, ajax, barca). once they click and win its up to the owner whether he wants to continue and set his dominance ( go for glory and history making) or sell them all and start all over again. (keep on with his profitbale business)
thats the business of football in todays competitive environment and thats why experience tells us that success comes in cycles ( natural success, not artificial) for all clubs.
Ollie – Ha, is that what it is!
Bonjovi les amis.
Bye bye Brady.
We’ll certainly miss him, but seeing him go won’t hurt as much as the first time. A true gunner legend.
====
Speaking of which (OtD) ;
Not winning trophies was never a complaint I remember from days gone by when, for example, Pat Jennings and Liam Brady played eight years for Arsenal with only a single FA Cup winners medal to show for it.
So you’re saying that Brady didn’t leave to win trophies?
You gonna tell me next that money had nothing to do with it either?
Funny, I seem to remember it differently.
At the time the Serie A was the mecca of football, that’s where the money was and Juventus was the Man U of that league. They were title holders two year’s before he joined,runners up in the next year and Brady won the title twice in his first two seasons there. I also recall an interview with Chippy in which he stated that the money he earned at Arsenal was “peanuts” compared to the dosh available in Italy.
I don’t really think you can compare players of that age to now, but if you choose to, how do you think the keyboard warriors and the BBB’s would have treated Brady had that have happened in todays world. Taking into account that he would of most likely ended up at a PL club because now that is the most prestigous league (Remember we’re speaking in hypotheticals here!)
Oxon.
I know exactly how long RvP had left on his contract, that’s exactly my point, in real life a year left is a year left, in footballing terms a year left means the player can hold the club over a barrel or act like a cunt. If he’s so inclined he can do that at anytime. Yes we knew that Cesc was always going home, but why then did he sign a five year deal only a year before? Like I said; “not worth the paper it’s printed on”.
But my main point was that if we had added to that “almost there” squad and picked up a title or two then it may of been a little harder for those players to leave. Ofcourse there will always be mercanarys, but you only have to look at QPR to see that the players who are only in it for the dough are not only at the winning teams. Once again it was all hypothetical, so it’s neither here nor there.
UTA.
27Goonerholic
without wanting to sound as a propaganda, i feel that under the circumstances, the club is doing the best it can.
i also want to see arsenal get rewarded for their patience and work but i also recognise that the playing field has been distorted by factors which were out of arsenal;s control and influence.
the club can not be held responsible for this distortion, neither can we demand that is follows suit.
in order to win titles now, we need to go on a head to head battle with three giants who can come back the next year and spend double should they fail. we cannot do that. therefore there is no point in taking such a risk.
surely the conservatism of the last few years is doing our heads in, but it is far more preferrable to wait till the phase of sugar daddies ends rather than sitting on a poker table with them…… if you had to sit in a table with negraneu, helmutt, doyle and greenstein and the rest you wouldnt bet on every hand now would you, neither would you attempt to bluff them, youd wait for them to wipe eachother out till you make your move.
snooker players will either go for the perfect pot/shot (ambition) while others will follow the strategy of blocking the pots and forcing their opponent to a foul.
i wish we had the spartan spirit or alexander the great’s attitude, when they were alerted about enemies they never asked “how many” they only asked “where”, but they were trained heavily to be killing machines and saw it as ultimate form of respect to die on the battlefield ripping the enemies eyes out with their hands. we are not conquerors yet…we are getting there though.
it might sound as a “defeatist” attitude but it is not. it is way smarter to wait and take advanatge of the next cycle rather than going gung ho for titles at a time where the competition could destroy us. why not wait till they mess it up and take advantage? why the urgency to show our ambition now? we have existed for 125 years and with what we have done we will exist for another 125 years…10 years of grinding out to make it into champions league is nothing really.
Good afternoon Hunter.
I’ll give your post the full attention it deserves a little later on, I’m afraid I’ve got a few mates over for dart practice at the mo’ and this beer on the bar’s not going to drink itself.
Oh, it’s the Lunch-time of the living dead – pint o’ blood anyone!?
Is it from Mary, AL?
i think a better way of putting it is to resemble arsenal with guerilla warfare tactics rather than bringin out the cannons the cavalry and the airforce in open parade.
our enemies have more cannons and more cavalry and far more f-16s than we do…
for a while we might need to do it like the vietcong and the yugoslavians when they were facing usa napalms and stealth bombers..hide, show up and sabotage a few, if robben hadnt missed last year in munich final chelsea would have been hit by arsenal;s guerilla tactics. arsenal 3rd chelsea 6th…chelsea got saved by default regulation of uefa. the vietcong were united and defeated their enemy the yugoslavians got in a civil war and lost.
tottenham and liverpool are the prime examples of arsenal;s scalp taking….theyve been trying for ages to surpass arsenal and have spent tons of money and still cant do it, even when arsenal plays with 17 yearolds……united and city will take a while longer to defeat though
apologies for the militaristic take and if i have offended with my insensitivity, am just trying to see arsenal’s football strategy through various prisms , after all football is a business and business can and will turn into “war”. you need a plan and arsenal does have one. our strategy falls in the “wait” category.
As long as it’s not Virgin, I’m in!
For you H-man, always. Bottoms-up and out (later…maybe).
no worries holloway mate there is no deadline, just discussing about our favourite subject in our spare time at our convenience, all good.
One sliding down the bar atchyer tabster – we’s starting early. But hey, it’s a sports day. (Unfortunately i’ve still got stuff to do.)
Thank you Sir.
Chippys Take in its Simplified State
Until Kroenke + His Cronies Gazidis, Fox and Even Law – Notice a Theme Here, are removed from this Football Club the longer the sham will continue. Do people really think he gives a flying F### about Arsenal football Club hes interested in the Dollar, Sporting Glory is of secondary make that thirdly. importance,
Up The Arse ! Lets spank the Mickeys.
Ps lights fuse and legs it
!!
tabs@113. You are quoting me, so I’ll respond.
I can’t summon the enthusiasm to go and look up direct quotes, and I certainly wonuldn’t attribute them as I’m trying to combat an attitude with which I disagree rather than any individuals.
Many people have said that the club was misleading fans. This place has been awash with complaints that Wenger has said we were going to buy so-and-so, or two players, where are they?. As to incompetence, well, remarks have been passed about the reasons behind our commercial deals being less than those at other clubs, but mainly it’s my own alternative explanation for those who don’t like to think they are being lied to.
Also, I have been careful to avoid having my remarks come over as moaning and have always sought to phrase them as requests. If I haven’t been careful enough, then sorry.
In the meantime, do take a drink off me as soon as the Bar is open.
COYG
Cheers AL.
as soon as the Bar is open
WHAT??
Who closed the bar!!??!?
Capoue news: not leaving
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2013/01/30/155513_capoue-va-rester-au-tfc.html
Oxon you fickle ol’ thing: there’s you oft demanding folk source what they type (and rightly so!), and there you are backing away from it yourself – tut! Tut! Dearboy.
Oxon,
Thanks for the response, and the drink. Always welcome, thank you.
No need to go looking for quotes in previous blogs. I read your 109 as in response to a couple of light-hearted quips about Arteta’s injury. It certainly appeared that way anyway, and nobody had really slated the Club. The quips were harmless enough, and let’s face it, contained more than an element of truth, given the recent and semi recent injury records of Diaby, Rosicky, Jack, Vermaelen and Gibbs.
As for “an attitude”, I couldn’t agree more. I will be the first in the trenches alongside you against those who have as a default setting a penchant to blame the Club first, and ask questions later, if at all.
However, let’s face it, the Guv’nor shelters us from most of that nonsense here. Most of the posters here seek to further the debate, from whatever position they have taken as regards the Board, the Manager, the Team etc.
My view, and it is just my view, is that an “attitude”, (sorry, don’t know how to do italics), that seeks to paint the merest hint of criticism or even gentle piss-take as misery-seeking is as extreme as the worst excesses of Wenger-hating. The truth, if “truth” can ever be used in this context, always lies somewhere in the middle.
I will admit to being open-mouthed in amazement when ‘Holic’s post provoked the line “I was even sadder to read the maestro posting from such a negative perspective.” In fact I was so astonished I went back and read ‘Holic’s piece again. I still couldn’t find any negativity. Perhaps you can help me out? The only thing I could find that was even remotely negative was the use of the word “under-investment”.
In my view, you can either agree or disagree with the reasons for the “under-investment”, but it’s not really a doubt is it that there has been an under-investment on the playing side since the stadium move. Arsene has admitted as much when he acknowledged recently that he had been unable to compete in the transfer market for the last few years and that that situation was changing.
There are legitimate questions to be asked of the Club at the moment, from Boardroom level down, and a dismissal of those questions as mere misery-seeking is way off beam in my view.
I’m all for walking on the sunny side, but too much sun leads to sun-stroke!
Have a drink back on me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21260512
Nooooooooooo. Would definitely remove any chance of him playing in the FA Cup
Tabs,
Thanks for your 113 mate – that would have been exactly my reply to Oxon, who is giving me a bit of a comolex!
Oxon,
As a Sports Physio, I do appreciate the difficulties in predicting rehab times.
We have hit here, on another little example of gallows humour, made ‘comical’ by dint of endless repetition – i.e. the “three week strain” that more often than not turns out to be closer to three months.
I don’t remember mentioning “incompetence” or any other derogatory qualities at all.
See, whoever said it’s never worth explaining a joke was dead right.
Btw, Arsene said in an interview on television, after the match, that Arteta’s injury was “three weeks”. Hence my reference to same.
Blimey!
He should just himself say ‘the dreaded 3 weeks’ from now on
Ollie @108,
Thanks for the offer but you are far better qualified.
What a lot of drinks to read today. Can anyone offer a tired skier an Executive Summary?
Ok bath,
Tabs and Oxon are having a fight in the corner – instigated by a comment from me !! My proudest moment.
Some are moaning about lack of inward – others are defending the complete, apparant, lack of activity.
Others are merely waiting for Snir’s arrival tomorrow night.
C’mon Tabs ….
JOKE !!!!!!!!!! (Just in case)
Oxon, have a half of iced lager and out it on that black eye !!!!
Ok, that’s enough Tabs.
Out = put.
Not much of a fighter here Trev.
I’m tottery on my Jimmy Choos at the best of times. Try and throw a punch and down I go.
One err Two err …
According to some bouncers, that doesn’t even require a punch to be thrown, tabs
tabs, and others
I am happy to admit that I am somewhat intolerant of the constant repetition of some quotes from Arsène Wenger.
I’ve said before that I have no faith in any sort of evenhandedness from the meeja regarding anything Arsenal-related. I dread waking up one morning to read/hear that things are so bad that “Even readers of normally supportive blogs such as goonerholic.com are fed up with the Arsenal board/manager doing/saying such and such”. I’d like to do what I can to prevent that.
As a pre-emptive response to anyone thinking of telling me that it’ll never happen because no journo and no-one of importance at Arsenal reads or takes notice of any blogs, I would ask why, in that case I read so many complaints here about us failing to do this or that during a transfer window that hasn’t even closed yet. I assumed it was an attempt to get people to do something while the window was open – that’s the most charitabvle explanation I can come up with.
Others criticise me for not finding any quotes. That’s a reasonable criticism, but one that I thought I’d answered in my posting above – I’m not finding specific quotes because I’m criticising what I perceive to be an “attitude”. (Yes that’s a change from my previous “contribution” in which I stated that it was an “attitude”, I am reminded that it’s merely my perception and the “attitude” (getting fed up with the quotation marks? I know I am) may not actually exist.
Negativity is clearly in the eye of the beholder, and I again thank the guvnor for acknowledging what I’d said rather than suggesting that it was all in my imagination.
Anyway, I’ve had my all-to-frequent moan on the subject and I’ll stop now. Thanks for the drink tabs, I’ll leave it until I get home, if I may, and apologies to anyone who was spooked by my suggestion that the bar had closed. Another example of someone giving way to their fears rather than just looking at what was really happening.
COYG
PS tabs – enclose text between <i> and </i> for italics or use b, rather than i for bold. Make sure that you include the closing bit otherwise the rest of the drinks will be italicised or emboldened. (ooo err missus)
Thanks for the summary Trev.
This is too refined an establishment for a ruck in the corner.
So still no sign of incoming then? Que sera….
I’m just a wee bit nervous out tonight. It must be the altitude.
West coast coming on line in 3..2..
Good morning all. Nice debates above and some great perspectives.
Everyone has their thoughts on our great club. I agree with some and disagree with others and that is why we come to this blog. Most of us are probably not far off from each other. The one thing that often gets misinterpreted in the writing is the tone.
I know Oxon was not singling me out yesterday with his comment ( hell, he said it himself) I don’t think any of the previous drinks above are necessarily negative. I think many are expressing their frustrations and asking questions about the club that unfortunately will probably go unanswered.
I am not asking the club to spend like the chelski’s, or manshittys of the world. I am questioning why we don’t improve in the few areas on the pitch that even a casual observer can spot. A slight tweaking of the squad may make that top 4 finish that much easier and who knows, maybe an FA cup too.
Right now we are not competing with the top three, we are scratching and clawing with the teams in 4-7.
Trev,
Half of iced lager? Half of iced lager! Putting it on a black eye is about all I’d do with it and even that’s too close to my mouth for comfort.
Thanks for the thought, mind.
Very true Ollie … sadly!
Oxon,
The reason I give an opinion in here, good bad or indifferent, is merely to shoot the breeze with other supporters, just as I would in person in The Tollie, and to find out what other supporters are thinking. I’m under no illusions that my comments are read either by the Club or the Media, or that even if they were, that they would take a blind bit of notice.
Ta for the italics info.
Oxon,
You should come and join us for a pint – yes, even me on occasion – in The Tollie some time and you would see that we really are not at all a negative bunch.
Typical football gallows humour – for sure.
Club bashing – never.
Very good preview Holic
Certainly same West Ham oomph is required to get the job done tonight against the scousers.
Can’t shoot ourselvs in the foot here and sadly there is NO room for error.
COME ON ARSENAL!
No room for Error?
Ah, it’s not him we’re signing then.
Error Flynn? He plays for Nottingham, right?
Today i too shall be criticizing some shapeless, unidentifiable, amorphous thingymajig or some think what LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE a shapeless, unidentifiable thingymajig (which by its very definition i can’t identify – in the first or second part, but I know what it looks like in my head – I do). Anyway the complaining makes me feel better it does, cos I can call folk moaners while having a right long-winded, ongoing one meself. And no harm done, neither.
Excellent debates gentleman….I doff my hat to you all (and offer you a drink of choice….on Lars tab of course ).
Tonight I believe there could be quite a few goals as bth teams like to push forward and leave defences somewhat open at times. Expect our goal scoring front trio to outscore the bin dippers. No doubt I’ve jinxed it to a boring 0-0 now
Wahey!
Ain’t no stopping me now.
Cheers Oxon.
Come and get ‘em lads. Consistency patches, hat-trick hookah bowls ( still have a couple left over from chamakh), Poldi “snack” packs, hashish Beefcakes, purple Caz ( sure to make you Spanish fly), Gibbs me a rush energy drinks, and the usual happy train smorgasbord.
Enjoy the game all!
3-1.
and me, waving from a distance, tropic of capricorn almost, south of the equator anyways … Greetings Firstlady! FunGun!
come on the AAAAArrsenaaaal!
Feck, is this ACLF?
Attitude? Tone? Club-bashing?
It’s the internet, get over yourself.
Happy Train needs to get moving. And it will.
When we sign 4 new shiny players tomorrow.
Heh @ 157
Sounds like AL is dining out
Dr. F @ 163 nose (he can sniff owt out). Pertinent point re ACLF – though are not some of the agenda-driven zombies that Yogi’s gotten rid of recently not starting to rattle the windows and that, of this mighty bar? Might be fun – if only for a very short while.
Woooaaahhhhhhhhh. A very Bloody Mary please barkeep.
And we’s Goooonahs in the end, aint we. CoMoNUrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeddssssSS!
@157: Ha ha.
tabs and Trev a little earlier. I hope I haven’t expressed any personal animosity toward either of you. I feel none, so if I have I withdraw it and apologise. I hope I’ve accused no-one of deliberately club bashing, I don’t believe that either. I do, however, believe that some express opinions that might easily be taken out of context and be taken as club bashing, and will continue on-and-off to ask them not to.
I’m as big a fan of gallows humour as anyone. I find it funnier the further I am from the gallows. To mix my metaphors for a moment, I’d prefer to wait until, as a club, we’re on more solid ground.
Trev – I would love to come along to the Tollie and have a drink with some of the regulars. It’s definitely on my list the next time I come up for a game.
I hope that I’ve managed to express myself clearly and succinctly enough not to upset our anonymous correspondent above.
Time for the team to do its talking on the pitch.
COYG
No offence was taken here Oxon, none at all.
Rest easy.
Oxon…your views are as welcome and valid as all others on these esteemed establishment. Glad to see you are not hung up with the gallows humour.
Mr Receptacle….I don’t see Oregan’s finest on your list….is this only available via special channels?
Dear Mr Take A Bow Son:
Now that your one of the most recognisable faces of our daily issue, we feel somewhat obliged to attribute some words to the “Face of Arsenal” within the covers of our tabloid news paper.
Knowing your aversion to reading our publication, let alone to be known as a “daily whail reader” – we have taken the liberty of having your contributions, thoughts & comments on this blog replicated by one of our ghost writers as a sort Agony Aunt to all concerned Arsenal fans who may now liaise directly with you at: tabs@dailywhail.co.uk
“The Daily Whail – your local rag for Nags n Tabs…!”
Evening friends, for that is what you all are.
A reminder that everybody here is a welcome contributor. I sense a nervousness about falling out. It is perfectly ok to disagree with each other respectfully.
That we debate with respect has been the only rule applied here, and I am rather chuffed that only three people have fallen foul of that rule with their puerile name-calling, oh sorry, make that four after either BtM or I was wished dead of aids this week.
Carry on. It is what this place is for.
Heh @168
tabs@166: I didn’t think any had been, but reassurance is always welcome. Thank you. As you might have divined (possibly the appropriate verb) I was more concerned with our anonymous friend.
Uply: It won’t come as noose to you that I’d prefer you to drop it. Here’s roping that I’ll be finding it more amusing sooner rather than later.
Byeeeee, and once more,
COYG
Well they’ve just advertised the game on C+ Sport at half-time of the ACN, so I’m hoping they show the whole of our game rather than do the ‘multiplex’ bollocks they alluded to last night during QPR vs Citeh.
Ah uply…..
Was hoping to keep the “big O” for myself , but it is available for those with a discerning taste.
Cheers
3-1 to The Arsenal. Up The Arse!
Oops – i meant Dr. F @ 162 nose – ermmm, of course. Oh well, cunting nor splelling were never me strong pints. (Ahh – game day and i can hear the beer acalling.) Have a good’un Arse fans.
(And wow @ 168 – tabs has a media rep. Congrats!)
Up everythink Arsenal!
Die of aids?
I won’t hear of it.
Oxon,
I hope I have not become anonymous.
Superfluous perhaps?
Heh at the z man
Hear, hear.
Arsenal team: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski, Giroud
Arsenal subs: Mannone, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Santos, Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky
Liverpool :
11 Crims with some more crims on the bench….
Only crims?
Surely a buck toothed racist git with a balance problem is among them.
Liverpool: (corr)
An unsteady on his feet buck toothed racist git of a crim, plus 10 other crims.
Dear Arsenal,
When the ref makes the shrill sound at 7:45, that represents The First Half. Please note goals conceded and scored in The First Half are of equal value to their counterparts in The Second Half, with which you are so familiar.
Please pay the requisite attention to The First Half
Yours,
a first and second half-empty glass type from the Kingdom
Carragher in – is there no way we can sneak King Henry on to scare the bejesus!!! out of ‘im!? (Or p’raps future cap’n jack could don a mask.)
COYGS!
Feckin apple and feckin italics
Sorry Holic,
I’ve turned the site all Roman again……
Someone fill Z’s glass please, mine too and anyone elses’ who’s feeling a bit pre game parched.
COYRRR’s
I’ve got bit.
TEST
NO, you’ve banjaxesd it zico.
I always wanted to be an Italics from Rome.
Thx Dr Z
streams here again:) http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=183928&part=sports and good evening:)
Trust Zico to fuck it all up
Any Italics tips you want Dr Z I’m yer man. I’m an expert now thanks to Oxon!
Right I’m off. See you all on t’other side.
Good luck everyone.
Come on Arsenal!!!!
Towards goal……….
Tabs, you would have thought Zico would have waited until at leadt tomorrow’s post to go all slanty since Oxon just warned what would happen if he didn’t turn it orf.
Time to smack the liver. Enjoy the drinks.
Right, you sausage fingered wazzock, pay more attention
Oh well don’t mind if I do.
Thx H2H. Hit me square in the face and bounced in.
Cheers H.
Apologies to friends, Romans and countrymen. (tabs excepted).
COYRRRs
I thought he just had the pregame jitters.
Well in NorCal.
Come on Arsenal!
banjaxes and bethshebas, gents and ladies, it’s actual foosball.
well in norcal.
pace is furious in the first five, and liverpool gets a goal resulting, in the beginning, from a sagna slip.
ugh.
Shambles nothing else
How many fucking mistakes can you make, ridiculous.
COYG’s.
FUCK IT! another fuckup in the back…unbelievable
and theo almost replise immediamente.
good save reina.
Theo should have passed
ooh shame!
clearly suarez has his inner ear problem at midfield.
jeeezzzz, Verm is so hot and cold. FFS. Come on Arsenal!
Why does vermaelen always try the difficult? Just clear it out of bounds and live to fight again. Argh
looks close to a rugby match out there at times. lots of body slamming going on. the commentators would call it “full blooded”.
Didn’t lend any support to Woj’s analysis that one…
norcal, if mertesacker stayed down rather than being balletic, he’d've blocked the shot. instead, it pinged off him.
And pass the ball theo!!
We always have to shoot ourself in the foot come on what are they doing
Cracking atmosphere!
what the fuck are they doing?:(
OG that should have been a goal and Wojtek needs to fucking wake up
Come on Arsenal. The boys will come good this game. The fight is there.
oooh, nice move, almost paid off. ollie tried fancy, just wide.
Cracker pass from Poldi to Giroud. We’ll get there yet.
Un lucky OG, should of at least hit the target.
Defence in chaos, what wtf was Woj doing?
We will score but we really need to get our shit together at the back. They are pressing hard. Lets get at them too.
COME ON ARSENAL
Credit where credit is due- Suarez pass to S was sensational. Now let’s f’ing score. COYG!
Good pressure by us.
the energy and spirit is there. now for the application!
come on you reds!!
great pressure, nurse. another save from reina.
love that stuart downing. an inch-perfect cross to the linesman.
Hey scruz, everyone.
Reina two good saves already..come on guys..they are there for the taking!
COME ON YOU REDS
we’re causing chaos in their box.
Nice move. Shame again
oooh almooost!
Need to score before half time
as the game wears on our pressure will bring a goal for us.
someone get suarez some antibiotics!
We’re not playing too badly at the mo – but then neither are the scousers, and they’re a goal up and looking well organized.
COYGS
Theo fucked up
theo..better first touch ..shame
per, come ON.
nervy stuff!
jesus, cleared off the line. we are definitely riding our luck with these defensive errors.
Fuck me, saved by Poldi.
Wojciech looks dodgy today
We’re going to need at least three goals to win this one.
Our back four need a bad kick up the arse
…going forward that is
ComoNURedSS!
well played, theo, good defensive tracking back for the steal.
so sloppy…wake up lads!
Come on Gibbsy!
crap, gibbs is down, holding his hammy?
Why do we always concede first and then we have to chase the game. Now Gibbs looks like he’s off
Come on Gibbsy!!!
come on you gunners…
Come on Santos! You can do it! Keep it disciplined now. Remember what you are good at, do it when you get the chance, and the rest of the time, just make sure you are in the right position.
oh, wow, santos is in.
Crap Gibbsy off.
Shit.
great save, woj.
Ramsey gets the ball and fouls Suarez gets away with it ooohhhhh my fucking word Santos
suarez acting as though he’s ruling bac. show him the truth, bac…roast his bucktoothed hide.
keeps getting worse ..come on Andre, prove us wrong and put in good shift!
this has been engrossing. nearly minute 40 and it’s flown by.
FUCK YOU REF!
nicely played, from poldi to santi to theo to og, decent save from reina.
looks like all the mugsmashers need antibiotics.
Ramsey so much tidier in his distribution now, great to see!
We should sign Suarez as a left back for us… FFS. COME ON ARSENAL!
i don’t know if that was well played or suicidal by woj.
Not quite coming off yet. But the attacks are promising. Defense is another matter.
I still can’t see how Sagna – V – PM – Santos is more solid than Sagna – Kos – PM – Verm…
This has absolutely been our own doing but we do not have any luck with the bounces today. Every ball that could bounce to one of our players seems to bounce straight to a Liverpool-player in a good position. A lucky goal in second and we might well win this. This game could end 0-1, 2-2, 3-2 or 2-3. I have no clue.
absent those three minutes of crap defending (summed up), that was a decent half of football.
now let’s see it get better in the second half. tighten up the defense, santos stay home, and get some goals.
shambles at the back, unlucky with the bounces…come on reds, start up in the second and steamroll them
Can’t fault the effort, we’ve played a lot of good stuff and created some decent chances, we’re also pressing when not in pocession.
Once again individual errors are costing us big time. We give away some comedic goals, but it’s no laughing matter.
NOt over yet, not by a long shot. Second half Arsenal are twice as good as it’s first half counterpart.
COME ON YOU REDZZZZZZZ
Come on Arsenal
Shambles defending overall tonight we look like conceding almost every time.
It’s going to be very difficult to scoe but God help us!
Top top jr is a cock
H2H, totally agree about our individual errors and our second half performances. Someone analyzed earlier this season the goals due to individual errors and without them we’d be top of the league. Sobering thought, given that outside of that, the team is able to perform. Of course, that is the biggest IF given our propensities of late.
COYG, 4 fecking 1 at the finish.
It’s good to see stadium atmosphere and team effort combine for a high spirited affair, now to show the effect.
rock and roll, gooners. rip those scouse a new one.
christ, i hope that wasn’t our better half already.
You weak cunts.
way to get behind the team @290. really.
OOoooo FEo.
COYRRR”s
Much, much better now. Keep it up lads.
good pressure, lads. keep it up and the goal will come.
nice try theo…using your head for once.
and, on replay, how the hell was that not a penno when poldi was taken down?
ooo Feo ..shame!
yes. argue it, lucas. getcherself a card. santi or the hammer, please.
it’s hammer time!
i so wanted him to make that. but gutting carragher is nearly as good.
C’mon guys make it happen!
carragher, fuck off, time waster.
fuckity fuck.
FUCKING HELL.
Slapstick again.
We are a mess
FUCK FUCK FUCK
Pathetic. Cazorla ran out of a challenge, the defence parts like David Pleat’s hair and it’s all over, frankly.
nothing going our way today for fucks sake
Half hour to go.
The Fat Lady isn’t even in the building yet.
COYG
oh poldi close ..come on guys! turn this fucking around!
I hope Villa can play across the back four.
COME ON REF, FFS!!!!!!!
GIIIRRRRRRRRROOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDD
get in!
GET THE FUCK IN!!!!!!!!!
Alright now, tear them to shreds.
Giroud yes
OG come on Arsenal
Have we signed anyone this evening cos I can’t see what AW is doing but at least Ollie is there yes ssssss
GET FUCKING IN!
Theo sharp and alive. He deserves one.
FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Feeeeeeooooooooh
Here we go!!!!!!!!
Get in. Get the fuck in.
That’s had to tear them a new one. Character.
Hey, I called it! Nice.
FEEEEOOOOOOO
WE are the second half masters>
COYG
Is 4-2 still o.
BY FARRRR THE GREATEST TEAMMMM
now pull 5-2 on them!
Forward lads.
OOOooooooooooooooooo Feo.
Jack is a hero. Feo on his way.
Almost a chocolate leg goal
Grat response couldn’t get on here for a while
Oh Theo, gorgeous try. Some beautiful play by our boys.
We got ‘em on the ropes.
Keep punching lads.
Quicker Ramsey. Keep it crisp.
I would love to see TR coming on right now
Gerard you scally cunt.
Jack immense!!!!
Come on lads keep it going
Well cleared, Santos.
Blind fucking ref
Terrific counter, unlucky finish.
Super counter…
But why didn’t Poldi shoot?
Sagna not getting stuck in. Come on man, give it to ‘em!
Arsene ..subs?
OOOooooooooooo.
Super counter again
Such lovely plays, we deserve to win this!
oooh Giroud close!!
A pity we dont play for 90 minutes
Silly OG.
You don’t much contact to go down when you have momentum.
Oh my……
AAaah Fuck, I thought that was in.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, good have been the one.
OG NOOOO!:O
abb. There was NO contact.
How did he miss that?
Had Giroud taken the hit would have been a free kick and yellow the other way. But he dove around it.
shame it didnt go better to Girouds stride..the link up play was brilliant
COME ON ARSENAL COMEZ ON ARSENAL
subs Arsene…someone who will rise to occasion!
Fuck, Santos you almost gave me a heart attack.
Fuck. Good effort, but sloppy costs us again. UTG!
Heart breaker. Why we can’t play like that in the first half is beyond me.
spirited performance, individual errors let us down..shame shame damn fucking shame
Damn shame.
Crap result, but I can’t fault the performance, the lads really went for it and that’s all I can ever really ask.
If we can cut out the individual slip ups then we’ll be flying, the front players are starting to click and Jack is going to take us to the next level.
UTA.
I’m sorry guys.
Take the positives out of that if you want.
Our defending is catastrophic. A hiding is coming, sooner or later.
Sort it out Wenger.
I thought we played well in the first half.
Is it just me?
Repeat after me:
This squad is good enough to get 4th without reinforcements.
Maybe if we all repeat it, it will come true.
At the moment, only Arsene believes it.
Now we don’t have a left back for a while and with Kieron’s track record, it was always likely to happen.
The responsibility for this situation?
We played fucking shite defensively and gifted them 2 goals. And we still should have won. Something not quite right about this team still.
Liverpool had like 4.35% possession and get a point. We can really mess things up sometimes. Need to bring up the young guns at left back or we are going to get torched. Spirited comeback though I must say.
If Gibbs is out for any length of time, I am looking forward to the briefcase full of cash taking up position on the left hand side of the defence.
I expect slightly more defensive nous than Santos from the case.
Dr Z
Im with you on this, shocking defending end off should be three points so it’s two points lost in my eyes.
I have never seen such shockers we conceded tonight there’s no excuses Henderson’s goal was a pure fucking joke!
You can’t fault the effort it has to be said great response and almost a famous victory to the arse.
Tiny totts drew so this was an ideal game for us to get closer. I’m sorry but a draw isn’t good enough.
The thing is, Santos always looks more composed going forward. His passes aren’t panicky and he shows good decision making under pressure. Thought Theo, Jack brilliant and OG unlucky. Poldi tried ever so hard in the first half…
BFG – oh dear.
I’ve worn myself out with all the optimistic BS. Time for some perspective. Champions League is absolutely out of the question for next season.. We’ve been waiting all season long to improve and it’s not happening. It’s clear now it won’t happen. We’re on a par with Liverpool, that’s the reality of the situation.
@376 Zico you could put my 88 year old nan in at left back and she’d have more defensive nous than that muppet
Im surprised that we didn’t make any changes tbh Jack looked knackered in the last 15 should have subbed him.
Wenger is right, there is absolutely no point in signing anyone to strengthen this squad.
Signing Buffon, Hummels and lahm would be pointless, coz within two weeks of signing they’d be playing like pissed up 45 year olds from the local pub team.
Getting really tired of seeing the same shit over and over again. if I wanted repeats I would stick to UK Gold FFS!
Gawd help the atmosphere on Saturday if we a) don’t win and b) havent signed anyone.
Now I am repeating myself Delboy.
I am really sorry, as it seems almost everytime I have posted its on a downer perspective. I guess I am just getting to the end of my tether with seeing the same things occurring time and again and the same things NOT occurring too.
Toolsy
You ask for perspective then categorically say something that hasnt happened will happen even though the scousers have gotten results against decent teams this season and were unlucky vs the red mancs and we are not a million miles from 4th.
H2H, I thought we looked strong all game. The great mystery of repetitive individual errors is demoralizing, however. Moving forward, we are getting sharper and sharper. While I think it’s a crime that the team hasn’t been further re-inforced (crime being money taken and not re-invested), this team is plenty strong for top 4. I’m not making predictions, but I disagree with your assessment. Beat Everton and LWCs, and we’re already there. That’s not out of the question- that’s the fecking mission.
Sorry for spelling errors.
And Reading do an Arsenal as well! Blimey
The disagreement was with Toolsy’s claim, for clarity. Wow, I’m losing it over here.
Tim, bad as he (Santos) is, you have to look at Mertesacker first – at both goals – weak, weak, weak.
I am wondering whether our new left back will be black or brown? (Leather).
This isn’t my usual stock in trade, and just last evening I said I wasn’t particularly arsed over bringing anyone in, but:
I am dreaming of what would happen if Moyes got a call tonight offering 50 million for Baines and Fellaini.
A boy can dream …
Perhaps will be swapping A Santos for A Samsonite?
We played quite well in the first, and a tad better in the second. We were at fault when it came to both goals, no question, but both pool-goals did require quite a bit of luck as well, and they got it, several times, on both occasions. Not saying I’m happy at all about our defending in either case, but it really felt like one of those days. Yes, you make your own luck, but remember that those final percentages don’t always balance themselves out over one game. Maybe we’ll be more lucky in our next game.
Could well have won this, and I won’t be too mad about it. It was a good game of football, we got back to earn a point and next time we’ll grab all three.
Having that said – terrified for the rest of the season, could do with a left back, still not sure the team is as balanced as it could be, but hey, all in all, we’ve been in worse positions than right now. I’m going to panic the next time we get a hiding from a team in the bottom five. I’m not going to panic after Liverpool even if it was at home. 4 times out of 5 this game ends 2-1 or 3-1 to us (I love made up statistics!).
Now, let me just go and cry some.
abb, can’t agree there I’m afraid. Santos does look panicy.
He almost gave the game away in the last minutewith a “pass” that was anything but a good decision.
381.
Is she available Tim?
I am dreaming of what would happen if Moyes got a call tonight offering 50 million for Baines and Fellaini.
It would probably mean they’d be Chelsea players in the morning.
Oh H2H, the key phrase is “going forward”. Never said he can defend properly
That said, I thought we actually played pretty well, and the first goal was a product of two understandably poor reactions to unexpected balls (Suarez’s muffed pass, and Ramsey not being able to clear his feet when the ball fizzed out to him). When the team commits to pressing, they’re actually quite effective. If Santos is going to have any kind of run, there can’t be any more sitting back. We just don’t have the personnel for it (questionable if we ever did).
How many times have we seen TV lash out a missed clearance this season, costing us goals conceded and points dropped? I love him for the warrior he’s always been, but as captain this season he’s been below par. He needs to be leading the team, either by example or by shouting at people’s ears – maybe even both. But time and again Jack was driving the team forward like a true leader. Come on TV I really hope you can regain your form and confidence.
Regarding a new LB and a striker, AW will refuse to buy at his own peril. We were desperately looking for a goal, but AW did not even trust his bench enough to make a sub. With the chances we had in the last 20 mins, surely a Hernandez, a Wiltord, or a Kanu would’ve found the winner with fresh legs and impetus. Giroud gave it everything tonight, as did Poldi and Theo. it’s not their fault we don’t have a big enough squad to take advantage of opportunities like tonight.
Should I even mention our defending for Henderson’s goal?
Lastly thank you Jack, Santi, Ramsey,Theo, Poldi and Giroud for not hiding when we were 2-0 down. A point saved. Two points dropped. One step forward, two steps backward. I thought our jersey printed the letters FORWARD??
I like that dream cdoyle but it wouldnt even take that much! Just a measely £40m is all.
lol, H2H.
@cdoyle, you forgot to mention Sagna’s unforced slip leading up to the Suarez goal
I thought he and Vermaelen were the guilty parties there.
BAM
Can’t see Fellaini going for less than 30 by himself, and the Utd interest in Baines the last few seasons has pushed his price well above 10 million.
And with the extra money, Moyes can go get Rodwell back from Citeh.
To be fair to Sagna, Derrick, it was a slip in which he was trying to adjust to a spectacularly bad pass by Suarez. I’m willing to forgive those kinds of mistakes … he was actually making the right play and got wrong-footed. It happens.
14 games to go, 4 points to fourth and still just 8 points to third. I wouldn’t trust Chelsea to win the remaining games with my life. Actually, I really do believe we will fare better than them. Bad as certain things well may be, we are scoring goals at the moment, and it does seriously feel like we will improve a bit game by game from here on in. Not saying it will be enough, not saying we shouldn’t look to strengthen but there is still quite good a group of players there.
At least we got Liverpool out of the way today, Spurs and Chelsea drew against Norwich and Reading. It’s not just us, gooners, keep the faith!
Zico they were all as bad as each other today (apart from Gibbs).
Sagna & Vermaelen looked like Laurel & Hardy for the first whilst BFG & Santos had more of a circus clown look about them for the second. I’m surprised our entire back line aren’t on unicycles with water squirting flowers on their shirts instead of the badge.
It would actually be comical if it wasn’t so depressing.
Well in H2H
Watch Mertesacker for BOTH goals.
I have seen more urgency in a dead leg.
Allegedly Fellaini has a £22m release clause cdoyle.
Toby
Thanks for that, I need to keep the faith more….. Until May at least.
Koscielny was immense last season and he and BFG formed a great partnership. But making TV captain has kind of put the mockers on that beat combo and Vermealen’s form has been patchy at best as a consequence, probably of being made captain.
Perhaps AW wants to sell him?
Cheers Toby, scant consalation I’m afraid.
Toby, Thank you. Needed your drink. And Toolsey, we are so much better than the Pools, lad in our midfield and offense. Really no comparison for me. Buck up gooners. Time to promote Miquel.
I don’t trust a single word said when it comes to these mythical “release clauses.” Ba’s was supposedly only 7 million but magically doubled thanks to the 30-odd agents he apparently keeps in employ, Diame’s is either 2.5, 7, or doesn’t exist.
@392 H2H I’ve just spoken to her and she’s available for £50 and a packet of Werthers a week plus a signing on fee of a new set of dentures.
I’m not sure I trust Dick Law not to mess it up to be honest though.
Tim, I’ll have you know that Dick Law has an excellent set of used dentures that should be more than enough. Oh, and she’ll have to accept 5 quid and a 20 pound gift certificate to the team shop.
Haha just when you think they’ve run out of comical capers to perform along come another couple of absolute bloomers
Fuck me those two will take some beating tho !! Guess how many weeks Gibbs has been ruled out for yep you’ve guessed it the dreaded 3 see him next season then 
All in all not the worst result ever especially as there’s no better players out there to improve the squad !!
I know the feeling H2H. In fact I’ll finish my glass of red and get to bed in a minute. Got a hard days work tomorrow and can’t start brooding about this, it won’t make tomorrow easier. I’ll just look at the positivs, or rather, the reality of it.
There is no guarantee of winning a game of football. It is a sport so well balanced that most of the time in a league that is pretty much even, games are decided by a single goal or two. That means that the best team does not always win. That also means that a single lucky bounce means quite a lot if it ends up like a goal. In tennis you lose 15 points when you are unlucky, here you might well lose the entire game. That is what makes football such a hard sport to follow, and such an intriguing one as well.
We played a team that is stronger than the teams both Chelsea and Tottenham played. You can’t get around that fact, even if they are still quite crap. We played better, had double the amounts of shots, and wound up having around 60% of the possession. We had the momentum most of the game. We were better than they were. Our goals were well taken, quite good moves, theirs, especially the first, had a hint of that, but mostly both goals were down to a few lucky bounces, strung together.
I accept that even if we were the better team, in the end both goals were down to us not defending well enough, but now we’re back with the tennis – an unlucky bounce and a mistake can cost you three points, not just 15 (strange sentance, but you get it).
That happened to us today. We’ll win the next one. There is right to win a game of football, we were better then them, and we made sure to not let them get away with a win.
Now, improve a bit on this and we’ll be fine.
Heh Tim, not sure if that fits in with the socialist pay structure.
But, IG, if you’re reading this sign her up ffs, our defence is pretty fucking toothless anyway.
*no right.
WTF was that? Defenders my arse. Sort it out or get someone who can. I’m sorry this is just basic. It’s not rocket science. SORT THIS MESS OUT.
Ends rant.
We should be spending the money we have in the bank. The only point of a business making a profit every year is in order to pay dividends to shareholders, which we don’t do…. we should be aiming to break even every year after player sales. If only Usmanov would sell his shares to the fanshare scheme we could get an elected representative on the board and make our voices heard!!! If he was really interested in helping the club rather than owning it for his own vanity that’s what he would do.
And I’m really not trying to be positive here, I’m just trying to see it for what it is. Games just don’t always end up getting won by the side that deserves it. We can’t go around bragging how exciting football is just because of that fact just to ignore it when we are not the beneficiaries. We deserved the win today, didn’t get it. We played better, but the margins are so small so the few mistakes we did got punished.
We need reinforcements yes, but after seeing this game I must say one thing –
Liverpool need reinforcements even more.
Gibbo gone for three weeks. Go easy on Santos if he will be playing. Boo the manager if you have to boo anyone, but not the player. I can’t kick a ball for shit, but I wouldn’t turn down a chance to play a home game at the Emirates.
Its interesting how our season is going in patches, at the start we were really solid defensively but struggled to create and score, then we had period when we clicked for and everything worked, then we started to gel up front but our defense fell in to pieces, I just cannot get my head around it.
Might it be really also about the fact Woj mentioned in the interview that when everyone around you says you are bad defender, it gets in your head and you actually become one? Per along with Gibbsy has so far been our most consistent defender this season but recent performances from him were lets say not up to the standard he set earlier in the campaign.
As for todays game, we absolutely gifted them their goals, they had few lucky bounces for them too, otherwise they did not really create much and scored totally against the run of play. Even as pissed as I am right now about the dropped points, put in shift like that every game and the results will come, just hoping that they are about to arrive soon, since this team is positioned much lower in the table than where it should have been. The talent is here, the balance is missing…your turn Arsene..you have 24,5 hrs to tip the odds our way a bit.
Just on the train on the way home. Not had time to back drink. Can anyone tell me why we defend like school kids? It’s almost every week. I am not sure I can remember the last goal we conceded that wad not down to out fuck up.
Hunter @ somewhere earlier. If you genuinely think that the club is about as good as it can be right now and you are happy with that then I would have hated to have seen your letter to Santa at Christmas as a kid. It must have been do low in expectation that it would have reduced the bloke to tears.
Yip, I am on side.
Time to start the sign Tim’s 88 year old Nan bandwagon.
Guys, I accept you all wanting to look on the “sunny side”, but how many more defensive nightmares do we need to endure? How many more sides are we proposing to give 2 goals of a start?
I am getting heartily sick of it – it is plain as day to me that sooner or later (and it doesn’t need to be against anyone good) we are going to take a serious beating.
Keystone cops meets the Marx Bros is the current Arsenal defence.
Of course we will Zico. But then again, we’re going to give some team a proper hiding soon as well. As we have done to the spuds a few times now. This is the team we’ve got, like it or not. I want it to be better, sure I do, but I just can’t help to feel that at times you just don’t get the three points but that it just happened. Games are made out of mistakes. Every game are. Otherwise you would see every players pass percentage beeing 100%. It’s not. I agree we made a few bad ones and got punished today, I agree we’ve seen a few defensive nightmares. But we’ve also seen a few sparkling results going forward, and we’ve also seen a few nice comebacks (7-4 against Reading was just magic!).
Yes, we will get a hiding soon. It won’t be pretty. I hope we won’t. I hope we will improve and strengthen. But you are right, it is coming. But then again, I am sure we’ll give out a few nice hidings as well.
Let’s enjoy it and think about what Spurs- and Chelsea-supporters are currently saying on their respective blogs at the moment.
A few hundred drinks back somebody said we have plenty of players who can play in the defensive midfield slot, as if it meant we do not need to get ssomebody in there who can play in that position up to standard. Without having seen today’s game yet, I don’t think our defensive problems are all down to the play of Szcz and our back four.
Is Andre Santos the poor man’s Gus Ceaser???
My last try at a post wasn’t that coherent as it was in my head. Getting tired I think. Try to figure out what I meant! Sleep tight everyone – and again – I’m all for strengthening, and doing better, but remember it’s not just us drawing games against Liverpool this season. Or drawing games today.
Toby. As I am still an hour from home please help me out. What is there to really enjoy about the was we defended tonight? Or any other random night for that matter?
One other thing. Has anyone else noticed that Bouldy and Wenger say barely nothing to each other during the game? What is that about?
8 ball, if you found much fault in Ramey’s performance today, you’re a much, much harsher critic than I. Felt he put in an excellent shift and saved a couple of blushes for his teammates in the process.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter: Arsenal’s formation doesn’t include a traditional defensive mid. It just doesn’t. That Arteta, and now Ramsey, are the “most” defensive of the mids doesn’t mean they’re playing as DMs. That role is a pivote role, meant to act as the bridge between defense and the midfield, and recycle the ball in an effort to keep possession when nothing’s going further forward. Arsenal isn’t going to bring in a destroyer because there’s no place for one in this setup, and truth be told the last proper “destroyer” Arsenal had was Flamini.
You can argue whether it’s the best system to run, but as long as it’s the system, there won’t be a role for a Tiote type who exists to break up play. Too many other responsibilities for that role.
Toby at 421.
Bravo sir.
Nothing, really. But mistakes such as these makes up many of those moments that happens weekly in football matches all around the world. When some other team makes them we understand its part of a sport that punishes mistakes more harshly than basketball for example. Chelsea and Spurs drew today. Man Utd fashioned half the attempts S’hampton did. Chelsea drew in the cup the other day. Spurs and Pool got kicked out. Many if these goals were preventable, that’s how football work! Supporters all around the country discuss goals like these every week. Placing blame. wondering why no other club makes them. but they do!
So, nothing to enjoy about the defending for the goals. Fully agree. We can and must try to do better. But I remember a few times during the game we defended well. Players tracking back. A solid back four during spells, calm and collecting stray passes after our attacking players played a great pressing game. That I enjoyed. I enjoyed the comeback. I do not enjoy the point but I see the value of it.
Yes, we make mistakes, more than many. Got to fix it to win things. Absolutely. But all in all, it’s a draw against Liverpool, and we played better than them. As for the rest? Cest la vie.
I’m with Toby. No surprises there.
Night all
Homer, I admire you for sticking up for Andre. I just see him being better suited in a more attacking role. And continue to work on his endurance, will help him with his back tracking. You support him lad and I’ll support Gervinho
At the end of the day we win, lose or draw as a team 
Toby. If it was a one off then I would accept it. But these are highly paid internationals who apparently turn up for training on a regular basis; and these errors happen weekly. That is what bothers me.
Steve T@ 427,
!
That’s harsh on Gus and to be fair to him I don’t think he’d have made the same mistakes time and time again that this lot make! And I was at the Luton cup Final
. Without having seen today’s game yet, I don’t think our defensive problems are all down to the play of Szcz and our back four.
Wait ’til you’ve seen it before making such a bold statement.
You may very well find that your opinion will change.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Chippy. I was there too. Think I will take my boots on Saturday. I reckon I can do at least 20 mins.
Steve, I agree and share that worry. Just saying that it’s not just our well paid internationals that drops points week in and out. Most defenders in this league are internationals, I’d say, and most makes mistakes.
Just saying that us so easy too see your own team as something special. In the end, most teams are like us. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes awful. QPR has pulled a few great games out if the bag this year, and every single team has played a shocker or two. That pretty much no team is satisfied with their squad says something – these things happen and everyone always think they can get better.
I hope they will for us, we really need it, but hey, you make mistakes when you play against decent players on a pitch in front of 60000 people. Just the way it is.
What makes Man Utd 21 points (and counting) better than us?
On the one hand, someone needs to sort that fucking defence out, because zico is right – we’re going to take a hammering if we keep playing like that. The Gibbs injury is obviously terrifying. And we turned in yet another first half shocker.
On the other hand, we seem to be clicking going forward. The HFB added further to his goals and assists stack. Theo grabbed yet again and looks like he will continue to cane them in all season (thank fuck he signed da ting). We improved after the break. And, quite importantly, Chelsea and Spurs look about as shambolic as we do.
Typical Arsenal this season.
Six points from the next two games are now essential.
COYG
No show again for most of the first half … and not enough bar about ten minutes in the second. Once again we had twice the attempts on goal for the same result. Frustrating.
They also had the run of the ball when it mattered … their second for example, it just had to run clear for the tap-in. If the same had happened for Giroud we could have had four. Not to criticise le garcon though … five goals in three games is it now? That’s Villa-esque and then some. We also saw the good and bad of Walcott. One thunderous goal and a couple of pathetic pokes when it would have been easier to slide to Giroud for a tap-in.
Points dropped by Totteringham and Chelski eased the pain a bit – how come we can never win when the gap is there to be narrowed? … urghhh – but Everton don’t oblige us. Please SOMEone buy Fellaini and Baines before tomorrow! Very nice if it were us, but I can’t see Everton committing 4th place suicide!
Oskar
Good evening, all.
I’m with, Homer, Nurse Abb, Toby and OxonGooner.
Goodnight, all.