Corporal Punishment The Order Of The Day
May 11th, 2014 by 'holic
A strange day. Not so long ago this weekend had promised to be something unforgettable, and on the day Arsenal delivered with two goals, each special in their own way. That they didn’t mean more owed everything to past disappointments. The big one for the Gunners is now next Saturday. It cannot come quickly enough.
The final day of the league season unfurled in a damp Carrow Road. The opening half, perhaps unsurprisingly, was a low key affair. Norwich started with energy, determined to get in our faces, but so clearly lacking in anything that could be regarded as a cutting edge.
Lukasz Fabianski, an intriguing selection to start in goal, was rarely called on but did produce, from memory, one save in the opening phase from Redmond. The visitors defence, with Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs recalled for the BFG and Nacho Monreal, had the upper hand in most of the exchanges.
Gradually we awoke from our cautious start, urged on by the best traveling support in the land. Lukas Podolski had the first couple of opportunities to strike and from the second drew the first of a string of saves from Ruddy, who went on to twice deny Olivier Giroud.
Buoyed by the assumption of control towards the end of the first half, Arsenal started the second in similar vein and seven minutes in took the lead with a strike of stunning invention and quality. Giroud turned provider with a pinpoint chip to Aaron Ramsey at the far post and the Welshman sent a right-foot volley screaming back across the face of goal into the top corner. It was a moment to remind all what this Arsenal side might have achieved had Rambo, among others, stayed fit after Christmas.
Ten minutes on and another memorable moment arrived with ‘Corporal’ Jenkinson’s first goal for his beloved Arsenal. Set up by a combination of Ozil, Gibbs, and a Poldi miskick, Jenko ‘passed’ the ball into the corner of the net before setting off on the celebration of a fan, with the fans. It was a heartwarming moment, not least because it was to land yet another ‘holic pound. Not bad, eh?
Points secured Ramsey was withdrawn to allow Jack Wilshere a long-awaited return, and then Rosicky made way for an even longer awaited return. Abou Diaby was greeted by renditions of, among others “he plays when he wants” and “you’ve only come to see Diaby”. Great stuff from the visiting Gooners. Yaya Sanogo too, got a cameo and came close to his first goal too.
So the curtain fell on the season with us just seven points behind champions Manchester City, after just a fraction of the investment. The coming weeks will see many a post mortem, and a lot of words will be written to the effect that we sorely missed key players at important times, which is true, and that we perhaps failed to invest in strengthening those areas when very much in contention in January, which is also true.
Spend a billion pounds well and you should win the title. To come so close without having done so is frustrating for Arsenal supporters, no matter what side of the various divides we sit. Enough of that for now. A week approaches in which we can finally get the ‘x years without a trophy’ monkey firmly off our back.
Let’s look forward, for another six days at least.
328 Responses to “Corporal Punishment The Order Of The Day”
1st?
Drink!
trophy?
Arsenal
better than a trophy!
Reposting from the previous drinks, where I just missed the last call:
BB@123: “Now sanction the ‘ell out of CITY! They have at least two bloody squads! Dzeko is their 4th choice striker and he’s scored what? 16 goals?”
You’re in my head, BB. Better City than Chelsea I guess, but it’s a cynical day for me. Fuck ‘em all. A part of me will die if Bac goes to City. There’s only so much of this nonsense I can take.
I’ll do a more in depth write up about this season later (as I suspect many of us will). Overall the positives have outweighed the negatives, though (even more than usual) so much depends on this summer. Will we be able to add to the significant improvements we’ve made? Or will it be 2 steps forward, 2 steps back?
For me the best part of the year, besides seeing a much-rejuvenated Arsenal top the table for so long, was seeing Ramsey come into his own. Not just for him, but for the team. It was a vindication of Arsene’s model of football. At another of the top clubs, Ramsey is never given the chance, or the confidence, to come good. We can complain about the frustrations of loving this team (and we’re often well-justified in doing so), but let’s appreciate the positives as well. Wenger’s loyalty to the club, and the faith he puts in his players, are becoming more and more of an anomaly in the modern game. I love him for it.
COYG
Well said Holic. 6 more days and we can get back to winning the silverware. Get in.
Just got home from the pub and I can now safely say I am glad Man City won the title. As I was leaving, a couple of City fans shook my hand on a good season and wished us luck in the Cup final. Don’t think I would have gotten that from Poo fans.
And BB, let’s be clear, Dzeko was player of the season. *drives another needle between Mourinho’s voodoo-doll eyes*
So, can anyone answer this query: with SirChesney not playing does he:
a) miss out on the Golden Gloves award
or
b) share the award with Cech
Can’t find gospel on this………….?
Nothing’s better than atrophy(*), ecg – as you will remembrr next week dv.
Nice report guv. How much did the’Holic pound bring in ovrr the season?
COYG
(*) Apart from two ot more trophies.
Drink indeed E 😉
Oops, pesky autocorrect “A trophy” W
works so much better than what 11 ended up as.
:blush:
BTW everyone saying Fabianski’s start was a curtain call, and indicates that Shez will start the cup final. Isn’t it just as rational to surmise it’s a warm-up for him? That the boss wanted him as sharp as possible? If Szczesny starts the final he won’t have played for two weeks.
Nice summary of the season ‘Holic – with the emphasis on the frustration which seemed to start on day 1 and, in the ways you describe, continue, in terms of missed opportunities, inexplicable slumps against the other leading teams, and our usual batch of long-term injuries
For me, there are so many players of the season, and I feel that I cannot separate them enough so thanks to all of the team for their contributions, and especial greetings to Abu for persevering after a season horribilis!
Finally, lets have a cup next week please please please
Great stuff Holic and congrats on another shrewd investment. I was alarmed by putting so many of our key players at risk but I suspect we can all pick next week’s side with little difficulty. Wenger will toy with the press but he knows Fab will be in goal, Giroud upfront and Arteta in defensive midfield. Ramsey and Ozil will overrun Hull in midfield as we did a few weeks ago.
Delightful to see the Corporal’s joy and a quite brilliant Ramsey volley. Van Bastenesque!
And the ladies reached the Cup Final too despite Citeh and Chavski trying to take over the women’s game as well.
As you said Boss lets win the Cup and hang a new sign up at the Grove
Thank for that and all the great PL game previews and reviews this season ‘holic.
So, no team in Spain wants to win La Liga then?
Thanks, Holic, for the final match report before the Final match rep… nah, ok. 😉
Seriously, thanks for another season of top reporting.
Something I’ve been thinking for several days now … Has anyone seen or heard anything of Tabs ?
nice work, as always holic, well in for the pound.
trev, from previous, bouncy bouncy…
I must say the Giroud chip for Aaron’s screamer was sublime.
and that I love arsenal seven points from the top, spending responsibly, and hope for better next year.
Well said as usual, barman.
Trev, I ‘spoke’ with TaBS on Twitter a few minutes before the game, everything is “all good” with him he said.
Cent, I don’t do Twitter, please give him my regards.
Things didn’t quite work out as planned. The home ticket didn’t materialise but a spare away one came my way and what a treat it was to join the fantastic travelling Gooners at Carrow Road.
We didn’t appear too interested in the first half, Rambo was way off his game and there was little to get excited about. The game took a back seat to the singing, if only this atmosphere could be recreated at the Ems.
A super strike from our Welsh Wizard and the Corporal’s first goal gave further impetus to the full range of chants and songs, some from yesteryear and I left the ground singing a medley as I walked back to catch the Kings Lynn bus, “We only came to see Diaby” ” Arsene Arsene give us a wave” and he did. Must do it again next season, a great day out!
Done, Trev.
Happy New Year!
Oh
Wonderful to see Diaby back, watching him surrounded by 3 players and coming out with the ball – just like he’d never been away. And terrific to see the reception he got from the travelling fans – he was clearly very moved.
Great that Jack is back – more for his sake at this moment in time than for us – I’m sure he’s hoping to go to Brazil. I doubt he’ll be there long though – 3 games and they’ll be on the plane home.
Cup medals – do they go to everyone in the squad on the day, or to everyone who’s played for us in the competition?
Funny how different people read the runes! I’ve just read a blog that says Ches is bound to play next week because Fab played today. I think it means absolutely the opposite.
A low-key end to a bittersweet season. Would be made all the sweeter if we put in the right level of performance with right attitude next week.
Though the fourth place seems a kind of failure given our pole position for such a long stretch of the season, looking back at the beginning of the season when catastrophe was predicted (most pundits had us missing out on CL in favor of the free-spending Spurs) and with the shock of the home loss to start the campaign, we may want to focus more on the positives, of which there have been many.
A. Defensive solidity — 17 clean sheets, top in the PL — and overall maturity and discipline in seeing out games.Except for those 3-4 bizarre games, to paraphrase Tolstoy , all unhappy games are unhappy in their unique ways…
B. Rambo.
C. Ozil.
D. Some of the best football in quite a few years, with both counterattacking gems and knife-through-butter passing moves through center.
The injuries were the worst of all the negatives, and second in my list would be the inexplicable high lines and atypical cavalier attitude early in the game away at Chelsea and Liverpool. Not just the loss at those places, but the rebuilding needed for each of those losses made us drop a few more points (ManU draw at home, Swans draw a home).
Even before the (hopefully) cup win I think the season has shown concrete and tangible progress. The cup win will convince the team more of that fact.
Nice one Holic.
Can’t conceal my excitement – landed something more rare than rocking horse shit. 😉
My players of the season, in descending order.
1. Rambo: best box-to-box MF in Europe.
2. Per: Consistency, command, organization, attitude, game-reading.
3. Koscielny: Brilliant aggressive ball-winning defending, complementing Per superbly.
4. Giroud: unfairly maligned, 22 goals and 10 assists in the season already, and many of those were technically superb. Led the line manfully, contributed to defensive consistency. Had a dip late in the winter but did very well in the last month or so.
5. Szczesny: Consistency, command, assurance, great decision making in crosses and corners and some superb saves in key moments across many a matches.
Cashley Hole has been left out of the World Cup squad for Luke Shaw and has retired from international football. Whatever we may feel about this obnoxious turd he has been a very fine international full back
Dr. F
Very good list and little argument from me. I accept your argument about Giroud and it is scarcely his fault that Wenger hasn’t bought appropriate striking back- up. At times his lack of pace has cost us but he brings us lots of positives like his chip for Rambo’s goal today. If Walcott had stayed fit I think he would have had a superb season and I would place Koscielny above Per but there is no doubting that Ramsey was one of the very best players in the League this season
Talk to me z 😉
Mediawhore has done another podcast…
http://suburbangooners.com/2014/05/11/sg-podcast-26-one-more-game/
This was some weekend, or rather should have been. 🙁
Well, it was a very tough decision. It required hours of midnight oil burning black and smokily. It set Her Nellieness’ teeth on edge (and worse, but this is a family bar and I can divulge no more :-)).
But it’s official and I’m pleased to announce it, right here on Arsenal’s premier ‘blog’ (an uninspiring, four letter word that does no justice whatsoever to the quality of the fare that that is dispensed and shared gratefully herein, I must say) as a near-end-of-season kind of Goonerholic exclusive.
I’m retiring and staking my financial future, my estate and the well-being of the BtM siblings and offspring on that one and only, the gilt-edged “Holic Pound’! I KNOW it makes sense (and you do too, probably 🙂 ). Please don’t wish me luck. I don’t need it. Holic is going to build me a life of ease, comfort and splendour and it all comes for FREE. A Knighthood at the very least ought to be winging its way, right now, as we speak, to Swindon.
Excellent report on a fine away win, Barman! Emotional for me to see ‘The Corporal’ score that goal today. Even more emotional to see Abou Diaby return from the ‘dead’ and depths of black humour to which he’s been confined by the majority. Well done young man for proving so many so very, very wrong. May the football gods deal you just a fraction of the good fortune that your quality and commitment merit.
And as for – “It was a moment to remind all what this Arsenal side might have achieved had Rambo, among others, stayed fit after Christmas” – DON’T even get me started!
Top of the league until December 26th when the first of the five, fell foul to the sadistic humour dispensed by the Power above, whose primary purpose seems to be to inflict great pain on Gooners worldwide. The Welsh Wizard, Theo, Wilshere, Koscielny and, finally, the Wizard of Ozil fell sequentially. With each blow, the Arsenal flame flickered and burned less strongly as form and confidence waned. No question that the double would have been ours but for this quintuple twist.
The return of four has spurred an unbeaten run which augurs well for Zico’s roll in rocking horse shit next weekend :-). I’m having a ‘Fife Gooners’ top made specially, Dr Z. Shall I place an order for two?
Thanks for an insightful report sir and congrattulations on landing the elusive pound. 🙂
Haven’t seen the match yet what with extensive gardening duties today but it’s on the dvr and as soon as the ladies slip off to bed it’ll be on the telly…
TTG @ 34: Thanks. About Kos and Per, yes, I debated that too and I think Kos has been and is a better player with ball on his feet, and has neutralized some of the sharpest strikers in football quite superbly, Per’s remarkable consistency and season long longevity, and the leadership, made me put him above Kos for this season. Just above. Difference in opinion, can go either way.
Absolutely agree with you about Theo. That FA cup home win against Spurs had also shown that Theo is now well capable of playing through the middle in some matches, especially against high defensive lines. I think if he were to have stayed fit we would have seen him playing centrally in a few matches, giving Giroud a rest and also at the same time providing something very different to handle for the opposition. If Theo were playing regularly Giroud would have had a lesser number of matches but probably more number of goals, many of them assisted by Theo. I think this is where we probably missed a trick, not to seriously go for a Theo-ish player (even if of lesser quality or experience in PL) in the Jan window. Fast, who can run behind the defense, and can score from the wings. Ox would have most likely been played there more consistently if we didn’t lose both Rambo and Jack and Ox had to step in to the box-to-box role.
An interminable wait awaits
Are we there yet.
Is it saturday?
thanks holic for your reporting efforts this season that always make me think and eager to hit the keyboards, even when my brain is not engaged (which was quite often I know). I am a holic in training for sure, but a goner for life.
good posts above by Goonsterham and Dr F. spot on gents, spot on.
for me I will be absolutely stoked to see the big “Godzilla like fucking silver back monkey” off all our prospective backs when we win the FA cup next week and no more than off Arsene’s, for his own sanity.
Just fucking win that one boys…..please. I am truly sure and confident we will win a trophy this time. Aaron is back and with ozil and santi, we should smash em.
for the new season ahead, I hope for the simple improvements below in order please from stan, ivan, arsene and the team:
1) spend the money we can truly afford, spend it early and spend all of it, not just some of it
2) spend the money as above in No1 – on top quality experienced players, not 13 year olds from some obscure youth academy, no more injury plagued or injured players and no more stop gap players from the si-fucking-berian Z27 league or worse
3) the team to be fired up for each match, not just when our backs are to the wall from self explosion the game before, or when we are playing a lost champions league 2nd match.
4) no more BS from Arsene telling me that 15 away match wins in a season is some record that is supposed to mean something when you come fourth
5) no more BS from Arsene that reaching 79 points in a seasons and coming 4th, is something to brag about in the media, or some kind of earth shattering record, we should be thankful for.
6) no more tier 2 or tier 3 players to be brought in as we have enough thanks
7) no more retired or previously once great ex-internationals who are just ok at best
8) no more ryo myachi’s or excitement about young players that disappear a year after they were paraded as the next best thing
9) please play gnabry and zelalem more as they are young and fucking awesome, but you don’t play them
10) no more 3 week injuries
11) just fucking win the FA cup and no more excuses
aussie @ 41: Please read (or listen) carefully to what Arsene actually said about the 79 points or the 17 away win records. He didn’t claim those are ‘earth shattering’, simply that there is a core of a very good team that in our squad that came close to winning the league and it is important to keep the team together as much as we can. None of which you can say is factually incorrect. You read your own cynicism in it, Arsene is not trying to put wool over your head.
On the one hand you cannot be claiming to play Gnabry and Zelalem more, on the other hand complain about injuries, and again (on your imaginary third hand) can be complaining about raising youth through our ranks. The fact is if you adore Ramsey, you will also have to accept Diaby. If you gush over Gnabry you will have to also accept Ryo (and by the way, final words have not yet been written about their respective careers, I think both would eventually have very good ones). A consistent vision and the ethical integrity to follow that vision consistently has in it the possibility of individual failures.
‘Night.
Hear that??
Silence
No fucking Scousers, Mancs, Chavs or Spuds.
Just a whole load of effing Gooners next weekend 🙂
Dr F – my personal fear regarding arsenes recent comments are not about the wool being pulled over my eyes, more about pulling the wool over himself. I just hope he doesn’t believe those results are in any way special. if he does simply mean this is a good basis for going forward, why use the words “record” meaning they are special achievements.
just say we have a decent base to go forward with, nothing more, nothing less. the away wins and points tally should not be special at a club like arsenal, we are not west brom or everton, where these results and points would be special and therefore worthy of special mention. again we come back to what are the clubs expectations versus the fans.
my comments re youth is simple. they are either good enough to play in the first team or they are not. if they are not then buy quality and experience and leave them in the academy.
i.e. – don’t sign the kallstroms of the world as stop gaps because you are scared to play the young players you have bought into the squad because they aren’t ready. they are either ready or they are not ready to fight for a first team squad spot.
if they get injured, then they may not be cut out for a life as a pro footballer at such a big club like arsenal where playing every week is normal.
we have to learn to cut our losses and move forward, not constantly be waiting for injured players to return such as diaby. lovely bloke I am sure, but probably better suited to an office gig, where running and tackling are not required.
@ 35, I just did.
BtM, thank you for the offer of sorting out my sartorial needs – I should however manage to make my usual understated appearance. 😎
There was a big hint yesterday that Shezz will start in the FA Cup final.
Fab had another clean sheet yesterday, which appeared to be his last game. Oh well.
I wish him all the best!
Roll on Saturday!! 😉
There will be a lot to discuss after Saturday I am sure! 😆
Can we move the calendar/clock to saturday please, i cannot work, i do not want to do anything, i just want the game to start, we win it in style and i cry and shout out hoarse till i go numb.
Terrific end to the season finale, Ramsey scoring to underline the fact that he was our player of the season. jenko scoring is like living everyone’s dream, a boyhood fan scoring for his club is a dream come true.
The best was reserved for the last, the away fans singing for Diaby was touching and brilliant. The man may never be what we all hoped for but there is no doubting his ability/ Do i want him next season. no but then it just hurts to see a real talent go away never accomplishing what he was capable of.
We did not deserve to win the league but we were not million miles away from it. Truth was we were good but that one moment when we needed to step up to be champions, we bottled it, we lost 6 away games, we had far to many injuries and it never truly materialized in big games, making me wonder have we really progressed. yet there were moments when we played football of the highest order, we have a core of terrific players and yes if we do win saturday, it will be a good season.
Can we move the clock please, this is unbearable.
I didn’t see the second half of yesterday’s game. I fell asleep watching a split screen of the title race and our game on the laptop. It was way too much excitement for me.
When I woke up, I switched over to watch Athletico fight back to draw against Malaga at home, whilst Barca were held to a draw by Elche.
Now the top two La liga clubs must play each other next weekend to decide the title.
What a bloody season aye?
😆
Nice post H
As great as the Ramsey strike was, I loved The Corporal´s goal more…. look at Poldi´s face in that top photo! Great stuff…
Nice report H.
Time for back drinking later.
Props to the away support.
To your point about our defensive stability this season, Dr F, we conceded the third least number of goals in the league despite the string of heavy away losses. We also had the fourth most potent attack.
Rare visitor, usually a whinge about Wenger, just wanted to thank the players. What better place than this bar. Well done the Arsenal squad, all season. Ruthless despatching of teams 8th to 20th. The stats (I think) P 26 , W 21, D 3, L 2. That’s 66 points from a possible 78, quite stunning. When you see the struggles v’s top teams it looks very like a bunch of guys who’ve tried their hearts out and played to max potential. Proudest I’ve felt for 10 yrs to be honest. Nine big star shifts for me from Giroud, Ozil, Ramsey, Arteta, Flamini, Mert, Kos, Sagna, Shez. On injuries, I believe we were blessed not cursed, especially with regard to OG, Mert and Kos. Wilshire, Walcott and Gibbs will always be 20-30 games only (all competitions) and imagine if we had lost OG, Mert, Kos and Sagna as opposed to the 4 midfielders/wingers where we were healthily over-endowed. A defence of Jenks, Gibbs/Nacho, Verm, Bellerin with Sanogo/Bendtner up front ? Now that would ahve been a crisis. Happy summer to all, let’s see what CL qualification and the FA Cup Final brings, hopefully a bit of levering up on the business side as FFB bites. One man-monster DM please, whatever else happens.
Pedants’ corner: We conceded the fourth least number of goals in the Prem (City, Chelsea and Everton all conceded less).
sc: nice to see your glass is three-quarters full today 🙂
Why is it being reported that that was Jenks first goal for Arsenal? Doesn’t his league cup goal v Reading count? Surely someone will clarify this for me
Well, only one game left which I will watch us win on my usual stream at HDFOOTS. After listening to the away fans this season, I really hope every man-jack of them has a ticket – they’ve been like an extra player. And you can see how much the players appreciate it – look at Abou’s response to them yesterday (and Jenks’s of course). Hats off to you guys (although I thought mocking Norwich for going down was a wee bit mean).
I imagine ‘ull will be planning to contain us and snatch something on the break or from a set piece/mistake. They’d be foolish to do otherwise.
As regards players who leave for more money, I always come back to the question: What would I do if someone offered to pay me twice as much over the counter, plus some extras under the counter, for doing the same job? No-brainer really.
Just got back from 2 weeks at hospital, will continue to cure bronchial pneumonia at home, so if everything is fine I will be able to watch the FA Cup final, which is great news.
Just seen the two goals from yesterday, both of them real beauties. As much as Ramsey strike was a sensational one, I prefer Jenks goal, it meant so much to him. That boy bleeds Arsenal, so happy for him.
Interesting result and back to back title for 11 cannons team in the Happy Train You Ropey League Fantasy. Even without their hospitalized manager, the team had succeeded to finish strongly and be victorious by large margin.
More luck next year gents.
‘Holic, would like to thank you for providing the best and most balanced reviews again this season. It is a tremendous pleasure to be a part of this beautiful community that shares love for the Arsenal in good and bad.
Saturday can’t come fast enough!
Okay save yourselves. I found the data on A.com:
“And, then in stoppage-time of extra-time, a ‘Hail Mary’ of a ball forward was collected by Walcott and his shot was poked off the line to Jenkinson who thumped home from close range. The assistant referee had flagged that the England international’s effort had gone already in.”
I can now relax in peace knowing the truth!! 😆
With the absence of Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend, it is the first time since the 1954 World Cup that Tottenham haven’t had a player in the England squad.
🙂
I reckon the way the league table ended up was a signal for the gods, for the following reasons:
1) Wenger still has an eye for strikers – he single handily resurrected Suarez’s PL career and guaranteed the scousers a top four finish, at the expense of us not finishing third
2) We lost out by 8 points and an inferior goal difference
3) If we couldn’t win the league, then none of the other pretenders should have been allowed
So what does that tell you?
We are around about 1 marquee signing away from sustaining the top of the league table position until the end of the season (subject to multiple changes with the others).
We must must must win it next season. This season showed that even without European footy, Liverpool who came damn close mind you, were not good enough to win the damn thing. So I don’t think da red mancs shouldn’t get their in-debt hopes up for next season just yet.
Anyway, here’s to Saturday to start! 🙂
Nice report ‘holic. Can’t wait for the cup final. A lot hinges on that day, hopefully we will come through
Cheers
I have two rather nice Cup Final tickets winging their way to me tomorrow . That will top off the season beautifully. I then need to complete the transaction to buy the seat next to me which I have rented for six years. Arsenal are dragging their feet on this which might be permissible given the need to sort out Cup Final tickets but I am refusing to confirm my own ticket booking until they sort this out. I have had five emails saying that the Head of Ticketing will deal with my application personally . He had better get on with it and they had better say yes!
Good health, Lurky, and welcome home. 🙂
Ttg,
If you ask Holic for my email address, drop me a line if you like and I’ll have a word about tickets. Finally caught up with my mate.
Evening all,
Glad you are on the mend Lurky.
Will do that mail Trev/Ttg 🙂
I see the silly season is already in full swing with Arsenal already having failed in their bids to sign half a dozen third rate players that nobody in their wildest dreams would think Arsene was interested in.
Plus another half dozen “failed” bids being lined up.
Xavi? As a 6-year-old Drew Barrymore so eloquently put it in ET when Elliott tried to tell her adults couldn’t see the alien, “Give me a break.”
et tu ‘holic
.
“inverted commas”
.
what the “eff”
.
i’m
oliver hardy
freakin
bout
horns
here
.
ferdinand
leaving
manure
.
silvestre
nightmares
will
haunt me
all night
.
nooooooooooooo
Heh at Ferdinand cba 😉
Tweeted something similar earlier.
Great minds, and all that…
Speaking of getting business done early…I’m not holding my breath with our previous in that area, and meanwhile Twitter (I know, I know) is saying the Chavs have agreed 37m for Costa.
heh ‘hol
i’m guessin
we weren’t
the only gooners
hit
by the terrors
🙂
Wasn’t impressed by Costa in either game against Chavski. I wouldn’t be very happy at us paying £37 m for him. Rio Ferdinand is about ten times the player Silvestre was. Just saying like
Derby, only you can save us from Redknapp returning to the Premier League now! Mind you, if QPR lose he’ll probably just eye up the West Brom job or something…
Nor was I, Ttg, but his record for AM this season is very impressive, and wasn’t bad the season before when Falcao was the main man. So £37 in this day and age is probably the going rate.
£37 million of course
Oh come on, Charlie – where’s your sense of humour? It’d be great to have Harry back 🙂
Falcao – there’s someone to dream about this summer – surely he must be bored stiff down in Monaco after the Calderon?
horns!!!
.
HORNS!!!!!
.
HORRRRRRRNNNNNSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!
dkg, the only thing stiff about falcao (oo, er) is his leg, which is recovering from the acl surgery. could you imagine the uproar if we signed him now? “typical arsene signing…not even sure if he’s any good after surgery”, etc…
oops
twas
an umlaut
no it wasn’t
.
döuble
hörns!!!!!!!!!
.
snooze
time
.
yikes
With everyone hoping FFP (well apart from the nouveau riche, oil infused clubs spread around Europe) is implemented seriously against Man City and the Chavs, I wondered whether the workings of Atletico Madrid might attract some attention from one ruling body or other.
Remarkably, in the last 10 years, AM’s strikers have included Fernando Torres (at his best), Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa. Strange that a second tier team in La Liga can attract such a wealth of striking talent, one after the other.
The way they do this, of course, is to effectively borrow these players from their third party owners at little or no ‘rent’ (sorry, cba) for a couple of years, before they are moved on again.
These owners buy the players from their South American clubs – and often their parents – for a relatively small fee, at a very young age, and they are then exported to Europe as soon as is feasible.
Atletico Madrid sems to have become the destination of choice. Great for them, except that they have no say in when the players are subsequently moved on – having gained European residence qualifications – as soon as suitably huge bids have been attracted.
Essentially though, Atletico have been able to play a succession of world class strikers for about a decade, that they probably could never have afforded from their own resources.
Chelsea will now apparently become the next destination for Diego Costa who shares an agent – Jorge Mendes – with Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.
Mendes also happens to be the third party owner of Costa, via a company jointly owned by himself and Peter Kenyon. Atletico Madrid will have no say in the sale, and see little or nothing of the approximately £37,000,000 for which Costa is to be sold.
So, Atletico are not directly benefitting financially, but this just doesn’t sit comfortably, does it ?
“yadda yadda yadda”
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😉
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howdy trev 🙂
That’s sad for Atletico. They have to sell to survive and get zip for Costa. So they have to sell some others too. Anyone we want?
Hi, cba
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no more ” “s
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umlauts ?
😉
Bath, Tiago looked decent at the bus stop.
I’ll leave it to you to arrange. 😉
Sorte. Arriving by UPS on Thursday. Leave in the garage if you are out?
+d
Evening all.
Only seen the highlights on MOTD of our game. Great strike from Rambo. Nice to see The Jenk on the score sheet. A nice relaxed end of the premier league season. Great report from the landlord.
FFP. Still an interesting one for me. What is the point in issuing fines to clubs who break the rules. Citeh cheated and won the league. They will take up their place in the Champions Lge. PSG have just won the French League. No doubt they will receive a heavy fine. Do either care? Both have just cheated their way to their respective titles and got away with it. Of course they don’t care. They are laughing all the way to the bank.
Diego Costa is another player I said we should have put a bid in for in January. Various people in the bar slaughtered me for that. In my humble opinion £32 million for a player of his quality could turn out to be an absolute bargain. I know the silly season is upon us now but please, let’s get it right this time. Please, don’t leave it to the last knockings. I’m not sure I could cope with that again.
Oh yeah, one other thing. Cup final tickets arrived today. Bring it on, that’s what I say.
Onwards and upwards boys and girls.
The game had a feel of being an end (as it seems to have been for Sagna et al.) and a beginning in other ways. A good runout for most of next week’s team and a solid effort keeping alive the winning mentality and the promise of better things to come. Sorry to see the season go but come on the Cup!!
Excellent order of merit, Dr F (#32) with which I have little quibble. Perhaps Per a little lower and Sir Ches a little higher? What I’m pleased NOT to see is either Santi or Özilla being lauded. The former had a very poor season which was nothing like his first, and the latter, while generally having an encouraging first season was also disappointing in several key matches. I’m expecting a more influential season from him next time. Especially if we can attract a finisher for the chances he (and others) provide which have been going to waste in recent seasons.
Apropos which I see the chavs have already secured Costa. Thanks Trev for the explanation how this is possible when AW says no business will be done before the WC. Also Lallana going to Poo and Mats Hummels to Manure seem done deals, and other deals also look likely in the near future.
I hope AW has his mind set on more than landing Rio and Cashley in the last transfer day fire-sale… 🙁
Öskar
The one thing that is real is that arsene will have to pay proper big dollars to get the quality we need up front.
Bargain players are usually bargain players for a reason and the fact that the market is very competitive, wether arsene likes it or not, the market is the dictator of the selling price and the buying cost.
It is called the current market rate and the current market rate for players like suarez and bale and benzene is high.
We are either in that market or we are out of that market.
Unfortunately Arsene no longer dictates the markets and our competition wether honest or otherwise is our competition.
Personally I hope we go in big for benzema if the rumours are to be believed.
Trev, you raise a serious point about third-party ownership of player registrations. It really makes a mockery of the whole system if the club a player plays for doesn’t own the registration. The dystopian future is a small cartel of player owners distributing players around teams purely for their own profit.
dkg: I stand corrected. Fourth least conceded it was. Fourth most prolific attack. Guess that gets you fourth place.
Interesting stats for Diego Costa: two goals in 12 games against Real Madrid and failed to score in 10 games against Barcelona. Flat track bully?
Is Diego Costa really that good? He seems a bit slow to me and it also seems aas though this is his only stand out year. I wonder if he will cut it in the Prem…Remains to be seen I guess
Costa has 27 goals and 5 assists in 34 league outings this season, NBN, plus another 9 and 2 in other matches. He’d do me!
Öskar
I wouldn’t give fourpence for Benzema.
Öskar
Suarez failed to score any against us, the chavs and $hiteh, but he’d still be my first choice. If we had the world record fee he probably now rates.
Shoulda bid more last time.
Öskar
If the reports that Chelsea have secured Costa are true, that is great news, for number of reasons.
First of all is that they aren’t gonna get their world class striker, because if Benteke was awful in second PL year, wait to see what flop Costa is going to be. We are going to laugh this time next year about Chelsea inability to buy a proper striker, mark my words. Costa is accident waiting to happen, he is going to have 3+ red cards next season, come on let them sign him.
Another reason, is that they are off the striker market and we can fish more comfortably.
There are many quality strikers out there that are faster and more mobile than Costa, I believe Arsene is going to choose wisely. I would not mind Alexis Sanchez if the reports that he is for sale are true, but I could not care less who are we after, Arsenal play a game for the title on Saturday, what about Chelsea and United?
We should try to get Bendtner to offer his services for Chelsea!
I see Brenda have been named the Manager of the year. Suarez is player of the year and Sterling is the young player of the year if I am not mistaken.
Did Liverpool won the double while I was not around by any chance? And no price for the mighty captain Steve G their best player and scorer of 11 penalties this season?
Steve@89, forget the fine. That’s not the important bit here – but the reduced Champions League squad is most likely a very real problem for them. It leaves them with only 13 players in that squad who are not home grown or under-21 players. Of the eight home-grown, four must have spent at least two years at Man City as youth players but as I understand it only Micha Richards and Joe Hart fulfil those requirements of players that may contribute to the team in a meaningful way. That not only leaves them with a thread-bare Champions League squad, it may also affect potential signings, i.e. will a player sign for them and not know if he will be in the CL squad? Remember that they also can not increase their wage bill for that CL squad compared to last season (presumably adjusted to be 21/25 of that wage bill) which may mean that any new signings may not be possible to include in the squad without leaving two (or even more) others out.
Also, this is just the first step and it has been said that if they fall foul of the rules again next season the punishment will be more severe. If UEFA uphold the ruling if/when City appeal (it is far from certain that they will as the penalty may be stricter if the appeal is lost) I am actually quite optimistic about FFP.
Lurky: I’m with you when it comes to Costa. Granted, I haven’t seen a million of his games but I’ve seen enough to question if he’s got the pace or the first touch to make it as a top striker in the Premier League. Also, as you say he does seem to be a right bell and does get himself carded for really stupid things.
And as much as I can’t stand the man, Tony Pulis is manager of the year by a country mile for me. What he’s done with Crystal Palace is really, really impressive.
Oskar – suarez is not an even an option as he is now not available or anywhere near affordable, hence why arsene should not have been such a tight arse and offered real money to actually get him, not just insult the owners.
It was truly the most ridiculous thing and the most unprofessional thing arsene did in the season.
benzema is true class and a quality strike force when played and would suit arsenes playing style and he seems to be unwanted or becoming available
Pellegrini the manager of the year for me Lars, with Pulis not far behind. Chillean is a likeable fella, plays attacking football and have won a double in his first season, reminds me of Arsene a lot, must say.
Thanks to Lars @104 for FFP comments. I tend to slip off into “Oh, they’ll find a way to buy themselves out of it” but I clearly hadn’t understood the full ramifications of the penalties. Time, I think, to give FFP a chance and see how it works in practice – this is, after all, the first action under it.
But FFP only applies to European matches. I hope the FA are also looking at it – a domestic equivalent would be most welcome.
Lurky: Pellegrini is a good shout but then he had infinitely better players to work with. But in any case they are both way ahead of David Brent for me because to be honest he fucked up quite spectacularly in the run-in. The way they played against Chelsea was incredibly stupid.
Aussie: insult the owners? Are you fucking kidding me? John Henry has admitted that we did trigger the release clause but that Liverpool just chose to ignore it. If anyone was insulted it was Suarez whose contract was wilfully ignored by the Liverpool owners. Ivan Gazidis has also said that they are 100% convinced we would have won a court case but the problem was it would have taken too long to settle it. And what would your reaction have been had we bid £60 million and we would then had found out that £40 mil would have been enough? And yes, we would have found out because John Henry would have wasted no time before starting to brag about how he extracted 50% more than the release clause from us. With what we now know about what happened I can not for the life of me understand how you can still say we were the ones who were in the wrong. Liverpool have admitted and even bragged about ignoring a legally binding contract, how the fuck can you then say that Arsenal were the ones to be unprofessional?
Lars – hear hear. You’re talking an awful lot of sense above. I hope it spreads through the bar, but I fear it won’t. In the meantime, there’s a small beverage of your choice up there, which you won’t even have to pay for.
COYG
Lars,
Agree with you (and Lurky) wholeheartedly on Costa. I really think he’s overrated but because he really works hard, Mourinho will have the worker over talent per se. We saw that already this season when he sold Mata. A wonderfully talented player but one who Jose let go. Thats one of the main differences with Wenger and Jose, Wenger always looks for technique and natural talent when it comes to parting money whereas Jose wants to buy a player who will work to his system first and foremost.
Also think you comments Lars on the FFP are very astute and I think the point you make about it being the first offence will play out nicely. Its a very serious sanction and one which will scare the two teams they probably wanted to hit most in Citeh and PSG. Another infringement and its realistically a possible expulsion and they will fear that.
As for Manager of the year – I certainly wouldn’t agree with Lurky on that front. While I acknowledge Pelegrini’s understated nature as opposed to the self licking egotistical Mancini, Citeh had by some distance, the most complete squad and barely won the championship in the end after it was almost handed to them on a platter by Liverpool. The was a great point made by Hugh Mcllvanney in the times at the weekend: It was only a few weeks ago that Liverpool were 7/1 on to win the PL and Citeh were 13/2 against. So for me, it was about a number of other teams who faltered and about a bunch of mercenaries who just managed to get over the line in the end for all their riches. Listening to the wankers from Sky speaking about citeh being “a great club living the dream” was just gut wrenching and really unbelievable.
I also thought one of the most acute things that Wenger said in the closing days was the point he made about the goals difference as opposed to the point difference. He said that both Liverpool and Citeh had scored 100 goals (by comparison to ourselves who finished with 68) and that was the real difference. Something tells me were going to be very active when it comes to purchasing attacking players this summer. Never before have we had the money and Wenger will only have 2 years left on his new contract. So I think we’ll go all out to get the right players.
Pangloss, thanks for the beer 🙂
Joe, the way some pundits just don’t understand why people might not quite like the way City have had their success is rather baffling.
Drink for Lars, on me. Talking sense, as per.
A thought on Costa: the year before last he literally had more yellow cards than goals. He’s playing for a team being motivated to within a inch of their lives by a manager who is a club legend. He might tear it up in the premier league, but there’s equally a good chance that the deal might not work out at all.
A thought on Benzema: he only has a year left on his deal. He’s the one I’d go for.
Re Benzema – I just cannot shake the feeling that he is poor mans Giroud, seriously I just can’t see what he has and Giroud does not, so for me it would be a player to rotate Giroud with rather than complement him, and in that case, would he want to arrive?
Falcao would have been fantastic signing but we all kinda know it is not going to happen, he would have to take massive paycut if he was about to leave Monaco.
Reus has Arsenal written all over him and I would really want to see him in Red and White, I suppose its one of those deals which might, or might not happen but it would really surprise me if we signed him (like Özil signing).
Joe, if not Pellegrini, who do you think should be the manager of the year in PL? Rodgers, Maureen, Martinez, Pulis? What did they achieved this season? Pellegrini won two titles!
Who is going to be manager of the year in France? Blanc. Like Pellegrini, PSG had the most complete squad in France so does that mean Blanc doesn’t deserve the reward?
Same in Germany. Guardiola for all his failings in the CL, won the title in Bundes League by a great margin. With the most complete team by far. So, does Klopp or whoever, deserves to be the manager of the year only because he had inferior squad than Pep’s?
Morning all. Top work Lars…. but you’ve had enough beers for now 😉
Eandy…. one thing that Benzema has more than Giroud?
Pace. 🙂
Catalan – Yes, he is bit faster than Giroud but not that much, I just think he is hugely overrated. If we were to sign player from La Liga I would want us to sign the likes of Pedro and Griezmann. Of course, if we sign Benzema I am going to support him unconditionally and want him to score as many for us as possible.
Lurky,
My manager of the season was Rogers. When I saw that team being comprehensively beaten at the Emirates in November you would be hard pushed to think that they’d have qualified for Europe let alone almost win the league. Their fearless attacking play in the second half of the season was a joy to watch. And to bring the ‘Pool back into Europe was a serious achievement.
I also think Martinez was superb this season. He won nothing (too) but he transformed the way Everton played and they boxed above their station throughout the season and pushed us for fourth in the end. Martinez showed what a good manager he really is and what an overrated Manager Moyes was by finishing 8 points clear of Manu and ahead of Spurs (the team that spent 100m last summer).
Another manager who impressed was Pochettino who played fabulous football with Southampton and were a serious fixture for any team. They have a collection of players that are linked with all the top clubs so he’s bought well too.
Pulis would never be in my reckoning as a good manager. Its the same mind numbing dross served up by Allardyce / Mourinho et al. Getting paid not to loose as opposed to creating any sense of imaginative play and actually providing some entertainment for the fan base.
Pelegrini was expected to win the league with the squad he had. The fact that he made such hard work of it, unlike Pep, doesn’t earn him any plaudits from where I sit.
From a European perspective, the world manager of the year is Diego Simeone. Even if they win nothing. What he’s done with Atletico is simply a class apart from all the others.
People not wanting Costa or Benzema ??? I’m impressed that you think we can be that choosey. We don’t dine anywhere near the top table these days. I would suggest that either would significantly improve our striking options.
Re the cut of 25 to 21 players for Citeh in the Champs Lge. One point worth considering is that Citeh only used 20 players in the champs lge last season.
Eändy
Reus has said he’s staying with Dortmund next season, sadly.
Benzema is a better player than Giroud. He’s quicker and a better finisher. When Benzema was 21 years old, he moved to Real Madrid. At the same age, Giroud moved to Tours. Benzema has a better goalscoring record at club and international level.
I’m a big fan of Ollie, and I hope he stays right in the mix at Arsenal, but Benzema is a cut above him, and if anything I think Arsene will get more out of him than we’ve seen at Madrid.
Costa is over hyped and i do not see him being any better than Giroud. He maybe a bit better than Giroud on the ground but thats about it. I would not want to have him here for any cost let alone 32 million.
Benzema will be a dream come true, i mean the man can score goals for fun, he is french, into the last year of his contract. Please Arsene please, bid over the odds and get him. He can win us the league.
Manager of the year for me was Tony Pulis, cannot believe i am saying it but he transformed that palace team and made them safe from a precarious position.
4 days to go, we got the Arsenal Supporters group memorabilia from the club today, the excitement is at its extreme, just hope and pray, we win.
One more note on Diego Costa: this is the first season he’s managed to score more than 10 league goals. He’s 26 this year.
Like I say: could work out brilliantly, but it’s not a risk-free transfer by any means.
Manager of the the last two seasons?
Eddie Howe at Bournemouth. He’s taken a club that was down and out in League 1 to promotion, followed by being just a whisker away from the play-offs in the Championship. If he can keep them there, he’ll have surpassed Harry’s achievement 1987/92. But with only a 12,000 capacity ground, that’s about their limit.
Howe will get cherry-picked (pun intended) by a bigger club at some point.
Joe,
agree on Simeone, he is the best manager in the world this year, no matter what.
But can’t agree that Rodgers deserves that title in PL. Not only because he didn’t win anything but for many various reasons.
First of all, Liverpoo didn’t play in Europe this year and had 10 games less than us for example.
Also, what did Rodgers team achieved in the COC or FA CUP? Absolutely nothing, they went out early from both competitions.
Yes they played some breath-taking attacking football, but so did City.
Rodgers doesn’t know how to defend properly, this Liverpoo reminds me of Arsenal couple of season ago, naive and without proper plan B.
They had most penalties in the league by far and most of the referee decisions went their way trough the season.
So they had only three competitions to participate this year, went out very easy from the first two and were in the mix for the PL title almost till the end, but failed to win it, something Pellegrini achieved.
I”m also a fan of Benzedrine – I think he’ll pep up our attack and get rid of some congestion.
Plus he’s still only 26.
RM will only let him go though if they’ve got their eyes on someone else and get him. There are few players who can come into that category – Suarez (who’d jump at the chance) and a fully-recovered Falcao (who might not) come to mind.
Manager of the year, for me, is Arsene Wenger 😉
*runs away laughing*
Lars, a negotiation usually means two different camps coming together with their differences and hashing out how to resolve those differences.
Offering $1 above the base price to start talking only served to piss he Liverpool management team off.
The deal was fucked from the start due to our confidence and arrogance.
If we paid 45, 50, 54 mil for suarez it would be money well spent and a good deal.
We did not show respect or intent we showed a smart ass fuck Liverpool attitude instead of making the deal happen.
Never a fan of Benzema, talent was there from the start, but he is not and I am afraid never going to be clinical finisher we need.
He is decent forward, and almost every aspect of his game play is decent, but not great. He has pace, but not that much as we need, he can dribble but he is not that good at it, he can score headers but again not quite conveniently, he has powerful shot but rarely is on target, his defensive game is very poor.
But the most important thing why I don’t like Benzema is that when he is out of form, then he really is out of form. We just can’t afford our striker not to score for 1000+ minutes can’t we?
There are much, much better and cheaper striker options out there.
@Aussie
A release clause isn’t a base price to start talking. It’s the price at which you can stop talking to the club and start talking direct to the player.
If we’d offered £60m for a player with a £40m release clause you’d have been amongst the first on here to call the club out for having absolutely no idea what they were doing, quite rightly.
We also have no idea if Liverpool would ever have sold to us, even at £50m or £60m. All the noises they made at the time suggested they were certainly not keen to sell to another English club.
This presumption that the deal would have gone through but for Arsenal’s insulting behaviour doesn’t appear to have any factual basis whatsoever, and is just another stick with which to beat the club.
At the end of the day, we didn’t get Suarez because his own agent fundamentally misunderstood a clause of his contract. If you want to blame someone, blame the agent.
Let it go, fellas. Suarez is history as far as we’re concerned. Liverpool are now in the CL so that will keep him happy. He’ll be thinking ‘Pool have as much chance of winning the PL as we have. And the buy-out clause will now have been raised. Only clubs for him will be RM or Barca.
n7 and Lars – so how did we go getting our man by going about it the way we did.
I will tell you how we went – we fucked it up royally and failed to get our man.
We didn’t get our man and ended wasting a transfer window crying over a deal gone wrong that as usual was everyone else’s fault except ours.
You have to find a way to make a deal happen not just barge your way through the front demand and kick and scream like a child on how you honk it should be done
N7 – don’t you think it would be in our interest to talk to the agent and the owners of Liverpool early on and find out what basis of offer would have got us in the game.
If there’s no deal or basis to start that way at least you know offering $1 over a release clause sure as he’ll ain’t gonna work ?
Would I be right in saying that the practice of hiring a player in third-party ownership, à la Falcao and Costa, is only permitted in Europe by the Spanish and Portuguese Football Associations? In which case, why don’t UEFA put a stop to it?
Aussie – you’re beginning to stray into drama queen territory.
Lurky,
Ask any ‘Pool fan about the importance of CL football and they’ll tell you, to a man, that Wenger is right about prioritising it over FA and League cup plaudits. They know because they once scaled those heights and have a history of winning European cups. And for the last 7-8 years they haven’t been even qualifying for Europe.
You can’t blame Rogers for not being in Europe and subsequently having to play lessor games. But you can praise him for managing the Suarez situation very well, bringing them back into Europe in a manner where they scored over 100 goals by playing some wonderful attacking football.
And while I did think that Liverpool winning the league might be better for the game as a whole, I am somewhat grateful for the fact that I don’t have to listen to the Scousers bleat on about winning the league incessantly and that maybe in that context, Citeh were indeed the lessor of two evils from an Arsenal perspective. But to suggest that Pellegrini has somehow “achieved” something with a billion pound team by stumbling over the finishing line is just something I find hard to respect.
I don’t get all this negativity around Costa. His goal record in Spain is better than a goal every other game. Not too shabby I would suggest???
No Dkg- just putting across a point of view suggesting that the fact we missed out on a title by less than 10 points could have been closer of not got over the line by securing the services of one of the best goal scoring machines on the planet for potentially far less than his current value.
Instead we sit around and blame Liverpool for our failure to secure what they were able to secure even though they allegedly lied to him and his agent didn’t tell him someone offered $40 mil for him.
C’mon please….
@Steve T
Look at his goal record before this season.
Aussie – the problem is that your opinion is based on nothing more than hearsay (unless you were the proverbial fly on several walls) and an extremely distorted interpretation of that hearsay.
My recollection is that the ones doing the kicking and screaming and throwing their toys out of the pram at the time were Brenda and John Henry. Arsene was his normal suave, restrained self.
That’s my final word – time to move on to NEXT summer.
Scuz and DK that’s exactly what Falcao is. A typical Wenger signing who comes with a big name, price tag and good goal ratio to match. Plus he’s injured!!
Well well??
😆
@Aussie
Sorry to repeat myself, but… you have absolutely no idea whether we could possibly have secured Suarez last summer.
Here’s what John Henry had to say on the matter at the time:
“….we haven’t identified anyone who hasn’t moved or isn’t moving to replace him. So for football reasons we can’t sell – and especially not to Arsenal.”
“Obviously, to sell Luis to a rival for those positions, or one of those positions, would be ludicrous.”
“Henry has told the Arsenal chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, in a personal conversation that he “unequivocally” will not be buying Suarez, though the Liverpool owner has not ruled out another Arsenal bid. “That doesn’t seem to slow them down so I can’t wait to see what the next one is,” said Henry”
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/luis-suarez-moving-to-arsenal-is-ludicrous-liverpool-owner-john-w-henry-insists-striker-must-stay-and-they-will-not-sell-to-rival-for-topfour-place-8753017.html
By all means, keep getting angry about this. Personally, I’m going to look forward to the cup final (guess what: we’re playing in one on Saturday!) instead of rooting around for things, imagined or otherwise, I can use to cuss the club off.
COYG
Afternoon all.
have we lost another good poster to twitter? Booooo.
Give me regards to tabs please you folks that use that medium.
Congratulations Lurky on successfully defending your FFL title and I wish you a speedy recovery at home. H2HFC finished once again in the CL position, but as mine was the only team in the top 3 with a full compliment (three) of Arsenal players, I’m claiming the moral victory. 😉
Lars. good stuff on the FFP, I said I was (and still am slightly) sceptical, but the squad reduction is a good start.
Manager of the year? My vote would of went to Rodgers. He completly turned the Mickeys around, from finishing outside of the top 6 last season to going a whisker away from winning it this season while playing very attractive attacking football. Yes he fudged it up in the end, but I put that down to the inexperience of him and his team of being in a title race, he would of learned a lot over the last few weeks. Plus, any manager that can get Jordan Henderson resembling a decent ball player deserves all the plaudits he gets.
The Suarez deal. I’m sure we’ve been over this before. As far as i know, Arsenal acted correctly and did everything in their power to secure the deal. They acted on information (presumably from an agent) with the understanding that there was a release clause. That release clause was activated at 40 mill, even if they had bid 40 mill and a penny that clause was activated, to bid more would of been stupidy, case in point, look how much grief Moyes got for the Fellani transfer debacle. Liverpool acted like cunts, not us, they even admitted it later. When all is said and done, if Suarez really wanted the move then he could of pushed it through by handing in a transfer request, he didn’t, so the rest is all just a moot point. If you want to be angry about missing out on a striker then you’d be better looking into why the Higuain deal fell through.
Good stuff H2H 😉 Lost to twitter mate? Nah! 🙂
BM on the bar mate (sans green)!
Now for a (mammoth) backdrink.
Afternoon all.
The Suarez deal. I’m sure we have been over this before..
Yes we have.
Doesn’t stop certain people refusing to face facts that are already in the public domain.
Its all Hamilton Academical anyhoo – he’ll sign for Madrid in the summer and Brenda will waste the proceeds on a bunch of duds! 🙂
H2H- thanks for the reminder of another failed deal.
The fact that there is another failed deal in the same transfer window in higuain who just happens to be another awesome striker we missed out on.
FFS – I think I might rest my case there
So Sherwood has got the old heave-ho.
Now, there’s a surprise. 🙂
H2H: Higuain scored 24 goals all season, Giroud scored 22. In the league it was 17/16. But five of Higuain’s league goals were from penalties, while Giroud only scored one from the spot so from open play it’s 15-11 in favour of Giroud, and Higuain played in a far weaker league. He could have been a complement to Giroud and an upgrade on Sanogo/Bendtner, but he certainly would not have been an upgrade on Giroud.
HeY Tabs, good to see you back mate, BM greatfully downed. Glad there was no green in it because yesterday I was at an asparagus workshop, they served asparagus soup, barbequed asparagus, deep fried asperagus, asperagus in Hollandesse sauce and to finish it off, an asparagus creme brulee…….. Before you ask, yes, that tastes as nasty as it sounds. 😉
Heh @ Hamilton Academical and congratulations on getting your Wilson, z’.
Roberto Martinez tips Hull City and says the underdogs are always in a better position approaching a cup final. Not being the underdogs, doesn’t that make us the underdogs?
Lars.
I was never that keen on Higuain, I think I mentioned as much not so long ago using those very stats. I was just trying to point out that if one was to be upset on a deal going south, that one was more of a screw up then the Suarez attempt.
As for new strikers, sign up Remy now, he’s available, wants to come, has PL experience and wouldn’t cost more then 10mill. Add to that teh fact that he’s been out injured a bit and he’s French and it kind of beggers belief that he isn’t in an Arsenal shirt already.
Cheers H2H
Asparagus syndrome. You’re not anxious are you? 🙂
Anxious (for the cupfinal)…………. a little.
Constapated…………………………… NO!!
😉
Lars@112: it is the same reason that most pundits don’t realize that being richly paid bell ends doesn’t lessen fans’ irritation with their moronic commentary.
Re manager of the season: not sure that this proves anything, but if you divide the season roughly into quarters, Citeh had the least fluctuation in their points won quarter to quarter of all the big four. That suggests that Pellegrini had his team playing more consistently throughout the season than his managerial rivals — including in the crucial run-in.
The Pellegrini vs Guardiola vs Blanc they-should-stroll-it-with-those-squads comparison is bogus because the depth of Citeh’s serious competition is by far the greatest of the three.
What ever you say about Pulis — and like Citeh with FFP, he should be penalised for past transgressions — the turnaround he worked at Palace, including a cut-price January rebuild of his squad, was an impressive demonstration of the managerial arts.
I don’t like Pulis either but thought he did a fantastic job at Palace.
And to be fair, it was far from hoofball either.
Heh @ H2H roughage. 🙂
Re: managers – if, in early August, you’d said: “which would be the greater achievement – guiding Palace to mid table or having Liverpool lead the whole table with three games to go?” we would all surely have said Liverpool. It was pretty much unthinkable at the start of the season.
I really dislike Rodgers, but credit where it’s due.
Hi Ned,
Forgot to mention how nice your previous piece was btw. Thanks.
To be fair, in relation to Pulis, I am somewhat blindsided. I admit it. I have been influenced by his tenure at Stoke. Maybe there is some merit in the job he did at Palace! But old habits die hard I’m afraid, and along with Allardyce, I would still prefer to see Pulis impaled on a spike and left on some desert Island in a far away swamp. These people are not football people. They’re cavemen who’ve brought the game into disrepute. I mean seriously, it must surely be the nadir of your management career to say that “Stoke” thought you weren’t good enough for them! STOKE…!!!
Or consider for a moment (did I read somewhere on here?) that Allardyce is apparently the 13th highest paid manager in world football at the moment..! So much so, the Hammers can’t even afford to fire him! Did you hear his babble before the Citeh game about how he was going to go to Eastlands and get a result for Stevie Gee? It was just hysterical. One would be forgiven for thinking that you really couldn’t make this stuff up, but you obviously can, and whats more, you can get paid shed loads of money for doing so as well…!
Lars @104, 108 – great stuff.
You’re gradually educating me on the workungs of FFP. Looks a lot more hopeful – and subtle – than was maybe thought.
Eandy @114,
If Reus has Arsenal written all over him maybe he doesn’t need to wear Red and White. Must be some tattoo though. 😉
Are people still seriously debating the “+£1” Suarez bid ?
*slumps in the corner*
N7 @ 130 & 131
Why did you fall for that old chestnut again? 😉
I see Lars @ 149 has gone for the old stats maunal 😉
@160
Much like Liverpool, I have no defence 😉
Heh.
Joe@158: Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the piece.
As for Pulis, he is what he is, and let it rest there. In the managerial pantheon of the ages, he won’t go down as another Victor Maslov or Ernst Happel.
Trev@159 Last two lines – HEH 😀
I’m just looking forward to this summer’s recruitment fuck-ups.
And the Cup Final of course.
Martinez – he’s still pissed off that his crew blew the 4th place trophy.
About Benzema: he is nowhere close to being the player he was supposed to have become based on the display of his prodigious talent early in his career at Lyon. He gets into this funk of playing horribly for a stretch of games when he doesn’t even look like being able to make a proper pass, and nowadays even at his best he floats in and out of games in a manner that would not suit someone leading the line in our set-up. He remains a fantastic goalscorer in the penalty box when he is in form, but his link up play falling into unuse has become non-existent. And he doesn’t drift wide, or to be more accurate in the Real set-up has no reasons to be with Di Maria, Ronaldo etc. generally providing as much width as necessary.
With all due respect, I think the striker debate is phrased somewhat inaccurately in our context. More than a Benzema or a Costa or a Mandzukic or Higuain , primarily penalty box prowlers (Higuain early in his Real career used to be a very good #10-ish drop-in striker companion to Raul the poacher, but injuries and playing under defensive paranoids likes Mourinho and now Rafa have made that part of his game rusty) , we need players like Reus or Pedro or Suarez, not just goalscorers but outlets of fast counter attacks as well as great passers. I think it was the versatility of Suarez that had impressed Arsene so much.
I think Giroud being our own player we tend to underestimate his versatility, and the improvements in his career in the last few years. Higuain, for instance, had started his career on fire and he was supposed to become one of the very best that both Real and Argentina had even seen. He was really brilliant early in his career, when Suarez was nowhere close to being the finished article and not even considered in the same league. It is his lack of improvements, or even the reverse, that is alarming (all those injuries didn’t help).
I think between Giroud, Theo and another Pedro/Reus like player we can have enough variation to rotate for the main striker role. (Theo’s performance against Spurs at the FA Cup was very impressive in a central role, and it is something he has been working towards for a long time). The question is what if something happens to Giroud, and I think there are two alternative. For a short term injury someone like Sanogo can lead the line for a few games without having to change the style. For a long term injury we will need to strategize differently, play more pressing game to win possession and drive through midfield and not rely on the physicality of the central striker. If we are to get someone like Benzema/Mandzukic the question then would be how across the span of an entire season we play both him and Giroud side-by-side or do we rotate match-to-match. Strikers need a run of games to be consistent.
From this week’s Tactics Column over on Arseblog –
“Arsenal continued to commit the same mistakes again and again, pushing up the pitch too eagerly as if anxious to make a stylistic impression, ……….. ”
does this mean four players lined up on the opposition 18 yard line, danced together in time and sang “I Can’t Give You Anything” ?
Never got tactics, me. 😉
Poor Monreal, Alberto Moreno of Sevilla gets the nod to be Jordi Alba’s back-up ahead of him in the WC squad.
We will have two very well rested left backs for the next year’s campaign.
Tough week ahead for the family in that my mother passed away last evening leaving my 89 year old father to contend with life alone in a big old house he’s not sure he can handle by himself. I’ll be flying out there Thursday, staying the weekend to see how I can help him grieve and figure things out. Not sure if watching the game on Saturday will fit into our plans but on the other hand, what better time than to indoctrinate Dad into the joys of being an Arsenal supporter? 🙂 🙁
Sorry 8ball. Sounds tough.
@Dr F
Really good post with some excellent points made.
Hard luck 8ball. Hope things improve for you both.
Oof – sorry to hear that, 8ball. My condolences, and I hope your Dad is OK.
Thanks N7.
Was just browsing through Tim Stillman’s history lessons in arseblog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGF5-GPtLiE
Liam Brady, wow, what a joy it must have been to watch him for so many years in Arsenal shirt.
Condolences and best of luck 8ball.
Condolances 8Ball.
My heartfelt condolences 8ball.
Thanks to all of you. 🙂
Condolences 8ball. Wish your family the best in these trying times. May she rest in peace.
Deepest condolences bt8b. Must be really hard for your Dad right now too.
All my condolences 8ball.
Btw, anyone else hearing these crazy rumours about Balotelli to Arsenal?
Dr. F@167: Yes, it’s a difficult one. I must only have seen Bennie when he was on song. I had thought of him as rotation for Giroud, but maybe that’s rather a lot of money to pay for that role. I agree Giroud has been underrated by many and he’s certainly come on a lot this season. Maybe Sanogo will turn out to be good enough for the rotation/injury replacement role, but it’s a bit early to say yet. We also have Akpom in the pipeline – he’ll be 19 this year.
A speedy forward with an eye for goal would indeed strengthen the squad, especially as we can see how we suffered losing Walcott and Ox at the same time.
Hard job being a football manager, but I’m sure Arsène knows exactly what/who he wants – whether he’ll get them or not is another matter.
CoR@183: Yes, that was one of the the rumours I was referring to yesterday (my 68 above). Totally mad.
CöR – well if there is a manager who could make Mario go less insane its Arséne, on his day he is among the best footballers out there, it is his ego which would require working on.
Still, do not see him coming back to England.
Condolences 8ball, sorry to hear that. Wish you and your dad all the best.
Sorry to hear about your mum, 8ball.
Hard times.
CoR: Most of the rumours around so far look like last summer’s recycled.
Germany Vs Poland friendly.. wonder if any of our players are involved?!
I saw something about Balotelli to Arsenal a week or two back. It didn’t sound very convincing so I’ve tried to forget about it.
I had been doing quite well, too. Thank you very much!
Ooooooooom Ooooooooom
COYG
Sorry to hear that 8Ball, condolences.
sorry to hear that, bt8b. i hope it was quick, and that she was at peace.
good for you to be there for your dad. do share arsenal with him, maybe he can have some sort of joy in the midst of this sadness, even if it’s yours (if we win).
take care of yourself, and your pop. my condolences to you and your family.
and lurky, welcome home. glad you’re on the mend, and in good spirits.
Interesting little post by the guy who does Untold Arsenal, from the club’s website. He seems a good blogger and a genuinely sane sort.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140430/henry-v-giroud-what-s-the-difference-
Dr. F., excellent post above. And Lurky, as usual, spot on.
I hate being that guy who always says, “yeah, yeah … I agree with her”, but when there’s no sense restating something that’s already well-put, well then, there’s no sense restating something that’s already been … er … Nevermind.
The Balotelli rumour won’t go away due to his, and our impending, connection to Puma. I even read they were willing to cough up a percentage of the transfer fee to get their two prized assets together. I know he’s a bit of a peanut butter, but he ticks all the boxes. If Arsene thinks he could handle him, I’d take him.
pings an early ball from midfield across to…
…a philosopher who emerged from the stands and drilled the ball to…
…he who pinged the early ball and ran, who sends it to the penalty spot for…
…an air shot, after which the philsopher returned to the stands.
Pah. Can’t even hit a proper airshot. Ignoring that minor detail, ’twas a lovely team goal. Thanks, scruz.
COYG
must have been one of the monty python philosophers…mixing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gJamguN04 with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_WRFJwGsbY
cheers, pangloss 🙂
Sorry for your loss 8ball. Best wishes.
Thats a first. 🙂
Well in Pagloss.
Sorry to hear about your loss, 8ball.
And good to hear you’re home now, Lurky!
Pangloss – that goal celebration is hardly Corporal Jenks is it ?! 😉
Condolences, 8 ball.
Just seen the highlights
What a smashing match 🙂
My thoughts go out to you 8 Ball
Condolences for the loss of your mother 8ball.
Not quite sure why you are posting under my moniker there Wayne, but indeed, thoughts are with you bt8b.
Here if you need to vent, my friend.
Thanks for the kindness to all.
On another front, will spending 80 million this summer keep us up with the Joneses? More money insanity is on the way.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/teams/leicester-city
Think Leicester are going to have a bit of reorganising to do, regardless of summer comings and goings – they’ve got 36 players named in their current squad.
Well, that is after all only 180 million over 3 years that Leicester City plan to spend so maybe 80 million in one summer still can get us somewhere. Not that 100 million helped Spurs much last summer of course. I should have linked to the actual story reference above, rather than one link away.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27387616
Lurky, good to see you are back home and on the way to a full recovery.
Congratulations to finishing 1st in the Goonerholic FFL. However, under the amended rules and regulations introduced by our legal expert and media star TaBs, players from teams designated as “Utter Cunts” are not permitted.
These teams are:
Manure
Manoil
Chav$ki
Scunts
Spuds
I only managed to make 8th position but my teams excluded any player from the above list, thus becoming the highest placed team under the TaBs formula. This is akin to making the 101 TaBs glory position – much more worthwhile vas everyone knows. I am sure TaBs is already looking to bring in penalties to be imposed on transgressors, no doubt with UEFA FFP sanctions as a guide 😉 😉
I shall disappear for a short while and remove my tongue in cheek.
Sorry Holic
Cheers Cent, Scruz, thanks for the kind words, hope all is well.
Uply, thanks and congrats on the title under Tabs formula 🙂
Sorry never needed here maestro, you know that.
No post tonight, but hopefully a special treat tomorrow night, depending on how calm I can stay…
Condolences 8 ball.
For the US Gooners: Has anybody heard anything about ticket availability for the Summer Tour, particularly for the Red Bulls game?
Impec, It looks like you have to purchase one of their season tickets to have a chance to get a ticket to the Arsenal game, at least until further notice according to their website,
http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/news/2014/03/new-york-red-bulls-host-english-club-arsenal-fc-july-26-red-bull-arena
If you are interested, US Gooners (or any Gooner, I suppose) can send their kids to an Arsenal summer camp in the New York and Boston areas. http://playthearsenalwayusa.com/camps/ has more info.
I had lunch with a Spud friend today. He paid. We discussed Sherwood and he felt he should be sacked and that Levy should start getting more criticism than he has been from the Spuds fans. He thinks he is popular because he spends money.
He said Spuds hate Wenger because he is everything they haven’t got. He cannot believe that he gets criticism from Arsenal fans to the extent that he does. They can’t finish above Arsenal and Wenger keeps getting CL. This year Spuds fans feel we will win the Cup. They would in other words give their right arm for a manager with this track record who by the by makes serious profits every year. While they think he ia a whinger they can’t wait to see the back of him. Worth considering this when we start bleating about him( I’m as bad as anyone on this board!)
Spud friend? He paid?!
Check your wallet, mate.
ssy, he must have lost a bet to ttg…
Even those of us who know we are lucky to have him, do not truly know just how lucky we are.
He has his faults, as do we all. He has made mistakes, as have we all. He has worked a miracle these past few cash-strapped years and very, very few others could have achieved that.
TTG, your Spud friend knows. Pity lots of Gooners are more blinkered.
Great back drink.
Firstly my commiserations to 8 ball . I am so sorry to hear your news.
Dr. F
Brady was a complete genius.
One of my three favourite Arsenal players of all time and I was so glad he came back to the club to do such a sterling job with the Academy. Always very pleasant when you see him at the Emirates.
Interesting to see suggestions that are my will prefer Spuds to us. With no manager?
Sad to see Nacho left out of the Spain squad but he hasn’t been playing all that well and might want first team football on a regular basis
Nice to see rat face Nasri left out of the French squad.
Nice to see Adrian Durham’s boys lose to Orient. Any misery for him is joy to a Gooner
But above all very nice to see my lovely Cup Final ticket sitting on the table even if the next envelope had three points on my licence !
Sorry meant Remy prefers Spurs? My iPad knows nothing about football
Thanks for the congratulations above; just got back in after an evening out.
TTG@223 (last phrase), oh yes, oh yes indeed.
COYG WTNM
What bath said.
He could have gone – Wenger, not bath – to almost any top, cash rich club during those cash-strapped years, but stayed loyal to the project he had begun at Arsenal.
He has values, a rare commodity in today’s game. Sometimes those values manifest themselves as stubbornness which drives us all mad, such as his refusal to join those paying crazy transfer fees for players they can’t afford.
The reality is that in trying to compete with the wealth of Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd, fourth place has indeed been a trophy, in terms of keeping us in a position to eventually be able to compete again.
A presenter on the radio tonight said that Tottenham have the sixth highest budget in the Premier League and have finished sixth. Therefore, what more could Tim Sherwood have been expected to do ?
When Arsene Wenger finishes fourth with the fourth highest budget, that somehow becomes merely a cause of more derision.
Well make no mistake. It may not be silver and have big handles but fourth – and third – place has been a trophy for us for the last ten years.
Ask Tottenham and Everton – or even Manchester United.
@221 the tickets are sold out. I checked the arsenal site last week to get info, but saw that they have all been sold out. I really wanted to go so bad, oh well will watch it on tv I guess.
BT8B: our sympathies are with you, your dad, and the rest of your family.
Impec1: we’d obtained a couple of tickets to the Red Bull – Arsenal fixture through the New York City Arsenal supporters club about a month ago.
Probably nothing available now other than through buying a season ticket to Red Bulls season. Could try reaching out to NYC Arsenal supporters to see if anyone needs to relinquish their seats:
NYC Arsenal Supporters
http://arsenal-nyc.com
http://facebook.com/arsenalnyc
@arsenalnyc
My condolences 8ball, and keep close to your dad. One of my great regrets was living on the opposite side of the world when my dad passed unexpectedly, and I was unable even to make the funeral.
Öskar
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Dr F…
Öskar
…that in an era when true strikers are rare and expensive a couple of attacking midfielders could be a better option. Reus I have been wanting for several years, the other would be Lucas Moura who is very quick and very clever and also has Arsenal written all over him.
Unfortunately I expect his value to double through the WC, so probably will be beyond our budget. As would Reus be in the unlikely event he should became available.
Bony might be an affordable addition with more to give in a better team than Swansea. Better than Remy anyway, and better than Benzema who is more Benzocaine than Benzedrine, imo.
Öskar
@dkgÖÖner, H2H,
it really does seem like the usual rumours are being bandied about, and especially with the new Puma deal about to start, I would imagine any player that’s in bed with Puma will be linked as well.
It’s going to be one of those summers then…
I think in the interest of keeping sane I will avoid clicking on any of the NewNow links for a couple of months!
Any suggestions on a better way to while away precious time that could be spent working? 😉
Condolences, bt8b. Our thoughts are with you and your Dad.
Firstly, my condolences bt8b, all the best to you and your dad in this tough period of time.
Great post Holic, it was like most gooners knew it was Jenko’s 1st goal for the Arsenal because most gooners have wanted him to succeed for our club where they necessarily couldn’t for whatever reason, and that is on the pitch.
NBN, I really enjoyed your post from 2 bars ago 🙂 As Lars commented in those drinks, it really was as long as one of mine in the circumstances he described! 😛
@Öskar the dog@235 Lucas Moura is not going to the world cup so his value should not rise. I do agree tho that either him or Reus would be good
I am astonished, Jude, but a great time to make a bid then.
Öskar
Is Lucas Moura supposed to be backup for Theo Walcott or something?
Lucas Moura was someone i had no clue 2 seasons back and then when fergie bid crazy money for i laughed my heads off. Then i saw him play and god i understood why fergie was so desperate to get him to united. He is amazing. A box to box who will shade most except yaya in the world, he is terrific, great engine, brazilian which means flair, young and absolutely brilliant, He to us will be amazing.
The Suarez saga should be buried somewhere. We did everything right, he and the club were cunts of the highest order. Suarez and his agent wanted the bid to be so high that pool would not refuse, when we did not, they baulked. I hate the entire lot and am so happy that that sick team did not win the league.
3 days to go, get the first goal guys and we can have a romp this saturday. Poldi to score i am certain.
Can’t beat a Brazilian in the box – I know, but who cares ? 😉
Is this the same Lucas Moura who only scored 3 goals this season for PSG? I haven’t seen him play at all but is he really that good if he’s not been picked to represent Brazil at the World Cup?
Quiz question:
Only two managers in the Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two were appointed before January 1st 2010. Who is the other one?
Bonus points for naming the three Conference Premier managers who have been in post since before 2010.
Further bonus point for saying how many SPL managers have hold their jobs for as long.
Answers on the BBC website.
Makes me wonder whether slowing down the managers’ merry-go-round might improve the standard of English players as much/more than the “League 3 for Premier B teams” proposal.
Hahhh! You couldn’t make this up! 🙂
http://outsideoftheboot.com/2014/05/13/chelseas-facebook-page-mistakes-cardiff-supporters-as-their-own/#
Make sure to anlarge the pic and read some comments! Priceless!
Ohh. “Enlarge” that should be.
Vinay – if I interpret your comments on suarez correctly, you are suggesting he did want to force Liverpool to let him go by forcing a price we don’t want to pay. In other words, he had discussed leaving Liverpool with an offer from arsenal ?
So who’s fault do you believe it is that we offered a price for someone who is probably worth double that now….
It’s like the lead up to Christmas as a kid, but with a twist.
With less than a week to go, the news that a ticket was in the offing bounced from radio mast, satellite, and radio mast again and promptly landed on a smartphone near me. I was “in” and the big day would arrive after a mere 6 sleeps! And then, no sooner had I come to grips with paying £115 toward the mortgage at Wembley, the news turned upside down and I was “out”. Thankfully, Santa comes in many guises and my virtual crestfallen face tugged at the heartstrings of a well connected man so that by the end of the night, I was back “in”.
Cup finals and Arsenal as stick-on favourites, it’s a combination that brings out many of us in a bout of cold sweats. Swindon, Ipswich, West Ham, Luton Town Birmingham, I am already pondering on any number of sacrificial offerings to prevent us adding to that litany of woe. I’d be straight downtown today making my pact with the Devil if I wasn’t overdrawn in Auld Nick’s ledgers already.
It’s been a long time since I was last down Wembley Way.
In fact, I’ve only been the once, a long time ago when I watched on perplexed as hordes of my countrymen went on a mass (but surprisingly indulged) bout of vandalism. In fairness, the scenes were more exuberant than malevolent – but that might have been down to the reluctance of Plod to take on the 90-minute-Patriots. More importantly, that visit was the first of my many jaunts down The Smoke which soon became a regular feature and would eventually lead me to the gates of Highbury and my introduction to Chippy and The Arsenal, proper.
I’ve told the tale before about the 1979 Final, sat round a television in a Dublin squat, surrounded and outnumbered by Paddy Mancs, who were none too pleased with my vocal put-downs when we were coasting at 2 up. Arsenal being Arsenal though, saw fit to do things the hard way and put me (us all) through the emotional wringer in that last 5 minutes. At 2 each I was crestfallen and about to be rounded on. Then, the ball from the wing sailed past Bailey and Alan Sunderland slid in at the back post to stick a dagger in their hearts, and I screamed like a girl. Watching Man Utd players slumped on the turf, beaten, has been one of my favourite sights ever since.
That was the first.
The last, I was in Cologne. On a weekend lads trip with four other non-Gooners, I dragged them to a pub that was supposed to be Arsenal-friendly. I was all togged up expecting to meet like minded tourists (or indeed natives). Not a bit of it – it was me, against, well, pretty much the rest of the bar from what I could tell, all siding with the underdog. Attracted to my red and white they all had a comment, and in best jinx-mode I was treated to
“If you don’t win this, you’ll never win a cup final.”
“Your mob will fancy four or five today…..”
“It’s men versus boys…..”
What happened was inevitable. I can still feel the frustration even now at the sequence of events. Zigic the gargantuan freak put them ahead. Stunned we fought back and that Dutch bloke equalised injuring himself in the process. (Funny that). I remember at least 3 attempts from Mademoiselle Nasri, one each from Rosicky, Bentdtner and Arshavin all going close but as ever an inspired keeper kept us at bay. (They also hit the post to be fair). I wasn’t worried though. I settled myself down for an extra period of play – they were tiring, we would definitely have them. And then, enter stage right, Dr Clusterfuck.
Can anyone to this day say with any certainty say what those two were up to when their keeper hoofed the ball into the box on 89 minutes? Boy, if anybody needs redemption on Saturday its Szczęsny and Koscielny.
And me.
Birmingham 2011 should be a cautionary tale for the current squad. 6 of the players stripped that day are liable to be involved on Saturday. I think given the experience of our last final at Wembley, any hubris should be well and truly stamped on. I am excited and terrified all at the same time. This final just seems so pivotal. By kick off, I will end up reverting to my semi-final type:
Just fucking win, Arsenal.
And now, just 3 more sleeps.
Zico is in full possession of the facts.
Nice one, Dr Z.
Top stuff from top man zico.
Nice one, z, and hope it turns out to be a day to enjoy.
I’d love to see us turn on the style and score a hatful but, in the end, we just have to win the trophy. Any trophy. Just as long as it’s not a handbrake-on display and another penalty shoot-out.
Looks like we activated the 4m buy-back clause in Vela’s contract and he is coming back.
Pangloss @250 – do you mean zico knows ?
Knowing your love of pedantry, I should explain myself.
I have no problem with the ‘xyz knows’ statement when xyz has, indeed, related a set of facts. It is just when guessing at the manager’s intentions, for example, that I take exception.
Especially when I disagree ! 😉
Chips with everything then, Lurky. 😉
Hope you’re recovering well.
Actually, although not for pneumonia, I was treating an upholsterer three weeks ago. He’s now completely recovered. 😉
Afternoon Holics!
Have been a little busy lately, I’m certainly up for that final already!
Hope everyone is well and in health?
Pangloss: Good point.
Consider these numbers:
Average no of days in current job of a Championship manager: 402
No of days Abu Diaby was most recently out injured: 409
No of days in current job:
Arsene Wenger: 6,435
Average of every other manager in Premiership: 436
Average of every manager in Championship: 402
Average of every manager in Div 1: 514
Average of every manager in Div 2: 589
Trev: Had to sit down after that one.
Trev@254; I did; thanks for the clarification.
I’m afraid I’m now enjoying finding synonymous phrases so much that I’ll probably carry on not using the “‘xyz’ knows formulation. Be careful what you wish for 🙂
Ned@257 – Thanks.
Wind: thanks. My only defence on its length was that it covered a whole season, not just one match.
Trev@243: I expect a lot of puns on that theme this summer 🙂
Top stuff@249, zico. I am already shitting myself about Saturday, we just have to win this one.
Pangloss, Ned. 🙂
a bugger of a time bt8
sorry to hear that
Thanks Trev, I am much better now, but to be fully recovered it will take some time, I am afraid.
However, I have a feeling that it will certainly help my condition if we win on Saturday 🙂
stylistics trev 🙂
.
zico 🙂
.
Lars,
relax, we cannot lose on Saturday.
We have much better players.
We have a slim, well dressed, elegant, multi-lingual manager.
Hull have a grisly, obese, squashy-nosed, Mrs Doubtfire look-alike who speaks in a tongue that nobody sooth of Coontee Dooram can understand.
We have – say it very, very quietly – a fully fit squad with the single exception of Thee-ooo. Hell, even Aboooo Diaby is fit.
Hull cannot even play their two best strikers.
We have a classic, famous red and white strip, instantly recognisable across the world.
They have an outfit worn by some cartoon character found exclusively on the back of a Frosties packet.
If all that fails to convince you – here is the clincher –
I can’t go ! 🙁
Hey, cba’s smiling at me again.
You ok, mate ?
tip top trev
tip
top
🙂
All very good reasons Trev…..
Just makes me even more nervouus though.
Ned @257 – usual good stuff. Madness.
Nice Post Z.
The ’79 final is the one I cherish the most and the one I remember the best despite only being a young whippersnapper at the time. The 5 minute final was the game that has made me a slave to the club ever since.
I’ve really really enjoyed the postings by Stillman and Arseblogger about the FA cup history. Its a point they make about games of that era that they leave such an indelible mark on a young man, whereas these days, the latter day triumphs in “Sky time” don’t seem to be the same. Maybe its because the Cup has lost just a little of its lustre with the emergence of the CL and the importance now attached to qualification in the world of real time tv. I watched the 1971 cup final (again) on one of the you tube links that was linked in Stillman’s piece. And I would have to say, that Charlie George’s winning goal is still to this day, an absolute joy to behold. Considering that it was some 43 years ago now and the ball back then was made from “real leather”: to be able to strike that ball with such power, accuracy and technique is still a marvellous sight. And then the iconic celebration when he raises his two arms aloft and lies down in the middle of the field almost eclipses Adams celebration of the 4th against Everton as my favourite Cup memory.
Enjoy the game Z. Lets hope it brings some more memories. Could you imagine if Jack scored the winner in extra time, raised both hands aloft and then lied down in the middle of the wembley grass……?
Uefa will propose a new rule to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) at the start of next year that would see players temporarily removed from the pitch if a foul they have committed injures another player.
BB@272, do you have a source? I thought UEFA weren’t that kind of organisation.
Joe,
I heard Charlie George asked in an interview why he celebrated that goal lying down in that way –
“‘Cos I was knackered !” , was the answer. 😉
@273 Pangloss
http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/26436999
..above 13:29.
Nice drinks above, gentlemen.
JFW, A. LZS.
@zico
Dr Clusterfuck may have made his entrance in that 2011 final, but he obviously made a big impression on Arsene as he was later appointed to head up our medical team, where he’s been working his magic ever since.
NBN @ 260, very fair point.
Great stuff zico 🙂
Thanks BB – I see the beeb are maintaining their recent high journalistic standards by not quoting a source. Still there’s a picture of Pierluigi Collina so we can trust the report.
Lurky – any source on the activation of Velas clause? I have always rated him and for 4m he would be an absolute steal.
Sighhh.. it does look like there’s no progress on Sagna and Fabianski!
We had better get comparable or better replacements as soon as possible.
Really hope the squad is sufficient to SUSTAIN a challenge the following season.
Looking forward to the FINAL!! 🙂
If we are even considering a Vela release clause then we are in worse Barney then I ever could of imagined.
Balls! : http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27375349
Hull midfielder David Meyler says news that Arsenal are already planning their victory parade has gifted the Tigers an extra incentive to win the FA Cup for the first time in their history on Saturday.
Traffic notices in north London make clear the Gunners are expecting to show off the trophy in an open-top bus tour around Islington the day after the final on Sunday.
“They haven’t won a trophy in nine years and they’ve got their posters up in London about their parade next week and credit to them,” says Meyler. “I’d rather be the underdog. People are delighted when the underdog wins – I don’t think many people want Arsenal to win.”
Shit like this just adds to the colly wobbles.
Wenger on Final :
“It is an opportunity and we have to take a distance with time. We need to just turn up and play well.
“I honestly don’t feel that there is any danger of complacency. We know the difficulty of the task. If you look at our run in the FA Cup, we had a hard run. We played against Tottenham, against Liverpool, against Everton, Wigan in the semifinal.
“Coventry was maybe a little bit easier, but overall if you look at the run we had it was a very tough one. We have done this job and we want to finish it now.”
Bring it on!
Zico great post above!
It will be drink a bottle of Wisniowka before the game just to kill those nervous down 🙂
nervous=nerves
Thanks Guys and heh @ N7.
Mr Meyler, we have got our house in order to deal with a victory parade should it happen, not when it happens.
You see, we have experience in this stuff – what have your lot ever won?
H2H@286: I sincerely hope the team is not thinking the job is done. Before the 2011 League Cup final I remember how some of the team members were talking about how Cesc can lift the trophy even if he was not on the bench etc. I hope this team have — and to be fair they have shown that — more maturity and balance.
I think we should start the final with a fast pace and high pressing win-possesion-back-quickly game to not allow Hull to find any rhythm or confidence (they lost their last few matches in the PL, so confidence cannot be at its peak), then start to control the tempo of the game. With many lower positioned team this season we started cautiously and then slowly build tempo, but that strategy could backfire in a final.
I think we wil see us overloading the midfield with both Santi and Poldi moving in, and allowing Ozil to float out to right and open up otherwise what would be a tightly packed defense. Hull are not going to commit forward too much so there won’t be much of a counter-attacking chances early. We need to keep the ball high up on their half, but leave at least three defenders and Arteta deep enough. That might open up a bit of gap in the midfield but I think between Rambo and Arteta we woudl have enough energy and nous to take care of any potential down-the-middle breaks.
H2H – agreed, stuff like this only adds to fuck-that-I-am-shitting-bricks-already-ness feeling I have about the final.
I really really hope I am not going to witness same thing like against Birmingham, that game was one of the most soul-crushing experiences I had watching Arsenal.
@Eandy 281, Kike Marin article, usually very reliable.
http://vozpopuli.com/deportes/43325-el-arsenal-ejecuta-la-clausula-de-recompra-de-vela-y-pagara-4-millones-a-la-real
I would like that to be true, because I like Vela a lot. For me the deal is no brainer. It would not cost a lot of money, we could have a player that is used to our system, player who had double figures at goals and assists in Primera this season, can play as a lone striker, can play on the wing, fast enough, decent option.
Vela for 4m, Aurier for 7 and Marshal/Schmeichel for free before the WC and I think it is a damn good business. It would mean only 11m spent on bargains, so it would live us a big chunk of money to try for Javi Martinez and maybe Alexis Sanchez/Pedro later in the summer.
Eandy@291: We had started that final just awfully, tense and tentative, and many of our stars of that team used to hide their fears and insecurities with unnecessary arrogance.
As Arsene said the key is to enjoy the game playing the best we can play. As long as the players are doing it in a professional, matured manner without carrying any burden of history etc. we should be fine. Impose the quality from the beginning and play the way we can play, that would settle the nerves.
If we start tentatively it might get messy.
Lurky @ 292: I like Vela a lot too. I know it didn’t work out for him first time around, but his returns of goals per minutes was quite decent. He has grown a lot since then, could always finish but now also can really hold and pass, the dribbles have improved.
I like your wish list by the way, Vela, Aurier, Martinez and Pedro and a GK…assuming we are not losing anyone other than Sagna and Fabianski would be a very good business indeed. But the transfers would of course not pan out that way…whatever happens a DM is really key for the next season.
With you there on Vela Lurky, as I said, for 4m he is an absolute bargain.
I know people will moan about us signing him if we really do, but remove name Vela from him, add a pricetag around 20m and suddenly he will tick lot of boxes for many people.
Fast, technically gifted, versatile in attack and according to his numbers improved his finishing. So if we are really in for him, I would be glad to see him back.
Faustus @293 – I understand what you mean and I really hope that we went through our”tentative phase” against Wigan in semis and will impose ourselves early in the game.
“Arsenal star having fun with seal in a zoo” who else than Poldi 😀 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KR7-0xZrEs
Drills slide-rule pass, scruz-like, across to the far wing…
More on ‘sweet left foot’ : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfB7id7N_g0
He’ll score this weekend! Bet on it!
Vela would be a nice addition to the squad at that price.
Suspect we will activate the clause and flog him on elsewhere though for more pesos.
Bang!
Zico, if we reactivate the clause we can’t sell Vela until 2015 if I am not mistaken, because there is some sort of sub clause that does not allow us to do it.
Ah the sub clause, but is it watertight? 😉
“There’s no such thing as Sanity Claus”
@Aussie, mate i stand by what i said, Suarez was willing to move but wanted to play it safe on 2 counts-
A. He wanted the highest bid possible so that pool wont refuse.
B. he did not want to force the issue because he knew if in case this deal did not go through, he will have to come and face the music from the kops.
I dont think so paying over the odds last season for him was worth it, No not about his talent, he was always good, remember he would have been missing 10 games, his reputation was in tatters and one more incident he would have been off.
Also we dint bid 40 million and 1,it was an amount to let them know we are interested in the player and as per the clause, we should have been allowed to talk to the player and the agent. This was where the shit club played truant and Arsenal being Arsenal did not pursue the issue till the bitter end.
I do not think so the bid was wrong because honestly there was no bid, it was a bid to activate the clause and that amount was more than sufficient.
What could we have offered him? i am not sure, reports suggested we were willing to go upto 50 and that for him or most players in this world is more than enough.
Greetings from Berlin where there is a Cup Final to be played on Saturday afternoon.
Re Hull just relax. Tubby Huddlestone and Meyler are made for us. They have a very slow midfield and I have already had a dream that we are three up in ten minutes. Bound to come true. The dream before that involved Kelly Brook , marshmallows and a bottle of tequila and that camee true almost immediately. ..I think?
Anyway Kelly would piss past Huddlestone and co and so will Aaron , Mesut and Santi. The TTG pound is going on 5-0 to the good guys
Well we could hardly ring up Islington Council on Sunday morning and ask them to clear the streets, could we ? A few police officers might need to be organised too.
Sounds like a desperate load of orchestras from Mr Meyler if you ask me.
And if the referee had seen his stamp on Januzaj clearly, he wouldn’t even be playing.
On the other hand, you could just ask, ” David Whoooooooo?”
Carlos Vela ?
If he really does have a £4,000,000 release clause, obviously the thing to do is offer about £12,000,000 just to make sure we get him ! Don’t want any more Suarez cock-ups do we ? 😉
Don’t mean to sound like a 15-year-old girl, butSo ‘oh my god’ how anyone can “relax” for the final after the monumental cock-up of Birmingham 2011 is way, way beyond me.
After reading Zico’s excellent piece, and Lars’ response (which is right where I am), I watched the highlights of that depressing excuse for a game and it was roughly as painful as stepping on an upturned plug in bare feet.
It wasn’t just the fuckup at the end. Those highlights showed Birmingham were threatening. A lot. And we looked ineffectual against their two banks of four and their goalkeeper having the game of his life (surprise surprise).
So I salute The Relaxed among you but I can’t see myself actually ‘enjoying’ this – unless we go 10-0 up by half time. I’m that scared. Please Arsenal, just fucking win it!
You’ve just got to love Didier Deschamps. He’s left Na$ri at home to mind the poodles.
Them Poodles?! : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2627458/Samir-Nasris-girlfriend-Anara-Atanes-slams-French-decision-leave-midfielder-World-Cup-squad.html
😀
So Chelski deserve one less as we all knew :
Former referee Pierluigi Collina would not have awarded the goal that gave Chelsea a Champions League round-of-16 win over Barcelona in 2005 if the five referees system had been in use.
Chelsea were leading the second leg 3-2 but heading out of the competition on the away goals rule until they won a corner in the 76th minute. John Terry headed in but Collina was so focused on the defender that he did not see a foul by Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho on Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes in the goalmouth.
“My choice was correct because I predicted what had happened but the contribution of someone on the goal line would have been very important and very easy. He could have informed me there was a foul,” says Collina.
I remain unconvinced by Vela.
OK we can get him at a bargain price, he has had a couple of good recent seasons in Spain and he has apparently bulked up. However he was not just physically lightweight but mentally lightweight when he was last here. Lovely left foot and a great ability to chip in with a goal (SWIDT?) when we were already 3 up but never ever delivered when it mattered. Plus he will take up a decent salary that could go towards a top striker to complement and relieve HFB or a midfield giant to professionalise the destructive side of our midfield. We need those two far more than a show-pony. Guarantee we get those two plus good replacements for Bac, Fab and TV5 and I will accept the wisdom of signing Vela.
Otherwise, meh to the Mexican.
Maybe Samir can now get his mum to call that nasty Mnr Deschamps and ask him not to be so beastly towards her son.
@309,
” Atanes, a model born in Brighton, feels the national team haven’t shown Nasri enough respect ”
Ridiculous. No amount of respect is too small for Nasri.
Blimey, Camberwell,
if you can’t relax against Hull, minus all their strikers, our team must be a lot worse than I thought.
I shall relax until we go a goal behind, but even that would only release the handbrake, change us up a gear and steer us straight to a stonking win.
This is the Arsenal, man.
Cojones, cannones ! 😉
I know Trev…I just get the jitters about Kos and Scz having that ridiculous freak mistake and it puts the willies up me (like those two gay ghosts).
Different players now, Cam. No worries.
Fair point I guess. I saw Song’s ridiculous blonde bonce in those highlights and thought, ‘If anyone in that squad could be guilty of hubris it would be him’.
bb@309, i’d not drown those puppies. much.
bath, i’d want to see what vela could do again with the HFB. he *is* more of a pure striker, and if we went with a 4-4-2, or anything that allowed the two of them to play up front he could maybe make a difference.
and samir can go suck his poodle’s big hairys. he certainly doesn’t deserve to be on the team, and given his attitude most probably mirrors his femme fatale’s, deschamps made the right call.
porco, hull’s not playing obafemi martins, so i worry less. but i get your anxiety. i see that fucking play in my nightmares.
If anything – Na$ri’s tweets in response to his girlfriends reaction in that article merely substantiate Deschamps decision. I imagine that the laugh a minute fiasco that the French provided for everyone in the last WC might have somehow come back to haunt poor old Sami considering his “personality” was muted to have been one of the main disruptive influences at the heart of the trouble in the camp.
As Edith used to say, “Non, Je ne regret les biens”.
heh@joe. tres les biens.
Trev,
Its not that I’m worried about the result, but if Hull do actually win, I’ll probably have to move to North Korea to avoid the abuse 🙂
Joe, you won’t be safe there too. Kim Jung whatever is a big Spurs fan, didn’t you know? Apparently Levy has asked him for the genetic materials if the team that were 3-0 up against Portugal in 66 World Cup before losing it. Classic Spurs material.
Interesting news, big Phil Scolari has been charged for criminal offense in Portugal about some yet to be divulged crime during his tenure as the national coach.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tax evasion apparently, Dr F.
Maybe ‘Arry Yappyapp could advise him on how to escape conviction.
You need to get a dog, and fast, Phil. 😉
Luis Suarez has issued his come-get-me plea:
When asked about interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid, he said: “I don’t want to answer that. I try to avoid press speculation.
“I know what I want and what my agent says is good for me, but I don’t want to comment on speculation.”
Expect this one to drag on through the summer.
The way I see it is that Hull have got absolutly nothing to lose, they are massive underdogs, have been pretty poor in the last few games, in fact they haven’t won since scraping past Shefield in the semis, drawing with an awful Fulham and losing away to Manure and Villa, while being defeated on home turf by Everton and ofcourse us in the “dress rehersal”. Except it wasn’t really a “dress rehersal” was it, because the two players that started upfront for them are ineligable to play in the cup final meaning that they are even weaker going into Saturday………..
This scares me no end.