Even Little Mickey Has Embraced The Dark Side
Feb 3rd, 2013 by 'holic
A match against Stoke. There are predictions that can be confidently made ahead of the match. High on the list is that you will see a terrible challenge by Shawcross. We can tick that box. What wouldn’t have been on there would be that you would see Michael Owen throw a punch at an opponent. Yes, little cherub Michael Owen. That is what happens to players when they play for Tony Pulis.
I had a perfect view of the middle-aged man in the baseball cap throughout, barking out instructions at his charges, slamming the back of one hand into the palm of the other as he urged his pack to snap into challenges. Nacho Monreal, welcome to the Premier League.
For over an hour we watched a potential stalemate unfolding. Stoke sent the ball long into Arsenal territory, defensively assured again we retrieved it and pushed forward, with what I can only describe as “a little bit handbrake”. Not for the first time the visiting ‘keeper was inspired. It is not hard to see why Begovic is attracting the attention of the bigger clubs.
That endless cycle was broken when Arsene introduced Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski with just over twenty minutes to go. Fresh legs lifted the tempo, and for the umpteenth time a cynical Wilkinson foul on Theo Walcott brought us a free-kick in Poldi territory. The German did the business, but it would take a touchline conference between hapless officials to confirm the validity of the strike.
Cue the introduction of three strikers, and a hitherto unseen sense of urgency from the visitors. Arteta, to be fair, initiated the Owen incident with a trip every bit as cynical as Wilkinson, but all around witnessed the exchange that followed except the aforementioned hapless officials. Temperatures were raised, but thankfully this time supporters were venting their displeasure outwards rather than on each other. We can be grateful to Stoke for that at least.
So three vital points were gained on a day when Chelsea and Everton faltered. The post mortem in good company back at the pub was an even more enjoyable affair for that. Two league fixtures remain in February. Win them and we might just be right back in the mix for third and fourth places.
350 Responses to “Even Little Mickey Has Embraced The Dark Side”
Tap-in for 1st?
Great post and photo btw, holic. Cheers
I thought the game was a really exciting end to end encounter, but I think the hip flask full of brandy had something to do with it.
I solid perfoprmance and 3 points against Stoke. I’ll take that every time.
I think if we beat Sunderland next week, we could well end up nicking 3rd.
That and the FA cup and a semi final spot in the CL wont be too shabby! 🙂
4th-champions league
That was a truly horrible game to watch – Stoke are a vile side.
I’m amazed that they have supporters who regularly pay money to watch that shite.
They were completely negative until they went a goal behind – they then brought on 3 big cloggers and reverted to type.
The boys fronted up well – and it was sweet that the cretinous Pulis felt aggrieved about a legitimate but lucky goal.
Wenger made a great after match comment on the Shawcross tackle:
‘It looked to me [like it should have been a red card] but I have to look at it again as I am maybe not completely objective when it comes to Ryan Shawcross”
Europa spot?
Another great write-up Holic, although I was hoping for a bit more vitriol on Shawc&nt and P*nis.
Ah well can’t have everything in life!
I’m just glad everything’s right with the world. The team that plays actual football won, cheats didn’t prosper, 1-0 to the Arsenal, P*nis whinged about the goal (no it was NOT offside you sad, strange little man) and they all did their job of reminding them that they are the dirtiest, nastiest side in christendom.
Who’da thought it? Even little Mickey Owen isn’t impervious to the tutelage of niggly, snidey, cheating football handed down by the cap-wearing chav!
Unfair on Arteta I think. I watched the highlights later and he clearly won the ball. Owen’s reaction was just rabid.
Motherfucking *boilk* from hell.
Don’t even remember going back ‘home’.
A very realistic appraisal of the match ‘holic. Good result….football 1 – anti-football nil. Interesting that the cap wearing Chav tries to justify their approach by complaining of the unlevel financial playing field.
Apparantly in the last 6 yrs transfer budget the Orcs gross spend plus £79 million, AFC gross spend minus £40 million – difference £120 million.
Quite an unlevel playing field eh you cretin!
Pick up max points in the next 2 potential winnable games and we are in the mix for 3rd place even. Onwards & upwards.
1-0 to the football team! Those last few minutes brought out a great atmosphere of unity at last.
And the team responded in kind. No panicky moment, no real fear of conceding an equaliser.
Keep it up, Gunners!
Envious. I would have enjoyed that post-mortem – but, Holic, we are already well and truely in the mix. 🙂 Here’s what was showing on TV.
It’s difficult to raise much enthusiasm for a visit by Pubis, Scyther Shawcross (who, as we all know by now, is not that kind of a boy) and the rest of the pubic hair brigade. The absence of Rory Delapidated and his mate the towel, really didn’t offset the sight of The MorDor Bus Company’s charabanc, being driven out onto the field and parked on the penalty spot, with the entry of the teams.
Stoke are akin to an irritating block in your plumbing system. Or a putrid lump that causes your bog to gurgle, burp, fart and overflow. A suppurating, seething mass of maggots that causes your septic tank to swirl and smell and soil your geranium patch, just when you’ve invited your mum round for lunch on a sunny Sunday and the sausages are simmering sumptuously on their skewers
Stoke’s mission is to frustrate and spoil your day, no matter what the occasion. Why, oh why, are we burdened with this talentless, heap of stone-dwellers, from underneath a potting stone, in the barren wilderness of the black country? Wolves, Blackpool, Brighton, Leeds – anyone really – just not Stoke – is what this League needs.
We were out of the blocks like good ‘uns. Walcott and Ox looked sharp down both wings. Ox fizzed an early one just past. Ollie G was winning early high balls and making good runs. Wilshere was a dynamo. Arteta was back. Diaby the imperious, the league’s best midfielder, was on a stroll and in 15 minutes was at the heart of a classic Arsenal move with Sagna before Giroud just failed to connect with his cross.
The game unfolded like most games against the bus-parking brigades do. Arsenal knocked the ball about. Stoke didn’t get much of the ball. Stoke never looked like scoring and despite several good chances for several of our front men, we failed to break through the line-out for a scrum down – hard as they “try-ed”
There was inevitability about the outcome. Arsenal were always going to score and win it. It was only a matter of time. That time came with the introduction of Santi and Poldi.
– A free kick.
– The Poldi hammer.
– A deflection. “Goal!”
– NO – lino’s flag up. Shawcross bleating like a stuck pig.
– Ref overturns lino. “One Nil To The Arsenal”
– Shawcross bleats and bubbles.
It’s very satisfying to see a bunch of bus parkers being un-bussed. It’s funny too, to then watch them scuttle as they then realise that they have no alternative bus route. Pubis jumped for joy when he held us to a draw at the start of the season. Arsene Wenger’s beam at the end of this one revealed an even higher level of satisfaction, which was much more justifiable.
Everyone played well. The back four looked solid. The mid-field was strong and creative, the attack was sharp and we saw that we have strength in depth despite the absence of Gibbs, TR7 and Gervinho. Nacho looked like another BRILLIANT Wenger buy in another very satisfying transfer window. I had the sense that an important piece of the jigsaw has just fallen into place.
Two weeks ago; Vinny to BtM “We’re 11 points off Chelsea, stop spouting, what do you say now?”
I say “Vinny, two weeks have passed, the gap to Chel$ki is now 5 points and closing and, one more time, just for you “Top Three, One Trophy, Ollie G 20 Granny Smiths” 🙂
Tim Stillman said it very well on Twitter: “Stoke push the ‘it’s a man’s game’ agenda, but nobody whinges about perceived ills more than they do.”
The epitome of double standards must have been last summer when Pubis complained about refs not protecting his players.
BtM – great post….
Morning Holic,
Yes “the German did the business”. And so did the other one yesterday – very good game from Mertesacker.
Camberwell,
It doesn’t carry the authority of the Guvnor, but I did loads of vitriol on Shawcross and Pulis in the last drinks, if you just want to read something nasty about them.
Pointless bunch of thugs.
Nice report ‘H, cheers for that. Glad a good time was had by all.
I was out in the sticks yesterday so couldn’t make it, but managed to finally track down a juicer that was showing it.
I thought we played well yesterday. Though not everything came off, I thought we were on it from the off, and were more than willing to match the Orcs on the physical side of things. Having laid down a marker that we were not to be bullied, and with Walcott a constant menace, we finally grew into the game on about the half hour mark, and goals could and perhaps should have come from the Ox (twice), Giroud and Kos before HT. One can only imagine that had the Ox taken one of his opportunities, it would have done wonders for both his own confidence and for the game itself.
Into the second half, and with Walcott’s threat diminished having been kicked from pillar to post by the comedy-faced Wilkinson, real chances were few and far between, despite the game being played almost exclusively in the Orc’s half.
All that said, and I’m probably being wise after the event here, but I always thought we’d breach the Twin Towers of Cuntdom, Huth and Shawcross, and that we’d nick a goal from somewhere.
Poldi and Santi changed the dynamic of the game, bringing some much needed forward thrust. The goal, when it came, contained an element of fortune, but (a) what was the linesman flagging for, when Theo was clearly nowhere near interfering? and (b) what on earth were the Orcs getting all hot and bothered about? Luckily justice was done.
And that was that really. Santi, through a mixture of skill and good fortune should really have added another, whilst at the other end there were none of the usual heart-stopping moments. Whether this was due to an improved defensive performance or a natural result of Stoke’s complete lack of ambition, I really couldn’t say. A bit of both perhaps.
Except that this being the Orcs, that was not that was it. I can’t get too hot under the collar about the whole Owen thing. Arteta’s tackle was hard and let’s say, committed, but he got the ball. Owen threw a rabbit punch that would have shamed Bugs Bunny, and then shat himself when hard man Jack arrived on the scene. Bravo Jack. Wears his heart on his sleeve that boy, and brings a feistiness to the party that this team has lacked for a long long time.
The Shawcross incident was another thing entirely. Most of us have played the game at some sort of level. Shawcross would have known at some point as he slid in that he was second-best. He also would have known that he could have either raised or pulled away his foot to avoid major contact. What does he do? Piles in without restraint with a challenge that wouldn’t have done anything for Kos’s extra curricular activities. He is a disgrace. Arsene stated afterwards that he had to be “cautious” , because he was not very “objective” when discussing Shawcross. Well Arsene, I’m not very objective either but I see no need to be cautious. The man is a bone-headed uber cunt. I really really hope somebody wrecks his career sometime soon. Not one single fuck would I give.
All that remained was a Tony Penis interview that was up there with the all time great comedy sketches. He started by saying that the Arsenal players must be castigated for influencing the officials to get the “right” decision!! What?!? You couldn’t make it up. The Orcs “deserved something” from the game. Again, you what?!? Finally and best of all, “I haven’t got a clue what offside is”. Penis, you haven’t got a clue about anything, so shut the fuck up you degree-nicking uber quim. He was seething, his midget Orc rage barely contained. Still laughing here Tone.
Oh and Tone, it’s Arsenal, not Airsenal. Remember the name, cos we all really really really hate you and all you stand for, you despicable little runt cunt.
A good day. Orcs sent back to their inbred slums with nowt, Chelsea and Everton slipping up.
Tottenham today. Let’s hope it’s as good. Boing! Boing!
Forgot to mention. Liked the new boy … a lot. Calm, tidy assured and in the second half showed glimpses that he will very good going forward.
ON A ROLL, TaBS! Good man, Boing, Boing!
I was rather ‘amused’ that Huth started the game with a rugby-style hair band.
Right back atcher BtM!
all due respect here, but arteta got the ball cleanly. he came through the back of owen on the momentum, but it wasn’t all that bad really.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/video-michael-owen-throws-a-punch-at-mikel-arteta-arsenal-1-stoke-0/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
TABS – excellent post…
Uber quim. Einen grosse cunt. Una coño grande. Heh!
Cheers West Upper.
Mighty fine anti-Orc rants from Lars and Trev in the last set of drinks! 🙂
Dr C 🙂
tabs, well spoken.
Ok massive shout outs:
Btm, fantastic summation and a joy to read.
Tabs and Trev, for sating my lust for hatred in its most unadulterated form, that which must be directed at that lumbering horde of stone age cunts.
“Not one single fuck would I give” – tabs, a man after my own heart. I never allow myself to wish injury on anyone, except Shawcross, he really, really deserves to be hurt.
Down the years I’ve come across various teams/people in football for whom there is no other response than “Cunts, pure and simple.” A self-evident, incontrovertible fact.
On my list: Bolton 5 years ago, Allardyce (for ever), Pardew (ditto) to name just a few. Pubis, Stoke and Shawcross top this lot by many orders of magnitude.
Holic, a sincere thank-you for the opportunity to opine from Auchterchoochty. I was heartened by the interest and informed commentary that was sparked. Both pieces were overly long – so for those who stayed with them to the end “very well done!”
I’d like to respond on a couple of points:
1) Nurse and Esso queried Manure’s financial health. Manure are indeed deeply indebted because of the Glazers. My point though, is that they are able to fund the Glazer debt AND buy players AND pay high wages because of their commercial excellence. The Glazers have poisoned United. Imagine how successful that club would be without Glazer greed – completely out of sight of everyone.
2) TaBS and N7 differed with me on the relative importance of Matchday and Commercial income. Take a look at the stats:
Team….Matchday….Broadcast….Commercial (Millions Pnds)
ManU…………109……………119……………..103
Arse…………….93………………85……………….46
(Delta)………(16)……………(34)…………….(57)
%……………..17……………….41……………..123
• Arsenal competes best on Matchday but Manure still extracts 16M a year MORE from their paying public. There is NO upside here for Arsenal as “Us fans” are already screaming for a price-cut (and less competitiveness with Manure in this area – we want to win but not compete :-)).
• Higher success on the field rewards Manure with 34M more Broadcast income.
• Commercial – Arsenal sucks. Manure do 123% better. That is the heart of their financial strength. It’s why The Skunk is playing for them, not for us. With superb commercial acumen, we could play with many fewer paying customers and still win the CL (Computer generated crowd and noise to compensate for TV).
3) H2H picked up on brand strength, referenced more ManU shirts than Arsenal in Malaysia and attributed that to Manure winning more and capitalizing. Two points here:
i) Then why didn’t our commercial wizards exploit the success of The Invincibles? No excuse for that failure.
ii) I saw more Coca-Cola than Pepsi shirts when I lived in Singapore. Both drinks are 95% water, 5% sugar – so “equivalent performance”. Coke’s excellent commercial skills have made the Coca-Cola brand THE most valuable brand on the planet. I know Arsenal can do MUCH better.
4) NO – I don’t want Arsenal to fail to qualify for the CL (FACT!). The Europa is positioned by most as dusty death. If Arsenal don’t beat Bayern they will exit and earn 20M this year. IF they have to play in Europa next year, they can win it and earn 15M. Their commercial men will be able to leverage the Europa win to build brand voltage and sponsorship growth by at least 10M for a 25M return. Is that really dusty death?
5) Nurse and TaBS – “Jack will not be moved by money”. If, in 5 years time, it’s status quo with Citeh offering 100k pw more than Arsenal plus a signing on bonus, I fear that even loyal Jack will move. Big money talks big. The good news? The solution is completely in Arsenal’s hands. It’s called commercial success.
6) Most satisfying of all is dave, dave’s nascent interest in highland dancing, highland dancing. Take to the sword dance, sword dance, highland laddie, highland laddie. But be careful not to cut off your foot, foot or you’ll have nothing, nothing to put in your mouth, mouth every time you open it, open it.
Enough. I’m awa’ doon tae the Boars Head for a bevvy 🙂
BtM…..I did read both of yr massive scribes and live to tell the tale!
Your further rendition above puts it all into a nutshell..very well done sir.
Are ye off to drown yr sorrows at another beating from the auld enemy yesterday….have a wee dram or 2 of some Bruiladdich to get ye on the way. Slainthe.
Thanks, Uply.
I have to admit that, as my passion for all things red and white has blossomed, so my interest in egg chasing has declined a little. There was a time when a result like yesterday’s at Twickenham would have laid me low for a week. I now leave that agony to my brother-in-law in Auchterchoochty. He does enough suffering for the entire nation, poor fellow.
Tabs 16 excellent….very enjoyable reading. As a representative of the meejah 😉 you appear to be a lone voice in telling it as it really is re
A Pubis & The Orcs. Normally your colleagues on the Daily Phail like to give straight. Shurely they are not xenophobic 😉
The game–I hate watching Stoke play. They are without any doubt the most unattractive side in the Premier League. Last season I saw a very similar XI from there outplayed for most of the first half by Gillingham of Division Two. Ultimately Gillingham could not handle them physically. Fortunately we could but there is an increased risk of serious injury with Stoke. The Shawcross tackle was not shown on MOTD for whom Pubis is a highly quotable guy muddling through on a tiny budget. Actually in terms of transfer fees they have outspent us by £120 million since he has been there (which also says something about Wenger too). This is partly because they hardly ever sell a player on. Once Pubis has got you,you are ruined if you are an outfield player. Only Begovic would attract much of a transfer fee and he was very impressive.
Monreal made a very satisfactory debut keeping it simple and advancing more in the second half as he adjusted to the team style. Some people have gone overboard about his debut but given the whirl his head must have been in he did very well. And of course it was Stoke on a very chilly February afternoon. Our tempo improved markedly when Diaby went off. He slowed our approach work down by taking too many touches and moving slowly with the ball. This was meat and drink to the Orcs but when Santi came on he seemed to encourage us to play about 20% faster. I also thought Giroud worked very hard and made great runs. I still feel he isn’t good enough to have a free run at the striker role but he is a viable squad option who is settling in as the season goes on.All of ou rsignings are clocking up very high points in the Fantasy leagues which underlines their attacking contribution. I also liked Koscielny’s performance. I like the BFG but Stoke are made for him. He might really struggle against Barca!
Re the revenue I think Btm has it exactly right about the area where United kill us. Ivan and his expensively assembled team need to shape up in the commercial area. This might mean more foreign tours and even the odd Asian rather than European signing but we need to elevate Arsenal to one of the biggest football brands in the world. I’ve never felt PHW has had this sort of ambition and if we follow the sustainable model this is the only way we can compete at the level Arsenal need to. Better deals follow from the creation of bigger brands and although this might be at odds with how we would ideally like to see the club evolve I believe the majority of supporters prefer this to us being the plaything of an oligarch. Personally I hate the detachment of Kroenke and would prefer a majority owner with huge passion for the club flowing through his veins but que sera.
0-0 at half time at the Hawthorns. WBA are quite shit, they are trying to play long balls on Lukaku who is about as mobile as a tree. A traffic cone would probably outrun him on a through ball. Defoe has been carried off the pitch with a foot injury. That’s about all that has happened, but unless WBA get their act together then I am afraid Tottenham are going to win this eventually.
On a completely unrelated but slightly funny note:
Hartlepool won 2-1 yesterday, their goals were scored by players named Hartley and Poole 🙂
BtM, yr brother in law must have a deeper brow than an oil sheiks pocket. At least he is in the land of golden nectar to assist him recover.
Rugby and football..quite a difference in approach. Many years ago, my kids school master played the oval ball game for the local club. He decided to join the next towns club which played in a higher division. However the local team were on the way up, were promoted and met the rival team at their ground a few weeks into the season. The school master arrived in school the following day with a badly battered face – it appears he had an unfortunate accident along the corridor of their club house after the game.
Correlation to football, Our Dutch skunk absconds to Old Toilet and when the teams meet, our cuddly maverick swaps shirts on the pitch at half time. Nuff said.
Holic.
A quick thank you for your twitter recommendation of quiet storm by smokey Robinson last week.
Now firmly established as Sunday afternoon listening as I roast the bird
🙂
Red card for West Brom in the second minute of the second half, Goran Popov spits at Kyle Walker and is rightly sent off with a straight red. What an idiot, that’s game over then.
Never thought I would read about Arsenal being compared to Pepsi Cola on here. 😉
My personal preferences are Arsenal and Coca Cola, but neither preference was arrived at through aggressive marketing. Taste’s the thing in both cases. 🙂
Enjoyed that ThunderT, although I felt a bit more positive on Diaby than you reflected. Kroenke does himself no favours from a PR point of view. His, Mr Reliable, “hands off” approach is, for me, infinitely preferable to that of the Glazers. More evidence of passion for the club would raise his stock considerably. Getting the right balance between financial support and interference isn’t easy
Particularly enjoyed your thinking on brand. Brand is something that the Boars Head regulars like to chew the fat over while they swallow down their daily liquid diet in Auchterchoochty. I’ll try to find time to pen some thoughts on their views.
ttg: “Ivan and his expensively assembled team need to shape up in the commercial area.”
I have so far given them the benefit of doubt because it does take some time to get things going, but they need to start producing results quite soon regardless.
Bt8 – so “The Real Thing” had no influence on your interest in trying Coke? Really? Come on, be honest 🙂
Can you tell me, without Googling, what the Pepsi tag line is?
BtM. Let me think. Maybe it’s “We’re not as responsible for the diabetes epidemic as Coke is”? 😉
Btm–I shall devour it with interest!! I can understand some regulars being turned off by all this marketing stuff but it lies at the heart of the challenge that all businesses face-fottball as a globally televised and glamourous one even more so.
And totally agree about Kroenke,. coming to see us more often would be a start.
Well, it had to happen – 1-0 to the cunts.
Not watching that anymore, then. Fuck you, West Brom.
Played ‘h. 3 points and a dirty job done.
Onwards etc.
(Shizer, they’ve jus’ chimped one in – it’s gonna be some tussle to get champs league, but AW’s got a pretty good record on that front i believe.)
UReDS!
Ah, Ivory Coast-Nigeria on Eurosport – a much better choice than watching WBA embarrassing themselves against the LWC’s.
Just watched the LWC’s. On the downside, that was a good 3 points from a potentially tricky fixture. On the upside, the game pretty much ended as a contest with the sending off, and the outstanding Bale aside, I thought they were pretty ordinary until they scored. With Defoe seemingly injured, that might leave them pretty short up front for the next few weeks.
Lars – Cheers for the kind ones.
Camberwell – Pleased to have made a contribution to your efforts to “sate your hate”. 🙂
We are completely of one mind in the Rothmans Isthmian Cuntstakes League. Pulis, Alladyce, and Pardew in that order. Phil Brown and Neil Warnock would obviously give them a run for their money if they were still in the Premiership. On the playing side, Shawcross’s only competition is Joey Barton.
TTG – Good stuff.
Ups – Cheers and heh 🙂 My colleagues in the medja are UBER xenophobes! 😉
BtM, in the past I have also referenced the fact that our marketing team failed to capitalize on the success of the Invincibles. At that time, the demand for Arsenal in a commercial scale was immense, but the marketing team was stagnant in its approach to satisfy said demand.
To prove my point, it is evident that even now, 9 long years after the Invincibles, the residues of our past glories can still be seen through the relatively massive global support for the Arsenal. The only regret is that we failed to cash in on our footballing success and translate it to commercial revenues when we were at the top of our game. Now we are essentially playing catch up both in footballing and commercial terms to Manure, and heavens forbid Chelski.
Regarding CL/EL football next season, it is telling that going out against Bayern earns us 20M, and winning the EL gets us 15M. I’d take CL football any day, especially as there are no guarantees that we would win the EL of we ever drop out of the top 4, or even if we finish 3rd in the CL group stage. What is for certain is that our PL performances will suffer from having to play Thursday night football.
Having said all that, I think we still have a great chance of finishing inside the top 4. Nacho is a very clever buy and will strengthen our defensive options and reliability immensely. On the other hand, all of Chelsea, Everton and Spurs also finished the window with some frustration. It goes without saying that to finish above them, we need to win our big games – including our home tie with Everton and our away tie at Shite Lane. A win at home against Manure and the Dutch Cunt will also go a long way to help us achieve our top 4 trophy and help us maximise our potential commercial revenue.
Plus I really want to beat the Dutch Judas, and especially so when he’s wearing that despicable Redscum jersey.
BtM @27,
2) Don’t disagree that the figures always show that Commercial/TV money are more lucrative. Just think that Gate money is the most important, simply because the other two will only follow if the Club is playing to packed houses with a successful side. That is why it is so important that the Club makes every effort to look after it’s paying customers. Don’t forget that in any comparison with ManUre, they have 10,000 more people through the gate every home game.
4) Yes. The Ropey League really IS a dusty death!
5) You’re probably right. I know we’ve been burnt before, but Jack strikes me as “Proper Arsenal” so I’m staying on the sunny side on this one. I think Arsenal being competitive on the pitch will ultimately prove more important than the size of his wage packet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9dGTsA5gTQ
6) And a massive heh! 🙂
And @39 is it …
“Slightly shittier than Coke”? Haven’t googled it, honest 😉
Cheers for that mate. Sounds like a good time was had by all.
Great report Tabs,
I can never remember the chronology of the whole thing. For one thing, too many effing tourists arriving late and leaving early past your lune of vision.
Two fellas yesterday got up to leave with 8 minutes to go and then decided they would stop to watch a bit more of the action as my neighbour and I stood up to get out of their way. As they were completely blocking our view, neighbour and I helped them on their way with a friendly nudge, at which one of them fired out in a very strong Glaswegian accent:
“Poosh me again fella an’ I’ll throw you right through those seats!”.
So, who was asking about fan infighting ? 😉
Ttg, and others,
It would appear that Gazidis and team need to bring more in terms of commercial deals, although I have no idea what they may already have in the pipeline, but their job will be much easier the higher our profile is.
And we all know what that means ……
Great stuff BtM, tabs.
This place is the best.
Thats all I got. 🙂
Lune = line. 🙁
One question before I fuck off. Does anybody see any of the Glazers as having a ‘huge passion for the club flowing through their veins’? Or what? Huge passion for making money, where their (united’s) already well established position in the market, makes the ability to make money like shooting fish in a fucking barrell. Still reckon they really love it, so much so that they extract far more than necessary to just meet debt repayments. Hating Kronke changes nothing about the current situatuion. It is in fact a serious distraction, which is being used by many for various reasons.
Pepsi – Marketing ?
Pepsi actually ruined the career of a prospective pontiff, namely the Archbishop Sicola.
The powers that be in the Vatican decided he would never be taken seriously as Pope Sicola. 😉
Esso knows@53.
Derrick
Great point about the failure to capitalise on the Invincible season. I think the Board were preoccupied with the stadium move then but it cost us dearly and was a big missed opportunity. Arsenal are huge in Asia and South Africa and I noticed the global interest back in the 90s when I met some little South African Gooners playing on the Johannesburg version of Hackney Marshes. Even then they got live football every Saturday afternoon on top of what we had. So the marketing potential was ripe. Scandinavia has been awash with Goonerdom for years ever since the days of DB10 and even before . I remember having a conversation with a non- English speaking taxi driver in Reykjavik composed entirely of gestures and whoops of pleasure whenever I mentioned anyone in the team. When I got to the hotel our latest game was being repeated on a Tuesday afternoon!
Iceland won’t make us rich but China,India and America could and as a man with MLS experience I expect Gazidis to give us an edge in the market. But we made need the odd glamour signing to fuel excitement. Bergkamp and Henry were examples of why we were so followed throughout the world. Maybe Edison Cavani might pay for himself ?
OG no more than a squad player. Wow, this is a tough room today!
I cannot agree and hope OG’s prolific record continues and convinces otherwise. Im still with BtM: OG nets 20.
Cheers.
Reading comments today from Pulis complaining about the number of Arsenal players that surrounded the linesman at his WRONG Decision to try to disallow our goal.
I commented in the previous drinks on Pulis and his protection squad charging mob-handed off the bench to harrass the fourth official every time any decision did not go their way.
Blind, utterly ridiculous hypocrisy.
There must be a stone somewhere with enough room under it for Pulis.
But he might have to take that stupid hat off.
Esso
I reserve the right to want my club owned by someone who cares for it preferably like most of us here do. Sorry about that.
Btm pointed out correctly that the Glazers have a cynical approach to running a club which Kroenke doesn’t seem to have . Personally and it pains me deeply to say this I think SAF is performing much better than Wenger in terms of managing the club and he is the person ( with Gill) who is making United so successful.
Arsene is not exempted from upping his game as much as Gazidis has to.
Liverpool are 2-1 up at Middle Eastlands. City are crap. How Roberto Mancini manages to get so little out of so many good players is a bit of a mystery.
Oh, goal by Aguero and it’s 2-2 totally against the run of play! Out of absolutely nothing he if gifted an empty net by Reina from a very acute angle but he manages to find the net!
Lars,
Mancini spent some f*cking money, lost 400M to but the league last year and now has a very lackluster squad who won’t win anything this year.
Giroud is doing well but Id love to see us getting another striker who can give us even more threat in front of goal.Every team needs four goalscorers in the squad and we have three,two who play out wide more comfortably.
I like OG’s attitude but I still remember the frustration when he missed that early chance against Chelsea. You know who would have buried that. If we aspire to the top we need greater strength in depth than we currently have. I don’t think Benik Afobe currently cuts it as the fourth striker
ttg, even he missed and misses chances. It’s easy to think that he would have buried every missed opportunity but in fact his conversion rate is relatively average as top strikers go. He scores shitloads but also misses quite a few.
Thunder, I echo your thoughts regarding our striking options. On Afobe, let’s just say I would be oh so delighted if he can prove to be a handy 4th striker.
Having watched him live during preseason in HongKong, I was very impressed with his movement and touch. However his finishing really let him down, hitting the post when presented with a sitter and slotting another just wide. Nevertheless he looked fit, hungry and dangerous. I hope AW gives him a chance this season, and I hope Afobe surprises everyone. He won’t be playing in unfamiliar territory after all, having shared the pitch with Jack, Jenks and Theo numerous times before.
Good point Lars. What I’ve noticed is that our service to you know who was really good. We knew what runs he’d be making and vice versa. With Giroud, however, our players are still on the learning curve. Every game our wide players have plenty of crossing opportunities, but not too many of them reached Giroud.
So bottomline is that, with better service from our players (almost a given as they become more accustomed to one another), the chances, and ultimately goals will flow from Giroud. At least I’d like to think so.
Derrick: I too liked what I saw of Afobe in pre-season and as a young striker, the most difficult bit to learn is to pop up in the right places so I would not give up hope on him just yet but his total failure to impress at Bolton apart from the first few games is a major worry.
What Lars said at 63
I watched Ryo Miyaichi’s game at Bolton very closely last season, and it was almost a shame that he did not get to play with players of more quality. With his pace and trickery, Ryo lit up a few games, though, and earned some good reviews.
Regarding Afobe at Bolton, I’m in no position to judge as I can’t see him in the Championships. However, the fact that Owen Coyle got sacked must’ve meant the team wasn’t playing too well. And lots of strikers will struggle in such teams, nevermind young ones.
One last point, I don’t know if anyone shares this opinion, but Ricky Lambert continues to impress me time and again. His goalscoring record has always been prolific, and he’s shown this season that he will pop in at the right areas and score. He is technically pretty adept and can contribute with assists as well. His wage demand wouldn’t be a problem too I presume…
Sorry TTg, you’re being way too critical of Giroud. Every striker misses chances mate! However, I’ve been waiting for us to sign another top striker since last summer and still am. But the windows shut now, so I’m putting any angst related to that on hold!
Dzeko’s been on my fantasy manager wish list since he was at Wolfsburg and it appears City won’t rid in the summer.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-v-stoke-city-choose-your-motm?
Very surprise that Kos only has 3% of the votes.
Hey all! Great, succinct write up Holic, cheers. I always felt we would take the points, the boys looked up for it yesterday, although I predicted that it would be Poldi in place of Ox to finish it off- he needs more playing time I gather to get back on form (Ox that is).
Sorry to quote another blogger, Holic, but this from Arse 2 Mouse had me cracking up: “They don’t seem quite as relentlesly hoofy as before. I think on one occasion they even rolled the ball out from the back. What next: discovering fire? Worrying.”
Their self-embrace of cuntdom defies my imagination over and over. But we looked well and truly up for it.
As per financing and marketing of the ‘brand’, I’ve always felt the analysis of ‘Top 4’ as primary investment strategy to be somewhat shortsighted. As Derrick and others alluded to, the Invincibles brought a massive amount of new fans to the club, and while many will be fair-weather, it is true that our competitive edge rests on the attractive, successful, beautiful game football club defined by that era of Arsenal. Arsene deserves massive massive credit for introducing that success and opportunity, I believe. The fact that we then quibbled over 2-5 million here (Xavi Alonso bids come to mind) or other further investment to keep us well and truly challenging for 1st place each year was immensely frustrating (stating the obvious here I know).
We toss out 6, 7, 8 years since winning anything, but I know 2008 we were powerful until the Eduardo injury, and while the demise that spring was hard to stomach, I felt for the likely psychological impact of the witness (I am a trauma psychologist, so I may be overly sympathetic here). After that, each year we looked 1, 2 signings away but leaned on Cesc and then RVP to carry us into the safety of the top 4, all the while letting the beautiful game slip past us, as well as trophy challenges. My point is (sorry for the ramble), that the power of the Club’s name rested on reputation- both as a ‘top, top’ side (hehe) and beautiful football, and investing more in small amounts with a player or two SURELY would have reaped the financial benefits of sustained and increased fan base, pushing further in the CL, better bargaining position with other new players, etc. I just think that investment would have made more sense FINANCIALLY, even though we were somewhat working with tied-hands due to the stadium shift. By focusing on the hard numbers (top 4 earns X revenue), I think they missed the financial benefits (let alone the footballing ones) of sufficient doses of investment (not Messis, Wenger, but a decent keeper 4 years ago itself would have one us trophies almost guaranteed).
With that said, if the current side can find a bit of consistency, I will find it easy to get behind them regardless of our final result at the end of the year. Why? Because they’re starting to show passion, and they’re starting to show some beautiful play. To me (and I may be a minority), that is more rewarding for me as an Arsenal fan than the trophy cabinet, though I miss the fuck out of Viera lifting ’em.
Over and out. Drink on me if anyone read this bumble.
After reading a lot of criticism of him over the past couple of weeks, there’s been hardly any mention of Bacary Sagna since kick-off yesterday. A welcome return to dependable anonymity or his critics becoming bored with constant repetition? Please can someone who saw more than the brief clip on MOTD enlighten me?
Many thanks.
COYG
Good bumble PtK. I’ll have something from a Glen please.
Oxon, he had a rather good game – still couldn’t get any crosses past the first man, though.
Cheers iBtM. As you wish. I’m still drinking coffee here in Caleefornighya.
Thanks Lars. can’t argue with him getting the defensive side of his game sorted out first. With luck, the crossing will come back soon.
On interesting football news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-21314212
“The group was struck by the similarities between the claret and amber colours of Bradford City and the traditional robes of Tibetan Buddhist monks.
The group managed to present him with a personalised number 14 club shirt – he is the 14th Dalai Lama – and also appointed the spiritual leader as its honorary president.
Mr Neale said: “We thought we’d never hear another thing.”
But he has now received the letter from the Office of Tibet sending good wishes to the team.” 🙂
From personal experience, the community of exiled Tibetans in the Himalayan foothills are genuinely football crazy.
Oxon @ 72: Sagna was defensively strong and supported Theo well going forward. His crosses continue to be poor but the main reason for that I think is the drop in speed post injury. He was never a very good crosser with defenders between him and the opposition box but previously he used to easily outpace the opposition flank and can deliver crosses unimpeded whereas now he always needs to beat an opposition player.
Sagna’s greatest strengths were always the stamina to relentlessly drive up and down the flank with pace, tackling and positional awareness on both ends of the pitch.
Faustus ,were your memories anything like this recent article by the excellent Johnathon Wilson in The Guardian?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jan/25/football-monks-escape-to-victory
Oxon
Sagna had his best game for some time yesterday. He dealt well with Etherington although the fact that the Stoke man had very little service from midfield helped. He looked to get forward regularly and played in a very advanced position in the second half. One swallow doesn’t make a summer but I think we often underestimate how serious his two injuries have been. There is a presumption from some fans that he is on his bike next season but I hope he can recapture his best form and stay with us. At his best he is the best right- back in the League
For those who are not yet convinced by Giroud: he has 14 goals and 12 assists in first half of his first season in English football, despite playing second fiddle to Theo and before that Gervinho for a good number of matches.
If someone expected him to be RVP version 2, then the problem is with the expectation. And in any case RVP at similar stage in his career was not quite the unplayable, unbreakable player he eventually became. He had all the promise, but he was not there. Even as late as the start of the 2011-2012 season there were divided opinions about whether RVP can be as effective leading the line by himself vis-a-vis playing a number 10 role.
Giroud is an out and out central striker, strong, skillful, with great attitude, presence and a goalscorer’s intelligence. And most interestingly, he has shown to be rather good at the intricate combination play we thrive upon. There is a template for a striker like him who dominated the PL in recent history. I am optimistic that Giroud would have the kind of influence & success that Drogba had (without the cynical theatrics, of course, but Giroud seems to possess his own thespian ambitions as well … ) .
Comparison with Drogba is a valid one imo Faustus. Giroud having a much more effective first season in English football than Drogba “enjoyed”.
For all that, I think we need another forward in the Summer. Jovetic please Arsene.
Cheers Trev. Bloody Scots eh! 🙂
Thanks Pa.
Hmm, Burkina just scored in the 105th minute, looks like Adebayor may be coming back this week.
I feel I’m going to have an asbolutely terrible headache tomorrow: delayed hangover, I can feel it already.
absolutely even
washed up: Thank you, that was a lovely read.
Well, I grew up in India and I spent many a vacations in the various Himalayan towns and outposts — some touristy and some not so — and for one reason or another in a few of those places I got acquainted with local expatriate Tibetan communities, monks as well as lay folks. Football and basketball are the most followed sports in those communities, but the passion for Football was really something to experience.
I fully empathize with the strife and struggle faced by an entire nation displaced and dispossessed, but being wary of easy metaphors I leave the passion for Sports to Sports itself.
Dr F & TTG: Thanks for the notes above on Sagna.
Ollie, I rather like the idea of an asbolutely terrible hangover. It would, presumably, be brought on by doing something even naughtier than drinking.
Heh Oxon
Thunger, Ollie and Dr. F.
Thoughts on Sagna – very much on the spot.
Sagna is my favorite player. I watch his situation closely and I find nothing to comment back on there.
Coroporal Jenks I generally have big respect for and I look forward to rooting for him for many years to come. But my boy Bacary is still the man.
One of my favorite memories of the is season (aside from the tonking we gave spurs) was the game vs. United. In the tunnel. The Dutch Dbag at his schmarmy and cheesy worst – went to hug Bac. Bac didn’t move a muscle and the look on his face was – DONT TOUCH ME Fuckhead. Priceless! Bac has a spine.
Alright! . . . Drinks on the bar. Charge my tab. Onward and upward!
Right. “Typo” is my middle name.
OR it might’ve been that 4th glass of rioja.
Err….
Said my piece in the last drinks, but a couple of extras. The Shawcross assault on Kos had me wincing. Frankly I’d rather have my leg broken than have had that one connect fully. I hope Kos isn’t trying for kids chez il. I also fervently hope the incident gets reviewed and Shawcrossed out for … hmmm … ten matches would be about right.
As for Owen’s backhand flap at Arteta – handbags immediately sorted between the two like lovers after a tiff please note – I was holding my breath when Jack came rushing in like a hero. Anyone but mild-mannered, mini Mick and it could have ended nastily with headbutts, red cards all round and Jack out for the next three matches. I hope AW gets in his ear and also alerts senior players to watch him in future. We cannot afford to lose him to such stupidity.
Oskar
I must admit to a quiet chuckle at the ‘ Schoolboy’s’ moaning and whining to the Officials every time one of TP’s thug’s kicked him up in the air.
I don’t know why he thinks he should be a protected species.
If you have pace and skill and your opponent’s possess neither,they are not going to say,’ After you Claude’, they are going to kick you from pillar to post on and off the ball.
Instead of squealing,you just dust yourself off and get on with it.
Nothing delights a thuggish defender more,than to see an opponent whining and moaning after being upended.
It means they are getting under your skin,and you are concentrating more on the next ‘ attack ‘ rather than focusing on your job.
Up until the 78th minute,dear old TP would have been very happy with the way they had kept us at arms length,because in truth we hadn’t really created much of note up till then.
In games like these,when one team has no other ambition than to put 10 men behind the ball at every opportunity,the ‘ early ‘ goal is always crucial.
We had that one clear cut chance with the OX,but instead of ‘passing’
the ball along the floor into the corner of the net a la Arshavin against Barca,he chose to curl it at waist height,making it a comfortable save for the keeper.
I thought their keeper made a couple of other decent saves,but not to the extent that he seems to have earned rave reviews for keeping them in the game.
This was not really a game to assess our defense,because they never had much to contend with,but i did note the calming influence of Arteta,sitting in front of them.
Such a shame he misssed those 3 crucial league games against
City/Chelski and Liverpool.
Cannot really assess our new left back defensively,as every time i looked,he seemd to be in the opposition half of the field.!!
Perhaps a better test awaits in the North East next w/end.
On a seperate note,i have to comment on the diff reactions of our 2 goalscorers in the Liverpool game in midweek.
When Ollie gave us a lifeline back into the match with our first goal,he was like a wild thing,no time for celebrations,get back to the centre circle,let’s get at these fuckers again.!!
Contrast that with the schoolboys equaliser,where he ran off behind the goal prancing and preening saying ,’ Look at me aren’t i clever ‘.
Then doing some daft little dance a la Adebayor,only to look up and see that virtually all the rest of his team mates are already back in the Centre circle waiting to kick off and get at them again.!!
Now he has signed a new 5 yr deal and thinks he is the dogs bollocks,
I hope he doesn’t get ideas above his station and think that the team needs him,more than he needs them.
Cheers
The Sweeper.
Regarding strikers:
Gerv back soon hopefully as IC went out again.
Afobe not doing well at Bolton – maybe he’d be better off with us – still not prepared to write with off.
Just watched Joel Campbell playing for Betis. Looks competent without being anything special. Some nice touches and strong on the ball. He was played wide left with Ruben Costa (who looked bloody useless) the central striker. Joel set him up for a good chance with a header but he completely failed to get the ball under control. (What’s the feet equivalent of “butter fingers”?)
Incidentally, same game featured Adrian Lopez (rumours about him) for Atletico – largely anonymous I thought before being substituted, but I wasn’t watching him specifically.
Akpom still too young.
So yes, I would say we need someone new in the summer – Lewandowski looks useful, but I guess AW has his eyes on someone no-one will have heard of.
Heh Sweeper,
If anyone knows about thuggish defenders…. 😉
Yes, interesting about Theo’s celebration. I thought it should be much better than that for £100,000 per week !!! 😉
MotD2:
Alan “Amnesia Man” Shearer on Popov spitting at Walker:
“I hope the FA give him a 6 week ban rather than a 3 week ban …. It!s disgusting and there’s no place for it”.
This from the man who threatened the FA that he would not play for England if they suspended him for stamping on Neil Lennon’s head.
And he said it all with a straight face.
LOL Trev
Butter wouldnt’t melt and all that.!!
On the subject of thuggish behavior,
Dear old Vinny Jones is on record as saying that he and his pals at Wimbledon spent the first 15 minutes of every game,
Kicking the opposition,up hill and down dale,on and off the ball,
and he said if they were still coming back for more after that,then he knew the Don’s were in for a game,but he said many’s the time they picked up cheap points because the oppositon didn’t want to know.
I remember a game we played at Plough Lane,where it was like a
war zone at one stage,both Bouldy and i think Adams had head cuts bandaged up,and you could hear the thud of the players colliding even on the other side of the pitch.!!
it certainly wasn’t a game for the faint hearted.!!
We might have nicked a win that day i think,but we certainly earned it,and had the lumps and bumps to prove it.
Assist Olliesque.
Bang !!!
Well in Trev! I guess Wind didn’t see my message on twitter.
Thankyou Cent,
My second legal goal. 😉
Hold on, the lino’s flag is up for serious foul play @98 ……….
Goal stands. 😉
Cent, are you assisting Wind via the back door ?!
Wolfie … !!! 😉
You know the feeling that you know you’re right but everybody thinks you’re wrong?
I’m having one right now, and boy is it frustrating.
(For anybody that’s interested, it’s about a full-on rant on my facebook)
Sigh. People are just stupid.
And to anybody that doesn’t have me, just look for Snir Geuli. I’m the only one in the world.
Clive@94: £100,000 a week buys you a lot of airs and graces.
Comment #8 was on the money. Arteta was swift and decisive, but clean and fair. Nothing cynical when the ball is won and no harm is done to the man. Not sure what got into Owen’s head.
Clive@98: never a bad time to remember Vinny getting to grips with Gazza…
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/30/article-1175846-00C39DBF00000190-609_306x423.jpg
Also I think Arsenal went for it (i.e. didn’t play with the handbrake) evidenced in particular by Walcott’s direct running and several clear cut chances created. But Stoke played to break. It’s tough to play high tempo when there’s 10 opposition players surrounding the 18 yard box. If you care compare this performance to when Arsenal played Stoke at the beginning of the season — this was MUCH better. Arsenal’s offense has definitely improved.
Another small point … It’s reassuring (as far as this pedant is concerned anyway) to hear commentators pronouncing Santi’s name correctly … Cathorla. Please note anyone unaware of Iberian niceties.
Oskar
Kinda worried about next week’s fixtures.
Not confident about Sunderland away
Pretty sure Chelsea will Wigan.
Everton and Spurs might lose points to Man U and Newcastle respectively.
But the three points we clawed back on Chelsea might be lost next week.
We HAVE to beat Sunderland and then Villa at home because then we have the NLD at white hart lane and Everton at home.
Snir
You have every right to be worried about Sunderland away.
With a lot of our players away on Int’ll friendly duty this week,we could be an accident waiting to happen.
I guess we will see what if any ‘mental fortitude ‘ we turn up with at the Stadium Of Light.
Will be a very big confidence booster if we come away with the 3 pts.
Well normally on .com there is a listing of the forthcoming weeks international matches featuring AFC players,but nowhere to be found yet so I’ve had a look myself .The english boys are at Wembley on Wednesday and U21’s play at home somewhere,the spaniards play at home to Uraguay,the germans and french play each other in France,Wales at home to Austria,Belgium at home to Slovakia,and Poland in Eire.The most far flung fixtures are Russia in Iceland and Czech republics in Turkey.Full lists here http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fixtures/8675469.stm
So basically no awkward journeys and hopefully not too many 90 minutes on the pitch .Also it’s only friendlies so they should all be back for Thursday afternoon not too jaded.
Also with Theo ,OG and Poldi firing on all cylinders I don’t feel we will have the same problems encountered early season against MON’s team.
I’ll say it here, as well as anywhere else. The latest Gooner editorial is an absolute fucking disgrace. A tissue of lies and unsubstantiated rumour presented as fact, solely to pursue a blatant ‘Wenger Out’ agenda. And this in a month when the club faces some crucial fixtures in the pursuit of trophies, and is in need of a united, committed support more than ever. Why cant they leave such crap until the end of the season, however much it is their right to peddle such diversive bollox? Because, although they wont admitt it publically, they are now fully signed up to the, ‘hope Arsenal lose as it means Wenger will get sacked’, faction. Wankers.
@TTG. I would also love an owner who has a genuine passion for the club. What I asked was do you genuniely believe that the Glazers have said passion for United? Sorry, but you did n’t really answer that.
Trev @ 103, I tried to assist Wind through the back door but the young sod didn’t come through as he was busy commenting on the Superb Owl.
Yo Cent. Great assist. And I think your boys will win the ACN now, surely! 😉
Well in Trev!
And a lot of good points from the Sweeper.
And Essssssssssssssso (I’ve not bothered reading the Gooner for a while, and I’m certainly not about to start again).
Cheers Ollie.
Bought the Gooner for the first time in ages, just to read Holic’s interview.
It will be the last one for ages to come.
http://www.7amkickoff.com/2013/tony-pulis-campaign-to-discredit-the-officials-paying-dividends/
As linked on today’s arseblog, interesting read.
Also, the FA rules are really stupid. Both Whelan and now Shawcross would face bans in France.
nacho nacho nacho man …
Seems to have a ring to it. 🙂
Re: OTD @ 110. I think it’s more complex with Santi’s name than you are saying, but I have understood that the man himself requested being referred to as Cassorla. Let the disagreements rage.
8ball, I am sure Dr C can correct us here, but isn’t the “s” versus “th” a Spanish versus Catalan thing?
Good write up as always, pleased to get the 3 points against the Orcs. Nacho looked steady on his debut, players rested on the bench for a while, can’t complain.
If any of you fine gentlemen in this fine establishment know of a spare for Bayern away I would be eternally grateful but have a feeling they might be like rocking horse manure.
Afternoon gents,
Austrian. Good luck with your quest. So many fellas I know have the flights and accomodation booked for Munich, but are hunting high and low for tickets.
Afternoon All
A very quick back slurp has made me feel the need to acknowledge some good drinks, for different reasons, from…
Trev @ #97 -> Shearer, NEVER liked him.
The Sweeper @ #94 -> Great point re: how much we missed Arteta in the big games.
Esso @ #114 -> Sad but true re: WOB agenda and there’s no way (IMO) The Glazers are true Manure fans although that’s a good thing to say about any human being isn’t it?
Drinks on the bar fellas (OJ with extra pips for ex-GGRs).
Austrian Gooner.Try twitter,but don’t ask me how.Or try http://www.arsenalfc.de/ as Austria doesn’t seem to have an official Arsenal site.For the Schalke match because tickets did not get as far as Red members I had to buy over the internet at 10 times face value.But on the way to Gelsenkirchen met up with Arsenal France member who said all their members(15 eur annual) who had requested tickets had got them.Afterwards at the ground met up with Arsenal Manchester who even had a spare ticket at face value.So my advice is to join your most local official Arsenal site(or languagewise) as most away ticket requests are fulfilled.When we get to the final it might be a touch more complicated.
apparently in Arsenal Sweden this guy Lars even pays for your ticket , buys all your drinks and pays your hotel:),=)
Ollie
Thanks for posting that link on the snide and c*nty poisonous dwarf that is Pooless.
He’s very clever in the way that he deports himself in-front of the cameras and FA and it smacks of funny handshakes and a private club for certain managers, officials and FA members. A plague on all their houses.
Well said Esso.
If anyone ever rolls out the “I hope we lose” line I just switch off and stop hearing them. It indicates that their understanding of supporting a football team is fundamentally different to my own, and we may as well be discussing different sports entirely.
How barking mad do you need to be to hate your own gaffer that much? Especially when he’s arguably the greatest manager in the club’s history.
I get being frustrated with Arsene. I even get thinking he should go. Wishing we’d lose so he’ll have to leave? Cock off to Chelsea, you’ll fit right in with that mob of classless, whinging infants.
Good day all, and Wie geht’s Östereicher?
Trev@97: I heard some similar twaddle on FiveLive about how spitting is the worst thing you can possibly do on a football pitch. It’s funny the way your perceptions change when you’ve had three players out
for a year each with gratuitously broken legs?
On a happier note, really good result at the weekend – good to see us grind out the odd 1-0 (still love that scoreline).
Obviously the Orcs are dire on the eye and it was never going to be much of a crowd-pleaser, but I always felt we’d find a way through. We weren’t at our best, but then we didn’t really need to be.
Thought Le Boss got his team selection pretty much spot on. Interesting seeing the Ox crop up on the left – there’s not been much focus on AOC this season but I wonder if the management are trying to find a gap for him to grow into. Theo has the right flank locked up for the conceivable and Jack will be our number 10. Where does that leave the Ox?
He’s been fairly quiet this term (which is fair enough at his age), but I suspect we’ll be asking for a little more from him next season and thereafter, and Arsene will want to ensure that his progress isn’t stunted by limited first XI opportunities.
Anyway, thought the new lad slotted in well, and drawing blood from an Orc is a great way to get the fans well and truly onside.
It’s a shame the LWCs had to win, but they do look to me like they’re slowing down a bit and the injury to Defoe is a nice little bit of luck.
Win our next two league games and we’ll be well and truly in the mixer with a simpler run in than either of our main rivals. Villa at home should really be a banker, given their defence and that we’re overdue to hand out our monthly spanking. That makes Sunderland a very, very big game indeed.
COYG
washed up: heh, I am actually biting my nails here in the hope that we will get at least a few tickets for Arsenal Sweden so that I will get one for me and the missus (we are third and fourth on the list so I have some hope that we will be in luck). Arsenal have said that they will let us know how big our allocation is “sometime this week”…
N7 knows@127.
@125,
Yep, that’s Lars alright.
Like A Real Sugardaddy. 😉
Finally, I enjoyed some of the Bale hyperbole on Sky yesterday.
Walcott is the same age, and has more goals and assists this season (6 and 5 respectively, I’m reliably informed).
He may not be scoring wondergoals, but they all count the same.
And he’ll still be at the Arsenal this time next year! Heh.
N7,
Your @129 was all going nicely until, “simpler run in than either of our main rivals”. Aarrggghhh !
Tut tut, from a man of your calibre !
Those simple run-ins against teams fighting for their lives go wrong every time.
Heh – well said Trev.
Okay – a simpler run “on paper”. There are no simple games in the Premier League this season – every team can hurt you.
*Touches wood/offers up an apology to the footballing gods*
Yep N7, it feels like there are absolutely no sure fire bankers for this team this season.
Hopefully we can get on a consistent run from here on. If so, then top 4 is a real possibility. Otherwise the Europa League will be an interesting new adventure and in the summer Arsene needs to bring in the quality players to lift us back to contenders.
esso
Apologies. No I don’t think so but it still matters to me that the owners are fans. But you are right it doesn’t have to be the case for the club to be successful.
Re the Gooner its a moot point whether it reflects the views of fans or is a propaganda tract. Certainly I think it needs to be as balanced and positive as it can but the editor is a fair man and he obviously isn’t happy
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Fin-de-saison-pour-remy/347842
Anyone still think we should have signed him? 😉
Cheers for that link Ollie.
The levels of Pulis’s cuntery have reached such gargantuan proportions that there comes a time when contemptuous anger must give way to startled and detached amusement. His disengagement from anything even remotely resembling common sense is so complete, his hypocrisy so clear, and his inherent nastiness so evident that he must now assume the mantle of a mere cartoon baddie, to be lambasted and belittled for sure, but above all to be laughed at and ultimately humiliated. The opportunity for potential comedy must surely outweigh any need for continued belligerence.
Did I detect something of this attitude in Arsene’s post match presser? His straight bat and restrained response to questions about Shawcross/Pulis et al betrayed something of the disappointed but resigned Schoolmaster who had finally come to recognise that no further words of rage would have an effect. In his charge was a bad apple, a bad apple that neither had the tools nor the means to change. In the face of such fuckwittery, all that is left to do is to manage the situation as best as you are able, make a few pointed remarks with a wry and knowing grin, content in the knowledge that one day the rotten core of his charge will one day be fully exposed and he will be asked to leave, never to be heard of again.
Personally, I think that Tony Pulis might yet be hailed as the finest comic talent that these shores have unearthed since Syd Little’s mum finally coaxed her shy but enormously talented son onto the stage.
Heh, fine post, tabs.
*doffs baseball cap*
Haha 🙂
Top observation tabs.
Now which of the Bash Street Kids does Pulis remind me of?
A big “heh” at tabs @138.
Such a good description.
Cheers Gents.
Tabs. 🙂
I seem to have forgotten my oldest Girondins scarf in the restaurant. 🙁
I hope they find it and I can get it back tomorrow. Would be gutted to have lost it.
Following Tabs’ suggested reappraisal of the baseball capped prick from the Potteries, I thought another look at his name might be in order.
Seems Tony Pulis gives up the following:
Yon Tulips – definitely more pleasant
I Slut Pony. – or,
I Plus Tony. – god forbid
Puny Toils
Inbred Halfwit Tosspot. – ok, a few letters missing for this one. 😉
Lars@130
You’ve got me sweatting now as airflights and hotel already booked.But this season ArsenalFrance have managed to supply tickets for every champions league reservation,have not ArsenalSweden not had the same success rate?
Heh Trev 🙂
Dear Diary,
This weekend we went down to that there London and played a game of rugger. The other team was so unfair and never played the ball with their hands, and their supporters said we were “in bread”. What did they mean? I never eat bread, I only eat meat! I asked both Auntie Mummy and Uncle Dad what it might have meant but they didn’t want to say. Cousin Brother just sat there staring into space like he always does – he has been like that ever since he saw Boss Tony without his clothes on.
And speaking of Boss Tony, he was so upset when the referee allowed the try scored by Arsenal. I understand him, Podolski clearly wasn’t holding the ball in his hands when it went over the line. How could that be given?
I have to go now, Boss Tony wants me to train my kicking. Hopefully it won’t be one of those boring sessions where we kick on footballs.
Afternoon Arse-tronauts.
I was away all weekend, a former colleague and friend’s birthday bash which included a live radio broadcast from a smoke filled, alcohol fuelled studio, followed by a dj gig in a particulary shady underground club in Den Haag. I hadn’t been behind the decks for quite a while, but I can tell you that dj-ing is like riding a bike……………. I fall off of that too. Anyways… I went into media blackout, avoiding the temptation to check a computer, phone, tv or anything that might wise me up to the weekends PL goings on, not as difficult as it might seem when you’re completly ratarsed.
I had set the old HD thinymijig to record the battle with the Orcs and the two MoTD’s which I’ve now just finished viewing. I’m sure somebody else may of said this before in the three-four hundred drinks I need to catch up on, but I think it needs repeating non the less;
STOKE ARE CUNTS!!
If there is a worst team to watch then those clubfooted, mouthbreathing ubermongs, then I don’t want to know who they are. What the hell was that? That wasn’t a game of football, that wasn’t a match, you need two teams for that. This was one team trying to play against a bunch of guys who looked like they were not even involved in the same sport. They showed absolutely no invention, no drive, no ambition, they were just happy sitting back and kicking us, the amount of cheating going on was unreal and the so called officials just stood there and watched it, doing nothing about it. Do you all realise that there were only 5 free kicks given in the first half? That’s fucking ridiculous when you see how many times our players were cynicaly and blatendly brought down by the maurading Orc’s.*
*Quick note, they are orcs, not storcs, storcs sounds too much like the creatures that deliver children, little bundles of joy, those pottery dwellers deliver nothing but bundles of maggot infested misery and they most probably eat children.
Still, fair play to our lads who didn’t get at all fased by their consistant cheating and just got on with it. we’re not such an easy push over now are we Pulis you wretched toad?
I thought we really tried hard all game, Theo looked most likely to create something and Ox really should of had one in, but it wasn’t quite happening. That all changed when AW made the substitutions. These changes highlighted how important it is to have a strong bench, something we’ve been missing for a while. Poldi and Santi entered the fray and gave the team a visable boost. We then looked more likely to penetrate and did. In the end it was a set piece (oh sweet irony) that got us the all important goal. I must admit I was pretty worried when the linesman got involved, mainly because I had no idea what was going on and due to the fact that that bellend had given us the square root of nada the whole game even though Feo was being butchered right under his nose. Luckily that was the moment when Chris Foy had decided that his incompetence level had been reached, enough mistakes had been made and it was time to get one right. He signaled the goal to spark delirium from me and a hizzy fit of Veruca Salt proportions by Shawcross, did you see him? Totally Hilarious, I was expecting him to burst into tears and then be carried off and dumped down a giant chute by a bunch of squirels, what a knobgobbler!
While on the subject of Lenny and squirels, how the hell did he get away with intentionaly making a forage for Kos’ nuts? FFS, he was never going to get that ball, not the official one anyway, he had plenty of time to pull out, but as we all know, he’s not that kind of player and he left his studs firmly in, cunt, cunt cunt!
Our goal seemed to make Pulis realise that you can only get something out of a game of footy if you actually, you know, give it a go, so he decided to throw a few attacking players on, one of which was the, by most forgotten, horse breading., shetland pony molester, little Micky. Who decided, that after a perfectly good tackle from he with perfect hair, that he was up for it and would dish out a punch to Mikel. Well, I’ll call it a punch for lack of a better word, but if that was a punch then our 12 y.o 35kilo heavy daughter is Clubber muddafokin’ Lang, what a pussy!! Still, great to see Mad Jack bombing in to sort the cock jockey out. Gotta love LJW, never backs down, we saw him do the same against Galen Bale too, good lad.
I really thought that once we got the first, we’d grab a couple more, but it wasn’t to be, I’m not complaining though, I’ll take a win against those mongtards anywhich way it comes and pray to the football gods that one fine they they will be banished to the lower reaches of a Sunday league in the Middle Earth Regional Division, taking Darth Pulis, the despicable wankrag with them. He really is the most irratating jizzbucket in football, that post match interview…. Oh my god.
Complaining that our players tried to influence the ref and linesman?
What was Lenny doing there then?
Complaining that he didn’t know what the offside rule was anymore?
Looking at the way your team plays I’d say you haven’t got the foggiest about most of the rules of footy.
And the dog saliva icing on the cat droppings cake, was;
I think we deserved something from the game
Me too, I thought at least two of your players deserved red cards and if there was any justice in the world, a big hole would have opened up creating a vortex sucking you into the sixth ring of helll……
But now I think about it you did all have to return to Stoke, so I suppose that is a fitting punishment.
Anyways, next round’s on me, I’ve gotta hell of a lot of catching up to do.
Cheers.
washed up: we usually get tickets for all applicants for CL away games, and I would be very disappointed (and surprised) if we didn’t get any for this one. Usually there aren’t that many applications, I think the most we’ve ever had is about 20 but this time almost 70 people have applied. I will be safe as long as we get at least four though, we allocate them in the order of applications being received and I managed to get my application in very quickly.
Nice report, goonerholic
Is the greater defensive solidity connected to playing two strikers and a midfielder up front rather than two strikers, perhaps?
I must say, even though any manager is entitled to play in any style within the rules, you have to have some gall to deliberately set out to be hideous to watch. We pay a lot at Arsenal but at least the manager’s aspiration is always to entertain.
This description of Pulis from another blog made me laugh:
he speaks in that appalling bumpkin brogue, whilst looking through those eyes that look like he spends nights standing round cars in wastelands watching dogging, yelling ‘get stuck in!’ pointing to positions he wants people in. from nikolaijns
@ 3 Norris
ha ha
@ 12BTM
excellent report
@ 27 BTM
I didn’t see the original blog posts, but something just jumped out at me – that we didn’t exploit the success of the Invincibles commercially. I don’t think we even had a proper commercial team in those days. We were very focussed on the stadium and I think establishing a proper commercial departments was one of the good things that IG did. They have started to deliver but there is a massive gap between us and ManUre, as you say. Potential is of course also massive.
@ 53 Esso
Very astute.
@ 63 Lars
Absolutely right about Judas van C. He scores spectacular goals, but his conversion rate when he was with us was not the greatest. And also, he was the one the team played for.
@ 82 Dr Faustus
yep! on both men.
@ 91Homer
yes indeed – I remember that, too. I feel we need to show Sagna a bit of love. I would hate it if he walked away at the end of the season. I want him to retire with us. He’s been the one reliable point in a period of upheaval which (fingers crossed) appears to be over – for a while, anyway
@ 104Snir Geuli
I don’t do facebook – do tell!
heh
(at 149)
“…And the dog saliva icing on the cat droppings cake…”
Nice imagery H2H.
Watching St*ke play football is about as enjoyable as watching a tramp suck diarrhea through smelly socks.
Never tried it, TS 😉
Heh! Trev’s back.
Holic and others many thanks for your suggestions regarding Munich away tickets, I will still go just for the crack and maybe pick a ticket up there on the off chance as it’s only couple of hours away, hope I’m not a jinx though as last CL away I went to was Milan last season ahem
washed up @125 Cheers
More bus parking to contend with this coming Saturday and another awkward b’stard of a manager whom you want to see in a post match interview making excuses for his team’s lacklustre ability to play football with ambition.
A tough fixture for extracting 3 points and as one of you good folk pointed our earlier, we have very little error for margin now – right the way through to the end of the season – if we are to enjoy CL football next season and another St.Tott’s day.
UTA!
Quick note, H2H piss off. 😉
Wait I’m sorry…… No I’m not…I mean yes I am…I……aw shit, never mind.
8)
Hmm!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21319807
Heh @Ryan Shawcross.
Good stuff H2H.
This made me laugh outloud:
15. If you were Birmingham City’s Jack Butland, would you prefer to marshal a defense featuring Shawcross and Robert Huth or John Terry and Ashley Cole? I guess it depends on whether he’d rather get kicked in the gonads or have someone sleep with his girlfriend.
From previous;
335 Great stuff Trev, agree with every word.
374 Oskar, a bit harsh that. Let’s not forget it’s hard enough to play against a parked bus team, but when that bus is full of the genetic rejects from the Island of Dr Moreau then it doesn’t really matter what tactics you apply.
=====
Good piece, guv. I too thought our new signing settled in nicely and if he can come out unscathed after a battle with the Orcs then the rest of the PL should hold no fear.
12 BtM. Usual high standard, hat tipped.
16 tabs, I should of just copyed and pasted that, saved us all a lot of time. 😉
19 Ollie, Heh @ rugby headband.
27 BtM. I’ll come back to this.
31 TTG Agree re Diaby. Still thought he put in a decent shift though.
47 Derrick, I agree with a lot of that.
53 Esso, indeed. I actualy don’t mind that SK stays away, I prefer that to him sitting there in an Arsenal shirt, pretending he has some kind of great love for the club a la Mike Ashley or that he always dreamed of being at the club like a reminising Robbie Keane.
82 Doc Faus. A good Giroud write up. I think he deserves a lot more credit then he has recieved in some places. He has (IMHO) made an excellent start to his Arsenal career, those that want to compare him to v Pissy will do well to realise that OG netted 5 goals last week (23-30 Jan) and he only got 1.
94 Clive. Feo not your flavour of the month, sir? 😉
A quick drinky here barkeep, I’m almost caught up……………
Awesome contributions, H2H, thank you 😉
Evening all. Hope you had a better day than I today, although it has picked up a bit in the last half hour.
@esso and @thundertinygooner. There was a time where I would have bought The Gooner in preference to the match programme; now I wouldn’t dream of wasting a penny on such a negative and disrespectful rag. The propaganda of The Gooner has far surpassed the propaganda of the official programme. Sorry, thundertinygooner (and I believe you’re a contributor) I don’t see anything ‘balanced and positive’ about KW’s editorials. Perhaps there ought to be a campaign to get KW out? There’s probably nothing worse than spoilt so-called Arsenal supporters spouting vitriol which is what The Goner has become a vehicle for. You just have to read the comments on their website to see what they’ve become and who they attract in their readership. Thank the lord for this blog and for all those who contribute. A million thanks ‘Holic! Anyone: where can I read the interview with ‘Holic without having to buy The Goner?
Oh, I forgot to mention that I probably hate Shawcross more than The Goner 🙂
Re: the match fixing, I hope they’re looking at our 2011 game in the Nou Camp, because the red card in that game, given context and timing, was the single most inexplicable, suspicious-looking decision I have ever seen from a top level official outside of Mark Clattenburg’s barnet.
Still bitter about the way we were cheated that night.
129 N7, good call re the Ox, he’s gonna need a few more appearances to get up to scratch, I diddn’t think he was too bad yesterday, but he’s quite a way off of being there (so to speak) Poldi replaced him well and either of those to come off the bench is a great option.
133 Trev knows.
138 tabs,excellent analytical post as to why Pulis seems out of touch with going ons in and around the PL.
Personaly I think it’s because he’s a bit of a cunt and belligerence should be encouraged . 😉
139 Ollie, Heh.
146 Trev. If you’re looking for anagrams then;
If he was a drink = Lousy Pint.
The reason he signed Owen = I Lust Pony
Putting money on which team are the biggest gits in the PL= Tip only us.
149 😆
155 TS Yucky indeed.
161 Heh NorCal
165 ‘holic, thank you sir, thank you!
168 N7, good call on an extreamly bad call. That one was well dodgy, a decision I had never seen the likes of before, nor have again. We were robbed.
Austrian Gooner, good luck on the ticket hunt.
H2H @169 Cheers I think I will need it. heard lots of stories of people who booked flights and hotels and never got a ticket so looks like the pubs in Munich will be busy 🙂
Bodrum Gooner
I fully understand your concern about negative agendas ( don’t for goodness sake ever read the comments on Le Grove). I’ve been writing for the Gooner for over twenty years and not once has one of my articles been edited to read in a different way from what I had intended nor have Mike or Kevin ever suggested I write in a particular way.If they did it would be the last article I wrote for them.
In this month’s edition Highbury Spy has a very extreme rant which doesn’t reflect the views of any of my pals who sit with me or myself .Most of the regular contributors are very nice guys who love the club with a passion and have been supporters for a very long time. The Gooner is amazingly ,given the size of our fanbase , the only serious independent fanzine that the club has. Years ago I know the club were very worried about Tony Willis when he produced his fanzine. David Dein regarded him very negatively but they had no reservations about the Gooner. I agree that the mood has shifted in recent years but to be fair the natives are quite restless in parts of the ground. I think Kevin doesn’t believe in Wenger anymore. But that doesn’t stop anyone writing a very pro- Wenger piece. ‘Holic was asked the question about Wenger in this month’s piece and he answered it very well.
What we have seen in recent years is the arrival of many blogs reflecting shades of opinion. This is undoubtedly the most balanced of any I have encountered. Others are distressingly negative and one blogger revealed at the end of his blog that he hadn’t been to a game for three seasons and didn’t have a Sky subscription anymore. Why does he bother and frankly what has he got to say?
It probably needs another Fanzine to emerge. Tony Madden produced Highbury High for a while and it was very positive but it was clearly a struggle. The big question is do you need written media when there is so much online ?
Anyway 3,000 tickets pffff who do bayern think we are Sp*rs?
I was suprised that tickets went so quickly, Austrian.
Good luck. I’m sure there’ll be quite a few spares on the day, and failing that, a few ticketless Gooners to share 105 minutes or more with.
Cheers Ollie, Especially if the home game does not go to plan. I think you just followed us on Twitter @laskobeer and cheers for that if you did.
Just seen match fixing in England for a champions league match? Bloody hell Arry you get the spuds in the champions league their one and only time and then you set Rosie into action.
Yes I just did indeed 🙂
haha at 175
have you got a ticket for Bayern Ollie
I do, Austrian. A combination of knowing some good people and some lucky timing really.
Very pleased with the victory. However, did anybody else notice that we didn’t have a centre back on the bench versus the rugby team? In my opinion, that’s a massive gamble as among the starting 11 and the subs, I couldn’t identify anybody else who could fill in if the BFG or Kos suffered an injury. In the past, when we had Song in the middle , it wouldn’t be a problem as we all know that he was competent and more than comfortable back there. We might be able to get away with that selection versus the rugby team, who just came to park the train. However, against an actual football team, I am not liking that idea. Food for thought holics.
Ollie @179 Well done, maybe catch you for some bratwurst und Bier in March
N7 @168 – Completely agree with you. Not one for conspiracy theories here, but I have to say that that Van Persie sending off still rankles. It was singularly the worst and most inexplicable decision I have ever seen made by Officialdom on a football field. Doubt that we will ever get to the bottom of it. The Ref that night was promoted at the end of that Season.
H2H – Yeh you’re right. More belligerence! 🙂
TTG – Interesting stuff re The Gooner. I haven’t bought it for about 3 years, so I’m a bit loathe to comment, but I certainly stopped buying it because of what I perceived (rightly or wrongly) at the time to be a huge shift in tone and emphasis when Kevin Whitcher took over. I have to say in all honesty that I probably would have stopped buying it anyway, irrespective of the views it espoused, because of the explosion of on-line material available. Bit surprised that the Gooner has survived at all in the Internet age. Do you know if sales have held up?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/46892/international-watch-gunners-away-on-duty
Jaysus, why are Spain playing a friendly in bloody Qatar? 🙁
Impec1, I wondered, but I think Sagna would have been the deputy centre-back.
There is clearly no trust in Squillaci anymore…. Miquel may be in a few squads soon if he’s back to full fitness.
Impec1,
Guessing Sagna would have played at CB and Jenks would have been brought on.
Not ideal.
Gotta be quick in this game to beat Ollie 🙂
Because they are an attractive football product Ollie and money talks:P
Das hoffe Ich, Austrian.
Or something like that. Despite trips to Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, my German hasn’t recovered from years of non-practice.
heh tabs 😀
On different note I suppose TR will have 90mins of game time against Turkey, normally I would be bit worried about him getting injured again, but as he is short of opportunities to gain some actual match fitness right now in our colors, I would be glad if it helped him to get bit more “match sharp”.
Sad but true, Eandy. A meaningless midweek friendly now is annoying enough to not have to go 1000 miles away though, it’s nonsense.
Presumably the Qataris privileged relationship with Barça helped?
We’re doomed.
And I mean 1000s of
I think you were reading my thoughts there too Eandy.
*puts tinfoil hat on*
BtM 27. Excellent follow up to your thought provoking double post. As you said before, there are only very slight differences in how we see certain aspects of how our club are doing.
Then why didn’t our commercial wizards exploit the success of The Invincibles? No excuse for that failure.
This I totaly agree with, it almost borders on incompetance that this wasn’t milked to the max. Manure had shown the way when it came to global branding and we really screwed the pooch (to use an Americanism) on that.
I know Arsenal can do MUCH better.
I hope so, but if I’m being really cynical then I would say, given the performance of the last few years they couldn’t do much worse. Any business that loses it’s best assets is always going to take a hit. But our ethos is to make stars not buy them and that is the world we operate in. A bit more success on the field and our next generation stars will be easier to market. Once again, success on the field will transmit to success off it.
As for the Europa League, I realise that you of all people, would never want us to slip down into that inferior competition, because that’s what it is, maybe not quite “dusty death” but not very far off it. The figure you quote (I still can’t find it one way or the other) would be gained only if we won the entire tournament. That would indeed be a good title to win, but I don’t believe we’d take it seriously.
Thursday night football (as mentioned above) would have a major impact on our season. Do you really believe that AW, a man who see’s 4th place as a trophey would really put the PL in jepordy for a Mickey Mouse game against Neverheardofya FC from one of the Eastern European nations?
I can’t see it myself. I think we would just send out the kids and the fringe players, great for their learning curve, but bugger all else, especialy if we lose to these inferior teams who will be pulling out all the stops to pull one over on the mighty Arsenal. What good what that do our global brand?
As far as Arsenal are concerned it has to be CL or nothing, this season is not over by a long shot and there are plenty of points for us to gain and the others to lose. So with that in mind;
COME ON YOU REDSSSSSSS.
I don’t mind Tony’s baseball cap. Just loose him and let the cap manage the Stoke.
The mugs are confused whether to look at Tony’s eyes or the cap. Up – down, up – down, up – down…
So put the cap on the grass and let the good times roll.
I don’t think I’ll be there for the assist, so I’ll just get the ball rolling. Lukic-style.
Sorry, did not mean to hehe :), you know how much I like him, not only because he is czech and our captain, but because of the player he is, what he brings to our attacking play. Also because I feel a bit sorry for him, since was it not for the mysterious injury, I think only sky has been a limit for him and he was sorely missed on many occasions. That is why I want him to succeed and win something with Arsenal.
I remember his interview in one czech magazine from year ago, just when his rejuvenation started, he said that he always been fan of Arsenal style of play, that he is so happy to be with us and that of course he wants to win trophies, but he wants to win them with Arsenal and no other team (rumours of his move to Atlético or Galatasaray were quite common in that time), and thats just one more reason why I like him so bad 😀
You do know he’s my favourite Arsenal player, Eandy?
Tabs & N7
Sorry guys,i cannot agree re RVP’s send off in the Nou Camp being a mystery or some sort of conspiracy.
RVP himself cost us that game.
If he hadn’t tried to be macho man in the first half,diving in late on Barca players to show how tough he was and getting a yellow card in the process,then the 2nd yellow would instead have been his first,and he would have still been on the pitch.
To try and say he didn’t hear the whistle,when the players all heard it perfectly well during the other 89 minutes of the game,just doesn’t wash.
So it was his own ill discipline that cost us the match,not the referee.
The rights or wrongs of that 2nd yellow would have been irrelevant if he had just behaved himself in the first half.
H2H,
Re the Schoolboy,it is not a question of him not being my flavor of the month,but if he is going to roll around on the floor like a dying swan,and moan at the referee/linesman evry time to gets thumped in a tackle,then he will be targeted by defenders even more.
Jack is no bigger than him,yet has a heart and bottle,that the Schoolboy would do well to emulate.
Cheers
The Sweeper.
Looks to see if Ollie’s still here…………
Posting rate good enough?
Bang.
Bang.
Yeah I know Ollie, you mentioned it few times hehe 🙂
Up yours Ollie.
🙂
Well timed Ollie.
Unlucky Steve, almost a master lurk.
Heh Steve T. Sorry.
Master-assist, H2H, and I know what I’m talking about 😉
I take it the Rugby (I mean the game involving TWO teams playing rugby) was also extremely enjoyable?
We need better gun control on this site.
2 guns went off but only one hit its target. 😉
Evening Sweeper,
Hope you are well mate?
Can’t agree with you there Sir. Agree that the first yellow was stupid. I also agree that any allegation of corruption might be a jump too far. However I stand by the point that that decision was the single most inexplicable decision that I have ever seen. I think it perfectly possible that RVP didn’t hear the whistle. Every time Arsenal had the ball (not very often) all the home fans started whistling. That would have been pretty cacophonous. In any event RVP shooting was so close to the whistle sounding that it might just as well have been simultaneous. He clearly wasn’t kicking the ball away.
I’ve seen nothing like it before or since.
Well in Ollie.
Good epic post from H2H, and nice anagrams. 😉
N7,
That farce in the Nou Camp did spring immediately to mind when I heard about the match fixing on the radio.
If ever an official was looking for an excuse to issue a card, that has to be it.
There have been a few CL games at The Emirates where decisions have defied all logic too.
If it does eventually turn out to be ‘that’ game at the Nou Camp, it will be nice to see UEFA apologise to Arsene Wenger for suspending him for his post match reaction.
And while they’re at it, they might like to expunge all records of the final that year and install us as the true champions.
First London team to win the Champions League ……..
Won’t they? ……… Oh. 🙁
Clive.
I personaly thought that Feo did quite well against the Orcs, many a time he tried to keep going even though he was being constantly fouled. I suppose as the game went on he just got tired of it, the ref wasn’t offering him, or any of our lads, any protection whatsoever. Let’s not forget that him being fouled on the edge of the box lead to our goal.
Throughout the game I felt that he was the most likely to do damage, I believe Stoke saw that too and targeted him accordingly. But, in the interest of fairness I will pay extra attention to that in the next game and if I think he’s making too much of a fuss then I too will call him out on it.
I do however totaly agree on the silly celebration bit from your previous post.
A fruit juice of choice awaits you on the bar.
Tabs
I think sales have held up fairly well. I saw some sales figures a few years ago which suggested it was the best selling club fanzine in the country but that was mainly because several other clubs had a number of titles. I think you are right about the explosion in online material. I find that I rarely read the programme nowadays even though I can’t not buy one as I have complete sets for the last forty or so seasons!
The article I wrote in the last edition was written well before Christmas and held over so you also run the risk that what you write is wildly out of date.
But I’ve not heard that there is any intention to shut it down. There is a lot of material and they probably make a tidy sum. I think the football fanzine in the late 80s and 90s when football was undergoing a revolution was an authentic mouthpiece for the fans and it was interesting to note the change in thinking as the true fans stood up against hooliganism and tragedies like Hillsborough and Bradford. The Internet has rendered it much less relevant now.
it will be nice to see UEFA apologise to Arsene Wenger for suspending him for his post match reaction.
Better watch out for low flying pigs on that day.
Sweeper @ 198
tabs has nailed it. Was Van Persie daft in the first half? Absolutely, the waffle print-shirted fuckwit. But that second yellow… it would have been harsh if it had been his first of the evening, but to send him off and in doing so all but end the tie for THAT – just madness.
It’s not as if he blatantly booted the ball away to stop a quick free kick being taken – there’s every chance he never heard the whistle and took a shot on goal.
The acid test is that I have never seen a player sent off for something so marginal, not to mention trivial, in a game of such importance. If you’re going to send someone off for time wasting in the latter stages of a champs league QF, you need to be bloody sure that’s what they were doing. There was simply no way the ref could have been.
We all have decisions we bemoan for years after the fact: Rooney stopping us at 49, Arsene kicking the water bottle, the constant refusal of the FA to have John Terry sterilised. But this was a different order of magnitude altogether. It felt like bent refereeing then. It still does now.
In fact, it’s making me quite angry just thinking about it.
Trev @ 209
The decision to suspend Wenger for criticising that refereeing performance was pure insult to injury.
Platini should have personally apologised for the way we were fucked that night. What on earth was Arsene supposed to do? Watch that travesty and then give the press an “oh well, these things even themselves out over the course of a season”?
It pisses all over the refereeing performance Chelsea got vs Barca that they still bleat on about. Their ref was simply inept and overrawed – he sent off a Barca player and wouldn’t give them a pen all night. Ours used a single decision to effectively end the tie.
To quote a certain Ivorian fairy: “It’s a fucking disgrace”.
Ttg.
Cheers for the Info – thanks.
Completely agree with you on the pivotal role Fanzines played in the late eighties to stop hooliganism.
That and ecstasy 😉
Ttg,
Very fair comment on the Gooner.
Some of us have been told off for being too negative / sarcastic in this bar of late, although I would hope that the extensive use of “winkys” makes it pretty clear that it is mostly in fun.
And if anyone has a negative comment to make, well fair enough. Things haven’t exactly been perfect of late but we all know the Guvnor’s rules.
For me, the Gooner just became relentless criticism of Arsene Wenger when it was clear that he was trying to operate under massive constraints against impossible competition.
If the published views were genuinely those of the contributors, then fair enough.
I had the option of trying to submit my own views to the editor but chose not too.
More fun in here for my money.
Going for a walk now to calm myself down.
Glass of water for N7, please barman.
Cheers. It’s going to have to be a cold flannel and some whale music in a dark room, I think.
Apropos of nothing it is interesting to remember in 1998 our game at Wimbledon was postponed because of a floodlight failure- apparently the work of a Far Eastern betting coup. That postponement did us a huge favour as we were in a poor run then and when it was replayed the legend that was Christopher Wreh won it in the middle of the great run that took us to the Double. It’s an ill wind eh!!
Heh @ tabs.
I understand your pain N7.
I said exactly the same (@169) as you and tabs. Never seen a call like that before, or again.
Tabs & N7
We will have to disagree on this one fella’s,as i cannot believe the referee in a sgl instant when he blew his whistle for offside,and RVP carried on with his shot on goal,he decided to book him, knowing he already had a yellow card,and that this would be a send off.
I don’t think it would have mattered who the player was,the ref would still have booked them for time wasting.Harsh or not,it was midway through the 2nd half,so the ref could leigitimately argue that it was time wasting.
Sod’s Law unfortunately decreed that RVP was the fall guy and we paid the price.
H2H,
I agree on the Schoolboy’s contribution during the game,although his decison making when in the final 3rd of the pitch is still incompetent,
so in my eyes he still has an awful lot to do to justify his wages,and judging by his teammates lack of interest in his look at me celebrations after his equalizer against Liverpool,so do they.
Ollie. I have very little recollection of much after about 6pm. It was a very enjoyable and liquid day.
🙂
I will have to side with N7 and H2H on the ridiculous red card. Did vanPursestings do himself any favors with the first half yellow ? No. But that call at that time for him taking a shot 1 second after the whistle is very dubious. It effectively gave barca free range to put a strangle hold on that game and gave them the eventual advantage to win the tie. We could have won even without it, but it was a call that would make barca’s progression easier. Players do similar and worse time wasting in almost every game without even a warning.
I can see Tabs / N7 POV on the RVP sending off as being inexplicable but I would probably side with the Sweepers viewpoint a little more. The reality is in any match of such a stature, you should never be stupid enough to incur such a silly yellow card in the first place and if you are on a yellow card, you must always be on the right side of the line thereafter. I thought the second yellow was an infuriating decision also, but I was furious with RVP at the time and in fairness, RVP always had an impetuous side to him.
Which brings neatly onto the point that sweeper brings up about “the schoolboy”. Now I have never been a fan of Theo. But I’m the first to acknowledge the contribution he has (finally) made this season and I am glad that we signed him especially when he had the opportunity to “do a Bosman” and make more money. It shows some commitment on his behalf. I say that in advance because I don’t want the following comments to be reflective of just him, but I agree wholeheartedly with the sweeper when you contrast Theo’s behaviour with Jack. And its not just with Theo, in the Chelsea game for instance, Sagna had the ball and was clearly kicked with a late tackle. While he was still in possession of the ball he began to limp a little and then hit the deck like a sack of spuds. The referee eventually blew and he got his free, but what I objected to was he didn’t put the ball out of play firstly and safeguard the team against a potential counter attack if the free wasn’t subsequently given. Its one thing to go down injured – its quite another to rely on the referee to give you a free and potentially put the team in jeopardy. Suppose they went on to score – it wouldn’t have looked so bloody smart then would it?
When we last had a bit more bite and bollock in the side, we won things because we were physically nasty bastards in the tackle and gave as good as we got. And while I accept that teams like Spain have led the way in a more technical form of football which has dominated European and World stages – I can never accept that Barca, for example, would be as successful in England as they have been in Spain if they played against teams like Stoke week in, week out. When Owen tried to chin Arteta a large part of me was delighted to see Jack stand his ground and I hope to see that attitude more and more by other players too. There are bigger lads in the team but its the 5ft 8 lads in midfield (JW, Arteta) who seem to be leading the way in every sense of the word. The physical intensity of the effort is proportionate to the hunger and attitude of the team as a whole. Its an area that we’ve needed to improve for some time.
And that’s even assuming it was time wasting, which I am not even sure it was. Striking a ball one second after the whistle happens all the time.
I guess I agree with Tabs too.
@ the Sweeper
Happy to agree to disagree.
And I think you make some very salient points re: Theo. It’s terrific that he has resisted the lure of the wedge, but he has some way to go if he’s to become the leader he clearly fancies himself to be.
Hopefully he can learn a bit from Jack. Hopefully they all can.
If you ask me there were several more decisions in that game v Barca that were debateable to say the least. There were several occasions where Barca players got away with stuff that could even have been red cards, Dani Alves for example grabbed Nasri by the throat with the ref watching from two yards while our players were booked for the slightest transgressions. I’m with tabs/Trev/H2H/N7/NorCal on this one, that ref was not doing his best to stay neutral on the night.
It will be very interesting to see where this ends up. There is also more and more talk about Barca and Real having worked with the same doctors that pumped cyclists full of steroids – including the 2005/6 season. We might yet become the first London side to win a CL title 😉
(that last little joke aside, I am just waiting for the first major doping scandal in the football world – I don’t for a second believe that there are no players that have been raiding various medical cabinets of shady “doctors”)
Here’s a terrible video of the incident, by the way. In case anyone wants to refresh their memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9jKf4H7Ng4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Time wasting was what the ref gave as cause. It was bollox.
He took a shot, nothing more, nothing less and he was sent off for it.
I’m not saying that the ref was paid to do it, but I stand by the fact that was one of the most dubios decisions I have ever seen.
Good stuff NorCal and Joe.
Clive, I don’t think anyone is worth that kind of dough, but the footy world’s gone mad. Feo has shown mass improvement and I hope he continues to do so. If he decides to rest on his laurels then I can see a large section of the support turn on him.
I love our players, but if they’ve been anywhere near our CMC then there’ll be hell to pay. 😉
Lars,
I guess my “strangle hold” reference was too disguised @224, or was it?
Thanks for mentioning the incident. I was fuming for days after that game. Barca statistically dominated that game but it was far from a fair fight in my view. Still gets me riled up.
A quick, late, drink between getting in and going to bed.
NorCal@206 (I said it was late):
I’m surprised at you. You should know, guns don’t get centuries, people get centuries.
Night all.
COYG
H2H @ 231,
The intricate layers of our “supplements” are untraceable and au naturale. The only side effect is the distortion of the time continuum. They all seem to make 3 weeks seem like 6. 😉
Oxon,
🙂
Fair enough Clive, understand the points you make.
Good stuff Joe, Norcal. Both sides of the debate put very well there.
Agree with Joe and Clive on Jack Loved it when he stood up for his mate. I think it’s a great thing, even if it costs him a couple of reds down the line.
Clive, a bad day only in a work sense, thankfully. Thanks for the message. Will get back later in the week, but appreciate your concern.
Now back to worrying about keeping planes in the air 🙁
I think Arsene missed this one.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/individual-highlights-moussa-sissoko-newcastle-v-chelsea/?
Impressive by all standards! And a bargain.
Let’s hope that the mistake will be corrected this summer, with his midfield compatriot from Toulouse days- E Capoue, wearing Arsenal shirt.
Yes Lurky,
I hope Capoue is one of the ones we have lined up already for this summer. Toulouse said there was no way they would have sold both in January and I can understand why.
Capoue would give us some size and good ball skills at the DM position.
I hope we have a handshake agreement already in place.
Norcal I rate Capoue as highly as Sissoko, although he may be quite expensive for a DM- a position on the pitch I am not sure Arsene plans to invest in the near future simply because he believes that this position place is in the books of football history.
As for Sissoko, a box to box midfielder that we didn’t have from the PV days, I am sure he would have slot in perfectly. For his age, price and talent, he has Arsenal all over him. But, what is done is done. The hope remains that maybe Diaby will once become a player we all hope to be.
That red card was simply farcical.
Sweeper: With all due respect, I think you’ve been a bit harsh on the so-called Schoolboy. In my opinion, he’s made great progress over the last two seasons. His game still needs improvement but I won’t give him a hard time for complaining to the officials for being kicked constantly by the rugby players. In all fairness, if Theo was a player who spent a lot of time complaining about being fouled, he wouldn’t have managed to score those dribble-fall over/fouled goals that he likes to score. Nevertheless, he has now signed da thing, and I fear him being beaten with his exorbitant pay cheque especially, when we can see that he’s putting in the effort. If ever we see a lack of effort, then I guess it would be fair. As with a heavy pay check like his, comes high expectations.However, I do agree with you regarding the self important ,stupid celebrations when we have just tied a game that we need to win. Drinks for The Sweeper on you know whose tab.
Cheers all holics!
Lurky: Excellent points. I happened to watch the Newcastle/Chelsea game and I was very impressed by Sissoko. He’s big, strong, skillful and powerful. However, what really astonished me, was his pace as there was a point in the game where he completely burned our good old friend Cashley on the flank. In essence, Sissoko made Cashley look like a race between our pie eating left back (Santos) and Theo. Such was the disparity.
I was really impressed with Sissoko’s performance against the Chavs. He murdered them.
Theo needs another couple of seasons in the AW finishing school. Then some club will splash out some dosh to actually sign him. He should be paying the club for the education, not the other way round. The very least he can do is pay in part in effort.
Just my two cents on RvP’s red in Nou Camp: To this day that game is one of the most frustrating I’ve watched in my entire life, and the ref’s body language and decisions were really dodgy I thought. So that’s the game that came to mind when yesterday’s allegations came about.
No matter what the ref used to juatify the sending off, that was never a red card. Never. The ref blew the whistle less than a second before RvP took the shot. You can actually see him concentrating to set himself up for the right footed shot. With the crowd cheering and jeering so loudly it’s not clear if RvP even heard the whistle. And even if he heard it, trying to stop shooting less than a second before the attempted shot is ridiculous. You can a) injure yourself, or b) be a fool to stop shooting when you did not hear the whistle clearly. That was never a red card. Bollox.
Even in PL games that season we were not getting the rub of the green. Ashavin getting pushed by Bramble in the box against Sunderland, and later his goal being wrongly ruled for offside… Eboue’s historic moment against Liverpool at the Ems. There were countless others. I remembered thinking what do we need to do to get a penalty. There was a moment in the CL (against Liverpool I think) when Hleb got tripped for the most obvious penalty call ever, and the ref didn’t budge. Could just be an honest mistake, but just as easily it could’ve been a calculated mistake. The ambiguity of football rules certainly leaves huge gaps for corruption.
All conspiracy theories aside, I think from our players this season, barring new transfers, Jack and Theo have been the most impressive. I will stand by Theo tooth and nail, respectfully, of course. At times he have looked like our talisman this season, and even if his celebration against the Scousers were unnecessary, I don’t think it’s reason enough for fans to accuse him. What if Jack had scored the goal and celebrated Arsenal tying the game from 2 down in a matter of minutes? I don’t think we will be talking about it negatively…
“When Owen tried to chin Arteta a large part of me was delighted to see Jack stand his ground and I hope to see that attitude more and more by other players too” – Joe (#225)
—————————————————————————-
Sorry Joe, Jack didn’t ‘stand his ground’, he came running up to confront Owen. And as I said in #93…
“As for Owen’s backhand flap at Arteta – handbags immediately sorted between the two like lovers after a tiff please note – I was holding my breath when Jack came rushing in like a hero. Anyone but mild-mannered, mini Mick and it could have ended nastily with headbutts, red cards all round and Jack out for the next three matches. I hope AW gets in his ear and also alerts senior players to watch him in future. We cannot afford to lose him to such stupidity.”
Oskar
RvP’s Nou Camp wrongful dismissal was certainly rubbish, but does anyone else remember the breakaway we had with just minutes to play in that game? We had an excellent chance to score and, remarkably, we would have won the tie on the away goals rule. But in the absence of RvP the chance fell to … Bendtner.
Oskar
OtD: unfortunately, TGSTEL wasn’t wearing the right underpants that day.
LO@238: impressive performance. Can he do that week in week out? Plays a lot of early balls first touch which would suit us. And he has Diabyesque legs, in the length rather than fragility sense, I hope for his own good.
I remember that as well, Oskar. Would’ve been a real smash and grab. Shame really, had we beaten Barca at its best how different things could’ve been..
Joe@225: Jack will be a true leader when he knows he doesn’t have to demonstrate his leadership in that way every time. There will be times for squaring up, and times for not doing so. He will learn to know the difference because he has true leadership in him.
Derrick, a Bendtner miskick between us and glory. The football gods truly are cruel.
I remember that day at the Camp Nou well. Well, the evening. I had such a severe hangover I only drank a single pint before making my way to the stadium.
Bah.
And I agree with people who said the red card was farcical. The delay between whistle and kick was so short… I’m not saying the Dutch cunt really didn’t hear the whistle, I have no idea, but I’ve never ever seen a card given for such a short delay.
In fact the number of times since when I’ve seen a ball kicked or dribbled much longer after the whistle, resulting in no yellow, first or second, isn’t negligible.
Good point about Alves too.
And that Bendtner miss, from a Jack pass if I recall correctlly.
Damn you all, it’s too early to drink 😉
‘holic, glad to hear it’s ‘only’ about work, good luck with those planes.
As for Sissoko, he’s not exactly a defensive midfielder, so while I’m seeing in other places ‘oh why didn’t we sign him, we used to sign players from the French League like that’, I don’t think he truly plays in a position when anyone was clamouring for us to make a signing.
Capoue, on the other hand…. ;). Let’s bring him in the summer.
I’ve always said Barca are cunts and I’m sure they’re cheats.
Ollie, I have to say Pardew surprised me playing Sissoko in the hole. He mostly played in central mid alongside Capoue at Toulouse.
As for Capoue – I love it that everyone agrees with me on him. Perhaps I should have a word with Steve Rowley 😉
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2273232/David-Beckham-trains-Paris-Saint-Germain-London.html#axzz2K0gGWYSB
Despite the photo, I doubt that the Becks shirts were part of the ‘Sales’. I read they were retailing for €110….(like other players’ shirts I haste to add).
Oskar, it wouldn’t have mattered if Bendtner had scored. The ref would without a doubt have given Barca another penalty. It does feel a bit conspiracy theorist to say so, but I have never ever seen a game where so many people have been so convinced that the ref was bent. And people were saying so during the game even long before RvP was sent off, I might add.
http://www.football365.com/news/21554/8471932/Walcott-Excited-About-Partnership-With-Rooney
“A few people have said it makes me look a little bit harder.
“But I honestly don’t believe that because I am the biggest softy of them all.”
I think that backs the Sweeper’s point 😉
@TTG
Its the online Gooner I most object to, in fact cant claim to have read the ‘paper’ version in years. I did detect a distinct change in editorial policy when Mike Francis packed up; round about that time the Highbury Spy stopped being an amusing and sometimes thought provoking read and just became a load of arrogant self-opinionated twaddle. Some of the ‘elder’ contributors like Mickey Cannon remained readable but overall I thoroughly disliked the changes Kevin Whitcher made to the mag, so I stopped buying it.
Seems stupid but I find it much harder to ignore the online version – (still get incensed enough to comment myself – fucking waste of time), dunnoe why, and I find it doubly displeasing because of the ‘weight’ that the term ‘The Gooner’ carries within the Arsenal community, on or off line.
Whitcher’s latest editorial, as I mentioned earlier, I find extremely distasteful and journalistically it should be laughed out of court. Other blogs which claim to be ITK and splatter such unsubstantiated untruths about, are ridiculed for what they are, yet I feel he (Whitcher) survives because of his association with what the Gooner once was. It all seems a long way from the days of Mike Francis and the place where reputable and excellent journalists, such as Amy Lawrence, cut their teeth.
I’ve never met Whitcher and you seem to know him, at least a bit. He’s been described to me by someone who is acquainted with him (and posts on here very, very occasionally) as a ‘Mahoosive Cunny’. I see little evidence to the contary.
Lars,
Maybe so Lars – and I don’t doubt that there might have been some element to that. All I’m saying is RVP did not help himself. And as a club, I don’t feel we help ourselves by looking back with some sense of regret about those games. And if we’re being honest with ourselves, we were largely outplayed in both of those ties by Barca and the result could have been an awful lot worse. We missed chances to win that game (Bendtner) as well as maybe winning the CL cup in 2006 (TH14) or not beating Chelsea in the earlier years when we actually were the best team in Europe. Good teams learn to beat referees too and to win in Europe you also need an element of luck.
I think the club has cultivated a reputation (rightly or wrongly) for being soft or brittle over the past few years. And complaining about things not going our way just feeds into that more. I might feel buoyed by the way we’ve handled Stoke this season as opposed to previous years but the reality is we’re going to win absolutely nothing unless we tighten our defence and it doesn’t matter who we play. With a strong defence and a little luck you can win anything at any level. Look at Chelsea last year – completely outplayed by Barca & Bayern but their defence held its ground. Same for Inter Milan in prior years. Even Liverpool and Porto have won European Cups. But the really good teams tend to win it more than once and make legitimate claims for being great. And in recent times, only Barca are in that category.
You might say Barca & Brazil buck the trend and there might be some element of truth to that but the general rule is that you must have a tight defence to win anything and no more so that when your playing teams like Stoke week in week out. Last week Arteta came back and all of a sudden we looked more stable again at the back. We kept a clean sheet and took 3 points though a deflected free kick. If we focus on keeping clean sheets, we won’t need any conspiracy theories.
Esso I am guessing who would say ‘mahoosive cunny’! ;D
I was checking Online Gooner for a bit even after stopping buying the paper version, but I have stopped that too a while ago now.
You nearly tempt me to check that latest editorial, but I’m quite chilled right now so want to keep cool 😉
Joe @ 258
I agree with quite a lot of that, but would take issue with the comment re: our performance against Barca.
The Catalans were absolutely out of this world across the two legs, but at the time of the sending off we were leading 3-2 on aggregate.
How many times have we been criticized for playing beautifully but not being able to get the result? This was the polar opposite: we had hung tough, despite losing our keeper early, and across the best part of 3 hours Barca had scored just two goals. We only had another 20 mins or so to go and we were looking as if we had weathered the storm: they had a lot of the ball but were finding us really tough to break down. Think of it this way: over the tie, Barca were averaging roughly a goal every 80 minutes. And we had 20 minutes left when Van Persie walked.
I also seem to recall a theory at the time that Barca were vulnerable in the last 20 mins if you could hang on in there. Certainly, that’s how the first leg had played out and I felt at the time that the tie was very much in our hands. Hell, even with ten men we almost found a way to win the thing. They were vulnerable and the ref rode to their rescue with the most extraordinary decision.
I honestly believe that if we could have won that tie it would have been a turning point for that particular Arsenal side. Certain key players might have given us a little more time, belief would have flowed through the squad and we would have shown an ability to really defend and lock things down when the going got rough. Something we’d struggled with before and have struggled with since.
Instead, we were robbed. I agree with what others are saying above: the ref was extremely one-sided across the entire game. That said, I think some of that is purely down to home advantage and fan perceptions – I think we’ve all seen plenty of performances like it. The exception being the sending off, which I still consider utterly farcical. When you think about how many teams come to the Emirates each season and run the clock down from minute one, have we ever seen a player sent off for time wasting? Much less for getting a shot off a second or so after the ref’s whistle?
I have no idea whether the ref was bent and I’m not about to go making any wild claims. What I will say is this: I think there’s a general naivety across football in the belief that, despite the influx of money into the game across the last 25 years, despite the many horrendous individuals who have flocked to the sport (agents/owners/other pond life), there is no corruption. I would be astonished if, just to take an example, a certain Russian who has made his fortune in an environment of endemic corruption and backhanders has not at least investigated the possibility of buying an official or two.
Perhaps it’s healthier to pretend there isn’t an issue, and you’re quite right that during a game the players should always keep their heads down and just deal with whatever refereeing decisions come their way.
I do agree that we should move on, but there’s no harm dredging it up on a blog once in a while. It’s actually quite cathartic.
And with that, I shall don my tin foil hat and go back to working out how they faked the moon landings and whether that really is Elvis living in my next door neighbour’s shed.
N7 260, once more you speak for me 🙂 Totally share your analyse of that game and where we were at the exact moment of the sending off
Okay, new .com design is utterly hopeless 🙁
N7, I agree with what Ollie said about agreeing with you. And I am sure tabs does too 🙂
I would also like to add that this game is the only game that I have ever been convinced that the ref deliberately cocked up. There is one other where I would not be the least bit surprised to hear that money had exchanged hans, althoug for now I’ll still put it down to just incredible ineptitude. But as you say, thinking that there is no corruption at all would be naïve in the extreme.
Holy crap, Eandy – that design makes my head hurt!
N7….count me in as well…I just think the referee was total cunny. It was one of the most biased performances / absolute ineptitude (or both) of many that we have witnessed from the so called cream of european referees – english referees are not excluded from that.
Joe, I dont believe there is any harm for the supporters to recall moments of extreme angst from the past on a blog but agree players need to concentrate on the now, particularly on their defending responsibilities for the present group.
Morning folks.
Good stuff N7.
==
Here’s wishing you a better day, guv’, and for all our sakes, keep those planes up there.
Joe, I dont believe there is any harm for the supporters to recall moments of extreme angst from the past on a blog
Especialy when that certain moment may very well be under investigation.
Not sure it’s been mentioned in this bar (and can’t be arsed to check!) but the game in England that is under investigation is, according to Danish paper Extrabladet, Liverpool-Debrecen in 2009. Allegedly, the goalie was supposed to concede a number of goals but Liverpool were so crap they could only score once on a keeper that was actually trying to concede…
Lars. I thought it was dodgy when Dirk Kuyt scored the winner. 😉
Heh!
To be honest though I never really understood why Kuyt got so much stick from Liverpool supporters in particular and others in general. An underrated player in my eyes, always worked his socks off and had a knack for scoring important goals as well.
McLeish leaves Forest after 40 days. Blimey what a basket case of a club at the moment.
Eandy 262 just seen it now.
Aaaaaaaargh. The Horror, The Horror!
Charlie, I really don’t know why anyone would appoint McLeish in the first place….ever.
What a mess, you can’t see the Nottingham Forrest for the trees.
Lars, yeah, I was joking, he always put in a shift and could never be accused of giving less then his best. He was the Ere Divisie top scorer when he was at Feyenoord.
Lars, get your facts rights, it’s a Sun EXCLUSIVE! 😉
The Sun Says
Just after 9pm on February 4, Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet named the Liverpool-Debrecen Champions League tie from 2009 as one of the 380 European games under suspicion of match-fixing. Their report is quoted and discussed extensively on the internet.
On February 5, The Sun’s back page claims the story as a WORLD EXCLUSIVE. Not just a UK EXCLUSIVE, you understand, but a WORLD EXCLUSIVE. Because of course Denmark is not in the world.
Ollie, I stand corrected 🙂
Afternoon All,
Some very good stuff up there today on both sides of the fence re the CvC Barca incident. As Lars correctly surmised, I am very much with the “Busacca is a hopelessly inept, possibly corrupt, twat” Party. 🙂
N7 @260. Excellent post. Agree with every word. Apart from the bit about Elvis living in your next-door neighbour’s shed. That’s just silly. Everybody knows Elvis owns the local Newsagents at the top of my road. I often see Priscilla popping in for some Golden Virginia and a surreptitious quickie.
Eandy – Geez, you’re not wrong there. Absolutely dreadful!
I don’t think the new .com site is that bad.
Extensive Liam Brady interview on TalkShite today. Well worth a listen if you get the chance.
Not one hint of the much mooted bust up with AW that those who a) like to invent stuff and b) seek to blame Arsene for everything from the cost of an Emirates meat pie to global poverty have peddled recently (not so much here, but certainly elsewhere).
The truth is often far more prosaic and therefore more boring than raging confrontations and angry bust-ups. Brady confirmed that after 16 years in the role he wanted a new challenge and gave early notice in order to give the Club as much time as possible to find a suitable successor.
He also said that the Club were actively seeking out a new role for him.
and gave early notice in order to give the Club as much time as possible to find a suitable successor.
He also said that the Club were actively seeking out a new role for him.
Well, it’s exactly what was on the official website too. Incredible, innit? 😉
Heh Ollie 🙂
tabs: if Brady had fallen out with Arsene like some would have it, it would have been the worst drama-queen exit anyone has ever performed.
– Liam, non, I can not let you do a little bit that what you want!
– What?? I can’t take this anymore! That does it – I’m leaving… in sixteen months! And I’ll help you find my replacement! So there!!!
Heh Lars.
It’s snowing here…….. again. 🙁
Dear Mr.Levy
Please, please, please, please, please, hire Alex McLeish when you decide to sack AVB.
He’ll be cheap.
heh TS. Sadly there’s no chance of that.
Lars – Haha, exactly! 🙂 🙂
Seriously, I’m sure it’s designed for bloody tablets or mobile phones, but as a ‘PC’ website, I stand by my first impression, the new .con website is shite.
More ‘messy’ than ‘Messi’. Too much scrolling required, not enough stuff that you can catch in one simple view at the screen.
I like my websites compact, and this is just expansive shite.
Ollie@288: I agree. However, it’s not only expansive, it’s almost certainly expensive and as we know, in the IT world, if it’s expensive it must be good.
Afternoon all,
Very little time at the mo, but, I’m sure I heard at the time of ‘that’ game in the Nou Camp, that Barca had played 29 games under that referee and never lost.
One for the stattos, and apologies if I’ve started a wild goose chase, but I’m sure there was something like that going on.
One for the Merkans …
http://soccerwithoutlimits.com/former-arsenal-player-karbassiyoon-swol/16749/
No way game at Nou Camp was fixed, however hard done by we might feel. Any fixing from a dodgy betting perspective would have been to get the favourites ‘nobbled’.
Heh.
http://www.balls.ie/football/the-balls-ie-guide-to-being-a-football-hipster/
No.’s 12 and 13 and parts of No.8 a major problem but other than that … hipster me up!
Esso: not neccessarily. Bending the ref in favour of the favourites means that he has to make fewer dodgy calls which means it would raise less suspicion. You make less money, but on a safer bet with reduced risk of getting caught.
Ollie @ #288
To me, it looks like a classic case of trying to fix something that really wasn’t broken in the first place.
The previous design was very easy to use and navigate your way around. Isn’t that the whole point?
This new pravda.com site really isn’t plus our website now looks far too similar to everyone elses.
Ouengah & ve board aaaahrt!
By the way guys why are you calling .com site Pravda?:) just curious since it means “the truth” in czech:)
tabs @ 293 – massive heh. That’s spot on!
I have to cop to being guilty of number 8. I think Busquets is a criminally overlooked player, even if he is a horrible, diving little shit, and that Michael Carrick is much more influential than he’s been given credit for. Sadly.
I don’t think Pirlo should have won the ballon d’or though.
Have to go, so a shot in the dark for assist or pre-assist.
Exactly that Eandy. The “truth” according to Arsenal’s politburo.
N7 – Haha, agree with you on Carrick. Great player, unfortunately.
Eandy – “Pravda” a state-controlled Newspaper in communist Russia. Tool of the State, instrument of propaganda etc
Tabs it!
The new website is shite indeed. Hate it .
Ooh a long-ranger!
Runs along the touchline with arms aloft, not knowing whether to jump into the crowd or hug Arsene in a filial way. Settles for head-butting Tony Penis. Jogs back onto the pitch as a picture of innocence. Waits for the Ref to turn his back, and then makes a surreptitious wanker sign to Michael Owen.
Heh at Tabs. Nice shot sir.
Oh thanks for explanation, guess the direct translation is the same from russian to czech aswell, makes sense:) and well in tabs!
Oh and N7, do not get me started on Busquets, he has to possess some quality, otherwise he would not be starting for Barca, but I totally despise him as a player. Only thing I am going to give him credit for is that he keeps Alex Song on bench 😛
Now that’s a celebration that we can all approve of.
Are you watching Feo? 😉
Jovetic please Arsene …
http://ballsdot.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/jov.jpg
Good stuff tabs @293
Thanks Impec1, Eandy.
H2H – heh 🙂
Wow, tabs scored, and H2H tabsed it, heh.
Work has pretty much cunted me this week already!
Clive, I hear you but that was never a second yellow. It has hardly 2 seconds between the whistle blown and the shot taken as I recall
Eandy,
Pravda means truth in Macedonian too, and it means the same in all of the Slavic languages.
As for the football hipsters guide, I find myself pretty much in the rule 23.
“Remember the great Yugoslav team that never was.”
That was an astonishingly talented generation with Savicevic, Prosinecki, Susic, Pancev, Mihajlovic, Jugovic, Jarni, Suker, Boban, Boksic, Katanec, Mijatovic.
Bu, the main player in that team was Dragan Stojkovic-Pixie, former best player of Japanese Nagoya, at the same time when Arsene was manager there. Arsene himself pointed at Stojkovic as his successor at Arsenal many times in the interviews.
So, TABS, is that enough, or should I buy that Real Oviedo shirt?
lurky – Haha, all sounds more than enough to me, but I’d buy the shirt just to be on the safe side 😉
Me? All I want is a Dukla Prague away kit! 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na12OyJEgJ8
Far less than 2 seconds in fact, Harsha, I’d say, but I’m not watching it back, no thank you 😉
Only one last thing to add/ correct on the cVc Barca debate:
It was the 56th minute. He gave those cunts almost a full 40 minutes to overturn the tie.
We’re we outplayed over the 2 legs? Absolutely. But Chelski was outplayed in every stage of the knockout rounds last year and won the whole damn thing.
Cheers all.
And in honor of lonestar: BMBD.
Dragons? Pixies?
Water supply turned back on, then? 😉
On a completely unrelated note, I need some help. I am writing an article for the Arsenal Sweden fanzine on transfer targets that the self-appointed experts just knew that Arsene had to buy or he was an idiot, only for those players to then fail spectacularly – like Quaresma or Felipe Melo. There usually is one or two every transfer window, but my mind has gone blank. Any suggestions on other such targets?
In order to generate some controversy, can I be the first to say I like the new Pravda site?
In true Arsene fashion, I haven’t seen it 😉
Heh Dr Z 🙂
Well said Norcal.
Lars – Barton, Dempsey, M’Vila, Alvarez, Sahin, Larsson, Samba, Essien, Dann, Warnock, Bridge …
On a completely unrelated note, I need some help….
So they don’t do queueing in Sweden, then? 😛
Serious question, zico: have you only checked it on a mobile device, or have you checked it on a PC?
I suspect it looks all right on a mobile, and they have themselves admitted : ‘The re-design works across desktop, tablet and mobile devices’.
But frankly it is EXCLUSIVELY targeted at mobile devices.
Use it on a PC, zomm out with Ctrl+mousewheel and it will all become clear.
On a PC, it’s a fucking nonsense with the wrong proportions.
Get to the main page, and there is hardly any content in what you naturally get.
You need to do a lot of vertical scrolling, which is extremely uncool.
You can’t get all the fixtures or tickets information in the compact way you were able to get it in the previous version of the website.
It’s all over the fucking place.
Seriously, it’s a mobile-only website. Are we so skint that we can’t maintain a non-mobile version?
This is a website I’ve only ever checked on a computer and ‘enjoyed’ checking every day even if most of the generic content finds it way into the web quickly.
But fixtures and ticket information, squad news (press conf digest and the lot), and er,….. new signings announcement 😉 , you know, I used to check it happily.
But now?
I check the website again on arriving home, to see if it looks different on this laptop, and without having to juggle it with work.
And no, it makes me want to run the fuck away from it without clicking on a single thing.
As I said, it probably looks a lot better on a mobile now, and for people who just love vertical scrolling by caressing a screen.
It makes me hate tablets and mobile phone, I am seething.
Lars, I’d say Remy is a good call too, given his possibly long-term injury now.
Serious answer, my Ljungberg-esque friend, I really haven’t seen it. 🙂
Lars – Bent.
and Bender.
Some very germane comments about Brady. That was the least bitter interview I have ever heard. One of the strengths of SAF is his willingness to shake up his backroom team so even if Arsene is wielding the axe (more one of those bendy axes your kids play with) it is constructive and its also great to utilise Chippy’s skills and experience elsewhere in the club. If DB10 does come in it will be a very productive way of using the skills of one of our greatest ever players in a hugely formative role. Especially as he can’t as it stands ever be a manager given his problem with flying. It would be a huge attraction for great young talent to work with one of the greatest players who ever lived (i’m biased but he is a genius!)
Back to Brady-it has been handled well by the club and I suspect TalkShite are highly disappointed he didn’t say anything more controversial. In fact it was so constructive I’m surprised they aired it!
Much as I hate Ashley Cole I do agree with Brady about his quality as a player. We would have been mullered by the press over his off-field life but he has stayed a great left-back. Don’t see him ever coming back to the club though.
tabs/Ollie: Cheers for those names. Hadn’t heard that Remy is injured though.
Dr Feelgood, I must sadly admit that I did not get the joke@321 🙁
Lars, Nuri Sahin
Lars
M’Villa (alias French Denilson),
and that always over hyped shyt player Benzema.
Aaah, Tabs already got him.
zico 324. Mwahahahah, well played my friend! 😀
You can see I was so irate at the website I didn’t even register the punchline in your initial post, now that I’m checking, heh.
I have calmed down a bit now, knowing that nobody will listen to me and that I will have to begrudgingly accept that the website is a fait accompli and that I may even get used to it….because I have no choice 🙁
Vertical scrolling is the new uncool, who knew? 😎
Zooming out a little definitley helps though, good tip Ollie
Hi everyone. Holic, this was one of those times where the ‘tone’ of your piece was just as enjoyable as the content itself. Nice picture, please keep them coming 🙂 Don’t think Michael should be censored, his heart was clearly not in it (the half hearted punch) 🙁
BTM, Sorry I didn’t respond sooner to your response. Three thirteen hour shifts in a row, left me little time to do so 🙁 I feel Arsenal are missing out on lucrative deals, by excluding a tour of the states in the summer. I stand by what I said about our Jack 🙂
A cross that ends up in the back of the net?
I think that France U20 left back spends too much time on the drinks 😉
And now a nice goal from Thauvin.
Hi abb!
So, in closing, enjoyed everyone’s contributions. Delia, as usual your post match report sparkled 🙂 oskar the dog @ 374 (previous post). You said this. “AW is playing a dangerous game ‘resting’ players”. Couldn’t disagree more with that. I believe Gibbs’s injury might well have been brought on because he was already in the ‘red’ zone. 🙁 Nite all. 🙂
Hey there Ollie 🙂
Lars @ 328
Point being that you may not be the only one in need of help 😉
Chuba scores a first-half brace for England U19.
Esso – Whitcher and Fynn are the reason I stopped reading Arsenal -The Makings of A Modern Superclub in the middle.
I just couldn’t keep going. It was like reading a Steven Howard column in the sun about how we are shit ’cause we don’t buy. I’m sick of it.
I’ve always found the crazy passion for buying in the English leagues as funny since in different leagues (and different sports) the journalists challenge coaches to find the solutions from within and that is where I think the best are shown. A manager that can adjust in-game time (i.e second half adjustments to win the game) or in mid-season is much more valued in my eyes.
There are countless examples of teams that bought and sucked ass, but instead of finding that “supermarket approach” wrong, the journalists merely comment on how the players bought were the wrong ones and new players need to be bought.
Sagna ans Kos likely to start tomorrow according to this:
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2013/02/05/211731_bleus-avec-sagna-et-sissoko.html
(also Mert&Poldi, but I guess that’s more guesswork)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ttg@327, if db10 could take that role it’d be magnificent. one of my primary critiques of our strikers is that they have, until very recently, shown little “touch” when shooting. they just banged and prayed; viz the ox’s saved shot from five yards…he had half the goal at his mercy, or at least a fat third, and he shot straight at the keeper.
that said, the hfb has a nice touch, and has excellent weight on his flicks and lobs, at least those that lead to assists, and is showing more and more the correct choices as to how to hit them. santi as well, though i am not as convinced. jack has shown flashes, and could develop into a lethal finisher if he used all the tools in his bag.
db10 had the most incredible touch on the ball for the goal. it never went in faster than it needed to, he so often chipped or lobbed, or looped balls over or around the keeper and/or defenders. his “100 best” (however many it actually is) is a masterclass in how to get the ball into the net past any number of the other team. i grant you that he might be too high a bar for anyone to ever actually *reach*, but can you imagine him working with someone from age 9-18 on how to use the weight of your ball striking as a precision tool? mouthwatering.
snir@345, i am glad i am not the only one. the book is the most disorganized, repetitive, bolshi book on a subject i’ve read in a long time. i am reading a book called “shop class as soulcraft”, which was expanded from a new york times magazine article into a book 2/3 as long as “superclub”…and it utterly suffers from expansion bloat.
the way that bloat feels while reading it is what makes me think the authors of “superclub” (a) don’t know how to write very well, and (b) had a couple of ideas and sold it to the publisher for a book-length advance, on the basis maybe of “gooner” articles…
Being a POF,i feel the need to correct those on here,and there are a few,N7 in particular,who keep insisting that RVP got a red card/sent off for time wasting.
This is not true.!!
He received a yellow card for so called time wasting,and because the fuckwit had already been booked,it became a send off because of the 2 yellow card rule.
Cheers
Pedantic Old Fucker.
By the by,i personally blame Fabrgas for that defeat,if he doesn’t try a quite ludicrous back heel outside his own penalty area,right on half time,that led to Messi scoring,i think we would have stuffed them.
BTM was there and i remember his comments that ‘ Barca were gone’
had run out of ideas,and were there for the taking.
Hang on ABB (#341) I was talking about the risks involved in resting players who are fit, not playing regulars who are injury risks. If AW knew, or suspected, Gibbs was injured he shouldn’t have started him. God knows who should have played LB, but until Nachos were added to our menu Gibbsy was a precious asset.
Then again he may have known Monreal (with cheese) was on his way, which would have minimised the Gibbs risk.
At this critical time of the season I believe we should start our best players in every game. Take them off early if all goes well, but let’s not get to three-quarter time in matches still chasing the game and hope bench players can pick up match pace in time to get us a result. I much prefer the way the Invincibles did it … score three times in the first twenty minutes and then sleep through the rest of the game.
No, this lot aren’t in that same league, but we’re still far more likely to score early goals when our best players start.
It’s also better for my heart. 🙂
Oskar