Too Easy For Ruthless Gunners
Jan 5th, 2014 by 'holic
There are obviously far more important things in life than winning a football match, but try telling that to nigh on 55,000 ecstatic Arsenal supporters just after 7pm yesterday. The final whistle signaled more than just the Gunners safe passage into the fourth round of the FA Cup. It also ended for the forseeable future the notion that Tottenham’s expensive group of individuals are remotely close to the mythical, and mystical, power-shift in North London.
The key word there is individuals. Arsenal, not for the first time this season, have a midfield that can make the game come to life in breathtaking fashion, all speed of pass and a lesson in geometry. They have added to it a change in attitude to defending as a unit that is what made them statistically the team of 2013. Whether they can translate the performance in a calendar year to one that encompasses this season as a whole remains the $64,000 question. The sense of team and the willingness to work for and with each other proved decisive yesterday.
The readers of the official club website have picked Tomas Rosicky as their man of the match. How on earth anybody could pick just one name is beyond me. Everybody did their job, and did it well. Serge Gnabry caught the eye simply because of his inexperience, Santi Cazorla and Little Mozart because they scored the goals, beautiful goals both, that settled the tie. Theo Walcott caught the eye, a wise choice to torment the lumbering Dawson at the back for the visitors. Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta caught the eye, disciplined in their defensive duties, but keen to impose themselves further forward when required.
The back five enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon. Certainly most would have expected more from the visitors bold 4-4-2 approach that had worked for them at Old Trafford. The reality was that Adebayor reverted to type, one dynamic first-half run, and a second-half miskick aside, he looked largely unmotivated or disinterested. He and strike partner Soldado looked, and played, like strangers although in fairness they had little to work with, so overrun was their outnumbered and outclassed midfield.
Arsenal delivered their neighbours a cold-hearted and dispassionate lesson. Not admirable personal qualities perhaps, but important in the context of the team. Mathieu Flamini, rested until the final twenty minutes in this tie, is the physical embodiment of these, roaming midfield ready to offer protection to his colleagues. Even harmless little Theo joined in yesterday, reminding the away section of the scoreline as he departed the contest on a stretcher and was rewarded with the price of a half-decent bottle of champers for his troubles. If this degree of ruthlessness can be harnessed for the remainder of the season then we could well be celebrating something silver and glinting come May.
Even with Arsenal down to ten men there was little threat to the clean sheet. Fourteen minutes of numerical advantage wasted by unimaginative and shell-shocked opponents, and so we return to that final whistle. The outpouring of joy was a pleasure to watch. I did a lot of people watching yesterday, from the pre-match show of bravado or nervousness depending on your point of view, to the warm glow of the post match pints and jocularity between friends old and new.
To True Storey, who shared my vantage point, I say thank you. To Arthur, a rare but welcome attendee I also say thank you. And of course to the rest of you who came to say hello and share your joy at the performance it is another huge thank you. For a few brief hours we were able to share a North London derby day, and when you win then there are few days to better that.
Oh, and Clive Allen, what happened to the requested handshake? Two bob you are mate!
Cheers ‘holics.
594 Responses to “Too Easy For Ruthless Gunners”
FIRST!
Actually, I might well take second place as well. It isn’t like Spurs are going to need any of the top four spots.
UCL Spot.
Told ya it was gonna be easy.
What do we think of Tottnum?
You know it….
Great post Holic. I watched a good bit of the match a second time and I thought Theo was outstanding. I’m not sure he can do a job there against, say, Bayern Munich. No reason to think he couldn’t against anybody Spuds or below in the league.
Cheers Holic! Fucking two bob cunt that Clive Allen is!
Cheers Maestro, a privilege to sit next you last night and to witness yet another humiliation of the LWCs at The HoF. Thanks also to The Neighbour for offering the seat.
The look on 2-Bob’s face as you repeatedly offered your hand as a gesture of friendship…… Priceless 🙂
Great to see other ‘Holics in The Tollie too, you know who you are.
All-in-all, a great way to celebrate two belated birthdays. Yours is next?
UTA!
I know it’s my first post here but I can’t help wonder, did they really spend 100 million on that!!!????
They really did 😉
Gnabry was outstanding what a future this kid has! He plays with much composure and confidence on the ball. Also his decisions, ie when to pass, were spot on!
I will also join to those praising young Serge, he is pretty much Ox Mk II in my eyes. They both have strong body for their age, pace to burn and are technically gifted. Not sure if Serge can put as much power behind the ball when he shoots as Mr. Chamberlain but I suppose his shots sting aswell.
Will be interesting how AW is going to utilise him along with Ox in the remainder of the season, that right hand side of our midfield suddenly looks packed.
Oh and Feo shown yesterday that against opponents who play high or semi-high line he can do the job as CF, was very impressed with him and he really deserved a goal.
After that performance The only thing we need to change is some additional space in the trophy cabinet.
Awesome game to watch (twice), great all round performance and think I will go back for a third viewing.
Haha you been winding up Clive Allen Guv ? That got me to thinking which one out of the following 3 is the biggest Cunt is it Hazard, Roberts or Allen?
Its Roberts for me !
Still Smiling over the lesson we gave them 🙂 I Still dont think the commentary team clicked onto the fact that we had only 10 men after Walcott went off – Guess it shows how easy it was !!
Oh what a booootiful morning to be a Gooooonah. Good to see y’all yesterday at the usual place. Here’s to the end if the Marshdwellers’ season.
I am reminded of the time I saw Clive Allen and his big fat daughter in Sainsburys. My daughter showed me a DVD and I said “No it’s Twobob” He glared at me and for a moment I thought I was going to get a slap
TON@15
Haha thats quality 🙂
Talking of which think Fat Sam will be looking for a job tomorrow – West Ham are all over the shop ! You know when your in Trouble when your own fans are Singing “You must be shit as its only 3-0”
Thank you Guv!
Always a pleasure to be in such great company shame I don’t do it more often. That’s my New Year resolution though!
Great game, great atmosphere especially when I sat right below those LWC’s!
They were shit and they know it!
An eloquent account of yesterday’s proceedings Maestro. A pleasure to read and relive the evening.
Slainte
THHBD
Talking of Forest – Good to see Lansbury putting in good performances week after week – Looks a Prem Player just got a little bit unlucky getting the illness and injuries when he did. Would love to see Forest back in the top flight, have fond memories of aways games as a kid, Top Club deserve to be in the top flight.
Afternoon, won’t stay long but fair play to Arsenal. I felt the game was lost when I saw our midfield line-up. Mr Sherwood deserves praise for his bold approach, which made for an open game from the start, but it was all very naive against what I think is the best midfield in the country. You have a great chance of winning the league this season, god forbid! Hoping we will give you a tougher game at WHL in March.
Once again the landlord calls it as I saw it. Nice to hear that you also let Clive Allen know of your desire to shake his hand 🙂
Will be interesting to see in a few minutes who we draw in the next round, but with the way draws have been going this season I assume it will be City or Chelsea away.
Coventry at home
It’s Coventry at home.
Great draw. Finally.
‘Afternoon all! At least here it is 😉
Home game vs Coventry in the next round! Not a bad draw
coverntry city at the ems it is in the FA
Hopefully an opportunity for Gnabry and Zelalem to get more game time.
not a bad draw at all, guess ryo and zelalem can get a game there
Right then, Coventry at home certainly sounds like a game we should win.
This is a really terrible bunch of ties
Happy with the crap draw. Want Chelsea and City to keep having the extra games until they get each other in the other semi.
Top report ‘H, cheers.
Nothing like the 3rd round of the Fa Cup to stir memories of yesteryear – jumpers for goalposts, James Alexander Gordon reading the football results and plucky minnows giving the big boys a run for their money.
No wonder then that it was tiny Tottenham rather than ourselves who made all the pre-match noise – a day out for their supporters at a big Club and the smell of a giantkilling in the air. Nor was an upset without precedent. A rare Pat Jennings blunder in 1982 had seen Tottenham knock us out at the same stage. No doubt the match is still a best-selling DVD in the Spurs shop.
32 years on, the airwaves were once again filled with hopeful Totts talking of power shifts and ‘our time’ with their usual combination of ludicrous revisionism, solipsistic bombast and delusional dishonesty.
It was over before it began. Tim nice but Dim, the latest temporary incumbent of the ‘doomed to fail’ hotseat, had espoused in his pre-match interview that Football was largely a simple game and that tactical complication often served to confuse rather than enlighten. Fair enough, it’s a view I have some sympathy with, but that doesn’t mean tactics can be ignored altogether. Even a cursory glance at Arsenal’s recent fixtures would have told him that to get any joy at the Emirates, teams have to first flood and then stifle the midfield. To therefore go into the game with just a 4 man midfield, and then compound the error by entering into the spirit of the 3rd round and fielding what must have been the local butcher/baker/candlestick maker as one of his central midfield pair was foolhardy in the extreme. It was a decision that allowed the excellent Rosicky the space and time to dominate proceedings from the off.
With Cazorla weaving pretty patterns on the left, and the more direct Gnabry looking every inch a Premiership footballer on the right, the goal was only a matter of time. Thrusting run from Serge, perfect pass and an exquisite finish from Santi. See ya later Tottenham.
Couldn’t help laughing throughout at Mr Adebayor. Rightfully designated boo boy for the day, it clearly rattles him, and he resembled for the most part an errant child desperately trying and failing to impress a disapproving teacher on his return to an old school. Petulant fouls and inane grins largely characterised his day, and on the one occasion he did escape the vice-like attentions of Koscielny to give himself a clear sight of goal he ended up on his arse. How we chortled.
Once Rosicky had robbed the hapless Rose and put us two up and given Rose a large dose of Karma for his fortuitous volley at the Lane into the bargain, the only question that remained was how many. In the event, more chances were spurned ( get your head up Theo), and the rest of the game passed off agreeably enough with the Totts never threatening to get back into it.
Just time for Theo to give the Totts a much needed counting lesson. His smug grin was surely being replicated throughout the Ems. A good day.
Back in your box Totts. No doubt the delusional revisionism will rear it’s head again before the fixture in March. Best met with a conspiratorial wink and a raised eyebrow. Sometimes silence is golden. North London is red. It was ever thus.
‘Appy New Year Gooners.
Spot on, Holic. Super day out. Excellent first goal, fantastic technique from Santi – how many premier league strikers would have missed the target from that perfect pass from Gnabry? Beautiful to see Super Tom strip Rose on the half-way line and eradicate Spurs tenure in the Cup and, simultaneously, the memory of his sole lifetime goal.
Enjoyed meeting all those happy Holics afterwards too. And what better way to end the day than with a well-deserved haddock at The Chip Inn Fish Bar? (Tony told me that he feels very privileged to have added another Holic, the esteemed Gentleman of Bath with his beautiful daughter, to his establishment’s VIP clientele – things are looking up on the deep frying front 🙂 )
Villa away anyone?
Fluid and fluent, TaBS! A very Happy New Year to you too.
Top report, Guv. And your friendliness to Clive Allen? equally excellent.
Great comeback post from TaBS, made me chuckle more than a few times.
If, as some reports are to be believed that Arsene’s back up team have renewed their contracts in a 2 year deal, then this is obviously pre-emptive of the boss signing imminently.
I have a feeling in my bones that Wenger will spend big money in this window to lure a top striker to the club should the right man become available. I know that I also fancied the prospect of Berbatov signing and I still wouldn’t rule that out either as a back up short term solution. But a 2 year extension will arguably be Wenger’s last contract at the club. The way this team is beginning to take shape is just mouthwatering in terms of the potential heights they could reach. Already, the midfield is the best in England and could well be up there with the best midfield combinations ever at the club. A few more additions and this team will become a European heavyweight to tilt for European glory.
The next 2 years will contribute heavily towards defining Wenger’s legacy at the club. We have money in the bank, new commercial contracts and a slew of seriously talented players now. I expect him to spend big and I think while on one hand the January window is more difficult to buy established talents, it also suits Arsenal because we’re cash rich and can afford to spend now when arguably, other clubs tend to wait until the summer to arrange financing from external sources. I will be very surprised if we don’t see moves being made in late January.
Haha, this is awesome http://pic.twitter.com/T6O3UeH1Fa
What a fine day had by all. Nice to have a pre match meet up. The early conversation centred around the team, selection. I must say that I was somewhat surprised to see the BFG omitted considering that there only threat was likely to come from Barndoor. I was a tad worried with the lack of height especially as Flappy is not renowned for his dominance in the air. I needn’t have worried. Spurs were so lacking up front I think I could have played in goal and we would have still won???
Great write up Holic. Very little to add. Picking a MOTM was tough but TR7 does just get it for me. Was there anyone on that else on that pitch who deserved a goal more than he did??? Another superb display. Those many years his junior would do well to sit up and take note. Young Serge also came of age. Another big step taken in his development yesterday. He looks to have one hell of a future. No wonder there was talk of him making the German national side for the world cup.
All in all I do not remember an easier NLD. The neighbours were toothless. I had no idea that Soldudo was playing until he was taken off?? £28 million well spent I would say.
Even when Theo went off I never really felt that we were in any danger. In the end it was men against boys. Chants of “Sherwood is a Gooner” rang around the ground as the wannabe himself stood clueless on the edge of his technical area. I dread to think what spuds must thing when they actually hear that ringing out loud and clear. It is very funny I must say.
By the time the final whistle rang out loud and clear the Grove was practically a spud free zone. They had long departed to lick windows and smash up stuff at other venues no doubt.
Back to the pun and the debrief was conducted with large smiles on our faces. Great to see the regulars. Also great to see ATG managing to make the trip. Don’t leave it so long next time.
9 days before Villa. Time for a chill out and to get those who have given a lot in the last few weeks to have a relaxing few days and to recharge the batteries. Who knows, we might have that start striker on board by then????
Keep the faith.
Good to see you back Tabs…!
Just about to post saying what a fine piece you had delivered, and a fine piece it is too Guvernor, but then I hit refresh and found TABS’ effort. Oh my word! Real qualidee.
Anyone ploughing through yesterday’s drinks will know that I followed the match on the Radio 5Live commentary (which was crap) having forgotten that ITV were broadcasting it live. To compound my annoyance, Oxonne then told me that she was “a bit surprised” that I was listening rather than watching it. Please will someone remind me just before any future live broadcasts to avoid a similar cockup in future? Thanks.
So, back to business with a game at Villa Park next Monday. Don’t get sucked into inevitable media talk of “grudge matches” or “opportunities to avenge our opening-day defeat”. It’s just another match against inferior opposition (one of 38 this season) that we need to win. Don’t worry about winning at a canter or by a hat-full. Play properly and three points will do it.
Win the next match.
COYG
If I had communicated clearly then TaBS superb write up would have been the report of choice. Guess who has the Villa gig? Thanks TaBS.
Great to see tabs back where he belongs. The place has been all the poorer with you.
Question for the bar; is this Arsene’s strongest squad in his time at the club (not first XI, squad)?
Tabsie! What’s the dealio soldier?
Hope you had a good festive season filled with family, friends and fond memories of dispatching the fools from Shite Fart Lane. I know I did!
Great post holic, and to all of you who kept me company during that exhilariting match yesterday, I bid you all a good day as well! I had a field day on twitter after the game so I think I better take a break from social media for a while, exhausted!
I also just watched Forest destroy West Ham 5-0. Big Sam is surely the next for the sack I think. Woeful doesn’t begin to describe that performance…Let’s hope the other Prem teans experience losses or many replays as well too. Would be brilliant!
No it isn’t N7!
Have nobody told you that we do not have any depth in the squad? 😉
Now to be honest, I don’t know if this is the best squad AW has had so far and I don’t know if you really can compare squads from different decades to each other.
Sure will be fun to read what other drinkers in here think of that 🙂
Not the strongest squad but the most hardworking I’ve seen in years
And a real TEAM by all meanings of that word
Afternoon all,
Excellent write up, Holic,
and quality from Tabs. Good to see you back, mate.
Dave, respect, as yesterday, and thanks.
Theo seemed like a reincarnetion of Thierry sitting on that stretcher yesterday. A right cheeky chappie. Good to see.
As Arseblog said today re the coin throwing – wasting money seems to have become a natural thing for them to do. 😉
The other Thierry impersonation came from Serge Gnabry. Sure, he is raw, and ” no pressure” and all that, but I remember saying ages ago – after that youth tournament in Italy – that he already seems to have the strength, balance and athleticism, and has scored a cracking goal or two.
If he can add the finishing skills and consistency we have a tremendous player. For now, a very promising start.
Dunno, Trev. Unless Gnabry can add goalkeeping excellence to that roster of talents and don’t think he can truly be considered a possible future star.
Dave @20 – Cheers mate, very magnanimous of you as always. Hope you’re gonna buy me that beer before memories of yesterday fade 😉
Cheers Btm. Happy new year to you too and glad to hear that you managed to drum up some business for the chippie! 🙂
Cent, Joe, N7, Pangloss , Canons – Cheers for the kind ones fellas.
Holic – Cheers guv and no worries re Villa.
Trev – Cheers mate. Hope the leg is recovering well.
watching Chelsea play Derby County today, 56mins into the game and they don’t have a shot on target??? They are 3rd in the league, and pundits still consider them ahead of us to win the league!! you wonder what THEY ARE SMOKING UP THERE!!
Dave, good of you to drop by and thanks for a gracious post.
Afternoon all, still buzzing.
Been really busy today, had a reservation for a kind of scavenger hunt thingy group for an expected 80 guests……. 183 showed up. 😯
Got’s to clean up now, but however much of state it is, it’s nothing compared to the complete rubbish that the Totts were yesterday……. and it didn’t cot me 100mill to get it in such a state. 😉
Backdrinking will resume forthwith……
*cost
Great reports from ‘Holic and Tabs! Spurs, as always, offers the finest and funniest lessons in hubris and delusions.
On a sombre note: adieu Eusebio! A fantastic footballer and a generous classy man. Loved and admired everywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FOYyd6d4uUc
Heh, my mate tabs is back!!
Break out the good stuff. 😉
Excellent report Holic on an excellent match. It was a top team performance….all 14 players in red & white gave a fully committed and equally skilful effort. The spuds were well and truly roasted, along with the Ems rocking only in the way a NLD can muster. The LWC were despatched scurrying back down Seven Sisters Rd towards swampland in no uncertain terms. For me it was the icing on the cake for a wonderful day……a perfect birthday present.
Great to see that scintillating report from Tabs….you’ve been missed mate!
Tabs. You’re alive? Nice to see you back old son. Happy new year to you.
Seem to have lost a long post i sent about 4.20. CBA to write it all out again. Exec summary follows:
1. Brilliant, brilliant night at THOF
2. Tommy R. walks on water
3. Much derided home support were awesome last night and have been for most of this season. THOF is now a fantastic, hugely enjoyable place to watch our team – going away is great but at home also rocks on most occasions and all big games.
4. Our team get this, love the support and really get what an honour it is to wear a Cannon on your chest.
5. I am loving my football this year and with my son at my side we will remember this season for many years to come.
Another beautiful day in paradise for gooners everywhere, whether it be North London or Seattle, Washington.
I think the game has been well summarized and analyzed by the fine pundits at the bar so I’ll just add a brief thought. I’ve never been convinced that Theo could play as the lone striker, but after watching the match I think he can excellent in that role as long as we have a Gnabry or Ox out on the wing to keep the width. With our regular mid-fielders who have a tendency to drift into the middle and narrow the pitch, it doesn’t leave space for Theo to make his runs from the central position (and why it does work when Theo is out on the wing). Having a pacy winger to keep the oppositions backs on their toes should allow Theo to make his quick sprints between defenders.
A nice break for the lads before Villa, and hopefully some healing will occur between now and then for those with a few knocks.
Dr Faustus…..they never fail to amuse. To quote Tim (gooner) Sherwood before the match, “when they see our strikers they will be frightened” Well their strikers didn’t show up and were replaced with Adepaymore & Soldadud – is it possible for the delusion to be any worse?
Meanwhile, RIP Eusebio, one of the top 3 players in the world of his generation and a gentleman with it – a man without any ego.
Top, top quality, Tabs.
Watched the match on a Spanish-language broadcast (viewing of choice to avoid moronic English-language commentary) and the atmosphere at the Ems just poured out of the screen. Fantastic.
Sad about Eusebio, Uply. A great player. There was a chant back in the day:
Aye-aye-aye-aye
“our goalkeeper” is better than Yashin
“our playmaker” is better than Eusebio
And “opponents of the day” are good for a thrashin’.
Feo out for 4 weeks! at least according to the Mail…what’s up with that then…he only just came back!!
NBN…you must be one of the oldies on here remembering that chant 😉
Peter…..if the Mail is correct ( that’s a bif if) and it is 4 weeks for Theo, along with the reported 4 weeks for TGSTEL, it looks like our fabled 3 weeks has been affected by inflation 😉 It’s expected the HFB should be back for the Villa game but looks like he will have to keep on running solo until Feb earliest unless AW has a signing up his sleeve.
Top, top drinks above and in the last bar, it really was a pleasure sharing the experience here in the bar with all the superb ‘holics yesterday.
DK (from previous), glad you enjoyed that, Saldildo seems an apt name for a player that fucks things up with a bunch of c@nts around him. 😀
Hehs @ Trev.
Top notch from all the on the spot ‘holics, heres hoping we can share a bevvy under the brolly in the not too distant future. It’s not that easy for me to get away, but I’ll be working on it.
Steve T. Indeed not easy to pick the MOTM, personally I’d give it to Theo. Yes he really should of scored and once or twice should of looked up instead of going for goal himself, but man did he put in a shift, he was everywhere, even defending. For me, that was his best shift in an Arsenal shirt, always involved untill his unfortunate injury, but even when being stretchered off he was a true gooner causing grief with a smirk and a score reminder to the knuckledragging scumsuckers that infested our beloved Clock end.
N7.
Hard to say if this is arsene’s best squad, different circumstances, times, competition, etc.
However, there does seem to be a great spirit there, heartwarming stuff.
We are though strong, a lot stronger then many give us credit for, which i think is a good thing. Underestimate us at your peril!!!
If anyone needs comparisons, then take a look at the absolute dross that Moyes has put out against Swansea this evening. They are the champions ffs, but without Rooney and that cheese eating rodent who’s name escapes me, they look bang average, still can’t believe we dropped points to them.
Manchester United starting XI: Lindegaard; Smalling, Evans, Ferdinand, Büttner; Valencia, Fletcher, Cleverley, Kagawa; Welbeck, Hernandez.
Which one of those would you really want?
Ha Ha Bony scores in the last minute.
Fat Sam and Mo Moyes in Barney
can we get Bony this transfer period please??
SC Gooner.
No we can’t and shouldn’t want to.
Flash in the pan.
…..and how did we lose that game at old toilet, when everyone seems to have a field day there….feels like we are the only team that hasn’t won there this season
H2H,
Not a single sausage.
Delightful result. My mind turns to the little piglet inside Van Pigsty. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch. They we’re absolutely abysmal.
David Moyes? At Arsenal? Really? Someone wanted that?
I’d actually forgotten about Van Persie, aka ” The Curse”.
Did he ever actually play for us? It all seems so long ago…
I thought Theo had a great game yesterday but I can’t be the only one frustrated at how many times he was caught offside? If he can work on holding or bending those runs he will become even more of a handful.
Funny, I have had a couple of spuds who have finally taken the bait today moaning about his gesture on the stretcher. How it was a disgrace and how upset they all were and that this excused their actions. The poor sensitive souls. To aid their recovery from such a traumatic act I suggested they took up knitting instead. I even managed to e mail them their first pattern. I have not heard from them since.
😀
i agree H2H, but am thinking anyone that can head a ball as good as he did in this game should be a good deputy to our HFB….but not a big fan of berba, however cheap he may come
Any ideas on how to start a fans club? All suggestions will be appreciated thanks. COYG!!!!!!
Great reports all.
Still have a smile today. Watching Theopatra parade past the slaves of seven sisters just makes me laugh. Throwing your money at him will never make him change teams. Levy has taught you spuds a bad habit. 😉
Glad see you back, TaBs. Always enjoy your take.
Sounds like it was a good day out for all. No love lost on the scum. Just as it should be.
SAG.
In this day and age that shouldn’t be too difficult. Start with a website/forum or an open to all Facebook page and go from there.
Good luck.
SAG – Go to Arsenal USA and check out Arsenal America.
SAG.
I think there is still a group called Arsenal America. You might want to track them down and see if they can help out.
Steve, Theo can irrate the crap outta me too. Yes, he should of timed some of his runs better, but his sheer presence had the Totts back line filling their shorts with the green apple squirts. What impressed me was his appetite to be involved, somthing that he has often lacked. Here’s hoping he’ll be back soon with the same hunger and aplication.
Great report Guv as one who was absent from the match – a rare and regrettable occurrence. And lovely to have Tabs back. Both Hemingwayesque efforts of colour and atmosphere.
Decent draw in Round 4 where unfortunately ( not) we can’t meet ManUre. It will be telling to see how their support holds up this season. There are many ‘supporters’ who have known nothing but Ferguson and nothing but success ,but under Moyes they are mid- table scrappers who won’t make the CL this season and won’t win silverware unless Citeh take it easy on them at Wembley . This of course produces huge sadness for Arsenal fans directed towards our old boy RVP whose career choice appears now to be less prescient than it looked this time last year. And will Rooney want to stay either?
Frankly I don’t give a toss. Our club has ploughed an honest furrow even if we have been very frustrated at times but we are emerging in the new era as a bastion of proper values, wise management and good football. Lovely to see Allardyce surely about to bite the dust . Hard to forget the kicking his Bolton team gave us in 2003 at the behest of his Scottish mate in Manchester.
I note Joe’s comments Re potential transfers and give them credence as he is a wise judge but somehow I don’t see a big splurge on a striker this close season. The resting of Berbatov from the Fulham team might be an indicator of where we might see modest activity. Certainly Theo’s efforts yesterday suggest that he rather than Podolski can do a job through the centre. Poldi has never shown a liking for this role.
FA Cup wise it is good to see Man U, LWCs , Newcastle and Villa biting the dust . Can we pray for a miracle at the Etihad in their replay. We would be very well positioned then not that we aren’t now.
COYG
Strikes me that if Citeh don’t take it easy against them, ManIOU might easily not play in any European competition next year.
Such a shame.
COYG
From http://www.dearmrlevy.com:
“It’s okay. Now we’re out of both cups we can concentrate on getting knocked out of Europe.”
That IS adorable.
We knock Sp*rs out of the cup and tabs returns to the bar. All is well with the world again 🙂
Pangloss
Indeed- a team losing at home to opposition as modest as West Brom, Tottenham and Swansea and eleven points off the top may not qualify for Europe through the league. They are in a similar sort of freefall to that which afflicted the club post the retirement of Busby,that led to them being relegated in 1974. Could that be too much to hope for?
Cheers ‘holic and excellent use of the dollar sign. 🙂
When a straight red is given against ManU at the OT you know the Ferguson era is well and truly over.
Indeed NBN!
Assuming neither LWC or Manure are going to be relegated (as much as I would like that happen), I’m kind of hoping they go into the final match of the season tied for 5th, both lose and Everton nips them for 5th.
sc @ 71: We lost because half of our squad was flu-ridden and then there was a bit of tentativeness as we haven’t won there for a while. I felt even last season — Fergie and all — they were there for taking. This squad just needs to win once at one of the Manchester clubs or Chelsea and I think we will see that becoming more of a frequent occurrence.
ManUre fan on the radio just now bemoaning Ferguscum’s selection of Moyes as his successor – or should that be failer ?
Anyway, said Mancy bloke (Surrey accent, naturally) was complaining that mid-table is no good to them because they are not a mid-table team.
Well, here’s the news, chum: You are now ! 🙂
Uply@64@: Old enough to remember the bad times as well as the good…
My manu mates are crying their eyes out right now. I do not really have much sympathy for them. They are the same ones who talk the most shite about us.
My late nan used to say: “Every dog has their 4:30”
TTG @ 82: An interesting precedence for what may happen to ManU’s worldwide fan base in the immediate future when they stop enjoying the on-field success of last couple of decades can be Liverpool’s supporters base around the world despite them not having ever won the PL. I am sure someone has analyzed the impact of Pool’s lack of success in its historical world-wide fan base.
Hey tabs,
You’re a man who can turn a phrase and you are spot on with the description of Spurs supporters’ “ludicrous revisionism, solipsistic bombast and delusional dishonesty” 🙂
Trivia question of the day: in what respect does David Moyes match Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager?
A. Both have only lost once in the third round of the FA Cup.
Theo, though impressively busy and clever he was through the middle — and remain a viable option down the middle against teams playing high defensive lines — his old problems reappear every time he plays there: hurriedness in decision making and execution. When he is playing on the wings he is more composed nowadays (and hence the quite excellent tally of goals and assists in last season) but whenever he plays down the middle he probably puts too much pressure on him to score and hence tends to be less clinical in attempts and make some poor decisions.
Most quality attack minded teams won’t field a pair of central defenders as inept as Spurs’ and the rest parking the bus against us wouldn’t be as porous in shape and as ill-disciplined. Until Theo improves his back-to-the-goal hold up play he would be frustrating and frustrated playing centrally. It may work sometimes if down the right Ox/Gnabry having an excellent day with their direct runs.
Poor old West Ham.The bookmakers have ‘arry as odds on favorite to take of from Fat Sam if/when he gets the boot.
Assist?
Goal ??
Ttg,
I have always maintained (to the contrary of many of our co-drinkers) that Berbatov was always the likely and rational short term option.
The only reason I feel differently is because of the changing circumstances in many of our previous targets. For example, I now believe that Suarez has ruled himself out of any possible transfer to AFC. Not only because of his retraction during the summer, but now that he has signed a new deal, it arguably means that any purchasing club will have to pay him 300k a week. We will never do that. We won’t even pay him what Liverpool are paying him currently..!
Rooney now has Manu over a barrel and will wait until next year to see whether he will be playing in Europe, or if he will move on a Bosman, or until Manu yield (again) to his extortionate wage demands. All the cards are stacked in his favour and all he has to do is wait and continue to perform on the field. For all their disrespectful comments about Rooney, Manu have never been more dependent on him. Fergie has fucked over many of the players who have served him well (Keane, Stam, Beckham, Rooney) and its not often you see the wheel come full circle. I sincerely hope Rooney either walks out of there scott free on a Bosman, or failing that, that he absolutely screws them for as much as he can get. One way or another, Manu are going to pay for mismanaging the situation. Rooney mightn’t be the sharpest tool in the box, but he’s been well advised by his agent.
This means that I think Wenger will now look towards new targets. And in this context players ala Costa or Martinez will be evaluated. Wenger will have two more years to win the one trophy that has alluded him. So ideally, I think he’ll want to get a top striker in as quickly as possible. If the right option comes available in January, I think he’ll spend. If not, I think he’ll go for the short term option and the most logical option in that sense I feel is Berbatov.
Great assist, Cent. Thanks
excellent as always, holic. kozzer could also have been motm, though; he and rozza were our best players on the pitch yesterday, and that’s saying something.
welcome back, tabs. I’ve been wondering where you’d gotten to. not sure what you are drinking, but treble it on me for such a fine post @32.
now we’ve got to have ollie magically reappear…
Heh H2H, just recovered from that little pressie you left me back in November, for which I thank you. 😉 Hope all well in the Orange country. A glass of the good stuff on the bar mate.
Still breathing Steve 🙂 , though the defeat at City did test the old ticker. Hope all well with you and happy new year to you too.
Cheers Faustus.
Thanks Ned, Up, and Ttg.
Heh Lars 😉
Laughing along with everybody else at the Mancs. Seriously doubt that Moyes will last the season, he has looked overawed by the job from the off. I know old Rednose was given time but these are less patient times and the Murdochs don’t strike me as the most patient of fellas especially when the share price is plummeting. A post Busby collapse might be too much to ask for, but an early exit from the Champions league and a failure to finish top 4 might just see them finally fall off the financial precipice that they have clung to for so long. Failure then to find a generous sugar daddy would see some serious belt-tightening and mid-table mediocrity. Here’s hoping.
H2H@67 I’d take the Kagawa who used to play for Dortmund as a squad player, but we don’t really need any midfielders at present and he wouldn’t improve on the ones we already have.
tabs@104
I presume by “Murdochs” you mean “Glazers”.
(I hate the Murdochs too.)
Cheers 8ball. 🙂
Well in Pangloss and excellent stuff from Joe in the glory position 😉
Thanks Scruz.
Hoping that today’s result forces the porn king’s hand and Fat Sam gets the boot. Then I can properly get behind the Hammers to heap more misery on the Mancs in the League Cup.
Dk – haha yep sorry, ahem … Glazers. One cunt much like another 😉
Good to see ya back, tabs.
Tim Sherwood. (Gooner). “Danny is a good lad who doesn’t shirk responsibility. Obviously it was a mistake but he has big enough shoulders.”
Now, I’m confused. Is the Danny, Danny Rose who is shit and fucked up massively? Or does he mean Danny Levy talking about his appointment and 18 month contract???
I’m really not sure????
😀
Joe, I follow and agree with your arguments @101 about possible incoming strikers this month, BUT…
I’m not entirely convinced that we need another striker. Yes, someone who offers everything the OG has, plus a little more would be more than useful. Two of the things that OG offers, however, are workrate and loyalty towards and from the current squad. I don’t think it would be a good idea to disrupt the squad by bringing in someone who isn’t prepared to pull his weight and/or a someone who is a disruptive influence.
I think that rules out Berbatov.
The way I read Wenger, I expect him to be planning what to do in the summer to strengthen the squad. If there’s a serious and immediate injury crisis, I’m sure he’d make a short-term signing, but unless Giroud is more seriously injured than we’ve been told AND Podolski isn’t fully recovered I don’t think he will, preferring to struggle along with one of Giroud/Bendtner/Walcott/Podolski/Oxlade-Chamberlain or Park up top – or even, as an off-the-wall possibility Vermaelen.
Obviously, if some top top talent becomes available unexpectedly, I’d expect us to make genuine attempts to sign them, but by definition, I can’t predict who that might be.
I don’t expect any signings this month, but since, maybe a little unfashionably, I still trust Wenger’s judgement, I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
COYG
Well in Pangloss.
Heh @ Steve T.
Steve T – 🙂
Cheers Norcal – sorry I missed you mate and cheers for the twitter reminder 🙂 All well cheers and hope all good at your end.
SteveT – 🙂
Faustus,
I couldn’t agree more with you on Theo.
For me, he’ll never be a long term centre striker to lead the line.
I think there are two pre-requisites necessary to do this: physical presence and/or technical ability. Giroud is physical. Berbatov is technical. Henry was both and added blistering pace. Walcott is neither physical nor technical but he does have pace. For me, he just doesn’t possess football intelligence. He’s at the club 8 years and we’re still here wondering if he’ll make it as a winger or we’re talking about him possibly making it as a striker. Contrast him to Gnabry who has been here a wet week and has already demonstrated what physical presence and technique is all about. Thats not to say that Theo doesn’t have a role in the squad. He does and over the past year he has improved immensely (not that it would have been too difficult given the poverty of his performances up until then). And if people are thinking I’m being unkind then I ask you this, why do you think it took Wenger so long to agree to pay him 100k a week (hardly a top salary for a central striker or top class winger) and run the risk of him walking out the door on a Bosman?
Pangloss,
I trust Wengers judgement too. I just think its so important to realise that he’s arguably about the sign his final contract with the club, at a time when we have financial resources, and there’s a very big gap in his CV in not winning the CL. If you don’t think we need a striker why did Wenger try all summer long to sign a top striker – from Cavani last January, to Higuain and Suarez? We failed on all three accounts. So while we have struggled to cope with Giroud on his own, I don’t realistically think Bendtner is an option and is merely overstaying his tenure at the club, nor do I think Poldi or Theo for that matter are genuine options down the middle despite all the discussion. We very very badly need a top class technical striker who can win tight games at the highest level. I’m not saying that Berbatov is that player, but I think he’s a realistic short term option should Wenger fail to sign that type of player this January.
Tabs,
Couldn’t agree with you more on Moyesy. If he fails to secure CL qualification, nothing will save him!
Thanks for all the suggestions. Am trying to start one here in San Antonio. Need to bring some more folks to the light.
“Just a little something to chew on when talking about any possibility of us signing Berbatov; read what Arsene had to say on the Wilshere fags ‘saga’ then remember Berbatov absolutely loves his fags.”
I wrote the above as I thought since he was a serious smoker there was no chance Arsene will want him but then I decided to do a little research and be sure Berbatov is really a habitual smoker before posting it, in the course of my little research I discovered there wasn’t really any serious evidence that suggested he is a chain-smoker infact he says in this article http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/dimitar-berbatov-if-someone-has-great-qualities–they-dont-need-effort-1690667.html that he is not so I guess if Arsene is really interested in him smoking won’t be a reason for not getting him in.
Hehs! @ TON, Steve T & BtM.
2-Bob tales, knitting ninnies & fried fish freshmen. Great stuff 🙂
Fair enough Joe; we agree that a striker is needed and that it’s unlikely a striker of the requisite calibre will be available in January. You think that we’ll sign Berbatov as a stop-gap. I don’t.
Now, what else can we argue about… I prefer the Beatles to the Stones.
COYG
Good to see you back tabs – excellent ancillary account – you my have got lost but you’ve lost none of your style.
Thanks for the visit Dave – it’s reassuring to know there are still some gracious and articulate Spuds fans out there.
Trev @ #91
It will take awhile before it sinks in with Surrey’s finest football fans.
I think even those of an LWC persuasion started to realise what a chaps there is between Middlesex & N5. I would have said the penny finally dropped but that would be a bit cruel on riot inciting Theo.
UTA!
*chasm* not *chaps*
There’s no f’in Apple.
Joe knows @115
Whoops, I’m not really changing my position completely.
I do think it’s possible to improve the squad with a “top class technical striker”.
I left out the word “now” in mine @111 above. The first sentence of the second paragraph should have read “I’m not entirely convinced that we need another striker now“.
I don’t think Wenger is the type to go for risky stop-gaps unless he has to. There are lots of different opinions about exactly when it’s more risky to bring someone in rather than carrying on with what we have.
Night all.
COYG
Except that we will not sign Berbatov. He’s not a stop-gap at the wages and contract he will demand. And he’s got too much of a reputation for sulking for us to take the gamble that he would be content with a DB10’s final years-type cameo role. Though I agree he has a lot of skill.
BtM: and a very fine fish it was too, whatever it was.
Can’t make Villa but definitely mulling over Munich.
Pangloss/ Joe
Lucid analysis as ever from Joe re our striking options. My experience of watching the last ten games of title seasons is that they are harder to win than any others because of the pressure and often because your opposition is desperate and so hard to break down. It is then that a range of striking options and particularly clinical finishing is particularly important. ( it is never unimportant !). God bless the HFB but clinical he is not and although he fits the team ethos perfectly I think we need a quality alternative. Bendtner is nowhere near good enough ,nor clinical enough and as discussed earlier by many neither Theo or Poldi is right. There is no need to be parsimonious given the size of the prize and the opportunity I think prudent investment in quality makes sense. Berbatov, whatever you may say about him is quality and might be the sort of perverse solution that might just work. Arsene knows but it is often hard to second guess him!
Joe, agree re Walcott’s football intelligence. He is not natural born footballer, like Gnabry or Ox are, but it is evident that he works hard especially on his shooting, picking runs, marking ground.
His first touch is poor as always and decision making is not on the required level but he is a powerful recognizable weapon, the defenders are frightened of him and his unpredictability and speed.
He is not the small gun you hide in your sock, he is a big shotgun you want everyone to see you have it when you enter the saloon. That is one of the reasons I think Arsene decided to give him the money and the new contract.
His brandish qualities and Beckham-esque ability to attract fans and sponsors are the other reason.
As for the striker front. If I have the money and power to pick an ideal player for Arsenal, I would give three lists of priorities to my Dick Law. I will drop usual and unreachable suspects like Cavani, Suarez, Falcao, Lewandovski, Aguero, Tevez, Rooney ….
Young strikers list.
1. Lukaku
2. Reus
3. Julian Draxler
4. Deulofeu
5. Griezmann
List of strikers hitting their prime
1. Giuseppe Rossi (he injured himself today again, shame)
2. Mandzukic
3. Pedro
4. Bony
5. Balotelli
6. Mitroglou
Veteran strikers
1. Vucinic
2. Berba
3. Kiesling
4. Di Natale
5. Drogba
Cheers Baff 😉
excellent lists, lurky. personally, I would take lukaku, he has all the holdup play of Giroud with power and technical skill a la drogba. sad to say moaninho won’t sell him to us in a million years.
Lurky @ 128: Interesting list. Di Natale for instance I have always felt at his prime would have been an excellent choice for us, but was he ever going to leave Udinese…
In your list I would think any of Pedro, Reus and Draxler — none out-and-out strikers, Pedro more of a striker than others — would be a great addition to our current squad and all of them would offer significant goalscoring threat. The question is as they won’t be able to lead the line the way Giroud does — and I think that aspect of physicality in CF is very very important for Arsene’s current formations and tactics — how would the team set up? As we had discussed earlier Ox/Serge down the middle making direct runs and shooting from the edge of the box would be an option that would need the least amount of tweaking in our exquisite engine room of a midfield. Our full backs would have to become a bit more adept at cut-backs compared to crosses.
Delightful post Holic. and enjoyed the ‘social’ aspects as well. You keep very good company 😉
Tabs, great to see you again. Fair write up, too.
Dave, it will take awhile, but your team will gel and when they do … they will be a force again. A cause for concern, for Arsenal fans. So hang in there.
SAG, Good luck with the fan club, sounds like fun! Keep us posted and maybe Lonestar Gooner has some connections … 🙂
Big Welcome to Mertscielny, ecg, the ‘occasional’ neighbor and Mary Jo (from New York) and anyone else, I’ve shamefully missed!!!
Night holics, 🙂
Bath,
I couldn’t agree with you more sir when it comes to Berbatov’s very questionable attitude and propensity to sulk. I would certainly prefer to see us sign someone new and fresh for the long term. Preferably someone with established credentials. I trust Wenger to make that call. Short of that, I’m inclined to agree with Ttg about Berba. He ticks alot of boxes and offers us an alternative technical solution which as you rightly point out is not “stop gap”, but more “short term”. He’s one of the very best players I’ve seen to control a ball under pressure in a tight area and would bring something new to the table at an affordable cost.
Anyway, more importantly, I’m curious to know where Mr John Walker Blue sits in the pantheon of scotch whiskey?
Scruz, Lukaku would be perfect. Just perfect.
Faustus, Draxler preferred position is striker as he stated in some interview. I haven’t see him playing as a one yet, but some of his fans suggest that number 9 is his natural position.
Anyway, forgot to add the journalist’s regulars Kalou and Huntelar to the list.
Special mention for Yaya Banana and Stopilla Sunzu, who did not made the list not because they are not strikers, but because I wanted to specially mention them.
Lurky – you also failed to mention our prime target, Alistair Hurrah, who, if reports are correct, can play anywhere we need him.
‘night all.
Joe – I have to confess I have never tasted JW Blue. It’s about 40 years since I last drank JW Red and JW Black (the latter subsequently became export only and unavailable in the UK). I wasn’t a great fan of whisky then and since developing a taste for fine malt I have avoided blended whiskies unless there are no other options – in blends I tend to choose Teachers or Grouse (the latter contains a high proportion of Macallan and Highland Park – 2 of my favourite malts).
As to Berba – I see exactly what you mean and if Arsene thinks he can do that job then I will support him to the hilt. Classy player without doubt but clearly flawed at a number of levels.
Great lists Lurky. I think most if those would be summer transfers. As for January I think we have a choice of Berba or Pato. Not sure either will win us the title. We have the team to stay in it til the end and maybe with a little luck still win it but Man City are still the favorites.
I feel the loss at United were a big three points lost. Damn it.
What about Hernandez from Utd ?
I am surprised he is not on our radar.
He would be in both the young and prime category
Never rated Alistair Hurrah. Just a poor man’s Bevin.
Aussie @ 138 – he is also in the overhyped and crap categories.
Thanks for the welcome abb!
Interesting discussion on strikers. I’m still of the opinion that unless someone special becomes available there isn’t a need at this point. I think we have enough quality players to make something work in the absence of Giroud, whether it’s Theo, Poldi, Gnabry, Ozil, Ox, or even Ramsey. I think it will require a change of tactics as we rely heavily on Giroud for outlet passes, holding the ball, and playing as the pivot, but I think we have enough talent to find other ways to score. If we can’t find alternative tactics in the absence of Giroud that would be very disturbing to me.
As for Berba, I think we would risk a possible plague in the locker room. I believe much of our success this year has been a result of the camaraderie, cohesiveness of the players, and the unselfish play, and at least for me, Berba doesn’t check any of those boxes. Technical skill, yes. Team player, no.
Great list Lurky! I’m especially fond of the first three young strikers. I’ve been a huge fan of Reus, and Lukaku is a beast! Unlike the LWCs, I’d rather Wenger safe his coins and go after one of those 3 this summer.
Theo potentially out for a month, say the Guardian, club fear ligament damage based on early tests.
Fcuking bollocks.
Oh, and no chance re: Hernandez. They won’t sell him to us, he’s lost a yard and he’s never been able to lead the line.
Anyone seen much of Martinez? Flirting hard with the club via the press.
Haven’t seen much of Martinez, but I’m not sure if we need a 27yo striker with 2 years of experience in top flight football.
Theo reportedly out a month? I guess we’ll see him back on the pitch in April…
At least Feo is not out for three weeks. 😉
Great to see you abb 😉
And the rest of you. Some wonderful drinks there. Thank you.
Don’t do wishlists, but if I did a goalscorer and a versatile right-back/centre back utility player please.
Bath,
I may be off my marbles, but for me, JW Blue is one of the very finest whiskies I have ever tasted. Like you, I have tended to avoid blended Whiskies, but JWB is as smooth as some of the very finest Macallans. I have long thought that the Black was very drinkable and more available in many bars than most other whiskeys. But I tasted the Blue over the chrimbo and was hugely impressed. I’d like a second opinion from a trusted source, so give it a go sometime..!
Good point, Bath! Maybe we have a new physio. Just like having a new signing. 🙂
Look.
Theo has done well since coming back. He is a dangerous weapon in our arsenal. But many of the best games we’ve played this season has been without him (not saying it is connected!) and Giroud will be back for the next game, leading the line again. If Theo is out for 30 days or so, he will miss out on Villa (A), Fulham (H), Coventry (H), Southampton (A), Crystal Palace (H). How many of these games do we see the opposition play a high line?
He’ll be back just in time for Liverpool, which will suit him perfectly.
Not saying that I wouldn’t want him in the team, or the squad, but I’ve got a feeling a forward trio of Cazorla Giroud Gnabry will be a proper test for quite a few defenses in the meantime.
Glass half full, is all that I’m saying.
I’ll check it out, Joe.
Bath,
Heh. I guess anything is better than the dreaded 3 weeks. Too bad for theo if he’s out for a month. He’s hardly had a run of games yet this season. Ox is coming back and I like what Gnabry has shown. Pires is quoted as saying there is something special in him that he sees in training every day.
ECG,
I think we need another striker even if theo did not get hurt. Patching something together can get us by, but to win the league or compete in the cups, we will need a striker not a patch job.
It’s £135 a bottle best price, Joe. I’m Scottish. I couldn’t possibly pay that for a bottle of blended whisky! I’ll try it if I see it in a miniature or by the 1/5 gill in a bar!
NorCal, I agree that we need another striker. I guess my point is I’m not sure there is anyone out there that is available in January, will fit in with the team, and is of better quality than the players we already have.
As to strikers, I think Arsene is likely to keep his sheckles for a big signing in the summer – even with the small contribution from the Marshdwellers yesterday. I think he believes he has enough options to compete and possibly win the league this season. I think he will then be aiming to win something big in his next 2 seasons and leave the squad in better shape for his successor than Demento did for Kermit.
It is prohibitively expensive Bath, but you can buy a four 1/4 bottle miniature JW collection at most Duty Free’s in a leather clad case which works out cheaper. It contains a 20cl bottle of Black, Platinum, Gold and Blue.
I don’t think Wenger will wait until the summer if he can buy now Bath. While it may be more difficult in terms of player availability, there are bigger fish shopping during the summer also if that makes sense.
Drogba, since he’s guaranteed to score in the Emirates….:)
Haven’t seen the Theo injury news but I did say to Lonestar in here yesterday, as Theo went off, that the most likely injury, bearing in mind the speed and direction he was running in at the time, plus the sudden jarring, was either an anterior cruciate ligament strain or a patella tendon strain.
If that is the case, it could have been a lot more than four weeks.
Remember Robert Pires innocuous looking forwards fall that resulted in a ruptured ACL. From memory he was out for around eight months.
Joe @154,
Wenger is buying duty free Johnnie Walker ? 😉
Joe, thanks for the tip. I shall look out for that duty free collection when I go skiing in February.
Heh Trev @ 157.
What’s the verdict on your own knee injury?
Holy shit. Is that why I kept seeing pictures of Higuain at heathrow? We shop duty free? You go Arsene!
Heh NorCal.
I just watched that little NFL team that plays down the road from you win at Green Bay in the last kick of the game to move on in the Play-Offs.
Yes Bath. A good game played in crazy cold weather.
Bath,
The waiting has begun. GP was quite cooperative in trying to get me to the surgeon I said I would especially like to see, which was encouraging.
Waiting also on some blood tests taken on Friday.
My own verdict on my knee is that a full replacement is going to be necessary. There’s nothing left in there to repair, and I can feel a lot of fragmented nastiness around the medial side of the joint whenever I flex or extend it.
Thanks for asking, although you probably wish you hadn’t now. 😉
Best of luck Trev. Wish I could help you out. Know a couple of very good surgeons here. Think you could get the costs covered to have it done here? Great place to rehab! 😉
Thanks NorCal, would be nice but about as likely as Tim Sherwood becoming Tottenham manager!
What ? Nah…… Get away. 😉
Great list, Lurky, but no Costa? He would be my first pick, followed by Pedro and Rossi. Reus would be a wonderful acquisition, but principally as a midfielder not striker. No chance the chavs would sell us Lukaku.
I have no doubt AW will buy someone of quality since striking has been our Achilles heel for years (bar RvP’s last with us). We have a world class defence and enough class in midfield for most occasions, but up front is too reliant on Giroud being available AND having a good one.
Öskar
Well said, Dr F (#90). We still approach games in Manchester with an apparent inferiority complex. With a more confident attitude we would likely have beaten Manure with ease. It was really irritating to see the neighbours do what we couldn’t… Grrrrrrrrrrr
Öskar
So we seem to be looking at:
Jan 13th return
Giroud (illness)
Jan 18th return
Ramsey (thigh)
Sonogo (back)
Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee)
Mar 14th return
Diaby (who he? Ed)
No return date
Bendtner (ankle)
Gibbs (calf)
Vermaelen (knee)
Walcott (knee)
Good news:
Arteta not listed as injured.
Trev also listed as no return date, not even a going away date, but will be bionic man when he does return. Seriously, fingers crossed for you, O mighty master of the pun.
Theo is a better option has a CF than Podolski.
Interesting list of strikers, Lurky. My 2-cents on this is that AW doesn’t do stop-gaps unless he thinks they have a long-term future (e.g. Nacho). Which suggests no Berbatov to me.
AW’s problem is that he needs (a) a back-up to Giroud who can play a similar “plank” role as the front pivot, and (b) a poacher who can be a Plan B to Giroud. I doubt there is a player who can fill both roles and, on top of that, be available. Bendtner could be AW’s (a), and that probably was AW’s original intention for him. No big name (b) is going to come to be a Plan B. So that will be a youngster (Sonogo, Campbell) or an old lag prepared to warm the bench for big bucks (ok, possibly Berbatov, but I still doubt it).
AW would buy a world-class striker if he felt it improved the team, but he would have to build the attack around that person (and abandon Giroud, in whom he has invested greatly). I suspect AW thinks he has found a winning formula and doesn’t want to tinker with team shape. All of which raises the bar for any potential new recruits this window.
Fantastic backdrink.
tabs @32. Brilliant. May I take the liberty to repeat your final paragraph:
“Back in your box Totts. No doubt the delusional revisionism will rear it’s head again before the fixture in March. Best met with a conspiratorial wink and a raised eyebrow. Sometimes silence is golden. North London is red. It was ever thus.”
haHA!
TTG, there is less difference in the Premiership scoring records of Bendtner and Giroud than you might think. Bendtner scores every 214 minutes. Giroud scores every 205. And Bendtner is far the more prolific at international level: 24 goals for Denmark in 57 games, against Giroud’s three for France in 22 games.
Great discussion above re: strikers. No doubt it’ll continue right up till the window closes!
My own 2¢:
We certainly need a striker, and Wenger certainly knows it. The only question is, will he buy one now or in the summer?
Given that a clinical finisher would be a huge boon to this team’s title hopes. But unless that player is of a very very high caliber indeed, he’ll take some time to bed into the squad and reach his potential. (Look at how long Giroud has taken, look at Podolski, look at Özil who’s yet to find his best form.) Not that the right player couldn’t make an impact, even without hitting full stride. But it’s something to bear in mind.
There aren’t many great options available in this window, and the few there are will be exorbitantly priced. Yes, Wenger has more cash to spend than in recent years, but a leopard doesn’t change his spots. He still hates to overpay for players, he still hates panic buys, he still takes a long time to make up his mind, and he still hates the January window. He’s still more than happy to sit on his hands and do nothing, even in the face of massive public opinion that HE HAS TO BUY.
And I’m unconvinced that he’s necessarily in his final few years at the club. Who knows, of course, but I fully expect him to re-sign for us and there’s no reason if he continues in anything like the current vein of form that he couldn’t have 3, 4, 5 more happy years at the helm. I for one certainly hope so. So I don’t see the “this is his last big chance” argument holding much water.
Wenger won’t make a panic buy. He’ll think he has decent enough options (and I think there’s a pretty good argument to be made that he does, even with the injuries to Theo and Bendtner) to wait until he can get the best value for his money. If a good option surfaces this month, he might just jump on it (though he’ll waffle back and forth, haggle, and leave it till the very last second of course). But there’s not much chance that a great option will surface in the next four weeks.
Have we forgotten last summer so quickly?
Le Boss is nothing if not patient. Much, much more so than you or me.
It was an excellent preview of the Sp*rs game as I told you in one of the Tollie beer gardens Holic, and this in turn is an excellent review as I’ll tell you here 🙂
Was great to see all you matchday Holics again (sorry I missed you before the game ATG!), top man Snowy, Ollie, West Stand Tone, bathgooner w/bathdaughter in tow [was very confused as to who she was to you until she inadvertently cleared the air as you were leaving bath 🙂 ], the venerable True Storey and last but not least and for the 1st time, the esteemed and worldwide BtM 😉
From my perch in the North Bank Upper, Gnabry was excellent all game, ‘thrusting’ is such an apt word to describe his run with the ball for Santi’s goal because that’s exactly how it looked to me from up there. Always lively, always strong, he could go on to do big things as an Arsenal player for many years, he’s younger than me also! 😛
I sat in Block 101 for the Cardiff game and Block 100 on Saturday with only a row’s difference between the two relative seats and the benefit of this is that I could directly contrast how Poldi and Theo held the line respectively. At first thought, Theo did the better job over the two games hands down, but I think that you have to factor in that he’s doing the job in a highly passionate NLD whereas Poldi’s doing it on New Year’s Day vs Cardiff. Unlike that scummy rabble from down the road, our players actually know how much the result of this local derby means to the fans so I’m sure Theo was more motivated at the time. Arguably, Poldi would have been fired up to give a similar performance to Theo if he was the one leading the line vs Sp*rs, passion runs rife through our club these days 🙂
A word for Tomas Rosicky. I’ve said on here that it would give me the greatest pleasure to see him win silverware as an Arsenal player more than it would for most of our players, you can see it in the way people like him and Sagna play (and have played for years mind) that makes me think they deserve it so much. Judging by the crowd’s reaction when his aggressive pressing style lead to him dispossessing one hit wonder Danny Rose on the halfway line and dinking it over Lloris to score, I think a similar sentiment is shared by many Arsenal fans 🙂
I love the NLD with a passion, imbued ever since I attended my 1st one. This was my 3rd overall and although it didn’t have the goals and sheer excitement of the 2nd 5-2 win of 2012 or the extreme, ear splitting crowd passion of this season’s 1-0 win, it was the 1st one I’ve been too where we’ve been in such a good position in the League and I think that reflects in how positive the crowd was even by our recent great standards. New chants that I’ve never heard before since I started going to games in 2011 emerged (this is usually the case for me on NLD day), I had a nice chat with the Gooners to the left and the right of my seats before kick off and during the game, ‘We’re the North Bank, Highbury!’ was answered & responded to by the East Stand due to the Clock End Lower being full of Spuds, the people behind me were stood so I was able to stand for the remaining 70 minutes of the match (I was feeling the result of that decision towards the end of the evening haha), me and True Storey met & shook hands with Hugh Wizzy by the main Tollie entrance, I saw many good friends I’ve made due to the Arsenal along with a chance meeting with @MickTheGooner on Twitter and getting the chance to talk about events before my time with him, it was a great day overall 😀
I’m back at University now with a 2pm start for today (the West Country had a lot more lakes than the last time I checked as I looked out the windows of the train… 😉 ) and my sleeping pattern still hasn’t returned to normal, but even in this sleep deprived state, I’m not in the least surprised that my most pressing thought is about the next time I’ll be able to return to the Home of Football to see, in the flesh, my beloved Arsenal play again 🙂
Come on Arsenal.
btw, Bayern have evidently ruled out selling Mandzukic. A shame because of all the strikers I’ve heard bandied about, he was the one who made the most sense to me. He wouldn’t significantly change the way we play (he’s a big man, a good target, very good technically), plus he’s faster and a better finisher than Giroud. Also I thought Bayern might just be induced to sell, having just added Lewandowski.
Apparently not though:
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1671804/bayern-rule-mario-mandzukic-sale?cc=5901
NBN @ 170, I was of the understanding that Nacho was pencilled in for a summer transfer but it was advanced to 6 months earlier because of the late injury to Gibbs in January? If this is true, would hardly make him a stop gap mate 😉
Look at how important Arsenal’s Germans are.
Poldi, Mert, Ozil, and now Gnabry.
This Arsenal team of the now and the future are really a sight to behold.
Rosicky, Sagna, Mert, Flamini, Ozil, Cazorla, Arteta, wee shall dominate! Real leaders, finally.
V.C.C.
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Wind, nice summary of the match and has me yearning for the day I make it over the pond for an Arsenal match in person (after a trip to the Tollie, of course!). Your passionate description of the NLDs makes it clear the choice of matches when I do make it over. Hope in the near future to be able to buy you and all the other ‘holics that frequent this beautiful bar a drink before the match!
Cracking post, Wind!
Nice to see a bit of abb in the bar last night, would like to see a whole lot more of her actually. And a hero’s return from tabs.
Plus some other excellent drinking.
Good stuff people! Keep it up now, no slacking.
Tim Sherwood. The 10th Spurs manager to lose to Arsene Wenger.
Arsene knows.
Trev @163. Sorry I had crashed before you responded. Your description gives me knee ache with imagined crunching sounds!
All the very best Trev.
Just had a chance to back drink. Trev, looks like your 3 weeks really was an Arsenal 3 weeks after all??? Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Good stuff Wind.
This, could have been a tennis scoreline actually, 6-1 maybe. The Arsenal made the spuds look kiddish and to think sherwood had the nerve to play 4-4-2 and allow our midfield a run in like that, wow. Lucky you are Tim for if we had Ozil and Aaron starting then the tennis scoreline would it have been indeed.
TR7 and Sagna are model professionals, they could have left for greener pastures during their time here but they dint unlike a few others who listened to their inner kids voice of remembered their DNA, they deserve to tin something with the club and i pray this is the season.
In terms of strikers, boss just indicated that he will look at a long term solution than a short term one which effectively rules out Berba. Pato seems to be making the news, Martinez or Costa makes sense but we do need the striker ASAP.
A word on Gnabry, he could end up being the best among the 3, he, ox and theo, he has both their attributes plus a german efficiency and a brain.
@NBN:
Ned, where do you get your info from about return dates? are these sure? no return dates for Gibbs, TW, etc is worrying!
what’s the deal with Sanogo? is he back in training? any good?
after watching the derby’s last 20 mins at the Tollie I finally saw the highlights on Arsenal.com…there were several golden opportunities to make it a thumping that were missed by Feo…methinks he needs to focus and think a bit more before shooting…some of those could have been passed to others to make the goal…I know in all football there are those ‘coulda, shoulda, if only’ moments but these were great opportunities!!
thoughts anyone?
No chance of a knees up at Fulham, then, Trev? 😛
Peter
That info looks to be from:
http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
I’ve never gotten around to read up on their sources, but that is, as far as I know, the most reliable injury list for the PL.
187 @ Toby:
Thank you!
Peter, Vermaelen is out only couple of days. So that is good news. No news on Gibbs yet.
ecg @ 178 (although I preferred ECG, more bold you know? 😉 ), thanks mate, I appreciate the offer and hope to see you over soon 🙂 If you go back to this post – http://goonerholic.com/2012/11/its-you-what-won-it/#comments and check out drink #206, you’ll get a feel of what my first NLD was like. Still one of the best days of my young life to date *looks back with fondness* (*Disclamer* – Its really long. Seriously. 😆 )
Cent @ 179, Steve T @ 183, many thanks guys 🙂
FA confirm no action on Walcott, but he’s been “reminded of his responsibilities”, whatever that means.
Sanity (just about) prevails.
Excellent write ups from the maestro, tabs, and Wind and drinks from everyone else. The drinking in hear is in tune with the performances of the team. Long may be so. Also I saw the ArseBang video from Hugh yesterday and caught your cameo Wind. Already famous!
*here
Reading through some of the online blowback from the Utd result yesterday, I really hope some of the more critical sections of the support are taking note of what’s going on up at Old Trafford.
No club has a divine right to win things, or to live perpetually near the top of the table. All it takes is one bad summer and it can all come crashing down, and changing managers is fraught with risk.
In the context of everything that’s happened it’s utterly mental that people were screaming for Wenger to be sacked as recently as August.
I can only hope that when the time does eventually come for the manager to move upstairs we are fortunate in our choice of successor.
N7 @ 194: Well said. Could not agree more.
One key difference though between Arsene and Fergie is Arsene’s relentless focus on the stability and continuity of the club and not just immediate success.
Everyone — not least the more matured and experienced subset of the ManU supporters — has observed over the last few years how Ferguson’s team has become quality depleted once you take out the very seniors (relying on Giggs and Scholes for so long in itself was fundamentally problematic) and it is his know-how of the PL and the ability to get points through a core of senior quality players (ably assisted by the aura that more than influenced oppositions and officials) that kept ManU at the top in PL.
Whenever Arsene leaves, he will leave behind a squad of talented players, a promising academy set-up, a strong system in recruiting, training, match preparation and balance between encouraging individual creativity and tactical discipline in the approach. He is scientific and meticulous to a fault by all accounts, and whoever is replacing him would do very well to preserve the aspects that have served the club well and modify things slowly. For instance if someone like Klupp gets the job he is definitely would implement a more pressing strategy but he won’t need to worry about a lot of the training processes and pre-match preparations.
Arsene would not leave his successor with the kind of problems Moyes inherited. And then immediately publish a self-promoting book. He is way too ethical for that.
Good call there at 194 N7.
I remain shocked that so called ‘fans’ cannot understand the scale of the achievement by Arsene Wenger in keeping Arsenal in the top 4 for all these years of financial restriction and even having a competitive squad in a couple of those years. He certainly well deserves the opportunity to rebuild with restrictions now relaxed. I am also confident that he will aim to leave a competitive squad to his successor unlike Demento.
Dr F @ 195
I hope you’re right, I really do. That all makes sense.
I think it all depends on the manner of the leaving, and the selfishness of the manager in question.
From where I’m sat, Ferguson had a bunch of cash to spend last summer. He whacked it all on Robin Van Persie (to the tune of 300k a week), which was great strategy for the following season, but not so much for the medium to long term, in that it meant Utd failed once again to address their lack of midfield, saddled them with an ageing, injury prone player on a massive wage and also meant that they had spunked a ton of money on buying someone who played the exact same position as their best current player, who promptly went into a colossal sulk which will probably yet see him leave the club entirely.
It was a decision made to secure Ferguson’s legacy, with one last title win, rather than the club’s long term future. A lot of us said so at the time and we shouted down, but it’s blazingly obvious now, less than 18 months later.
Beyond, Ferguson also made it very clear in the process of his retirement that he was prioritising the perception of his reign over the club’s welfare. The book was one facet of that, but so was his relentless talking up of the various shit young players with which he’d packed the squad – calling Phil Jones potentially the best ever Utd player was just farcical. It left Moyes with massive problems, as his sainted predecessor had already told the world the squad was fantastic, which made it harder for him to perform the necessary surgery.
It takes a man of huge integrity to walk away from their job of 20 years and to care more about the health of the organisation they are leaving than their own ego. Ferguson is not such a man. I like to think that Arsene would be, but I guess the proof of the pudding will be in his own departure, which I hope is many years away yet.
Oh, and almost forgot this – ha ha ha Man Utd.
Dinks it to….
Scores
Tabs
Bang
Well in Lurky.
Got diverted reading N7 @ 198.
excellent n7@197, and i’m with you @198. can’t hardly disguise the glee i felt yesterday when my heretofore smug mancs neighbor and i chatted for the first time in a couple months, and i told him “tough luck” against the swans…while grinning like a madman. he looked like his inner child was lost and bewildered, and having tasted success for so long didn’t know how to handle the failure. i won’t ride him too hard, as he’s a nice guy, just happened to make a mistake and have the wrong club pick his heart to wring (as someone referenced GT saying the other day).
A new ‘Holic strike partnership is born?
Bath finishes likes Soldadud, this time.
N7 Adebayors it.
*Attempts to run length of field to celebrate in front of fans of previous club*
*Trips over own feet*
*Collects massive wage*
*Remains unbothered*
….but you post at #197, N7, shows signs of Ozilesque accuracy.
HEH!
Arsenal fans don’t throw coins into the pitch…….. do they???
Theo out for 6 months.
FOR FUCK’S SAKE
OK Serge – time to shine…
Like Trev I suspected serious ligament damage, that’s almost always the case when a player collapses in the manner Theo did.
Fuck fuck fuck fuckety fuck fuck.
Farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk! : http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25631561
Aw fook.
That’s horrible luck.
Nightmare. If it’s a normal 6 months I dread to think how long that is in Arsenal months?????
Why can we not seem to keep anyone fit?
What a blow for Theo – poor lad.
Trev – what’s the prognosis for a full recovery? Is this the type of injury that saps a yard of pace?
This seriously hampers our chances of a title… and poor him no world cup too 🙁
Looks like arsene will have to get someone in this window now for sure…
Trying to stay optimistic, there are several candidates to fill that right wing berth: Wilshere (who is showing signs of coming into form), Cazorla (can presumably switch from the left with Poldi coming in), the Ox (upon his return, although may need a few weeks to get up to speed) and Gnabry (who looks ready to explode, but is still incredibly raw).
I don’t think this automatically equates to “Wenger must buy now”.
N7 @ #215
That’s a very good question. I’ll leave it to the medics to give you a proper answer but a huge amount of that must be down to the individual and how positive they can remain during their rehab.
I’m guessing he’s still young enough to come back and improve further as a player without losing his pace…..
Bad news.
Particularly for Feo who came back with a new vigour and a high strike rate. I am sure that he is gutted about the world cup. Here’s to a speedy recovery.
Meanwhile the LWCs will certainly be wallowing in schadenfreude.
N7: we do have too many injuries for it to be just coincidence, but this type of injury isn’t something you can really prevent. They almost always happen when you get your body weight over the knee in the wrong angle, either from getting your studs caught in the grass at the wrong moment which is what it looked like in Theo’s case or getting your lower leg caught under a player when the rest of your body keeps moving which is what happened to the Ox. Having one injury like this in a season is bad enough luck, having two is desperately unlucky.
Agree with #218 too but it does make it more likely IF Arsene finds what he thinks is the right kind of addition to the front line.
Lars,
With all due to respect to Theo as a player, he has been quite fragile throughout his Arsenal career.
Awfully sad for Theo. He misses another world cup. He is only 24 and hopefully would stay in shape and form for the next one. Best of luck to him and sure he will come back next season in full fitness.
N7 — I do think we would need some cover in the attacking position now as one more injury even if short-term (fingers crosses none anymore in this season) would seriously strain the resources.
Serge and Ox are good alternatives but one is too young and the other is coming back from a long injury and I don’t think we can afford to rely on either of them sustain a run of matches and perform consistently.
Depth of squad is thinning, and with one speedster less, choices of formations are less. Hence the need to recruit or reintroduce some new players, lest our chances of winning stuffs dwindle.Testing times but one can hope for the best.
Still think City the team to beat because they have plenty of depth.
@ Dr F
I think the equation remains the same – if Wenger can find a striker he likes, he’ll buy. If he doesn’t, he might try for a short term option, but those are all likely to be tricky.
What I don’t think he’ll do is buy another player for the right wing, as we are amply stocked in that area, or be rushed into buying a striker he really doesn’t fancy.
All of that said, I would love it if Arsene produces a quality new striker in the January window. Just don’t see it, is all.
Bollocks. I guess we should have suspected something like this when the FA announced they weren’t going to take any action over Theo’s irresponsibly being carried around the pitch having things thrown at him.
Hey ho.
TS: he has but this injury is, I’d say, just bad luck.
Fucking awful news. So sorry for Theo. 🙁
It is Lars.
A real dampener to The Arsenal new year but I’m convinced that at least one of our squad will raise their game(s) to supplement the goals that Theo would have scored had he not picked-up this injury.
Maybe we’ll bring in a goalscorer too before the TW (sic) shuts.
Sh*t happens, we’ll find a way.
Despite the frustrations we have had with Feo over the years, his recent return from injury added a new dynamic to our attack and enhanced the productivity of our classy MF possession based game. His pace, poor ball control notwithstanding, does make defences much more wary and adds chances for others as well as giving him opportunities to score. Added to that he has returned with new found verve and skill.
We cannot expect Gnabry to produce on a regular basis and whilst Ox returns soon, he doesn’t have the productivity or the option of playing in the middle.
It must add pressure to spend big now rather than the summer.
N7 – I agree with everything you wrote @197. One dimension that you don’t mention does worry me slightly – By all accounts, Slur Alex gets on well with David Mouse and anointed him his successor. This makes me wonder how intentional was RedNose’s running down of the squad.
On the subject of Mouse, I really think that the powers that be at OT should stick with him as I believe he showed at Everton that he was more than capable of building a squad over time, as Martinez is demonstrating this season.
With a little luck, it will be a few years yet until we have to worry about a similar situation at Arsenal, and I’m pretty confident that Arsène will be doing rather more succession planning than Chewy McPurplenose did.
COYG Win at Villa.
Walcott ruled out for six months????? Bloody hell how does this injuries keep happening to us?
Re: Theo – unbelievable! Just as we are getting one player back from a knee injury (Ox), we lose another one for the season. Feel sorry for Theo. He seemed to be getting back his form and now going to miss WC.
I was thinking after the initial assessment of Theo at 4 weeks out, we could get by with what we have but now not so sure. I think Gnabry and Ox, once he regains his fitness, can fill in on the right side, but neither puts the fear in the opposition’s left back like Theo.
In any case, Wenger knows best, so I am not worried.
COYG
Poor Lad,
Let’s hope the season ends the same way it did when Pires done his 😉
Would be shocked, Amazed and then some if we don’t strengthen up top now, We needed an Extra body before his Injury now it’s pretty critical as for all his faults (Which hes improved on no end the past year)the boy has scored goals and we will really miss them and his his pace.
damn, poor theo. shades of bobby in 2002, though he was god until then whereas theo nowhere near that. good luck, theo, come back stronger!
Gutted for Feo.
All the best for a speedy recovery.
No world cup for Theo!
Bollix! 🙁
Shocking news for theo v sad for the lad.massive loss for us too,the last few games showed how much of a threat he has become although not clinical the chances at least 3 per game we’re falling to him.sick as a parrot.can anyone tell us if this will have any long term effects re his pace or movement?also v hard to believe as he didn’t seem to be in too much pain on the stretcher.
I’d like to think that all our thoughts at this moment would be with the young man who encountered this misfortune while helping us beat our closest rivals instead of focusing on who we are likely to buy to replace him. Just my two cents.
Did think it a tad strange this morning when I saw a few places linking us with Barcas Pedro couldn’t quite work out why we’d buy him or where he’d play – Does make a little more sense now if this news was known earlier, On the Brightside at least Theo won’t be blammed for all England’s Ills this summer and he will be back and firing for the start of next season,still gutted for the lad.
Cent @ 241: The power of human mind is often underestimated IMHO. We can easily empathize with Theo earnestly, wish him all the best and at the same time think and discuss about how the void left by his unfortunate injury can be filled. No?
So, Theo out for six months and misses the World Cup.
I did say something along those lines @156, and commented to Lonestar during Saturday’s game that even a ruptured cruciate ligament isn’t always terribly painful. Sometimes they just go numb after the initial brief burst of pain.
The worry on Saturday was the speed and dire tion hw was travelling in when the jarring occurred.
N7,
In days gone by a ruptured cruciate ligament could mean the effective end of a career. Recovery time – where a recovery was possible – was usually a good nine months.
Improved materials and techniques have reduced recovery times to, often, around six months, which is what the club are working on.
Time will tell whether it costs Theo any of his pace – obvious but true, unfortunately. It won’t necessarily impair him in the long term regards his pace. What is almost more likely given the speed that Theo runs at, is that revision surgery will become necessary, as whatever material is used in the reconstruction gradually stretches under load.
Overall, while it is a terrible blow for Theo – and us – it is not the career threatening injury it used to be.
Chippy @ 242: Even before Theo’s injury I thought and said in this bar that Pedro would be a very good addition. His career graph has recently dipped a bit especially with the emergence of Sanchez and Neymar. I always thought he is the type of talented versatile hard-working player with good attitude that can improve the squad significantly.
Of course you can Dr F, different strokes for different folks I guess.
DF@245,
No doubts on him being a very good player and as you say the new additions have cost him playing time which always affects performance, It’s just when I saw him linked this morning I couldn’t work out where he would fit in and be guaranteed playing time but the Theo Injury has cleared the mist so to speak, Could do with his pace now that’s for sure, Have you seen him play up top ? I’m pretty sure whenever I’ve seen him its always been from the flanks cutting in, if so how does he play the roll ?
Terrible news for Theo and Arsenal.For me saturdays game was the most complete performance I have ever seen from him.Not one time did I raise my voice because he wasn’t getting involved which has never happenned before.
Perhaps from the THFC donations when he went off we can put a cheeky bid in for Soldadono!
Shocked for Theo.
Faustus, agree on Pedro. He is the one I am hoping for and there were some reports suggesting the contact was made. Anyway, I am sure Arsene can find the replacement as he always do. It is going to be a very interesting January this.
However, there is another thing that bothers me.
Theo’s knee is the 44th injury in the first team squad this season.
44!
Podolski, Cazorla, Chambo now Theo. All of them long term injuries.
Don’t even want to mention Diaby, Myiachi and Sanogo. Vermaelen Bendtner and Giroud out too. Ozil and Kos have just recovered. Wilshere, Sagna, Arteta all of them missed significant part of the season. At the moment we are sweating on Ramsey and Gibbs news.
Do we have a player that was not injured this season? Mertesacker maybe, yes. But he was ill. At the moment we needed him the most. At United away.
Consider the fact that at least 10 players were/are ill at least once this season. Did any other team in the PL had problems with so many ill players this season?
Don’t want anyone to tell me it is a coincidence and bad luck. Every season it’s the same. There must be a reason and someone needs to take responsibility. I know who I’ll first ask.
Get well soon Theo. Really horrid timing, not that getting injured to this extent is good at anytime, but with our charge to the title gathering momentum and the World cup around the corner, it is a bit more difficult to take. On the issue of buying any player in this window, if Bendtner and Giroud can be kept fit till the end of the season then we do not need to buy an out and out striker. All we really need to do is recall Joel Campbell and maybe Djourou for the spare centre back we desperately require as additional cover.
Seriously doubt that Barcelona would sell or loan Pedro out. He would have made a great fit. I still see Joel Campbell doing a job for us albeit being cup-tied.
Gutting news re Theo. Think the position can be covered, but for all his faults, nobody else in the squad quite offers what Theo does. Don’t watch enough continental football to throw names into the hat, but I would have thought that a newbie signing is now if not imperative then highly desired.
Thanks Abb. Hope all well at your end.
Cheers Esso mate 🙂
Goonsterham – You may, and cheers 🙂
Thanks Bearded. Hope all well with you.
Trev – Hadn’t realised your injury was such a bad one. All the best for a speedy recovery mate.
Cheers Trev, all makes sense.
I’m sure everyone in the bar will join me in raising a glass to Theo and his recovery, and also to the continued good health of one Robert Soldado. Long may his run in the LWCs first XI continue.
Oh, and Trev: best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Oh no, Feo, nooooooooooooooo….
As a member of the ‘reconstructed ACL in the left knee’ club I can only echo Trev’s comments above – mine didn’t hurt at all when it ‘went’, I didn’t hear a ‘pop’ and the knee didn’t even swell up much.
Poor lad, and what fucking rubbish timing. All the best for an steady and uneventful recovery young man.
🙁
And Trev – good luck for your recovery too mate
Thanks, bath, tabs, Ned, scruz – and zico, no chance ! 😉
Oh, and snowy, Lars.
Poor old Theo. Good job he went to a World Cup at 16 because he may never get to another one.. The lad is both injury prone and prone to long injuries. I would estimate he has had roughly two long periods out every season since he joined us. It’s particularly sad that he should get injured just as he is maturing into a supremely useful player.
It’s heartening for us that Gnabry stepped up so brilliantly and that Ox is returning but we do need to think about our striking options. I’m not sure as I have said that Arsene wants to open the coffers this winter but frankly given Bendtner’s injury it would worry me if he doesn’t bring someone in. There are many Giroud loyalists on here but we do need pace upfront. It was telling on Saturday to see the impact real,pace had on the Spurs defence.If we go with Giroud we must have pace and goal power out wide. So while Berbatov is a possibility maybe a young, quick striker is much more likely now.
At least Theo may be home now go see the birth of his baby!
Fucking Bobbins.
Wishing you a speedy recovery Theo.
Anyone know if Ox has started training again with the first team yet?
TTG, excellent post, agree every word.
I am slowly recovering from the shock news, did not expected it at all.
Anyway, this is football, this things can happen, we must stay strong and do whatever we can to avoid the 2008 scenario.
We got some good news tonight with Apkom scoring a hat-trick and Crowley getting a brace and four (4) assists for the u-18.
Must say that I liked the look of Apkom every game I saw him playing. Walcott injury is a chance for him to shine too.
Have to say the news about Theo did not shock me at all. When I saw the replay in slo-mo I said aloud “I think Theo tore his ACL”…after I saw the knee give. While I’m not a doctor and don’t know if ruptured = torn I just knew it was bad news and he was going to be out a long time. I’ve been watching American sports for 35 years and everyone who suffers this type of knee injury falls the same way and grabs the knee the same way. You just know it when you see it. I think he won’t be back up to full speed + trusting the knee until the latter part of 2015, sorry to say. Get well, Theo.
A very HNY to everyone in the Bar.
Gooner Terry’s lovely wife Taina has asked me to pass on her very best wishes for the NY to all the Holics as well.
Taina and Terry’s extended family and large network of close friends,ensured that their beautiful daughters Ria and Asha were able to enjoy their first Christmas without their beloved Dad.
On the football front,a very disappointing Spuds performance,in part perhaps due to Sherwood’s brave but ultimately foolhardy decision to play 442,contributed to a rather easier win than i expected.
It’s all very laudable to try and play attractive attacking football,but ultimately pointless if it leaves the defence with no protection at the other end.
Something we ourselves of course have also done in the past.
A salutory lesson for Sherwood,and one i am sure he will learn from.
On the Theo injury, a shame for him and the Team,but i am a great beliver in the ‘one door closes another door opens ‘ philosophy,and the ‘if he is good enough he is old enough ‘mantra.
So the time is right for young Serge Gnabry to make his mark.
He is light years ahead of Theo when he was 18,in terms of technical ability,football intelligence and self belief.
You don’t get to start in a must win NLD for the ongoing morale and momentum of the team,if the manager doesn’t think you have the ‘Cojones’
He proved to me with his allround performance in both attack and defense,that that faith wasn’t misplaced.
With Villa/Fulham/Coventry/Southampton and Palace to come before the trip to Anfield,what better time for a young man to seize his opportunity with both hands.
So speedy recovery to Theo,but i am not worried in the slightest that we cannot cover for him.
On a seperate note,whilst i haven’t posted here for quite a while,i have been popping in and out to read some of the posts of regulars and newcomers,and i have to say the standard and quality of said posts have been a pleasure to read.
In my humble opinion it leaves most other Blogs for dead.
In particular i would like to commend 2 young guns, Wind and Cent,whose consistent articulate posts have convinced me that the usage of the Queen’s English is not a lost art.
Cheers
The Sweeper
Wind@170: That was my point. No one bought without an eye to the long-term future.
Toby@187 for Peter@185: You can buy access to the database that the Injury League Table is based on. It is mostly sourced directly from the clubs’ medical teams. It is pretty reliable. A no return date usually means the nature of the injury makes it difficult to project at this point an accurate return date to first-team availability. How Theo responds to his ACL rupture is a good example.
Here is an excellent new video on Crowley in Arsenal shirt. For those that haven’t see this yet, enjoy yourselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmsx5RPpLU8&sns=tw
Bearded Gooner @ 192, thanks mate, it was quite surreal to see his Vine about being pitchside on the way to the Emirates (he explained that the club invited him) then seeing him entering the Tollie a few hours later 🙂
Truly terrible news about Theo 🙁 , effectively missing a 3rd World Cup (I don’t think even he counts 2006) and not being able to play in & contribute to this team right now with the way all the gears are meshing together but I’m encouraged by the response of his teammates on social media, Big Per has posted a very touching photo on Facebook talking about being ready to carry Theo back onto the pitch and willing him better. With this sort of camaraderie, I’m confident the lads can continue on the way they’ve gone in this season so far 🙂
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/71402_662254660485029_593235120_n.jpg – Aforementioned photo
Goonersince54@263
Good to see you back,and lovely to read all is well with GTs family,
Swift one on my Squire,
Up The Arse.
Trev thanks for letting us know about his recovery,doesn’t sound good but least it’s not career threatening.and sorry to hear your injury.time for young mike Tyson to step up to the plate.lets be having u serge.
Lurks,
He’s massively rated by all the Backroom team and you can see why on those clips,In everyone he had his head up looking for the pass unreal in a 16 year old lets just hope he stays clear of injuries etc as the next two years are massive for his development, Players like him Zelamen, Apkom, Serge, Bellerin etc have the football world at their feet.
Nice to see you back Clive.
All the best.
Clive @ 263, a Happy New Year to you sir and thank you for the update on Terry’s family, I’m glad to hear that Christmas was made enjoyable for the girls.
Also, thank you for the commendations on the use of the Queen’s English, I personally am abhorrent to bad grammar in all walks of life but me and Cent do try with our posts, of that I’m 100% sure 🙂
NBN @ 264, fair enough mate.
tabs @ various, good to see you in the bar again mate, you’ve been missed both here and in the Tollie on a matchday. Really enjoyed your review of the NLD @ 32, top notch stuff 🙂
Clive, thinking of you. Thanks for dropping by, It means a lot right now.
Clive,
Good to see you back and nice to hear about Terry’s family. Cheers.
Thanks .garsguns.
Good to see you around, Mr Sweeper, a happy new year to you, yours and GT’s families. I’m humbled by your kind words.
welcome back clive, happy new year. thank you for the information from taina, a happy new year to her and the young ladies as well.
great video, lurky. tiny little fella, though. hopefully he’ll hit a growth spurt and still be able to maintain that kind of lithe grace.
Clive, really glad to see you drop by. Hope all is well with you.
Cheers Sweeper. 🙂
A very welcome drink from the Sweeper. Cheers Clive, good to see you back again and glad Terry’s daughters had a decent Christmas.
so fuckin gutted.
This may be the time for AW to advance the courtship of another German — Herr Draxler. Pay a premium now for someone who’s been in his sights. Might be the one player out there who could come close to what Theo brings, is young but with some experience, and who can slot in to many places in the front line.
bayonne, draxler’s crocked at the moment:
http://www.insidefutbol.com/2014/01/02/schalkes-julian-draxler-unhappy-with-thigh-injury-prognosis-as-late-january-bundesliga-return-in-doubt/117491/
so do we want to take the chance? i know it wouldn’t be another amaury bischoff, or even sanogo, but does that address what we want or need for the rest of this year? clearly, even if he’s out for “3 more weeks*” signing him longer-term would be great. but does his short-term absence make him a summer buy?
*TM arsenal medical staff
Gutted for Theo. Very sad news. I wish the lad a speedy recovery.
Five minutes ago it seemed we had pretty much everyone fit, or soon to return (Abu excepted of course) … What happened??
I was sure AW would buy a striker in the window before this tragedy, now I wouldn’t be surprised if he bought two, one temp (Berbatov?) and one quality, hopefully Costa or Pedro.
Poor Theo. The smile on his face suggested he didn’t believe it was anything like as bad.
But ‘every cloud…’ the Gnu should get a lot more opportunities and I believe he might be ready to surprise.
Öskar
Saddened for Theo who was finally showing those pesky BBC pundits that he actually could do the job 🙁
Disappointed for Arsenal as our injury millennium continues unabated, but remaining hopeful that the adversity will fire the lads up and Serge and the rest of the also rans get a chance to run out for the team and make that step up.
It is always darkest before the dawn and Theo will get one more crack at a world cup at least.
What?!
Stoppila Sunzu is joining Sochaux in a three year deal. We are doomed.
What’s next? To wake up tomorrow and find out that Alistair Hurrah and Yaya Banana had joined the Tots?
At least Bevin isn’t going anywhere this January.
Evening. Had time to digest the Theo news. Very sad for both us and the lad. A real shame, just as he had come back and hit some form. He will be a big loss. His pace is something that can terrorise any team. For those who doubt his worth just check his stats.
I don’t think we will have a problem filling in the wide position. With the upcoming fixtures Serge has a real chance. I think we are covered out wide. That still doesn’t mean I don’t think we need more width by the way????
For me out problem is still up front. Theo was another striker option in an area where we are already thin. I would be very surprised if we don’t bring someone in.
Clive. All the best to you and yours for the new year. Lovely hearing news from the Caribbean. I hope the ramblers managed to sneak a few points over a busy festive period???
Had every expectation Theo would score more goals than anyone for the remainder of the season so he will be a big miss. Come on Gnabry and Oxlade now is your chance.
just thinking about theo and his injury, and there *is* a silver lining in all this, for him…he gets to be there more for his wife, and then his child, when it arrives in the summer…
Nice, scruz, but I want him scoring for us. He can score with Melanie anytime he wants!
Öskar
Hmmmm, make that anytime SHE wants…
Öskar
otd, my point was he’s going to be able to spend the time with her, not score, per se. perhaps he’ll learn a little bit that brings gravitas, and an increased sense of purpose to what he wants to do and how he wants to play when healed. or maybe he won’t think of it at all, and just figure how he wants to be the best dad (and/or husband) in the world, and how to go about it.
personally, i’ll leave the inquiries into peoples’ wives to spuds fans like liam 🙂
Just kidding, scruz. 😉
Öskar
Steve T@286: Just for the record, here are Theo’s stats in the Premiership for us:
Season
2013-14 Matches 13 Goals 5 Assists 5
2012-13 Matches 32 Goals 14 Assists 12
2011-12 Matches 35 Goals 8 Assists 11
2010-11 Matches 28 Goals 9 Assists 7
2009-10 Matches 23 Goals 3 Assists 3
2008-09 Matches 22 Goals 2 Assists 2
2007-08 Matches 25 Goals 4 Assists 2
2006-07 Matches 16 Goals 0 Assists 1
All league games (including for Southampton):
Matches 215 Goals 49 Assists 43
FA Cup and League Cup:
Matches 34 Goals 12 Assists 7
Champions League:
Matches 53 Goals 12 Assists 12
England
Matches 44 Goals 7 Assists 7
Theo will be 29 at the time of the 2018 World Cup, arguably at his prime.
Sorry for Theo..
@Ned: Hopefully that’ll be his prime, but have heard many suggestions that players like Theo actually hit prime earlier. Fingers crossed he won’t lose too much pace, and will continue adding things to his game..
At the very least Theo should have more than 100 Arsenal goals by the 2018 World Cup I hope.
I saw someone say that he has no “footballing intelligence” earlier. I must say I find that quite insulting. He makes some bad decisions but if he was an idiot he’d be playing for the LWCs I think…
“Too Easy for Ruthless Gunners”
A title written without prior knowledge of the seriousness of Theo’s injury, but at least the “Too Easy” part turned out to be prescient. 🙁
Feng@295, at 29 Theo should still have his pace, injuries permitting, and the experience to make the most of it. Perhaps just past his zenith in raw physical terms, but still there or thereabouts as a footballer.
“Hard Row to Hoe Without Theo”?
CoR@298: 🙂
er, CoR@296 that should have been.
Tks for the assist, bt8b.
Ned, Are you taking up where Theo left off? 😉
Quite undeliverable news about theo.
Besides young aaron and his dreadful leg break, I don’t remember feeling so gutted for a player and the broader team.
As Holic said in this latest blog, “in the end there are more important things in life than a football match”, but jeez Louise I can’t believe how unlucky theo is at this particular time when he and the team are doing so incredibly well and becoming so consistent.
I did note that the first time theo went down, both he and a spurs player slipped on the same patch of turf. theo obviously went down again later.
A real shame for all concerned.
Oscar- bloody funny stuff @ 289. It did bring some much needed levity to the discussion.
@299: 8 ball & NDN, I thought this title would have been more apt myself 😉
” Theopatra Thrills Up Top, Tears Tendons Then Thoroughly Trolls Tottenham Twats”
Should have added young Eduardo’s horrible injury to what is becoming a very Lon list of past and present injured arsenal players.
Many thanks to Goonerholic for granting me permission to use his bar to let you guys know about my new blog. I might just be embarrassing myself but here goes nothing …. http://www.arsegonian.blogspot.com
Dear Arsene – last year you spent so much money (zero) for a mature defender who has flaming well performed well as DMF
I hear over the grapevine that there is another free agent who knows how to score a goal or two and is looking for a short term berth – name Kevin Phillips – would any drinkers care to express an opinion?
I love Kevin Phillips. But he’s like 42 now isn’t he?
I also think he said he was going to retire this year…
Just borrow Henry again for six weeks if we are really going the spend nothing route.
If we do that I can break out my HENRY 12 shirt again!
As mentioned above, Pedro would be interesting options, but could he shed the overall cuntishness I feel around Barca players in general?
Last thing we need is to buy some primadonna…and also, how would he get along with our friend Mesut, I suppose they have some history from Classicos… just rambling around of course, his footballing qualities would be something we could use.
Cognac. I take it that was a joke????
Yes, the news is that we are actually scouting William Carvalho.
http://www.record.xl.pt/Futebol/Nacional/1a_liga/Sporting/interior.aspx?content_id=861586
Couple of days ago I’ve posted a link of his game vs Porto. For those that haven’t seen it yet, here it is again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CI_li34iio
He may remind you of someone else that played in red and white 🙂
He look quality Lurky,
calm and composed in his distribution.
Maybe in summer I suppose?
Indeed Eandy, great potential, could be ideal for us, considering Arteta is not getting any younger.
I know that a striker is a priority this January, but I would like us to try and get him as early as this month. It may be to late in the summer.
The problem is that in his contract he has a buyout clause of 45 mill and apparently Arsenal are prepared to pay 15.
Good luck with the new blog, ecg.
Ned, nice work @293 – the monks are back on form.
Re: Cannons @304 I’ll try saying that one ten times fast. 🙂
“The problem is that in his contract he has a buyout clause of 45 mill and apparently Arsenal are prepared to pay 15.”
That has a familiar ring to it!
The worrying thing is how much Theo’s game is about his speed. Not sure how much Arteta lost out in athleticism after his injury, but Theo’s not really going to become a midfield schemer (or is he?)
Some have pointed to how NBA players become better at shooting after acl injuries simply because that’s one thing they could do while recovering. Hopefully Theo’s going to come back with some added tools in his locker (not Delap-style throw-ins! although that would be funny)
This was about the only thing that cheered me up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYNN51JIfas
Let’s hope this is true!
http://www.teamtalk.com/arsenal/9105566/New-ACL-injury-treatment-could-help-Theo-Walcott-return-quicker-suggest-Belgian-surgeons
@BB: I’m obviously not a medical professional, but this discovery of a “new” ligament seems to only be about 3 months old, hardly think there are treatments available yet!
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/a-surprising-discovery-a-new-knee-ligament/?_r=0
Expect English kids to now know all about ligaments alongside metatarsals to impress their biology teachers..
Alas… oh woe is me! We need someone with speed down the flanks for some variation to our endless triangle.
Ah well. Hope wenger buys someone useful in this window.
Anyone remember Mark Randall? Here’s a piece on where he is now_
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/07/mark-randall-arsenal-ascoli
BB/Feng: What that Belgian professor says sounds plausible, but to hope it can help Theo is probably a tad optimistic to say the least.
If you haven’t seen the highlights of the FA Youth Cup game the other day, go to Arsenal Player and check them out. Dan Crowley had four assists and two goals, all of them brilliant.
Bloody funny!
http://swol.co/manchester-citys-samir-nasri-argues-with-arsenal-fan-on-twitter/32279
NBN, I think you’re confusing me with Arsegonian. While we are both in the Pacific Northwest, he is in Oregon while I am in Seattle, Washington. I know, same difference… 🙂
Afternoon all.
Seems to have taken an age for me to catch up with all the drinks, but here I am, all backdrunk-ed.
Good stuff from young Wind, among others.
Nice to see you back Beardy, abb and Mr Waterman.
Trev.
Bloody hell mate, that sounds a lot worse then I thought. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
ecg, Arsegonian: I am indeed thoroughly confused. You Cascadians all look the same. Anyway, good luck to the new blogger and apologies to the one who isn’t.
Trev@317: Tks. New year, new monks.
Lars, we must be thankful he chose us, because City were after him. And we need to thank Villa because they’ve “sold” us the greatest prospect in English football.
Those goals and assists are a la Messi-Nasri-Iniesta mixture. Mouthwatering.
BB @ 326, me and that burger follow each other on Twitter, he’s a funny and nice guy 🙂
H2H @ 328, thanks mate.
Good tip Lars @324
Dan Crowley looks a prospect and a half.
Used to see these games on Arsenal TV by satellite when LJW stood out. DC shows the same quality.
Ned. Thanks for the stats. Very interesting for the doubters.
So the Coventry FA Cup tie is on a Friday night – when was the last time we played on a Friday (not counting Easter/Christmas/New Year games)?
I’m so gutted that poor old England will suffer from the loss of Theo. What a hypocritical bunch our papers are. They never give Arsenal credit and have been curmudgeonly in their recognition of Theo but now as he is maturing into a top player it is a tragedy for the national side. I hope despite the blow to the lad he is not rushed back prematurely just to make Rio. There was huge pressure on Beckham and Rooney in similar circumstances mainly orchestrated through the Sun to rush them back and it was a disaster .
Let’s hope we can get properly fit and conditioned Theo ready for the start of our title defence in August! Despite his excellence I think England might miss him more than us as nobody of Gnabry’s potential is on the England horizon.
Bet Zaha was delighted he opted for United- not!
Andros Townsend. Playing actual, honest-to-god World Cup football.
What an age we live in…
Relax, N7. If it happens he’ll be playing actual, honst-to-god World Cup football for Eng-err-land.
Friday night footie against Coventry? A bit unusual, but I actually like the idea as a one-off. Wouldn’t want it to be a regular thing, but on this occasion I am looking forward to a nice bit of Friday night drinking while cheering on the boys in red and white.
Lurky: no need to thank Villa for “selling” him, they had no say in it. But we can commend them for a job well done so far.
bath: he sure looked excellent. Sort of a cross between Wilshere and Cesc, if I am to compare him to other players. Don’t think we’ll see him in any first team squads this season but if he keeps this up he’ll almost certainly be on the pre-season tours come the summer.
Charlie: off the top of my head the last one I can remember is the one when Henry scored four against Leeds at Highbury in 2004. But there have probably been others, that one is of course in my memory for the four Henry goals and not for being on a Friday 🙂
ttg: Zaha must be kicking himself. He was obviously lied to by Alex Ferguson, and isn’t he on loan somewhere at the moment? Having said that, I saw him a couple of times last season and to be honest, I have my doubts he will ever make it in the Premier League more than someone like Adam Johnson ever did. Far too inconsistent and seems to have few other ideas than more or less just running in a straight line with the ball at his feet.
So sad that this has happened to Theo, even more so as regards his World Cup ambitions…a tough injury to come back from but he will come back!
I think the squad are going to be even more focused now…maybe cos all and sundry are writing off our title chances…
Time to see what magic Le Boss is going to do…sign, loan, or elevate some of the up and comings…Gnabry is def included in first team plans henceforth I think
Cheers Wind. Glad you had a good day out on Saturday.
Happy new year Sweeper. Glad to hear that Terry’s family were able to enjoy their xmas at what must have been a very sad time.
Cheers for the link to the kids game Lars. Whilst your earlier link to the article about Mark Randall was a salient reminder that the path to the seniors is full of pitfalls, Crowley does indeed look very special. Don’t envy opposition defences having to look after both him and Zelalem in the Youth Cup this year.
Have to say, young mister Crowley is really impressive.
@329 Thanks NBN, I appreciate it.
What a talent that Crowley lad looks! What strikes me most is the ease with which he plays the game, if he keeps developing in this manner and maybe add a little more muscle then we have another exceptional talent on our hands.
BB, Feng,
The “new” ligament is the antero-lTeral ligament – ALL as opposed to ACL – which controls rotational movement in the knee joint.
It seems this ligament was not previously recognised as important, or likely to have been damaged, when reconstructing the ACL. The recent findings are really highlighting the incidence of damage to the ALL when the ACL has been ruptured.
Providing it is properly repaired or replaced if it has been damaged, then it should reduce subsequent problems during rehab, caused by instability in the knee joint, which can lead to hyaline cartilage damage on the joint surfaces.
That hyaline – or indeed fibro cartilage (meniscus) – damage can also be caused, simultaneously to the ACL rupture, by the grinding contact of bone on bone, allowed by the failure of the ACL.
The bad news is that the cartilage damage, when it occurs, generally pushes the rehabilitation time to 9 – 12 months.
Let’s hope Theo has a fairly “simple” one – again, fairly likely as his pain level at the time of injury wasn’t too great.
Cheers H2H – just spotted that one.
Antero-lateral ligament, Trev? I know it’s cheap to pick up on typos, and Lord knows my house has more glass than most – I just want to check on the medical term.
Honest.
Oops, @324 = antero-lateral ligament. iPad, pffttt.
Beat me to it Pangloss. 😉
That’s fat-finger syndrome, Trev. Can’t blame it on iPad auto-correct, although you do need substantially thinner fingers to use an iKeyboard.
Friday night football is fucking meh! Not a football night by choice, never has been, never will be.
Bad enough for our own support, having to probably book time off work and struggle home late on a Friday night (a pitiable percentage of our support actually live within walking distance of the stadium now), but also spare a thought for the Coventry fans. Currently having to trek to Northampton to watch their own team, which many are not doing out of principle, a proper 3 O’clock Saturday game for 9,000 of them, at a brilliant stadium, readily accessible by public transport at that hour, would have been manna from heaven. Instead they get treated like this. Have to take time off work and lucky to get a train back home.
It fucking stinks! To high heaven. TV companies are slowly but surely killing live football in this country. Look at Serie A. 20 years every ground sold out, now on TV you see the BIG clubs playing in half empty stadia. This will come to pass in England, sooner rather than later, whilst these parasitic cunts continue to feed on what was the most popular sport in the country
I may be dreaming this but im pretty sure i saw us play Newcastle a few years back on a friday Night @ The Old Girl cannot remember why or if it happened 🙂
Esso, 100% Spot on but then again they havent given a fuck about the fans for years we are a nuisance no more no less – TV are there masters !
Yes that Nasri argument with the Hamburger was Funny and so was the fact L Equipe run the story and hes had to deny it 🙂
Esso, is a Friday worse than a Wednesday or a Tuesday in a getting-from-work-to-the-stadium sense? (A genuine question, I am not being sarcastic!)
The ‘Newcastle’ game on a Friday has been mentioned elsewhere. From memory it was a FA Cup quarter final replay on ‘Good’ Friday, i.e. a Public Holiday and kicked off at lunchtime, I think in 2002, it was when Le Bob did his knee. I also remember the TH putting Carragher on his backside 4-2 game being on a Friday in 2004, but again, on Good Friday. That game was not live on TV, the Newcastle one was I think, but again on a public holiday, lunchtime kick-off.
Soon they will have shit matches on a Thursday you just watch Ohhh 🙂
Cheers Esso, My little grey cells do still work from time to time 🙂 Saying that im sure ive seen a Friday night game @ Highbury, have to get the thinking cap on !
Lars, yes it is. Its Friday night, which is not for football. All fans at the beginning of the season recognise that European games and cup replays will be on midweek evenings and plan accordingly. Monday night PL games were the thin end of the wedge.
Why the fucking fuck does an FA Cup game (not a replay) have to be on a Friday night? It suits no one except TV executives and overseas viewers – no insult intended. That’s my point. True live football depends on live and enthusiastic crowds. They are killing that with such bone headed scheduling.
Many thanks for pointing that out!
Whatever it is, it does seem like the best prognosis is at least a few months and even if he does get better soon, he also needs to get match fit. So it’s safe to say his season is probably over.
Here’s an interesting article : http://news.arseblog.com/2014/01/theo-walcott-acl-injury-surgery-and-prognosis/
Say this on the beeb;
Join the debate at #bbcfootball
Saikat Nandy: I genuinely believe Man Utd can cause an upset tonight.
Heh.
Have to agree with everything Esso says on the friday night debacle. Utterly ridiculous. When will the powers that be wake up to the fact that the Tv companies cough up such obscene amounts of money in large part because of the passion of a fully sold out stadium. Anything that further endangers that will only end in financial tears in the long run.
There was a friday night evening league game against Newcastle a few years back. Think we won and Gilberto scored with a header. Can’t remember why it took place on a friday night – presumably telly .
Cheers, Esso.
I also seem to recall the Last train back to Newcastle was 10 minutes before the game ended, utter Madness ! Pretty Sure Coventry Fans will have the same issue unless the Train companies put on a special or two,
Friday night is indeed a shit night for footy, it’s doing me no favours either.
Why Friday FFS, that doesn’t make any sense at all to me, not even for attracting ratings, Friday night being a traditional, get your arse down to your local battle’ as soon as the *whistle blows kind of affair. Well it was when I lived in the UK.
Surely they’d maximise viewer figures by moving it to a Sunday or even a Monday? Friday just seems daft.
*signaling the end of the work week, not the start of a match.
Friday night game was in the Invincibles season. Won 3-2 five days after the 0-0 up at Old Toilet.
Sunderland one up. 😆
I said earlier that I liked the idea of a Friday night game as a one-off, but having read the objections from many of you I am now a lot less happy about it.
Don’t know if it applied to that one, tabs, but Arsenal only used to move home fixtures to a Friday night to avoid playing them on the last Saturday shopping day before Christmas, e.g. the famous Norwich game with the 14,000 crowd back in gawd knows when.
I was there and it was effin’ freezing, wet and windy.
Thanks takeabowson, Thats saved me hours of trying to remember 🙂
Its funny the things you remember from days gone past – For some reason ill always remember Paul Mortimer scoring for Charlton against us but have no idea of the final score – Same for Bumstead and Also Charlie Nic playing keepy uppy on the halfway line but again have no recollection of the games or scores,
I just find it strange the way the brain remembers certain incidents but not others even if they were totally insignificant.Again Everton in the league cup semi can still visualise Hayes penalty Miss as tho im still stood in the same spot but cannot remember the goals, Likewise the pitch invasion and getting chased off by the horses and the amount of trouble after the game.
The other one ill never forget was stood on the clock end during a really drab game and two guys behind me had the following conversation.
Bloke 1, To his Mate “Whos the only royal to play for England”
Bloke 2, Is this a Joke
Bloke 1, No
Bloke 2, Are you sure
Bloke 1, Yes
Bloke 2, Then named every member of the royal family from the past 50 Years or so it seemed to me before, Fuck it i give up
Bloke 1, Joe Royal
Bloke 2,You Wanker you said it wasnt a joke
Bloke 1, Its not Laughs
Bloke 2, Storms of and dosent come back
Bloke 1 + Everyone in the vicinty crack up laughing
Never saw them again but that conversation will always stay with me – Havent a clue who we played or the score Lol
Heh Chippy..!
Priceless…!
Trev,
Talking of Norwich and Freezing, do you remember the abandoned game against them when the fog came down 🙂 ? Me and the Old Man left Hatton Cross and it was perfect day but by the Time we walked out of Arsenal Station it was like a scene out of an old Horror Movie, still to this day do not know how or where that come from:-) !!
H2H – hilarious 🙂
Trev – Yep was with you as one of the suffering 14, 000 at that Norwich game. Took me weeks to defrost. I was in the schoolboys enclosure and couldn’t see the other side of the pitch cos of the fog.
The Newcastle game was in september though so must have been some short-lived tv experiment with friday football.
Chippy – No worries ( I had to look it up 🙂 ) and heh at the memories.
Bollocks Mancs equalise.
Heh, Chippy. 🙂
We seem to have identical brains – and don’t even ask me which year anything happened !
Joe 368,
That is word for word i must have only been about 12 but will never forget it till my dying day, Bizarre hey 🙂
To be Fair the game was dire !!
Lars, if it’s good for you, then no problem mate, go with the flow. Here in the Lowlands there’s an Ere Divisie match almost every Friday night, has been for as long as i can remember.
Maybe it’s just a thing that doesn’t quite fit into the British psychy. 😉
====
Heh, nice one Chippy.
I can remember specific moments from games from donkies ago like it was yesterday.
Although I draw a complete blank on things that happen less then 24hrs ago.
Damn you excess disco bickies in the 80’s and 90’s. 😎
H2H,
Weird isnt it !
I have no idea what you mean 😉
About what?!? :rasp:
Pelanty for Sunderland!
2-1 Sunderland!
Heh, tabs, I was on the North Bank and couldn’t see the schoolboys enclosure !
Chippy, do you remember the other abandoned game ?
I must have been very young ‘cos I was at the front of the North Bank and threw the ball back to Bob Wilson who was just about visible through the snow. Sheffield Wednesday it was – abandoned shortly after.
Sunderland 2-1
Who are they playing ? 😉
H2H knows the score. Friday night is not football night. Its should not involve travelling too far. Its get slaughtered, try and pull, but failing that have a punch up and a kebab night.
Trev,
Afraid not, that one was before my time 🙂 ! I have very Vague memories of Jimmy Rimmer (Did he have the nickname Fingers or something very similar) ?! but i was pretty much a toddler. My dad always rated him quite highly but many othes didnt 🙂
The first Arsenal goalkeeper i can really remember was Pat !
Jim Furnell was “Fingers”, Chippy.
Don’t remember Jimmy Rimmer having a nickname but that might just be my brain again. 😉
Punch a kebab night ? Sounds messy. 🙂
Just remembered I forgot to reply to tabs@340 🙂
I am trying to not get my hopes up too much about Zelalem and Crowley because there is a long, long way to go yet but Zelalem has such a natural touch and a vision that is right up there with the very best and Crowley has that aura (for lack of a better expression) about him that makes you notice him straight away.
Now he was defo before my time 🙂 – Maybe it was him my old man was on about !
Did we at one stage, must have been very late 70s Early 80s have a rather portly chap between the sticks ? Again i seem to have vague memories of said chubby fella – May have been a back up im not sure, It may have even been Rimmer 🙂 ! That will test your Brain !!
Chippy, Fingers was before my time as a spectator, but he a bit of a Chubby Chappy, Chippy. 😉
I was trying to put my first badly cut out and glued scrap books together just after Furnell’s days.
Heh no worries Lars 🙂 and completely agree with you re Zelalem and Crowley. Long way to go but rare to see such naturally gifted footballers at such a young age. Fingers crossed for the pair of them.
Fingers Furnell before my time but Jimmy Rimmer did pretty well in a very poor Arsenal side.
Brilliant by sunderland! 🙂
So ManU lost again, and the funny thing is I am not at all certain that they will turn it around in the return leg unless they get Rooney or RvP back for that one.
Oh well, off to bed it is for me. Early start tomorrow.
sorry, chippy, but jimmy “fingers” rimmer would just be too much 🙂
poor moyes. mancs just lost the first leg away, and they were even given ample fergie time to make it up. is he hanging on tenterhooks?
Thanks Trev, Must be someone else as i wasnt even born when Fingers was prowling his area 😉 !
Brilliant, how did it turn out 🙂
Thats my lot for the night, Been Fun. Of to see the Mancs Reactions – Its, If Carlsberg done football matches Time haha
Up The Arse,
You have to feel sorry for them.
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Esso knows. No Coventry for me…
Who mentioned Jim Furnell 🙁
Didn’t see the game but the reports say there was some effective time wasting by agent Mannone. Andiamo don Vito. 😀
btt8b, i caught the last 5 minutes (stoppage) and he was great, got a yellow card for his troubles 🙂
Evening everyone,
I have passed on your best to Taina and the girls,they are eagerly awaiting the pics of Terry’s Memorial stone when it is installed.
Glad to read everyone is in fine fettle,even Trev who is on one leg.!!
cheers
The Sweeper
The Mancs are not happy bunnies, makes for lovely reading 🙂 !!
Probably be a good thing if they do go out as City will destroy them in a Final !!
pings an assist across the face of goal from the byline…
Goallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 😉
Thats dedicated to Jimmy Fingers my Rimmer !! By order of Scruz 😉 !
lol, chippy, dare i say “well in” 😉
Isn’t Theo’s injury the same one Abu has been out forever with? Bloody wishful thinking that we’ll see him back within 12 months, sadly. Same injury my dog (that’s the real Oskar) had a year ago. He was operated on in April (cost equivalent to £800!) but he’s still loathe to put much weight on it. There’s a stream running through the local dog park in which he cools off but whereas he used to hop out, now he won’t jump at all and I have to haul him out by the collar.
I dare say Theo is relatively younger and definitely fitter, and I would love to be optimistic, but Arsenal’s injury history isn’t encouraging.
But as I, and others, have suggested perhaps this is the moment for young Gnu to step up. What we’ve seen lately suggests he could be ready.
As for Crowley and Zel in the future playing alongside the then experienced Jack, Rambo, Gnu, Ox, Gibbsy etc … the mouth doth truly water.
Öskar
otd, theo’s younger and fitter than your dog?
Scruz, “Jimmy Fingers Rimmer”. 🙂
Well in, Chippy, ooh er. 😉
Oh, scruz has done my joke too. 🙁
Theo’s abdominal injury was hard enough to stomach.
The ACL will leave him with another disjointed season.
Sorry, there was no kneed for that.
Going back to my game of Tibial Pursuit. 😉
Manipulation on that goal? Call in the authorities!!
Boys they left a gapping hole at the back, I couldn’t fail to hit the target 😉
Trev – that’s way too humerus.
ah, trev. came in behind there, did ya? 😉
bt8b, i believe that was photoshopped…digital manipluation.
chippy, i’ve never seen a defense so loose.
bath, i will have figured out a response to trev’s tomarrow…
Really, bath ?
Where’s your sense o’femur ? 😉
Trevs certainly pulling the hamStrings tonight !
Scruz 🙂 I’m sure the back stabbers in the Media will have a field day with their rearguard action tactics !
I need a joint!
lol, chippy…
trev’s constantly showing us all why he’s kneeded.
As I said ‘relatively’ younger, scruz … Oskar being nearly ten, so rising 70 in man years. He gave up football some time ago. In fact chasing anything is beneath him these days, and was even before the injury. Like me he’s mostly a spectator at the great arena of life now. Unless it involves single malts, cognacs, fine wines and cordon bleu cookery (me that is).
Öskar
Medical puns yet, aaaaargh. Real rib-ticklers.
well, if you bogart that joint, tabs, i’ll have a bone to pick with you. not to cast aspersions, or anything.
I was a bit concerned about getting in behind and leaving myself exposed with no protection but as soon as I squeezed the first one in I knew the floodgates would open !
Um, Trev @ 413 – I was feeling a bit stern, um.
Think we should give Pangloss rhe elbow. 😉
I liac your sense of the humerus.
Bath – That’s probably just your natural tendon, see. 😉
Heh bath, you lunate-ic. 😉
Joining late as in Hamburg but noticed that there was a reference to the Pures/ Newcastke FACup tie- that was in a Saturday morning about 11 ish kick off and we led 2-0 after five minutes and won 3-0. The Friday evening Newcastke game was in 2003 and we won 3-2.
Last Friday game I can remember was the Leeds 5-0 match.
Feel sorry for those who can’t do evenings but TV calls the shots nowadays
Scruz 🙂
You lot are so Vein show some Heart !
Ttg’s pissed again ! 😉
Scruz @412. – better go and bone up then, mate. 😉
trev@430…aaaaand we’re back to “fingers” rimmer…time to head down the carpal tunnel…
I should have realised I’d upset Trev trying to muscle in on his punfest. Silly of me to stick my neck out. I’ll never learn.
Night all
shows you’ve a lot of backbone, though, pangloss. and some nerve 🙂
Pangloss,
Thought you had broader shoulders than that. Still, you head off to bed, if you must. 😉
Trev talus some more puns, you old cuneiform. 🙂
Back tomorrow. 😉
I’m off to my late night Mafia meeting with the cosa nostril. 😉
Ha, mate….you are going to de-capitate me with all this effort at remembering what these mnemonics stood for!
bath, trev doesn’t horse (head) around, does he? 😉
De-capitate you, bath ?
You’d better head off before that happens. 😉
Pangloss …you’d better leg it then. 😉
Trev….knee , now back – you’ve got some neck but I have to hand it to you so please don’t put your foot in it otherwise you will be given the elbow but at least I don’t think you are a toe rag. 😉
Bath….hope you haven’t gone quackers. 😉
That’s all folks, I’m down to the bare bones.
Pissed moi? 🙂
I got an interesting perspective on our German players from two keen German fans tonight.
They love the BFG ( and love that name) . He is seen as a very intelligent defender and very much part of their best defence. They are also very proud of how well he has done at Arsenal. One of the guys supports Hannover where he started and is chuffed to see him come this far.
They are very excited about Gnabry and think with games he might make a late rush into their squad for Rio but they have a lot of talent competing with him. They are very big fans of Draxler and the feeling in Germany is that he will join Arsenal in the summer.
Poldi is seen as being a very dangerous striker of the ball possibly past his best but a very reliable player for the national team over a long time.
The surprising one was Ozil. They believe he is immensely talented but a flat track bully ( my term not theirs). They believe he goes missing in the really big games and does not dominate as someone with his ability could. This World Cup is seen as a big challenge for him to prove the critics wrong. He did extremely well in the qualifying competition but they felt he failed to show his very best form in Spain in the very big games . They were interested in my view of him. I explained that I have been disappointed in some performances but overall think he has added immensely to the team quality, the level of belief in the team and he has created an incredible number of chances and assists.
It was interesting to note tonight that AOC in 45 minutes played this season has one more assist than Andros Townsend! Quite a stat!
My feelings entirely about Özil, Ttg, doesn’t do enough in the big games to merit what we paid for him. Mind you, he’s still the best player in the club, and first on the team sheet every week. I just expect more for 46.4mil.
Öskar
The Friday game is a bit harsh on Coventry.
Plus
When is the club box office going to demote the home manure games to Category C?
TTG and OTD
Curmudgeonly would be my description of you 2,in the nicest possible way,re your thoughts on Ozil.
He has had a massive culture shock coming to the PL and playing without a break since he got here.
He himself is on record recently as saying he is not at his peak,he is still adjusting to the intense nature of every PL game that is played.
From the relative comfort of the Spanish league to the Cauldron of the PL,where players run the equivalent of a Marathon virtually every time they step on the pitch.
Don’t forget he had no pre season with us to prepare for the whirlwind that has hit him.
Every player you listen to, will tell you how vital pre season is,and preparing for the Spanish league where the games are played at a much slower pace is no comparison.
So no wonder he is struggling to keep up sometimes,and as for your comments that he goes missing in the big games,i don’t agree.
What big games are you talking about.??
There was a virus going through the squad before the Utd game and we were knackered from the Napoli game and lunchtime kick off before the City game.
Rather than criticize Ozil in those games,you should look collectively at the rest of the team who also struggled to compete.
You should both ask yourselves would we be where we are today without him.??
Would we be enjoying the best season we have had for a long time without his input on and off the field.
We are top of the league with him still not at his optimum level of fitness.!!
That in itself is a scary thought.
So lighten up fellas and enjoy the teams collective performances,
rather than singling out one individual for nit picking.
Cheers
The Sweeper
The Sweeper knows.
BMBD
I’m with The Sweeper on Ozil. It is rare in recent times for anyone coming into the PL from other leagues and play at top level from the start. For most it takes anywhere from half to a full season (or never) to adapt to the pace and physical play (and I’m not talking about Stoke) of the PL. Personally I am very happy with Ozil’s performance so far, and know that there only better things to come.
lonestar knows.
Wonder if this is a viable option?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2535533/I-Theo-Walcott-World-Cup-Surgeon-claims-Arsenal-frontman-playing-four-months.html
I think the Sweeper knows when it comes to Ozil as well.
I personally think we’ll see the best of him next year but he’s done quite well so far in my book.
As we’re on the topic, many people have likened his playstyle to Bergkamp but he reminds me more of Pires. What say you holics?
Gooner since 54
Please note I reported opinions of two German fans on Ozil not my own opinion. I found their observations quite disappointing but please don’t shoot the messenger!:)
I think the points you raise are entirely fair but what I wanted to impart were the opinions of two very pleasant and informed German fans on all our German players. . Even what I said about him isn’t immensely critical in fact I find him an extraordinarily interesting player and think his movement and insight is at times quite remarkable. But the German opinion is interesting as he has been on their radar longer than he has on mine- in detail anyway.
But curmudgeonly is a lovely word to use isn’t it?!:)
I am the curmudgeon, not Ttg who was merely reporting German opinion. And even I agree we should not be judging Özil too harshly in his first season.
Nevertheless German opinion has to be relevant since they will have been watching him more closely than us for years. And their opinion bears out what I have been suspicious about for a while now.
I hope I’m wrong and that he will burst into Messi-anic form eventually, but right now he’s not looking like a player who cost us about double the entire Invincibles XI put together.
Öskar
Not buying that German opinion has to be relevant as Ozil hasn’t played in Germany for 4 years. I have BEIN TV here in the states which shows virtually every Madrid and Barcelona match with English commentary. I’ve seen probably 30 – 40 Madrid matches over the last 3 years and can form my own opinion. Just because someone is German doesn’t mean they are watching Madrid or Arsenal matches. That’s like saying Nicolas Sarkozy knows Thierry Henry better than the Goonerholic cause he’s French. Circumstantial evidence and that’s being generous.
Look at what his coaches have said … His under 21 coach Horst Hubresch ( after he DOMINATED the under 21 euros ) … ” we overhype foreign players in Germany like Ronaldo and Messi. We have our own Messi and it’s Ozil. ”
Mourinho calls him the ” Best #10 in the world ”
Low refers to him as his genius
I’ll take those opinions over some faceless Nameless ” German mates “
I’ve defended Jack, I’ll defend Mesut. I’ll defend my Arsenal team.
Forget the transfer figures, Real will be lucky to see most of that over three years it’s not a lump sum and for Arsenal currently it’s not a club-breaker. Players like these are why you as a kid played the game and as you passed onto pitifully deficient watched, and followed agog, as they tore players and teams to bits.
Jack, like Aaron, will be back, think now of why you’re disappointed with him – are you remembering his brilliance before his injuries? Is that the frustration? Seriously?
Mesut – as Sweeper (as an aside – thank you for the emotional emails re GT) said astutely he’s joined late, no pre-season, physical league, different culture. Yet he’s performed – goals, assists, passion (M City loss), what we have is a unique and, for my mind a fabulously creative quality player. He will only improve. Meh to flat-track bullying.
No player is perfect all games. Players get sick, pissed off, injured, bored, annoyed (think of your usual day) – then they play where they kicked to bits because they make the average Premier league (already seriously talented) players look ordinary. They emphasise the gulf in talent. Managers instruct the less talented to “level the playing field”. Most drinks now contain comments along the lines of “I wish “X” would stop lying on the ground bleating about the foul/kicking and get on with playing”. This is unbelievably patronising from those hard-core keyboard warriors. What I recommend is that you buy a football, wander down to the local team/park and ask them to stop you, any way they want – good luck. It fucking hurts to be body-checked, hacked, stamped on, shin-guards broken, elbowed, head-butted, kicked. As these are likely amateurs you can then magnify the hurt significantly. It will then really hurt – full stop and enjoy.
Me, I’m loving the talent in my team. Improvement? I can’t wait given what I’ve seen.
Now, for that super striker I’ve mislaid….
Oh and BTW, if he’s a flat track bully all the better. You win the league by taking care of business in the 32 matches against lesser teams not the 6 matches against other top four clubs
And Oskar he didn’t cost ” double or triple the invincibles like you keep saying.
Lehmann- free
Lauren- £7.2m
Cole- Free
Toure- £150,000
Campbell- free
Gilberto Silva- £4.5m
Vieira- £3.5m
Llunjberg- £3m
Pires- £6m
Henry- £11m
Bergkamp- £7.5m
Those are the prices of the starting 11 … £42.7 not including Reyes who came in mid season for £10.5M
Arsegonian
My observations of two very good friends in Germany seem to have promoted an aggression that is a little uncalled for. For the record I have seen Ozil play live in the last three months about 15 times and you find out a lot more about a player watching live than what the television shows you and while I like Ozil he has a lot more to come.
It would also be fair to say that the Oremier a League is shown weekly in Germany and he does play over here in internationals. Plus they also saw the same Real matches as you.
I had expected a more positive opinion of what I had assumed would be presumed to be Germany’s best player
I’m surprised by the number of people caught up in the transfer fee for Ozil. That is simply the price of doing business in the billionaire owner era.
And consider what other players moving to the PL cost last summer: Willian – 32 mil, Fernandinho – 30 mil, Jovetic – 26 mil, Fellaini – 27 mil, Lamela – 26 mil, Soldado aka Can’t Hit the Broad Side of a Barn – 26 mil.
When I look at those players and numbers, I would say we got ourselves a deal. 26 mil for 2 open play goals? That is a disappointment. Not Ozil. And we won’t even get into transfer fees outside the PL.
OTD – comparing the cost of the Invincibles to Ozil? Seriously?
If I seem a little aggressive …. It’s 1am and I’ve spent the last two hours talking with Aston Villa bloggers doing research for my next blog post ( Shameless plug http://www.arsegonian.blogspot.com ) I apologize but Your nerves would be frayed too 🙂 … No offense to your good friends but I’ll take Jose Mourinho and Joachim Low’s instead. After all they trained the lad day after day.
There’s this little thing I like to call inflation and it has been rising at a ridiculous rate in football the last 10 years. That alone makes comparing transfer fees useless.
Oskar has suggested that we should sell Cazorla, so you shouldn’t engage in a battle of wits with an un-armed opponent.
Personally, I think we paid market rate for Mesut and am totally happy with the goods.
Gents
Interesting discussion above.
Good to hear ze Germans rate Mertesacker we much as we do. One of the best pieces of business the boss has done in recent years, mad to think of the criticism the press have given the player. He’s the best kept secret in English football.
Regarding Ozil, I would note ecg’s excellent post regarding inflation. Put simply, £42m and change ain’t what it used to be, in this age of Lamelas and Soldados.
More to the point, that fee is an investment against the next 4 or 5 years of Mesut, aka ” Peak Ozil”. Easy to forget that the player is just a few months older than Theo, and is quite possibly two or three years from his likely peak. My prediction is that he will improve next season, and the season after, although to be honest I think we’re already getting our money’s worth from him: the number of chances he creates is terrifying and his movement is world class, a real joy to watch.
Cheers to TTG for sharing the German perspective.
I’ll say one last thing then swear off battling over our top of the league squad. I can say with 100% certainty that Jose Mourinho has forgotten more about football then any of us dimwits will ever know put together. So I’ll take his word for it and believe Özil is the best #10 in the world. He just needs some time like virtually every player that comes to the Premier League. Now if you think Mourinho is a cunt and can’t accept a two time Champion’s League manager knows more, that’s ok. But at least take Arsene’s opinion to heart. He dropped more money on Özil then any of us could have imagined in our wettest wildest dreams and ARSENE KNOWS !!!!!
Oh, and a quick note on the troubles of Man Utd. Listening to them after last night’s match I can’t help but have my prejudices re: purple nose reinforced; ie that he was influencing refs, either via intimidation, matiness or an alternating combination of both.
One of the (many) reasons Utd are now struggling is that they are starting to get the same refereeing as the rest of the world (still marginally better than the decisions we get, natch), and they can’t hack it.
Last season Lloris would have been sent off for coming out at Young, Fabio’s leg breaker would have been a yellow (when was the last time you saw a scummer get a straight red off a domestic ref at OT?), and they’d probably not have conceded that pen last night (their first in 76 games). All correct decisions, but the refs would have bottled them and the results likely would have been different. Moyes is moaning about the refs, Giggs has joined in. Put simply, they’re used to having it all their own way, the cheating, whinging, bullying, diving bunch of wankstains.
Seeing them uncomfortably reconnected with reality is one of the great pleasures of this season, and I hope they finish 6th.
Wait until you have a player sent off away from home for kicking the ball away in a vital champs league second leg. That’s when you can moan, you bunch of melts.
COYG
I love Ozil as much as the next man, but Jose Mourinho thinks Juan Mata is pony and that Lukaku is worse than Demba Ba.
We all make mistakes.
Mourinho thinks Mata doesn’t track back and he doesn’t. That’s the real issue there. You have to play defense to get in his team.
Mata is welcome to come and not track back at Arsenal, any time.
He’s not in the Chelsea team because he’s mates with Iker Casillas and Mourinho is as vindictive as a 12 year old girl.
Agree with N7 re inflation (the cost of the Invincibles is as far as I can see pretty irrelevant to Ozil’s transfer fee), Ozil himself, and the general hilarity currently surrounding the Mancs.
Not sure why Ttg’s post provoked such a fierce response. Self-evident what Ozil has brought to the team and Club as a whole, and that after a magnificent start he has had a relatively quiet period, albeit still influencing games with moments of genius, and that the best is yet to come. That’s how I read what Ttg was saying and I don’t think there’s anything particularly controversial there.
Mata is a magnificent player but following Ozil’s signing, I don’t really see where he would fit in at Arsenal. Moyes, on the other hand, should go all out to get him, but doubt that Mata himself would wish to opt for a battle to get into the Europa League in a World Cup year.
Agree with N7, both on Ozil and Mata. If there is even a slight chance we should get Mata, we must get it. Great player who has Arsenal all over him, doubt that Maureen will sell to us, though.
Cheers tabs – agree with all that.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/08/thomas-hitzlsperger-gay-announces-homosexual
Tommy Hitzlsperger: brave lad. Respect.
Portuguese paper A Bola
If Arsenal’s bid for Morata is rejected, a move for Jackson Martinez has been lined up.
Seems to be a lot of buzz around Martinez today. Still not seen enough of him to have a view, but he has scored a lot of goals, and he’s certainly mobile.
Kike Marin, who is usually spot on, tweeted this 5 minutes ago.
Jackson Martínez, alternativa a Diego Costa. El @Arsenal lleva siguiendo al delantero colombiano del Oporto desde la temporada pasada.
Arsene ready to big 18m on Morata.
http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/latest-from-spain-on-morata-to-arsenal-wenger-ready-to-pay-18m-an
If Morata deal is not materialized, Costa looks a plan B with Martinez is plan C.
Things are hotting up, the way I see things, it seems like we are definitely and seriously in the market for a big name striker and not just a loan deal.
Also seeing Draxler coming up a lot again, although some confusion over whether he can play centre forward (I suspect it’s not his natural position at all).
Some fine work above.
Ttg,
my “pissed” comment was only regarding your post about a Newcastke cup game, where your keyboard seemed to be living a life all it’s own.
The piece on your German friends’ opinions was fair and interesting, I thought, but I do agree with others that there will only be even better things to come once he has acclimatised to our country / league / physicality, etc.
Ozil seems, largely due to the press and a Madrid chairman desparate to placate supporters who were angry at his sale, to have gained a reputation for being a bit weak and lazy.
Having watched him at several games now, I would have to completely disagree. He rides challenges effectively with superb balance rather than just trying to crunch through them, which has the added benefit of still being on his feet to use the ball after the attempted tackle.
As for lazy, I have often been really surprised to see how far and how quickly he has dropped back to collect the ball or just cover team mates who have moved out of position.
“Surprised” only because of the false impression that has been created, and because he has slotted into the Arsenal system so quickly. It takes practise and familiarity to develop that kind of understanding, and he has acquired it very quickly. Compare and contrast with the new boys down the road at Tottenham who really do look a disorganised mob.
N7, take that back or I’ll scratch your eyes out.
What, like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kf75XdQDgw
Lurky – Morata sounds interesting and as much as any highlight reel can make pretty much any player look good, Martinez looks a handful. Very mobile, can finish with both feet, head, strong and athletic so ticks lot of boxes.
Still in no camp on Costa myself, at least not for the money Atletico is probably going to ask for him.
Exactly !
Well done to Hitzlsperger for standing up for who he is. With him and Robbie Rogers coming out in the past year, maybe the next player will be one still in the game (though I think Rogers has resumed his career again in the US, come to think of it). I hope so, that would be a major step towards making the footballing world a better one.
In other news, here’s an interesting take on the part fatigue may play in injuries:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/2445?cc=5739
I hadn’t thought of that before, but many injuries happen when you put your foot down in the wrong angle or lands awkwardly on your shoulder etc etc – which is of course what happens when you get tired and don’t have the same control over all your movements, i.e. the injury isn’t the result of wear and tear as such on a muscle but a sudden overload due to slipping or falling in a way you wouldn’t have if you would have had a clear head.
tabs/N7: the rate of inflation has indeed been absolutely insane in just the past two or three seasons. At the time Cesc moved to Barcelona that deal was worth somewhere in the region of £35 million (some sources say a bit less, some say a bit more) and even though many claimed that was too cheap, it was very high up on a list of the most expensive transfers ever involving a Premier League club. Only Ronaldo to Real and Torres to Chelsea were definitely worth more and possibly Andy Carrol to Liverpool at £35 are the ones that I can think of. Few deals anywhere had been worth more than £40m, but particularly this summer things went completely off the scale. In this climate, the £42 we paid for Özil is probably about £25 or something in 2011 prices.
Well, £42 and £25 should of course have been £42 million and £25 million – though mathematically speaking my omission of the unit in both places would still make the comparison valid 🙂
N7,
The vibe from Crossie last night was that Wenger is going to try to get a short term option ala Morata and wait until the summer to spend big as he’d have to seriously overspend now to buy a top striker.
I hope he gets both a top striker and another player on loan. I think its important to make the absolute most of this window given we’ve a great chance of winning something this year. I know Tim over at 7am kick off has been raving about Martinez for some time. He seems deadly in the air. And from what little I’ve seen of him play, he is, as you say very mobile, predominantly right footed but with a useful left too. I would prefer him to say someone like Costa who’s more of a physical presence.
Lurky,
Can’t see Costa being an option given that Cross has quoted Wenger saying that he’d cost 145m (presumably inc wages and agent commission) and Atletico have very serious ambitions in La Liga and CL. Costa turned down Liverpool last season and they reputedly offered him 200k a week! To put that in perspective, Ozil @ 42m is supposed to be on something like 140k / week. So are we going to pay a striker 300k a week because that’s the type of money it could take? I don’t think so. Not only that, I don’t think Costa is remotely worth that type of money. The real strength of Atletico this year is the workrate of the entire team and the lack of space they give opponents. People seem to think their success is all down to Costa. It’s not. He’s a very good player but he’s overrated in my opinion.
Trev knows @477 or Trev’s nose afore seventh heaven 🙂
That’s spot on Lars.
I actually think the moment at which the market started to go haywire was Carroll to Liverpool and Torres to Chelsea.
Those moves, and Liverpool’s subsequent splurge on Downing, Henderson et al, seemed to spark a wave of domestic inflation.
I think we probably saw a second, similar wave this summer caused by Spurs. In the context of £30m for Lamela, even leaving aside how poor he’s been this season, Ozil looks an absolute snip. Likewise Willian. £30m is now the going rate for a vaguely promising class C winger, or journeyman Spanish striker who’s had a decent season. Ozil is a world class talent. I actually think we may have got him cheap, given his age.
While I’d love to have Draxler right now, He is crocked with a muscle tear until February. Unless that somehow brings the price down, I can’t see Arsene doing that this window.
@ Joe
I tend to agree re: Costa.
For the sort of money that’s being quoted, I’d want someone who got more than a dozen goals last season and with a bit more pedigree.
He’s scoring for fun this term, but that was true of Benteke this time last year and we’d be feeling daft right now if we’d spent £25m on him (as I, and many others, were clamoring for over the summer).
I also don’t think he’ll be willing to leave. They’re through in the Champs League, it’s a World Cup year. He knows he can go in the summer, and will probably be subject to a bidding war. Can’t see what would be in it for him to quit.
I also have reservations on the basis that I think those Athletico players are highly motivated by an excellent coach, and probably playing a little above themselves at the minute. I’m not sure Costa is ready-made to slip into a different system, and I could easily imagine teething troubles in integrating him.
I don’t know much about Martinez, but he does look a livewire. I suppose similar concerns as re: Costa above, but he has at least been scoring goals for a couple of years, and I’d hope he would come a little bit cheaper, which may be the critical factor.
Morata – either Madrid are playing public hardball or I don’t think it’s happening. Looks a player in the making, but I’d have to question how much impact a kid his age is likely to make in his first 5 months in a new country. I’d favour a permanent deal over a loan, particularly if it means we can move on from the striker issue and leaves cash free for a run at Draxler in the summer – I think he’ll go on to be the best player of all those we’re currently being linked with, but I don’t think he’s a striker.
Spot on Arsegonian.
I also think I saw somewhere that his release clause kicks in this summer, although there’s so much speculation around release clauses these days that god only knows if that’s actually correct.
I do really like the look of him though. He’s going to be world class somewhere down the line.
Trev – agree with you about the amount of unseen running that Ozil does. Also think it is underestimated what benefits Arsenal as a whole have reaped from his ability to move the ball on quickly. Only rarely does he choose the wrong option. Even in his quieter games his ability to think quickly and move the ball on in the blink of an eye adds a dynamism to our play that was often lacking last season where often we passed and passed without really going anywhere. Reckon the slight niggle that afforded him a break in the Newcastle and Cardiff games might well prove to be a blessing in disguise. Fully expect him to be absolutely central to all that we try to achieve in the remainder of the Season.
N7 – Heh at that Maureen clip. Forgotten that incident. Sums up all he is. Utter cock.
Draxler is on record as saying his best position is as a No.10. That said, Henry thought he was a winger when he turned up so …
Lars – Spot on. If anything I think you’re being a bit generous with your £25m comparable. Very very few players were fetching that price around the time of the Invincibles. Not sure what van horseface cost Man Utd around that time but he would have been one of the most sought after signatures of that era. Of course, Abramovich was just starting his cuntery and prices then rocketed.
Totally agree re: Ozil’s running.
Stats show him to consistently be among the team’s hardest workers. He doesn’t run around like a lunatic, but his movement is constant, and intelligent.
I thought his absence was really conspicuous in the games we’ve been without him, aside from the LWCs who arrived with a suicidal tactical set up.
Gutted we won’t get to see much of the Theo/Ozil interface. Would have been nice to see opponents confronted with the great dilemma – sit deep/space in front for Ozil vs push up/space behind for Theo.
N7 exactly my thoughts as of late,
gutted to have the prospect of Özil splitting up teams with deadly balls to Theo out of the way for the remainder of the season. Was one of the things I was looking forward the most.
We have only seen bits of what could have been in Mesuts first game for us, where should Theo have his shooting boots on, he could have easily have a hattrick just from the passes made to him by Fishgod.
Still, the fact that Mesut got a breather (albeit because of the slight niggle) and we managed to snatch points from those games is a good news. Fully expect him to be pivotal for us in the remainder of the season (along with Poldi, expecting 15 goals from hit at least)
Just reading Eandy’s comment has left me considering joining the ranks of the name changers in the bar.
Combining the best of new and older patrons, Eandy’s first paragraph has me sorely tempted to change my moniker to Ozil Deadlyballs.
Stick that in your Pan and gloss it ! 😉
Have to say Trev,
it has nice ring to it :D.
It would be right up in the heights of great Arsenal themed monikers along with (and it really made me laugh) user I seen in one discussion named as “Steve Boulds Eyeliner”…which becomes even funnier when you see some of the Boulds pictures from our bench 😀
Afternoon guys. I have not back drinked. I have had a skim.
As I unedrstand it, this is the current position:
– Diego Costa’s valuation at present is considered too high and Athletico are locked in a title race with Barca.
– Morata is looked upon as a good temporary option by Wenger. As such, Ancelotti has now re-visited the players’ importance and as such, views him as backup for Benzema, as Ronaldo does not want the lone striker role. Wenger therefore believes that a promise of more first team action and 2 mill, will make the Bernabeu re-visit their view, as the players contract is up next season. Negotiations continue
– Jackson Martinez is now being looked upon as a backup plan to Morata. Said player has stated his wish to leave Porto during this window. Both he and the player immediately above have good goal ratios.
– We have enquired about Pedro, due to Theo’s situation. No news yet. They will more than likely laugh us away.
– Falcao is uncomfortable at Monaco. He is said to be valued at around £50 Mil. Monaco do not need the money and Arsenal do not want to spend this type of money. Besides, Monaco despite having strong links to their ex -manager (Wenger), they are currently locked in a title race, as with Madrid.
– Other players within touching distance are Berbatov and Remy, Although Wenger has not considered these and Swansea will over-value Michu to put us off. Nuff said about Ba. Not sure about Benteke.
Have I missed anyone?
Unless something else comes up, expect the protraction during this window to be between Morata and Martinez at present!
I think you have it spot-on, as it seems its either Morata and Martinez in my opinion…and of course the possibility of Wenger pulling someone we never heard out out of a hat who then becomes success (Eduardo-like signing).
…….or indeed Eduardo himself or even no-one at all.
Hate to say it but might as well, it does seem like there will be no big name signings this january window but we may yet get someone who has not been mentioned countless times before.
Whatever the outcome i do sincerely hope that we do get some reinforcements in as cover to our rapidly overworked and thinning squad!
Looking forward to Villa.
Also, the most unlikely but I think pretty good addition would be Pedro, who has been linked with us since the window opened.
I dont think it is going to materialize, but would be fun to sign two players from two Spains most prominent teams in one season.
I still expect no signings this window, though would be happy to be surprised. January is always tough.
Slide rule pass, a la Ozil Deadlyballs….
Slid right into the net.
tabs
With Chamberlain back in training, Wenger will only consider temporary signings until summer.
I don’t think Özil Deadlyballs is really “you”, Trev. Best wait until Matt expresses an opinion one way or the other, you sauce pot.
COYG
Michael Cox of Zonal Marking, who knows his onions runs the rule over potential attacking targets:
http://www.freebets.org.uk/blog/top-10-january-transfer-targets#more-3939
He has this to say about Martinez:
“Martinez is an old-school number nine – his link-up play is decent, he works the channels reasonably well when forced to, but he basically positions himself in the penalty box and gets on the end of crosses. 38 goals in 44 Portuguese Liga games underlines how prolific he is, although many clubs would find his asking price difficult to justify before he’s proven in a top league.”
Hmmmm… not sure that totally fits the bill.
Well in N7 and excellent celebration in the glory position Bath 🙂
Heh at Trev’s new name. A distant relation of Wolfie perhaps? 😉
Hi holics,
Absolutely gutted about Theo’s injury. Hope he comes back stronger
Make no mistake, he is a big big miss.
Re:Ozil. Fantastic player, makes watching football not only visually but intellectually stimulating as well
Need a striker this Jan, I don’t know if a decent one is available though
Cheers
Good to see that the German fans have voted Özil player of the year for the third year in a row. Let’s hope some Arsenal fans will now begin to recognise his quality.
Exactly, tabs.
Might just keep it as an alter ego – like Wolfgang. 😉
enjoying a nice cup of hot schaudenfreude at the moment:
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1674423/father-erik-lamela-wants-go-back-italy?cc=5901
heh.
trev, i’d’ve thought more like carlos kickemhard…he and ozil deadlyballs would make a great 1-2 punch.
N7 @ 488,
In relation to the Morata deal, I can’t help but feel that Wenger won’t take him on Loan unless he gets an option to buy as well. Morata is young, skilful, strong and could well be a fit in the EPL. So the last thing you want is to do is to help develop him and then see Real sell him for big money to someone else. The Sahin deal comes to mind in this regard.
Nice link to the Michael Cox article. He makes the same point about Martinez aerial ability but he can also score with both feet and is mobile as you’ve said. While the poverty of the Portuguese league may inflate his value, his numbers are still very impressive.
As for Draxler, I’ve long maintained that he’s a nailed on signing during the summer. Tall, ambidextrous, skillful and apparently (according to Tim @ 7am kick off) had only 12 turnovers (unforced errors) in the entire season demonstrating amazing close control and dribbling skills.
There’s much debate about Ozil (which I honestly find flabbergasting as I just think he’s world class) but not too many people realise how his signing has opened up so many doors not only in Germany but also to other high profile players. What striker wouldn’t want to play in a team whens he’s being fed caviar by the likes of Ozil? Would we be realistically in contention to sign one of Germany’s finest talents in Draxler were it not for the Ozil signing?
Some great comments and analysis of Ozil the Arsenal midfield master — still cannot always fully believe that he plays for us — and great to see him being crowned German footballer of the year third time in a row.
IMHO, the key aspects of Ozil’s games are vision, efficiency, intelligence and team ethics. Always the right decisions on and off the ball, executed with efficiency, no propensity for showboating, seeing things ahead of the rest of the players and finally quite an unique ability to open up space for others by deliberate and intelligent off-the-ball movements.
He is not Messi, not Ronaldinho, not Bergkamp, not Zidane but Ozil. As Santi had very astutely said when Ozil was signed, he can mark this era of football like any of those stalwarts did theirs. And he is the kind of player who will get better in the next few years.
About Strikers: a strange thought…would Eduardo be available and willing and useful for a loan stint back at his spiritual home?
@ Joe
Exactly re: loan deals. Not Wenger’s style to develop other teams’ players for them. While Morata is improving an Arsenal player is missing out, then he walks off back to Madrid in the summer? I don’t see it.
I totally agree re: Draxler. He’s going to be a serious, serious footballer, and it feels like he may be Arsenal-bound in the summer.
If that deal’s all but done then it would make sense of Morata – we probably don’t have £30-40m to spend in January if Draxler is lined up for June. Personally, if you told me I can get Martinez now, but no-one major in the summer, or that we don’t have much budget in Jan but will nick Draxler at the end of the season I would bite your hand off for the latter.
spot on Joe, the signing of Ozil has made it possible for the likes of Draxler and the many more talents out there to openly want to play for us….
scruz, am with you on that nice cup of hot schadenfreude;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2535731/Moyes-copping-flak-lazy-stars-blame-too.html
Trev – Heh 🙂
Good stuff on Ozil Joe, Faustus.
“It seems we have to play the officials as well” Moyes.
I think the word you’re looking for is “pay” rather than “play” Davey boy.
@N7 on 464
Been thinking about this for some time and wanted to write a little something that’s pretty striking about this very thing.
It’s hard not to start sounding like a conspiracy theorist or at least just an every day whinger, but I still think that much of United’s success was down to 5-10 points that Ferguson was good for in a season. That may be understating things too. In a whole lot of cases, that alone is worth the title if a club is even in the mix.
Don’t forget that United have had the benefit of Fergie time, the difference of added time between when in a winning and when in a losing position (BBC has a good article) and advantageous penalties awarded for and against. 2011-2012 season Arsenal wasn’t awarded a single penalty at home, which is simply unthinkable for a team known for playing in and around the opponents penalty area more than just about any other team.
Obviously, some of these statistics while accurate aren’t exactly proof of any malfeasance or conspiracy, but I think taken together do speak to something that United enjoyed under Ferguson and now may truly make the difference between United and mediocrity.
I’m willing to admit I’m biased when looking at the numbers sometimes, but I get to at least play many of the games on the TV (in the background) and pay some attention as I cheer for anyone playing against the evil empire at Old Trafford so I think I can speak to the utter bafflement I’ve experienced trying to compare the leniency given to teams playing Arsenal and the strict interpretation of the laws at Old Trafford when it involves playing that team.
Obviously, good teams will be putting pressure on the opponent and will be more skillful, but in league in which teams compete for international bragging rights and unimaginable sums of money the smallest margins often make the difference. If Wenger was ever afforded the reverence that Fergie was given, the club would walk away with the title, but this speaks to the quality of Wenger even more. The big teams may get a bit of an advantage as a whole, but we definitely come out on the short end of that deal against the other top sides, at least as I see it, and I have seen some pretty compelling numbers to make the case.
So not only is Wenger so much better than ever getting credit for, but this can’t be more illustrated than in seeing the mediocrity that is United this season and realizing that with this lot, Fergie finished so far ahead that the last I don’t know how many games were completely meaningless. And in addition, is changing managers with a club that were the previous league champions really so much more difficult than having the same manager navigate his way through a period of being forced to sell every single one of his best players? Maybe yes and maybe no. There are still a lot of games to play, but United look in a worse spot than we did during the season of the 8-2 mauling so I really don’t think that they will pull into the fourth spot by the end of the season. We will surely see, but if we don’t finish on top, it’ll be almost as satisfying to see United and RVP out of the CL next year.
@ Matt F
Great post.
In English football it’s frowned upon to question the integrity of the refs. I think that plays to a huge common sense blind spot.
Refs don’t need to be bent. They’re human beings, they can be got in other ways. Intimidated by powerful figures. Cowed by passive aggressive managers. Or maybe they just buy into the notion that Utd (for example) will inevitably win, and that – in that context – no one will bat an eye if a marginal but critical decision goes their way. Maybe it’s subconscious. Maybe they gravitate to the path of least resistance, as well all tend to do in our jobs.
Maybe some home crowds are more efficient at influencing refs than others. Maybe some players are told by their managers to exert pressure from the first minute.
I’m not a mad eyed conspiracy theorist, but it’s clear to me that Utd under Fergie got decisions that, say, Arsenal under Wenger did not. And the less this was questioned, the more people waved away the notion and repeated the frankly daft notion that “it evens itself out over a season” (of course it does, in the same way that life is fair), the easier it became for the officials to keep following that path of least resistance, keep giving the decisions to the team in red and spare themselves the wrath of Ferg.
Seventy six games without a domestic pen against them. Just think about that for a moment.
Perhaps it’s healthier for our players to ignore the above when it’s happening and just focus on their own performance. But as a supporter I call bullshit.
I believe it was wrong for Ferguson to be knighted while still active in the game. I believe he influenced refs to some extent. I believe Utd got soft refereeing. I believe that the absence of this phenomenon is part of their problem now. And I believe that they deserve to struggle as they are doing, with the whole country laughing.
matt/N7 : The whole Ferguson-factor and how it influenced games was a vicious (virtuous from ManU fans’ perspectives) cycle of success … he intimidated referees plain and simple, and opposition players not getting the faire share of decisions in their favor would be frustrated and once a team hasn’t won their for a while self-doubts would creep in, which would in turn make ManU look all the more formidable. Look at our own team: this season despite the flu I believe we had enough to win at ManU and last season too we played with a strange lack of self-belief.
Also, and I cannot be proven right or wrong with this, I believe Ferguson had actively encouraged (if not at least didn’t discourage) playacting from his players, especially more so in recent times. Ronaldo, Rooney, Young all have been as blatant cheats on the football ground in EPL as any and with Drogba (really his worst side) heads the list of undeserved free-kick and penalty winners.
Re: Scruz @509. It must be only the tip of the iceberg, that article about Lamela wanting out at Spurs. If you can see one termite escaping the woodwork there must be many more trying to get out. Watching termites escape is where the fun is all at. 😉
I meant “hasn’t won there for a while”… @518 .
No wonder Jackson Martinez has a nose for goal. Been trained down in Colombia with the cocaine sniffing dogs.
Shouldn’t it be “Refs Laughing at Man United” not the other way around?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25647570
Time for officialdom to set a precedent with Moyes. No decades of being cowed this time.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/08/david-moyes-outburst-referees-manchester-united-fa
Perhaps some “Rigorous Investigation” is what is required at this moment in time??
matt foley and N7, interesting thoughts on ManU and refs. I don’t believe for one second that there has been a massive conspiracy to help ManU win, but there is no doubt that Alex Ferguson often managed to bully and initimidate refs into being lenient towards them.
I wouldn’t write them off as a candidate for the top four just yet though. However, it depends on how many games they can manage to get RvP and Rooney to play because if both of them can play they are still a pretty good side and they are, after all, only five points off fourth.
Evening all. Apologies, I was intending to post something tonight but the research isn’t going as well as hoped.
Will definitely get it done tomorrow evening.
Hope you are all well.
no apology needed, Holic
I don’t believe a conspiracy either but it wasn’t called Fergie time for nothing. I was born and grew up in Chicago during Michael Jordan’s career. There’s no doubt he got calls from refs that other players didn’t. That’s just the way it works. The superstars get an extra benefit and in this case Ferguson was considered a superstar.
Before I go off to find the BBC article about Fergie time, i do recall listening to an edition of the BBC Radio4 “debunking statistics” programme – More or Less – on the subject. They came to the conclusion that while it was true that “big clubs” tended to get the benefit of more dubious refereeing decisions than “small clubs”, ManIOU weren’t siginifcantly better treated than other big clubs.
I’m not entirely certain that I believe it, but the programme is pretty well done and mostly pretty rigorous.
For all that, I do tend to believe that Slur Alex wielded unreasonable influence over the opinion formers in the English game. I think that influence is now on the wane, but when I look at the number of people who have played under him, and even now aren’t coming out to say he always was a complete cnut, it does make me think that the decline in His influence is likely to be very slow.
Whilst not writing them off, I don’t feel anything but amusement at the thought of them not qualifying for Europe next season, which I think would lead to a parting of the ways with that nice Mr Moose, which I think would be a mistake. Ahh… Schadenfreude… another dish best enjoyed cold.
COYG
‘holic. Here’s a “research aid” for you. 🙂
http://theloftonbroome.com/storage/guinness1.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1320282801887
Alex Ferguson:
13 League Titles.
5 FA Cups.
2 European Champions League Titles.
And I’m going to bother counting the numerous other cups he won between charity shields, league cups etc……
I don’t doubt for a second that he bullied referees. He also bullied his players, his opponents, agents, those who crossed him, the FA and indeed anyone or anything so long as it meant that he got his way. I remember Geoff Winter saying in some article sometime ago that when Fergie presented Video evidence to promote his side of events in a dispute with the FA, that sometimes Fergie had the tapes doctored to sustain his own argument…!
He was, as Roy Keane said in the recent televised interview “Ruthless” in every conceivable way.
As to his dominance over Wenger, the two can’t really be compared largely because the contrasting evolution of each club.
AFC had to build a stadium and were, by comparison, a smaller club and not a European superpower (arguably, we’re only arriving at that stage now). Manu were the biggest club on the planet. Fergie could, and regularly did, fork out 30m plus for players throughout his tenure. Until last year, the most Wenger spent was 15m. Combined with that, they had a flux of truly exceptional youth players who came through their youth system and went on to conquer Europe.
Making any comparison is apples and oranges.
You could blame Fergie for being ruthless and making the most of the system. Or you could admire him. But it was the poverty of the administration that allowed and enabled such a bully to succeed that makes you quiver. An administration that sold its soul to Sky. And any given Saturday you can see how the game continues to suffer: poor refereeing, no retrospective adjudication, no real time video analysis which has proven such a success in Rugby, different attitudes to foreign players and managers. The cheating and cheats continue, the money just keeps rolling in while the game goes down the toilet. It’s a shambles and has been for some time.
In defence of Wenger, I could never see him putting his own Ego before the club and he always had a sense of class that was always absent in Fergie. Fergie’s ego always came first, even at the expense of the club. The RVP signing was arguably reckless (given its cost over 4 years for his age and injury record), but Fergie still managed to win the League, so it was deemed to be “a success”. His sons were agents in some of the deals that took place with players which was a complete conflict of interest. He was given a race horse by the then owners, only to try to claim the breeding rights as well (imagine what type of a complete prick you’d have to be to do that?). And more recently, there is his second autobiography, in which he castigates players who served him so brilliantly.
A great manager, but not a great man. I think that was the best description I’ve read of Fergie. Wenger has always struck me as being both a great man and a great manager.!
Thanks a, nice one b, but no midweek drinkies again here 🙁
Great to see you here again Joe. Good argument too. Thanks.
‘h
Virtual drinkies are what we’re all about doncha know? 🙂
Heh, tabs re Moyes.
Nearly fell off my chair laughing at him saying ‘we seem to have to play the opposition and the officials’.
Welcome to life as we know it, Mr Moyes.
Agree with those above on the subliminal and not so subliminal influences exerted by old Purplenose on officials. Not to mention the FA, the BBC, Uncle Tom Cobbley and ………..
I wonder how patient the Glazers will be with Moyes.
What price Fergie back before the end of the season?
Ah, dk, that is a consummation I dare not even hope for. It would lead to Fergie having to die in harness and given the way the players have appeared ordinary under Moose, I like to think eyebrows would be raised if they suddenly turned into superstars. To quote Keegan, “I’d really it”, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Mourinho to Old Toilet is, I think, the nightmare scenario.
COYG
Joe: great post, but you are a bit too kind to him at the end. “Great manager, absolutely despicable human being” would be more apt.
I really don’t think he gives two hoots about ManU being in the position they are now. If he did he would have left Moyes with a far better squad than he has but he wanted to be the one who got them that 20th title at all costs.
Oops, that Keegan quote should, of course, be “I’d really love it”. D’oh
BREAKING NEWS:
Thomas Hitzlsperger has bravely announced that he once played for West Ham.
Just saying like.
😀
Spot on, Joe. Great post.
“OTD – comparing the cost of the Invincibles to Ozil? Seriously?”
——————————————————–
Of course not, Arsegonian, tongue firmly in cheek with that one. Which makes it all the more surprising that so many have picked on that as the opinion to attack. Thank you, btw, for your bothering to check the actual transfer costs of the Invincibles, Özilla still cost more than the lot of them together, but it still just as irrelevant today.
The argument which interests me the most is the one that suggests Özil will be so much better next season after settling into the side, acclimatising, etc. And yet, when I point out that Cazorla isn’t half the player he was last season, when he was our player of the year (in his first season), the idea is derided.
There is no guarantee a player will ever prove his value conclusively simply ‘with time’. My point is that what we see currently suggests a player whose value in today’s inflated market should have been 10-15mil less. That still makes him arguably the most valuable player in the club (as I have said repeatedly), but it doesn’t make him another Bergkamp or Henry, which I still hope he will become.
Right now I just hope it doesn’t make him another Reyes or Arshavin.
Öskar
@Pangloss
“Mourinho to Old Toilet is, I think, the nightmare scenario.”
I have a hard time imagining that this would actually happen. Mourinho’s never actually spent that much time anywhere. I guess total time at Chelsea is approaching 4 years now, which is about as long as he was an assistant at Barcelona.
And he’s even more of an egomaniac than Ferguson. Mourinho has a terrible tendency of turning everything about the club he’s managing into a conversation about himself in the press, and he manages and motivates his players by pretending the entire world is out to get them somehow. This manipulation strikes me as pretty effective but only in the short term, which brings me back to my first point, that United are looking for a long term solution, similar to the tenure that Fergie had, since it’s hard to argue that managerial stability doesn’t engender a lot of confidence make success more likely.
Even if that could be overcome and the length of tenure theoretically stretched to the long term in the tradition of Ferguson, would Fergie tolerate someone else daring to approach his own level of success with the club? I’m sure Ferguson cares about United, but he’s also clearly interested in preserving his legacy, just looking at the gossip that came out in his book that was released on the heels of his departure.
And beyond all of that, would United even be interested in paying some absolutely astronomically inflated salary for that guy? £12million a year after taxes?
Last word on Mesut.
He was voted German player of the year for 2013 today! To celebrate I put him in my Fantasy Team in place of Theo! How’s that for confidence.
I have now returned from Germany at David Cameron’s request. It is amazing how confident they are about Rio and just how many good young players they have out there. They must be following a very effective blueprint which English clubs are not.
Wonder if Fat Sam will have the decency to resign after dragging a decent football club into the mire
Oskar – when you buy a player at 24 and give them to Arsene Wenger, particularly a player of Ozil’s type, you would generally hope to see improvement and development, no?
Most midfielders don’t peak at 24.
Wouldn’t Ferguson be just delighted to know at what great length he is still being considered by Arsenal fans, let alone the good folk of Surrey who bowed to him so slavishly for so many years.
I think it was N7, some way back above, who said that it was wrong to give Ferguson a knighthood while he was still involved in the game. On the basis that if a knighthood means anything in the honours system it should engender respect for the qualities of the receiver, then he should never have had one at all.
He has clearly only been knighted for his time in football. Look behind the bare statistics of his 27 years at Old Trafford, to the person we are supposed to admire, and what do you find ?
A bully. A bully who intimidated match officials by balling directly in their faces on the touchline, or by inducing the biggest crowd in club football to howl at them from the terraces. If that wasn’t quite enough then he could always bully the press into psyching out the upcoming officials by writing about how terribly unfairly United had previously suffered at the hands of their upcoming opponents, and what dirty tricks those opponents would be sure to employ.
And he did bully the press for sure. Journalists at Carrington who asked awkward questions would find themselves banned from future press conferences until it suited the purple nosed one to let them back in.
In just the same way, he refused, in breach of his contract as a manager, to speak to the BBC for eight and a half years after they made a remark he didn’t like and refused to apologise for it.
He bullied a clutch of young players at Old Trafford with his infamous hairdryer treatment – screaming in their faces while they were still young enough to be scared of being thrown out of the club if they didn’t respond. Maybe you call that great man management, but it is hardly anything to be proud of.
At times his foul temper would take over to the extent that he kicked a boot into the face of his star performer.
A horse given to him by two friends / admirers, which won him a fair amount of money, became the subject of a court action as he tried to bully his way to ownership of ongoing stud earnings.
For these and other shining examples of human behaviour he was awarded a knighthood.
You couldn’t really make it up.
I didn’t.
Bendtner to be fit for Fulham.
*applauds Trev*
To be honest, I couldn’t give a fcuk what Ferguson won. I’d have Arsene over him all day long and twice on Sunday.
Random link of the day: Here’s a trip down memory lane for the older members of the bar. Old-school tikka-takka from the days when football was played on mud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yuAiPQcswM
@540 … Oksar … The post you referred to that said ” seriously ” was post 458 by ecg not me. But I agree with it as well.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/arsenal-playmaker-mesut-ozil-wins-germany-player-of-the-year-award-9047409.html
Puts to bed the thoughts that German fans don’t like Mesut Özil.
Ned, glorious stuff.
The best Arsenal shirt ever made. Funny how I can always smell the Sunday roast whenever I hear Brian Moore’s voice.
N7 @546
Bit like my sex life in my prime then.!!
ned, yet another appearance of “fingers” rimmer.
glorious pitch, that.
Great Guardian article cited by Lars @324 if you missed it.
Oscar
re Santi
I don’t think he has regressed,i think rather it is more to do with the fact that with the addition of Ozil to our team,he seems to be being asked to play a wider role rather than his preferred central position.
So he probably is’t exerting as much influence on the games as he did last year.
He has gone from being the key playmaker,to supporting cast,and he is finding it difficult to discipline himself to stay wide and not keep drifting infield cluttering up the centre of the park.
I happen to think he could be a deadly asset out on the flanks,particularly as he is 2 footed,he can play on either side,witness his goal against the Spuds,where he was wide left when he took the pass from young Serge.
We have such a multitude of options on the attacking front,striker excepted,that the opposition now is being stretched to breaking point right across the back line.
Apart from Man City,no other team has that quality in abundance.
cheers
The Sweeper
great stuff @544 trev. The thing with Ferguson and Coolmore farm was hilarious. Red Nose tried to bully a couple gazillionaires after they basically let him pretend he owned a race horse. Pathetic really
Apologies Arsegonian (and ecg), by the time I’d digested the numerous responses and scrolled to the bottom to reply who said what had rolled into one.
N7 … true, there is plenty of time for Özil to improve, and I hope sincerely that he does. My point (again) is that good as he has been I still expected more this season from someone who cost what he did.
Ttg … I’ve had Özilla in my fantasy team since the beginning. He, OG and Rambo (last two currently transferred out due to injuries) have been very good to the Wellington Booters.
Öskar
Goonersince54 … Have you been watching the same Santi? He’s been about as bad as Jack for most of the season. A couple of nice touches and a recent goal can’t disguise his generally poor contribution in my eyes.
I only suggested selling him if it meant we could get Mata who I think is a better player.
Öskar
Oskar
We will have to disagree on Santi.
As i said i think playing out wide is affecting him and he is trying to adapt to a new role.
Regarding young Jack,i think he is in a similar position to Ramsey,who took a full season to come back to his best after a long layoff.
Jack is in a simiar situation,long injury break,don’t think we will see him back to his best till next season.
Both players when they came back,were having to play out wide,a position that really hasn’t suited either player.
Having said that,Jack wouldn’t be in my starting 11,but then neither was Ramsey when he first returned from injury.
Blogs published a quote from Arsene about playing guys like Ramsey and Wilshere wide … pretty interesting ” They get used to playing the ball in small spaces, as the touchline essentially divides the space available in two. When you move the same player back to the middle, he breathes more easily and can exploit space better. “
Just watched the highlights of the Under 18s vs Peterborough, lots of nice interplay between those lads, Crowley obviously stood out with 2 goals and 4 assists, he was involved in every single goal the U18s scored that day, incredible stuff.
Shades of Jack and Cesc in Young Dan from what I saw in that game alone, the future surely is bright with prospects like him, Zelalem, Akpom and Gnabry in our youth ranks, the latter being an exception before an inclusion to this statement as he is already playing in and contributing towards the 1st team on occasion.
Akpom looked good with a hat trick and an assist to his name, Iwobi also stood out with an assist along with just generally looking dangerous on the highlights, one to look out for I think 🙂
We are in agreement about Jack, Sweeper, a superb player who will come good eventually. I was calling for patience with him last year, suggesting he wouldn’t be back to his best until this season. Now I am hoping he will just take longer than I was expecting.
My plaint is more to do with AW persisting in playing players like Jack and Santi who are patently out of form. They’d have more incentive to play well if they understood that they weren’t indispensable. Their absence would also give other players a chance to impress.
Öskar
You aint gonna play yourself back into form on the bench. Jack and Santi both looked in fairly good nick to me against Lily White Cunts, so can see no reason for their absence at the moment.
Morning Esso
HNY to you and yours.
How pleasant to be looking down, instead of looking up wistfully,over the past few years.
Arsene is sticking with a formula that has been working. You can get a goal with a moment of individual brilliance. You can’t get a clean sheet with a moment of individual brilliance. It takes 11 players all pulling in the same direction. However, frustrating Jack has been when he gives the ball away, every single player has played a part in the league’s best defense. We are improving too as we’ve shipped exactly 1 goal in the last 8 home matches. Once again, it’s about the collective not the individual.
Trev@544, well said.
Morning Mr The Sweeper. New Year’s greetings to your good self and family as well. My outlook rarely changes; where’s me next pint coming from and when’s the next Arsenal game?
On the subject of Ozil;
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/ozil-crowned-germany-s-player-of-year
Just came across this article
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/09/bayern-munich-subsidise-arsenal-ticket-cost
Munich ,despite being heavily oversubscribed,are subsidising the price of match tickets for their forthcoming visit to the Emirates.This is to thank their TTF for their fabulous support during 2013.
What a fabulous gesture from a classy club.
I cannot help contrasting it with our club’s reaction to the obstructions occasionned and late entry forced on the TTF at Napoli recently.
I was hoping for a partial or full ticket price refund to show respect and solidarity with those who forked out a fair whack to support their team in difficult circumstances.All we received was this weak email 3 weeks after the event.
S.S.C. Napoli v Arsenal FC
Wednesday 11th December, 2013
Travelling Supporter Information
Dear
We are writing to underline our disappointment about the problems experienced by our travelling supporters for our recent match in Naples.
Our supporters’ safety is of paramount importance to the Club and we did everything possible to ensure supporters were escorted safely and on time to the stadium by the Italian authorities. This had been planned and agreed in advance but did not happen on the night.
Reports of the events have been made by Arsenal Football Club, the Football Association and the British Consulate, and have been sent to UEFA. We now await UEFA’s response to the reports and the Club will be making every effort to ensure there is not a repeat in the future.
In addition, the Club will be making contact with our counterparts at Swansea City FC, in order to share our experience, before their Europa League tie in Naples.
Once again we are sorry about what happened to our supporters in Naples and thank you for your continued support.
Arsenal Football Club
Good afternoon, all.
Many great drinks above. I agree with pretty much everything Trev, Joe, N7, The Sweeper, Lars, Wind and Esso said; Fergie was a great coach but a despicable human being. Ozil is our best player and will get even better with time.
On Santi’s form, I think people underestimate the impact taking no part in our pre-season training had on him. Having said that, I think he will get more scoring chances and subsequently score more goals if he made more runs beyond the opposition’s defence(like he did against Sp*rs) instead of always wanting to be the among the people stationed in front of the box supplying balls to runners.
Probably bollocks, but Remy being linked:
http://justarsenal.com/tip-off-claims-arsenal-to-sign-remy-for-15m/29616
Also hearing a lot of Utd fans complaining about the “lack of investment in transfers” from the owners.
Net transfer spend over the last four years:
City – £268m
Chelsea – £253m
Utd – £133m
Liverpool – £91m
Arsenal – £30m
Spurs – (-£16m)
What did Utd get for their £133m? Fellaini, Varela, Van Persie, Kagawa, Buttner, Henrique, Zaha, Jones, De Gea, Young and a couple of no-names.
There’s been money there, it’s just been pissed up the wall, much of it by Ferguson.
Demonstrates something we’ve known for years – it’s very easy picking up a Rooney or a Ferdinand for £30m if you have the cash. Shopping in the lower tiers is what’s harder; there will be failures to go with your successes and you need to really know your onions.
Afternoon all.
Trev/Joe – Great posts on Rednose.
Great for the Mancs, dreadful for Football. His legacy – lambasting officials at every turn, refusing to meet media commitments unless said media were prepared to be anything less than willing and uncritical acolytes who bent to his every capricious whim, and personal attacks on the rare few (AW) who weren’t prepared to join his carefully managed coterie of fellow managers meeting his every self-absorbed utterance with unqualified adoration – is ultimately a bad one.
His knighthood was, and is, a disgrace. Then again, Jimmy Saville was accorded the same honour so nothing should really surprise when it comes to the cuntspanners who decide these things.
Ferguson still retains enough power and clout within the game to preserve his personal reputation for the time being, (his footballing reputation is of course secure given the trophies won), but like all reputations founded at least in part on the silent acquiescence, whether through fear or genuine respect, of others,history will not be kind to him outside of the emetic deification that he will no doubt continue to receive at Old Trafford.
A manipulative, cynical, spiteful and poisonous individual.* Fuck him.
*Allegedly 😉
Cent – Great point re Santi and his lack of a pre-season. I genuinely don’t understand why he is getting any stick at all. Hampered initially by injury, the surfeit of midfield options available has meant that he has missed a third of our games this season. Playing himself back into form has therefore taken longer than might otherwise have been the case. Thought there were signs however both against Spurs and cardiff that he was getting back to his best. Marvellous player.
N7 – Be interesting to see how many of those Mancs you list are still in and around the first team in 2 years time. De Gea and Jones probably. Van Persie at a push (fitness and personal cuntery allowing). As for the rest …
Like you say, much much easier when you’ve got the biggest cheque book in town.
Clive@558. Well said. Agree with every word.
Trev, listening to Brian Moore again only underlines how far TV commentary has gone downhill over the years since.
N7, nice work on the Manure/Fergie transfer front. Another thing that doesn’t get said much is that Fergie rarely ever resold a player for more than he bought him, I think the only exceptions were Ronaldo and Beckham. He preferred to use them till they had absolutely no value or at least till their value depreciated to less than half of what he bought, compare him to Arsene who almost always manages to double/triple the value of his players even when he sold them when their powers were on the wane(e.g. Henry, Viera, Toure, ) of course there are players who left Arsenal for less than Arsene bought them(e.g. Arshavin) but they were the exception and not the norm for Arsene.
Fergie never cared about recouping money for United through transfers, it could be argued that he didn’t need to but I believe that if we all agree that football is very much a business nowadays then managers should be responsible for developing the resources(players) they invest into their teams in order to maximise gains for their clubs. Ferguson failed woefully in that respect.
Aye, TaBS, I even forgot to mention his early season injury.
Re: NBN et al., Brian Moore and “how far TV commentary has gone downhill over the years since” his time.
May I hazard this unhappy interpretation of the cause of said downhill trend: Could it be the “Americanisation” of British TV football commentary? Some of these English commentators who come on my TV during the Arsenal games sound like they’ve been trained over here to go against their own instincts. 🙁
Give me those old-time commentators who do little more than announce the names of the players as they move the ball on. Or as a wise man once said, “Silence is Golden.”
Either that or bring on the Latin American commentators who can’t stop screaming “Gooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll” 😉
Afternoon All.
Awesome stuff above.
Loved the link to the Man U player ratings break down list, although I thought they were a bit gnerous with their marks out of 10 for some of their players. I wonder who Anderson had to bribe to get a 1. 😉
Schadenfreude definitly my favourite German word and I’m reveling in seeing all those spoilt (so called) fans crying about how crap it all is at OT and how bad they’ve got it.
Yum Yum, feed me your tears, delicious!!
Most of them have probably only ever known success, it’s the reason that they became “fans” in the first place, 95% of those bottom burps probably couldn’t even find Stretford armed with Google maps and a GPS. Not that they’d need to, most of them will be abonding that bandwagon soon anyway. No more titles, no more plastic fans, they’ll jump ship quicker than a rocked fueled rat that’s been injected with a kangaroo/Michael Jordan/Zebedee/House of Pain (Jump around) DNA concoction. BOOOIIIOOOOIIIIINNNG.
All that needs to be said about Fergy the person has been said above. Personaly I always rated him as a manager. I’d stated over the last few years, (here too) that his team was way more then the sum of it’s parts, it’s prety unbelievable that he won the PL in his last year, but he did, and easily.
He’s getting a lot of flak for papering over the cracks for personal glory, and I too believe that that is true, yet, however you want to slice or dice it, Moyes inherited exactly the same team/squad that won the PL (easily) last year. Ergo, either SAF is a genius (an evil one ofcourse) or Moyes is a complete no hoper.
It’s not like Moyes took over on the first day of the season, he was appointed Lurgies succsesor, in a totaly classless and utterly disrespectful way to Everton, before the previous season had even ended. He had the whole summer and then some to bring in reinforcements, yet all he could muster was that geezer with the naf afro wig. Everton having the last laugh by getting 27 plus mill for a player that had a 23.5mill release clause. Panic buy doesn’t even begin to describe it (man, we dodged a hairy bullet there).
What SAF did well was delegate, he had a solid training and backroom staff. IMHO the biggest mistake that Moyes has, and will ever make, was to get rid of all of them and bring in his own people. I get that he wanted a fresh start, but surely it would of been prudent to keep at least a few of those that had contributed to the overall success of the club over the years, but he didn’t and I’m luvin’ it.
I hope he mismanages them for years to come, in fact I’m even thinking of starting a campain to preserve his job;
SAVE DAVE!!!!!!
Brian Moore and The Big Match, it just wasn’t Sunday without them.
hahaha bt8bbgfg,
actually its fun to watch our games with Spanish commentary from time to time.
First of all they absolutely love Santi, and second its fun to hear “Goool gol gol gol gol gol de Arsenaaaal” 😀
Hold up!!!!
I must be wrong, Moyes is the genius;
http://www.football365.com/news/21554/9107848/Manager-of-the-Month
SAVE DAVE!!!
Mesut Ozil is Arsenal’s Bergkamp of this generation, no he will never be as good as that footballing god but yes he is that kind of an impact player. Ozil is a joy, you want to see him and just be so happy that he plays for us than any other team. Ozil is so good that he appears lazy, fact is he reads the game so well, he is for me the finest player we could have had and if you need a comparison, he will go on to be as good as Iniesta.
Santi Cazorla and Ozil together in the same team is something any team in the world will kill for, we are so lucky and we should be proud of it.
Seems the rumours about Bendtner coming back early were false:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/team-news-who-s-fit-to-face-aston-villa
Lars – I think he’s supposed to be aiming for the Fulham home game, i.e. still earlier than predicted initially.
Great posts above re Demento, Manure and Santi.
You know who you are. Brilliant!
Not read all the comments on here but I imagine the aspect of whether Sir Wenger should buy another forward after the horrible injury to Walcott, who was outstanding against Tottenham, has been mulled over. Should it not be time case though that the signing of a centre-back is equally as pressing? To ask BFG and Kozzer to continue to play game in and game out, when the team might end up fighting for two trophies at the very least, is just as concerning as having to play Giroud in every match. With only TV5 as backup, another CB surely has to be a must. If one of them gets injuries, the other suspended then the cupboard would be truly bare if no additions are made.
Re Bacary
If the dispute’s about money, which is obviously is, because he and his family seem quite happy in London, we really need to sort it out. I know the club (and Le Boss) have these ‘standards’ about contracts for the over 30’s, and I’m not one to usually criticise them, but in this case I am. Its time they wised up as to what he’s actually worth to the team, squad and club itself. When you think of the money that’s been spunked on absolute twats over the last few years, it beggars belief that we can penny pinch on this.
Get him signed up for fuck’s sake.
just a few thoughts on ozil, which i apologize if some before me have mentioned, but as AFC fans i think we all should be really happy that the guy even chose to play for us, i mean he could have gone to old toilet, maybe chelsea, man shiteh, bayern but HE chose us. He’s the Messi of barca here, the Rooney of Manure, the Ronaldo of RM, Ribery of Bayern.
I love him, and i think our team should be built around him, he’s the best player we’ve got in the roster, he’s my football god, in my generation as a gunner.
Lastly, any gunners in and around South Carolina/North Carolina border? need to meet with fellow gunners arounds..
cheers
Finally got a chance to see the under 18 highlights. Wow! Crowley looked a player. That first through that actually wasn’t a goal was a lesson in geometry. Hopefully he grows about 3 inches and 25 pounds and he could be a monster.
Some players take half a season to adapt to English football, or so some people say. If Erzil is halfway into this category we may see quite a second half because his first half wasn’t half bad. All in all I’d say his glass is half-full, but not full of half and half. 🙂
sc gooner…you can find plenty of gooners on game day at big ben’s in charlotte.
Thanks, tabs – and agree with you and Cent re Santi.
I believe he played every league game for us last year, his first in this league, and took a right buffeting for his trouble.
I seem to remember he then went to Bra-zeeel for some pointless tournament with Spain and was then injured – shock – for the pre-sason, and several games into the season.
Sorry, Cent, if you already said that. Most players had meaningless friendlies in Asia to find their form but he has had to do that in the Premier League.
The guy is a fantastic footballer and deserves a little slack while getting back to his best.
The Ox played 45 minutes for the reserves tonight and according to eyewitness accounts on Twitter he looked “lively and sharp”. He should be on the bench on Monday, then.
Agree that Crowley looks a fantastic prospect – just hope they put him on growth hormones! I know he’s only 16½ but Messi was put on hormones and it doesn’t seem to have done him any harm.
Well said Esso. New post about an old boy up now >>>>>>>>>>>>
One area that has been neglected is the area of men’s underwear.
There are several versions of each of these, and of course, CK One, with its many different
versions. The blouse is completely lined except for the short sleeves.