The Circle Of Summer
Jun 5th, 2014 by 'holic
Another day, another Twitter storm about that Catalan bloke. It drives me nuts. Almost as much as people moaning about the fact that Twitter is all about that Catalan bloke. A contradiction? You bet I am.
Over the course of the past season I got swept along with the highs of the 2013 part of it. The opening day aside, which would become a reference point later in the season, we played with a mixture of pragmatism interspersed with occasional genius and deservedly swept to the top of the table.
In 2013 life was good. Aaron Ramsey had suddenly turned from an ugly and seriously abused duckling into a true footballing swan. It was as if the arrival of Mesut Ozil had rung alarm bells in him. “I have to start performing or I won’t get a game.” Perform he, and Ozil did.
The false highs of that opening half of the season would make what followed in the new year far worse. There was a warning eleven days before Christmas. A crazy 3-6 reverse at Middle Eastlands but we could have just as well nicked it 6-5, and so we carried on with a clean sheet at home to Chelsea, followed by eight wins and a draw in League and Cup. It was a blip, a freak, surely?
Then we went to Anfield and shipped five, and although we got revenge in the FA Cup for that mauling there followed defeats at home to Bayern and away to Stoke that sounded real alarm bells. Not the strongest of trees in the face of an impending storm I was bending with the wind. Increasingly I reminded me of Victor Meldrew, irritated with the disaffected and yet certainly understanding some of the opinions of discontent, when sensibly and rationally expressed.
Shorn of Ramsey, Ozil, and Walcott we seemed one dimensional, lacking in any kind of spark. My pessimism gene unleashed pints of whatever chemical it is that hits the ‘pissed off’ button. When Chelsea, then disappointingly Everton, mauled us and ended any realistic title aspirations I reached a very personal nadir.
I don’t mind admitting to all now, though only two people at the time, that I was seriously considering my options at the end of the season. The fun had gone out of it. Going to a game dreading the atmosphere, wondering if it was going to erupt into physical rather than verbal furore. There may have been a time when the prospect of a little brouhaha might have added to the excitement of the day, but those days are happily in the past.
The closing weeks prompted some reconsideration. An FA Cup semi-final win for us, and defeat for Manchester City provided more than a good opportunity at ending the ‘no trophy in x years’ bollocks. Ramsey and Ozil returned. Five wins on the bounce secured a Champions League qualifier. Meldrew was slowly being exorcised.
After the last home game the neighbour persuaded me to sign up for one more year in one of the best seats in the house. Defeat against Hull at Wembley may have swung me back the other way but thankfully I will never know. That day at Wembley will not be forgotten.
These days the football experience, for me anyway, is as much about the social side as the football. A truly diverse and fabulous group of people make the Tollington the pub of choice on matchdays. The community draws you in, adds to the richness of the experience. We celebrate the highs and furiously debate the lows, share pints and laughs aplenty.
A couple of our finest shared Cup Final day with me, for which I will always be grateful. The day started with fine dining and good wine, and ended with a silver pot being paraded by a team that deserved to emerge from a crazy nine months, nine years even, with something.
Yet even at the point at which we should have been at our most delirious the fact that I had chosen to dine in a Pinner restaurant rather than glug pints in a packed pub led one twat with whom I am not acquainted to dismiss me as a typical plastic, or some such soubriquet. I doubt his Dad enjoyed jaunts to places like Istanbul, Leipzig, and Belgrade for the love of the club and an education in street-wise in different times.
So it’s all about you, I hear you say, and yes it is. That’s because there is no news and I can’t stand the reiteration of entrenched views on social media sites, and less still the expression of frustration at those repetitious spats to which I add. I have come full circle. It’s summer, get out and enjoy the garden, the pub garden, the rivers, the green fields, Do something, anything, and share that with me on Twitter. I really couldn’t give a fig about that Catalan bloke right now. Ta muchly.
226 Responses to “The Circle Of Summer”
first?
Catalan bloke?
Who’s that?
Quite right you are ‘holic. Bike ride for me. 🙂
Trophy?
Just in from cricket coaching although summer only in name at the moment.
Nice write up Holic.
Even in times where there seems to be nothing to write about you still manage to write quality stuff. More power to you, Guv. P.S. “I really couldn’t give a fig about that Catalan bloke right now.” What did Dr. C do to deserve that?
Haha, Cent. Good point, but I’m sure the good Doc knows who I mean by that 🙂
Hope all ok mate. Thinking of you.
Masterful, master. I doff my cap.
Cheered me up big time.
Off to get a life. 🙂
Nice one H.
Rock bottom for me was Chelsea away.
The Cup Final though more than made up for it – such a pleasure and relief after being teased these last nine years.
Going to enjoy the summer, ignore the madness, and travel plans permitting, see you all down the Ems for the first home game of the season (although we may need to be drawn away on match day one for that to happen).
Anaesthetic of choice on the bar from me, for all.
All good as can be here, mate.
Free beer? I’m in!
You’re quite right Holic. Get away from the game and focus on something other than football….until next Thursday that is!
My neighbour has eventually given up his ticket to me but he hasn’t been for several years. His reasons are similar in some ways to the ones you outline but in some ways they are quite different. He deeply resents Wenger, Kroenke et al. According to him we apparently have no chance of winning the league. We have only a fourth place trophy …and the FA Cup! Yet he watched us through the late sixties, mid seventies and mid- eighties when we were nowhere near this good!
So it’s not about the football it’s about what the game has become. Something unsavoury has wormed its way into the game. Many of the football community now do not feel it in the same way as we did then. But on days like Cup Final day we realise it is still there and that it probably, hopefully won’t ever go away.
I use to dream of having an Arsenal season ticket. Now I have two but I don’t get excited about the game in the way I used to. But try taking them away from me ! I guess it’s just that 2014 is different from 1971 and 1979 and 1989. Maybe it’s the social media, maybe it’s modern life . Arsenal has changed but deep down its still Arsenal, it’s still wonderful and we are so lucky to have the love if this great club.
Even before we signed Ozil, I had the distinct feeling that this was going to be a double winning season. We had a fantastic squad, and the best manager in the country. What was not to like? So a substantial amount of money was wagered at the 60-1 being offered by many against any such happening – and then we signed Mesut! I was in clover and prepared myself to buy the ‘bevy of choice’ (that’ll be a Glenfiddich for you, Holic?”) for many come May.
We hit a bump in the road in the first game. How the boo and bleat brigade booed and bleated after just one game. Sad. I was unfazed but disappointed by the Ox’s injury, followed quickly by one similar to Poldi. We began to roll and by December we were top of the league and looking spectacularly positioned to lift the top two trophies. Yes, we’d lost ‘heavily’ at middle-Eastlands but with two on-side goals being incorrectly ruled off (just ask Michael Owen) and the late award of a non-penalty, that game just showed how we could match the oil sheiks on their own turf.
And then the attrition started. Ramsey on December 26, Walcott (only just back) versus Spuds, Wilshere for England, Ozil after 4 minutes in Munich and Koscielny against I can’t remember who. Not just five but arguably our very best five. As Hee Haw Hansen might have said “Ye dinnae win titles wi’ yer best five missin’, son”.
No other team in Europe lost their best five simultaneously. Had they done so, their competitiveness would have been nullified completely. But not Arsenal! Our team battled on superbly. There were low points among the many great highs I enjoyed watching our team play. The lowest for me was the trip to Everton and back, complete with a six hour jam on the M6, to wash down a defeat in which it was evident that moral and confidence were at their lowest. But that was the day Rambo came back, Ozil shortly after and even without Theo and LJW we began to win again and “what might have been” was evident to the blindest eye.
And in the end, we did indeed do a very special double – the FA Cup Double in a single season. Only one, only Arsenal. Unfortunately I didn’t have that at 60-1 ☺ And then things got even better. Arsene signed for another three years imbuing golden glow on my season tickets which are glowing brightly in my wallet. A superb year – AND with the new Puma and Emirates deals, Arsene now actually has some real money to spend. Can things possibly get any better?
Hit them hard, hit them straight, Holic and I’ll see you in August. Thank you sincerely for yet another Great Year of Goonerholic. There is only one!
Thank you bath and zico, both of whom contributed much for the season and at Wembley to keep my spirits up, and I hope BtM drops by, for without him my Wembley day would have been very different.
This place shall remain an Arsenal haven, regardless of where and when I choose to watch us.
We crossed 🙂
Victor Meldew and ‘holic……
One foot in the Grove. 🙂
Great stuffs ‘holic — really enjoyed that. The most bizarrely memorable season for many a year — the highs and lows of being a Gooner. Anfield and Stamford Bridge the lows (I’d given up hope by the time we were beat at Everton). But the highs more than made up for it, especially Arsene’s new contract and the Cup, of course.
Thanks for documenting a great season, always a pleasure to read. And thanks too, to all the regulars and other contributors — likes ‘holic, class acts, the lot of you.
Now, what’s all this about some Spanish geezer…
Simply some of the best stuff you’ve ever written, Holic.
Miss everyone and hope all is ok with you.
Nite holics.
Nursie!!! Great to see you hop all is well.
Oh, yeah. Good write up H. Excellent stuff from btm too.
Nursie back!!
I’ll take that as a win, 🙂
abb, You are the best, and it’s us who miss you. Please try to check in more often, and all the best to you. 🙂
If you typed all that lot on a laptop H you’ve done seriously well.
Top posts also from TTG and BTM
For me our season was a bit like sex for the elderly.
Bit of a hiccup getting started,then got up a head of steam,flagged a bit half way through,then got going again and managed a good finish.
cheers
The Sweeper.
Only 72 days to kick off.!!
BtM. Great post by you too. 🙂
Top summary guv’.
I’ll add my 2 and a half cents tomorrow, too busy now.
ps, top posts by TTg and BTM.
Zico, you and me mate, in N7’s garden of zen, pull up a chair, I got da good shit. 😎
Torres now tapping up Cesc on the Chelsea side.
http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2014/06/chelsea-transfers-torres-urges-blues-to-sign-fabregas/?
Actually, I had forgotten Torres still played for Chelsea. I always have admired his salary to minutes played ratio. 😉
Nail on head from Holic, further wisdom from TTG and a post to put a smile on my face from BtM.
It’s been said before, but there are two elements to football now: the stuff that keeps the Sky news ticker rolling and the bit that gets played on grass. The former is the source of much of the misery, the latter is the root of nearly all the joy, as that wonderful Wembley moment confirmed.
I sense a certain restlessness in the bar for the simple reason that in the absence of boots on turf, that ticker is all we’re left with, and what an ugly sight it so often is.
Hang in there six more days and we will have a World Cup to keep us occupied, and thank the stars for that, even if it ain’t what it used to be.
Until then, I suggest we eek a little more delight from those cup final replays, trust that those at the club will get more right than wrong and studiously ignore all the other bollocks until such time as formal announcements of good or bad news are made.
This bar is at its best when it speaks to the joy we all share in this game, and at its worst when we let the gossip mongers give us the heeby jeebies; I’m sure we’ve all been there before.
Roll on next Thursday, roll on August and here’s to a summer free from needless anxiety.
COYG
Just in case it wasn’t obvious throughout the whole season…..
I’m a big fan of N7.
Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Holic – unfortunately there are twats the world over! I have the displeasure of working with at least two at the moment.
Good beer will get us through it! Unfortunately my FA ticket fell through at the last minute so I didn’t make the trip from down under. Missed a great day it seems! At least there will be a new date at the Ems from August.
I will have a couple of Young Henrys hop ales for you after work today to celebrate the holic community…
Heh. The feeling is entirely mutual.
Might I recommend that anyone still suffering transfer window anxiety report directly to H2H in the Psychedelic Serenity Wing of the Zen Garden, where he will prescribe as necessary.
My koan to help you all meditate:
Does Cesc have Arsenal DNA?
That is the hardest question of all.
If you answer yes or no,
You will lose you own Arsenal DNA.
Great piece ‘holic.
I’s got da shit y’all need. 😎
holic, well said. i am with cent on this one, and from the last bar i think it was faustus who said because we’re so overwhelmed with actual pain in the world (paraphrasing) we enlarge and make hyperbolic simple things like the transfer window and its affects.
putting down my towel in the zen7’s garden, just on the edge of the plane tree’s shade, but arm’s length from the dutchie…
“So it’s all about you, I hear you say, and yes it is. That’s because there is no news and I can’t stand the reiteration of entrenched views……… ”
Indeed, Holic, a lot of it was about you, and all the better for it.
Those of us who know you could make a pretty good guess at what lies between the written lines of each carefully measured match report.
But it is always interesting and, in a way, reassuring when you occasionally lay your true feelings bare.
This bar has taught me over time to stop, wait and think before burdening others with immediate post match frustrations on our less good days. But it is good to know that those feelings are not always completely out of step with what sometimes lies beneath those measured words.
And a mighty “hear, hear” to the bit about the reiteration of entrenched views.
Other than that, that is a pretty fine summary of what was overall a positive season, punctuated by a couple of horrendous blips away from home and our even worse than usual injury crisis.
However, the team recovered, we’re still here, and by August faith will have been restored that we will win the league again next season.
Bloody football, eh ? 😉
Good stuff above from N7, ttg,
and a bit more reluctant positivity from BtM. 😉
And damn good to see Nursie at the bar again. 😉
Trev, you are truly a friendship I value, thank you. Roll on August, and a mobile you. Please.
Trev.
Even when on dodgy knees, you stand head and shoulders above most. I love the way you can find humour even on the darkest days.
A tip of the hat to you sir and I hope your recovery is swift.
and heh @ scruz.
Arms length is not far enough to avoid the contact buzz. 😕
Humbled by the kind words, Holic, and H2H, and right back at both of you.
h2h, i meant arm’s reach…:)
nurse, welcome home. i’ve missed you, as has damn near everyone else who put an oar in the lake of opinion. i hope you’re well, and better and better.
Just when I was expecting ‘holic would take a much deserved siesta up he comes with another piece of erudite perspective. Congratulations sir!
And I’m delighted to hear you still have it in you, Clive. We elderly statesmen know about these things. Like the old bulls and the younger bulls surveying a field of cows … “Let’s charge down there and screw ourselves one of them cows”, say the young bulls. “No,” say we older, wiser bulls, “let’s stroll down and fuck ALL of them”.
Öskar
Oskar
I was speaking Metaphorically.!!
Been a good debate on here recently,apart that is from a couple of
Preachy,Holier than thou sermons from a certain scribe that made me bilious.
No not you Tabs.
But i am sure i probably come across like that to others as well,so i refrain from responding,as everyone has different ways of expressing their thoughts.
I cannot raise a gallop for the World Cup,zero interest apart from wishing our players a safe tournament and return to the Arse injury free.
abb: Good to hear from you again. Stay strong.
Guv’nor: it is all about you because you keep us honest.
All the regulars, even the most irregular among you: Players are temporary. Fans are permanent. We are here because we care — whether we stood on the North Bank in the ’60s or have only ever known the luxury of the Emirates.
Wake me up on Aug 16th when the new season starts.
For me, this season began with me barely able to breathe while we were top of the league, hoping against hopes that we would stay top all the way. I dared not let myself count the chickens before they were hatched for fear of a mental breakdown if it were to end badly. It was all too good to be true, and I felt that someone must be playing the most elaborate practical joke on gooners. We were getting the results and continuing to defend as well as we were defending at the end of the previous season. Ramsey, who I’ve never really rated, was convincing me to think otherwise. Everyone was working hard for the shirt, and there was noone we could accuse of slacking off and simply collecting a paycheck.
There were quite a few highs at that point in time and then came our crazy match against City.
After the Manchester City result, I still felt a bit encouraged because despite the team coming off the plane a few hours before kick off and being as exhausted as Shaft after giving his girlfirend a piggy back ride, we managed to score 3 goals and should’ve had more.
After that match, it felt like we made a slight change to our game plan. Instead of trying to blow teams away at the beginning of matches then protect the score, it seemed like we then decided to focus on winning the game in the second half. And so we continued to plow on in the league.
I was fairly content as we got results without seeming to play that well.
So, despite the drop of performance levels I was fairly expectant when we went to Anfield. However, the result was devastating. We had previously conceded only 1 goal in 10 matches and yet had conceded 4 in 15 minutes here. Being the only gooner in a bar full of Scousers and LWCs while wearing all my Arsenal gear was probably one of the most humiliating nights of my entire life. Players can usually write these games off and get one with the game but I think that match left an indelible mark on my psyche. As such, it was so gratifying to boot them out of the FA Cup shortly after. A lowlight followed by a highlight, and contrary to the prediction I made in the holic bar, as I had predicted that we would beat them in the league and lose in the FA Cup.
From then on though, due to injuries and other factors well expounded on in the bar, we started seeing more bad performances than good, and after the Chelsea result I truly felt that we were witnessing the end of the reign of our most successful manager.
After falling out of the title race, I was so furious at the way we were proving those idiotic “pundits” right. Even though I knew that a broken clock is right twice a day, I was unable to stop myself from then entering a state of apathy, where watching matches seemed more and more like a chore. Everything was back to normal, a top 4 finish looked nailed on, despite the Toffees claiming otherwise, and the FA cup looked out of reach too seeing as we would probably have to play Manchester City after they pound Hull into the ground.
Then two things happened, the return of the “out for three weeks” squad members, and the Poznan Citizens being mauled by eleven tigers.
“Hello, what’s this?” I thought to myself.
And all of a sudden, my state of mind moved from one of sullen acceptance to extreme anxiety as we took on Wigan, the cup holders. Could this really be our year?
Two hours and a smiling penalty from Kallstrom later, we had sealed our place in the final after a penalty shootout and were all going crazy at the prospect of a final, and a trophy at long last.
But were we really going to do it this time?
I dared not even think of the final, or even think about discussing it with anyone.
“Don’t jinx it, don’t you dare jinx it,” I thought, really believing that the outcome would really depend on the loose words being exchanged by a man in Kobe.
The news of us organizing a bus parade prior to the final made me uneasy as well…until I realized that Hull City did the same thing.
And so, I alternated between moments of strong belief and emotional frailty until the final began.
And then we were 2 nil down.
And then it was almost 3 nil.
But all of a sudden it was 2-1.
And while lighting what must have been my 50th cigarette, it became 2-2.
Then it was 3-2, but I didn’t celebrate the goal at all. I was too stunned to do anything but wait for the final whistle.
And then it came, along with the feeling that an elaborate joke had been played on all gooners.
“We didn’t just win a trophy after all this time, did we?”
It only sunk in when Vermaelen held aloft the magical FA cup and ever since then, it’s been like Christmas for me.
So what began as a test of faith ended with a little reward for years of suffering, and a sense of pride in being part of an epic final.
I will now look forward to the World Cup, and being able to watch matches without feeling any sort of stress whatsoever. Let’s hope it’s a good one!
UTA
Just had to get that off my chest like 😉
Cannons
Stupendous post. Well done.
Although what 50 cancer sticks will have done to your lungs i dread to think.!!
cheers
The Sweeper
Nice, honest blog that.
I’m taking a year away from the stadium, living abroad, so I’ll be watching every minute on TV. Honestly, I can’t say I’m sad for the enforced sabbatical. The atmosphere at the stadium whilst occasionally stunning – Bayern at home will be a long lasting memory – too quickly deteriorates into dialogue. I love Arsenal and can’t get enough of it, so I’ll jump about any transfer tattle to get my raving fix, but during the match I prefer just to watch the game. To enjoy the football. More than anything I appreciate Arsene for the football.
I never particularly gave a hoot about the ‘x years no trophy’ bit, wasn’t my agenda. Similarly, I can’t say I seem as excited as most about the FA Cup. Maybe because I missed out on a ticket, but maybe not. I went to every one in Cardiff and whilst the Chav game stood out, Liverpool remains more memorable than Southampton for some reason. Anyway, after a while the ‘spend, spend, spend’ and ‘why is this c**t playing’ on a boys debut wore me down a bit. Whatever I say elsewhere, I am always hyper-positive in the ground and do my best to make some noise to get behind the team. (Quality of that effort often depends on whether the tipple was drunk or smoked, I must admit.) I spent a few years in Spain sat 3 feet from a 4 foot screen stoned out of my nut absorbing every second without even the drone of infuriating English commentary. They were good times. The heyday of Cesc no less. I can go back to that for a season.
For the first time in 17 years of Arsene I lost it over the Chav game. I stuck in there, had an extra £20 on us to win the league pre-Swansea, but after that I folded and it all got at me. Not to him and not in our boy’s 1000th game. It wasn’t the 3 points, it was that there was nothing to love in that football, absolutely nothing. In truth, the damage to our season was done earlier. We blew it at home to the Chavs and Everton in December.
I still hold concerns that we won’t do what we should in terms of player recruitment to really gives us the edge to win serious history. I personally can’t write off the capitulations in Liverpool, twice, and West London as injury induced. You adjust, you adapt, you fight if you have to. Our squad when we lost to the red scousers was decent, look it up, some “super quality” there. It’s old news, but honestly, it still lingers and beating Hull hasn’t cleansed it for me. I just hope that the scrap to get through in the semi and final has given this team an edge it lacked before. (Anyone better than Wigan and Hull would have punished us for it, but that is the game, can only beat what’s in front of you.)
Onwards and upwards for next season. Here’s to a good transfer window, a stunning World Cup, and a team that can grow around the talents of Wilshere, Ramsey, Ozil in midfield. Silk, milk, and biscuits. Over to you Arsene.
UTA.
Rakitic €20million a steal for Barca if true.
Scousers really already added a striker, central midfielder, and a left-back?
#TickTockIvan
A brilliant post, Holic. Sums up why this place is the best place to visit for reasoned, respectful debate.
Whoever we end up adding to our squad by September, I’m sure next season will be even better.
If you feel fed up or frustrated during all the paper-driven speculation drivel over the next three months or so, just remember: you could have been a spud!
Yes ‘holic. You fuckin’ star. Proper.
Oh yes.
I love getting the half-ton, reminds me of the weight of my hefty lady.
Groovy.
@45: Thanks for the kind words Clive! The ciggees did less harm than watching the Arsenal play did to my psyche I think 😉
The nadir of my Season didn’t happen against Everton, Liverpool, Chelski or Citeh.
It happened yesterday when Geoff & the BBC confirmed my very worst fears that we have passed on Cesc and I would commend Clive for calling it perfectly.
Whenever I see a press release from Gazidis about us being in “deep conversations” about transfers when contemporaneously, Mourinho has gone and signed Costa and what looks increasingly like Fabregas now, I become increasingly skeptical. And its only the 6th of June.
The ever superb Arseblogger sums up my feelings perfectly this morning.
I will now wait, and to be honest it’s with a high degree of skepticism, to see who Wenger will actually sign and regard as better options than passing on one of the very best creative midfielders in the world.
If passing on Cesc is also his definition of “being the best that we can be”, well then he has just given many an Arsenal fan a big stick to wield if he gets it wrong.
Holic appears to have served the tonic 😆
Highs = The FA Cup run and 129 day dominance
Lows = 12:45 kick offs on BT Sport
Right, King suite booked for the Emirates cup weekend. Row 5 for Sat and row 6 for sun.
Bring on the sun
Joe – The latest is that Maureen has confirmed interest, but state he is monitoring the situation, whilst Ivan Gazidis said that we have to ‘look at our budget’ when asked about our interest at the AGM. I won’t mention who I’m referring to, but he’s Catalan!! I believe it is these statements which are generating speculation from the BBC.
Terrific read, what a nice way to put across that we dont care for that barca dna reject. Let him to wherever he wants, though i still believe he will stay there itself. he is not a need nor a necessity, we have bigger targets to reach so lets start with a DM first.
He going to a rival and strengthening them is a hollow logic. We strengthen our team and should not worry about them doing the same. What we have is a crux of players who are fantastic and we just need as Kos said yesterday 4 players who will reinforce the areas we need to do so.
The AST meeting gave interesting details, the DM position seems to be on the back burner and striker seems to be the priority, i think DM is the most important position we need to strengthen.
Joe
i understand your frustration,but unfortunately the numbers don’t equate for another creative midfielder to be added to the mix.
If you take the back 5 and add the DMF, allow for what we assume will be 2 strikers, that only leaves 3 slots left to fill.
So we have the following players all vying for those positions.
Santi, Wilshere, Ozil ,Ramsey, Walcott, The Ox,and that’s leaving out the likes of Poldi, Diaby and Rosicky.
if you assume that Ozil and Ramsey were shoe ins for 2 slots,then you can see the conundrum,when you have Santi/Wilshere/Walcott/The Ox,all vying for one spot.
So quite where Not so absolutely Fab would have fitted in is beyond me.
As it is,when everyone is fit, we will have a few Grumpies on the subs bench.
I know you need a big squad,but our problems lie in other areas of the team rather than another pygmy added to the midfield.
Let me make it clear from the start: I want us to sign Cesc. Let there be no misunderstanding about that.
HOWEVER…
If Arsene really has decided he doesn’t want to do business in this case, there can be a million reasons why. The usual “it’s madness, he’s lost it, we can’t allow him to go to a direct rival” etc etc etc is brought forward.
But what if Arsene knows something we don’t? I would wager that it’s quite likely that less than ten people in the whole world know Cesc Fabregas better than Arsene Wenger does. Maybe he feels Cesc isn’t actually motivated to come back to Arsenal as such and just wants to be closer to his daughter and missus? Maybe Cesc demanded to be made captain? Maybe his wage demands were outrageous? Maybe he feels Cesc’s personality would be disruptive? Et cetera et cetera.
Or maybe Cesc just doesn’t want to come back? Maybe he sees the competition as too strong? If he were to return, we couldn’t change the whole team around to suit him as that just wouldn’t work with the players we’ve got. It would be impossible to give him a role where he plays centrally and nothing but centrally. We play a very fluid midfield formation and I can certainly see the argument that Cesc, for all his wonderful qualities on the ball, would hinder more than help in that respect. I don’t neccessarily agree that that would be the case, but if Arsene would think it would then I trust him to know a shitload more than I do about it.
I am also not at all convinced Cesc would be a guaranteed success at Chelsea. Mourinho basically wants all his players to defend first and attack later, and if we assume that Cesc ends up at Chelsea because he wasn’t really left with any other options, how motivated will he be to give it everything he’s got? Let us not forget that while he is still only 27, he’s already played at the highest level for ten years. It’s not uncommon for players who break through early to start losing their motivation early as well. Maybe that is something that Arsene has taken into consideration as well?
I do of course have no idea whatsoever about the reasons for Arsene not wanting to sign Cesc, assuming that is actually true. But there can be an infinite number of reasons other than “Arsene has lost the plot”.
And yes, it would sting if he does sign for Chelsea. I would hate it. I have adored Cesc as a player since the first time I saw him kick a ball for us back in 2004, but I do try to analyse the situation with as little emotion as possible and as I have said above I can see possible reasons that are actually quite rational and logical for not signing him.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, time to do what I meant to do which is adress what Holic wrote 🙂
These days the football experience, for me anyway, is as much about the social side as the football. A truly diverse and fabulous group of people make the Tollington the pub of choice on matchdays. The community draws you in, adds to the richness of the experience. We celebrate the highs and furiously debate the lows, share pints and laughs aplenty.
I could not agree more. I would never have flown over to England as often as I do if it had just been about the flight, hotel, go to the Emirates, back to the hotel and flight home. Never ever. It is so much more than that. Friendships have been formed thanks to our mutual love for football in general and the Arsenal in particular, and this for me is worth so much more than any trophy in the world could ever be.
Right, time for a bit of lunch and then some very active lazying about as today is a public holiday in Sweden so no work and all play for this Swede today!
Great post, guv’ – with you all the way on the ups & downs.
The great thing about back-drinking, apart from the laughs contained therein, is that it’s possible to summarise my own position by short references. So I’m absolutely with Joe@52 and Lars@58 (and arseblogger today) on Cesc and The Sweeper@41 on the WC.
Sweeper@57 “when everyone is fit” – huh, dreamland.
Just read this from Woy: “anyone who thinks we can’t win has to be barking up the wrong tree”
Woof woof.
Clive,
I accept and indeed respect everything you say sir.
We spent all of last summer trying to buy world class players and we largely failed to get our targets – and it wasn’t down to a question of money. Now here we are this summer, and we’re apparently turning down a proven world class player who I believe is better than any midfield player we currently have at the club and in some of those cases by quite some distance. If you have no room for a player like that in the current squad, you do as any big club would: you make room. But you don’t turn an option like that down.
Lars,
I take your point 100% mate about Wenger knowing the situation best. But none of the reasons proffered make sense to me (i.e Cesc has never struck me as being motivated by money or egotistical to a point of being unreasonable). Like everyone else, we call only form opinions on what we see and understand ourselves. The lads a world class player. We have a concrete option to buy a world class player. I feel you have to take that as a starter and build upon it as opposed to spending the remaining months in the summer hoping to signing someone else of that ilk.
Can anyone explain to me the plethora of sites peddling sheer garbage on transfers (and other stuff of course). I guess they want to get hits but why do they want to get hits? Is it because then someone might click through on an advert which will pay them a few cents?
Just trying to understand the business model.
Joe speaks an awful lot of sense on Fabregas as does Clive even though their views are at opposite ends of the scale. I don’t have the antipathy towards him that several posters on here do. However I understand his last year was a fraught one and only someone with the class and discretion of Wenger would have swept most of that under the carpet.
Lars is also right that nobody in football knows Fabregas better than Wenger so be clearly has his reasons for passing on this one.
I just wish Cesc would go to play outside the EPL.
I’m getting fed up with the rubbish that is being published
Don’t believe the Casillas story has a shred of truth in it. Usual Spanish propaganda. Great goalie but his Madrid DNA won’t let him go anywhere else. This is about a better contract.
Some friends of mine think we are keen on Reus and this explains other decisions including Cesc. Like all fans I just want us to get deals done before the World Cup . If we don’t natives will get restless and it will seem uncannily like last close season.
Joe, personally I don’t believe Cesc wants unreasonable money. But I do accept that Arsene knows far more than I do and that I won’t try to pin any blame on anyone until I know a lot more about why things are happening.
Talking of Twitter, the official mouthpiece when it comes to Cesc’s comings and goings Guillem Balague had this to say:
“Cesc hasn’t got a deal with Chelsea, it doesn’t matter what Pique or others say. Not yet. Conversations taking place but NO DEAL YET”. Not yet” @ 1 day ago.
“The Cesc transfer won’t take place today-not done yet fully. So relxed lunch by the beach before Brazil trip for me” @ 2hrs ago
So there’s still life yet in the old cause guys. Despair not! 🙂
Oh hang on, spoke too soon. Just scrolled down and saw this:
“Arsenal don’t want Cesc back and he has been told that already by Arsenal” @ 4 days ago
Oh well, I’ll get me coat! 🙁
Another summer with a manky transfer story looming over us 🙁
Kmt!!
“Arsenal bloody Arsenal!!”
I see you guys are having another Cescy conversation.
Let’s face it, Cesc is no saint and what if Arsene just decided, despite his obvious worth as a player, he just couldn’t be arsed with Darren Dein?
Anyhoo, that’s my last drink about inability to partake in paid-for Cesc this summer.
World Cup and all that to look forward to.
Exciting times ahead!
Don’t understand how some holics are no longer into the tournament.
Always good for easy laughs 🙂
Some great drinks above.
Enjoyed your summary CoR, and sorry to be pedantic, but it was Wigan who knocked out Citeh in the cup, not Hull.
Hi All
I think every one who drinks in here knows and has felt the same way as you did. The rolloer coaster that is being a gooner is far from fun all the time *under statement alert*
This season would have tested the most blinkered of fans to despire 🙁 but we all still love the Arsenal and that will never change no matter how much pain they put us through.
Cheers
Way too much Cesc on the internet for my liking.
The sun is shining and all this beer is not going to drink itself.
57 – some dodgy accounting there mate. We haven’t played with 2 strikers for years. No reason to see that changing, especially with only 1 established player in that potion at the club.
Even if, as we all hope, we sign a “DM” we still play 60+ games a season. Only 4 players made it through over 40 starts last year. (1 was bad and he’s off.) This name 11 players for 11 spots thing is a good decade out of date. As we found out pretty brutally, you need a squad. Imagine if we could have taken 5/6 games from Ozil and Ramsey each up to January and had them fit all season?
Whilst I completely agree with the general sentiment that have other, more pressing needs, Cesc is a huge addition if he comes. Given our new commercial years and years of frugality, it does not prejudice other signings. A winger, a striker, a holding player, a right-back all look necessary, but the last two probably won’t cost huge amounts and I’d wager we get a keeper for free.
Saying we play 4-3-3 (rather than 4-5-1 to compress the midfield spots for arguments sake) we have: Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil long term. After that we have Flamini, Arteta, Rosicky entering the final year of their contracts and Diaby, who is wonderful, but well past relying on; a bonus if he’s fit.
Given Arteta took up the sitting/orchestrating role last season there is no reason Cesc couldn’t do that. We could even add someone and ease them in – first seasons can be tricky – and then be well stocked rather than scrambling next summer when the 30+ lot are out of contract. (The legs are going on all but Rosicky already.)
With 60+ games, that’s 3×60 = 180 starts in the centre of the park. At a decent return of 35 starts a season we need 5 players for the midfield 3, plus some cover. (6 outfield players did 35 or more starts in all comps last year. Only SIX in all positions. Arteta, Rosicky, Flamini went for 38, 25, 25 and those numbers will fall for sure.)
If Arsene doesn’t want Cesc for football reasons then cool. (I can’t see it, at that price, and if the Chavs are the alternative, but he’s the genius not me.) However, it just isn’t true to say that we don’t have space in the squad in his position this season or next.
UTA
Above should read “1 was Bac and he’s off,” not bad.
D’oh.
If you remove the players out of contract this summer from the official website squad list we have:
1 Keeper
6 Defenders
7 Midfielders – (Includes Diaby, plus 3 noted above entering the final year of contracts. Ignores Santi as he plays wide left as an attacker usually and Zelalem who never plays.)
6 Attackers – (Includes Santi, ignores Miyaichi.)
That’s 19 outfield players. It is a tiny squad.
Bring him home Arsene, bring him home.
Last one, if you count Santi, Ox and Gnarby as midfielders, that leaves us 4 listed attackers: Giroud, Poldi, Theo, Sonogo. We could then just invest heavily here on wingers and strikers becoming much more athletic in the process. That would be pretty cool to 🙂
Le Boss must have his plan. He knows 🙂
UTA
I think my only interest in the WC will be watching Costa Rica – apparently they play Campbell as a striker, instead of the winger role he had at Olympiakos, so I want to see how the lad shapes up. If we buy someone new before it starts (two chances – slim and fat), I’ll watch them too.
Having had time to sit down and re read all of the above it highlights one major point. How much all of this plays a part in our lives. We talk about the highs and the lows. We all have opinions. We are all managers at heart. We all believe and we all want what is best for the club. Debates rage on line and in the bars. Football is a universal language with Arsenal being by far the most acceptable dialect.
Last season was a roller coaster of emotion. Just as we dared to believe we were dealt the odd massive reality check. The injuries highlighted by many of course played their part but then you have to ask, as the squad strong enough? The highs and lows culminated in on magical day at Wembley, enjoyed by us all from various points of the globe.
This wonderful bar has brought together many of us and from all different walks of life. Whether you are from distant shores or a regular at the Tollie the bond is a magnificent one. Yet another season has gone by and I’m proud to say that I have shared real drinks with many on here. Always good company win, lose or draw. Everyone has their own opinion and everyone eventually departs, safe in the knowledge that they will return as soon as possible. My hats off to each and everyone of you for making the roller coaster ride a fun and interesting one. To the boss, the drink is on the bar. Heartfelt thanks and many congratulations on a wonderful season.
Until next time……
I see lot of praise in the bar of what Arseblog wrote today about Cesc situation. I find that strange to be honest.
Why strange?
Mainly because I am still waiting usual patrons in this bar to call him deluded and hysterical about something that actually never happened (Cesc sale to Chelsea) and losing his marbles over rumours that some words in a press con may or may not mean.
You know, the things I was told when I write this here THREE days ago
on 04 Jun 2014 at 10:12 pm
Some interesting stuff re Fabregas tonight.
Del Bosque was caught on video when Piqué was telling him that Cesc was sold for €33m, everything points that it’s already confirmed.
Fàbregas is off to England, reports that Arsenal didn’t activate the buyout clause. Who signed him? MCFC, CFC and MUFC the main candidates.
04 Jun 2014 at 10:37 pm
And the funny thing on twitter is that people actually blame Arsene if Fabregas goes to Chelski which seems almost certain at the moment. I wonder what the fuck Fabregas needs to do, for some fans to finally realize that sometimes, not always, but maybe sometimes they can blame Mr. I fakedinjurybecauseIwantedtoplayformychildhoodclub Fabregas.
Arsene, don’t play Maureen’s games, don’t trigger the clause, let him have the little traitor, we are in market for other players, keep it up to the plan.
Spot the difference, this is what Arseblog said today
I fully accept that Arsene Wenger, when making a decision about bringing back Cesc Fabregas, is coming at it from a much more informed position than I am. Only he knows what he’s planning to do this summer in the transfer market and he likely feels that the money at his disposal can be better used elsewhere.</i)
But of course I was wrong and hysterical because I went too emotional
I’ve really lost my nerves and it isn’t even official.
The problem is that I can sense it that he is gone to Chelsea and if there is one club in the world that I hate the most it is Chelsea. I am disturbed, it is like Henry to sign for the Tots ffs.
Cesc was Mr. Arsenal for me, the bastard. I understand somehow when he went to Barca, different league, childhood team, his family were there. But this, this is too much.
As for Arseblog today he is not deluded and not hysterical. He is just spot on.
I also accept fully that there’s an emotional aspect to this for me. I loved Cesc as a player and the idea of him playing for Chelsea, under Mourinho, makes me kinda sick.
He is Arseblog after all and I am not. The main difference however is that I said what I said three days ago.
Sorry for the long post and disturbing you on Cesc matter once again, but some things just need to be said.
Enjoy your day.
Good stuff from the usual suspects above. Special mention in dispatches for Clive, Joe, Lars, and CoR.
As H2H says, the sun is shining and this beer won’t drink itself.
Great post, Steve T.
Chelski web site showing Fab shirt being printed ?
Jumping the gun or done deal ?
At the end of the day not an Arsenal player, so history with the club or not I will concentrate on the players that do actually play for our club !
Alexis Sanchez apparently agreed personal terms with Juve and the whispered transfer fee is around 20m.
http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/111429/alexis-sanchez-edges-nearer-to-barcelona-exit/
Why aren’t we in a part of that story is a mystery to me.
Perfect player for us, can play on the wings and as a striker, fast an powerful, has a hell of a shot, scores headers, has 5 assists in his last two games for Chile and is the one of a few who had double figures (goals/ass) in main European leagues.
Hats off to you holic and a great post! In fact, I am doing the lawn bit right now in sunny N8 and fully support your advice to get out and enjoy! Also, many thanks to all the posters on this blog, you are a bunch of well informed Arsenal posters and I have learned so much over the last year from the discussions.
The Cesc story has no meaning for me since it is pre my time, but obviously he still means a lot to the regulars, either for or against. I feel that if Boss has decided not to exercise the buy back clause then we have to believe he has a good reason.
On another note – how comes no-one mentions Gnabry? I thought he showed some character earlier in the season and seems a great prospect. Has he fallen out of favor?
The Cesc situation is very interesting. My views on the young man are well documented. If reports are to be believed we have officially told Barca that we won’t be invoking the release clause. If true, that does provoke many questions.
Why did we insist on the clause in the first place if we did not intend to take up on it? Whatever my views on Cesc the individuals are he is clearly still a top quality player. That said, we are more than overloaded in midfield. Several in the Tollie felt lad season that we had the best midfield in the league.
So if we have passed up on Cesc does that mean that are irons in the fire are just about to reach boiling point? Is Ivan really deep deep deep in negotiations? Who knows? No doubt, whatever people think of lazy media reporting we all know that we will still be debating the possible ins and outs right up to the beginning of September. Why???? It’s just the way it is.
As for Cesc?? I sincerely hope he remains at Barca and fights for his place. I got one genuinely do not want to see him playing in the premiership for another club.
Any of that beer left H2H??
El Puno
I admire your diligence,but completely disagree.
If we buy a striker,you can bet your life we will play 2 up front.
Man City do and so do Liverpool,and if you think Chelsea won’t,then think again.
The 2 sides with dual strikers left us and Chelsea for dead in the goals for column,and where did they finish, 1st and 2nd.
None of the players i mentioned in my post have the physical stature to play DMF.
If we don’t buy one in the Gilberto/Viera mould i will be very surprised,
So i repeat, we have a minimum of 6 quality players vying for only 3 starting spots.
Which should make the competition for places very competitve.
No one will be complacent next season.
I don’t happen to subscribe to the general consensus that Fabregas is world class either.
He has hardly played in his favored midfield position for Barca or for Spain.
He is also regularly substituted in a lot of games,so he has hardly become indispensable for club or country.
I repeat what i have said many times, Wenger will never BUY back a player who engineers a move from the Club.
We have more than enough tricky midfielders to keep us going through a season.
If you took a Poll of Holic’s on where we need to strengthen, i think you would find the vast majority if not all of them would come up with the same positions,and adding another vertically challenged midfielder wouldn’t be one of them.
Peter, wasn’t Gnabry injured for a large portion of the second half of the season? I believe he will be an integral player for us in the near future, very talented player.
Lurky, yes I believe he was but he just seemed to drop off the radar in any discussions. I also believe he has good Arsenal quality, and hopefully gets to show that next season.
Peter, I think that we should loan Gnabry out to a premier league team and follow his progress. Why not at So’ton for example and use his loan to get better position on Schneiderlin.
Not that Gnabry doesn’t have quality to be in this Arsenal team, but I guess Ox and Walcott are in front of him, so I am not sure that he will get a chance. He is way to good to play for the younger categories and PL loan will do him and us only good.
Clive for manager…..
As usual, we sing from a very similar song sheet.
There were some rumours floating around about Gnabry needing a bit of an attitude correction in the second half of the season, hence his appearing less (in addition to injury).
Could be nonsense, but there you go.
This whole idea that we can’t sign players until after the World Cup is really baffling to me. If we already know the players we need why can’t we go ahead and get it done. I really feel we need a better team doing the negotiations. Truth be told Ivan has been really poor when it comes to transfers. Just get the squad players we need now and go get the world class player (s) later even though I still don’t believe these guys can get those kind of deals done bar ozil, still don’t know how they pulled that off. Just get working already.
And please don’t tell me we don’t need Cesc if he is available at a good price with the whole first refusal deal or whatever claues they have in in there when he was sold. Someone tell me how many times has Wenger included a buy back clause in his players (ex) with the medical team we have we don need more quality bodies in that midfield. People can say all they want about not caring if he goes to Chelsea, but I do care and if we can get him why not do it. He is world class and we do need world class players.
Steve
Absolute pleasure conversing with you this season.
Look forward to doing it again this coming one.
Your young ones are very fortunate to have you as their Dad,taking them to the Emirates.
I remember when my Dad used to take me to Highbury when i was knee high to a grasshopper.
I would drive him mad asking him the time every 5 minutes,i couldn’t wait to get out of the house and start the walk to the local train station for the trip to the Stadium.
For some reason i was always worried that they would start the match without us.!!
But of course my fears were unfounded,and we always arrived in plenty of time.
I used up so much energy that i would always fall asleep on the train home.
My abiding memory is of my big bear of a Dad,many times,carrying me snuggled up in his great big arms,all the way home from the station.
I loved that man more than i can say.
87 – I respectfully disagree that we are switching to 4-4-2, at least nothing at our club suggests we will. That the two teams with quality attackers in the PL scored more is no surprise, it is players not system based. Bayern, Barca, Madrid all pump them in and play 4-3-3/4-5-1 as we do. Mourniho never played 2 up front regularly, can’t see him starting now either.
As I said, i agree we have more urgent needs, no polling needed – it is obvious. However, we also have money to buy Cesc if we want. Given how influential he was for us before it will be hard to find players of that calibre on the “congested” market, as Arsene says.
It is a style point, depending on where he sees Cazorla and AOC playing next year, but based on last seasons team selections, we face the prospect of next summer being down to 3 players in central midfield. More than enough room for him and a physical holding player in our squad. (Ignoring the fact that the legs are shot on Flamini and going on Arteta.)
As the numbers from last year show (which you ignored) we need 6 players each playing 35 games, plus some extra squad filler, just to fill the starting spots through a season. Not something that looks likely to happen with only 6 players, unless this new fitness coach manages some special turnaround.
Teams take 20 outfield players to a World Cup that lasts 7 games at longest. We have that for a 60 game season at present. The need for a deep squad will only be magnified in a World Cup shortened summer.
Whether we get Cesc or not is one thing, but there is no basis to say that as a club there is no room in our squad for him. He is an obvious improvement.
84 – stunning if that is true. Arsene and Ivan must really have something cooking to be sitting some of these out… :/
Interesting analysis on Fabregas days as a Barca player, from a Barca fan. Worth reading, it made me feel better.
https://storify.com/LordMoloch/the-cesc-story
Wow. Barca fans really don’t like Cesc!
Here’s the thing: to me, if Cesc is available at the quoted price, and we have a buy-back option, we should sign him.
But… and it’s a big, Danny Wallace-sized but….
If Arsene Wenger doesn’t want to do so, then that does changes things, for me. Why? Well, because Wenger knows the player better than pretty much anyone in football, Wenger knows how much we have to spend, Wenger knows who our other targets are, and how he sees the squad developing (for instance: could we see a Ramsey-esque blossoming of Jack Wilshere next term?).
He has vastly superior information to me, in virtually all relevant areas, and if he’s decided that we shouldn’t move for Fabregas, then that changes my view.
Classic, mindless “Arsene Knows”-ism, right?
Except that there are some topics on which I’m sure we can agree that Arsene probably DOES know more than virtually anyone, and Cesc Fabregas is one of them. I don’t propose that we all simply disengage brains and nod along with whatever the club does, but on this one…. Arsene has a pretty good record for knowing when one of his charges has peaked.
It could turn out to be a massive clanger, and Cesc could rattle in 25 goals for a rival club as we all look on in horror. But that’s not the only scenario. There’s a scenario where his best years might be behind him, or where he moves to a club that don’t know how to use him properly, or where he simply gets injured. Hell, there remains a scenario where he stays at Barca, or goes to PSG.
I don’t know if that helps anyone feel better, but it’s how I see the whole thing right now. Players linked with rivals always seem to grow a foot taller in the mind, but if there’s one thing I took from last summer it’s that you have to wait to see how it all works out before getting too worried. Remember that expensively assembled Spurs team that was coming to crush us?
BAMMMM
Well in, H2H. Loic Remy-esque.
Lurky @ 98: I have heard this line of thought before. Cesc did look like a misfit sometimes, positionally unsure.
I had mentioned that BBC interview of Klinsmann before, there he was comparing the managers he played under, and he said the singularly fantastic quality about Wenger even back then at Monaco was his ability to reasonably predict how a player’s career would pan out, in which directions he is best suited to evolve and what kind of roles he should evolve into. That ability was unmatched he said.
I don’t think we will ever get the Cesc of 09-10 season back. And it is not entirely unlikely that starting out so early in such a prominent role he would lose the appetite and the physical conditioning earlier than the most.
If Arsene is not willing to sign him back, then I think there are deeper reasons that fitting him in the squad or team morale (Jack, Theo, Rambo they all love Cesc) , something to do with Cesc’s game or how it has evolved … that we probably don’t see but maybe obvious to Arsene.
There’s always enough beer here Steve, 🙂
Interesting link that Lurky.
A totally different perspective.
=======
It was a no brainer that Cesc HAD to go to Barca. He was one of their own and all the fans wanted him no matter what……..
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it!?
Cheers N7.
SAG @ 93
This is a quote from IG at yesterdays members meeting:
IG: “Özil was announced on the last day of the window. A deal like that takes a long time. We worked with Real Madrid for months.”
Make of it what you wish 😉
@98 Lurky, wow that is some damning analysis.
Just occurred to me how Barca’s trophies have somewhat dried up..
anyways, one thing I love about our post Cesc years is our direct style of football.
Wiith Judas, we were more direct in the 2011/12 season. And players such as Jack and Aaron are much more direct than the mind numbingly slow football that we used to play with $amir and Cesc.
Now dont get me wrong, Im the biggest Cesc fan you will ever find and would love to have him back.. But only if he can adapt to our current style of play.
No tiki taka zzzz please.
Just out of interest, I am not sure when this quote was made by Maureen, but it may have something to do with the celebrity match which he is managing on Sunday:
“We have some interest. I have interest in analysing the situation. I think it looks like he’s really interested in leaving Barcelona, and is very, very interested in coming back to England. This I think is clear.
“After that it’s not something for us, or another team, for now. It’s not for now, or tomorrow, or for before the World Cup. There is a process where he wants to leave, he wants to come to England because it’s the country where he wants to be, where he prefers to play. We are interested in monitoring the situation.”
Remember no swearing Sajit 😉
98 – everything stated in those snippets are true. That whole transfer was a shambles. Everyone has had their beady eye on our homegrown, as always.
N7@92: An ‘attitude problem’. Yes, sometimes in all the heated discussions about these players I have to take a step back (having only started following all this in the past year) and realise that some of these players are still ‘kids’. I mean, what was I doing at 20? still at Sheffield University not even graduated and definitely not studying what I was supposed to be studying but having a laff hanging out with the drama group and acting. That’s why I can’t, and probably Wenger too, and maybe many of you, get my head around some of these figures of dosh. Maybe, if you have followed football for years, then I guess you are used to precocious talents at 16/17/18 so the figures make sense. For example, Luke Shaw for 30 Million – he’s 18! what if he breaks up with his girlfriend or whatever next year and has a teenage meltdown? What happens to the 30M? I think when Boss signed Ozil at least it was for a player who had proved himself on the European/World stage so there was some backing behind the price. So, if Gnabry had an attitude problem, then give him a proper boarding school caning!! What what lol
@105 Goonertown, I understand but don’t believe that we were in for ozil all along though. It worked out and I am happy it did. I just don’t like the idea of waiting till the end of transfer windows blaming it on the selling team. We just don’t have a good negotiating team, you know it and I do. Am hoping they can prove us all wrong.
Also I still don’t see Cesc playing under Mourinho. Not with the whole Barca and Real Madrid fiasco during Jose’s time at Madrid. Those barca players really hate him, so does the whole world bar Chelsea fans.
Cesc to Chelski?!
NO WAY JOSE!
Fin.
I think i asked this in the last drinks but again – does Cesc come across as a JM kind of player?
@71: Thanks for the correction H2H! Only natural I would make a mistake as I don’t pay attention to small clubs like City 😉
Heh 🙂
Cesc will most likely play for Wenger if he comes back to the premier league. He should have some arsenal DNA left somewhere in his blood. Still don’t know why barca want to let him go, after all the shit they put everyone thru during that whole transfer saga.
SAG
I’m not having a go at all mate. Our negotiating team may not be the best and that’s why it may have taken months. I’m not really sure. Its believed that David Dein was a more accomplished negotiator than our Ivan. I know his son has been very good at negotiating players away from the club in recent times. Then at the same time, he negotiated some of the best deals in Arsenal history. I must admit. This story slightly irritates me although I know better.
Time for a freshen up!! 🙂
Hey SanAntonioGooner, that link that Lurky put @98 might shed some light…
Sajit@ 114: Just so that you asked, as a reference both Ozil and Sneijder played and performed well, latter remarkably well in Inter, for Jose. Both are creative attacking midfielders of highest quality.
This is not an endorsement, or even approval, or even acknowledgment of Jose. I consider him to be a highly over-rated manager, and best said nothing about the footballing persona (that is, the persona we are forced to consume as relates to football) …
But it is a matter of profession. Eto’o for instance after joining Inter had publicly stated (something like) that he didn’t like his manager in any ways but he will do his best to play according to his game plan and contribute. And contribute he did. That is what professionals do.
As N7 and others so sagely had advised, there really is nothing worthwhile to worry one about in this saga at this time. Come end of August we will have a slightly modified and mostly enhanced team (hopefully), we will see how the stars line up then and where we stand.
I think we should atleast BID for Alexis Sanchez..
Amen, Dr F.
I know we’re bound to discuss transfer gossip, and that it’s unavoidable.
I just think we should remember that the Summer ain’t over ’til it’s over. I’d love us to do our business early, but it’s possible we might not: I would far rather we sign the right player in late August than the wrong one in early June.
Last summer, circa mid July, we were being told how wonderfully clever the LWCs were for getting their business done early and what a shambles we were for not having our house in order. We were told that the likes of Capoue and Soldado could improve us, and were instead winging their way to the wrong end of the Seven Sisters Road.
Now, I’d prefer not to repeat the mistakes we clearly made in that window, but it’s quite clear to me that our performance in the market was superior to that of our inept neighbours.
Point being: ultimately, it’s where we are on 1 September that really matters, and early June is too early to break out the stress balls and whale music.
All of that said, I would love to see Alexis Sanchez in an Arsenal shirt. But then, I wanted Fellaini and Benteke last summer: what do I know?
•••Puts the stress balls and whale music back in the closet and wonders if whale music resembles wailing music.•••
Could it be that something happens in the real world but is not seen on the interweb thingie?
Maybe we did bid on Alexis Sanchez for example?
@8ball
Impossible with blabbermouth Gazidis on the case. The guy is a pathological over-sharer.
N7, remember oooooom ooooooom oooooom
Loveky garden, this.
@Dr Faustus
well, reason I asked is because JM needs his players to be super disciplined and work very hard off the ball.
Cesc doesn’t come across as that kind of player. But yea, neither was Ozil.
Anyways, Chavs wont be able to play their counter attacking style if they want to accommodate Cesc.
Screw them.
Heh @ Pangloss.
I suspect the garden is going to see plentiful use in the next 12 weeks.
Hmmm, maybe we do not bid for Sanchez, because we already bid for someone more expensive.
Some whispers about Cavani tonight.
I would not get to much exited, though. I for one prefer Sanchez instead of the Uruguayan, but would not mind having Cavani at all, mainly because of his work rate and ability to play on the wings.
Pedro’s name is in the mix too.
Stop messign with us Lurky 🙂
Are Barca doing an Arsenal ? Selling off everyone? Not that I care but cannot see them selling Cesc, Sanchez, and Pedro
Barca has new coach Sajit, would not be that surprised. There are rumors that they might try for Reus, so offloading Pedro seems logical.
With all due respect, that twitterbomb link/post is nothing more than anecdotal rubbish.
A clever enough person, with enough free time, could make that same sort of tortured line of connect the unrelated and unprovable assumptions into an alleged workable whole and/or believable story.
I could make the same argument using instead of Cesc Fabregas as the villain, insert my mailman and his activities during every barca match.
Complex dynamics, especially those that exhibit chaotic behavior, have myriad connections and cause & effect in such dynamics are never so simple. Simply put – its total crap. (yes, pun intended!)
Now, following the barman’s orders:
I’ll be taking my dog for a long walk in the part in the clear sunshine and fresh coastal air. Guinness will be involved at some point.
Cheers all.
Watching Brazil vs Serbia. Gustavo doing a decent impression of Gilberto.
Neymar is being double-marked out of the game, good practice for him.
Same here Dr. Faustus, Gustavo impressed me, Brasil not that much.
Elias Chatzitheodoridis.
Fuck me.
“Arsenal have tonight submitted a transfer bid for Barcelona forward Pedro, according to RAC1 Radio in Spain.
RAC1 is a catalan radio station and our Spanish little helper Rafael Hernandez described the station as ‘a good source for Barcelona news, a lot better than Sport and Marca, for example.’ So it seems this bid is genuine, and it doesn’t surprise me after as Arsene Wenger has been heavily interested in the player for over a year now.”
Pedro would be an excellent signing. Too much to hope for?
Ooh ahh Elias Chatzitheodoridis.
Blimey. You will need one hell of a set of shoulders to have that on the back of your shirt?????
Clive, likewise my friend. Always enjoy your stuff.
Touching words about times with your dad. Stuff like that never dates. Hopefully catch up at The Grove next season.
Pedro or Sanchez are cracking players.. Either one and I would be over the moon.
Just add Balotelli to that list please and we have an amazing front line.
Anyone with doubts about Ozil should watch his performance tonight. Key passes were delivered by him in the buildup to most of Germany’s goals.
And people complained we wouldn’t sign a big name…
Elias’ big name issue issue is already sorted. As EC as pie.
Can’t believe Luis Enrique is clearing out so many players with Xavi and Iniesta past their prime. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all a load of old bollocks.
Lurky’s link to the disgruntled Barca supporter complaining about Cesc. One person’s opinion. So fucking what. Look at the people who come on here and blast our players. Cesc has scored more goals per season for Barca than either Xavi or Iniesta ever have. He is also in the top bracket of assists. His record speaks for itself. Blaming one player for Barca’s failure this season is the mind of a total idiot. It was as much the absence of Puyol and their failure to sort out the defence (Mascherano at CB ffs) as anything else and some key players being past their best. Plus the two Madrid teams worked out how to play them and beat them.
If he really is leaving and AW doesn’t want him, we’ll never know why until he writes his autobiography. But he has said in the past that he could see Cesc coming back – what may have happened to change that view is not immediately obvious – not to my tiny mind anyway.
Dkg, majority of Barca fans that I follow on twitter or read their columns, agreed that Cesc was missing in the important games for Barca, and watching all of their big games this season I can confirm that too. Maybe their system doesn’t suit him, maybe the grass was not greener there, maybe the DNA test was all wrong in the first place, I could not care less.
It is worth knowing that many people says that Barca was not that desperate to sell him and that it Fabregas himself is pushing the move to London.
However, I am not going to try to prove anything to you, you have internet and freedom to use it to inform yourself if you have required desire to do it. Cheers.
One goal and three assists for Poldi tonight. Özil with one assist and two very fine “pre-assists”.
I agree with those that think what that Barca fan write was a load of tosh. He could have saved himself a lot of time and got it all into one tweet if he’d just said “Everything negative is Cesc’s fault and even if it isn’t it still is”.
Sajit: Balotelli? Why??? We have just got shot of Bendtner, why would we want an even bigger idiot on our books? I know Balotelli is seen as some sort of troubled genious, but I can not for the life of me understand why. He’s just had the best season of his career in terms of goals scored, and he scored a whopping 14 goals in Serie A and on top of that he had nine yellows and one red card. He can do some spectacular stuff and score brilliant goals but is just as often petulant, moody and severly detrimental to the team.
N7@144.
😀 😀 😀
Pedro would fit in well at 5’06”. All we would need to follow that is to put in a bid for Snow White.
Reus in injury scare. Poldi came in for him after the half time, assisted one and scored one from Ozil’s pass.
Big loss for Germany is Reus is out.
Pedro, if we happen to acquire him, will be a great addition.
A genuinely super attitude and work rate to go with all the abilities and versatility. I had said at the time of last transfer window that very soon Pedro would be surplus to their requirements because of emergence of Neymar and Sanchez…has been a very underrated player in this star-studded Barca line up.
For club and country always raises performance in the most important matches.
Marcia says Cesc to Chelsea is a done deal.
http://www.marca.com/2014/06/06/en/football/barcelona/1402039222.html
Main reason, as claimed in the article, is the lack of support that player had from the fans as he’s been booed on many occasions.
Lars @ 148: you are right, three assists. Didn’t see the game (watching Brazil-Serbia), misread the report.
And Klose breaks Muller’s national record…
If Germany goes all the way to final, a decent chance for Poldi to go for the golden boot.
If Reus has bolloxed his ankle, Dr F., it probably means we’ve already signed him.
England making every effort to get the Ox patched up in time for the WC so he can get properly banjaxed in Brazil.
NBN @ 154: Heh about Reus. But it does demonstrate the pitfalls of signing big name players at high value before the tourney. If afterwards someone is out for even 3-4 months then that season he would have little impact without any chance to build up understanding in the new team.
On one hand I want Ox to play, as otherwise he will start the season with despair. (Hopefully nothing of Arshavin proportion who after Russia failing to qualify for 2010 WC kept on brooding way into the first half of the season, like a caricature of a Dostoyevsky protagonist). But on the other hand as you rightly said he is being held together by metal-and-threads then there is a high likelihood of him losing out chunks of the season for us.
I just hope our WC injury count is no more than one. And that too is short term.
I’m very interested in the revisionism on Balotelli. I’m hearing from many Arsenal fans what a great signing he would be. What?…
Can we rewind to the first Citeh championship season. Remember the game where we beat them 1-0? After trying unsuccessfully to get sent off during the match Arteta puts us one up with four minutes to go. From the kick- off Tevez passes to Balotelli who….shoots from fifty yards, pathetically high and wide. He eventually managed to get sent off and then trudged at snail pace off the pitch with his died desperately needing time to equalise.
After that a few months later I was in Milan. While there he flew across from England and gate crashed a TV show to present a shirt to someone from Inter. I asked a friend what that was all about. ‘ Who knows said my Italian friend, ‘ he’s a madman. I just hope my AC Milan do not sign him!’
The guy is a grade A fruitcake. Yes he has ability but the press in England will crucify him if he wears an Arsenal shirt. It would be a huge risk to take him on, it would threaten team spirit hugely and I think we could spend £20 million a LOT more wisely.
Pedro? much better deal but not a main striker . Sanchez- much better deal. Reus, out for a few months possibly. Give me Remy/ Mandzukic/ Lukaku/ Cavani / Falcao / Martinez .blimey if the option is Balotelli give me John Radford.
Don’t believe the he has grown up in Milan. Bloke’s a nutter. If we do that deal it will be financed by Puma as a sales gimmick
These are, for what it is worth, the 30 forwards, in descending order, at the top of Squawka’s performance rankings across the top 5 European leagues last season. Not many that are realistically available, let alone affordable. On the basis of this ranking, acquiring Pedro would be a very good piece of business, perhaps the best we can do. Bringing back Vela might be an eye-opener. Bringing back Gervinho would be a mistake, however. Giroud ranks No. 42, btw, below both Bony (37) and Remy (39).
Messi
Ronaldo
Suarez
Ibrahimovic
Tevez
Kruse
Vela
Benzema
Cerci
Pedro
Lewandowski
Di Natale
Alexis Sanchez
Raffael
Balotelli
Sturridge
Rooney
Gervinho
Cavani
Aguero
Palacio
Cassano
Neymar
Totti
Adrian Ramos
Callejon
Son Heung-Min
Ljajic
Lambert
Giuseppe Rossi
I’m assuming AW refused Cesc because he has better things in mind. I also assume Morewhineio will sign him primarily to spite Arsenal. Good luck there, Maureen, if AW is right (and he usually is, more often than you anyway) you will just be wasting heaps of your FFP allowance for nothing! 🙂
Öskar
Steve T @149,
If we finish up with seven dwarfs I am not going to be happy. 😉
It would be enough to make you Grumpy.
Mind you, Pedro’s not to be sneezed at ….. 😉
I think I would be a bit Bashful if Pedro the diver was to come…
Chelsea and Man City watch out!!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27741460
135 – spot on, that twitter string was garbage. Best bit was blaming Cesc for Mourinho not making Madrid deliver sufficient challenge to make a 100 point season where Baca were first for all 38 rounds seem exciting enough. Total trash. (Tiff with Pep when 3-1 at home after 80 minutes decent ramping to.) You only give that sort of thing any credence if you are already looking for something to knock Cesc on. Very low standards.
Wise words from the Doc.
Hey, Steve T,
Took a while to reply but I’ve only just got up.
I was feeling sleepy this morning but he told me he’s not that kind of dwarf ! 😉
Actually, I’m still feeling dopey …… but he hasn’t realised….. 😉
Great post ‘H, and some stellar stuff in the drinks from Ttg, BtM, Trev, Cannons and N7.
Swweper @41 – Glad to hear it 😉
Good to see you back Nursie. Hope all is well.
Lurky – I see it’s my words you quote @80. Ah well, loathe to get involved again in a subject which I am ambivalent about, but here goes. I have consistently said that I am ‘meh’ about Fabregas. If he had come back, it would have been ‘welcome back’ from me. If he ends up elsewhere, there’ll be a slight and temporary sting (especially at Chelsea), but no more than that. I genuinely couldn’t see where he fits in in a post-Ozil world, and to me it would have been a case of shoe-horning him in, when our budget would be better spent elsewhere. I am firmly in Lars and N7’s corner on this one. I absolutely understood Blogs’ post, some of which i agreed with, some less so. If you can’t see the difference between his considered piece which he ended with ‘just my opinion’, and your rant which ended with you accusing anyone who didn’t agree with you of emotional dishonesty, then I can’t help you.
I am in the “money better spent elsewhere camp”
Anyway its all a but meh, as holic essentially says
Cheers
Trev,
They’d all be regularly seeing the Doc anyway.
North Bank Ned’s rankings piece was fascinating and instructive, until I saw Gervinho’s ranking. Underlines the thing with stats doesn’t it! They are not really comparable if drawn from different leagues . Pedro comes out well. Is this boy Cerci a possible? Don’t know much about him but Trev could have some pun fun with a name like that.
Tabs….
“Loathed to get involved………..but…….
Have you become female overnight????????
SteveT- haha, just putting my lippy on now. 😉
Great post @79 btw.
Wondering if Reus’s absence will mean that Poldi gets more game time – or Draxler? Currently out of favour among the rumour-mongers – must mean we’re about to buy him.
I’ve been thinking even more about the Cesc situation. Wondering what Arsene’s thinking is in not invoking the buy back clause. I’ve never heard him say anything that is not complimentary about the bloke. With all the perceived negativity coming out of Spain along with the perceived belief that Barca want him off the pay roll I wonder if Arsene, and any other potential suitors think that £30 million is too much?? If Barca to want Cesc gone to find other moves then are potential buyers looking to get him for a lot less???? If a fee was eventually agreed with someone for say £18 million, would Arsene match it???
Like many, I don’t want him back. He does not fit in to this current set up. But I just wonder if there is quite a bit of cat and mouse still to be played before this is finally put to bed.
Just a thought……
Afternoon all,
Good news ahead. The new iMac has been ordered and hopefully will arrive next week. Never again shall I want to rely on a laptop.
I suppose I will have to watch England v Honduras tonight, but I really can’t find the enthusiasm for the national side any more 🙁
Never mind, the sun has hit Swindon earlier than expected, so hopefully some vino in the garden will raise the spirits.
Have a great weekend.
Morning ‘holic.
Today is the beginning of my daughter’s youth soccer season but the sky is heavy, grey, clouded, rainy, dreary, wet and unpromising. Did I leave anything out? 😉 Have a good one.
Steve T,
having watched some clips from last years preparation games, it occurred to me, that maybe one of the reasons Arsene opted against Cesc is emergence of Zelalem, a player with similar characteristics as the Spaniard, 10 years younger and 33m cheaper. Just a thought.
Tabs,
I agree, I went to emotional on Cesc matter and I apologize to anyone that felt affected. Not that I want Fabregas to Arsenal anymore, I don’t. I went mad because he is off to Chelsea, the team that I hate most in the world, just like you in London hate Tottenham for example.
So, imagine just for a second, what will your reaction be, if you hear from several people at once, that Fabregas will go to Tottenham or Liverpool or whatever team you hate the most. And there is some video tape prove on top of it.
It is not football anymore, it is pride. And I don’t have three days to prepare a post on the matter, like Blogs had, I am usually honest and don’t hide my feelings, so it’s my instant reaction to the news with all the emotions of an Arsenal fan in it.
And where it hurts the most, is that most people in this bar, Arsenal fans, didn’t and don’t understand that.
Just had a much better back knird –
Cannons of R – great stuff @43 – nice view and amazing passion from afar.
Steve T @79 – hear,hear – good stuff.
Tabs speaks for me about Fabregas – but if I had to say take him or leave him, I’d take him.
Some really good old school stuff from our Clive, too.
Like Holic, I’ll probably finish up watching England tonight but the best international result for me is always “no fresh injuries”. Other than that I really don’t care.
Lurky,
I think people in this bar understand emotion perfectly well.
For what it’s worth, I dislike Chelsea, and all they stand for, more than Tottenham too these days.
What I believe, is that people are not that bothered to get all steamed up about a bloke who left us – and I do understand his reasons, especially at his age – in an unacceptable way, at a terrible time for the club.
And especially not that bothered when it is all speculation anyway.
Trev said it all.
@all asking about Balotelli,
Asking my friends who regularly watch Milan and Serie A , they have said that he has cut down on his antics. And they are confident that if any manager can “handle” Balotelli it is Arsene.
Apparently, Mario needs more of a father figure like than a manager.
I know the Marco Reus clause doesn’t get activated till next summer but probably worth doing it anyways. [Probably already done .. ] If such a clause is known you just do it.
Not that Reus will be short of suitors.
@173 dkgooner
Draxler has come out and said that he wants to stay at Schalke for next season.
I must say, if Cesc ends being sold in this window and ends up at another prem club then prepare for mega rant. Until then I will remain chilled about the whole thing.
So, I decided to take Holic’s advice this morning, once it had stopped tipping down with rain, and get away from football matters and out into the garden.
“Tell me about the garden …. etc.”, he had implored us, so I will.
I have for a while been hardening off my knob-weed (Hyptis capitata) in the dark corner of the garden, but while checking it was draining satisfactorily, the other half asked me whether, after such a long period of neglect, it might still be possible to find her clematis again amongst the huge overgrown bush that has long since obscured it from view.
It was a task that sadly proved beyond me, but that was not the end of the bad news.
I had decided to let my Sticky Willie(Galium aparine) go wild but it had strayed too far and been strangled by the Mother in Law’s Tongue.
Unfortunately the wife heard me muttering all this bad news to myself and assumed the worst.
Have you ever been smacked round the head with a garden spade ?
Highly overrated. 😉
Right, off to the swimming pool for me. Hopefully it will prove less painful than the gardening. 😉
Trev, that was an interesting story. However, don’t you think you could have spiced it up a bit by adding some subtle sexual innuendo?
I think we will be getting reus now that he is injured, mark my words. With the physios we have, he should be be a welcome addition to the team. On a serious note, I do feel bad for him. He is number one on my list, I know, we definitely can’t get a player like him. I would take him all day over Draxler.
Stats here on our champions league performance in terms of shots for and against are stunning:
http://www.7amkickoff.com/2014/buying-a-forward-for-30m-plus-kickstarter-update/?
We were superb in spells until December, but even then we weren’t blowing teams away, which is fine, but our unusually low goals for doesn’t seem to be an aberration. It can’t be swept under the injury rug. Just look at those stats and in the arseblog piece that guy wrote and links to – it’s been coming.
A lot of work to be done to develop this team, either internally or externally. I still think that once we have replied the 3 departures this summer, we still need 2/3 to come in. Same as last year, it will need 5/6 players to make us competitive. We signed 1 star, a handy free, and a callow youth. It wasn’t enough, sadly.
It only takes 1/2 injuries and we struggle to fill our bench now, let alone have game changing option on it. We played a knock out game against the European Champions last year and could only muster 6 subs – possibly the most ridiculous point of a season that oscillated between a circus act and the almost sublime.
As far as I can see, not a jot of truth in any of the transfer tattle about. It all looks dead tip after the World Cup; better sources in a John Cross bin-bag protest story than these rumours. Even the Cesc thing is flagrant ramping, he’s 5 days away from going for a history making world cup campaign, doubt making nice with Maureen is high on his agenda.
So that’s it. Sit tight, enjoy the international fare and let Ivan do his two month negotiation thing. Smooth, slow, and easy.
UTA
Heh @ Trev.
I wouldn’t worry too much. ……
Unless you get green fingers.
Something of an Arsenal merchandising in Minneapolis today as for the first time in four years the small shop where my daughter gets her boots had stocked any product with Arsenal written on it. The bad news is that my daughter chose an Argentina ball. Apparently she doesn’t even remember the Falklands. 😉
For some reason the Arsenal ball cost $15 more than the Argentina ball. Is this going to increase our transfer kitty?
Have we mixed up the sports? Bad light and then rain stopped play in Miami.
It’s not Headingley or The Oval. At least we won’t get anymore players injured if we don’t play but then again there aren’t any Arsenal players on the pitch to get injured.
I think this close to the WC El Puno is right. A lot of the transfer tittle- tattle is rubbish. Just look at the number of ridiculous links . Let’s hope Ivan and Dick are doing the business behind the scenes
oy ya
wee ya
way ha
.
Gimme ramones
.
dont mind
if i do
.
hey ho
lets go
.
i’m forming
in a straight line
Now we’re talking…
This is the tune: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9xmRt_2Aia0&feature=kp
hey
ho
rousing
stuff
I’ll reserve judgement on Cesc till after he’s played a few back in the Prem League, whoever he joins. Right now I’d love to see him back with us, but not for the kind of money touted. We have bigger fish to land, imo, and I’d only take him at a bargain price, eg under £20m. At least he wouldn’t waste his first season adjusting to English football.
Öskar
That is the Malvinas to her, bt8b.
Digging your potatoes, Trev?
All said and done, I still think the boss should have gone out on a high after winning the cup.
Now all he’s gone and done is open himself to recriminations because of this Cesc fiasco. Cesc goes to Chel$ki and instantly improves them. Come February when three of our
midfield are crocked and we are scraping the barrel to field a middling squad, I’ll look for everyone who said we have too many good midfielders (too many similar players)…really?
I dunno. I think the boss (superior knowledge though he may have) is plainly being stubborn.
I hope I’m wrong.
Yes in
fuckin deedy
.
3rd verse
different
from
the first
Sneaks one in?
@ lonstar 198, that’s exactly what I have been saying, I don’t see why we can’t get Cesc if he is available. Still don’t understand why Barce will want to sell him. The rate at which we loose our so called packed midfield players is crazy. If anybody is waiting for some world class striker this summer, pls think twice. Getting Pedro and Cesc will be great for me, Javier Martinez and a full back, that will make my summer. Sadly can’t see that happening. But am always open for surprises, let’s go Ivan get it done.
Well In NBN!
Just finished watching near rolling around on the ground (suarez style) for 90 mins v Serbia.
He was hardly touched all match and you do get the feeling that the refs are going to be very liberal with any and every tackle on him.
He whinges and whines just like suarez and acts like no one should have the right to even tackle him.
Could be a long month Between Spain and Brazil who is the most precious bunch of overpaid sooks
“Near” was iPhone auto spelling that should have read “neymar”
Barca might be properly broke. Huge debts, Spain is a mess, just got done for tax dodging. Run like a fucking costa del sol building site that club. They should have sold Cesc last year and kept Thiago an they know it. I just hope we get Alexi Sanchez with him, I’d wank myself silly for that. They have another round if Fuentes magic sauce kids to get doped up and in the team. We need to make hay.
Cesc is not going to chavski. You really think he is doing deals 4 days before the World Cup kicks off? Only 1 focus now. We have the buy back clause, but if Cesc and his yummy mummy want back to London we might not need to pay £30mil. Goes around comes around and we can fuck them on this. Hard. We will take Cesc, he can come home, but they will be lucky to get more than £18mil from us. He’s 27 now and his reputation has taken a battering. That can ramp all they like, Big Ivan isn’t worried. We have them right where we want them.
Markets down this year to. No £50mil for Costa like cavani and falcao. They can act rich and unruffled, but a £50mil FFP fine stings. So does the 21 player CL squad, still got to get your homegrown in that and we all know what a bunch of shit twats England churns out to play football. Just ask Honduras 🙂
He’s coming home, he’s coming home, Cesc is coming home. Repeat. Again and again 🙂
El Puno.
I may not agree with everything you just posted….
But I like the cut of your jib, young sonny, me lad.
Pmsl @ 184 forget transfers lets do more gardening!
Nice goal Ned,
Definitely no spuds here, Ned.
Just doing a little pricking out and as though it wasn’t difficult enough on this knee, I’ve gone and broken me dibber ! 😉
Nurse !!!
Urgent meds for El Puno !
Good post though. 😉
Cheers, Garsguns @204 – that’s roughly what Holic said, I thought. 😉
Lars @185,
Definitely not, sir !
Serious business this gardening. 😉
206 – gracias amigo
209 – feeling bullish today, this is the moment arsene has been building towards for a decade. The fruits of victory will be ours. Soon.
UTA
howdy ‘hol an’ all
hope yer well
well
as well as can be
hopefully weller than me
.
hangover’s hit
with a bastard shovel
.
bring me my fryin’ an’ eatin’ irons
tis for the lardy facefull
am i
.
virtual singed pig
on the bar for
them thats that does
and
for
them that doesn’t
hang your healthy unhappy heads in shame
.
toodle oo
Mmmm, grilled pig products…
Cheers CBA
an extra special
porky prime cut
for porco
.
enjoy chief
.
🙂
.
*gammon sizzles*
*natives stirring upstairs*
*this mornings eggs from chooks to drunks in minutes*
.
lazy greedy hoors that they are!
.
aaaahhhh
England manager Roy Hodgson says Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will recover in time to play a part at the World Cup “without a shadow of a doubt”.
Great news!!
cba – 🙂
howdy trev
.
it’s god’s good sunshine
and
air dried water
for you this breakfast time
i’m afraid
.
what with you
still
being on the mend
.
.
*gnaws on pig’s trotter*
how’s yer oul leg business goin’
by the way trev
.
shuffling?
strutting?
tap dancing?
.
all three would be grand
stick on a bit o james brown
after all
you gotta get up to get down
Gardening?
Uze on the right bank of the pond don’t “garden.” Barry seen a carrot or turnip growing. I’ve watched House Hunters International. It’s called a yard. 😛
Nice post El Puno. Cheers SaG. I wonder if the SA Spurs will cut the A/C again tonight against LeBron? Hate the Spurs, but it would serve LeBron right for being a ‘pool fan.
family and assembled cunts
(both groups not mutually exclusive)
i will torture
with records
fuck em
.
seven minutes to midnight
cant beat a bitta wah
shambeko say more!
oo oo
better scream
it sinful
.
.
fuck the fry eatin hangover dollops!!!
..
.
aaaaaahh requiem killing joke that’ll fuckin learn em
turns out
they love sinful
disasters do wylie
he was on wogan
wearin quite the trouser
as i recall
sorry ‘holic
i appear to have
poured more in
than
i let out
.
*pulls self together*
T’riffic Arseblog today, especially for Kentucky Bourbon drinking Gooners.
***Trods off to look for the Old Bushmills.***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMd1GEzHMWo
.
small chuckles
.
and just say no
to
bushmills
bt8
it’ll only encourage them
.
and
i’m sure
our erudite golfer oskar
will remind me how to pronounce
bushmills
.
clearly
the land of saints and scholars
need the help
of
someone driving a milk float
down a green hill
to coax them from their dark ineptitude
into the pink knitwear sunshine
.
by the way
this “mick”
would like to tell you
it’s ’til not till
as you used
hope you don’t think i’m being pedantic
.
they look after children’s feet don’t they
Great work cba, but I’ve moved on 🙂 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ilonestar@220, I don’t like both teams, but I hope spurs beat them this time around, have a good one.