Arsenal Make Shore Of The Points Against Geordies
Dec 14th, 2014 by 'holic
A little later than usual I caught the train from the West Country.. The 5.30 kick-off afforded a leisurely, if crowded, journey to the new home of football. Pre-match drinks with old friends were enjoyed and we contemplated mainly how Mathieu Debuchy would fare at centre-half against his old team-mates, Cisse and Ameobi.
Inside the ground any pre-match fears proved to be unfounded. From the off he and Per Mertesacker knitted together well and dealt comfortably with their opposite numbers. Hector Bellerin and Kieran Gibbs (particularly the former) provided width at appropriate moments and Arsenal were quickly onto the front foot.
We came close to grabbing an early lead when Per Mertesacker’s effort came back out off the bar. The lead wasn’t long behind, and arrived courtesy of Olivier Giroud’s superb header from an Alexis Sanchez cross. There was a feel good factor about the ground and Arsenal bombed on, denied a second only for an alleged foul in the build-up to Danny Welbeck’s fine finish seen only by the appalling again Lee Mason.
Just once did the visitors look likely to level but Wojciech Szczesny showed commendable concentration to deny them with a magnificent double save from Gouffran and Cisse after long periods of inactivity.
It is fair to say we needed the comfort of a second goal as that late scare demonstrated. We didn’t have to wait too long for it. Santi Cazorla was picked out by Alexis, he left Coloccini for dead and clipped a beauty past young Geordie ‘keeper, Alnwick.
In front of us Alan Pardew hauled off his two strikers, perhaps harshly given the lack of service they received. We were very good, but this was not the disciplined and dangerous on the break Newcastle side who beat Chelsea a week ago. Almost immediately it was three, with Bellerin crossing for Giroud to grab his second goal with a deft near post finish. “One Arsene Wenger” was picked up and sung with some gusto by the majority, a show of support I understand was jeered in one part of the ground but certainly that wasn’t audible in East Lower.
Newcastle did plunder some consolation for their travelling support when Perez headed home a Colback cross. Arsenal simply dusted themselves down and got about their business of playing some wonderful possession football. They didn’t just smother the game though, but grabbed a fourth as the match drew to a close. Santi Cazorla’s Panenka followed Welbeck being brought down by Dummett.
And so back to the pub to chew over the fat in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. It was a fun day to be at the Arsenal again, and a huge part of that was the pre and post-match socialising. Thank you all for one of the good ones.
183 Responses to “Arsenal Make Shore Of The Points Against Geordies”
Bring ’em all on!
๐
Nice one boys
Well written Holic only site I can stomach these days as u clearlyvwrite from the heart. Bring on Liverpool
Nice to see such a positive performance best we’ve played in a good while – Big props to Bellerin he’s got all the tools to be one of the best in the business – He will have bad days for sure but if supported what a player he will become. Big mention for Giroud again to knits the side so well together and his second was sublime even DB10 would have been proud of that one !!
Up The Arse,
A wonderful crisp pre Christmas evening in the Grove. The team playing wonderful Wengerball and the crowd in full voice. This old recidivist particularly enjoyed the thumping pure centre forward goal with his head from the HFB. For sure our best performance of the season and the most enjoyable – made all the more so by the fact that our opponents had turned over the Chavs the week before.
I think we saw a career launching performance from young Hector at right back yesterday – my clear man of the match. Everybody else played very well – and let’s not forget the incredible double save at 1-0 from Chez which kept our nose in front at half time.
So all smiles as we sauntered down Hornsey Road to the car and headed off up the M11 back to Cambridgeshire; only to find the airwaves on all stations dominated by warring Arsenal fans determined to ignore a great game and instead either attack or defend our manager. Some declared themselves “members of the Wenger out group” for five years or more. It seems a new calling in life has been born above and beyond just supporting Arsenal Football Club.
It all seemed so far removed from the wonderful sights and sounds we had left in the stadium just a few moments earlier.
Frankly I am getting so fricking bored with it all and wish we could just concentrate on the football. Bring on Anfield!!!
Good afternoon all.
Thank you Brendan. Much appreciated.
A great result and some very performances. I thought Debuchy did really well considering. His return from injury could not have been better timed!
A great write up H and countryman too.
I think it is extremely counter productive of Arsenal supporters to be so anti the manager. What do they hope to achieve? I have my own personal feelings about whether AW should stay on as boss or not, but fuck me! I don’t think screaming abuse at him and the players while fighting with other Gooners is going to help the club progress this season.
There is a complete lack of perspective and alot of it does seem to stem from social media and big deals are made of very small minded opinions. I blame Twitter and its ridiculous 140 character limit! How can you elucidate or elaborate and engage in intelligent discourse with that limitation? ๐
I think the manager/board/club fucked up last summer by not making a few defensive signings and they have cost us points and I also think that needs rectifying in January. Of course it is more difficult in the winter window, but that should not stop the club from bringing in at least two players, regardless of whether we have to pay slightly over the odds for them. WE have done it before (Monreal for instance) and I hope we do it again. Not just for to help the team’s chances, but also to give the manager some breathing space.
Because if we bring in some new faces, then Wenger has done what most Gooners have wanted. And if he still gets abuse, then it will come from those with an agenda, who won’t be happy (if they can ever actually be happy that is!) until AW goes.
I am a sentimental romantic and really would hate to see Arsene Wenger leave the club he has given so much of his life and career to, under a cloud, because he was driven out. When he leaves, I hope it’s following further success and on his terms.
UTA!
Such a different side when we come out ready to press. It sets the tempo.
I think that Mason referees in some kind of parallel universe – like your dotty old granddad.
Chiote plants his studs into Alexis stomach – no yellow card, barely a telling off.
Bellerin touches a Newcastle player, albeit a fraction after the ball – yellow card.
He stops play to make Bellerin take a throw in again, fifteen yards further forward!
He allows a Newcastle player to take a quick free kick about ten yards from where the offence occurred which then bypasses a number of Arsenal players ready to defend.
Not all of his inconsistency favoured Newcastle which, fortunately for him, was his only constant. A truly bewildering performance.
UTA.
Cheers H!
What a simply fucking excellent day out that was, from start to finish!
Restored my faith for a bit. Big thanks to all those I met.
Excellent day. Hard work all round. Moments of brilliance from many. Well deserved victory despite an astonishing refereeing performance from Mason. Can we not do the right handshake, pal? Good to have “One Arsene Wenger” ring out a couple of times. Widely sung in block 100.
Onward. Another Anfield ’89 performance next week will do very nicely, thank you.
AOC MOTM for me. Drove us on relentlessly. That’s the fella’s best position.
Noosa – There’s no way he could have seen Tiote’s kick, but hopefully the video will get him banned.
Feelgood was there? Who could have predicted?
Good write-up, ‘Holic. Does feel as if the team is starting to come together. Giroud showed how much he was missed when he was out. As Chippy says, he knits the attack together. But he also provides a cutting edge in the box that we have lacked. Both his goals yesterday were technically very good strikes. Bellerin looks a player. It will be interesting to see, injuries permitting, whether he or Debuchy is first choice at the end of the season. You can see why Jenkinson is on loan.
Cynic@13: Tiote or Mason?
. The usual excellent summing- up from the maestro! I can’t remember enjoying an Arsenal game that much for a long time. As Cynic says if we press as effectively as that we are a different team but it also helped to have Ox in midfield again as he gave real tempo to the midfield as did Santi. Very sensible and heartfelt note from Dexter. I’m sure most clubs have these ‘ fans ‘ now but we can well do without some of the idiots who seemingly go hoping we will lose or play badly. I heard a guy on Talk Shite who frankly made me feel ashamed to be an Arsenal fan.
But some of my faith was restored that there are still enough proper supporters left to provide a healthy and appropriate level of support and make attending games as pleasurable as it should be.
Fine write up Holic. That’s the game I saw.
Standing pre-match at Piebury Corner we were passed by a group of ‘fans’ without colours chanting anti-Wenger epithets in an aggressive and hostile manner, eyeballing the crowd outside the Corner as if to say, “Which of you lot is up for a ruck, then?”
Sadly for them, we won the game, the majority expressed their support for Le Boss and their view was not heard on the broadcast.
Get out while you still can, if you need a new manager. This team is going to deliver.
To the point, Holic.
Yesterday was indeed a feelgood day, albeit a shame that Feelgood wasn’t there.
As Holic said, most of the pleasure in goung to games recently has been in those met before and after. The football joined in big time again yesterday.
Lovely stuff above from Countryman, dexter, ttg, cynic, bath, hell everyone ! Only the good guys turn up when we win.
Special mention for Esso yesterday,
With all the nonsense going on amongst fans with banners and vigilante groups, what a pleasure to see a bloke getting so much pleasure just from being back to watch another game. (Same goes for snowy, home and away, week in, week out).
I haven’t forgotten that pint I promised you, mate. You just seemed to have so many lined up yesterday, I thought you’d miss the kick off if I got yet another one. ๐
Cheers Trev! Here’s hoping I’ll be back before too long mate. Was magnificent to spend some time with yourself, Good Man Snowy, and Tabs yesterday.
Apologies to anyone not mentioned but things did get a bit hazy later on, like.
Sorry to miss you, Esso. Hope to catch you next time.
Well said GH.
One thing that really cost us this summer is the determination of Wenger to use the Wilshere, Ramsey, Arteta midfield combo, even if it’s working or not. Injury has a way of balancing Arsenal team….8 goals in two matches, I can’t ask for more.
Esso, Trev, it was a hell of a day. Thanks both for your part in it. ๐
I read with interest the details of the DM from Spartak Moscow( no not him) we are being linked with in the window. I wondered what the attraction was and then I saw he has a poor injury record having only played 22 games in 3 seasons and missing 9 months with an ACL last season. He’s made for us!
Am not too sure if we’ll be able to get a proper DM in the next window, rather than splurge on whoever’s available, maybe it’s better if we wait for the end of the season as we’ll probably have a better choice of players then.
Kallstrom again anyone?!
๐
I was there, in spirit.
Big performance from a makeshift eleven.
Loved it. ๐
You’re a fine man, Feelgood ๐
Now that Chambers would be back for the match against ‘Pool, should we revert back to the defensive line-up of the Stoke match (with Bellerin replaced by Debuchy) or keep the one from the Newcastle match?
I thought Debuchy — just like with Monreal before — gave Per more confidence and assurance because of the experience and Per organized things better. With Chambers as his partner Per looks tentative.
But Chambers-Per at CD have already played a few matches together and so theoretically speaking should have a better understanding. And however exciting Bellerin might have been in attack (and he is a great promise) in a tough away ground like Anfield Debuchy’s nous and toughness on the right wing would give our forward players more of a freedom to press and move (yesterday Welbeck, Giroud and Alexis helped out Bellerin defensively more than they would need to do with an experience pro).
I think the temptation to stick with the same starting eleven that gave such a performance would be rather high.
Also when is Arteta due back? Hopefully before the sequence of holiday season matches: 26, 28, 1 & 4.
Both Arteta an Theo are expected to be available for the trip to Anfield, Dr. Faustus.
Lurky @ 29: Thank you! Must be the season, two top-level players returning on the same weekend just on the day of a big game … ๐
‘Pool has a mid-week away match I believe in the League cup. Not that it should matter to us, but hopefully that would leave them tired and dispirited. I would love to see a memorable thumping by the boys in yellow and dark blue.
Quiet thesedays isn’t it.
I was glad to see Danny Murphy single out Bellerin for praise on MotD. He was excellent.
Just now back from the wilds of the midwest. Rootin tootin shhktin looneys the lot.
Santi. That is all i can say. Santi freaking cazorla. You beauty.
But then. There us the HfB. And bellerin – hes gonna be a player. And the ox. ANd Scezny with the instinctive saves. And Debuchy looked amazing. Alexis….Amazing. Danny welbeck – looking very dangerous. And Poldi -Poldi gets a taste!
Well done. All around.
Trev@19 “…only the good guys turn up when we win” spot on mate. we all could do without them am sure.
and those 2 nbc sports network reps can go fuck all! one of them used to play for us so i hear?? i guess i will never understand why media is so anti arsenal?? Alexis does the whole imaginary card thing, and he’s a villain, but then bojan did the same imaginary card thing last week at stoke to get young chambers sent off, but its never mentioned anywhere, oh and yeah he’s a great player!!
Thoroughly enjoyed the bellerin/Ox and santi show….
Hard to seperate who was the more magnificant out of that trio….
Someone in the earlier drinks correctly nominated this game as the making of young bellerin.. Indeed it was.
He was too much for Newcastle to handle and his defensive efforts were outstanding. Such a big engine for one also blessed with such speed..
The OX was equally as impressive driving us forawrd with pure speed and strength..constantly.
Quiet indeed Cynic. Wondering if the race is run. You have to be spouting extreme stuff to attract readers these days it seems. I’m not built that way. Let’s see what the new year brings.
The race is never run. You’re like that bloke who got carried over the line in the London Olympics*. Never give up.
*in 1908 ๐
AKB’s veering out of control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxU995zbfno
Some more AKB’s starting to lose it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hBtH2WNa1s
‘holic, I’m with you for the long haul.
Excellent write up. Always good to celebrate afterwards with friends. Especially when it involves beer and free chips.
Holic – busy time of year, but I’ll be reading ’em as long as you keep writing ’em.
Dunno what I’d do without this place. An oasis of good sense amidst a sea of knee-jerking, temper tantrum-throwing, attention-seeking shite.
COYG
i’m here too, Barman. ๐
“The race is run….” ?!?
Ridiculoso ๐
H
What race? Itยดs all about the quality… you keep doing what you do.
Always quieter when we win … misery loves company! ๐
A really enjoyable game, and it was apparent from the start that the atmosphere (has to be said helped by the performance) was so much better …. hereยดs to many more like that!
Can’t wait for Pool!
Third time lucky? Another 4-1!
We are not a bad team.. just caught us at a bad moment with all the injuries. We’ll finish strong!
๐
It’s always quiet after a good Arsenal performance. The sense of contentment represses the need to unburden that emotion compared to the need to do so when frustration, anger or depression drive the need to share these feelings.
Moreover those who have whipped themselves into a frenzy of hatred and vitriol have to re-brew their bile which has been dissipated by the back-to-back pair of 4-1 victories and the expression of support for Le Boss by the vast majority of the home crowd on Saturday.
“One Arsene Wenger, there’s only one Arsene Wenger.”
Great post as usual holic! Keep on trucking and we’ll always here to support.
Seasons greetings to you and everyone else on here in this serene oasis of sensibility and good cheer.
I hope the holidays bring you something better than the conjunctivitis it brought me–been suffering for 3 weeks ๐
This is the only safe haven around the net — I don’t want to read anything else (save Arseblog) because its all gone kind of nuts.
The posts this past week or so have been great to read — it seems this is one of the only blogs that attracts real Arsenal supporters (i.e. people who support the team through thick and thin, whatever the result).
Great work as always ‘holic — thank you! And thanks too to all the usual contributors here!
CL opponents .. who do you want?! :
Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid
Monaco
Porto
Bayern Munich
Barcelona
Me.. i prefer Bayern or Barca! Time to show that we can give them a good run for their money!
With Debuchy back we’re looking more solid and Giroud is picking up where he left off! Hopefully Kos and Theo will be available by then. What a match it’ll be!
Up The Arse!
๐
I think we’re getting Real so I’m preparing myself mentally for it ๐
‘holic, this blog perfectly epitomizes Rocky’s famous words ‘Remember who you are, what you are, and who you represent!’
Am not a frequent commentator here but sit in the corner and have a drink everyday. This blog is an oasis in the desert of social media knee-jerking.
Cheers!
Have to agree there CoR, it’s Real or Bayern. Not a chance of Monaco or Porto.
Barca, Real or Bayern for us, just written in the stars and I kinda want one of those two for the reasons I posted before. Monaco/Porto (albeit quality teams) will always be viewed as “easy” opponents and we had fair share of fuck-ups against those.
So if there is a chance of us going out of the competition, let it be against one of the biggest teams in the world where even good performance when not going through can be a springboard for the rest of the season.
Besides, we are long overdue of having some unforgettable CL night again.
Aussie @34
Agreed re Bellerin. Thought Ox was very good, but does tend to lose posession a little too easily sometimes. Of course, he also does fantastic things….. I mentioned to some others the other day that he reminds me of a (young) (sober) Gascoigne in style of play.
Santi back to form would be very welcome indeed.
Pah! All to all the defeatists!
Timely reminder : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwrJCD-OM08
Bring ’em on!!
๐
Monaco!!!!
I’d rather have had Barcelona, Real or Bayern to be honest.
Monaco it is ๐
Good draw this year also looking at the other pairings!
Monaco. At last the footballing gods are smiling on us in the CL. Will they stay with us all the way to the final?
Cynic@57: You’ll probably only have to wait a round.
Given Dortmund has drawn Juventus, coming 2nd in the group stage doesn’t look such a bad thing.
The danger is getting mugged by a not very good side due to complacency. I’d rather be facing a team nobody expects us to beat and rise to it than have the usual, “Piece of piss this. WE LOST?” feeling ๐
That is a long time for conjunctivitis, CoR. It is usually gone within a week. Hope it clears up soon.
Good draw I reckon! Nothing wrong with Monaco and perhaps our walking wounded will be back by then and we can go all the way!
Arsene knows!
Throwing away the 3-0 lead vs Anderlecht and letting Dortmund to finish first in the group, so that we can avoid Juventus. Genius:-)
All that fuss and we’ve ended up with Monaco!
UTA!! I bloody well say!
Monaco won’t be easy (no games at this stage is easy) but it is a tie we really should win, barring of course the seemingly never-ending avalanche of injuries crippling us even worse than is already the case.
And this blog is the only one I still read every post (not every drink, but every blog post and all but a few drinks) from. This bar was a haven of sanity after the Stoke debacle and while I didn’t contribute much that was mostly down to being a little late to the party and pretty much everything had already been said. And Holic, I would be more than happy to contribute more regularly to lessen the burden on you to always come up with something to write about. Match previews, match reports or general blog posts – just let me know!
Monaco, Wenger knows, he said so in the morning saying wish it is Monaco and viola it is them. Hey boss whichever church you visited, can you also ask for a DM and a CB please, he does not want to listen to us.
Saturday felt great, not because it was a win but more so against an in form newcastle team and we outplayed them throughout the game. It is probably one of the very few games wherein there was never a sense of panic, i not for once had any qualms at all, even after their goal. We just looked in total control.
Ox supposedly has a groin strain, what is with we and groin??? Theo and Arteta back in training from today. One in form player gone and 2 come back hoping for an extended run of play.
Pool were disgraceful yesterday but i expect them to be far better against us and i wont be surprised if it is the same fast approach this sunday. Arsenal need to win big games, we seem to have forgotten how to do it, so what better than beat a poor pool team at anfield.
Arsenal gets Monaco! Hurray!
Great draw for a change. A nice trip down memory lane for AW.
Now we need to kill the complacency gene, get our wounded fit, add the defensive expertise and put down a marker that shows that the Arsenal are back as a European force.
One Arsene Wenger.
What Lars said @67. All of it.
Greetings to everyone by the way. A delight to be here. It appears Wenger’s pastor did the draws. Hope we don’t suffer from complacency.
Happy about the return of the Coq.
Meanwhile, did I just get a 69 up there? This must be a good omen for me and Arsenal.
Monaco will do. It is the Last 16 of the Champions.
League after all.
Count yourselves lucky Barca! ๐
Looks like they’ll have to do City in before we can have a rematch!
Oh.. and PSG to rip chelski a new one!
๐
Monaco have some more than decent players, notably their playmaker Moutinho, who has 75 caps for Portugual. Berbatov is their leading goal scorer in Ligue 1 this season and has been a thorn in our side in the past, though the monks tell me that in 19 games against us he has only scored four times and been on the wining side five times. It seemed like more.
Ricardo Carvalho and Tunisia international CB Aymen Abdennour anchor a defense that conceded just one goal and kept five clean sheets in the group round. Carrasco, the tricky, 21-year-old left winger, is rated as an emerging talent. They will also have their beast of a DM Kondogbia โ another emerging 21-year old โ back from injury by the time the games come round, and letโs hope the Mancs havenโt sent Falcao back by then, too.
Holic,
Race is run ?
That would be a sad day indeed. Never miss a day in here even if I don’t have time to write.
This blog, and the many great Gooners I have met through it, have given a whole new dimension to supporting The Arsenal.
Monaco eh?
Bring em on! I wonder if the money they got for Falcao from Man U will be starting up front for them? ๐
Achieving a true simplicity that is lucid and engaging at the same time is very hard.
This blog is a rare example: the main entries are never given to hyperbole or excess but express well-argued opinions informed by and presented with historical perspectives, and the collective quality of posts kept at a consistently high level with a degree of mutual civility that is non-existent in the Internet.
Other than Arseblog — with its various contributors each offering something quite different than the others — this is the only Arsenal blog, or for that matter Football blog, I read.
NBN@75: Even if Van Gaal no longer finds Falcao useful I don’t think he can send him back mid-season, if only due to the terror of what might happen if his other aging striker picks up a long due long-term injury. ๐
If majority of the team stay fit I think the team’s quality and Arsene’s experience at this stage would make an easy difference. If we are still nursing an alternative first eleven then things might get nervy.
Agree with the sentiments above. I have written a lot less in the drinks of late but that doesn’t mean I have not enjoyed reading them. Even way over here in California your messages get thru, Holic. A safe haven and a sage wisdom that is often lost in today’s “all about me” world.
I also very much agree with Trev, without this blog and the various persons I have met and consider friends because of it, my Arsenal experience would not be as rich and rewarding.
Virtual Bar, Real Friends
No idea of the terms of Falcao’s loan, Dr F, or how easy it is to trigger a recall but let’s hope they keep him securely mired in the horse placenta up north.
I’m not sure the Monaco draw will turn out to be much easier, IF AT ALL, but at least it will be a welcome variation from the “ho-hum” routine of drawing the most feared club at this stage.
Also, I suspect Monaco may have the most stunning WAGs in all of Europe. ๐
Re: Manchester United. The luck has been on their side in a string of games recently but the worm is sure to turn and when it does in the big games they will realize they are an untested side and start to shake uncontrollably in their boots like a side of fatty bacon.
mmm..bacon ..that is all.
^^^^^^^^^^^
what n7 said at 41, but exactly. race run. only when they peel your cold, dead fingers from your mouse, in another 50 years or so.
What Trev said. Word for fucking word!
Cheers for the report ‘H, and cheers for the ‘Goodnight Charlie’ sized rum on Saturday. ๐
Pleasure to see Esso and Snowy too.
Keep on keeping on ‘H. In an internet world of two bob fuckwittery, your intelligent pieces delivered with both heart and perspective are always a pleasure to read.
First – a confession. I haven’t visited the bar regularly since the WHL loss in 12-13 (March).
I might not read the posts or comment in the drinks but I do however have the utmost respect for this place.
Holic, I have a request. I can definitely tell you that many of the people I met with the help of this bar have become close friends of mine who I talk to on a daily basis. Some shared the FA cup final with me (and Maccabi’s Euroleague Final win vs Real Madrid which we saw in the tollie on the Sunday after the final), some shared the parade, some shared trips to Anfield, Stoke, and even Colchester with me, some shared their personal life with me, others helped me reach decisions in mine, some shared a chat about a girl, some shared a drink, but all of them had one thing in common with me. We met through this website and this football club.
I already met some great people and when I come to England I feel at home. My request to you is – don’t finish the race. Give another person the opportunity to profit from this blog (or rather, community) just like I did.
Thank you for this website Holic.
I for one can’t express my gratitude enough.
Love ya, Guvnor
Monaco? Ah well, looks like I’ll have to get the yacht up and running a little earlier than usual next year…
It’s about time we had a draw in the CL that didn’t result in the media and some of our so called fanbase (Piers “we drew the one team worse than us” Organ the vile self serving anti-supporting gobshite twat) to gleefully lament (if one can actually be gleeful while lamenting?) our imminent demise in Europe for the next three months.
As for the next PL game, I aint greedy, I am just hoping that Rodgers plays his full strength team vs Bournmouth in the Cap 1 cup, gets taken to extra time and pens, ultimatly losing 47-46, with 3 red cards and a few pulled hammies, before we go to sunny Anfield on Sunday and nick a scrappy game 2-1.
UTA!
Thanks all. The world was a lonely place at half past eleven last night. Just Cynic, yours truly, and a bottle of malt. I have spent a lot of time the last two seasons wondering about all sorts of things Arsenal. Days like Saturday, which was an absolute blast, shouldn’t stand out. It used to be like that every other week up the Arsenal. Then I get back to the world of Social media and still people are coating each other off, revealing personal info about people ‘on the other side’, Arsenal on Arsenal verbal warfare, and half the twats haven’t a clue who they are having a seriously unintelligent pop at. I hope Arsene can keep the side on a decent run, and pull a couple of results out of the hat in the tougher matches. Liverpool on Sunday would be a good start. If not I can see some serious unrest developing because there are too many empty vessels at each pole of the debates. Respect, and thanks, to those who drink here for the most part. We’ll keep this going for a while yet, hopefully. Thanks again.
testing
140 characters has a lot to answer for…..
Hey, dropped into my fave virtual bar for the first time in ages to a sombre message from the management. Sheeeeeeet ! Monaco are well beatable, this fan thing i is supposed to be fun, forget the haters, my years salary is behind the bar COYG
I have to echo the sentiments of other, much much more regular posters to this great blog. This place is full of witty intelligent, sane opinions and that comes straight from the top down… Keep up the good work Mr Holic.
I don’t blog much at all these days, for various reasons, and one of them being a serious lack of interest in reading about how shite the club are, or how rubbish, inept, stubborn, arrogant the manager is, or how silent the silent majority shareholder is… blah blah.. I also am not keen to slag off other Gooners (much!) for not sharing a similar outlook. I am usually one of the more positive and optimisitc Gooners, but that bent has taken a serious beating over the last 2 or 3 seasons, a bit like our team has on those away games last year… I was up at Newcastle for that ridiculous 4-4 and that was probably the first time I saw serious unrest amongst the away support. I do think a lot of the jip dished out to the manager is over the top, but he has made a rod for his own back no doubt, but I really do not understand why some are so eager to have him jettisoned in the middle of a season, having just won a trophy FFS!? Klopp they cry while his team look Klapped out in the Bundesliga, just as Owen effin Coyle and Moyes were flavours of the month in previous seasons.
Now I not against someone replacing the boss, but that old adage of be careful what you wish for is really pertinent here. Although the most ardent Wenger haters (and it is hate they have for him, which is the saddest, most bananas part of this and I will never understand why?) will be too busy slagging off the new manager and demanding Koeman, or was it Laudrup as our new new manager…
and that’s when we will turn into an even sadder more fickle version of the spuds.
Massive respect to Snir @ 89. Top class post, that.
Holic,
I feel your pain and I think a number of us on here regularly do too. I hate what is happening at the club and I find it brings out extreme reactions. As it happens the Anderlecht collapse looks like a work of genius now and should the other English teams get kicked up the arse and we get through I will probably need a new truss as I will be laughing so much!
You have created something very special here which gives us a real chance to enhance our enjoyment of the Arsenal so please understand how valuable this place is. If I have go resort to Le Grove or Untold Arsenal I will slit my wrists.
As it happens Saturday was a great day and reaffirmed a lot of my faith in this team but even if we had lost 5-0 I would still have pitched up regularly to follow the Arsenal. because they are my team…..actually they are the team of so many fine people here and you have made it an awful lot of fun to correspond with them.
Keep the faith!
Monaco! Lovely stuff. Snir, how are you stranger?
Now to the really important matters…what’s all this race is run talk, ‘Hols?
I know I’ve taken you and this bar for granted. Try as I might, I really haven’t been able to sit down for a good run of drinks like I used to. Truth be told, I haven’t had time to watch a live match for most of the season (two children under 6 and a demanding job similar to NorCal – I see ya fella! – will do that)
But you, and several of this lot, are never far from mind. I hope you are able to find the perseverance required. Never underestimate what you have created here in this space. You’ve helped me gain my Arsenal education…such as it is.
More importantly, you’ve helped me connect to a larger community. And I am grateful. Imagine if my introduction to Arsenal was through Le Groan… perish the thought.
I’ll stand by whatever you decide. I just hope to be able to buy you and some of the regulars several pints when I eventually make it across the pond.
Dexter knows.
And also to Holic @ 91.
Keep it going maestro, this place means a hell of a lot to more people than you know. Times like these, it’s never been more important – the quality of discussion in here from the Stoke game to the battering of the barcodes was the absolute gold standard – all different views represented, all with mutual respect and a sense of maturity and restraint sadly missing elsewhere.
How it should be, in other words.
Goal !!!!!!!!! N7 with a worldy !!!!!!
Celebration time come on
Goonerholic you are the best. It is hard to imagine losing this place your contribution has been huge and long may it last.
@TTG
If Holic ever folds this place I’m strapping on the Semtex and heading straight to Le Grove.
Once there I will teach the locals to communicate through basic hand gestures, occasionally rewarding them with peanuts or sugary sweets. We will then graduate to human language, and eventually the basics of grammar.
From there, I will explain confirmation bias, why the ability to grow a bumfluff beard and scout players on youtube doesn’t make you a football genius, and – in due course – how not to act like a total jizzbag online.
By 2025, I reckon I can have the natives walking on their hind legs, chewing their food properly and signing their own names.
*Leaps like a salmon*
*Nods in goal*
*Shaves sides of head, but not the top*
*Looks over to see Lee Mason disallowing it*
H
One way of avoiding the crap, I feel, is to mostly avoid Twitter. Or at least be VEEEERY selective in those that you follow.
Job done. Not enough time in this life for hatred.
*and the goal, too*
Big high five to Chris.
YES !
Twitter is changing the world, like the steam engine. Adapt and survive
I echo the words others have said earlier, H. Discovering this place is one of the best things that has happened in my Arsenal life & the day you posted my match report here I exploded with joy and pride. Work commitments(even though it’s not the only reason) mean I rarely get time to contribute in the drinks as often as I would love to but this place is always on my mind not least because of all the awesome people I’ve met through this place and the wonderful memories that come(yes come!) With them. Thank you very, very much.
I’m glad you still want to keep the bar open. Here is to making more real friends & memories in this best of all virtual bars.
chrisgunner; I’d say twiiter can be a force for good, humour, banter, disseminating news, information and politicising people and giving a voice to those who wouldn’t usually be able to find one… but for football stuff???
I am quite happy enough here on by horse and cart thanks mate! ๐
Funny you should say that, I was on a real horsedrawn cart trottting down a country lane earlier lol. yeah, I need to set up seperate accounts for different interests. Then again, life’s too short ! I’m out, thanks for the company ๐
I’ve seen Arseblog go to (almost) utter fuck witted cuntery. Would be a sad day if this place was no longer around. I mean, I’d survive and my support of Arsenal Football Club will never be diminished by any of those absolute pricks strutting their self centred garbage at the moment. And I’m sure the good and the great from here would survive as well.
But it would be a very sad day for me, and many others. However I cant imagine the toll it must take some times to keep the place going.
Thanks for that Holic.
It was nice to see some form again and to dispatch the barcodes with efficiency. The first three goals were superb. For me, Oxlade was the mom. And I thought Debuchy brought some much needed solidity at CH.
BtM – I was very concerned to read about your exploits at the Gala game. It was quiet unbelievable how you were treated and one would have hoped that the situation might have been some way rectified on foot of your complaint. Terrible to see real fans being treated like that.
As for the draw, it really couldn’t be any better for us from where I sit. And if I’m a little presumptuous we stand a good chance of going through along with the usual suspects and Juve, Atletico & Porto. With a little more luck, if we draw any of those named three I think we’d have a seriously good chance of making a CL semi final by which at that stage, anything can happen.
Thanks all. The world was a lonely place at half past eleven last night. Just Cynic, yours truly, and a bottle of malt.
Good Lord, thank God for the malt or your life may as well have been over ๐
In all honesty though, I’d stay away from Twitter. I don’t understand the attraction of it at all.
race is run ?
WHA ?
not on yer fuckin nelly it is !
yer not too old to go over my knee !
where the fuck would we all go ?
jeez ‘hol
yer a fuckin star
i mean
fuck
ye put up with me
please hang around
we love this place
๐
So much for my concern about not topping the group … we get Monaco, Dortmund get Juventus. I know which I’d prefer to play at this stage. We could be the only UK team in the last 8.
Beyond that luck always plays a part and who’s to say our luck couldn’t be to have the physio room emptying out. Wouldn’t that be nice!
รskar
*Applause*
I can only echo sentiments above that this bar is an absolute haven of sanity and civilised debate, all too rare in a sea of 24 hour a day knee jerk social media outrage.
I may not always have time to post, but I do very much value popping in here over the course of the day to see what folks are saying, and read perspectives various.
Long may this place continue. Thanks Holic for taking the time to keep it going without sinking to the level of the ‘click whores’ and their ridiculous faux umbrage at bloody everything to boost their Monthly Unique Views.
Guv,
this is really the only place i find any identification with The Arsenal that I grew up with and belonged to.
Proper people.
A classy gem shining through an hysterical shit heap.
Can you believe the press all branding us lucky in the CL draw, yeah right, really lucky to get the top team in Europe for about the last 5 years running except this one. Load of bollocks, next they’ll be telling us it was only Monaco if we progress. That’s right, another pumped up oil club with limitless cash reserves.
Screw the mainstream press, get your Arsenal news here.
(We can talk royalties for the strapline later Holic :-))
Arsene knows more than anyone else that it is all about trophies and that winning the FA Cup last season doesn’t take any of the pressure off him,” Hartson continued. “Some fans might not think it but he is his own biggest critic. He doesn’t like coming second, never mind third or fourth.
“I have had many conversations with Arsene about football and you will not meet a more intelligent and passionate man about the sport. He cares deeply about the club and wants the best for the fans.”
———————
I’ve always liked that John Hartson fella… Even though Merson was my favourite player as a kid, I cannot abide his incoherent knee jerky bollocks outpourings… he’s a chav fan anyway…same goes for Wrighty unfortunately. Not the chav fan bit, but the right rambling rhetoric…
I think you should be really proud of what you have done here Mr H… the passion, intelligence, humour, sanity and dedication you have shown time and again is amazing, so kudos to you. And the quality of this site is represented in the posts and regualrs here who come back day in day out, win lose or draw.
Unfortunately, it has become the norm for opinions to be either black or white, with no nuances permitted, you are either rabidly for or anti something, whether its immigration or Coronation Street. Football journalism is, like the rest of the industry, mainly to be found scraping the bottom of barrels, searching for the lowest common denomintaor, hence why the airwaves are filled with utter classless twats like Durham and his bastard ilk. The BBC and broardsheets have long given up the ghost and gleefully followed this leap of (no) faith into the abyss of sensationslist buffonery, giving jobs, our money and air space to vacuous cretins like Savage, danny mills, murphy et al, none of whom have a single original intelligent thought in their heads.
So, I say, given all that, well effin done for consistenly producing the goods and long may it continue.
Cheers…
‘holic @91,
Well put big yin! Keep it up and keep it rational and respectful! There aren’t many others out there who do now! Victoria Concordia Crescit! Up the Arse! COYBG!
What Cynic said about Twitter.
Never used it – don’t want to. I have seen odd posts shared by other people in other places and there is some wit out there amongst the dross.
I know some people get a lot of fun out of it but it’s not for me. Seems that 140 characters almost forbids any explanation or nuance of statements made.
And I have learned to survive without ohotos of other people’s breakfast.
Scrummy ! ๐
Porto in the last 8
Atletico in the semi
Real Madrid humiliated by the red machine in the final.
You heard it here first
And our fixtures with Monaco don’t affect my annual pilgrimage to Cheltenham. Perfick!
‘Holic and holics, to some international gooners (as opposed to England-based) we come to this blog for more than just Arsenal matches. If we were we would just watch live broadcast of games (btw we get all of them in South Africa, no streaming) and switch off straight after game and get on with our lives.
Instead we come here for history, pre-match excitement (at times nervousness), celebrate goals, celebrate wins and consolation during hard times. Without the blog a huge chunk of how we relate to Arsenal will be taken away and I would not be exaggerating if I said some lives in here would be changed.
Instead of disrespectful banners, boos and petitions I invite less prolific posters like myself or first timers to draft a few words just to let the Landlord know we are quietly behind this establishment and appreciate all his efforts.
Up The Goonerhilc…..
Damn we even learn to write in paragraphs….
Happy Train required for the landlord, where the fuck is h2h when u need him
2015 Champions League winners, worth a punt i reckon
Well played @ 128!
Not just what Lars said @67 but what everyone else has said. You’ve built an institution, ‘Holic, and done it the Arsenal way, with class. There is nothing else like this place, and the more precious for it. Virtual bar. Real friends, indeed. They say the older you get the less important it is to have more friends and the more important it is to have real ones. Words to drink here by.
Heh, ttg,
Well Monaco shouldn’t be too taxing. ๐
What Soweto said @128. It may be hard for those who can actually get to games, meet under the brolly at the Tollie, or enjoy the delights of Trev’s puns in person to realise how this bar keeps us far-flungs connected to the club and each other.
On the money, Soweto.
If only the holic pound could match you. ๐
Many great posts above. Stand outs from Lars, Snir, N7, cba, Esso, Soweto and I am sure there are others I should name.
Holic, you have no idea what you started, mate.
Some of us should be in an Institution but you are one, Guvna. ๐
Less Twitter and more malt is my prescription.
Following the Arsenal from a distance, I can only concur wholeheartedly with Soweto Gooners fantastic post above.
The Holics preview of the upcoming match sets up the excitement for me as an Arsenal supporter and now as an addicted Holic.
During the match I often share in short discussions with other holics as the match unfolds live. One of the benefits of following from a distance, is I do get to watch virtually every single Arsenal match live on TV, but now find myself following the match just as religiously via Goonerholic.
Being able to share your thoughts live on Goonerholic during the match with fellow gooners from all around the world is a great way for me to simply connect and share in the match day experience with others.
My kids and my wife often comment, โAre you even watching the gameโ.
My wife will sometimes try and ask me โwife type questions” (even though she knows better),during very important arsenal matches,(which is all games), to which I am never fully attentive to provide a suitable response. Luckily my kids save the day by chipping in with comments like โdonโt bother mum, he is on Goonerholic againโ.
The post-match summaries, historical arsenal pieces, agreeing with some holics views and disagreeing with others, but all being discussed by gooners from around the world with passion, honesty and respect, is a rare, unique and thoroughly enjoyable Arsenal experience.
Hearing how the local London area Gooners and the regular match day ticket holders go about their Arsenal match day experience at the Emirates is also a big part of what I enjoy the most on here.
Reading the pre and post drinks from regular Holics before and after they attend an Arsenal home match, allows you to feel like you are also experiencing the atmosphere in the ground with them, even though you are thousands of miles away.
Reading the long-time supporting Holics views and stories from an historical perspective also provides a deeper and more personal understanding and learning about the history of the arsenal and my fellow gooners.
So for me, Goonerholic is not โjustโ an arsenal blog; it has become a much more important and personal experience than that.
It has become my own unique way of following the arsenal and connecting with fellow gooners from around the globe, even when just a silent reader…from a distance.
Long may it continue…
Another great comment, aussie. Wife type questions and comments can be quite an annoyance at times when I’m trying to focus on both Goonerholic and the games themselves. The typical wife type question is “Are you reading Goonerholic again?”
cheers BT8.
It has often been said that men cannot do two things at once.
I think many holics the world over have now proved this long held myth, completely false….
We can indeed watch arsenal live and post on Goonerholic…at the same time ๐
Never twittered, never wanted to, and really don’t expect to relent on that score. I may not know my limit with alcohol or with Arsenal, but at least I’m not overdependent on social media, present company excepted of course. ๐
‘holic, this is the only civilized 7/24 bar left on the planet. Hope we never have to hear “Last call!”, guv.
Bayonne, you probably know this if you live in France, but I checked Monaco’s website and they have quite a few recognizable players like Carvalho, Berbatov, Toulalan, Stekelenburg and Moutinho. Of course the ones I do not know may hurt us the most, knowing that club can afford outstanding talent.
Oskar@119: It is an ironic and comical twist of fate that one….
Catalan@54: Hope we can see the Ox continue to drive at defences with his speed and strength in the coming matches. His speed and direct style of play does mean he will turn the ball over occasionally.
However, Ozil11 will have a smorgasboard of Arsenal speed, skill and strength to aim his precision passes at when he returns….
Cant wait ๐
Peering over the screen :http://imgur.com/gallery/txkbBfg
Well we didn’t get barca (..yet!) but Monaco isn’t to be underestimated! They finished top of their group too after all didn’t they?! Keeping fingers crossed we’ll have at least Alexis, Giroud, Santi,Theo, Ozil and our full complement of defenders available when we meet them!
We’re as good a match for anyone! Anyone… i tells ya!
*How reluctant will the other teams be when they face us?!… This reluctant : http://imgur.com/gallery/xEi4L
Up The Arse!
๐
* – Disclaimer, so long as we have our full first eleven available for selection.
A tune for all the good folks.
By a New Orleans original of the most original kind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hek2KQcD8_M
And another : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3mFXOwRgw
๐
So Thierry Henry has retired from football, says the BBC. Bit late with the news, chaps. He retired from football when he left Arsenal.
Morning all, thanks to you all. So grateful.
As Bob Marley once observed, sun is shining. ๐
You are the mutts’.
An early morning toast to one of the two best players that I ever saw grace the red and white shirt.
And another to te Guvna.
Surely Bob said, “You be da mutts'”? ๐
My wife doesn’t know about Goonerholic she thinks I have a porn habit
The king retires from the game, time stands still for the man. The finest striker of the premier league and our very own hitman.
Thank you for the memories sir for you have made our lives so much better with them.
Now earn those badges and see you soon.
P.S- Gilberto offered a coaching role at The Arsenal, hmm now that is nice isnt it.
I know that nobody in this bar needs reminding just how good Thierry was, but if I may chuck up a stat which I always find absolutely stunning:
Thierry Henry has the premier league’s all time best goals-to-game ratio.
He also has the second best assists-to-game ratio.
Quite simply, that should not be possible. Great players generally either create or finish. Only a tiny minority do both with equal aplomb.
For my money, the most devastating player English football has ever seen. Also a true gent, a great ambassador for the club and a role model for kids. Plus, a stylish motherfunker.
Great shame he isn’t coming back to the club, but it’ll be a pleasure to have him on our screens – hopefully he can make an inroad into the incessant Manc/Scouse bias currently being “enjoyed” on Sky.
Respect.
Totally agree N7 except that I would add the word yet to your suggestion he is not coming back.
No doubt today Adrian Durham will cite his handball in Paris for France and ask ‘ Thierry Henry- was he really all that? As your stats show the answer is an emphatic ‘Yes ‘? He was a genius.
I have many favourite moments but I think the most amazing was his back- heeled goal against Charlton or maybe when he left Danny Mills flailing by the corner flag at Highbury. A true master and a player we were privileged to see
True, TTG.
The handball in Paris: pffft. If he was English he’d have been cheered to the rafters for it, and it was the one blot on an otherwise spotless career.
In his book on Henry, Philippe Auclair opines that all truly great players need a single, unifying moment which defines them (Maradona vs England, Zidane’s champs league final goal, Pele’s 58 WC final goal, etc), and that Henry lacked that moment as his career headed into the final furlong. In the absence of a great moment, it was the Paris handball which had come to represent him, and which threatened to tarnish his long term reputation. Auclair goes on to say that the defining Henry moment did eventually arrive, at the nth hour, in the form of the wonderful goal he scored against Leeds on his return to us a couple of years back, and that his jubilant jog down the touchline and embrace with Wenger in front of a packed stadium full of adoring fans effectively wiped away the handball and took its rightful place as the image which will linger in the memory of the football community.
I agree with some of that, but there are other memories too. That sprint up the pitch at White Hart Lane. That wonderful turn and hit against Utd. The looks he used to give Adebayor in the early days of their partnership. The bodged penalty with Bobby. The way he used to play with the line of offside, dropping back at the last minute, impossible to track. The way he ran – that fantastic glide as he shifted up the gears leaving defenders for dead. The Liverpool goal. So many others.
But for me, the memory which sticks out above all the rest is this – the magic pass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTyAPhCxs8E
It was just the sign of a great player at the absolute top of his game, experimenting with his powers at their very height. It took half a dozen viewings to work out how he’d actually done it and it gave further credence to the notion that the guy was quite simply not human – he could do whatever he wanted out on the pitch and no one had a chance of stopping him.
And, of course, there was more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWy6d5GgXyY
In my mind, there are two categories of great footballer. The first are the ones who you tell your kids to watch and learn from. The ones who read the game beautifully, the Xavis and Pirlos. The ones who you feel like if you maybe studied the game for a couple of centuries you could perhaps get somewhere close to. Then there’s the other kind – the freaks of nature, blessed with such an abundance of frightening natural talent that you know you could live a million lives and never play football the way they do – don’t bother trying to learn, just watch with your jaw on the floor. Thierry was that latter sort. An absolute force of nature.
Total legend.
N7, that drink sent shivers down my spine. I will never forget that goal against Leeds for as long as I live. I was lucky enough to be there and the noise inside the stadium when he scored was unbelievable. Even a few Leeds fans walking away from the stadium were heard to say they were glad they were there to see it. That was the moment I really, truly understood how massive Thierry was and is, not just with us but also how respected and appreciated he was even by many who support other teams.
Top comment (again) N7.
For me the defining moment was the home game v the Bindippers the Saturday after we had gone out of the CL v Chavski and been dumped out of the FA Cup by Manure the weekend before.
We went behind twice in that game to Whiney Owen goals and the season that had looked so promising looked to be heading for ruin.
Single handedly TH14 took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored a hat-trick, including that amazing mazy dribble through the Bindipper defence, to salvage the game, restore morale and belief and ultimately deliver the Invincible season.
A privilege to have seen him in his pomp. Oh what a pomp it was, too.
N7 @154,
Excellent drink! A double dram of the finest double malt after work for you!
TH14, a naturally gifted phenomenon. Mercurial, graceful, genius the likes of which only God bestows such talent upon! Being given the natural talent is one thing but to nurture it into something of what some of us had the privilege to see in the flesh week after week is another; and Le Prof Arsene must take a massive chunk of the credit for that! There are very, very few people in the world of sport that transcend into “geniusdom” but TH14 is one of them. Messi and Ronaldo I do not put into that category yet! They still have more to do! Salut Thierry!
Re Thierry’s handball, they were all over that on 5live this morning, saying that it shows a flaw and somehow taints his legend, and meanwhile they gave about 20 seconds of airtime to the topic of Suarez (a player who doesn’t begin to touch Henry for sheer consistency – let’s see him bag 20 goals a season for 5 years straight rather than just the one, Christ even James Beattie had one good season where he couldn’t stop scoring!).
Long Live Thierry… ! F the media that’s badmouthing him.
Would welcome him back to us in ANY capacity!
Top top bloke!
๐
Henry have your day! You made so many of ours!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/features/20141211/thierry-henry
UP THE ARSE!
๐
Less Twitter and more malt
Now there’s a T-shirt slogan, Bath
TH14’s best goals? Fill your boots:
http://youtu.be/ko5jBnTn9hU
@NBN
No.10 is my fav if i ever have to choose from that list!
Many thanks!
๐
Stands head and tall above the rest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clRzRND4Uak
Thanks for the wonderful memories. One of the very best ever, of course, but also an entertainer of rare sense of occasion and timing.
@163: “head and shoulders ” even …
I think the treatment he got from the French Football set-up — federation and media — after the Ireland qualifier was exceedingly unfair. He never enjoyed the prestige and honor in the France that say a Zidane did but IMHO he has done no less for Football or French Football.
He will always have a home at Arsenal. 10-15 years from now looking back at his halcyon days in red-and-white we will find ourselves not believing our own memories, and watching these videos again and again.
If anyone ever needs introduction to Football the glory days of that team with Henry spearheading our attack is all they need to see…
Finding out today that Thierry Henry has hang his boots for good was no real surprise to me but I had a mixed feeling to be honest. We all knew that day would come at some point in his career and what a career he has had? The King Thierry has finally retired from professional football which made a bit sad but when I found out he will be making his way back to London to work for Sky Sports kind of put a smile on my face. He will be close to Arsenal no doubt and hearing his calm voice on the telly will definitely brighten my day as all those memories will be flooding back again!
It’s not just what he achieved with Arsenal it’s how he went about achieving it, his charisma, his strength, his intelligence and how flamboyant his personality is even now. He’s a true winner and a brilliant human being too! Perhaps during his peak at Arsenal the world did not appreciate him enough as they should have for what he’s achieved as a footballer. To me he will always be remembered as the greatest striker in the world without any shadow of a doubt!
Merci Thierry for everything you have done, it will always remain in my heart! Once a Gooner always a Gooner!
As for this fine establishment I couldn’t agree more with what was said above. Management always comments “are you actually watching the game you are constantly typing?” This place is the best there is and is full of not just any Holics but top notch human beings! It’s a pleasure to read your views and stories even though we may not agree on some of them there is always respect in this bar and civilised conversations!
A round for everyone is on the bar! Holic keep it up!
Forgot the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGzI38BF-FI
Enjoy ๐
DF
Watching Thierry’s goals sends shivers down my spine and I get a lot of goose bumps! What a player an absolute LEGEND full stop!
N7 @154
Stunning post and a great evocation of a legend.
That Leeds goal was so fitting because I had joked at half- time that Thierry would come on and score the winner with those around me. Then when he scored it was his trademark goal scored with such style. As soon as the ball moved towards him you knew it was inevitable he would score and he bent it like he always did into the corner wide of the keeper. As Lars said even the Leeds fans felt privileged to see it. I know because I met some on the tube who said just that
I had forgotten that pass though I saw it live . It made us all chuckle in a mixture of delight and awe as he so often did . However long we watch this club, however long Arsenal play he will be regarded as one of our greatest players ever. Thanks for reminding us just how great
No 10 is a fine goal, BB, especially given where it was scored and who against. I have a soft spot for the back heel against Charlton but would put #1, the turn and volley against the Mancs, as my #1. If ever a shot was unstoppable, that was it. Also interesting to note how man of those goals were struck from outside the area. The boy could give it some wellie.
@NBN
Also interesting to note how man of those goals were struck from outside the area.
————
This is what we sorely miss most i believe from our repertoire of strikes, goals that are scored from “outside” the area. Maybe i just want to see us take more shots from distance, however we just lack someone with the acumen and accuracy of Henry to accomplish that.
(Note : I am still holding out for Alexis to improve further and do some of that!)
๐
Here I am Chris, thanks for asking. ๐
I was really busy over the last week or so, as I had an official KNBB (Royal Dutch Billiard Association) Tournament in my gaff, all very official and lardy da, with referees in penguin suits, electic scoreboards the works, so I left the laptop away from it’s usual place on the far side of the bar. In fact the only time I could sneak away was the few hours in which we faced Gala and Newcastle, games which I’d usually have on the TV, but that and the big screen were hooked up to the electronic score system, like “I said, very lardy da. Anyways……
Managed to do a massive back drink, which to be perfectly honest I was kinda dreading because I felt that the mood had been a little toxic lately, still miles better then anywhere else, but still. I must admit I was more then pleasently surprised that even after the pile of putrid vommit that was the Stoke debacle the posts and debate were top notch, so kudos to you all. There was, as always, a lot of posts that I didn’t agree with, but they were expressed in a cival manner and that’s what matters most.
I saw there was a guest post from the inimitable BtM, great I thought, as I absolutly love his stuff, but I was truly dismayed to read about his exprience. What a disgrace!! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to share a bevvy and a chat with him last time I was over and I can assure you all that he is a true gentlemab and a scolar, that he recieved such shody treatment is scandalous, but unfortunatly as others have pointed out, not a one off occurance.
On my last trip I was in the Clockend with young Wind. Below us to the right were the visiting supporters who spent the whole game standing, jumping, flag and scarf waving, drum banging and basically doing all the things that you would expect a fanatic to do during a football match, this was all allowed under the “watchful” eyes of the stewards and I have absolutly no problem with that. But in our block the total opposite was true, anyone who dared to stand was sharply told to stay seated, I even saw them having words with some youthful types for using profanity…. Fuck off with that… It’s a footy stadium not a ladies tea room ffs.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that we have a safe inviroment with proper sanitary facilities, a far cry from the 70’s matchday experience, where you can take the kids (if you can take out a second mortgage) however, I think it’s all going too far. It’s bad enough that the loyal and traditional fanbase are been mercilessly priced out, but now they are turning the whole thing into a sterile, overly pc, corperate driven day out for plebbs and that will, imho, come back to bite them in the arse in the long run.
One of the factors that makes the PL so marketable is the unique stadium generated atmosphere, take that away then the tv viewing experience will also soon lose it’s charm, meaning less will be offered for the broadcasting rights. The PL may very well be in it’s strongest position ever, but the bubble will inevitably burst eventually. No matter what your product or service, if you freeze out your loyal customers, the ones that got you were you are today then you will suffer in the end.
BtM, I truly hope that the club take steps to either reimberse you our at the very least offer a proper apology.
… and might I add, I chose No.10 precisely because of where it was scored and who against.
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Some of those comments regarding TH14 out there are disgusting!He has nothing to answer for to anyone! Any reasonable person who knows football in any way surely doesn’t look at just once incident right?
ATG link to Henry documentary. MAGIC. INSPIRED. SUBLIME. MORE THAN A LEGEND. Some say Bergkamp is God. If so, Henry must be Uber-God. ๐
Twin Gods. A truly classical concept.
As for all things Arsenal, well, the last two results have certainly lightened the mood. The Gala game was a nice start, but I really enjoyed the performance against the Toon. We started off on the front foot and continued to press well throughout. Our forward movements were the best I’ve seen all season, shame that once again horrendous officiating threatened to ruin it, but we prevailed inspite.
A very favourable CL draw yesterday, Monaco won their group only conceeding once, but only scoring the same amount we managed to score twice against Gala’. Yes, we should respect them, but I will be highly dissapointed if we fail to beat them over two legs. I see above a few names from their line up have been mentioned;
Ricardo Carvalho – he must be pushing 40 by now.
Berbatoss – Couldn’t hack it anymore in the PL.
Maarten Stekelenburg – Had a great WC in SA, that’s it. Was demoted to the bench for a team who were relegated.
Seriously though, I’m sure everyone involved with the club would have bit your hand off if you had offered them Monaco before the draw was made.
H2H. Also, Berbatov looks like as personable as a guard in a concentration camp.
Indeed.
One last point, then I’m all catched up;
It has been said above, but this blog means so much to so many, H’.
I can understand your trepidation, the landscape has changed so much over the last few years, the divisions within the fanbase are growing at an alarming rate and the hashtag generation seem only to identify with labels. AKB or WOB is either a badge of honour or a reason to “hate”, middleground seems lost, civility seen as a weakness.
Luckily here healthy respectable debate is still encouraged and, more importantly, demanded. You haven’t succomb to the click whoring culture, nor the shock and awe tactics that caters to the lowest common denominator and the thinking impaired. You always deliver a balanced and level headed view for that I, and I’m sure all followers, thank you. Long may it continue.
A top shelf tipple for your goodself, sir.
N7- great memories of a great arsenal man and pleased to see that his awesome goals have stood the test of time.
Can’t believe how lucky we were now to have TH14 and dennis in the same team and squad.
Wow, does remind you just how powerful and solid some of those arsenal sides were not too long ago…
Agree with plenty of comments how TH has transcended a single team and a sport where he his loved by Arsenal fans and respected by all opposition.
Michael Jordan and Sachin Tendulkar are two other rare sports people to transcend their team and be respected by all oppositon.
BB@170: couldn’t agree more with your comments to remember how many of TH goals were consistently from outside the box and how we rarely see that these days from the new and improved arsenal. I have noticed that OX is starting to once again shoot from outside.
My memory of TH14 was his ability to surprise – the back-heeled goal, the quick free kicks straight in the goal (subsequently disallowed, why?) and most of all the moment when the opposing keeper tossed the ball in the air about to punt it downfield only for TH to hook it away and put it in the net. Why was that disallowed? He never touched the keeper and the ball was in play, surely?
We may never see his like again. But then we said that about Alex James, Cliff Bastin, Liam Brady, Dennis to name a small galaxy, so who’s to say we won’t sign another one in January?
Dream on รskar…
รskar
Oskar, when a keeper throws the ball up to kick it, the ball is deemed still to be in his possession and it is a foul to tackle him in the process of kicking it.
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