Let’s Do It For Joe
Feb 15th, 2013 by 'holic
So regulars would have seen me gushing about my first love on Soccer Without Limits earlier this week. How did we let such a talent go at the peak of his powers, I hear you ask. The answer my friends is topical. Joe Baker, scorer of 101 goals in 156 games for the Gunners, did fail to hit the target occasionally. The last time was on January 22nd, 1966.
Involved in a relegation battle, we travelled to fellow strugglers Blackburn in the third round of the FA Cup. A week earlier they had edged a league meeting at Ewood Park by the odd goal in three. It didn’t stop them ending the season rock bottom, below even Northampton Town (yes, you did read that right). We avoided the dreaded drop by four points, and seven places. We didn’t, however, avoid a 3-0 drubbing in that ill-fated cup tie. The season was over and a scapegoat was needed. Joe never made another competitive appearance in an Arsenal shirt. Shortly afterwards he was a Nottingham Forest player.
So you can see why I harbour an irrational hatred of the club that went on to give Sam Allardyce a job, and thereby offered contracts to a string of players who were truly the spawn of the devil. Only in recent years have they started to pay some degree of penance by regularly selecting Paul Robinson to keep goal against us. Unfortunately he is not in line to start this weekend, and as @LittleDutchVA pointed out on Twitter his absence, plus the appointment of Mike Dean as referee makes this a much more difficult task than it should be!
Reading between the lines as Arsene addressed the press ahead of the match I would think, as with Brighton in the last round, we will see a degree of rotation. At the Amex we needed to bring the big guns off the bench to secure the result. Blackburn have an experienced line-up but look as though our pace and movement may be an issue for them. With one eye on Bayern it is likely, for example, that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will start ahead of Theo Walcott. Perhaps one or indeed both of Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky will get a start in the midfield.
The pressure will be on us to impose ourselves on them, for certain. It may take an hour of moving them around the park before the gaps start to appear, but appear they will, surely? Blackburn are on a decent run, but a run built on performances against sides without the fight shown by Arsenal in the last couple of outings. The ‘holic pound is guided by a desire to see full repayment of that 3-0 beating in England’s World Cup winning year, and a belief in our desire to do just that.
This is your last chance to win four executive box tickets for next weekends match against Aston Villa with Gunners Gaming. Click on the banner above, punt ten pounds on this weekend’s game, and you will be in the draw for that excellent day. The closing date for entries is midday Saturday. Don’t miss out.
I would like to close by thanking you for your kind comments about the historical pieces that enabled me to fill an otherwise quiet week, plus of course the contribution of Bergkamp the Man for his excellent piece on the subject of the Arsenal brand. The coming week is likely to have more of a Germanic feel to it. Keep everything crossed as we go into two matches so crucial to keeping the season meaningful.
Have a good one ‘holics.
287 Responses to “Let’s Do It For Joe”
You better scream!
Runner up !
Free at last
It;s like a trophy
Esso 😀
Missing my third game since The Emirates opened this weekend.
Hope Fatty Robinson has mentored his successor well.
I’ve lost count of how many goals Misses Robinson has conceded against us but I’m sure it’s closer to 70 than 60.
Over to you NBN……
Fancy us for a clean sheet this weekend.
Three nil to The Arsenal.
@ the man
Ha, Ha, and Ha once again!
Its all about the timing.
From the BBC preview of tomorrow’s game:
Arsenal beat Blackburn 3-0 in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in April 2005 and went on to win the competition for the 10th and most recent time.
What’s this? Surely the Beeb are legally required to mention how long it is since the club won a trophy?
A little lower down the page:
Arsenal are the second most successful club in FA Cup history, but they have not won a major trophy since this competition eight years ago.
Ahhhh. That’s better.
Raises glass to the ‘holic and offers a prayer that his punt will come in this week.
COYG
Oh, failed to register your 3-0 Holic – great minds an’ all. 😉
B’burn and their fowl owners have become a bit of a laughing stock since the take over, it’s time to give a finger lickin’ good kickin’ to the sponsered by the chicken.
Over to you Trev…..
With you holic there on 3-0 for us, drinking some fine white wine now ..need a lift after hard day at work and seeing groups of chelski fans roaming Prague on my way home.
Don’t get too close to them, E’, we don’t want you coming down with a nasty case of Chavitis. 😉
I had my trusty Arsenal scarf on me H2H ..fear not 😀 ( btw Chavs were dire against Sparta for most part of the game, Torres especially pretty much invisible, was it not for oscar 0:0 draw would be totally fair result)
Nice preview, as usual Guv, hopefully the ‘holic pound will be successful this weekend.
Trev, I fear I will have to disappoint you – it is closer to 60 than 70. I total, he has conceded 64 goals, of which 60 were in the league. The four he conceded in the FA Cup was when we beat Leeds at Elland Road in 2004.
I well remember that awful weekend in 1966 and furthermore it cost us Eastham as well as Baker. My teenage years scarred! I also remember them playing us in 2001 at Highbury and us scoring twice in the first five minutes going on to win 3-0. That would do nicely tomorrow.
Hope Rosicky returns and the best player in Africa seems just like a new signing. If he plays well he will!
I shall be babysitting two young grandsons and trying to fill their heads with Arsenal propaganda.Enjoy the game ‘holics.
A string of players who were truly the spawn of the devil
That’s what I was trying to say in the first house, earlier today 😉
Trev missing out tomorrow? Expect the price of Guinness to come down as the excess supply is dumped on the market! 8)
I’m in the relegation zone again. I’m still fighting. This week I guess we will be cock fighting.
3-0 it is.
Well done ‘holic – a preview and trip down memory lane rolled into 1.
Spent the month of jan 66 recovering in hospital from a routine op that the Whittington managed to fu*k up. In those days, after bringing round the evening meal, the hospital staff offered all patients a bottle of Guinness to aid recovery, on the basis it was “good for you” ( think it was the iron ). Didn’t take long for the drinkers, to arrange for the non drinkers to take up their allocation which was swiftly passed over to s once the staff had finished mmmmm.
Went up the m1 to that game at Northampton Town. If I recall rightly, the ground in those days was shared / attached with the county cricket club. There was just 1 stand down one part of the pitch and benches around the rest. The ground was “full” but they kindly supplied beer crates for us to stand on and watch over the back of the benches.
Back to the current game, I like the sound of 3-0 to the gunners, with Cote D’Ivoire’s finest to get a brace ( and also to miss 3 sitters 😉 ).
Best of luck with that Mr TTG and good stuff Mr Uply.
Holic,
As someone who reads a number of blogs and regards yours as the one I enjoy most may I ask a small request? Cut the bollocks by promoting Gunners Gaming you’re better than that. If you’re only doing this for the money expect me to read elsewhere.
Another week of too much work too little money and none of the black stuff. Krikey thats no good.
Holic your posts recently have been a joy to read and for those of us with less grey hair – ahem … – educational.
Im in for 4-1 to the mighty red and white. OG, the OX, and my main man TR7 with another. And he will remind us all what a player he is! Yes i know thats just three but the crystal ball is a bit dusty, and krusty..
A drink for anyone in the bar at this late hour onmy tab.
Except for theeternalop. Nobody gets snarky on the holic.
On second thot, ill buy ya can of warm Pabst. Better make it 2!… Thatll do it.
Ha ha!
H’ excellent as usual. Like your Holic pound prediction. Would love a clean sheet.
Trev – that sentence makes me envy you to no end.
Nice preview Holic.
So who out of us is going to be there? I am, but no Trev. Ollie will be, but will BtM? Can anyone clue me in? 🙂
3-0 should be a minimum aspiration for a club of our strength against a club of theirs … it should be more.
theeternaloptimist … if the facts of commercial life offend you it’s your prerogative to seek purity wherever you can find it. Whether you will discover more articulate argument elsewhere is another matter entirely…
Oskar
my lineup vs Blkburn
chesny
coq, verm, mert, monreal
diaby, rosicky, ramsey
ox, giroud, gervinho
vs Bayern
chesny
sagna, kos, mert, monreal
arteta, wilshere,santi
theo, giroud, poldi
what do you think?
correction:
vs Bayern
chesny
sagna, kos, mert, verm
arteta, wilshere,santi
theo, giroud, poldi
what do you think?
zico/’holic – d’you see wilko on bbc breakfast yesterday
what a guy !
.
anyhoo
mornin’ all – hope yer all well
i’m limbering up for an afternoon of involuntary behaviour in the pub this afternoon
😉
afternoon? morning? shortly? what’s in a name?
.
COME ON YOU REDS !
A HK G,
Not a bad shout at all. The goalkeeping options are terrifying.
Oskar, nice reply to theeterop…… Nuff said, old chap. 😉
Snir,
You needn’t be envious for long. You’ll soon be there with a seat for free when you take over IG’s job.
Mind you, that will be curtains for your TDD madness, unless ……..
the eternal optimist:
If you are a regular reader as you claim, then you ought to know that far from profiteering, the barman uses what little income comes from such promotion as an assistance to maintain this site. I don’t think he will be posting from the Bahamas any time soon, so you can relax.
cba, unfortunately breakfast tv is not something I am remotely familiar with, but I’ll try and source it on yoo choob!
Morning all. Nice preview with a historic twist Holic. None of the quality papers come close to your database when it comes to past precedents.
Thought I was going to this game until I discovered that WoB had lumbered me with a dinner party this evening. Bathlets both in attendance today.
3-0 to the Arsenal sounds nice. Just win, Gunners, just win.
Anything else and I will not be the sparkling socialite that the hosts are expecting.
cba,
just found it on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQjVMr9M7hk
He is more lucid than I. I’ll swear Dr z said he was going to see him last night.
I need a rest…
Heh, sparkling socialite – give it with (or drink) both barrells. 🙂
No 9th March Holic, hence why I am missing Everton.
Zico, good reply to theeter…. I decided it wasn’t worth it. 😉
But since we have:
So much work, knowledge, history and quality goes into the Guvnor’s running of this place, that to demand it is all done without any attempt to even cover some of the running cost of the blog is, well, ……
see, that’s why I didn’t bother …..
Snap Trev, somewhat churlish of the young’un, I thought.
Definitely more lucid than you, H 😉
Great link H. Such a great clip and example for ‘living in the moment’. Cool dude.
So… it’s Saturday again, and the Arsenal are playing in a few hours. This always puts me in a good mood, and it certainly doesn’t get any worse by the realisation that in a week I’ll be in London again.
I think we’ll see some rotation today but not too much, I suspect Arsene will want to have the option of going with pretty much the full-strength team towards the end (like he did v Brighton) if we are not comfortably ahead. I’m quite sure that we’ll see Gervinho start and to be honest I think that making his return in a game like this might not be a bad idea at all.
In any case it will be interesting to see if the team can build on the fighting spirit that we’ve seen more and more of lately. Blackburn aren’t a very good team and we should of course beat them quite comfortably if we play with the right attitude.
Trev@36: amen to that.
zico/Holic: I must admit to knowing next to nothing about Wilko Johnson, but that short interview that the Holic linked to was quite compelling viewing regardless.
Right, breakfast awaits…
Morning all.
Please don’t have a pop at the eternal. He is entitled to his view as anyone.
Eternal, what I will say is all I will advertise on here will be Arsenal related. I have no Google ads imploring you to buy United merchandise or search for Russian brides. If I cover my hosting cost, which is very much in the balance, then great.
I would also say that when they offer hospitality as prizes then I would love one of the ‘holics to win it. I have been their guest, and very generous hosts they are too.
Morning Holic,
Apologies for the obnoxious way I worded my comment last night, far too much gin I’m afraid ;). I genuinely love the blog (and bar) and won’t be reading elsewhere anytime soon (what a stupid comment…haha). And thank you for your mature response.
Just to say the comment was born out of growing frustration of seeing both your blog, arseblog and others increasingly referring to gambling sights in your posts. I understand why you do it, and I appreciate you aren’t getting a great deal of money from them and certainly won’t be posting from the Bahamas anytime soon (haha…re-zicoinexile). It just annoys me that these parasites are able to get everywhere, there seems to be no place online they cannot reach…And that’s from a seasoned punter and someone who has worked within the gambling industry.
Anyway onwards and upwards and hopefully a good performance this afternoon
Great preview ‘H.
Team today is a difficult one to call. I thought there would be wholesale changes, and then I read Lars’ comment and now I’m not so sure.
Soo .. best shot ..
Sches
Sagna Per Kos Monreal
Diaby, Ramsey, Rosicky
Ox, Poldi, Gerv.
Score much easier to predict. 4-0 innit.
Gulp.
Come on you Gunners!
Maybe Coq at RB.
Hedging my bets.
Oxon @ #8 – Well observed humour. I knew you had it in you to make people laugh 😉
The eternal optimist – Are you sponsored by Ladbrokes? I might be tempted to place a bet on that through this site so that the proprietor can help to cover the costs of the platform that you choose to abuse. Now count to 10, pull-up a chair, have a slurp on me and have a think about playing nicely with the other gnarly old gits in here…. please.
Badly timed previous post *makes mental note to refresh before posting*
Respect for apologising to the guvnor
Well said Guvnor @ 41 🙂 (I think the Russian Brides Ad on arseblog is due to him having larger hosting costs 😛 )
Told my parents I was going to an Arsenal game after the barbers, my dad was like “Ok, see you later.” 🙂 I should expect more of my parents I suppose, although I did go to Tesco for the Milk he wanted & settled a loan with my mum for a school trip yesterday so that may have made them more hospitable to it… 8)
I’d love to go to a game with the Winddad one day, especially since he follows football but is impartial to all of the teams properly supported in the Wind household (Arsenal & Man Utd), I think he just likes to see good football played, and who has the best football of all? The Arsenal 😀
Hello All.
The historical pieces are really interesting, thanks ‘Holic. I now have a soft spot for Joe Baker as he was the answer to a Goonerholic quiz that I won :-). If you haven’t done one, is there any chance you could do a historical piece on George Armstrong? If you have done one, would you mind pointing me in its direction?
Good luck to the lads today.
Thanks for the interest on the brand post, Holics. I won’t beat it to death but wanted to pick up on a couple of themes.
Many agree that brand is important in pulling fast moving consumers goods (Coke, Pepsi, Lynx) off the shelves. These products are viewed as “constant and unchanging”. Inject some change and flux and suddenly brand becomes irrelevant.
Arsenal experiences more flux than Coke. But in comparison to the IT industry, Arsenal slumbers. And yet Apple is one of the best-known (and most nurtured) brands in the world, promising, and delivering, cool technology. The brand, and flawless delivery of the promise it represents are (at least) as important to Apple’s $150 billion cash-mountain as the technology inside the iPod.
Trev’s Hyundai example is perfect. In its early days the Hyundai didn’t live up to the advertising hype. The experience promised didn’t materialize. The brand’s reputation went into the ditch and became a major negative for them. Hyundai improved the product and in parallel built a brand promise of reliability and value (industry speak for low price). They also spent massively communicating that brand promise and their business is flourishing. And now Trev (in a foreign country) is a firm brand advocate. Trev, are you up for a trip to Indonesia? Ngeria?
But will Hyundai ever compete with the German brands, Audi, BMW, Mercedes – three of the world’s best known. How do these brands differentiate themselves?. They compete in the same “premier league”. Their brand attributes are similar (Performance, Innovation, Expertise) but the promise of each brand, portrayed at considerable cost in global media, is subtly different. Which one promises the ultimate driving experience? What do the other two promise?
No product will succeed if it can’t deliver on the promise represented by its brand. However, even the most successful product will fail if its brand doesn’t create consumer pull for it. Arsenal needs to focus and invest on BOTH the product on the field and the strength and recognition of the brand in global markets. Do both and Arsenal will become a great global brand, generating real money through business channels to underpin success on the green, green grass of THOF.
And on the price of tickets, BtM Junior and BtM Grandson watched Fulham together in the family enclosure. Total ticket bill? 50 pounds. Family oriented Arsenal, nurturing through “Junior Gunners” the fans of the future. (TaBS you scare-mongerer you!).
So what does the Arsenal brand promise? Is it champagne football as Washed Up suggests? Or is there more to it than that? Where does the tradition that Holic loves, and the family orientation that Steve T and TaBS promote, fit in?
Arsenal needs to:
1. Be able to articulate the brand’s attributes and its promise
2. Align global communications around these. Avoiding “phony bullshit” at all costs.
3. Invest heavily in promoting the promise to an exploding global community, thirsty for great global brands.
Arsenal can and MUST do better – and that’s ALL I’m saying on that subject.
Wind,
Sorry. Won’t be at the game today so can we put the haddock on hold. I will be in London on March 9 which is the next round of the FA Cup. So, with a home win today and a home draw in the next round, the haddock’s are on me. Hope to see you then. 🙂
Afternoon all.
No FA cup on the tv here, so I’ll be stream hunting just before kick off.
I’m not gonna hazard a guess about how we will line up today, way too many variables, I just hope they come out with fire in their bellies and the realisation that the opposition has got literaly nothing to lose.
All eyes will be on us to win, we are massive favourites and these situations always makes me a little uneasy, we have a long history of succoming to the underdogs and I don’t want today being another chapter in that horrible book. If we play our game we will win, but we musn’t be complacent, we won’t win just by turning up.
Time to put that mental strength we’re always hearing about to good use to get the desired result.
COME ON YOU REDS!!!
BtM @ 50, ahh I see, I seem to have misled myself from a few bars back about you swapping going to Everton @ Home for an FA Cup Fixture, thought it was this one 😳
Indeed, hopefully with a Home Win & a Home Draw I’ll get to meet you and meet that Haddock also 😉 , maybe we can rope in tabs to come as well eh? 😉
My funds have taken a beating recently (Paying back Money, paying for School Trips, paying for Birthday presents, soon to be paying to go down to Plymouth for an Applicant Open Day etc etc) but hopefully my hours at work should boost them in time for that weekend to aid in spare hunting, even if I didn’t manage a spare I’d most likely come down to the Tollie to meet you although results day is 2 days before, hopefully it goes well but outside of a Wembley Appearance that game could potentially be my last time watching the Arsenal for the season, University Offers have been flying in and I need to buckle down at some point to get the grades to get in and progress in my further education 🙂
Hello Poppet, I will have to see what I can do on Geordie, a worthy subject indeed.
Good afternoon haddock munchers.
Love a good meaty cod me, in a light beer batter. 🙂
Thank you ‘Holic.
Szczesny, Coquelin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Monreal, Diaby, Rosicky, Arteta, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud
Subs: Mannone, Sagna, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski
Arsenal team: Szczesny, Coquelin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Monreal, Diaby, Rosicky, Arteta, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud
Oops, Toby too quick or me…. 🙁
Have a beer on me then Zico! I will have to wait a little while longer. Had quite a bit of red wine yesterday – and with quite a bit I mean a volume about the same size as Loch Leven.
Wouldn’t mind having Giroud rested actually, with Podi up front, but I want to win the game as well. We’ll see if this team can do it! Going to be a nice game methinks.
Hi everyone ! Holic, a nice team spirited post from you in a good natured way ( ‘irrational’ hatred ). I befriended someone on twitter who is a Rover’s fan and who also admires The Arsenal 🙂 As for today’s game, am optimistic for us going through. Our lads must make sure Jordan Rhodes gets little time on the ball as possible. From what I read of him, he mainly concentrates on play around the box, so that shouldn’t be a big problem for us 🙂
Hey ABB. Looks like we’ll be the usual bunch here today.
Yet another back 5 that have never played together.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we held some kind of record on that front.
Still, should be enough to get the job done and if not that’s about a strong a bench to call upon you could wish for.
Hey there Toby! Hope H2H gets a stream and can join us 🙂 Also looking forward to Eandy saying ‘hehe’ at some point 🙂
*waves to nursie.
I know where to look, it’s just a quastion if the stream survives (doesn’t stick etc)
For those in need;
http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=190237&part=sports
Ah I see H2H already provides, afternoon everyone 😛 and hehe indeed abb..TR starting! :))
Hello abb.
Feeling strangely optimistic, and have therefore had a couple of little flutters on 5-0 and 6-0, thereby ensuring we draw 1-1 with an injury time penalty 😉
BtM will be happy to hear the 2-1 was left untouched. 😉
Hi Eandy and Holic 🙂 The jinx is on, NOT ! 🙂
The Mugabe-style multimedia lockdown starts here. Have a good one all.
Not every day that the opposition starts with more Swedes than we start with Englishmen!
I dearly miss the Tuesday Club, ‘Holic. Have a good one!
I’m happy to see that the Coq has got the start at right back .He filled in well as full back before he got injured last season.Added interest for me, as my sister has just texted me from The Emirates.Her first visit ,a friend lent her his season ticket on an impulse last night seeing as she was in town.
Wharton Barton says the difference between Championship and Premiership players is ‘Pace’. Interesting 😉
COYRRR’s
rock and roll! coffee brewed, and ready for an arsenal win. COYR!
I really like the look of our bench today ..I still think we have fielded in quite strong team..COME ON LADS!
Here WE go AGAIN!!! C’mon you reds!!! 🙂
nice to see a competent lineswoman on the flag today, may compensate for the dog with the whistle.
Hi scruz 🙂
Agreed Scruz.
good idea by Coq
Morning, abb, eandy, everyone 🙂
Hey scruz:)
Oh good stuff from TR and OX!
Getting some joy down the right.
I’m not likin this Orr chap at all 🙁
Ooo late tackle
hello all
good pressure on both flanks
coyr
We’re putting the pressure on em, keep it up lads!
gervs lively.
Good effort by Gervais, but no one coming into help…
we are cooking..come ooon!
Nice cross by OX.
look good cross
great ball in by Ox…shame!
Nice work by Giroud to win the ball in defense.
Oh what a chance that could have been!
Rosicky gives us those bursts forward. Lovely. Glad to have him when Jack isn’t playing.
TR and Diaby…lovely
His corners are not so good so far though.
BOOM
again gerv in a nice position!
good pressure for the ton?
good one Toby
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Diaby!
diaby close!
OOooo Diaby
TR, Ox, Diaby, Gervais making good plays.
good encouragement by Thomas for the Ox
Some really great movement.
Finishing just letting us down.
COYR’s
nice interplay at the top of the box, ox shanks it. well in toby.
Good stuff from Coq and Gervais!
Orr is now scared to take gervy
nice control by Gerv..instant glue..nifty
Good grief…more corners than a dodecahedron!
Meet the Verminator.
Hey Eandy ‘instant glue’, good one 🙂
Heh Cam’
Tricky penetration from OX, just needs work on the finishing.
Hah ..loved TR now …Blackburn player looking to push him away from ball..ending up on the floor after TR riposted brilliantly:)
Aarrgghh!
In France – aha, listen in on Player I thought.
Go to log in with my email and password – as under the old system – and need, instead, my Membership Number which is, of course, in England. 🙁
The obvious solution to all this is clearly not to go on holiday.
Trev try one of these then http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=190237&part=sports
Brilliant work by Gervinho!
another corner. nothing from it. but again props to gervs for getting so easily into the box…
Looked like a penalty to me
Man, lovely stuff from arteta, Coq, diaby And Gervhais!
all we are saying is give us a goal
diaby needs to change his cleats at the half.
What a player TR is ..I just love watching that guy
FFS
Oh Gervinho, should have put that one in 🙁
Anyone but flipper!!! Aaaaagggghhh
Oooh, gervs. so close!
how did Gervinho miss that OMG 🙁
oooo Gervs Gervs
The crowd couldn’t been quieter…
Rosicky is absolutely fantastic today. Not even going to comment the Gerv-miss.
Right, I’m going to comment it. It should, of course, be a goal, but it’s not just him that misses chances like this. Loads of strikers do, and he has had quite a good game this far, so I’m not anyone near to crucifying him at the moment.
But please, Gerv, if you get another chance, pretty please, put it away.
agreed on rozza, Toby.
and at 138!
Usual crap from the commentators.
“Blackburn are very well organised.”
No they’re not, they’re scared shitless, negative and totally unambitious!
Really good first half without hitting goal nor that final gear. This game might go either way, but at the moment it feels like a goal or two are coming our way.
aigh. 137. talk about an own goal 🙂
Good showing …should have been at least one up really ..keep it up and we are all set…I suppose first goal will let the dam open.
Toby, fair assessment from you. Just hope he doesn’t let that clunker bother him and deter him, mentally 🙁
And agreed with Toby ..Gerv has been good today apart from that miss. OG is pretty quiet today though, working hard but anonymous in the final third so far.
TR has been so enjoyable to watch also. Le Coq demonstrated some really tricky foot work, must say I just love intricate stuff like that 🙂
Its great to watch indeed abb, but it must be connected with some pace and purpose..which both Coq and Ox are showing on constant basis (I am going to slap myself for this but the prime example of brilliant footwork along with pace is Ronaldo for me). Now lads…smash one in and finish the job.
Morning all.
Haven’t even popped the clutch but still should be winning. It will come. Keep it up and a calm finish.
Has Gerv been Good?
Maybe I just can’t see it due to my own preconceptions, but I feel he slows down play, keeps hold of the ball too long and often just runs into players. I must admit I’m finding it pretty hard to watch on the stream plus I have the sound out, so it might just be me.
What I can see is that we really should be finishing off some of these chances, but still believe that if we get one the floodgates will open, lets hope our second half team have their scoring boots on.
On the positive side, TR7 looking lively and willing and Arteta is immense, what a player! He’s everywhere.
Come On You Gunners.
Thank you Arteta! Great header, saved us!
hey, norcal!
Almost OG! Lively start, for sure!
Ok. Time to wake up and turn the screw!
I say Gerv has been good enough. Didn’t expect more from a player that will never be one of the best in the world, and that just has returned to the team, and has been a bit low in both form and confidence.
I’m happy with him this far today. But he will have to do better if he is to stay in the team, and even on the bench, the next year or two.
OG more involved offensively thus far, this half.
Please Lord, you see how hard our lads are playing, reward them with a goal, SOON!
Freakin missed this bar…boy this blackburn side is making us look good!
how many positions is Abu playing in today. he is everywhere
Tr7 not in it as much this half.
COME ON YOU REDSSSSSSSSS
Bentley use to play for us 🙁
they just put on their grease monkey.
David Bent-ley.
Booooo.
Oh Tomas, beautiful, almost!
What a strike Rosicky. So close.
OOoooooooooo Rosicky
arsha coming on. Tr7!!! Close!
Shameee:((
U bastard that was so close to being a goal! Looks like the big guns are coming on. Triple sub… Walcott, Corzola and Wilshere
Really, we deserve to win this one!
gervs denied.
Diaby, brave effort!
more and more pressure, boys.
good strike by Abou
huh, arsha must have been letting theo or jack by.
C’mon Arsenal!!!!
about
Disaster strikes again!
oh so sad…
Fuuuuuuck nooooooo.
🙁 shit!
Rosicky didn’t looki too happy did he?
Surprised OG stayed on, not his day so far.
WHAT IN THE HELLS FUCK
No worries. We WILL get one goal this game. Perhaps more. But we WILL score.
Yep, that was bound to happen. 🙁
great pass jack.
Quadruple fuck!
Depressingly predictable.
Didn’t want to say it for the last 15 but it was starting to look like one of those games. Now it is, bollocks!!!
German commentator wanted pod on for og
should be yellow for mo pete.
Why TR off and Diaby stay on? I just don’t get it. Czech the Technique reminds me so much of our Israeli loanee before- lively, talented, and so much time on the bench…:(
So typical. Poor by the pol on gol. Pushed it straight out front.
God, sorry to state the obvious, but how many games would’ve turned out different for us these past few seasons if we’d had an early goal… so much rests on competing our early chances as so many sit back against us.
COYR!
nacho time.
Mike Dean..you cunt
how to cancel the mike dean effect?
Blattant cuntery by Dean!
I’ll supply the cross, who’s there?
Typical fucking Dean
still a cunt.
Flick
Dean = Cuntbucket
oh that was our chance….
another goalie having a career day. COYR!
That just sums up our day.
Should have started with our best team! Then made subs after we have a couple. It always seems a too little too late!
God damn. I laughed at liverpoo for dominating a game recently and losing to WBA. Same goes today.
Utter shit finishing.
Time wasting.
Heroic efforts, what a shame…
I think that’s it boys a loss at home to Blackburn.
No luck today
WHAAAT HOW IS THAT NO GOAL
They got booed at the end as well I would probably do the same under the circumstances it was after all Blackburn!
Fuck. that was pooooor, considering the stakes and our profligacy.
another cup progression denied by fucking woodwork…gutted
Same old same old same old rings a bell
How can it be, we had the ball the entire time, played classy football and lose to a team so inferior to us ??? Their goalie was their savior. Mates, I’m so devastated.
That’s that.
Once again only ourselves to blame. What ever the level, you just can’t get away with missing so many chances.
Baton down the hatches because a shit storm is on the horizon,
Seriously.
Fire AW.
Gervinho? This is yet another humiliation.
Bradford city.
Now blackburn.
Enough is enough.
Fire AW. Now.
Listened to the game on 5Live.
Bugger.
Off to knird.
Bollocks
eandy, it was a poor push out by ches, and poor finishing on our part. classic recent arsenal. all we could add to it would be a long-term injury, and the cycle would be complete for this cup.
Arsenal get exactly what they deserve, nothing.
I should be annoyed but this is quite often what happens against prosaic teams like Blackburn who just sit back for 90 minutes and the Arsenal players just mosey round the pitch playing sideways passes the whole time.
Depressingly predictable. Do this lot ever learn?
Poor save by SCZ, but we lacked desire to really win it. Where was the urgency? TR was playing really well and got subbed, whereas I don’t think Diaby had much of an impact throughout.
Gervinho cannot finish for Arsenal, I don’t care how he performs for his country but what matters to me is what he does with the Red and White shirt.
Blackburn were lucky with their goal, but we don’t deserve to win so long as we didn’t score.
What a joke.
Who to replace him with? I dont even care now.
Were no better than blackburn?
How could he leave gervinho on and podolski on the bench?
Stupidest thing ive ever.
OG was absent. The ox had a crap game.
He shulda came off after 30 mns.
Rosicky was having a great game but was subbed off?
AW has eell and turuly list the plot.
Sorry ‘holics,
This was all my fault…hadn’t watched a game live in over a month. So I decided to watch us drub the chicken farmers. Well!
There’s plenty of egg on my face. I do apologize.
BMBD
Shots 26-6
On goal 12-3
Corners 16-2
Score: fuck me.
See you in a few days.
Why exactly was TR7 taken off and Diaby stayed on? Diaby was poor today. Great work-rate but slow in build up and tentative with decision making.
And whatever nerve or psychological problem Gerv has finishing in an Arsenal shirt he needs to get that fixed or move on. That was a perfect ball from TR7 and to miss that in a match where the opposition is sitting deep with two banks of four is really unforgivable at this level.
And why not start the best team in the competition where we have the relatively better chance of winning? Should have started with at least one of Santi or Jack and one of Theo and Poldi.
I hope fixture congestion or tiredness cannot be an excuse now for the run in.
Kazim Kazim, as he was known over here in Turkey, of all people for me! Kicked out by Fenerbahce for spending too many a night in nightclubs and enjoying the high life in Istanbul and then … Why’s life so unfair 🙁
One of those days, One of those games.
Abb, I think the only heroic performance was Jack setting up all those chances late on. The others were either awful or went missing.
Fuck. Do this lot ever learn? My thoughts exactly CG.
What I noticed was without Jack in midfield nobody really wants to step up big time and take responsiility. TR was doing his fair bit too, fair play to him. But we did not really force the issue. Blackburn sat deep, the onus was on us to attack smartly and finish off our chances.
This is just disgraceful.
Bayern’s goal difference in Bundes league is 57 – 7. And only one goal conceded away. I repeat – ONE GOAL!Uncanny!
Arses will bleed….And rightly so.
Fuck.
Flippers miss came back to bite us in the arse! It’s just utter shit! I can’t believe it. Players like Walcott, Wilshere and Corzola should be started so that we win the game. Not played as subs to salvage a game. U have to focus on the game at hand. We rested players for a cup we believe more important and it has resulted in the end of our FA Cup run!
Nah, don’t agree we deserved this. We deserved to win this game. Yes, we didn’t play out-of-this-world-football, but overall it was a good 90 minutes from us, in the region of 20 corners, and around 20 shots (from memory), hit the woodwork and their keeper made at least three good saves. Blackburn had nothing, we let an unfortunate goal in. Problem with attacking is that if the ball bounces in a bad way for us, we have so few back to collect the pieces. It looks like Blackburn are “better”, but they are not, it’s just that when the ball bounces in a strange way, they’ve got enough men there to deal with it.
We deserved the win. I am furious. Not with the team, not with the manager, but with football. Sure, we could and should have done better, but we did enough to deserve the win, even if we apparently didn’t do enough to win.
I’m miserable now but come on! “we got ourselves to blame” and “Arsenal get exactly what we deserve”? It’s just not true! I am annoyed as well by the missed chances but how can you convert an almost total dominance by us to that we deserve nothing more than to lose?
Not fair.
No shitstorm coming from me. Cest la vie.
H2H: “Baton down the hatches because a shit storm is on the horizon…”
Duly noted. See you fellas on the other side.
Oh well, if your gonna lose your record of never going out to lower league opposition maybe its better to get it over with in the same season?
That was one of the poorest sides I’ve seen come to The Emirates, but still they come away with the win.
Oh Gervais, I have a feeling there won’t be many shirts with your name printed on it next season.
Our lack of quality, especially an alternative at CF, has come back to haunt us it would seem. At least the balance sheet will look good in the trophy cabinet.
Sigh.
On to Bayern Munich.
Anyone get the feeling that the end of season champagne may be being ordered as we type….
Sorry holics.
This is an embarrassment. This team is weak. They are coddled.
AW has shown over the course of this season and last that he is incapable.
These players are bereft of desire – save jack and TR7 – eho should play ahead of santi, for me.
Disgusted. Tip to toe.
Toby, I appreciate your spirit and will not of many who will begin to spew at this point, but that loss was unacceptable and avoidable- we have only ourselves to blame in this case. Not football’s fault. We can’t take our early chances knowing what the game will be like, then this is the result.
I still can’t get over leaving Diaby on and TR off… anyone?
abb @ 216: Apologies for saying this, but that really is the wrong attitude about football and I am afraid some of our players buy into that. We really didn’t play that well, there was not enough penetration before Santi and Jack arrived, the crosses and corners were poor to abysmal, Giroud got no support, Gervinho was the worst in terms of positional awareness and final ball but Ox was too stubborn and wasteful as well.
Football is about efficiency in both ends, playing pointless pretty patterns without any definite purpose is essentially wasteful, and it doesn’t look good when all that fizzles out the moment the ball is in the opposition penalty box.
Watch how TR7 plays, yes he made a few bad passes today but with ball on his feet the intent is to move forward in create openings and in another day he could have had a goal and an assist.
Corners: 16-2. Shots: 26-6. On Target: 12-3.
We deserved this. We DID force the issue. We did pressure. We did try our best. Yes, sometimes you have to pass sideways when you meet a compact team defending with every single player.
We did not play in a disgraceful way. We did not spit on anybody, we did not go in with studs showing. We had 12 shots on target. We dominated possession. Yes we let one in, and just as it happens, we did not score, because 10 defenders, a goalkeeper and the woodwork did deny us on the day.
Disgrace? Seriously?
It wasn’t enough today, but this is far away from disgraceful. Many teams play disgracefully and win…
Toby, mate nobody “deserves” anything. You have to go out there and take it. Bottomline, you play to WIN the game, and a team is what its record says it is.
Our record says we’re a midtable team right now. You can’t argue with that. I just hope we don’t embarrass ourselves on Tuesday.
BMBD.
Fucking pathetic is my take on it.
The decision to rest players that haven’t played for a week is beyond me.
pires @ 236: That substitutions was one of many in recent times by Arsene that is completely baffling. TR7 was getting better with the game.
I think the inherent age-ism that Arsene has in terms of players’ preferences show in times like that.
And I absolutely agree with you, this was completely avoidable. Even avoidable at the end of first half when it was obvious that lot more incisiveness and penetration was required.
iStorey@45: Thank you for your kind words.
Someone should do something. Surely everyone must agree with me. I’m not happy.
Yeah… right.
Lonestar@239 “Our record says we’re a midtable team right now. You can’t argue with that.”
The table says we’re fifth. You can’t argue with that.
Happens too often to be ascribed to some mythical “football forces”. What happens on the pitch to any team is 99% as a result of that team’s effort, skill, and lack of either. We did not do what was required of us to win. Blackburn did today. We haven’t done what is required to win often enough to get the results we want. Its pretty simple really.
Toby @ 238: We don’t really deserve to win a match where we cannot score even a single goal. And more than the individual player’s, the fault is with the management to start with too over-confident a team composition and then not react to it earlier that we cannot seem to force the issue in the first half.
Jack I understood needed a reset for the thigh injury, but not playing any of Poldi-Theo-Santi-Bac-Per in a must-win match in the competition where we have the best chance of winning the whole thing is just too arrogant and delusional about the true abilities of this team.
Cheers, Pires! It’s not footballs fault, it’s the joy of football! I don’t blame it. I blame us for every single shot we missed. But I also realize that in the game of football you miss chances.
And you can’t say “We can’t take our early chances knowing what the game will be like” because it’s not like we chose not to take the chances? I promise that each and every player that tried wanted to score. However which way you turn this about for me it comes down to this.
Manager can’t be a disgrace cause that team at home should be able to do the job, at least with that bench as backup. Manager therefore might be criticised but please, disgrace? Taking it too far.
Players did create chances, did play with, for me, overall, the right amount of patience and urgency. It’s a hard balancing act to get right. They didn’t today, but they did try, and it shows in the statistics. We had chances. Didn’t take them. We can criticise the players definitely, but can’t see a disgrace here.
Yes, in the end we weren’t creative enough, we didn’t have enough in us today, and then Blackburn was a bit lucky with the goal. So yet again, be critical, but we DID NOT DESERVE THIS. We deserved a win. Or at least a replay. Saying anything else is for me, just someone being very upset and seeing this as the only way this match could have ended. It’s just plain wrong.
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT:
ie. “Did we deserve to lose”?
Had we scored in the 89th minute, would you people who are now saying that we got exactly what we deserved say:
“Bergkamp, I am so happy we got through! We really didn’t deserve to win that game, what a hit and run!”
Would you? Seriously?
That’s the same game with just one of those shots going in. You would probably say that we played better than Blackburn, didn’t really play sharply enough, but got by in the end and that you love a cathartic 1-0.
First time commentor here.Blackburn were appalling as expected but got extremely lucky.What suprised me was the sheer toothlessness of our attack for so long.Yes gervinho missed a sitter and tr7 hit the bar but that was it.Only when wilshere came on where the whole team started playin with purpose.The biggest flaw of this team is that noone wants to take responsibility save for jack.. diaby was diabolical today that tackle has left him psychologically scarred so much so that he’s unwillin to go for 50-50 tackles or drive forward..
Tres tres pissed off in France. 🙁
Couldn’t get a streamto load – thanks Eandy – but found a commentary on internet radio. Therefore, I haven’t seen anything, but:
Toby,
Sorry mate, but that “deserve to win” post annoyed me.
Nothing wrong with being positive and I am no doomer or “Wenger out” man, but if you miss easy chances against lower league opposition, don’t score but they do, then I’m afraid it’s no use saying you deserve to win.
I’m not saying, either, that we deserved nothing – I haven’t seen enough to judge – but you cannot just pass off all responsibility and say it’s not fair.
If you are not prepared to analyse, take constructive criticism and responsibility for your performance, you are not going to improve and resolve your problems.
I will leave all other comment to those who actually saw the game.
Players were rested to play again on Tuesday. Not because they were tired for today. The team that was out there could have won and really should have. I agree that some of the incisiveness was missing. I am pissed that we lost. We play that game 9 more times and we win all 9. Sports are cruel. The better team doesn’t always win. Do changes need to occur to stop these failures? Hell yes.
Now get up and move forward.
I doubt that replacing AW will change anything. If it does happen I hope to be surprised if it does. If we get worse because of it god help us all.
The truth of the matter is the team put out should have been good enough to beat Blackburn today. BUT. Is there any point ‘risking’ going out of the FA Cup by not playing your first choice players?
I said on 1st Feb that Wenger had rolled dice on the clubs fortunes yet again. He’s done it again today. And failed miserably.
That said the FA Cup is third on the Wenger list of priorites. The real carrot is dangled on Tuesday in a glory night vs Bayern.
Why would the manager take Blackburn seriously?
Oh, I was too late comenting from China on the brand post. Mr Goonerholic, I h0pe you don’t mind if I post again. It’s late now in Shanghai. Maybe my timing isn’t so good. I watched the Blackburn game. Oh dear me!
BtM, another brilliant post…plus your other two early great pieces! No wonder people here in China say the quality of the Arsenal’s fans is the best!
A few statistics to support your idea about “Brand” and marketing:
In China, about 20% of the city population, i.e. about 130 million people (Yes, we DO have people, 1.3 billion!!!) are football fans. Football remains one of the most popular sports in China despite its lousy local teams. How many people are there in UK? 50 million? Oh, yeh, we have people…and some small money…to watch their dearly loved Club’s games!
An informal survey indicates there are some 10 million Arsenal fans in China, supported and influenced by more than 20 Arsenal Fans organizations, among which more than 1 million are those who would like to spend all their money just to watch a gunner’s game! I can’t call myself a real gooner – I’m only a “Marginal Gooner”. Since the day when I started to pay attention to the Club, all of sudden, I have found Arsenal all over the place: my hairdresser in Shanghai is a gooner; two Guangdong TV channels and one Shanghai play real-time English Premier League games, in which Gunners games are always on; people love to wear apparel with the Arsenal logo on; even in the touring group that I was in this week, a guy even wore an “Arsenal” short! Don’t forget the Beijing Nest Stadium can host 80,000 people to support any high quality games. Come on, Arsenal! Isn’t this market big and attractive enough?
If that’s not enough, let me give you another statistics: sometime after 2008 financial crisis, Manu collected £2M ticket fee alone for a visiting game in China for which they only stayed for 37 hours, and moreover, they find that there are about 72 million Manu fans in China, versus their 90 million fans in total in the entire Europe!
Foster the fans pool, promote the “Arsenal” brand, do a very good job in marketing…and most importantly, get the best of the best players and be the WINNING TEAM and the CHAMPION!
Good news is that, Arsenal has started to do something. They have already hired an Asia Commercial Director who’s responsible for promoting the Club. They need to do more: game licensing, sponsorship, franchising… all in all to make “Arsenal” a super brand with the glory of the Winning Team!
Right. A bit tired of writing and have some back-drinking to do, but quick answer:
I correct myself. We did not necessarily deserve a win, but we did not deserve to lose. You have to score to win, fully agreed.
And I don’t agree at all that you can’t speak in terms of “deserving”. You can absolutely deserve and not deserve things, both in football and in life. As long as you don’t confuse “derserve” with “it’s going to be like that”. Deserving has no bearing on life, nor football games. It doesn’t matter. It’s a human invention for us to reason about.
But come ON everyone. We didn’t play well enough. Blackburn won. But disgrace?! Look that word up. That wasn’t what we showed out there today.
Toby, with all due respect Blackburn sat back from the start and let us have possession, staying compact and forcing us sideways. This is why we had as many corners as we did. We had lots of chances to cross, and some decent crosses were served up. But giroud was the only one in the box at most times. The others stayed around the box waiting to move the ball sideways. Shouldn’t our players try to get in the box and try their best to force a goal before we conceded one?
And Gervinho was in a good position numerous times, his linkup play wasn’t bad either. Yet he had the most clearcut chance and missed by quite some distance. Playing against a side who defended so deeply, this wasn’t a chance we could afford him missing.
Blackburn played very poorly. No linkup play, no real desire to get forward. We are playing at home, of course we would have more shots and possession. But what was sad to see was our players as a collective not having a ‘must-win’ attitude. As long as the score stayed 0-0 no one really seemed willing to commit players and make a difference. That’s what was very disappointing to me. The fact that we ended up losing to such a bad side was quite disgraceful. Did Blackburn defended particularly well with lots of last ditch tackles? The GK made some decent saves, but it was nowhere near a real rampage on his goal.
Jack and TR made a real difference when they played. I got the sense the others figured they could just turn up and win (the OX tried very hard although it didn’t work out for him). It’s disappointing. That as a collective we had no real urgency until we conceded was disgraceful in my opinion. This was the trophy for us this season, a bit like the Carling Cup was served on a silver platter for us. We dominated the game without showing a real fight and determination to win no matter what, in my opinion…
Hearing the boos from the fans at Emirates really made me sad but can’t blame them really. First Bradford and now Blackburn. My fear is the psychological effect from both game, just like what Birmingham game did to us. I know we did it to ourselves but I do really fear it will leaves scars on our head. I hope I’m wrong.
For the last time, “deserve” is such an unnecessary word to use and the only reason I am using it is because I’m responding to original posts using it. For me, as many of you say, deserve means nothing in football. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it talking about the game. I absolutely believe that we deserved not to lose this game. But I also understand that it means nothing.
Which is what makes me angry when people say that we “deserved to lose”.
What the hell does that really mean? I’m just asking people to think before saying things like that. You don’t get what you deserve in football, you get what the result earns you. We didn’t score, we let one in, but we did GOOD ENOUGH to deserve not to go out, which for me means that you can’t talk about a disgrace.
That word I reserve for the team that doesn’t try, or the manager that picks a team that clearly can’t win. Neither of those two things happened today.
Yeah, Oxon…masterful reply that was. Certainly put me in my place. Fifth place is certainly our highwater mark to date, but we have languished at much lower during the season. My point is we should look at this team’s performances and not be surprised at where we are across all competitions this year. Yay, we’re fifth in the league (which is double digits off the pace)…we’re out of the League Cup, and we’re out of the FA Cup. Without care, we’ll be booted out of Europe, and I’m not convinced this squad is up the the 4th Place Cup.
Here’s a question…what about bringing in Moyes?
BMBD
NorCal @ 249: I think the sensible amongst us would not want to replace Arsene, but want Arsene to change. Do you not think that in the last couple of years Arsene’s team selection and substitution are often baffling and actually getting worse?
We should have made sure that we really win this match and then use that as a springboard for the Bayern game. Top level athletes can play two cup games three days apart after a week’s rest unless there is an injury.
Now it would be more difficult to find a fluent team against Bayern because of the sense of doubt creeping in, much more difficult than if we started with our best fit eleven and they were a bit more tired after the game.
BM will be a blood bah with this lot.
The fight for our fourth place will be a white knuckler.
Again.
Agree with the above.
Pathetic. Save TR7, jack and le coq who played well.
Ox needs to go out on loan. He was abysmal. He rust is apparent.
Were like liverpool now. Embarrassing. Easy to beat. Generally crap.
I don’t really get all this “We deserved to win”/”We didn’t deserve to win” stuff.
I look at statistics like, in particular, “Shots on target: 12” and assume it indicates that we did enough to score. I’ve never looked at the expected number of shots on target to goal ratio, but I’d imagine that generally, a team would score a goal or two from 12 shots on target.
Ned – can you shed some light?
Derrick, I fully undstand being critical of the team, because we could have done better, my ONLY gripe with the situation is blowing it up so much and saying that we deserved to lose and that we are a disgrace. Which is so far from the truth. We are a good football team, that didn’t play well enough today. That makes me sad and annoyed. And a bit angry. But I understand that the table may be turned exactly 180 degrees when we face Bayern. It’s football. These things happen. I fully believe we have to improve. I am not blinded by Wenger or positivism in any way. I see loads of faults in him and the team, but heck, we just lost a FA-cup game. it’s not like we haven’t lost a hundred of them before.
Just saying take it easy and don’t call losing 1-0 a disgrace. 7-0 and I might have joined in the choir.
We had a better chance of winnin the fa cup than beating Bayern Munich.Its annoying as hell that we lost and Wenger will feel the heat.Truly this summer is going to be a turning point regarding the manager’s position if we remain trophyless again .Pretty confident that we’ll remain in the top 4 though.
Sorry for my gloom holics.
The future for me is not bright.
Drinks on me – im having the bitter sort.
Dang, Wind. No haddock on March 9. Can you come to Munich? We can do whatever the local German haddock is? On me? The haddock – not the fare.
Toby, this is my original post, nowhere did I mention we deserved to lose:
Poor save by SCZ, but we lacked desire to really win it. Where was the urgency? TR was playing really well and got subbed, whereas I don’t think Diaby had much of an impact throughout.
Gervinho cannot finish for Arsenal, I don’t care how he performs for his country but what matters to me is what he does with the Red and White shirt.
Blackburn were lucky with their goal, but we don’t deserve to win so long as we didn’t score.
What a joke.
—
Having said this, I understand where you are coming from mate. We both wish better things for the Arsenal, and for me tonight just wasn’t good enough. Drinks for you, I’ll be needing some tonight.
Homer@262: Fair enough. Don’t agree with your gloom AT ALL, but happy to have a drink with you, and hope it will cheer you up. Mine’s a pint of Landlord, please. Allow me to get you one in return when you’ve finished that on off.
Right, I’m getting a bit drunk and need to get away to dinner, so if I don’t answer any of this (since it seems like I’ve told a lot to people to back down) I don’t mean anything personal by it.
I like you lot, I just think we should see this game as a bad loss that really hurt, without saying that anyone disgraced someone else. I didn’t see any freeloaders out there today that’s all. Not good enough, sure, but that’s no disgrace. I’m not good enough. And on paper, good enough to beat Blackburn which saves the manager from the “disgrace”-tag for me as well, even if I agree he should have changed things a bit earlier (at least in hindsight)
Anyways, point being, I’ll be away for a while, will try to backdrink later. Go easy on me, at least the personal stuff, criticise my views for all you are worth, if you want to.
A round on me!
Derrick,
Your final paragraph sounds like it could just as easily apply to the Bradford defeat. That is my beef.
We do not learn lessons. Our attitude in these games is wrong.
Whether that is the result of “caring too much”, and consequently “playing with the handbrake on”, arrogance against “inferior” opposition, or an attitude of ‘well, we are the reserves, the game is not all that important”, I do not know.
Whatever the reason, there is a deep rooted mental problem within the squad and the club. Every time we are in a position of strength, either in league or cup competitions, the team freezes both on an individual and collective level.
There have been massive changes of personnel since the post ManUre disintegration of the Invincibles, and the 2008 collapse, but the end result remains the same.
I will leave others to opine as to how that problem can best be solved, but the options are running out.
Derrick, wasn’t referring to you regarding that part! I know mate. Was just addressing you whilst answering several others at the same time, or rather, explaining what I was trying to say. So I don’t believe you said that.
Cheers for the drink, I’ll be needing a few as well. See you later! Be back long past midnight…
SNARL, that’s all.
And not at anyone here.
Bath, hope you still manage to enjoy your evening – unlikely though.
Dr Faustus,
I agree that some decisions are being scrutinized more carefully. And when they don’t come off then they look glaring. We were not outplayed today. Was it a gamble to rest so many? Looks like it was now. Flip the result and we would say different. I only mentioned the replacing of AW because that is the usual response to a loss.
We will play worse than today and win matches. Blackburn was very lucky to score. Do we create some of our own bad luck. Yep, we do.
Still I support the team and look forward to better days.
They are coming, right?
if arsene cant tactically outsmart a championship side or manager then he has no business running our club. an embarrassment he has long become.
he plays players who should never be in an arsenal shirt and puts confidence in players who are long past it. for heaven’s sake please go.
there is no, one last hurray and you will not go out on a high. it will never happen. your legacy is arshavin, santos, squillaci, gervinho, some korean guy, etc.
thanks for the memories. up until 2005 anyway.
Start with the best team and we should win that game?
Are you sure?
We started with our best team and lost to… Bradford.
The team is not a problem. With the exception of Chambo who had a very bad game (again!) and Diaby (who cannot win a duel – aerial or ground whatever, slows the tempo etc) everyone else were playing quite well. And Gervais too, yes.
So why not replacing Chambo and Diaby with Poldi and Wilshere and leave Rosicky who was just about warming up to score- is a mystery not only for me I see.
Well, not quite a mystery, considering Arsene’s tendency to make substitution before the match is even started.
I his mind, of course.
He planned to play Diaby the whole game, and Rosicky 65 minutes, and that is it.
Nevermind what happens on the pitch, the subs are already made. FFS
That’s the thing I cannot tolerate.
Not the lost to some team who came to defend with 10 players, not that cunt Dean who has the pleasure to watch us live 22 games over the last 4-5 years and see us get beaten as many times.
Another weekend ruined.
I’ve got to agree with Toby here.These results can always happen in one leg cup ties as they can happen in the league,hence the greatness of the invincible season.But this was not an abject surrender.It just did not happen for us on the night.I still believe in AW and this squad.
There are some games where you can play two strikers up front.
There are some games where you dont need three in the middle of the park to dominate possession because the other team doesn’t want the ball.
I think today was one of those games. As we saw at Reading away in the CC when we were 4 nil down, when Le Boss put on Giroud to play up top with Chamakh, it does offer more of a threat.
What do I know.
@DB10** : What a comment…Are you suggesting we replace Arsene with Blackburn or Bradford manager just because we lost to them? We beat Barca and I bet you still want Guardiola, right? Go out and have some drink, mate.
NorCal @ 271 — I understand and appreciate your ambivalence, but in my mind football management is to be judged by the Phenomenologist’s creed: appearance is reality.
And by all appearance Arsene’s team selections and substitutions are getting worse. As lurky @ 273 mentioned, they reek of rigid premeditation. And they don’t work. Scoreline is really the key, unfortunately.
I am not too worried about better days, there would be better days and worse days. What frustrates me as a supporter for a while now is the inability to build a winning momentum on multiple fronts due to a colossal capacity to undermine our own strengths through inexplicable managerial decisions as much as a strange miasma of nerviness among otherwise good footballers at the moment of truth.
This loss will have footballing repercussions in the team. We know that. And it was avoidable with a bit more smart and humility, we know that too.
Well disappointed with the result, cant do much about it though. Am not the one to blame individual errors or performances, end of the day its an Arsenal loss, gotta live with it and cheer em on Tuesday. Can moan about it as much as I like, wont even ring a bell at the management or board…nothing I can change… guess that s modern football.
Just the thought of facing Bayern ahead of today’s result, boy oh boy, hope we are not in for our champions league exit. I will still be with my club no matter what, but going out of them cup ties against lower divisions makes it a daunting aspect.
A night at the Sansiro against the Italians when we beat them 2-0 , first team ever to beat AC Milan at their home, against all odds, boys from London against Italian proven professional old-dogs…. Barcelona last season, Villarreal in champions league semis in 06, Real Madrid as well… numerous astonishing wins…. compared to these embarrassing exits but then hasn’t that always been the case? Birmingham to deny us Carling cup one of them… Arsenal s unpredictable , one of many reasons I love it. Would love it even more if we got past the Germans.. Please win Arsenal… or the season defining term of this season is going to be no different , not that i m not used to it 😀 I learnt , being an arsenal supporter aint easy
@ambydex i’ll pass on that drink. as arsene probably has also done after that performance.
NB1 @ 275: You are right — the main problem in scoring in today’s match was no one going in with Giroud and benefiting from his hold-up play or off-the-ball runs. Even if we kept the 4-3-3 formation but had one of Poldi or Theo at least to play up front there would have been more chances created and both are much more clinical than the twisty Ivorian and Ox. The Poldi-Giroud-Theo axis works as a collective very well, as does Giroud-Santi-Poldi and Theo-Jack-Santi. As TR7 hasn’t had played long enough with Giroud he hasn’t built that type of an understanding yet but he was getting warmer before the strange substitution to take him off.
Gervinho played well in patches with the ball at his feet,as he always does, but his lack of any coordination with Giroud was a crucial fault line.
I’m very disappointed and sad at the moment. However, I have no problem with the team that the manager played. That team should be beating Blackburn all day everyday. I do think he took too long to make the changes and TR was getting stronger. He shouldn’t have been hooked in my opinion.
Can I add my voice to the chorus that just doesn’t quite understand how we lost this game…I thought the effort was there generally, and had no arguments with the team selection. The quality was just off, for no apparent reason (at least not to me) in both creating and finishing chances. Ox, Gervinho…you can’t fault them personally because both of them were industrious…but too many poor crosses, wasted corners, and errant shots.
Even so, we should have won. Any other day we would have.
So let’s leave out the slashing/burning/blaming…I can’t really see how it applies to this game, since I can’t see anyone immediately culpable. That’s football sometimes…chin up and carry on. Let’s stay behind this team, that’s what’s needed.
Evening all,
We’ll played Blackburn, same old Arsene
football is not fair and we all saw that this was not our day but we need a reality check
1.the fa cup was the only trophy that we could have won and still our players were playing for at least 70 minutes without any urgency and desire (handbrake on? or one eye at the bayern game?)
2.arsene should have started a stronger team and when we were safe make three subs to rest his most important players for tuesday.
3.schezny needs competition from a more experienced goalkeeper.
4.defence needs to be more alert (but we can’t blame them all the time when they have no cover from our midfield and wingers-i think we are the only top team in europe without a dm -even barca have busquets!)
5.our midfield is getting slower by the year and most of the times not trying a first time through ball (no self belief or afraid how the fans will react if the pass is wrong?).
6.giroud is a good ,hard working player but if podolski is not playing we have n’t got a clinical finisher
what really makes me sad is that for many years our board does n’t understand that adding three top quality players could have won us even the champions league and they could have maximize their revenue .for me arsene is not to blame for the lack of transfer activity
keep the faith- roll on tuesday
gooner from greece
Homer @ 262 – no need to apologize, good to get it off your chest and move on. We’re out of the Cup. Bummer. What now? What’s next? Bayern on Wednesday. Look forward to that one, get behind the team and try to enjoy.
Kind offer of a drink, and I don’t mind if I do. A double on you please, harking from some distant Glen.
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I wasn’t at the game and am in fear and trepidation of what might happen on Tuesday. At least the team couldn’t have any more motivation to put it all in but Bayern are a seriously good team who may be on the level of Real and even Barcelona. But Arsenal are my team. I’ve supported them at much darker times than this and still been bursting with pride to be a Gooner. There will be better times but we have been privileged to have many more great moments than the average fan. So on Tuesday they will have my unstinting support, no player however off- form will be booed while he wears that red shirt and I will pray for a miracle and as the match approaches I will convince myself it is possible.
That is my commitment to Arsenal. It does not stop me declaring that I don’t see Wenger leading us to any more glories. I am immeasurably glad he has been our manager but I think he is a spent force.
I don’t think the two sentiments I have expressed are contradictory. I love this club but I don’t think Wenger is the right person to lead it anymore. I hope if there is a parting it is dignified and recognises his enormous contribution to our club. It would be so sad if his reign ends in bitterness and acrimony.