Guest Post – Arsenal In Seventh Heaven
Dec 1st, 2013 by 'holic
My thanks to Cent who answered an SOS in the drinks to give a report on the impressive win in Cardiff. Wonder what Arsenal fans in Nigeria go through to follow their team? Have a flavour of it here. Cheers Cent.
Arsenal traveled to Wales to take on Cardiff City off the back of two 2-0 wins against Southampton last weekend and Marseille in mid-week. Most of the pre-match talk was if Arsene Wenger will keep one eye on a busy December for his team, and therefore take the risk of resting some of his players against a side who had already taken four points off the defending champions and the other half of Manchester at home this season.
As it turned out Wenger made only three changes and restored Kieran Gibbs to the starting eleven at the expense of Nacho Monreal, who turned in a great performance against Marseille in the Champions League. Arteta and Cazorla returned at the expense of Flamini and Rosicky respectively.
3:30pm Nigerian time, I just rushed out of the shop and boarded a Keke Napep(google it), I need to get home, have a hurried shower and get to the viewing centre in thirty minutes if I didn’t want to miss any part of the game. Challenge accepted!
3:41pm, I pop into the drinks; N7, 8ball and others are up for the game. I run into a traffic jam but I’m just five minutes away from home now. I explain my ordeal to the Keke driver, turns out he is a Chelsea fan, a reasonable one. He understands and we are now weaving through traffic.
3:52, I’m home now and headed straight to the bathroom. Shower is had, I’m dressed and a look at my watch tells me the game just kicked off. I don’t want to start sweating just after having a bath so I decide to walk and not run to the viewing centre.
4:02, Massive groan on Twitter and in the drinks. what? Jack has already hit the crossbar? Sod this walking thingy I break into a run. Got into the viewing centre just in time to see a Cardiff player glance a header wide. I wonder how he got that chance.
11 minutes in, Mertesacker jogs back into the pitch after receiving treatment for a clash of heads with Sagna. No wonder that Cardiff player got a chance to make that headed attempt at our goal.
12 to 15 minutes, we are dominating possession, Jack plays a through ball from around the centre circle to Giroud who stops play thinking he was offside, when he finally realised he wasn’t offside and tried to get on with the game a Cardiff defender recovered and blocked his shot. Schoolboy error from Giroud there, he didn’t play to the whistle.
Approaching the hour mark now and Arsenal have been nothing short of dominant in this half but are yet to find that moment of brilliance needed to take the lead. And then it came. Mesut Özil received a routine pass from Gibbs on the left wing, looked up and sent a beauty of a pass/cross into the centre of the Cardiff box, Olivier Giroud made a near post run and took the two center-backs with him allowing our Welsh Wizard space to run into and meet Özil’s peach of a cross/pass in full stride. Aaron headed the ball into the top right hand corner. ‘Keeper had no chance. 1-0 to the Arsenal. Aaron didn’t do an outward celebration in respect to the club who nurtured him and the Cardiff fans applauded him in return. Excellent.
The rest of the first half was played out with Arsenal trying really hard to extend their lead while Cardiff tried and succeeded at keeping the score at a respectable 1-0 going into the half-time break.
We started the second half like we ended the first. Aaron got to the by-line and cut the ball back to Giroud whose first time shot was cleared off the line with the ‘keeper beaten. We kept pushing forward in search of the second goal and out of no where Cardiff seemed to get a surge of energy and put us under sustained pressure for the first time in the game. Szczesny had to get down low to his right and make a great save to deny Campbell after the Cardiff striker out jumped Gibbs and headed the ball down. The Pole had to make another save almost immediately to keep us in the game. Arteta had to be alert to block a shot in front of our boss. Cardiff smelt blood and piled up the pressure but the Gunners showed off their strength in defense and stood firm restricting the home team to long speculative shots.
Arsene looked to regain the midfield and brought on Flamini for Cazorla who had been quite a little bit inefficient with the ball on the day. He worked his socks off though. The change helped in defence, as Arsenal got a little bit of foothold in midfield again, but worked even more in attack. The Gunners extended their lead through the substitute, Flamini, after he latched on to a perfectly weighted Ozil pass in-between Cardiff defenders and blasted into the net.
The game seemed won at that point and the ‘Holic pound was on, well, until Ramsey decided to take a walk into the Cardiff penalty area. He ended up exchanging passes with Theo Walcott, who had come on for Mesut Özil in added time, took a touch to steady himself and blasted into the top corner to claim his eighth league goal and thiteenth overall for the season. Theo had a chance to extend the lead at the death but a defender poked the ball off his foot and out of touch for a corner-kick at which point the referee whistled for the end of the game.
There will be those who will say that the scoreline flattered Arsenal but I won’t be one of them as I’ve seen our boys execute this tactic of scoring first, sitting deep, allowing the opposition time on the ball then picking them apart on the counter as they tire enough times to know that what Cardiff had in the second half was what Arsene calls illusionary domination.
Seven points clear at the top, albeit with our rivals all playing later in the weekend, is a good place to be.
270 Responses to “Guest Post – Arsenal In Seventh Heaven”
First?????
Blimey. Now to read the post.
Great stuff Cent. Well done sir.
Nice post Cent.
Illusionary domination.
I know it well.
Excellent work, Cent.
Top post from Cent. Summed it up nicely – well played, sir.
Let’s keep the tempo going. Easy does it. Nice one guys.
Cheers, Gents, I’m honoured.
Fuckin’ excellent stuff Cent! Many thanks for that.
Excellent report Cent, summed up the game expertly.
Zico 4 🙂 🙂
Beautiful match report.. Am a regular reader but not so regular commenter. Weldone ma countryman,Arsenal forever.
Fine account Cent – lovely summary, mate.
Cent – nice one. How many people at the viewing centre??
Now I know the Keke Napep (reminds me of India too).
Good stuff, nice exotic flavour.
Cheers Cent(&)’holic!
Thanks for the kind words, gents, I appreciate.
Catalan, it’s usually between 50 to 100 people at the viewing centres. There are quite a lot of viewing centres these days within 15 mins walking distance of each other in the cities and at least one in each village in the rural areas.
Great stuff Cent.
This is great viewing:
Flamini’s goal – Bould’s reaction and the goal itself
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/steve-bould-before-flaminis-2nd-goal-for-arsenal-at-cardiff-what-a-ball-gif/?
Watching it again – who needs Ronaldo when you have the Flamster 😀
Great game, lovely result, Ramsey showed how a gentleman behaves.
And nice report, Cent.
But calm down, boys, we are liable to fail in our terrible month of November – oh!
A man can dream.
Hard not to get too excited with this Arsenal team. Arsene needs to keep the team focused, grounded and healthy by suitable squad rotation.
tough dec ahead. lets just do em.
Excellent review, Cent.
Thinking the match was a 3 p.m. kickoff, I left home at 2.40, drove through a sea of Keke Napep and emerged unscathed, arrived the viewing centre at 2.55 only to find that I was too early. I chose a good spot at the Arsenal Corner and, thanks to the frothy fluid, I was in fine spirits before kickoff.
At 0-1 a gate-crashing United fan offered a NGN5000 bet for a Cardiff win or draw which I gladly accepted.
At regulation time I had a steady grin which widened as Aaron threw Mason’s 5 minutes added time back to his face.
Fulltime: 3 points, assured performance, NGN5000 extra. Couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Come on you bloody Reds!
Well in Cent!
Ramsey may well have behaved well, but would he have done if he’d been subjected to the kind of abuse that RvP has from Arsenal fans?
Not criticising tha fans – just pointing out that the two situations are not directly comparable.
Good job, Cent.
Interesting indeed to see what supporting Arsenal from Nigeria is like.
Enjoyed your match report Cent, most excellent. This Arsenal team keep growing and growing. Two perfect assists from Mesut, midfield and defensive masterclass from the boys, and heartwarming show of class from the Cardiff massive. Still smiling this morning. COYG
As for Rambo….words fail me !
Dk, Ramsey and van Persie are two very distinct personalities.
Also there are not too many players who will receive loud cheers when returning to their former clubs. It has nothing to do with celebrating a goal or lack thereof. The important thing in Aaron’s non-celebration was its sincerity. Contrast with last season when Judas refused to celebrate. You just knew he was merely going through the motions – nothing to do with respect or feelings of affinity.
Then contrast with Eduador’s return to the Emirates with Shaktar – a quiet celebration and concurrent cheers from the home fans.
Dkg,
I’m not condoning abuse of players that can cause distress to their innocent wives and children but RvP could have expected some stick for the way he repaid a club, and fans, who had supported him through a variety of troubles over eight years.
In his case, the fans response may have been a bit over the top but RvP was a player who, from an early age in Holland, seemed to be the target of fans ire.
Players who have left Arsenal with dignity have always been greeted with genuine affection by the supporters and I would imagine Cardiff supporters are no different.
Aaron Ramsey has never behaved with anything other absolute dignity, whatever the circumstances, and got exactly the response from the Cardiff fans that he deserved.
In any event the mutual respect was heartening to see.
frank Frank,
We seem to have cross posted the same words in a different order. 🙂
In any event the mutual respect was heartening to see.
Here here Trev
Nice review Cent, well done.
As you said, the scoreline is not flattering for Arsenal at all. It is result of Arsene’s tactical perfection this days.
“Tactic of scoring first, sitting deep, allowing the opposition time on the ball then picking them apart on the counter as they tire” is absolutely spot on, but nothing new in football, quite the opposite in fact.
Arsene adopted this approach since the second Sp*ds game last season But he is using it in his own original manner.
Instead of lets say Mourinho’s way of employing as many big and physical players as he can to disrupt the play and wait for a counter or some corner or free kick to score;
Arsene is doing it in positive manner using technical and creative players, with lots of passes, players changing places, reaching almost the perfect amalgam of coordination and organization combined with imagination and improvisation.
dkgööner disagree there. Ramsey was booed extensively last time he played in a cup tie against Cardiff. So he showed heaps more class then the dirty Dutch bastard.
Good report Cent and great performance from the boys. Onwards and upwards for the Arsenal.
Thank you Cent. Really enjoyed that review.
Morning Poppet.
Cheers, Trev. True indeed.
Good. Sp*ds 1 up!
Good win, some exquisite football played. Ozil produced the goods, good to see. No disputing his immense talent, so the faith Wenger has shown in him since his slight dip in form was vindicated.
Currently watching the mid-table tussle at the Lane, a draw would be ideal.
nicely done, cent! thanks for the window on another part of our arsenal world, and very entertaining 🙂
trev and frank^2 know.
for those as curious as I, frank^2 won about £20, excellent!
Cent, what an absolute pleasure to read. Great job. My apologies to all, I missed the last two games on holiday travels (I really must talk with the Management about the flight times she purchases. They always seem to conflict with game time).
So I hear we still haven’t played anyone yet…
BMBD
Nice post Cent; just off to google Keke Napep
COYG
Rooney is 50% of this United team, disgusting person but what a player.
Yet, in the summer there were some in this bar saying he has past his best.
Well done Cent, nice report son.
What a goal. Sandro
You misspelt tool Lurky. 😉
2-2
Nice report Cent.
Evra finally gets booked.
Mike Dein has been very lenient.
Re. RvP, I was referring to the song that the moronic section of Arsenal fans sang (still sing?) about an allegation which he was cleared of. (Just as obnoxious in my book as the one OT fans sang about Wenger until Fergie belatedly asked them to stop – no doubt some of them are still singing it.) In the circumstances, I can fully understand RvP responding with an “up-yours” celebration. I probably would too.
As for whether his muted celebration at the Emirates was just going through the motions, who knows? Are you inside his mind?
DK
he can always write another letter to the fans about it.
Van Persie is a total Cnut.
He didn’t celebrate “out of respect”. Then he did celebrate (presumably out of disrespect). Nothing factual changed between the two occasions.
He showed us no respect during his exit, I would prefer if he didn’t make a pretence of it now. We don’t like him, he doesn’t like us. Much more honest.
No comparison to Rambo in terms of class.
where is the skunk these days anyway?
One of those ‘little niggles’ eh? Good luck dealing with that Moyes.
A draw in the battle of the see you next Tuesdays.
I’ll take that.
3 wins in front of the mancs, 10 points clear of the shadow dwellers.
Great result at SHL.
People can bubble on about our upcoming games against City and Chelsea, but the fact is that we can afford to lose both of those and we would still be likely to be three points clear of Utd and four clear of Spurs.
Both those sides have a job on to catch us now.
See you next Thursdays, in the case of the chickens on basketballs 😉
I’ll take that too.
Noted Ollie. 🙂
Yawnited are reduced to Rooney and 10 blokes from a pub team.
So what trophy will they get for 8th place?
Afternon all, very nice report Cent, I really enjoyed to read that.
A 2-2 draw.
Just what you’d expect from a couple of mid-table teams.
To be fair, if you’d offered to a Tiny Tott at the start of the season that they’d only be one point behind Manure on Dec 1st, they’d probably have biten your hand off. 😉
North London’s Slimiest believe they have regained ‘respect’ and are ‘back on track’ by drawing with Shrek and his colleagues missing their 40 year old midfield general and the Dutch Skunk.
Meanwhile they fall 11 points and 20 goals behind North London’s Finest.
Thanks for the report, Cent.
Heh @H2H@57. Cracking observation.
A huge thanks to you all for reading and responding kindly to my 1st ever blog post. I really appreciate. Special thanks to the Guvnor for giving me the opportunity to write for this wonderful site and it’s awesome patrons. Cheers.
Best bit is that if the LWCs continue to lag come the latter stages of the season their manager will prioritise the Europa League as a CV builder before he gets bounced in the summer.
Interresting to see that Eve without Moy do better than the titleholders with him. Long may it continue 😉
Also may AVB achieve as many draws as his bunch of rotten eggs play games.
Hehs @57, 58 and others above. Just woke up from a nap and saw that result, perfect.
AVB says there’s “clearly” an agenda against spurs.
Gotta be true. And, evidently, the LWCs players, fans, board and medical team are all in on it.
The truth is out there, Andre.
Great report, Cent!
1-0 Hull!
Hull 1 up!!!!
Cheers Bath, good call yourself there sir.
Heh Lars, loved the late night post on the last drinks. How’s your head holding up mate? 😉
N7
I agree
he only thing that can stop us now are the home and away games against Chavski and Citski
N7, AVB is clearly feeing the pressure in a major way. The match at WHL was quite open and probably rather entertaining if you didn’t want both teams to lose. It is also increasingly clear that Wayne Rooney is more or less carrying the entire ManU team at this point. They really miss Carrick and van Cunt.
Bollox, shit goalkeeping and it’s 1-1 in Hull.
57 H2H
outstanding sir.
simply outstanding.
i’m going to nick that line, if you don’t mind.
Cheers H2H! My head’s actually fine, thanks to a wonderful invention that at least here in Sweden goes by the name of Resorb. They take away almost every bit of hangover, it’s absolutely brilliant!
Cent. Stellar stuff.
Man U are 10th, Spurs 12th, on Dec 1. Oh man. Was this season devised particularly for my own personal enjoyment?
Oh and Arsenal are 1st. 🙂
Göönsterham, I like your optimism but Sp*rs are 9th and ManU 8th.
56 DK – heh!!!
Cent – Great job on the report sunshine!
Here’s to a Chelsea loss. Cheers all!
Hull are having lots of possession at the moment but are creating the grand total of absolutely nothing. This has “Liverpool goal on a counter-attack” written all over it.
2-1 Hull!
HULL SCORE!!!
Get in! Hull City leads 2-1
Lovely report Cent! Very well written…Nigeria does have the tradition of producing these very fine writers of English prose like Wole Soyinka or Ben Okri. 🙂
Let us savor and celebrate this wonderful run this team has put together and the quality and camaraderie on display because nothing lasts forever and sooner or later (even if it is ten years later 🙂 ) this beautiful team would be struggling and/or dismantled… nothing should be taken for granted and I am sure we Arsenal supporters for the most part won’t be afflicted by hubris.
Can’t wait to see Theo back in full form, Poldi back from injury and shaking off those niggles that held him back last season, Santi finding the best of his form and then Ox finally making the leap to the unstoppable winger/central midfielder we all know he will become.
Dr F
You see, your humble approach to the game is exactly the kind of attitude I really respect. I don’t know if it’s just my perception but it seems like that sort of mentality might be more prevalent among Gooners? (Set me right if I’m wide of the mark…)
Compare:
Your fine self: “Let’s savour this run because nothing lasts forever” [great words even if you did quote Bon Jovi]
Some immature Man City troll seen in the bar: “Arsenal are nothing but our feeder club, bitches, we’re the strongest team etc etc”
Respect.
Resorb, eh, Lars.
I’ll have to check it’s avaiability here in the Lowlands.
aaaaaaaahaahahaha
Ha HA own goal.
game done
Ha! 3-1 Hull with just a few minutes to go!
I wonder if Tom Hundredstone will try to claim it so he that he can finally cut his stupid looking hair.
Liverpoo are back – normal service has resumed.
1975-1990 are simply an aberration.
Porco Rosso @ 82: Thanks for the kind words, but I didn’t know that I inadvertently phrased something out of an eighties hair rock band’s catalogue. I should be ashamed as ignorance is no excuse for such a ghastly culture crime. 🙂
3-1, 3-1! Ha ha. Is this going to be one more of those weekends?
Just puts our away run in perspective…every away ground is a potential banana skin nowadays…
That would of been some counter goal, if…..
Come on Saints. Make it a perfect weekend.
Invasion of the spambot.
Nice work cent.
I know Chelsea and Liverpool are our immediate threat now, but I think Man City will have as much if not more to say at the end of the season…if they can start reproducing their home form even partially in away matches they will climb up the table very fast. So I won’t mind if Swans do us a favor as well.
Capital, simply capital.
Liverpool’s capitulation: the 3rd piece of great footballing news this weekend.
Would it be greedy to wish for a Chelsea embarrassment?
Let’s hope that took a lot out of Hull, great result for them, but more importantly also for us.
This turning out to be another pretty tasty Sunday, surely it wouldn’t be too much to ask for the Swans and the Saints to grab something too.
Come on you S teams. 😉
I might be deluding myself with wishful thinking (Believe it or not, it has been known) but I do think Southampton can get something out of this game.
That third Hull goal was too comical for words.
Pantomime season coming up and Skrtel auditioning for the part of Widow Twanky.
Some merry soul in Arseblog has posted link to this photo of Arsene in his young football playing days following the comment ‘love to have Ramsey’s talents’… thought worth sharing
http://angryofislington.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/young-arsene.jpg
🙂
Curtis Davies suspended next weekend, and Hull need the points that little bit less. Must win game for us, heading into a tough month. Don’t slip up in games like this and you have some margin for error vs the oilcnuts.
It could indeed be done, Bath. They’ve looked more then decent (S’ton) this term, it was only a very underrated (in many corners) from us last week that made them look ordainary.
OK gents, which game are we watching, Oily cunt game or Cunt oileys game? 😉
Let’s hope they put us in ‘S team heaven’
‘salright, I know where the door is.
dk.
ooh no he didn’t……..
3 rivals *cough* out if the title race in one afternoon.
Trebles all round, folks.
Come on Southampton!
Get in!!!!
ONE NIL SOUTHAMPTON!!!
Rodriguez you beauty
Oh yes ‘e did!
Ha ha, 20 seconds
12 seconds WTF
And someone else a clipping about Arsene’s young days and the tussle between a more traditional career based on academia and sporting career …
http://angryofislington.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/standard-15may1998-aw-feature.jpg
Good question HS2, I mean H2H.
I think I’d like to see the dark blue c*nts fail more than the sky blue ones.
Porco, I want them both to fail, and hard.
I meant which game were we all tuning into as both started at the same time.
I picked the Chav v Saint game.
so far it doesn’t disapoint. 😉
Does Brendan Rodgers still believe that Suarez wouldn’t have been making a forward step by joining Arsenal?
Martin “Shrek” Jol has got the ol’ Spanish archer
shame
A return to the swamp for him is on the cards.
No, not WHL, the one where all the other ogres live. 😉
If these results remain, City will shoot up to second and Chelsea will drop to fourth with Saints in third. If we can beat City away and then Chelsea at home we will open up good margins to allow us to rotate significantly over the holidays.
H2H, agreed, few things delight me more than seeing either (or preferably both) of those soulless anti-football ‘clubs’ fucking up.
City are our biggest threat.After us they’re playing the most eye catching football and Aguero has been magnificent for them.Their home record is outstanding.If they can sort out the defensive lapses in concentration that has been the case so far in away games,they will be the most credible challengers for the title.
Manure are absolutely average.Saved by Spuds incompetence. Chelski have a massive task in coming back 1-0 down to a very impressive Saints team.Liverpool are average without SAS in full flow.How Gerrard and Moses keep starting games and going the full 90 is beyond me.
What? Martin Jol sacked? I did not see that comi… oh, wait, I did!
Oh well, fairy tale weekend only delivered so much.
We are just going to have to sort out both the oil-money doped clubs ourselves.
COYG
H2H@116 – “Spanish Archer”?
Pangloss.
Spanish Archer > El Bow.
as in getting the elbow, the ol tic tic, the postmans bag, i.e the sack. 😉
Thanks, H2H – was about to dive into the wonderful, wacky world of google.
Was anyone else “locked out” for the last few hours?
Firstly Cent that was a really enjoyable report-thankyou. Lovely to think our football can be shown simultaneously all over the word. My neighbour watched it on a dodgy Arabic stream in a local pub with a group of Spurs fans!
While the oligarch financed scumbags made it a slightly less perfect weekend it was great to climb away from Liverpool and United. Much was made of the fact that United might end up 11 points behind us a couple of weeks ago. Well they are 9 now and I think they will find it very tough to beat Everton on Wednesday. They are indeed Rooney and 10 pub players–and its not a very good pub team!
I thought Chelsea overpowered Southampton in the second half today but it was football played without grace or guile or beauty. Ivanovic sums them up very well. A powerful lump, crude and snide. A typical Mourinho player.
Big week again but if Giroud stays fit our squad is big enough to cope.
127 H2H
I was, but i guessed it was poor coverage on my phone.
Thanks, once again, for all your kind words, gents and ladies.
Dr F @81, that’s some illustrious company right there. Soyinka and Ben Okri are legends. If you’re into African Literature then look no further than the works of Chinua Achebe, especially ‘Things Fall Apart”. Achebe is in my opinion the best writer Nigeria(if not Africa) has ever produced.
H2H and Double Canister, it was a general thing, ‘Holic said on Twitter that the server was down.
Very impressive of you, Cent. Nice read indeed.
Apologies for the downtime all. Sorted now, as you have found 😉
Not a Joly Christmas for Full o’ ham then. Or the turkeys up at WHL. We should send cards wishing them a Happy Crisis.
Not that I have anything against cottagers (er, the footballing kind), I have friends who actually support them. Perhaps a sympathy card instead.
Öskar
Lovely report Cent. Interesting how well covered we have the world of Gunnery in here.
Öskar
What’s the deal with these “Viewing centres”? Evidently some kind of community TV sets, but why? How come the TVs aren’t in bars of some kind, Nigeria isn’t alcohol-free is it? Forgive me if I’m being insensitive, but how come Cent and frank^2 aren’t watching at home?
Apologies again if this is an indelicate question; it’s motivated by genuine curiosity about a foreign culture.
Nicely done, Cent.
And to echo Pangloss, tell us more about these viewing centers. Round here we call them bars.
Lurky,
The same thought occurred to me watching MoTD2 that you have so insensitively pointed out around 100 drinks ago.
Hands up – I was one of those in the summer who thought Rooney was past his best.
Recent events would suggest otherwise.
He’s still bloody ugly though.
* a comment that those of us blessed with perfect film star looks can make with a certain smugness. 😉 *
Joel Campbell still looking good in Greece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSyQtSQ7P9U
Enjoyed the drinks above.
Great result.
Ozil is all class.
Jack looking better and better and our Injuries minimal at the right time.
One area of our game i would still like to see improved is On set pieces we seem to try and block opposition space rather than attack the cross i.e. Kieran gibbs guilty quite often and sat especially noticable.
Is this what zonal marking is supposed to be… Not attacking the ball first.
Not sure i understand the zonal defensive benefit v just attacking the ball first.
Agreed we have conceded bugger all lately but it leaves szcezney a sitting duck from close range.
Just an observation
Ha brilliant. Andre Village Idiot is demanding respect from certain areas of the press, pointing to the Tiny Totts’ progress to the COCup quarters and the last 32 of the Europa League (having dealt with such titans as Tromso along the way) as reasons why.
If Wenger had spent £100m, I’d expect the same. Definitely.
Has AW spent £100m in the entire 17 years he’s been managing Arsenal? Without including what he’s got back through selling, that is.
Öskar
* without DEDUCTING what he’s got back through selling would make more sense.
I think.
Öskar
Hands up – I was one of those in the summer who thought Rooney was second best choice after Suarez! And I still think so…
Öskar
Great writeup Cent! Enjoyed reading that.
I still think Rooney’s best part of his game is to run around fouling and diving without sanction. Let’s face it, he’s only good in the Premier League.
Can you really compare him to other top players of this generation?
Goonerholics far and wide
Nigeria Minnesota and other places too
Virtual bar
Real friends
And table toppers 🙂
Re: 99. A picture for which the words “handsome French bloke” could not be more appropriate.
Re: Lonestar. I strongly suspect the management is conspiring to make you miss the games. Probably has a list of Arsenal fixtures tucked away in the handbag to consult for travel arrangements. Mine would do something like that. 🙁
Hull City owner says fans can die if they do not support his unilateral change of the name of the club. Great manament. NOT. What a fiasco.
Cent @ 130: I am of course familiar with great Chinua Achebe of Things Fall Apart fame, but ashamed to say that I haven’t really read much of his works other than the (in)famous critique of Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness … I had arrived at that piece through Edward Said.
I actually have met Wole Soyinka here in Boston at a book reading of his autobiographical You Must Set Forth At Dawn. He graciously answered my naive and awkward questions — I realize that now with the maturity of hears — as he did for many of us in the audience. I got him to sign my brand new copy of the book.
To be honest I haven’t read that many writers from Africa compared to say modern Latin American or East European literature. Other than Soyinka and Okri I have read quite a few works by Nadine Gordimer but her South African experience and expressivity is quintessentially different from say someone like Soyinka’s reaffirmation of the heterogeneous identity.
For those who do Twitter – Jill Armstrong, or Geordie’s daughter, who popped in here after ‘Holic’s tribute is now on Twitter as, JILL ARMSTRONG @touchofpowder . Been posting some great pics of her Dad.
Morning all,
Holic,
Strange that 8ball touched on this above but I was going to say I hope it’s only work pressure that’s keeping you from your normal blogging activities.
Take care, hope all is well.
Cheers Trev.
Can’t stand Rooney, in fact he is one of the few footballers that I hate. And I know that he hates Arsenal from his hart, it is evident through his behavior. But as a footballer he is one of the best in the PL and I would certainly not mind if he someday plays in Arsenal jersey.
As for making mistakes about judging players it happens all the time, this is football. I for one, never thought that Ramsey is Arsenal material and was quite sceptical about his career at our club, because to be fair he was constantly given chance but played quite bad for a year or so.
As I’ve said couple of times in this bar, I was never happier in my life to be proved wrong. In fact the next Arsenal shirt I’ll buy is going to have his name on the back. Ramsey is one of the best things that happened to my club and to me in personal, because his case teaches me many things.
First is that I don’t know that much about football as I like to think I do.
Second one is that Arsene is still the man.
Next one and the most important. Ramsey case restores faith in concept of universal fairness that I’ve always hoped this world is built on. He deserves to be exactly where he is right now, because he seems a great character, humble person, hard worker and fabulous person. Don’t know English that much to come clear with what I want to say, but I hope you’ll understand.
What Trev said at @152.
On viewing centers: they are privately owned places where people go to watch games. They charge as low as a fifth of a pound per match.
Some of them sell alcohol most of them don’t. I think the reasoning behind not selling alcohol is that a lot of kids come there to watch matches too. Another reason is that fans of different clubs watch these games together so when arguments get heated there are less chances of things getting out of hand among people who are not intoxicated than among people who have had a few bottles of beer for example.
Most bars show matches too and are always filled to the brim during games but people generally prefer viewing centres because of the reasons stated above.
I can watch the game at home if I want to(we have an African version of Sky Sports called DSTV) but it’s cheaper watching at viewing centres and the atmosphere is way much better than sitting at home watching alone or even with a couple of friends.
If anyone has any more questions I’m more than willing to answer them whenever I pop into the bar.
Thank you Trev, and Cent.
Thanks for the kind words, Impec, Oskar, Ned, CoR and 8ball.
Dr F, Achebe wrote quite a few controversial works in his time but the quality of his works are never in doubt.
Soyinka’s humility and his works are outstanding. Just like his hair.
Loud, clear & eloquent, Lurky 😉
Thanks Catalan, appreciate it.
Yes Lurky, what Catalan said –
Lord, clean and elephant. 😉
Thanks, Cent@154, for the explanation of viewing centres.
Sounds like the kind of interesting idea that would never get tried back in Blighty in case it didn’t work – to be honest, I don’t think it would.
Lurksterham Lincoln @153, top post. Humility to admit you were wrong, nous to recognize the reasons. I love this bar.
What Trev and Cent said, hope all’s well.
Well written report, Cent. Enjoyed the read.
Another 3 points but do they count the same as big boy points? I get so confused! 😉
Do they count the same because we used Giroud? Some would have you believe they don’t.
Ah well. Hull only beat Liverpool so if we beat them it’s another 3 points against the little teams.
Let’s just keep adding 3 at a time.
Hi all
Anybody else having problems with the online ticketing?
I’ve been pushed out of the qeue several times, when I finally managed to get in my basket has already been cleared twice and the paying by card doesn’t work either. FFS
I can’t opt with my phone at work and when I finally manage to get trough from a friends phone they stop operating 10 minutes early 🙁
One pissed member here
161
Pangloss I agree they wouldn’t work unless they served alcohol in which case we might call them pubs! They seem to be the main UK viewing centres. Haven’t been in one for…hours!
Interesting to read the Pato story which is surfacing today. A media friend tells me that is several weeks old and Arsenal have moved on to Morata the Real Madrid reserve striker on a loan deal. If this is true it looks like another clever idea of Wenger’s. The boy is very good apparently but not so established that he will be banging Wenger’s door down. He is good enough to step in for Giroud but feels his path at Real will be blocked by the arrival of Suarez!
Hey, Goon-ers,
Moriarty is coming ! 😉
Daily Star website reporting that Morata has agreed a 6 month loan deal with Arsenal
I would prefer Morata over Pato. A young hungry player that either wants to impress his home club or a future buying club. Yes please.
Pato is rubbish. And he’s also got an injury record of Diabyesque levels. The only reason he is so hyped up is because he was once a young talent in a Milan team that people still thought was a decent side.
The Star (believe at your own risk) saying that he (Morata) turned down the sp*ds to join us.
I like him already.
Real Madrid–our new best friends!
It’s Gareth, ttg, he saw how the Sol Campbell transfer went down and insisted on spending a year at our Nursery club before joing the pride of North London.
Haven’t seen any of Pato performances for a long time to judge him. He was considered a big, big talent not that long ago, but so were Saviola, Robinho, Diego or Aimar. You never know with these South American players.
I am sure we all remember Wellington Silva we’ve signed couple of years ago as a next big thing. Where exactly is he playing now? Spain second division, third maybe?
As for Morata, can’t say I watch him week in and week out, but every time I’ve watched him for Spain u-21 or rarely for Real, he impressed. Decent technique and speed for a tall guy. Reminds me of Negredo a bit, bit with much better work rate.
A loan with an option to buy? I would not refuse that. Not sure Real will want to sell him, though, but I’ve seen similar scenarios when they’ve sold us Ozil, and had sold Robben and Sneijder at the pick of their careers.
Good move by Arsene if the reports are true.
Trust Pangloss at 172 to sort it out-of course its a cunning plan!
This Bale to Arsenal stuff just wont die down!
Not if we have anything to do with it!
🙂
Doctor Faustus
completely out of topic, I apologize to all Holics for that, I have one suggestion and one question.
You mentioned previously that you read modern Latin American or East European literature, also mentioning Said.
If you are into post-colonial theory, I am sure you are already familiar, but in case you are not, would like to suggest the work of Maria Todorova, very popular in my country with “Imagining the Balkans” book.
As for the question. By modern Latina American literature you mean
a) the likes of Borges, Cortazar, Sabato …
b) some new obscure writers
c) god forbid Coelho
If the answer is under b, I am all ears, and would appreciate some suggestions, as I find South American literature and cinematography dashing.
OK, this was just brilliant:
http://news.arseblog.com/2013/12/arsenal-face-swaps/
Holic
What about match reports from the global holics on a more regular basis?
Enjoyed the view from Africa.
Open to suggestions and offers, Wasp. I enjoyed it too, and it did me a good turn.
Lars@177
What the hell is blogs on?
And where can I buy some?
LOL: “The Daily Star is reporting …”
It’s that time of year again folks. Two months of it to go – and no I don’t mean Xmas and the January Sales.
Haha…this new relationship with Real Madrid is working out rather well…
Too true dk. It would be a nice bit of business but I’ll believe it when I see it on dot com. To be fair it does have the marks of Wenger all over it.
lars@177, that had me laughing out loud. brilliant, indeed.
Lurky @ 176: My favorite Latin American authors are, in no particular order: Marquez, Borges, Vargas Llosa, Fuentes, Bolano, Mutis. I am sure you have read Marquez and Vargas Llosa and Borges but if you haven’t you really must. All their works. I can also highly recommend Carlos Fuentes, the great Mexican novelist. His majestic and hypnotic Terra Nostra is a rare masterpiece. And many fans of Marquez pass on his lesser known works, but if you haven’t Autumn of the Patriarch — his technically most brilliant IMHO — it is a must. Bolano can be hard to like, but once you get on the vibe it is worth the effort…his works have the strange admixture of the seedy, surreal and cerebral a la Houllebecq.
However, one of my real favorites in Iberian languages is not a Latin American…Jose Saramago. I find his combination of metaphysical whimsy, wise irony, political vision, a noble humanism and psychological insights are unparalleled. It is like reading Thomas Mann works written by Victor Pelevin.
I used to read a lot of post-colonial theories, Aime Cesaire to Said to Diptesh Chakrabarty…not so much nowadays. I have heard of ‘Imagining the Balkans’ but never read it. Will try. Thanks a lot.
When I say East European Literature I not only mean the old masters like Hasek, Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov etc. but also the zany moderns and post-moderns: Gombrowicz, Kundera, Hrabal, Ajvaz…
Lars @ 177: Brilliant…they actually all resemble some yet to be written cartoon and in a few cases stuff of mild hallucinogenic visions…
Whoever came up with this should get a copyright and get a good story writer to think of a comic strip…
Whoa how did i miss this report?!
Cheers cent
Lars@177: awesome. Carl Rosicky looks pathalogical while Per Wilshere is from another planet.
Dr Faustus@186: You should add Skvorecky to your list of central European authors. The Bass Saxaphone is one of the underrated masterpiece novels of the 20th century. To my mind, Borges would be the pick of the Latin American writers. Kafka meets Lewis Carroll to Saramago’s Mann meets Victor Pelevin.
Cent@154: Thanks for the explanation of viewing centres in Nigeria. Viewing at home and viewing in a crowd are different experiences. I tend towards the former for the small games (aren’t they all these days 🙂 ) and the latter for the big ones, though it depends a lot on which city I am in and thus the quality of the latter option.
Lurky@153: Don’t forget that Ramsey originally chose us over the Mancs. Clearly a young man of sound judgement as well as of outstanding character.
Aaron Ramsey hates the Mancs,
hates the Mancs,
hates the Mancs,
Aaron Ramsey hates the Mancs,
Fuck off Moysie.
To the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down” 😀
On the subject of excellent writers — Enid Blyton was very good.
This combination of a discussion of central European authors and face-swapped Arsenal players is doing my head in. It took me ages to work out which players Skvorecky@189 was.
Only in this bar
COYG COYH (Come on you Holics)
Interesting to see many Czech authors mentioned above – Hasek, Hrabal, Skvorecky, Kundera (although he no longer publishes in czech and only in french since like 20 years ago). All of them brilliant.
Haseks “Dobrý voják Švejk” (Good soldier Svejk) is especially great and funny read if you find decent translation:) – also there is an rather old movie made based on it which is pretty good.
Pangloss@194: didn’t he also misspell “Victor Meldrew” in that last sentence?
(I rarely read books, so I understand pretty much nothing at all of these discussions but they sound mightily impressive 🙂 )
Lars – “I do not believe it”.
Plays the ball out of defence…
*nods it in*
Shoots…
…and it’s in! Nice to contribute with a goal every now and then.
Well in, Lars!
Pangloss @164, why do you think viewing centres won’t work in Blighty? I believe there are parents who can’t afford to take their kids to live games at the stadiums or even a Sky package, viewing centres would be ideal for them. I also believe There are other people who can’t get to stadiums for live games because of reasons that are unrelated to finance, some of this people might also not like alcohol so going to pubs won’t be ideal for them, viewing centres would.
M only concern about viewing centres in Blighty is that Sky will find a way to legally shut them down if they(Sky) feel they’re a threat to them.
PS. I seem to remember our own very club using a stand as a viewing centre for quite a few away games last season.
Morning all.
I´ll have a double Morata with a twist. Please.
Ned @190, it’s viewing centres all day for me but I totally understand your point about the quality of the crowd. The most difficult thing about viewing centres is resisting the temptation to knock out morons who come there only to spout absolute bollocks about Arsenal. It’s a massive exercise in self control for me.
@203 Cent
Think you answered your own question mate. The Fees charged by SKY to show games legally in pubs are now astronomic, hence many pubs have turned to showing games illegally. Viewing Centres, if legally operated, would n’t have a chance of paying requisite licences etc., without selling shedloads of booze, as the ‘Sports Bars’ and larger pubs already do.
I thought as much, Esso, cheers.
Wenger has denied Morata deal. This morning’s presser is up on .com now.
Some of this (sic) people might also not like alcohol…..
Deviants. 😎
Heh Dr F
===
So, a story in The Star may not be kosher.
What’s the world comming to!? 🙄
On the Morata deal, I cannot put it any better than Bloggs…..
…..providing a delicious buffet of bullshit for the websites and newspapers to scoff from …..
There’s going to be plenty more as January gets closer……and it’ll go off the scale if Giroud picks up a knock.
Ok guys, it was super naïve of me to give any credence to the Daily Star. Mea Culpa.
My prediction is that before January is over we’ll have been “linked” with at least 50 strikers, 20 of which we will have been said to have “agreed a deal in principle” on.
My guess is same as Lars, with the conclusion that we sign no one and Poldi will share the burden with OG for the rest of the season (and successfuly:P)
hmm Bac out of Hull match, hopefully Jenks is going to have a good game 🙂 (wouldnt mind another good pass for stunning volley like in Sunderland game)
Lars @213,
Can’t see anything strange about that – we do need 20 strikers. 😉
Ticket secured for my daughter for Hull game tomorrow night – get your money on a high score !
My money’s a cagey 1-0 Trev 🙂
My money’s on a cagey 1-0 Trev 🙂
Careful now, pride comes before a fall !
Heh @ Dr Feelgood. And Sorry about the poor spelling there. I’m a bit dyslexic so words like this and these, box and boss(as I also noticed it did in the report) get me into trouble quite often.
Apologies and friends, Cent, remember the rule……
Ah, my bad. There I go again. 🙂
Why did they make dyslexic so hard to spell ….. ? 😉
I blame the monopolies commission, Trev. And while we’re on the subject, how come there’s only one of them?
Cos they took the other one over. 😉
Cent – I should have got back to you sooner about viewing centres, but others got in before me.
I wasn’t thinking so much about the Sky fees, but I feel that there aren’t obviously enough people about who would want to watch a match in a large-ish group to want to go to a VC, who aren’t prepared to go to a pub to watch.
The number has to be obviously large otherwise no-one will be prepared to sink any money into setting one up.
One for Goonerettes. And Wolfie http://t.co/aMCdLPEWCF
Sagna is out and Jenk would be a bit rusty so we will need a defensively strong and disciplined attacking player on that flank. Maybe Jack keeps his right wing position and Theo starts instead of Giroud and TR7 starts instead of Cazorla and that is the end of rotation for this match? Don’t see Rambo getting rested then.
Haven’t seen a single Hull game this season … but I still remember that awful 1-2 home loss when an orange faced man was in charge of the ‘Tigers’. Hull, Everton, Napoli, Man City and then a nine day break before Chelsea by which time Poldi should also be back…if we can keep the momentum for these four matches then we can go into the festive schedule after the mini-break with so much confidence.
Cent@205: 🙂
Pangloss @227, no worries, mate. Point noted.
NBN/Eandy/Lurky — I would add Michal Ajvaz to that list of eminent Czech authors though I have read only the two of his works that I could find in translation — The Golden Age and The Other City.
NBN, as an admirer of Borges you would love The Golden Age…among all of Borges’s great spiritual children (whether directly influenced or not) from Calvino to Pamuk, Ajvaz may be least known … The Golden Age has the density of a Pamuk novel and the profound lightness of Calvino…quite brilliant!
Eandy, Kundera might be living in France and writing in French for nearly three decades now but his works, slimmer and slimmer as time goes on, evolve on a continuum if only because his intellectual landscape was sculpted by influences like Diderot and Sterne and Rabelais and then the central European authors like Musil and Broch. It is through Kundera that I learnt to appreciate Broch’s masterpiece The Sleepwalkers…
Eandy, Brecht’s ‘continuation’ of Švejk’s adventures in the WWII is worth a read…it is all very Brechtian, of course, but quite nice…
Met a British expat who no longer follows footy in any great detail but whose clubs were, variously, Leeds United, West Ham, and Swindon Town. No longer his interest has faded.
No longer = No wonder.
With Sagna out, what are the odds of Arsene playing the Flamster at RB?
Worried that the Corporal may be ring rusty.
Agreed Delia but he needs match fitness and what game is better suited for that than Hull home? I suppose we are not going to see him bombing down the right side as he will focus on the defensive side of his job primarily.
I know Jenks will come good, during last years game at Etihad he shown how majestic RB he can become given a proper run of games.
The important thing is going to be who starts ahead of him, Jack or Theo. He might be in trouble if Theo starts I suppose since he is not going to be well covered from him.
Interesting call Delia. He did a great job at LB on the run to the CL Final a few years ago………..however, I think Jenks will get the shout despite the rust. The only way to lose the rust is to play. Hopefully he will have a performance like his best of last season rather than his cameos this season.
If Bac’s injury is a hamstring, he will be out a few weeks. We therefore need Jenks to get up to speed pronto. Hull is the best game to start that as we will need the Flamster in the centre of midfield against Napoli, $hitteh and Chavski.
…also, if the Flamster plays at right back v Hull, then we can’t rest anyone from the midfield and with the run of games coming up, that might take priority over playing safe with Jenks’ rust.
It’s a lucky we have a highly paid manager to take these decisions 🙂
Agreed Eandy. Selecting Jenks at RB makes it important that Feo recognises and is committed to his defensive duties if he is going to play in front of Jenks but I wouldn’t take the chance. If Jenks plays, I suspect that either Flamini, Arteta or Rambo will have a remit to hover in the right side of MF ready to provide cover.
Depends what grade of hamstring injury Sagna is struggling with.
A grade 1 strain will not have caused any tearing, bleeding, swelling or change of gait. It is basically a feeling of tightness.
Podolski, on the other hand, must have suffered a grade 3 ++ to have been sidelined for 13 weeks and counting !
Dr. Faustus,
Fuentes is on my list to read for quite some time, but I cannot find either “Terra Nostra” or “The Death of Artemio Cruz” translated in a language I am comfortable with, because Terra Nostra would be quite ambitious adventure for me to read in English, not only of it’s size but of the size of the dictionaries I will need to use.
As for Bolano, I must admit that he is relatively unknown to me. However I like the actual French novelists like Houellebecq and Begbede, their exceptional analysis of society and exploration of media’s influence on our perception of reality trough provocations, nastiness and brutality. Don’t find them pessimistic like many other do, so I think Bolano as hard as you described him will suit me.
Still can’t understand why Cortazar isn’t on your list of the South Americans.
In my last hundred years starting 11 he is on goal:
Cortazar
Eco Proust Kundera Borges
Joyce Nabokov Pelevin Gibson
Pynchon Huxley
Manager Luigi Pirandello, physician V. Wolf.
This literary stuff is all very well but have you read enough Spike Milligan ?
Thought not …….. 😉
Trev, didn’t Poldi say a few weeks ago that there was ligament damage as well?
Haven’t heard anything since he did it, Lars.
The last great literary piece I read was the Arsenal program from the Southampton game.
I still haven’t finished it.
Some absurd rumors that RvP will handle transfer request in January. He can’t be that stupid. Can’t he?!
Heh
Trev, in all honesty I may very well have got that mixed up with someone else.
Leading actors starting XI:
P. O’Toole, M. Freeman, C. Eastwood, M. Brando, R. DeNiro, D. Hoffman, S. Connery, A. Hopkins, J. Nicholson, G. Rush, H. Bogart.
Manager: G.C. Scott
Lurky@246 “He can’t be that stupid. Can’t he?!“. Please describe your evidence for that statement. 😉
I rather suspect that he won’t, but anyone stupid enough to believe that a “you guys” posting won’t terminally poison his relationship with fans of his ten current club is capable of anything. With a little luck, it will poison his relationship with fans of all clubs and seriously impair his chances of ever again settling in at a new club.
Now, that’s the kind of poetic justice that appeals to me. Much preferable to a career-ending injury.
Maybe RvP will return to the Emirates.
He did reassure us, after all, that he would always be a Gooner. 😉
Headline must be somewhat disappointing to Wolfie?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/tube-strike-called-off
Reading the tea leaves suggests that Vermaelen could start against Hull.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-train-ahead-of-hull-city-match (he is in 2 of the 18 pictures) ; and
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-it-is-difficult-to-leave-out-vermaelen-
Wenger needs to be bold tomorrow and try Wal-banger as the main striker to see if he can cut it as the ‘backup’ forward. Would love to see Gnabry start, and Risicky. Ozil and Carzola in the same side can often slow down the speed and incisiveness of our attacks. Whoever starts, focus and high tempo will be key to achieving a victory for the league leaders.
Heh, Chamack just scored and RvP is out injured. Is this 2010?
Sorry Pangloss, no evidence on that. Guess I’ll have to trust your judgement that he is that stupid.
Lurky @ 241: I haven’t read as much of Cortazar as by the other Latin American authors I recommended…I read a few collections of short stories and like them very much. Will get to his other works one of these days… 🙂
I also don’t find Houllebecq pessimistic at all. Despite all the surface nastiness that repels many he is an old style moralist a la Voltaire. Elementary Particles is as shocking to our sensibility as I believe Candide was in Voltaire’s time. His apparent pessimism is born of a deeper love for humanity and anger at its wasted possibilities. Bolano is less systematic in his thought, and more in love with the idea of love, and more pulp-ish … but there is a thorniness at the center that can be prohibitive.
Let me play along with your novelists’ eleven:
Camus (La Chute is one of my all-time favorite novels, and Camus actually played as a GK)
Beckett , Sterne , Joyce , E. Waugh ( a classical all British defensive set up, especially committed are the ‘left’ back and ‘right’ back positions)
Proust, Mann, Saramago (A rigorous and deep German in the center flanked by a rather prolific if somewhat reflective French and a mesmerizingly creative Portuguese)
Calvino, Borges, Marquez (a crafty and effervescent Italian on the left, and two towering Latin American talents with the Argentinian controlling the attack with labyrinthine imagination and precise grasp of space and time and a prolific and extraordinarily imaginative Colombian striker completing the attack)
Manager: Herman Broch (a great statesman with magnificent historical vision) ably assisted by Kundera of wide-ranging influences and that brilliant sense of humor.
Joyce “British”??
8 ball @ 257: Apologies for the cultural/political faux pas, could not just resist a good one-liner…
What is the right word to describe a collection of mighty old-school defenders from the islands of England-Scotland-Wales and Ireland? Please substitute my incorrect usages of ‘British’ by that epithet …
Totally forgot Broch.
More conceptual team than mine, must admit Dr. Faustus. Tough Irish defense, creative European midfield and deadly South American forwards. Arsene would be proud. Although, bold move not to have North Americans nor Russians in the starting line-up. In reserves maybe?
Dr Faustus, Lurky,
I would replace Joyce with R White in that British defence. A lively character who always delivers with effervescence.
Daniels, Warnincks and Sandeman offer far more variety, depth and variety of hue in the middle order.
Calvados is an obvious improvement on Calvino up front – has great versatility and delivers the acidic in equal measure to the fruitier expressionism of his character.
Manager: has to be Witherspoon, who has hugely widened access to the masses even if his themes are sometimes a little artificial.
Lurky @ 259: It hurts me enormously to not be able to select Bulgakov or Dostoyesky or Pelevin or Fuentes or Gombrowicz … but all for the greater good of the ‘team narrative’… I had to also leave out some of my modern favorites like Pamuk or Rushdie …
Yes, would think about the reserves later … Would be hard to find positions for the American stalwarts though. 🙂
8ball, are you my father in disguise? Include Christopher Walken and that would surely be his choice actors starting line-up.
Trev @ 260: Ha, that is some eclectic collection of ‘spirits’ … can’t say I have sampled them all.
BTW, did you ever have the Calvados from that village in Normandy where the cows live to be fifty years old on a staple diet of local orchards’ apples and leaves? A true ‘eau de vie’ if there ever was one …
8 ball & Lurky — nice line-up but why only English speaking? No Mastroianni, no Depardieu, no Auteiul, no Kinsky? …
About Kinsky, if a biopic was to be made about him I can very well imagine ‘mad’ Jans playing that role … he has that same glint of pitying the banality of the normal in his eyes … 🙂
Trev, you degrading Jim Beam and Evan Williams on the bench? Give the boys their deserved chance 🙂
Dr. Faustus, for once I have to disagree.
Lehman is mad enough to play Herzog, but to play Kinsky you need that extra madness and obsession, so I’ll have to choose between Oliver Kahn and Effenberg.
That would be quite a movie, directed by Felix Magath, of course.
Lurky @ 265 , heh…
Mad ‘Jens’ even @ 264…
Enough tomfoolery from yours truly.
Looking forward to the preview then…
Lurky @ 266 — see your point, Kahn it is with Magath an interesting choice for a director…on a serious note, is there any actor today who can play Kinsky convincingly enough? I am sure Kinsly himself could not have played Kinsky with any great degree of conviction. 🙂
Later…
Bardem could try.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>