The Three Amigos?
Sep 7th, 2014 by 'holic
The first of the dreaded international breaks for this season is in full flow. Just days after the transfer window has closed we are still being linked with players by sites desperate for hits. That highlights the lack of real news. It isn’t entirely barren out there, however, with Steve Stammers in the Mirror, and James Orr in the Independent, declaring a potential North London derby return to action for Theo Walcott in three weeks time.
Now it is harsh to expect Theo to hit the ground running. Quite whether the level of work he is able to put in now equates to a full pre-season is open to doubt, but with recent additions to the squad there is a delicious prospect of him lining up alongside Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez in a totally interchangeable front three that could cause opposition defenders nightmares.
It isn’t just the fact that the three have blistering pace, the thing that defenders hate most, and it is not just that they can all finish as they have all proven, but it also means that opposing teams may not be allowed the luxury of playing out from the back as all have the ability to press defenders and deny them the time they like to have.
That isn’t to say that those three should be our first choice until Olivier Giroud returns. There are options, particularly on the flanks, and Theo may have to be nursed back to full match fitness, but I don’t mind admitting I am excited about the possibilty of those three striking up an understanding and switching positions every few minutes with devastating effect.
Tactically it adds something to our options as well. If we are to survive the season (well, until January at least) with relatively few defensive options then the more time we can keep the ball in the opposition half can only be advantageous. That defence is an area in which we will need a degree of good fortune if we are to turn promise into a serious title challenge.
For now though let’s just enjoy the horizon, and a mouthwatering opportunity to burn teams with raw attacking power.
340 Responses to “The Three Amigos?”
1st!
I’ll have what the barman is having.
Cheers ‘H!
Saturday 3 O’clock kick off. Cannot wait
Cheers Hazza,
That will be a double optimism then 🙂
No qualifying round for me!
…or, on the other hand…
If only, neighbour. If only. 🙂
Evening P 🙂
Nice one guvnor, roll on next weekend.
COYG
Good post.
If Theo is back to his best soon-ish I won’t be surprised if he outscores both Alexis and Welbeck.
However that is unlikely — Theo most likely would time to find his bearings again — and we probably won’t see all three together for a while, especially given that Arsene tends to prefer one of the more playmaker types in one flank.
But in a CL match in the deeper stage against one of the heavy hitters? Put those three up front and play on the counter-attack. Mouthwatering…
Nice post
Walcott-Welbeck-Alexis
so interchangeable anyone can play in all positions.
Evening H,
Mouth watering indeed. The more you think about it the better the Welbeck signing becomes.
Is there a game soon …… ? 😉
Trev 🙂
Hop over on Saturday for a well deserved half 🙂
Holic,
A return to our roots, attacking football! Think Tottenham’s celebrations today brought out the best in you, Sir 😉 And just look at our Theo! ♥♥♥
Double optimism? That stuff’ll kill you…
Aye Cynic, true enough. That and waiting for ‘someday’ to finally materialize…
Dr Faustus, thank you for your match report (previous drinks). Don’t have HD TV. Thank goodness for YouTube 😉
Cynic, abb, two of my favourite people 🙂
Have a good Monday all.
Racing is the word that comes to mind when contemplating Theo, Danny and Alexis in the same front line. And defenders huffing and puffing. 🙂
Nice post ‘holic, the content of it has me smiling a small, contemplative smile at what those three amigos may do on the pitch together this season 🙂
I was looking on the bright side, thinking to myself that at least Theo isn’t going to get injured during the current interlull. Then I thought WHOA, that sort of thinking could jinx the lad and next you know he’ll be tripping over in his luxury spa bath trying to score with his luxury wife.
So I’m saying nothing. And trying to think of nothing. Except I now can’t get the image of Mel in a spa bath out of my head… Doh!
Three weeks and counting, Theo. Wrap yourself in cotton wool please.
Öskar
I’m hoping Arsene starts Chambo left, Alexis right and Welbeck down the middle against City, it might take some time to click, but there’s no reason for us not to move away from Tika taka and back to fast aggressive counter attacking football.
Cheers H,
Hope Jack remembers he has a BIG game on Saturday and resists the urge to hurt himself tonight. 🙄
I foresee a time when Theo, Alexis and Welbeck are all in the side, each one making clever, incisive runs into space behind the defence. But woe is us as Arteta, Ramsey and Ozil continue with tippy tappy triangles on halfway 😉
Nice one H. I suspect Feo will be eased back with a few late substitutions. Meanwhile we have Dan the Man to join Alexis in powering forward and when needed harrying the oppo back four.
Pace and Power.
COYG
Great write up Holic.
An actual post that did not include any BS about who we are supposed to be guaranteed of getting in January.
Thank you..
Is there a game soon…..
Cynic,
We will look a strange team indeed, if both your ‘predictions’ happen simultaneously ! 😉
Holic,
Here’s hoping Hodgson’s Heroes haven’t heard how hard they have to harrass the Helvetics.
Just chuck the sodding game and come home uninjured. 😉
Pacy prospect, ‘Holic. I think you are right that we won’t see all three playing together that often, but they should provide some shock and awe when the do.
Ozil crocked now?
I agree to what Rich has to say. Ox-Welbeck- Sanchez will be what will get behind the city defense and if there is a way to beat them or most others, pace it is.
I kind of think we need to work out a 4-2-3-1 formation for the team which will allow Mesut to play in the hole behind the striker and that will free him of his defensive duties as well as make him play at his best position.
Internationals were boring as always yet the French for large parts look like a terrific team. yes they still have their usual frailties but the nucleus of the team centred around Pogba is excellent.
England tonight and for all i care i just want Jack,ox and Danny to be safe and sound.
Vinay @ 27 — You are right about the French. If the key players stay fit I think they will have a very good chance of winning the Euro. Varane-Kos at CB, Cabaye-Pogba-Matuidi can dominate any midfield, Griezmann and Benzema offering pace up front, Giroud power and physicality. If Pogba keeps on improving at this rate he will be one of the best. Very exciting team to watch now.
Is FIFA slow or what?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29109481
I have always thought that a challenge system with a limited number of decisions that can be questioned like in Tennis or Cricket — but raised from the sidelines — is the best course to move forward as it would ensure that the challenging team is not abusing the system to disrupt the rhythm or just frivolously.
Visionary, Doctor Faustus. How many years ahead of Wimbledon did you hit on the idea exactly.
And Cabaye-Pogba-Matuidi can dominate any midfield ?
Like, erm, Khedira-Kroos-Ozil …..
How did those crafty Germans get home with the World Cup then … ?
Oh, forgot Schweinsteiger. He’s half decent too.
Nice to see good old Sepp Blatter soldiering on as Head of FIFA. We dispense with experience far too readily and he’s only 78!
What a joke.
Trev @ 30: What is with all the sarcasm? We can disagree politely, no? Or do you not disagree with my observations but simply disagree with me?
Actually I had come up with the idea of third umpire in Cricket when I was 7 years old, watching one of my idols Michael Holding being wrongly called No ball when smattering the stumps of David Gower with a perfect leg-cutter. This is way before ICC came up with the third umpire system.
Here in this site I actually had posted about the potential of a system like that in football couple of years back, sometimes soon after I had joined.
But that doesn’t really matter. What is your opinion about the applicability and usefulness and how best can such a system be executed?
About France, I didn’t say anything about Germany, but simply that the French midfield can dominate any midfield on their day. I apologize to have excluded the “on their day” qualifier. Germans are not indomitable and neither would Khedira or Schweinsteiger be at the peak of their powers in two years’ time. They would lose the physicality a bit — I expect Bender to step in, but still — whereas Cabaye-Pogba-Griezmann would all grow. Basically the entire premise of my agreement with Vinay was in the context that you have overlooked: “If the key players stay fit I think they will have a very good chance of winning the Euro.”
It is just my guess that Pogba would become a more influential player than anyone in the current German midfield. Just my guess. You can disagree.
A glass of optimism for me too, please, while the interlull ticks away.
Anyway, has H2H been around? I will be in Netherlands in the coming month and would like to see if I can visit H2H’s real bar 🙂
‘holic can you drop me an note with his email address?
Cheers,
Harsha
‘holic, cheers. Funny that we’ve gone from having a serious dearth of pace at the business end of last season, to being probably the paciest attack in the league now.
Indeed, especially now that Giroud will be sitting out the first half of the campaign, all bets are off re: who our top scorer will be. Could be Welbeck, could be Alexis, could be Theo, could be Rambo. And any of those four plus Cazorla, Poldi (if he’s given the game time) and Giroud should, barring injury, hit at least ten goals this season. Ozil, Wilshere, Ox could conceivably get there as well.
No thirty-goal striker in the side maybe, but plenty of goalscorers.
Nice post, Holic. Our attack does seem frighteningly fast, especially compared to the back-end of last season with just Giroud fit.
I just read some Phil Mcnumpty rubbish about England on the BBC website. I do this every few months and every few months he leaves me fuming. No idea how he is their top football writer. There are many and varied words I might use to describe him were I in a real bar with a real drink in my hand. For now I shall simply register my disagreement with most of his opinions and observe that I consider him to be an irredeemably silly man.
I will be watching England in a minute. They are always terrible and I don’t care much what happens but I always watch the wretched things. Feel a sense of duty I suppose. Please none of ours get injured. Pretty please.
GL@35 heh. We just opened with the same paragraph…
Surely the way forward for Suarez?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29110418
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29109481
Shouldn’t managers be allowed to save up unused challenges from game to game in anticipation of the big match that is being refereed by Phil Dowd or Anthony Taylor?
Welbeck! 😀
Could not have gone better.
well well well…Welbeck:P
Do good for his confidence! He’s got pace too! 🙂
Doctor Faustus,
it seems my sarcasm was misplaced as I had no idea you would have possessed the intellect and foresight to have imagined a challenge system for international cricket at the age of seven. I take my hat off to you, sir.
But a challenge system for football ? Really ?
Cricket and Tennis lend themselves quite naturally to a challenge system because they are continually punctuated with natural breaks.
Reviews can then happen between Overs, Deliveries or Points in tennis.
Football is entirely different. Here is one scenario as an example –
A forward runs through onside with only the keeper to beat but is wrongly given offside.
He does, however, run the ball off for a goal kick without realising the “offence”.
The manager, or the player, or whoever is allowed to appeal, then appeals and the wrong decision is discovered.
So what do you do ? Some possibilities –
i) go back to where the “offence” occurred and let the forward run through, one on one with the keeper. Are any defenders allowed to join in ? Where were they when the offside was given ?
ii) assume the forward would have scored and give the goal ?
iii) assume he would have run the ball out anyway and give the goal kick ?
All valid possibilities, but who would decide and how ?
You could never make sense of an challenge/interrupt system in a game of continuous motion where play moves on constantly all the time.
As for the France midfield thing –
No, you didn’t say anything about Germany specifically, but I did.
You said Cabaye-Pogba-Matuidi “can dominate any midfield” – present tense as far as I can see, but that is being very pedantic.
I simply made the point that they can’t.
If you don’t believe me, take a look where the World Cup currently resides.
Ah hah hah! Welbeck celebrates his first goal by running to the sidelines where the Ox and Calum Chambers were warming up and making a gun sign with his hands.
https://vine.co/v/Ozeb56T3n0J
Is premature salivation bad?
Absolutely chuffed for danny welbeck.
Ive been such a long term admirer of his.
Trev, Dr. F’s presence on this board is continually insightful and respectful. You may disagree with his points – fine. But your sarcasm and condescension are clean contrary to the spirit of this board.
Disappointed, man.
The problem with developing a system for challenging an incorrect not offsides call vs. challenging an incorrect offsides call is that there’s a big asymmetry in how you could possibly resolve one vs. the other. To resolve an incorrect not offsides call when a goal is scored, resolution is easy — take the score off the board and defense takes the free kick from where the offsides should have been called.
In the other situation, in many instances, making the incorrect offsides call immediately changes the way the defense reacts, with defenders and keeper switching off immediately, so what do you do? I guess you could only use a challenge in this circumstance when the play is a “bang-bang” action, for example, where the flag has gone up as a cross sets up a headed goal where all defenders are reacting as they would normally, with no real possibility of seeing the flag. But even that would be hard to legislate.
Re: 45. Welbeck seems all positivity but could it be his polite way of saying FU to MU? Good interpretation if you ask me. But can the big man doba replication v. MU? All shall be revealed. 🙂
doba = do a
Otherwise I probably would have said doba doba doba as a way of telling Van Gaal to do one. 😉
Welbeck looked very impressive. Mobile, intelligent and finished well. I anticipate his addition to our ranks with relish. He is very well suited to the counter- attack. It will be interesting to see his well he can hold it up against a team with the bus parked deep across their area.
Referring back to Holic’s post we also have Gnabry, Campbell and the Ox who aren’t exactly slouches. And Akpom and Bellerin who appear to be faster than Walcott. What’s poor old Giroud going to do when he gets back?!
2 goals by Danny in one game. Not shabby! Talk about rubbing salt in a wound, for Manu fans. So c’mon everyone, be happy 😉
Ringo Starr sung it best. “Oh I get by with a little help from my ‘holic’ friends.” Taking a little poetic license there, but what the heck. 🙂
Welcome to the club Danny!! Evidently this move has given him considerable self-confidence if that is what he was lacking. I wonder if a few encouraging words from Arsene has lifted his spirit as well as this would have been a difficult move from him. (Imagine Jack moving to ManU, shudder!)
No injuries so far. Hopefully nothing serious with Ozil but just precautionary measures.
Suffering of a rival =
Happiness for Arsenal
What an unusual international break for there to be suffering for one of Arsenal’s rivals. Has the worm turned?
bt8 @ 54 Sure hope so, mate. And to think there are still some gooners on twitter who think AW didn’t sign off on him. Conspiracy Theory # ?
GL @ 47: Thank you for the kind words. I immensely enjoy your posts as well.
Trev @ 44: The problem with sarcasm is it rarely achieves the goal of communication, which is to communicate an idea, but rather ends up being a form of verbal violence, especially when the protagonists engaging in it are not known to each other in their personal lives but are exchanging ideas on a forum built on one of the passions they share.
Irony, especially the self-aware or better even self-deprecating, when done right informs the best of literature. I am thinking Mann, or Stendhal, or Flaubert, or Anthony Powell. And I am painfully aware of the limitations of my own prose. I strive to get better.
About the challenge system we can start with those decisions (absence of) that lead to an outcome which induces a break: goal, penalty, free-kicks and cards.
That means it is primarily the side being ‘punished’ that gets more of a chance to challenge the decisions rather than the team that should have been ‘awarded’. A goal awarded from an offside or a wrongly given penalty or a red card or even a wrongly given yellow card has more chance of unfairly influencing a game’s outcome than a penalty not awarded or a card not given. So whereas there would be asymmetry in the efficacy of Challenge system from the perspective of fairness in its absolute sense, it would still significantly reduce the overall impact of the bad decisions on the game. In other words, we would make progress, if not entirely solve the problem.
Isn’t that what civilization is all about? 🙂
Goonsterham lincoln,
I would totally agree with you that Doctor Faustus’ contributions are always respectful.
It’s good that you find them also continually insightful. Personally, I often find them a bit condescending – as that is what you are accusing me of – as I don’t need every element of team selection, tactics, players’ abilities, and what the manager is thinking explained to me in great detail.
Most times I don’t react as we all know the rules – say what you like as long as it’s not abusive.
But I thought both of his assertions @28 and 29 were demonstrably daft and I said so, and explained why.
In response to his reply, I said I take my hat off to him, or anyone, who identifies the need for a third umpire system at seven years of age. Which I do.
As for being “clean contrary to the spirit of this board”, I try my utmost to maintain the old spirit of this board with a bit of fun and nonsense amongst the serious stuff.
I’m sure that silliness irritates some people, just as the constant, humourless hyper-analysis of absolutely everything irritates me,
On this occasion I snapped a bit.
Sorry to have disappointed you.
I have to say that drink nos 56 and 57 above constitute a juxtaposition that I find more than usually amusing.
Actually, now I consider it, I don’t have to say that at all. Still, there you go.
COYG
GL/Trev: I enjoy both of your posts and contributions.
I accept my tendency to over-intellectualize football can be found not the most entertaining especially when one is under stress as our lives often tend to be.
But that over-intellectualization is a matter of habit, and not meant to be condescending.
As my humor tends to be more free associative and maybe a tad bit more literal with references that again can run the risk of being too obscure (this I know from experience, and do not mean as condescending), I try to keep my posts and observations focused on facts and analysis and don’t let my creative imaginations go too wild.
Except when I am try to catch up with CBA at his wonderful koans (because that is what they are, let us accept it).
Life is too short. And there is only one Arsenal.
Ok, Doctor Faustus,
Knowing your usual nature I’ll take the “problem with sarcasm” explanation in the spirit in which I imagine it was intended.
But “verbal violence” ? Blimey ! I fear you wouldn’t have survived some of the ‘verbals’ I’ve received down the years in support of the Arsenal.
My last word on the challenge system:
Do you not think that the team “not awarded” the penalty, or whose player was scythed down knee high, would not ‘challenge’ and demand the appropriate action ?
Panels of experts can’t agree these things when studying slow motion videos in TV studios. Who would decide ? Could the decision then be challenged ?
Sorry, and I accept you disagree, but I can see only chaos resulting – and matches that last around three hours.
@ 59: “…except when I am trying … ” . 🙂
Trev, I should have also said that I greatly appreciate your contributions to this forum. Your wit and knack for rhyme are truly of the highest order.
Any communal gathering of as many people as frequent this site—even people as bright, sensible and level-headed as Arsenal supporters 🙂 —will inevitably require some patience if we’re all to get along. Not every commenter’s style will be equally amenable to all. I’m sure my own contributions seem pointless and pedantic to some. There are many far more interesting, informed and intelligent folks around than me!
But I’m grateful that I’m still allowed to be part of this forum and to learn from and enjoy you all. You’ve collectively made my experience of Arsenal much greater than it would have been without you. If the forum ever gets clique-ish or exclusive, it will lose something of what makes it so great.
Not all of us can be as witty or as funny as cba! And you should all be grateful that I don’t try to be.
Fellas, I think we are in interlull webspace here. Too easy to fall out with people we haven’t met who are reasonable folk when met eye to eye. Mentioned on twitter tonight that I have never fallen out with someone eye to eye in the modern era, but I could batter the shit out of some I have never met in person.
Think on that for a second or two.
Love y’all. 🙂
Fair enough, fellas.
We’re all different – thank goodness.
Night caps are on the bar. 😉
Trev @ 60: Having moved between three entirely different cultures, and studying in some of the most intellectually arrogant schools trust me I know what verbal violence is. Yes we can all survive it but there is no point passing it around in an Internet forum. That is just my humble opinion.
About the challenge system, the idea is to make rules and follow those rules even though the rules cannot be comprehensive enough to satisfy everyone. As a rule you make it clear that only the ‘punished’ team — goals scored against, carded, sent off, given free kick against — can challenge. And you then accept the outcome of teh challenges. Keep the number of challenge to a small value (3 per match) so that there is no frivolous abuse and over extended games and must accept the verdict of the ‘fifth referee’. Just like in cricket. And use more technology to meet some of teh demands of decision making. I think it would progress the fairness of the games significantly without jeopardizing the fluidity.
I understand you disagree. And I think many do disagree, including ex-players and experts.
Oh, cross-posted you, Holic.
Fair anticipation though. 😉
Thought we were all part of ‘holic’s clique. 🙂
bt8, it’s all I ever wanted.
Sorry, currently switching between Robert Plant and US Open Mens Final. The Plant gig may last longer 🙂
Bt8- wellbeck was definately saying FU to Man U.
Bloody marvellous stuff.
DrF- full respect but in conjunction with the 78 year old dictator at the head of FIfA, the review system in football is ridiculous.
I am with trev on this one.
Aussie @ 71: That’s okay. I rather like ridiculous ideas. They tend to become the norm more often than not. 🙂
And yes, bloody marvelous from Welbeck indeed. Storybook stuff. Now just the small matter of starting his Arsenal career by stuffing the City. 🙂
DRF – I too like ridiculous DrF and that does often become the norm.
for what its worth, you are one of the posters on here that I enjoy a great deal. Your posts are always well thought out, analytical by nature, but never boring and you do challenge the norm, which I also enjoy
But on this occasion I agree with Trev, I see a review system in football potentially frought with danger, becoming very legal by nature, too long winded to provide any benefit and being able to be manipulated to benefit a small few with dollars.
as another example along with Trevs, can you imagine leaving teams like City, Real Madrid and Man Utd to have any option for appeal against a review panel with their pathetic financial and moral standings.
the review system would end up being sponsored by City and the sheik and would not allow a fair hearing for the lower financial teams.
from a purely sport perspective, I would not enjoy football as much if I had my god given right taken away from me and not be able to complain about Mike ‘the dickhead’ Dean or that cheating bastard and fred flintstone lookalike Dowd.
What would happen to that famous fans statement “we was robbed’
it would die out overnight.
You are ahead of your time DRF, but I hope in this instance we stay in the dark ages.
goal line technology is about as much as Football can handle.
I want decisions made on the spot in the heat of the moment, right or wrong, but hopefully more in arsenals favour.
(which btw is never the case)
just out of pure boredom at work and with “no” respect intended for the interlull:
are we there yet ?
how much longer ?
is there a real game soon ?
I mean seriously….
Aussie. You are asking the right questions, and that is the first step. 🙂
Aussie @ 73 — Lovely post and I am not entirely unsympathetic towards the view that prefers the theater and the drama of on-the-spot decisions and the relentless opportunity for conversations and soul-searching that follow a bad decisions. 🙂 I mean what would the pundits do!
And I do share yours and Trev’s concerns about the loss of fluidity that this may ensue.
However, I think that some form of review system — however incomplete it might be — would considerably improve upon the current bias in decision making (intentional or unconscious) in favor of ‘bigger’ clubs/teams and is actually inevitable, irrespective of how much of an obscurantist cult FIFA might be.
But it is well possible that this inevitability will manifest itself long after you and I are gone, and many other rules in Football has changed, and maybe Football is no longer played by humans at all but is simulated in a vast virtual world called iScore (iSoccer in US market) where your local pub team can also play against Barca if they pay enough of a fee. Such a democratization of the game would of course require rigorously accurate refereeing lest the iScore market collapses. No more pro-Barca automata in the iScore space!
I am sure the then head of FIFA, one Sepp Blatter, would be more than convinced by the inescapable laws of the market demand.
As always DRF- you are certainly well ahead of your time.
BTW, if your doctoring ever becomes not your preference of choice, I get the feeling you may have missed your other calling in the world of marketing/advertising for online games DRF…
you just might be onto something there with your i-score idea….
imagine this if you will……
what about the worlds best elite pub teams from around the world squaring off against each other in a winner takes all virtual football match…set up live in pubs a bit like FIFA14 Xbox online…
the irish, the scots, the brits, the aussies, the americans, the French, the Africans, the dutch, the germans…we would even invite the new Zealanders just to keep Oskar happy
no rules just like WWF in the old days….anything goes online
ESPN and setanta could have the tv rights and broadcast live to all pubs throughout the world 24 x 7…
it would be an overnight sensation…..
a bit like roller ball, meets tommy, meets rocky, meets rock and roll wrestling….
you could even have all star celebrity teams or football journalist teams who everyone could love to hate…
the opportunities are simply endless DRF..
right then… I am onto it and will let you know how i go at the patent office..
‘Holic, thinking on your @64, I think it is time for drinks on the bar for all. Perhaps we should do a virtual Mexican wave in toasts.
Lars!
Oskar!
64 ‘holic
“battering shit”
now there’s a chip shop on the skids
*sends self to the shite joke step*
Man, I am beyond bored with this Interlull.
Can’t even bring myself to laugh at Portugal…
Ah well, at least I still have the energy to laugh at the Manure fans who are angry at Van Gaal for selling Welbeck!
So… the Mexican wave idea didn’t catch on.
Shame.
COYG
Death to interlulls
What’s the difference between Man U and a tea bag ?
A tea bag lasts longer in the cup
I got nothin else…..
Are we there yet …….
Speaking of Dutch, we are playing them here at Prague today, I hope TR kicks skunk up a bit. Sadly, I cannot see us getting any kind of result against that lot, Czech national team is in deep phase of reconstruction.
oops NBN / pan G
just drank to the end
i appear to have put my foot in it
@80 re wave
talkin’ shite as usual
‘pologies both
Re today’s Arseblog.
What is a rude change of pace? Does he flash his willy at people as he sprints away from them? Shout things like, “See you later knob face”? I need to know.
I doubt that Cynic but it would be some sight to behold, player being able to taunt defensemen as he runs away from them.
Although you just pretty much described how it would look like if Grigory Rasputin played football.
What’s Russian for “See you later knob face”? It would be very handy to know this, should I ever meet Vladimir Putin. Who does resemble a short, uncirumcised, knob. On a cold day.
this apparently “Увидимся позже, ручку лицо” (Uvidimsya pozzhe, ruchku litso) all hail google translate
Thank you. I’m off to practice that.
Cynic @89,
Fortunately I will have to bow to your superior knowledge. 😉
Keith Chegwin.
That’s all I’m saying..
Doctor Faustus,
Apologies if I was a bit sharp yesterday.
A long, painful day left me a bit tetchy and I think almost anyone could have found themselves in the firing line. I’m afraid it came down to you or the dog – and I took the cowardly way out !
I can’t say I didn’t mean most of what I said, but there was no need to be so sarcastic about it.
I also have to say that I do admire your dedication to Arsenal, and level of knowledge, especially in a country where football is not the main sport. Maybe I should solve my own problem by not trying to always plough through all of it ! 😉
Your post @59 was appreciated too.
Cynic. 🙂
oul doll on the news
recreating a ballet she performed for WWII troops
a ballet about working class glasgow
oy
rock and a hard place decision, right there
for those poor buggers in the trenches that day
anyhoo
cheerio fer a while
off into the wilds
drink on the bar for them thats thirsty
salty peanuts for them that aren’t
😉
see ya 🙂
cba@85 – you have “unsettled” me, to quote Oxonne.
Not only can I not recall your offending or otherwise upsetting me, I do not remember intentionally writing anything that might suggest that you had.
Under these circumstances, I regret that I cannot accept your handsomely worded apology above.
Is it too early in the day to drink copiously before falling into each others arms muttering “You’re my best mate” or “I fcuking love you mate”? (Perhaps taking things a little far, that.)
COYG UTA
[Disclaimer: Nothing in his email should be interpreted in any way whatever.]
Not sure but a rude change of pace may be when you change from slow to fast, rather than the opposite. 😉
Cynic, I believe a little burst of flatulence propels him past defenders, like a turbo thruster on a spacecraft.
Knocks it in
I’d like to dedicate that goal to m’colleague Mr C B Arsed, without whom I would not have been checking for a response to mine@97. I wish also to thank 8ball and gl for their outstanding approach play.
COYG
Trev @ 94: Really appreciated that. Life is indeed bloody hard (and getting harder now that I am on the wrong end of the thirties). Kindness doesn’t hurt. 🙂
And I appreciate your choice of word in ‘dedication’. A very kind euphemism for what would have been a more pathologically accurate ‘obsession’ or even ‘addiction’. 🙂
Even though I have been living in US for fifteen years now I do not really follow any American team sports. I used to passionately follow Cricket — growing up with it — but around 2006/2007 I needed to make a decision to stick to only one sport to be able to juggle work, family and myriad other interests and it was too hard to give up Arsenal so I gave up Cricket ( even if I were living back in India surrounded by the the Cricket mania I would have still stayed with Arsenal).
I am sure despite all our differences in background, culture, age, temperament, life experiences this thread of choosing Arsenal to be a key part of our lives unifies us all.
As Arsene might say: vive la différence !
And some silly science jokes to brighten up your day:
http://www.tickld.com/x/20-best-science-jokes-ever-12-took-me-a-minute
Pangloss. Outstanding goal in its simplicity. A bit like Welbeck v. Switzerland. Which reminds me. The first sign that this godforsaken international break is over will be the first picture on the dot.con of Welbeck training with Arsenal. Bring it on! 🙂
Doc Faustus @ 103, even though as a budding Biomedical Scientist I felt like I should’ve got more of them (#5 went over my head), but #2 & #5 get a special mention 😛 , #3 was damn funny but #12 was of the highest quality 😆
Normally the last England game is on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Now that they are done by Monday I’m miffed that real football is STILL four more days away. This interlull on the back of TW has lasted forever.
Good work to all above who have tried to keep spirits up and sympathy with all who haven’t found it easy.
I’m going on holiday next week. When the football does return there is a high chance I’ll be lugging my own modest travelling bag and my little sister’s truly enormous suitcase (filled with, presumably, bricks) through a French airport. I’m not happy at all- Sky can stick their early kickoff. Totally ruined my travel plans. We better bloody win.
Come On You Gooners!
Speaking of science jokes…
A mathematician, a physicist and an engineer are discussing the proposition that all odd numbers are prime.
Mathematician: Three’s a prime, Five’s a prime, Seven’s a prime. So, by induction, they’re all prime.
Physicist: Three’s a prime. Five’s a prime. Seven’s a prime. Nine’s… Hang on. Eleven’s a prime. Thirteen’s a prime. They’re all prime; nine was experimental error.
Engineer: Three’s a prime. Five’s a prime. Seven’s a prime. Nine’s a prime. Eleven’s a prime. Thirteen’s a prime. Yup, they’re all prime.
I’m a mathematician myself, and I’ve never been able to work out which discipline comes out of that joke the worst.
COYG
…and for all you group theorists out there, from the team who brought you the ever-popular “What’s purple and can get through a whole police force? – A plume with a press pass”.
What’s purple and commutes?
See below…
…
“An Abelian grape”.
Pangloss @ 107: They all came out the worst. Said the linguist. 🙂
Wind @ 105: Thanks. #5 simply alludes to the fact one cannot conclusively determine that whether ALL of the bar-hoping logicians would want a drink unless you hear a confirmation from them first. Hence only the last logician can logically say YES. 🙂
The #3 is on statisticians and their penchant for claiming truth based on average of a sample. 🙂
Pangloss @ 109: Ha!
Was wondering if that joke can be applied for gauge invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking …
Turned out to be a Lie …
I’m a scientist* myself but I can’t make sense of any of these science jokes.
*Political Scientist 😉
Re: bar-hoping.
Must be a phenomenon exclusive to the virtual world. In the old days we called it bar hopping. 😉
i feel privileged
s’like national geographic today
scientists of all tints
comin’ out of the undergrowth
basking in the safety of ‘holics clearing
spraying scent
sniffin arses
beautiful
no wonder it’s like a desert in here
when The Big Bang Theory’s on telly
😉
Gah, seeing Van Persie and Tomas all smiles and hugs before kick off as captains of their sides rekindled some memories…damn it still hurts.
*hides from doc fau pan g and wind*
@ 114: One missing ‘p’ are you are already excited. Wait until you miss two ‘p’s. 🙂
Apologies for the uncharacteristic imageries … 🙂
Eandy @ 116: Forget and … forget. 🙂
The game is actually on here in US in ESPN2. Maybe should have recorded.
We will need TR7 very soon, starting with Dortmund away. So fingers crossed…
Faustus – I fully expect Dutch to win this one, as I said earlier, our national team is not what it used to be 10 years ago
Enforcement of Financial Fair Play rules to be done in a bottom-to-top order?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29129536
Speaking of which..we just took a lead through great goal heh
Heh @115.
TR7 having a good game for Czech Rep.
Feed me large pieces.
Now.
No canned tuna then?
Ramsey takes a knock on the ankle in the 90th minute. Trying to walk it off, but….
Why?
And lol, Czech have won it by absolutely hilarious defensive blunder in 90th minute, tasty:D
Great performance by Czech Rep. Nice assist by the new Mag RB.
Sounds bad for Rambo.
Yeah, have to agree bath that this was best game our team played in a long time, massive game by our defence, van Whatshisface did not have a kick whole game. Deserved victory.
Anyone know how bad Rambo’s injury is?
The Curse Of Arsenal strikes again.
The decision to build The Emirates on an ancient Saxon burial ground appears to have been a mistake with far reaching consequences.
RE Welbeck – I am on record as being underwhelmed by his signing.
Having said that, he played very well for England the other night.
Of course he gets my support (he will be SO relieved!).
I still think we should be aiming for the sky instead of the ceiling,but, we have to give the kid a chance.
TR7 was really good for his national team tonight – great win for them (even though any team can qualify for the Euro’s,providing they have collected enough coupons from participating cereal manufacturers of course).
So nice to see RVP looking disappointed – lets hope for more of the same as the season rolls on.
If Rambo is out for the Oilers game, maybe Podolski will get a game!
I hope so –
Any news on Ozil?
Gibbs?
Anyone going to the game be sure and take your boots.
Congratulations to Eandy!
Catching up with today’s events.
Chuffed for Eandy, and Tomas, naturally 🙂
Cynic, Trev, cba, making me chuckle as ever 🙂
All of you, really. Thank you. 😉
Too much of a love-in going on in this here bar. Need Totally Tetchy Tuesdays to accompany the Feisty Fecking Fridays…
Holic and Impressive Failage have all the bases covered. Well done holics and good nite. xx
Dr F. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s the best reaction I have EVER had to the Abelian Grape joke. I consider it the most frustrating joke in the world as the target audience is so tiny. I even told it to a fellow student in a group theory lecture – no reaction. No wonder they say mathematicians have no sense of humour.
Has the season started yet?
COYG
IF
Not sure if Rambo’s deputy would be Podolski.
Would expect Arteta to return with Flamini or Wilshere in the pivot. If Ozil is fit I expect Cazorla and Sanchez to play either side of him and Welbeck to lead the line.
Jamie Redknapp and Michael Owen finally found something good to say about Arsenal, and there’s a reason. In their minds they are talking about a Manchester United player.
http://www.espnfc.co.uk/barclays-premier-league/story/2028351/jamie-redknapp-calls-danny-welbecks-move-the-bargain-of-the-century?
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/398933/Arsenal-may-have-made-the-signing-of-the-summer-with-16m-Danny-Welbeck-says-Michael-Owen
Probably shouldn’t have linked to these, it will only jinx us. Lord knows those Owen and Redknapp would like to jinx us.
Congrats Eandy! So happy for TR7, by all accounts had a great game. Should have recorded the match.
If Rambo needs a little time to recuperate TR7 can very well play the box-to-box as well. In any case I expect to see him start against Dortmund. For City he would barely have three days of rest in between.
Against City my MF and forward starting line-up would be: Arteta-Jack-Ozil, Santi-Welbeck-Alexis .
If Ozil is not fit yet, get Santi as #10 and use Alexis-Welbeck-Ox . Poldi,TR7 and Campbell on the bench as options.
Pangloss @ 136: You are welcome.
Well, mathematicians have the perfect sense of humor.
It is just that they don’t know how to include it in a self-consistent Set of jokes.
ttg – Yes, of course Podolski would not be a DIRECT replacement for Ramsey!
But with a reshuffling of the pack……..
Anyway, I dont give a flying one who plays as long as we leave the Oilers running home to thier computers to stare at thier online bank accounts in an effort to find some solace, after Sanchez and Welbeck have set a new debut partnership goalscoring record.
Or something.
Heres to a resounding,or narrow, home win.
Thank Dennis the Interlull is over.
Song for Van Gaal on the occasion of getting Falcao and losing Welbeck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXGa__ECvnM
bt8b, Dr F, Pangloss: here is a mathematician’s joke:
Mathematician 1: What’s the integral of 1/cabin with respect to cabin?
Mathematician 2: A log cabin?
Mathematician 1: No, a houseboat; you forgot to add the C.
Laugh? I nearly paid the rent…
@143: A log(cabin) plus the “sea”…ha ha! Works best if you are slightly under influence. 🙂
Any news on the extent of Ramsey’s injury yet?
Glad Rosicky’s well and good! We’re going to need him, he’s still one of the best in my opinion..!
Time to set ablaze them oilers… 😀
Congrats Eandy on the Czech win yesterday, watched from 60 mins or so keeping an eye out for TR7 of course but also Vydra when he came on, was impressed by what I saw. Either team could’ve won it, but I thought your countrymen deserved it just a bit more 🙂
Thank you Ned. I apprecisted that one. Hadn’t spotted the +sea, so thanks too, Dr Faustus.
COYG
I’m struggling to find the words to say quite how funny I find all these mathematicians jokes ……..
Me 2 Trev!
trev heres one for tabs
Answer – 9W
Question – Wolfgang do spell your name with a V
+ you
et tu cba. ?
🙂
148+150=152
Q . Whats 7Q + 3Q
A. . TenQ
and goodnight . Try the veal 😉
Where’s that rich vein of orthopaedic jokes, Trev?
Pangloss/Dr F.
I have worked with actuaries(I think they count as mathematicians) for over forty years. Jokes have been noticeable by their absence.
They make the odd one about themselves;
Q How do you recognise an introverted actuary ?
A He looks at your shoes while he is speaking to you
That doubles the poor dears up .I used to work in Switzerland with actuaries. Nuff said! It was a humour wilderness
TTG – I think the jury’s out on whether actuaries can be counted as mathematicians. The same connot be said for working with Swiss actuaries. You deserve all my sympathy, and you have it.
Is it nearly time for real football yet?
Heh ttg @ 156.
You survived!
An actuary is someone who found accountancy a bit too racy, no ?
Pangloss,
At least some osteopathic jokes are humerus 😉
I’d say those mathematicians jokes are crap on average – or is that mean ?
So, ttg met some actuaries on Switzerland ?
What were the chances ….. ? 😉
160 trev
ye seem very rigid on that
no lateral movement at all
Heh Trev. You’re on a roll. Or is that a pie (3.14159).
mathematicians jokes?Bring back the interlull!
A real rib-tickler there, Trev
trying to pun it out with trev
fools such as we
😉
I tried telling actuaries some jokes but they just couldn’t figure
them out. 😉
Doc Faust @ 111, heh, cheers for the explanation of #5.
A pie, bath ?
Or should that be a radius. 😉
*That can be used for either the mathematicians or the osteopaths jokes, as required*
Heh, Uply,
The actuary said he would die laughing at your joke – in 3 weeks, 2 days, 4hours and 27 minutes ! 😉
Radius a concept invented by the famous mathematician-osteopath Sir Calculo Bonus.
Pangloss, see @140: It too was meant for you, with a nod to Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem .
@Trev : Do you know what the yuppie jokesters with their fancy puns and bold wordplay and disdain for mathematics are called?
The NULL Set.
Wind @ 169: You are welcome. Hope you had laughed. 🙂
Calculo Bonus? That’s a cloud formation, surely? 🙂
Do what ….. ?
Doctor Faustus,
funnily enough, I had come to the conclusion that all those mathematicians jokes were a nod to Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem, as they all seemed to be missing a punch line ! 😉
Impressive@165: 🙂
But, Trev@161, they are all the mode.
Holic @175,
Oh, be cirrus ! 😉
Trev @ 177: 🙂
At least these mathematician jokes are not derivatives.
Maths! 🙁
Bit of an expert actually, if you must know.
One is the loneliest number. 🙁
Two to tango. 🙂
Third wheel. 😉
(thought 3some too racy!) 🙂
Cloud Nine (just to keep current) 😉
Math cheer from back in the day:
Secant Tangent Cosign Sign,
3.14159,
Go Engineers!
[hit them with a log, naturally]
or something like that…
*gets coat, hat, etc, resumes lurk*
Okay, it seems I owe an apology for those convoluted math jokes. And abb just said ‘racy’. So here goes one non-math …umm, anecdote … with a punch line. With apologies to all chivalrous and courageous French fighter pilots.
————-
Jean-Pierre the French fighter pilot in his short vacation has been romancing this lovely girl Ann from England. After a few days of museums and galleries and dinners they go for a late afternoon twosome cozy picnic on the riverbank.
Beautiful Autumn afternoon. Seine flows gently. Things heat up. Jean-Pierre plants a passionate kiss on Ann’s ruby lips and immediately gulps down a mouthful of vin rouge from the bottle of Bordeaux in the picnic basket and says: “I am Jean-Pierre the French pilot, with red meat I always drink red wine”.
After a few more vigorous kisses Jean-Pierre tears open Ann’s blouse and playfully caresses those wonderful breasts with his mouth. And immediately afterwards he drinks a glass of Bourgogne white straight from the bottle in the picnic basket, saying proudly:”I am Jean-Pierre the French pilot, with white meat I always drink white wine”.
Crescendo approaching, with Jean-Perre’s face buried in Ann’s pudenda, he suddenly sits up, drenches Ann down there with the finest Cognac he has been carrying in the picnic basket, and tries to light her up with a single flicker of his lighter.
Ann, in shock, jumps into the river, and screams for help.
Jean-Pierrse says, with wistful melancholy: “I am Jean-Pierre the French fighter pilot. When I go down, I go down in flames”.
——–
I will stay away from this board for a while. 🙂
A very old one Dr F, originally circulating over 30 years ago as Alphonse the Aviator. *hands coat* 🙂
bath @ 185: I thought it would be an old joke. 🙂
I rather learnt this from a Bavarian girl who was married to a French bloke called Pierre. Seriously!
I had tried my best not to ever ponder what she might have implied by that. 🙂
Doctor Faustus,
I stopped reading at “kiss on Ann’s ruby lips” – pure filth ! 😉
Thank Dennis that’s over with. No Arsenal and not even to World Cup or #FreeAlexis watch to entertain.
This is good:
http://player.arsenal.com/player/5397-the-breakdown-the-new-boys
The bit from BIG Per about Chambers learning German is cool. His take on our slow-ish start is required reading on the telly. The whole German accent thing makes me miss Mad Jens though.
City and Dortmund all in 4 days. We are spoilt.
Poonward.
I was pondering our best eleven for the Oilers visit on Saturday.
Various permutations etc.
Now I cant stop thinking about Ann’s pudenda.
Your a disgrace Dr F.
But I like you.
Re: bath @185. Impressive, your ability to remember a joke for over 30 years as opposed to my ability to forget them after 30 seconds. 🙂
The jokes never get old though. 😉
The ex-Mancs continue to criticize Van Gaal and to praise Welbeck.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2751088/Gary-Neville-attacks-Manchester-United-s-transfer-policy-branded-sale-Danny-Welbeck-Arsenal-strange.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
I feel that I have nothing to apologise for over the mathematician/scientist jokes. However, it too will offer a joke on an alternative theme to draw a line under the current spate.
A rabbi and a catholic priest find themselves in adjacent seats on a flight to Europe. Naturally enough, the conversation turns to career prospects.
“So”, says the Rabbi, “if you do well as a parish priest, what’s the next step?”
“Well, I might, by the grace of God, become a bishop.”
“A bishop, that has a nice sound to it. Yes, I think you’d do well as a bishop. What’s next, if that goes well?”
“If I did really well as a bishop I might be created a cardinal, but hardly any bishops ever become cardinals and I can’t believe I would ever be one.”
“A cardinal! That’s fantastic, you’d get to wear one of those nice red hats wouldn’t you. Yes, you’d look good in a red hat. I’m sure you could be a cardinal. What happens after cardinal then?”
“Well, one of the cardinals is usually elected Pope, but I could never become Pope, it’s impossible.”
“The Pope. The Pope. Amazing! You should set your sights high. Is there anything after Pope?”
“Well no, the Pope is the head of the Church.”
“Come on, there must be something, surely.”
“No, really, the only authority the Pope answers to is our Saviour Jesus Christ himself and I could never be Him.”
“Why not?” says the rabbi, “One of our boys made it!”
——–
I can’t promise to keep away for a while
Did you hear the one about the constipated mathematician?
He worked it out with a pencil.
Pangloss that is a good one. 😀
Couple of earlier drinks reminded of a quote by the godlike genius who is Treacle, who once said in the other place that William Hague when wearing a roll necked sweater looked ‘suspiciously like an evil penis’.
“The other place”, Esso? House of Lords?
COYG
I’m not quite sure I understand what happened/is happening here, is Dr. F, or anyone else really having to apologise for the (mathematics) jokes?
Did you hear the one about Danny Welbeck?
“I’ve always wanted to play at Mighbury…What?…Sorry, Highbury.”
Don’t mind if I do.
***Stands on shoulders of giants.***
198 Cent
Thats about the sum of it.
Why?
Anything to add.
Well in, 8ball.
COYG
Cent/Pangloss : My apology could have been an excuse to shoe in that rather lascivious if antiquated joke.
Being a particle physicist, I cannot be entirely certain of my epistemological motives . 🙂
Pangloss, that is a good one.
In that spirit, my final offering : this is a true story that covers both religion and science. In a way.
In a conference on religion , spirituality and science beind held in the inter-war years stalwarts like Heisenberg, Pauli, Dirac were passionately debating , I think both Einstein and Niels Bohr were absent.
Anyway, Dirac was holding forth on how religious superstition has caused havoc on human civilization and how it is time to cast off such barbarism etc.
Once Dirac had finished his speech and everyone congratulated him Pauli stood up and said: “Our friend Dirac here has found a new religion. And its first commandment is that there is no God and Paul Dirac his messiah.”
Everyone burst out laughing, including Dirac.
True giants!!
Wuif, I’m surprised. Were any of the jokes offensive, I’d honestly be glad if you or anybody else could enlighten me? Thanks.
Cent. Didn’t think they were offensive myself, but proving that would require the enlightening theorem. 😉
Dr. F, @204, thanks for the clarification, for a moment I was worried.
Nice one @205.
Cent ,maths jokes,”sum of it,anything to add”
But while we are there some of us who didn’t go through further education might feel a little bit excluded on what is basically an Arsenal football club blog.
Not to put down Dr Faustus ,Pangloss and others,whose comments I usually appreciate .
8ball, 😀
With all this highbrow humour from our global audience has it passed us by that the tiny Totts are ‘ contemplating’ using the Emirates while they wait for the wrangle over their ground to be resolved?
Contemplate away I say you’ve got no chance of us ever saying yes although the amount of humble pie they would need to eat is amazing to consider.
My six year- old grandson who has been reared on the dark side recently visited Stamford Bridge with his mates in his Saturday team. When I asked him about it he said ‘ honestly Grandad it was really stinky in the dressing room’. Good job he hasn’t toured White Hart Lane
Wuif? A number of posters complained about the maths/science jokes. The good Doctor presumably considered that the complainants had a point and apologised. For myself, if anyone doesn’t like the jokes it’s their loss, so maybe sympathy, but no apologies from me.
(This is literally my opinion; I’m not getting at anyone. People’s senses of humour vary and you are completely free not to find funny the things I find funny. However, if you don’t enjoy a joke, you have missed out on a pleasant experience hence, your loss.)
Fair enough, washed up@209. I hadn’t considered that; it wasn’t my intention to exclude anyone and I do apologise.
However, I bet there are in jokes in your line of business, whatever it is that we wouldn’t be able to share. So thank you for not excluding us by quoting them here.
It’s this accursed interlull. Will it never end?
COYG
Pangloss
Only two days to go. Hang in there.
Pangloss,you have completely misread my post.I wish all a goodnight as I have a 4 am start for work tomorrow.
Wuif, thanks for that, mate. I totally understand where you’re coming from. It happens to me, not just here, quite often but I: A, Do a quick google and learn what it’s about(I think I’ve learnt more important things through this way than in my over 20 years of formal education put together!). B, just wave it aside as one of those things I’m either not meant to or in a position to understand yet.
I for one consider the high brow nature of our online conversation a positive plus.
We can only surmise how dreary a Spurs blog might be,with only single syllable words in thier vocabulary,and most of them starting with the letters “F’ and “C”.
There’s a programme on BBC2 at present called “Some Boffins with Jokes”. I believe that the science/maths jokes above are higher quality.
Stop press: The outgoing actuary joke just made it’s appearance, transformed to one about computer scientists.
Damn. That’s “…its appearance”, not “it’s”.
Grammar Police 1 Pangloss 0
Lest I forget, this was part of my late evening reading; http://ladyarse.co.uk/2014/09/football-isnt-life-death/?utm_campaign=misc&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter good read, it was.
Cent/Pangloss/Dr Faustus,
No offence taken or intentionally given here re the maths jokes, and certainly no need for any apologising by anyone.
I thought they were awful – because I had no idea what 95% of them were about – but good on them, and my ripostes all contained maths based puns – which possibly went unnoticed. 😉
Luckily I did manage to understand the other 25% ….
They all help to make life’s tapestry richer, and the alternative would be to fret over Ramsey’s ankle.
Trev @ 221:
Nothing gets unnoticed.
Except nothing, of course. 🙂
No worries on any front.
And Arsenal are back.
Well, sort of. Three more days.
Phew.
Requested feisty…
Received corn-fed puns and slanderous anti-mathtite nonsense. Meh! 😛
I for one would absolutely love watching the scum play in our hallowed grounds. We’d win even when they “won.” It would be priceless.
95% + 25% = 120%
(Total percentage of maths jokes. Is there a joke in there somewhere?)
😉
I’ll say it for him. Chelsea.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29146468
Cheers, Trev. I’m with on the other 25 percent by the way 😉
Lonestar, share our ground, after everything we suffered ALONE all these years to build it? Never! With Spurs? Absolutely no chance!!
From the golden oldies file of news clippings.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/jun/13/harry-redknapp-sacked-tottenham-hotspur
Well, they didn’t get Moyes but that may have been a good thing. AVB was a definite downgrade on Harry and now Pocchetino is doing his darnedest to get them anywhere close to where Harry had them. QPR have been getting quite a bit of good press recently. It might be a coincidence but I have my doubts. Levy meanwhile is still grinding his teeth.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/16/daniel-levy-spurs-andre-villas-boas-reputation
Who’s next on the hot seat??
From particle physicists to punsters, from the Sweeper to young Cent, from the West Coast to Down Under, from Wolfie to Carlos, we should celebrate the diversity of this bar brought together and united by the love of our team, and revel in it without apology.
bt8, saw that @192. I usually appreciate what Gary Neville has to say, and I do think he’s right to be worried. I know I would hate it if Arsenal did what Man United have done this summer.
Look, who knows what’s going to happen, but from here it doesn’t look at all like ManU/Van Gaal have any master plan with the signings they’ve made. It looks like a lot of panic buys. Granted, their panic buys are some excellent players. (btw it’s apparently a myth about needing CL to attract top players. Enough $$ will do just fine.) It’ll take time for those super talented players to settle in, and even when they do, it’s not at all clear how they’re going to line up. Inevitably some will be frustrated at not playing, or at playing out of position.
It seems like a very desperate, very expensive plan borne of the enormous pressure to respond to finishing 7th. It may work. But I have to say I’d just love it if the whole thing goes belly up. I’ve always had a grudging respect for Man United, as tiresome as SAF was – at least as opposed to the doped up superteams Chelsea and Man City, for whom my hatred is unrivaled. But selling off your homegrown players and overspending for a load of mismatched worldclass talent is a pretty faithless – not to mention risky – way to handle a crisis.
btw Kris Olsson had a hat trick for the Sweden under 21s against Turkey yesterday.
http://arsenalist.com/f/other/kris-olsson-hatrick-vs-turkey.html
Long video, but his goals are at 1:20, 2:25, and 3:40. The second one especially is worth a look.
Never mind scientists and mathematicians … if all the world’s internet football pundits were laid end to end they’d never reach a conclusion.
If a million monkeys banging away on a million typewriters could eventually end up writing the complete works of Shakespeare, how come millions of bloggers banging away on millions of keyboards never come close to making any sense?
Öskar
I say we absolutely fleece the scum for using our place for a year. Mainly because it will be wonderfully cruel to let them visit a decent ground civilisation for a year and then get thrown back in the swamp. Doesn’t matter what they whack up, it will seem like a dump in a shit-hole after visiting our manor.
On top of that, wouldn’t it be great scamming, say, twenty mil off them. I reckon they must be making £2.99 a game at their place, round it up to the nearest million just in case. We clear three mil a match at our place and we split the difference. Somehow this all works out in the karmic cosmos that we reinvest it all in the next Henry and spend a decade pissing ourselves that they paid for it. You know it’s true. This is them and we are us.
Team for Saturday someone asked? My guess: Schez, Debuchy, BFG, Kosc, Monreal — Arteta, Ramsey, Wilshere — Ozil, AOC, Sanchez.
In some form I reckon he rides with the four sprites in the middle and two with pace ahead of them. (Maybe Santi and Wellbeck for Wilshere and AOC instead of the above?)
Man City have never been able to live with us at our place when we play well, in spite of the oil cash. Not sure their lumpy central midfielders are up to it now either. Be a big game for Arteta though, especially if Silva plays.
Poonward.
@ El P 232
Disagree that Wenger will start with Ox. I think when everyone’s fit, Wenger rarely selects the Ox, perhaps seeing him more as an impact player from the bench, and with Man City and Dortmund coming up – I see Wenger going for a more established first XI.
Ramsey having a slight issue with his ankle might offer Wenger the opportunity to rest him for Man City and have him fighting fit for our counter-attacking game plan vs. Dortmund. I expect the team against Man City to be:
Szczesny – Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal – Arteta, Wilshere, Ozil – Sanchez, Welbeck, Cazorla
Personally don’t want Tottenham sharing The Emirates, at all.
Can you imagine the damage they would do to the place on their final sharing day ……. if not before.
All due respect, Dave, if you’re looking in, but it wouldn’t be the first time.
what a happy jolly bar
🙂
deep joy
and doc fau
ya dirty brute
mrs arsed blushed she did
No sharing ground with anybody. Spurs? HELL NO NO NO.
Spuds up for sale? I wonder if we might have a whip- round on this diet and see if we could submit an offer .I bet we’d get at least £20 . A local feeder club would be very helpful and Tottenham have always needed a better public toilet. WHL could be the answer.
Sorry it should be site not diet. My auto spell is becoming infamous although I’ve yet to replicate Alistair Hurrah.
thunder T
i liked diet
🙂
Trev: not to mention the damage they’d do to every pub within a mile or two of the stadium.
Them playing at the Emirates is never going to happen, for a whole host of reasons. I don’t think the Tottenham board see it as a serious alternative at all. For all the animosity between them and West Ham I still see the Olympic Stadium as a far more plausible alternative as both them and WH would be on what would still be more or less neutral ground.
And all this is assuming Tottenham ever get round to actually start building that mythical new stadium of theirs, of course.
ohhhhhhh
ohhhhhhh
me ears are alight
CBA
I don’t like diets
But Im always on them!
If all the world’s internet pundits were laid end to end, Otd, I wouldn’t be surprised…
Rather insightful and confident, as always.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140911/-we-can-make-welbeck-a-better-player-
“He can make himself a better player [here] because I can help him. He’s a young boy, he’s not 24 yet and let’s not forget that some players who arrived here at the age of 23 made huge careers here so I hope we can contribute and help him.”
More revealingly — the deal went through because Arsene was getting ready to travel and I guess could get the ball rolling in very early hours — his travel apparently made the deal happen:
“If I had not travelled that day, Welbeck would not be here,” he said. “I’ll explain that a bit later but the coincidence made that because I was on my way. If I had stayed at home, Welbeck would not be here today. That’s the truth. We are in 2014 and you can always be in touch with everybody even when you travel. The advantage of that day was I had to get up at six o’clock in the morning and I was available the whole day.”
😉
thunder T
diets me arse
i eat what i want
when i want
twice
i’m fortunate that me eyesight is steaming up
so
the consequences of many stuffed faces
is for others to concern
luckily i have the metabolism
of a randy whippet
so
apart from looking like i’ve eaten a bowling ball
post plain pints swally
i’m still the same
tall dark slim handsome lothario i always was
(cheers öskar for the pep talk)
Oskar @231,
Never mind internet pundits – did you know that if all the people in the world were laid end to end round the equator, three quarters of them would drown.
So Welbeck.. was a lucky happenstance!
By sheer serendipity, Arsene had to be where he was and that made the deal. He seems to make the best deals when he’s away.. Alexis comes to mind!
Arsene! He deals where he wants!
😀
Didn’t know Randy Whippets FC play in Ireland. 😉
cba – nothing to do with Pierre I trust.
Washed up – I did indeed misread your post. Only now does the meaning of Cent’s “wuif”@206 occur to me. A pint behind the bar for you when you’re next in (I still don’t completely trust that Teddy Bear). Any chance of an in-joke from your manor?
A shedload of press conferences today. Does that mean there’ football soon. Please, let it be, let it be.
COYG
cba – My ‘Pierre’ comment @250 was in reference to yours@242
8ball
they don’t
get away there wi’ yer foolishness
ya wee skitter !
to be
(hang on let me see if i have this right)
sure
howdy pan G
how’s life treatin’ yer good self?
well , i hope
cba one of a kind 🙂
in my case
the shorter the
drink the better
unless it’s in a glass 🙂
Hello there yourself cba.
Life treating me as well as I could hope; trust things are good on your side of the Sea.
8ball
devil’s buttermilk?
say ye nay!
pan G
all grand here
cheers fer askin
Not quite sure what Wenger hopes to achieve by saying if he’d been in the country, Welbeck would not be an Arsenal player.
Ramsey listed as ‘late fitness test’ for Saturday on physioroom dot com
Other players still listed as injured are – Walcott, Özil, Giroud, Gnabry, (Ramsey) ……..
Is it still January ?
Still, we are down to 5th in the table.
Cynic,
I think the inference here was because he had to go to Rome so early, it enabled phone discussions to take place much earlier than usual on transfer deadline day and if you remember, they still needed an extension to finalise the deal that night, so I think thats where he’s coming from.
I also think he’s deliberately putting it this way to play games with the media considering some of papers were even reporting that someone else at the club signed DW and that Wenger had nothing to do with it.
Probably what Wenger meant was, Welbeck would not have happened without his knowledge. Apparently some of the media reports for the last few days had indicated that Danny was signed without Wenger’s knowledge or approval, hilarious i must say.
Saturday cannot come soon for this stupid international break was a drag.
The only positive i can think of is our players had more game time which is what i felt they needed, for they did seem rusty.
City will be tough, really tough for whatever we say about them, they are an excellent team, stoke defeat not withstanding.
Dzeko and Silva are the ones who always play well against us and along with a fit again Aguero, this will be a game of steep challenge. Surprisingly and good for us that Yaya Toure hardly seems to have good games against us and may it long continue.
I hope to see a 4-2-3-1 formation with my Magician playing behind Welbeck and having Ox and Sanchez on the wings. The more likelihood is 4-3-2-1 with Arteta, ramsey/Santi and jack playing in the midfield and Sanchez and Ozil on the wings.
Lunch time kick offs usually meant disaster last season, new season should be better, hopefully we have the appetite.
sorry ‘hol
wafflin as usual
just
down on the beach this mornin
unintentionally serenading a family of definitely foreign people
big beach
they had uber-engineered spectacles
and well behaved children
clearly donegal the no
blue eyes
no drum though
probably why they ushered
little uurgen and fluurgen away from me
on me way home
must get drum
🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bym6J_TCNTE
aww fuck
don partridge is dead
love that song
clearly well-to-do euro-tourists don’t
or was is my version
fuck em
i love it
yer yokeymebob holds onto names ‘hol
or is it her yokeymebob
mmmmmm
arsene’t wasn’t funny first time round
and certainly isn’t second
anyhoo
shitty ?
i’m gonna be as happy
as brian when we pound those twonks
.youtube.com/watch?v=89yW5AP8ySU
yeee haaaa
UP THE ARSE !!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89yW5AP8ySU
oopsy doodle
ba ba ba
ooooooo
ba ba ba
:]
it’s hers
only use one puter
one phone
her puter bears grudges
clearly
ok
shut up me
gonna make dinner
sha la la la lee
Jesus, Tottenham at the Ems? Won’t happen, will never happen.
Apart from
(1) the fortnightly havoc that would be visited upon the place and the surrounding area, and the instant de-arsenalisation of the interior of the stadium, (all of which has cost a fair few pennies since 2006),
(2) the damage to the pitch caused by twice as many games, and (3) the gut-churning scenario of either being part of, or having to watch, Arsenal fans being crammed into the away section whilst the rest of the stadium is taken over by Spurs fans for their “home” derby,
why on earth would we ever give that lot a leg up? No amount of money would be worth it.
I can only think that those who have suggested such an outcome as even a possibility are either speaking with tongue firmly in cheek – in which case the suggestion is about as funny as a maths joke 😉 – or they have not been to too many derby games at the Lane to witness at first hand the virulent knuckle-dragging hatred on view.
Tottenham should look into groundsharing with The Monkey Enclosure at London Zoo, a venue that is also well used to the inarticulate violence and frenzied masturbation that characterises a full house at WHL. Alternatively, the Tv studio that hosts The Jeremy Kyle Show should also be sounded it, a home from home solution given the familiarity that most Tott fans will have with the journey.
TABS !!!
howdy fella
think of the expense installing knuckle holders on all the seats
Howdy Cba, just working my way through your philosophising above 🙂
Installing Knuckle-holders? I’ll go ape if they do. 😉
now that’s polite legalese , tabs
if ever i’m facing incarceration
tis you i want in me corner
(easy wolfie)
my shite is clearly what it is
😉
anyhoo
jalfrezi on
breads to make
slainte all
I think Tottenham should ground share, as also suggested, with Milton Keynes Dons.
At least they might nearly be able to fill that place – if enough away fans can find it. 😉
Slainte cba. Enjoy the Jalfrezi.
Milton Keynes not nearly far enough Trev 😉
as the great david joh said
ye gotta stomp yer hands
and clap yer feet
😉
TRAAAAASSSHHHH
dont pick it up
must stop drinkin during the day
well
to be honest
i’m only puttin the tin lid
on the biscuits
i made the drink
so
fuck you
ya PM snifter snorters
and the curry
and the chapattis
now
where was i?
🙂
Mmmmm
CBA
Good lad!
Anyone remember My Sharona?
Fucking awful,but was good fun going into record shops in them days and asking, “Have you got The Clap? Sorry I meant The Knack”
Esso. Yes but really preferred the GoGos We Got the Clap. Maybe you inspired them? 😉
The dreaded three weeks hits Liverpool.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29158191
How come Hammers always got the best tunes?
Cock Sparrer, The Business, Booze & Glory, Cockney Rejects, Superyob…
Where’s the true Gooner band?
Brilliant post, I reckon Steve T would have loved it: http://www.7amkickoff.com/2014/the-tragedy-of-cesc-fabregas-the-almost-won-player/
Esso@276: Anyone remember record shops?
Good to see Van Taking Persie’s Length Gall chatting shit about BIG Welly. Means he’s highly motivated and nailed on to score on Saturday.
Pleasing.
Hi everyone. Good to see some faces from the not so distant past, here.
Holic, thank you for your work on twitter tonite. xx
rescue home for dogs in Manchester set ablaze.
My heart is broken, holics xx
Lovely to see a couple of familiar faces back in.
Thanks abb, that did take over my evening somewhat. Had hoped to publish a comment piece on today’s presser, but things conspired against me.
Recommend the Guardian piece on how the Pope influenced the Welbeck deal. Gives the lie to a load of shit that has been spouted about who bought Welbeck.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/11/danny-welbeck-arsenal-pope-francis-arsene-wenger
Maybe obvious to everyone else, but Holic’s link above should be http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/11/danny-welbeck-arsenal-pope-francis-arsene-wenger – with Arsène’s surname in full.
Edit… oops 🙂
Cheers, Cent – good link.
That observation by the fan that Cesc seemed to create time and space, reflects exactly the exceptional qualities of Liam Brady who, despite all the great players we have seen at the Arsenal, remains my joint number one with Dennis Bergkamp, a gnat’s foreskin ahead of TH14, RP7, TA6, PV4 etc.
With regard to Patrick Vieira in that article (and the quote from Bloggs), I heard that Paddy was sold, not due to his own demands, but because the medical team thought that his knees had no more than half a decent season in them, and probably not even that much in a physical league like the Premier League.
I can understand why 7amkickoff would still have taken Cesc back despite everything, but I can also understand why AW wouldn’t.
I can understand why a 23 year old was eager to return home having been abroad from the age of 16, but the way he forced his way out of the club was a disgrace and the biggest possible kick in the teeth to a man he had repeatedly been happy to describe as his “second father”.
That Cesc has decided to go to Chelsea is a pretty hefty kick in the teeth to the Arsenal fans – while still telling journalists that he will “always feel like a Gunner”. Our recent signings allow us to feel fairly ambivalent towards Cesc’s future but, really, Chelsea ?
Chelsea – the club and the manager who are the absolute antithesis of everything that the Arsenal and Arsene Wenger stand for. Had Cesc Fabregas gone to Chelsea at 16 years of age, he would have been spat out with all the other youth prospects, and never had the chance to become the player that Wenger tried to build his team around.
Fabregas was seemingly allowed to leave Barcelona because his form has been dwindling markedly in the second half of recent seasons.
Burn out ? Quite possibly – he has been playing at the top level since the age of 16 and is now 27. There’ll be no sympathy from Jose Mourinho when his form dwindles there. No fatherly understanding coming his way from that ego maniac.
Jorge Valdano, ex president of Real Madrid, said in the paper today that “Jose Mourinho has never said a single thing about football worth hearing”.
Well, he’s your third father now, Cesc.
Good luck with that one.
Cheers, Trev. Well said, yourself.
@286 Trev
Bang on. I totally back Wenger’s decision not to bring Fabregas back. With Wilshere, Ramsey and Ozil in the squad and all developing nicely, there was no obvious need for that sort of player (is he necessarily better than any of them anyway?), and we’re not the sort of club unlike Chelski/MC who can simply write off 30 million quid to buy a player on sentiment/who we really don’t need/to spite the opposition (i.e. when Chelsea bought Willian to sit on their bench and screw Spurs over).
Trev,
In one sense I can see where you come from in relation to Cesc.
Apparently he did treat the club poorly in forcing a move home. But as you say, he gave us 8 years. Thats a lot of time. He had a chance to go home. He had a chance to play beside some of the best players in the world or stay and play with the likes of Eboue. What would any other world class player have done? He even took a wage cut to go home. We always knew it was going to happen some day and we ended up getting a £35m return on the investment! Really, the only surprise was it didn’t happen sooner.
Exactly what the ins and outs of that story remain to be told from his perspective though. Naturally as fans, we tend to look at things from the clubs perspective.
Flamini/Gilberto and Diarra were never replaced when we were pushing hard to win the league. (You could even argue, that so many years later, we’re still here talking about a DCM after Vieira left!)
As for the Chelsea link – it was absolutely plain that if he left Barca there was no other place he would come with a partner and daughter based in London. We had first dibs, and we refused. Did we honestly think he was going to play for Fulham or maybe move abroad to appease Arsenal fans after the club rejected the opportunity to sign him? Say what you want about Cesc but he’s never been about money. He left AFC to go home. And the only other home he knew when Barca turfed him out was AFC. Instead of opening the door, we closed it.
My situation in relation to Cesc is crystal clear and devoid of all emotion. He is a superb player. He is much better than most of the players we have in the creative positions. He should have been signed imo because he would have improved the team. Easy to criticise Mourinho. He’s won 2 European cups and major honours at every club he managed. When he knew Cesc was available he immediately cut Lampard. And Lampard is a legend at Chelsea. Thats the difference. As to who is right – well only time will tell if you want to measure that in terms in trophies. But for me, it will always be a serious mistake no signing him.
And still, despite signing for Chelsea, he still professes his love for AFC. And still we try to rationalise the reasons why we were right to turn down a player of that calibre by blaming him for earning a living with the only other club he could realistically have chosen.
El Puno — take it from your diatribe @282 that you are not a supporter of Arsenals Rainbowlaces Campaign?
Personally, I think its a valuable and worthwhile contribution to a pressing and long standing problem.
Well Done Arsenal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXbrS3Msgww
big fuckin smiles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4UFqKG5YI
sorry ‘hol i fuckin love this
is it arsenal related dunno don,t care
not so much a shirt as upholstery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–EcVz-KaVU
fuck
la la la
la la la la
;]
sorry ‘holic
Impressive @ 290: I am very very proud of our pioneering stance. I have been sharing that video in social media, and my wife — who is a fan from a distance, mostly out of moral support to me I must say — has been sharing with her her friends and acquaintances as well.
Even though it is just a gesture from the club’s perspective, Tim Stillman’s piece on Arseblog today highlights the importance of that gesture.
Very proud!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y15iusA4ylc
promise to shut up ‘hol
i will
arsenal blog after all
😉
*keepy uppys til the 3 ton*
…and back to you, cba…
Trev and Joe: Some very passionately felt and superbly expressed opinions regarding Fabregas. And many thanks for the link Cesc.
Joe, with all due apologies, your opinion about Cesc is anything but devoid of emotion. And I mean that as a compliment. You would like to express your opinions about Cesc without being influenced by the emotions he generates in you, but the fact that you acknowledge that there is such a need for qualification underlines the reality how deep your emotional investment with a player who for a long time represented to most of us what we think Arsenal at its best: class, quality, elegance and camaraderie. And that is how it always is.
It is well know that human memory is very fickle. Cognitive psychologists have been establishing rapidly over the last few decades of research just how untrustworthy it is. Just like our interpretation of sensory perceptions fill in so many clues — as can be demonstrated through optical and aural illusions — our memory tends to reconstruct and reinvent its contents based on the raw emotional impacts a phenomenon, lived or re-lived, generates.
I don’t think we fans — whose attachment to Arsenal is ontological and not just functional, that is we are not just ‘supporters whose job is to support’ but we are Arsenal in our mind — can really come to terms with Cesc’s departure and the manner of it and what it meant for our fragile but bravura attempt at fighting the dirty rotten world of financially doped clubs with our own sons and brothers. We had lost the biggest of those battles, and it took a toll on our otherwise unperturbed general. And it had taken a toll on all of us. Even the veterans who consoled themselves with the memory of Brady’s move, assuring that things will be alright just as it was before. Yes, things will be alright but the fact that we all suffered miserably for a while — a day, a month, and for some years — because of a single player’s selfishness (a much justified selfishness from the player’s perspective) will remain with us.
But. Yes, we had lost that battle. But we were to win the war. We are on the path to win the war.
And you don’t bring along a deserter — however sympathetic his motivations might have been, and however a great fighter he once was — when you are on the cusp of victory.
For me, a player stops making sense when he leaves Arsenal. Doesn’t apply to players who have never been at Arsenal. So I remain in awe of Pirlo or Totti or Iniesta … but Cesc or RVP or Nasri as players do not make any impact. I am sure it is my mind’s self-protection instinct kicking in as it prefers calm over anguish, but I just cannot be bothered.
I had suffered when Cesc left. But once he has left he was just another player in Barca, a little lost and unsure but a very good player. So when he joined Chelsea, it didn’t really bother me at all.
And in terms of choosing the right players to buy, I have always trusted Arsene’s judgments, especially on the bigger deals. And I have a feeling that he will be proven right this time too. It may simply be my wish that is speaking, and hence any attempt at rationalizing may not be entirely rational, and I would spare others the subterfuge of my own paradoxical thoughts.
Any further. 🙂
@ 299 : Meant many thanks for the link “Cent”. 🙂
picks nose
noodles fer a bit
does tax return
doc fau
ever left arses ?
LPAG
😉
re Cesc: The late American banker Walter Wriston liked to say that “capital goes where it’s welcome and stays where it’s well treated.” Any professional footballer is much the same. How well Mourinho treats Cesc once he has outworn his welcome is the $64 million question. I also think that AW is hard-headed enough that if he had thought Cesc would improve the team he wouldn’t have had a second thought about signing him regardless of whose progress that would have impeded. I can only conclude that AW thought Cesc was past his peak, and we all know that AW is held to be the judge supreme of that.
Dr F.: aargh! Self-assist — and after all that splendid work @299.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDu9DXyN3Mo
night all
DRF- I am one of those who cannot even start to dislike or be disapointed with Cesc.
I found myself more angry and dispaointed with AW at the time.
I remember finding it hard to understand how arsenal fans and many of them such long serving gooners were able to quickly switch off Cesc and RVP saying they forced their way out.
They were and are world class players who simply expected to be paid their worth.
Out of all the leaving arsenal players, Cesc for me was the one I never wanted to see leave the place.
He was a top class player and still seems top shelf to me.
I think mourinho was spot on in seeing the undervaluation of The current worth of Cesc.
Rainbowlaces supporter and proud of the Arsenal video.
NBN @ 304: Apologies, didn’t realize. 🙁
Aussie @ 306: I think Cesc took a pay-cut to go to Barca. But that doesn’t take away from the gist of what your viewpoint.
I don’t agree with you on multiple fronts. But those are all well-hashed arguments and I don’t think I can contribute anything new there.
I try to live Arsenal more than remember Arsenal. And when I remember I try to remember the bright moments. I am not given to the pity of Nostalgia, nor its recriminations. My own existential choice.
Cesc and RVP are not part of Arsenal. Time takes its toll. We move on.
A club for hire then?
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/11/tottenham-hotspur-deny-sale-joe-lewis
Dr F, have you ever played Football competitively? Have you ever played for a team? You write very well, I’m plain curious if that passion for footie spilled over into playing the game?
So Danny Welbeck wasn’t good enough for Man U says Van Balls.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29164940
Well what more motivation do you need? When’s that Man U match scheduled again?! Brace for Welbeck in the very least!
Other good news, Diaby injury free for 90mins. Would really be great to see him in the first team this season.
🙂
Vinny@311: Yes I played both Football and Cricket at college level. But it was college in India so cannot guarantee the quality. 🙂
However later I played football in France and as recently until the year before last here in US, but last two more casual. My son is approaching three so time to teach him. 🙂
Nice One. 3 is a good age to start teaching your son. Some run with the ball quite naturally, others not so much 🙂
Vinny @ 314: Thanks. I remember started playing at around 6-7 years old. I remember properly learning the technical basics at around 10-11. Arsenal has opened up a Soccer school here in Boston for each summer for ages 7-16. So hopefully, fingers crossed … 🙂
They who hath given, and then cruelly taken our season away from us are seemingly on the point of giving us back our season again.
BUT I DON”T TRUST ‘EM.
THEY CAN TAKE IT BACK FROM US ANY TIME THEY WANT AND MOST LIKELY THEY WILL SO ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN !!!!
@DocFaust
Am really enjoying some of the stuffs you write about. Hope i can be as insightful and eloquent but seeing that am inebriated as often as not, would not bank on it.
See a certain calmness and ability to keep your head while most around you are losing it (myself included), muse be the product of some zen like practice no doubt! Long may it continue.
😀
The numbers are with Van Gaal on Welbeck. A goal every 289 mins played for Man U (all comps) on average, against a goal every 165 minutes from Rooney and every 123 minutes from van Persie. By way of comparison, Giroud scores every 183 minutes on average.
Van Persie’s strike frequency is better for ManU than it was for us (goal every 140 minutes) though he averages 76 minutes a game for the Mancs vs 67 minutes a game for us.
290 – what the hell are you on about?
‘pologies ‘holic
was on the gargle
big time
yesterday
if i offended anyone
fuck off
ye probably deserved it
fuckin ell
we’re football fans
not a fuckin knittin circle
anyhoo
cheers ‘hol
fer not barrin’ me
🙂
top man
* laughs at cba
and gets a stitch
.
goes off to join
knitting circle *
.
.
.
anyone know how
to knit a circle ?
.
😉
Also laughs at cba 🙂
so
big ian meets maker
.
“howdy divil , you’ve been expecting me”
And according to one less-bandied-about stat, Welbeck has scored 20 goals from 50 starts for Man Utd, which doesn’t seem too shabby at all.
The mere mention of the dna boy churns up memories and despise in equal measure. For all he did for us, for me he is an ex player who does not merit the word Gunner anymore. He refused to play for us and that day he ceased to exist. I do not care people leave and go, it is a professional sport and loyalty is long forgotten. The way they leave is what makes me sick and hence there is so much hatred towards the likes of dna boy and rvc than towards most others. him.
@ Aussie, differing on this one with you buddy hahha because you feel dna boy is better than what we have currently. I do not think so for i rather have a Ramsey in this team than him. Yes, dna boy is more talented but i rather have Aaron in the current set up than him.It suits the system and god willing we will have rambo being better than dna boy.
Lvg says Danny is not shrek or rvc standards, i agree but then we dont need him to be. He maintains good standards and scores home and away against the mancs resulting in our wins, i am more than happy with those standards of his.
I watched the under 21 game yesterday and the team is good, really good. Bellerin and Akpom excellent but man that kid Dan Crowley is something. A fit Diaby could still augur well for us but i rest my case till i see him play continuously.
Time to watch my dear Gunners tomorrow, why do i sense a Mesut Goal and assist in a 3-1 win for us.
This Rainbow laces campaign… I’m glad they didn’t Bungle it.
Re: The Totts.
Wasn’t yesterday’s story about 180 degrees, diametrically opposed to today’s? The Tottite PR manager will be having a busy day.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29177759
Why Apple released the new Iphone for Man U fans :
http://imgur.com/gallery/r0hG9l4
😀
BB. 🙂
“If I offended anyone
Fuck off”
What he said.
Bourbons all over.
Wibbling over my bet tomorrow. Take some BIG Welly, but what about the score, 2-1, 3-1, or 3-0? Take the middle maybe…
Thank fuck the football is back on.
cba 320
LOL
I go to a knitting circle once a fortnight, the language there would turn the air blue!
Swearing like navvies they are.
SSY
Crack away on the beano with The Four be Twos. Or The Bollock Brothers. Proper chaps. Fuck The Rejects under 5 murdering cunts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F1IXgGzD80&sns=em
Aussie,
Fabregas may have only wanted to be “paid his worth” but he had signed an eight year contract. Whatever he thought he was worth, he was only entitled to what he had signed for.
Other posters here seem convinced it “was never about the money” with Fabregas. I tend to agree, personally. To me it seemed all about getting back to Barcelona.
Whatever the truth is, refusing to play for the club of which he was the captain was disgraceful.
Right you are, Esso, but you can’t beat The Sparrer.
Talking about Fabregas again eh? Must be an interlulllllllllllll
Re: Van Gaaaaal and Welbeck, the lady doth protest too much, methinks. When it’s clear to everyone that you’ve let a very talented player (a homegrown player, even) join a rival club for a pittance, you have to say some bollocks in the media. I’m reminded of the comments that came from Madrid after Ozil left.
I am liking this trend, though, where the fans of our new signings’ previous clubs go apeshit when the deals are announced. Something I could get used to.
SSY
I’d beat the cunts. With a studded 4 by 2 for preference.
That story about Wenger only signing Welbeck because he had to get up early to go to the airport is weird in the extreme. The mischief makers are suggesting a passing window cleaner answered the phone and dashed off a cheque for £16 million or something as bizarre.
Can anyone believe Wenger would allow us to sign a major striker he didn’t want at the club.? Total rubbish. Having said that his suggestion that he got up early to clinch the deal because he had a plane to catch is somewhat strange as well. I think Welbeck was reluctant to join but Wenger bet him that he could get the Pope to ring him in the afternoon to persuade him to join. Welbeck agreed to join when he had the papal call as he saw it as a sign.
Obvious
Actually, Mick Beaufoy from The Sparrer is a Gooner but, alas, only one in the band.
By the way, the latest from Booze & Glory, “As Bold As Brass” is fantastic album, thankfully this time without ‘ammers involved.
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