Horrible from Dean,got to say that but I think we played into Chelshit’s hand. A.w pointed to our naivete.. Valid question; what was kozza doing getting up immediately after the bump from *that cunt* he should av stayed down and milked it for whatever it was worth. I know little about managing football but i reckon this on of the things you need to do to get an edge against other teams…and *that cunt* gave it to us on a platter … will never know how the ref sees it unless you try. ..we did not take our chance and got played.Simple. 3 points lost that ..on to the next 3
When you see headlines like, “Costa – master of the dark arts!”, you really do wonder where the so called beautiful game is heading. Correction. Its down in the sewer already, and has been for years.
Any fan blaming our players should really get a life. We will see again at the Emirates fucking twats.. Our players should fuck with Diego’s emotions and get him sent off next time. I sure hope Coq is okay, don’t know if he is injured or not.
Can someone reminds Ozil that we spent a fortune to get him at the groove and we deserve to see him whenever he is on the pitch not only when he is being substituted
My point is not to criticize arsenal. Its more my total dismay of what apparently happened. Based on replays Costa shouldve have seen red not gab. But gab has got to be smarter than to fall for costas cheating and antics.
Mike Dean. Pfft. It feels cowardly to blame the ref for a loss but apparently is justified here.
Nevertheless; Arsenal season once again heading for the shitter, fighting uphill. This is tiresome stuff.
As Webb said on BT Sport, it all depends on Mike Dean. If Dean says he saw everything and gave a yellow, there’s nothing the FA can do. If, however, Dean says he did not see the contact to the face, he’ll get banned.
The only thing that might see justice done is if Dean decides that he can’t say he saw everything, as that will mean he ignored three opportunities to give a red card. He will have to claim he didn’t see the facials or he’ll be admitting to being a shit referee…
Add to this that Costa should have been booked (mandatory yellow) for waving an imaginary card to try to get Coquelin booked, and he might have not been such a prick in the Kos/Gabriel incident anyway.
on 19 Sep 2015 at 6:29 pm153Steve T
Gents. I am not blaming us entirely for today. Let’s look at what happened. First off, Costa is a horrible, despicable excuse of a human being. No shocks there. He is also a crafty fucker. Of course he should have been sent off. I’m guessing that Maureen is the only one who does not agree. The fact is that he is not stupid. Most of his stuff is off the ball. That is why he gets away with it. Dean has not seen the stuff that should have got him a red because it’s off the ball. You have to hope that he gets done retrospectively.
But he hasn’t got sent off. Feel aggrieved as much as you like but that is the reality. So, as others have said before, we deal with it. Gabriel allowing himself to get sucked in was niaive. If he has kicked out then it’s a 3 game ban for letting a low life piece of shit like that wind him up. From that moment it was incredibly difficult.
Santi sent off for two yellows. Again, right decision. No real need to make the second challenge when on a yellow. These things happen in the heat of battle.
To be honest I thought it was just an average game. Neither side looked great in my opinion and I thought that before the sending off that the game had nil nil written all over it. Neither side created much of note.
Our defending for the first goal was poor. Seen it more than once though haven’t we? The second sending off killed any faint hope that we might have had.
So, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we played that badly today. But we can’t lay the blame solely at the feet of the referee. Sometimes we have to have a look at ourselves and realise that we will meet horrible fuckers like Costa. We have to learn not to rise to the bait and let him press his own self destruct button rather than reaching for our own.
officiating incompetence…how can no one see what Costa did to Kosileny? There are three officials on the field…the line man must have saw the whole thing…even if Dean did not
on the first goal.. two players were in an offside position and affected Cech which is why he didn’t get to the back post quickly…sure Zouma was held on by Kos but the rule has changed…
And just to twist the knife, the moaning one was extolling the virtues of having ’emotional control’ in derby games. This from a guy who poked a finger in an opposition assistant manager’s eye!! Does the football media in England have any balls?! And of course he didn’t stop there…he had to point out that we are always the ones moaning in games against his side.
Costa did raise his reputation slightly more than he bargained for today that’s for sure. Even lame pundits like Townsend & Hutchison who usually have moaninho’s testicles up their throats were downright appalled at Costa’s behavior. It is likely that from now on, referees will keep an eye out for his antics and he might probably get a few yellows(never red though!!) for his simulation antics, upon which moaninho will moan about Costa being targeted by referees. The cunt knows how to turn on his cuntitude. This league was so much better without him. It was slightly more about football.
And I am pretty sure the meedja or some sections of it will find some contrived way of praising the cunts ….or maybe abramovic pays them as well …
So what was Costa whispering in Gabriel’s ear as he was waiting to be fouled? I think we should be told. I’m willing to bet that the ‘blameless’ one was not, after all…
You know I love football much more than I should it has been my second favourite activity since I entered this planet and I have spent an irrational amount of time playing, watching and debating it. Yet after a day like today with the media activity around possibly the most loathsome club and manager I have ever had the misfortune to encounter and the way football is going I could easily fall out of love with it.
Today wasn’t really a defeat .I’ve told the one Chelsea supporter I’ve encountered today that if he tries to claim bragging rights I will deck him. He got the message and didn’t!
Citeh’s defeat underlined the fact this is a winnable title and nothing in the game before Dean’s intervention suggested to me there was anything between the sides . It looked another fairly boring nil- nil draw.
So if you are trying to relieve your frustrations and railing against the injustice of it all try not to blame Wenger. He makes his share of mistakes but he can’t be blamed for what went on here.
We need to rectify our run of defeats soon. The Spuds game is relatively inconsequential and Leicester is far more important and I think he will field a very inexperienced team on Weenesday. But that Leicester game is one we ideally need to win and it will be very difficult. The press want to provoke a crisis at Arsenal and we need a good week to stop it descending into what they perceive as one.
I am worried by the implications for corruption of our officials that today’s game suggests. However the FA are notable for their mural dyslexia. It will not take many more games like today to make me feel that the lower reaches of the game, whilst technically far inferior, are a purer and less corrupted form.
Of all the ways to get sent off petulance and getting involved when there’s no need to are the dumbest. Credit to Gabriel for standing up to Costa, but he was dumb as shit. Santi did at least deserve his. Pity the ref ‘missed’ the real cause of events or we could have had a 9 a side game which would have favoured us greatly.
Sort of what I was expecting frankly, a game where everything goes wrong. But I was more disappointed with the Zagreb debacle than this one. A result there was for the taking but we chose to set up today’s mess.
I’m joining the ‘shoulda bought someone’ brigade. New players are unknown quantities and often perform well early on – Santi, Özilla and Alexis recent examples. But the first two both had poor second seasons and now Alexis is struggling in his. Fresh blood might have given opponents more to think about.
But I’ll stick with this being no real surprise and hope we can move on.
Sounds like gab and santi reds will stand. Best you can hope for is costa gets a 3+ game ban.
But another set piece goal. Arsenals strikers couldnt score in a brothel.
There is a lot of blame to go around here. And this squads season off to a really shaky start. Very bery fristrating. P
on 19 Sep 2015 at 9:43 pm40Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Well. Said. Holic.
I’m with Esso. I’ve arranged to go out on Wednesday night. I won’t see a moment of us playing Spurs. That is completely my own choice but I’ve had a better offer. Unthinkable for so long but I just don’t care like I used to. Football is in the gutter. Soon it will trickle down into the sewer and settle with the rest of the country’s crap. I don’t want to be the next Joel Campbell and miss my chance to get out while I still can…
I might start watching re-runs of It’s A Knockout on Saturdays instead. At least you can take it seriously.
Apologies to anyone who is offended, This isn’t a newspaper/magazine/ etc. It’s a blog. It’s what I feel about what I witnessed today. That’s what blogs should be. That cunt Dean decided the result today. That isn’t his job. I honestly believe the cunt is just incompetent, not bent. That hurts. Professional referees were meant to be the answer. Take out Clattenburg, and Oliver, and they are all fucking garbage. I’ve had enough.
Actually I wouldn’t put it past Chambers, but Arteta?
on 19 Sep 2015 at 10:26 pm44Bathgooner en vacances
Bt8, it’s clearly past Arteta sadly and Arteta is sadly past it. Bad judgement in the summer, I am afraid. I have been a big fan. I think he has been a very important player for us until 18 months or so ago but time waits for no man, least of all a professional footballer, and Arsene should have recognised that and been less loyal to a good servant to the club.
I’m not excusing Dean but if Costa was cute enough to chose a moment to start the incident when Dean was looking the other way, what can a ref do? Dean called in the assistants, but they were no help. And he had no alternative when Gabriel studded Costa right in front of him.
Are our players too honest? Both Kos at the time and Ox a short time later could have stayed down when taken down by Costa, but they didn’t. Dean would have had no choice but to send Costa off for the hack at Ox. Retrospective justice could/should see the bastard out, but I’m sure his manager will consider that a small price to pay.
I just wish our players used more common in such circumstances. They get themselves sent off far too often for DUMB reasons. More red cards now than any other Prem side.
Öskar
on 19 Sep 2015 at 10:27 pm46Bathgooner en vacances
If Mike Dean has balls he will admit his falability in his report to the FA and state he missed Costa’s assaults on Koscielny but sadly I suspect he is too much of an arrogant cunt to do that. As for retrospective action, I expect the FA stands for fuck all!
Time to settle down and enjoy a favourite malt – there’s nothing that can be changed.
Onwards & upwards.
on 19 Sep 2015 at 10:30 pm50Bathgooner en vacances
But would we gave it any other way? Need to be smarter. Gabriel was a sucker. Costa played him like a rookie. Needs to be a lot smarter.
on 19 Sep 2015 at 10:32 pm51Bathgooner en vacances
Imagine for a moment if the roles were reversed and Gabriel mugged off Costa, with Dean sending him early for a shower and us earning three valuable points… Just two points behind the leaders and leaving Chelsea in deepest shit in Abramovich era.
Wonder if the headline on this post would have been the same?
I think not. We would have enjoy our victory, with plenty of jokes on Maureen, Fabregas and Terry, praising our beast of a defender and our great squad, talking about destroying our neighbours on Wednesday..
I highly doubt that anyone would have even mentioned Dean, except some of the media, but hey, we know they are biased and they hate us. So we don’t give a fuck that Dean was wrong, it was a fucking time he give us some decisions. Bring on Wednesday, bring on the scum…
And yet it is same shit referee and the same shit decision, just that their player, that dirty scumbag, outsmarted both, him and our players.
It is time we ourselves put an end to this kind of stuff. Time to stop being naive, grow up some balls, use some street tricks. We are just to gentle.
Teach your team to fight Arsene, because they don’t know how to.
Apart from the result,and the injury to Coq,i must admit to being rather proud of both Kos and the Ox for playing the game in the way it should be played.
Both getting up and getting on with the game,when they could easily have rolled around in fake agony trying to get the offender sent off.
We do have standards at The Arsenal in the way the players are expected to represent the Club,both on and off the field of play.
Even Alexis has been educated not to wave imaginary cards at the ref every time he is fouled,which he did regularly when he first arrived.
Let other clubs have a win at all costs cheating/faking attitude to the game.
I certainly wouldn’t be supporting this Club if we were to go down the same path.
It is a credit to our Manager and his support staff that the players go out and play the game the way it should be played,which is to entertain the paying public,and uphold the spirit of fair play,win lose or draw.
Having been present to hear the majority of the Emirates boo Eboue for diving, and having watched my club replay a cup game they won through poor sportsmanship, I don’t believe for a single moment that we would celebrate an Arsenal player behaving the way Costa did today.
One of the many things that separates us from the Chavs. Please let’s not pretend otherwise.
Spot on post Guv! One of your finest!
Drinks all round to celebrate the day when Mike Dean was finally outed for all to see as a “cheating cunt!”
Up the Arse!
on 20 Sep 2015 at 12:11 am60Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
55, 56 and 57 are all spot on.
I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of 55 and 57.
But I will say a little bit more – actually what I said in the previous bar but I feel no more, no less seven or eight hours later.
I can’t think of two people in the whole of football who are more perfect for each other than Jose Mourinho and Diego Costa.
Unfortunately they are a lethal combination in the presence of Mike Dean, the referee who danced a celebratory jig as Tottenham scored against us.
I’m not actually angry at us at all. Disappointed, yes, that we looked so unlike scoring, and disappointed that when Coquelin was injured we had no proper replacement for him – but that is old news now and cannot be changed.
But you cannot beat a conniving turd like Mourinho, his diving, provocative, cheating henchman in Costa, and a referee who lets them get away with it in Mike Dean.
Today has really left me wondering if it’s worth the heartache, time and cost, in that order, of continuing to support the club I have lived and watched since 1969.
Winning is not a divine right in football but the fair chance of doing so should be.
The obvious failure, or lack of determination, of the aurhorities to implement Financial Fair Play has made it almost imoossible for all but the financially doped to succeed.
Refereeing performances like today render the remaining remote chance of success irrelevant.
And before anyone else jumps on the “Gabriel was an idiot” bandwagon, try to remember that Costa should have been back in the dressing room before Gabriel got the chance to touch – not kick – him with his foot.
If Gabriel was to be sent off, it’s a shame he didn’t give the cheating bastard a full blown boot in the nuts for his trouble.
Trev @63,
Spot on fella! It’s all bullshit now this sport called Association Football! FIFA’s pretty much made sure of that universally. Which sport provides the perfect avenues for grand money-laundering and which sport permits club ownership to double as a life-insurance policy for unscrupulous billionaires of questionnable wealth attainment?!
Back to the match; Gabriel only got involved cos it seemed like Costa was getting a free-ride in assaulting Kos without any reaction from Kos or, more tellingly, from that self-important cheating cunt Dean! Gabriel had just had enough of the cheating Dago cunt’s antics to allow it any longer. He actually did try to give the cunt a welly in the knacker’s and that would’ve be comedy gold. The straight red he got would then have been worth it! Cunts!
costa is the mirror image of his Father figure Mourinho twins both are cunts that live a charmed life……………………..but Dean has no excuse he just shouldn’t be reefing anymore the man is a fucking liability to football………………………well played Arsenal still created chances right to the end.
I’ve never liked Dean as a referee – his decision making is suspect and his man-management is extremely poor. I doubt that he is corrupt but have no doubt that he’s just not a very good referee.
But ..
I don’t think he saw the Kos / Costa fracas at all. If he didn’t, then at least the linesman should have no excuses not to have seen it.
Gabriel was foolish to get and stay involved and I agree with others that if you’re going to see red then make it worthwhile but ..
I don’t think that Dean saw the Gabriel kick / flick on Costa either – the way I saw it, only on tv, was that Costa was going mental and that Dean then relied on the advice of a linesman or the fourth official via his headpiece to make the decision.
Don’t get me wrong – I still think that Dean is useless but I believe that his support team were just as culpable on this day.
Finally, I think Santi’s second caution was a foul but not absolutely a yellow card. I think that the way that Fabregas rolled around as if he’d been shot made it look a whole lot worse than it was and contributed to the second red.
Anybody still think that Fabregas has us in his heart?
Agree with everything you say, Trev, but it’s the stupidity that gets me. Gabriel’s tap was reminiscent of Beckham’s red-card against Argentina all those years ago … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWsEuczNj48 … an idle flick of the foot always cops the same punishment as a two-footed ankle-buster. If contact is intentional it’s red. All players should know that.
poor from kos after being thrown to the floor getting right back up again.
he did costa a favour and no favours for us.
could so easily have got the scumbag off. and no one, not even morinho would have complained.
every advantage counts for points in this league. the sooner the manager and his players understand this the better it is for the club.
Comparing Robert Pires to Diego Costa? Dear, oh dear. You might at least have gone with Vieira, and even then you’d have been wildly off base.
Sorry, but the notion that we’d all be celebrating Costa’s antics if he’d been wearing an Arsenal shirt is farcical, and suggests a real lack of understanding of what this club represents.
@69 true what you say ………………………….but it is about time the officials did their job for both sides we have a fourth official that is a total waste of fucking time apart from if the ref pulls a hammy or hold up a sub sign. I am positive one of the officials would have seen Kos been pushed if you have to roll around like you have been shot the game is fucked IMO
@71 we need the points. If the system is against us we need to do something about it.
costa is smart. have no doubts about that.
he does not elbow or head butt kos which is a sure sending off. he plays within the rules. or rather the very edge of it.
what is wrong if our players adapt to counter this sort of bullying. sure its not the right thing but if the officials dont help us who else will?
one thing that concerned me was that it appeared that gabriel could not converse in english to dean. and no one came over to help him out.
poor from his teammates and the manager to not planning it out.
where did santi go hiding? he was the stand in captain.
@72 Agreed but it is about time the FA did something about players that play on tackles and the likes……………………if you get tackled and roll around like you have been shot get them off the park for 5 minutes and bring a sub on for that time………………they need to make laws against players that cheat such as they did for divers but take it further…………but I am all for doing as the Romans do you get no where any other way
@70
You awoided the answer. Again. Simple question deserves simple answer, I know it is probably your proffesion but stop twisting everyone’s words.
Did you ever seen an Arsenal fan booing Pires for diving, like they did on Eboue?
Or we enjoyed him as a player that bought many great things to our club, no matter that other club fans thought he was a nasty diver.
Eboue was a scapegoat and you used the fans booing him to prove that Arsenal fans are better, with better standards that any other out there, that our players are reached to not cheat and fake.
I am not saying that we have to cheat the games. But when you play against team that explicitly cheats like Chelsea, then as a manager be ready and prepare your team to fight even on the cheating front. I am never going to suggest us to became fakers and divers, but more cynical on certain circumstances, of course.
That is how the points and games are won, prepare yourself on any aspect of the game. Pires dives were bad, but they gave us some advantages during the games. And can’t remember our fans booing him for that. Because at the time we were dominant, it suited us and absolutely no one cared what the newspapers write. All we cared about was us winning the game.
So, stop oh dearing me and and answer the simple question. In fact don’t, because I would probably won’t read the answer, I am off, this is no worth it.
Not entirely sure how you expect Gabriel to remain calm under harassment on the pitch when you become this emotional as soon as someone disagrees with you.
You suggested we would all celebrate a player behaving as Costa did.
I pointed out that Arsenal fans have barracked a player for less egregious cheating and that the club has an enviable rep for doing things the right way.
You then attempted to move the argument to whether Arsenal fans boo all instances of diving. It’s a lovely straw man, but unfortunately it wasn’t the argument I was making.
You are free to believe what you want. If you believe that all that Arsenal, as a club and as a support, care about is winning the game then you are sorely mistaken. There’s a reason our players don’t deploy “street tricks” (as you, yourself, have observed) – have a think why that might be.
Please do enjoy your disengagement. It’s the surest way to never question your own views and never risk learning anything.
Pires was no diver and to call him as such suggests you saw little of his play for Arsenal. Name some definitive proven occasions when his ‘diving’ resulted in advantage for Arsenal?
The supposed one against Portsmouth is recalled by all, but the incident involved contact and was hardly an outrageous dive at all. Many, many similar pelanties have been given against Arsenal over the years. I repeat I’d like to hear some other proven incidents that you refer so glibly.
No comparison between RP7 and Eboue. As Esso notes, many ‘softer’ pens are regularly awarded. Not least Shrek’s to end the Invincible run. RP7 tended to elude or ride tackles in and outside the box. Eboue’s repeated dying swan falls were an embarrassment and drew the crowd’s negative response.
nice one ‘holic
barrel o swally on the bar for ye
(my special reserved for special occasions reserve)
.
and
never in a month o fuckin sundays
did i imagine someone here calling Bob a diver
just fuckin ridiculous
how long was i asleep ?
One of your best Mr G’, one of your best. Thank you after the most trying of days.
To those that feel that Gabriel was naive I have to say you are wrong.
Look at the sequence of events, the total ineptitude of the officials, the scandalous actions of the Chelsea players, ultimately grabbing Gabriel around the throat after his dismissal (a very common Chelsea touch over the last few seasons) with no penalty. The management of the situation? non-existent. Two words describe it.
Those that wish for the enforcers, the leaders have been shown what happens when they do so with Mr Dean and many of the current crop of referees.
A team that realises that there is no protection, no regulation and no objective refereeing has what options?
For all those blaming Gabriel for getting wound up – N7 @78 gets it bang on. People in this forum get wound up even while discussing matters of our favorite club. For Gabriel to get wound up in that situation is an absolutely normal human reaction.
I also think it was overtly honest of Arsene in the post match interviews to mention that Gabriel was guilty of falling for the bait. He should have only alluded the fact that Costa should have been off much before the Gabriel incident happened.
Will the incident of yesterday make referees more alert to the antics of Costa? Will they be more proactive in issuing cards to him? That is the only hope of a positive from yesterday’s fracas….But I doubt it will happen. If he goes on a good scoring run, the media will find a good spin to his antics as ‘master of gamesmanship’ or ‘master if the dark arts’ as someone alluded to yesterday.
‘desi’gner gooner
It already happened! Just saw motd2 and you know fairplay means shit when not one but all four “experts” are trying to defend that kind of behaviour. All of them would like to have such a player in their side. To top it with cream they tell you that AW would like to have such a player in his side!
I’m literally sick to the stomache right now.
Happy birthday to me, i’m off to get as drunk as possible now
I am expecting the FA to land Gabriel with an extra game on his ban, because the referee’s report states that he didn’t leave the pitch in a timely fashion.
Just waiting for it to be announced.
It is inevitable.
By the way, he got a straight red card didn’t he. I’ve seen a lot of chat around that it was two yellows, but it was a three match ban red card.
Some good stuff above from, amongst others, Uply, DapperDan,
Noosa Gooner, N7, desi’gner.
Arsene Wenger seems to have been incredibly restrained and balanced in his post-match comments. What a contrast to the sly, oh-how-we-got-away-with-it-am-i-not-so-fucking-clever grin of that thing that manages Chelsea.
And there, in a nutshell, is the difference. One man, seething inside but trying to maintain a little class and dignity – the other, a cocky, spoilt brat who couldn’t tell you what either quality means.
Would I love to see Costa’s antics in an Arsenal shirt ?
I’ll tell you right now, that would be the first time I have ever booed a player in an Arsenal shirt and I would rather never win another thing.
Thank whoever you pray to that we are not Chelsea and never will be.
Cheating, desperate, plastic, see you next Tuesdays.
And while we’re at it, yes I do object to paying a licence fee to listen to that shrieking, lying c*nt, Robbie Savage trying to tell the audience yesterday that Costa did not cheat at all during that match – (and denying that he ever kicked Gilberto Silva, to the same caller).
Me, I’m going to struggle to even walk into Costa’s for a coffee.
amen brother trev
amen
.
another cracker post
.
and
another post articulating fucked offness brilliantly
.
.
.
cheers ‘hol for here
much needed and appreciated big man
cheers ‘holics various
I think we also need to look into the captain/leadership issue. We can’t have a captain that is not a first team player am sorry. Carzola didn’t help out gab at all yesterday. Am not mad at gab at all. Am happy we have someone that was willing to stand up for his team mates and not get scared or bullied. I sure missed Jacky boy yesterday. Arteta can’t get in and even Per can’t get in neither well I guess with this suspension he should get back in. We need a leader and we don’t seem to have one right now. Hopefully FA does the right thing and ban Costa’s fucking ass.
on 20 Sep 2015 at 3:45 pm98Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Cheers to everyone for your posts. Well, most of you…
It is good to know that I’m not alone in my disgust. Yesterday was undoubtedly a watershed moment in my love for professional football. And Arsenal cannot be separated from the game we play, unfortunately, so it’s not like I can support us in a vacuum.
Scumbags, cheats and billionaires of dubious background get what they want out of ‘football’. Honesty, integrity and sportsmanship count for nothing.
Why pay to watch something that I morally disagree with on every level? I’ll stick out this season. Then I’m done.
on 20 Sep 2015 at 3:46 pm99Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Although I’m not too disillusioned to lay it on a plate for…
A Chelsea fan of my acquaintance( a very decent one amazingly) walked up to me this morning and apologised for Costa’s behaviour. He was quite sincere and I talked to him about the culture at his club. He agreed that Mourinho is an arch manipulator and Costa goes too far. That only made me feel a BIT better .
I couldn’t watch MOTD yesterday because I was too fed up and I would never waste time watching anything Robbie Savage had to say because he represents the morally bankrupt school of win at all costs , almost totally bankrupt of skill, pseudo hard men that TV seeks to use to promote their coverage.
I would like to make a few points:
– there is no question that Mike Dean is corrupt.He is not bent, I don’t believe any refs are. He is just a referee whose ego is bigger than his skill- level as a referee. He is nevertheless, a referee I don’t like controlling Arsenal games . We must avoid the looney agenda followed by Untold Arsenal. Oliver and Clattenburg as named by our host are the best two refs by a country mile.
– the demise of FFP has doomed football and will continue to take it away from its core audience. Eventually Tristram from Knightsbridge and his cronies who have never played the game in their lives will be the core supporters at the Grove but will spend the game outside at the Champagne Bar watching on the telly. They will leave twenty minutes before the end because the stretch limo picking them up is double parked
– this is the most upset I have sensed Holic to be since I joined this bar. He is a model of commonse and perspective after disappointments and for him to show this degree of emotion illustrates the level of disgust felt at yesterday’s antics
– pray tell me how many penalties Pires dived for in his career.? To draw any comparison whatsoever between one of the finest players ever to don an Arsenal shirt and Costa, a piece of excrement, is offensive in the extreme. The significance of the Portsmouth penalty was that it was almost the only time the Invincibles came close to slipping up and it carried greater significance to the Arsenal haters
-Coquelin’s injury is a massive blow. He has been extremely important to this team and we face a huge test at Leicester without him before we go into other matches. We now have Coq, Wilshere, Rosicky and Cazorla ( 1 game) out and the failure to recruit cover will hurt us. If Flamini is the answer we are asking the wrong question. Arsene unfortunately always needs to assume at least six of his squad will be missing at any stage of the season. Rather than retain Campbell and Flamini who are below standard we should have signed Cabaye and Ayew
– please don’t get on Arteta’s back. He has given great service and is just back from a long injury. He helped to restore this club after his signing and still has a role to play. Probably too prominent a role but he is being rubbished by too many supporters who suggest he has never been anything other than a liability.
A longer rant than I intended but emotions are still raw. Even the calm ones in this bar will be losing control!
@TTG
Your best post ever mate. I’m on the verge of packing it in, I really am. But then today I heard that one of my few chances of tickets together this season, Everton at home, has come up trumps.
So I’ll be there again. At least once. But it gets harder and harder to justify the expense or quite frankly the time it takes out of my life anymore.
This is a myth that I am quite frankly getting a bit tired of hearing repeated. FFP is very much alive, many just don’t understand what it is about and how it works. It has had a very real effect on the overall level of debt in football in Europe and contrary to popular opinion it has at least slowed down clubs like Chelsea and Man City. Yes, City did spend shitloads this summer, but what most seem to fail to understand is that this has never been illegal under FFP. Transfer sums are also, as far as FFP goes, distributed over the length of the contract, so assuming City signed all their summer signings on five-year contracts (which seems to be more or less the standard length these days) their 150-odd million does, consequently, count as about 30 million per season in the FFP books. When they were in breach of the rules, they were punished but after having followed the rules the following season they were not punished again. That is not the same as FFP being dead.
on 20 Sep 2015 at 4:55 pm108Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Lars.
Then FFP has none of the impications that I believed were the point of the original legislation. It certainly does nothing to ensure that clubs are run as businesses if it is firing on all cylinders at the moment. And I have definitely read a lot of commentary saying that is has been relaxed due to the threat of being sued under freedom of trade law.
Not my area to expound on the details. But given most people thought it was meant to stabilise football after the sudden and unexpected impact of the Billionaire Brigade it has done no such thing and is worthless to me.
I believe FFP relates spending to income. Every time City want to spend more, they magic up a bit more, er, sponsorship to boost their income and down comes their proprtionate spending.
How does a club who cannot fill a 45,000 seater stadium for a Champions League game, justify spending £80,000,000 on Kevin de Bruyne under any kind of sensible set of rules ?
And, if I’m not mistaken, since City were punished by having their Champions League squad curtailed by one player, and a fine suspended, the rules have been relaxed again, which probably explains why they didn’t break them again.
gsd
if i was still in london
finances alone would dictate my attendance
nowt else would
but
i’m sure like everyfuckinbody here
you’ll still watch/listen read about The Arsenal
no option
after a wee while
people around ye realise
yer not gonna change
shortly followed by a nod
and a pfffftttt
as ye tune in the radio
at quarter to bastardin one
of a saturday
” I’m on the verge of packing it in, I really am.”
Esso. I know exactly how you feel no echo every word. It’s something I have given some serious thought to over the last few seasons. As a season ticket holder this may well be my very last one. Like you, and many others no doubt I’m just about getting to the stage where I have had enough of it all. For many reasons I might add, but if yesterday is acceptable to the authorities then I want no further part in it.
GSD. Hopefully the negative attention he receives will be much more intense and prolonged than Mike Dean is counting on. If he is not castigated for this I will be permanently turned off because the prospect of him refereeing another Arsenal game sickens me.
since City were punished by having their Champions League squad curtailed by one player
Four players, not one. Their stadium is now also closer to, iirc, 55.000 capacity as they have expanded it. That will increase their match day revenue. City have also benefitted from the new tv deal just like other clubs have done.
Here’s a link that tells a bit about the relaxation:
It certainly does nothing to ensure that clubs are run as businesses if it is firing on all cylinders at the moment. And I have definitely read a lot of commentary saying that is has been re
Never said it is firing on all cylinders. FFP is not perfect in any way and will never be able to solve all problems. But it is not dead.
I may also add that FFP is not something Arsenal rely on. It is not part of the strategy at all to hope that FFP shall rein in Chelsea and City.
Here’s how it works and is circumvented; even Man United are in on it:
If I am the billionaire owner of a football club (let’s say Citeh) and I want to buy a player that is worth far more money than the revenue we generate in my the club, all I need to do is tell one of my corporate mates (a company like Etihad Airlines or some other Sovereign Wealth fund company that I can influence) to sponsor my club’s “lunchtime oranges” at way and above the market going rate. I now have the extra liquidity to buy the aforementioned Kevin De Bruyne from Volkswagon United (aka Wolfburg), a company which my Sovereign Wealth Fund probably has shares within too. It’s all a big money-laundering merry-go-round!
Now, one of the main reasons that most of us support and love Arsenal FC with a passion, no matter how frustrated we may get (and it’s also why we as a club are so hated by the “cunt-filled establishment” exemplified in the form of Arsene Wenger), is because we have retained our moral principles and have not prostituted ourselves to the modern farce that is modern football corruption. When cunts like Joey Barton (a convicted felon) and Robbie Savage (a talentless cretin) are being employed by the British “public service” broadcaster (which we are obligated to pay a licence fee to) then what’s really left to be seen as evidence of what we’re up against. Other than our righteous club, I honestly do not see any top European club (and I include Bayern Munich in this too) that is swimming clean in a cesspit of fiscal immorality manifested by the justification in existence of vile cunts such as Dago Costa and Maureen. The day Arsenal FC win the Premier League again, or the Champions league, will be the day that football is reborn! I truly hope, for its future that happens this season! That’s why the “be the best we can be” adage is so relevant because, even with all the obstacles, our best is good enough to do just one or both of these things! Arsenal FC is fighting to save the pure soul of football in Sodom & Gommorah! We all better hope that it wins!
Up the Arse all day and all night! COYBG!!
Here’s how it works and is circumvented … to sponsor my club’s “lunchtime oranges” at way and above the market going rate.
Wrong. Sponsorship deals are assessed and may be deemed above market rate and not be allowed to count towards the income to the full value of the deal. This is exactly what happened to Man City and partly as a result of this they were punished with a reduced CL squad and a fine last season.
Lars@125,
Have you ever wondered in the post-match interviews just why there are so many sponsors on the backdrop placket boards? Sponsors that you never see anywhere else or have heard of? Even my own underpants can be sponsored to raise money for De Bruyne’s transfer fee whilst I’m answering the questions from the Sky Sports/BT spunk bucket!
The point I’m making is this; there is always a way where very wealthy people circumvent the rules in their favour. Whether it’s not in the manner of example that I’ve given, or it is, is not the point I’m making; unscrupulously wealthy people will always find the loopholes that make their “toy” successful thereby rendering FFP a farce!
The thing about the Etihad sponsorships is that they have spinsored “new things” like half-time oranges precisely because they have no “going market rate”. That way, they are not breaking any rules.
Lars,
If I take out house i surance to cover my buildings and contents, I assume, in the event of a fire, burglary, etc. etc. that my buildings and co tents will be covered. I do not expect that a loss adjuster will arrive to tell me that because my cheque was written on a Tuesday afternoon, or the burglar was wearing bright pink socks and should have been spotted by my beighbour in the garden, that my insurance will not, in fact, pay up.
That, of course, is exactly what happens though.
Similary, when UEFA brought in the concept of Financial FAIR PLAY, that is what most of us hoped – even if not expected – would happen.
If what we have now resembles anything like “fair play”, how is it that the same six or seven clubs in Europe and the world, are the only ones with any chance of hoovering up the very top echelon of players, and why don’t the oligarchs and assorted mega-rich of questionable pedigree and intent, shuffle off back whence they came as their financial advantage is no longer of any use ?
Esso
Please keep going mate . I don’t want to be sitting with Tristram from Knightsbridge, I want to be sitting with Holics who live and breathe the club. But I know exactly where you are coming from
Lars
FFP has been relaxed. Why? Because ultimately the mega clubs with all the best players that all the TV companies want to cover would never let themselves be constrained by it. You are hopelessly naive if you think it is going to have any effect on the oil- rich clubs. Wenger said as much a few weeks ago.
If they try to implement FFP stringently the large clubs will form a European Super League which will be incredibly lucrative because it attracts all the sponsors and TV coverage and neither FIFA or UEFA will be able to do a thing about it . In 2015 money talks ever more loudly .
Sorry but FFP has no chance of reining in the big clubs. If you sat in the Arsenal boardroom you’d hear them saying the same thing I bet.
Ps- Lars
I sat at the AST meeting three summers ago when Gazidis said exactly that. ‘ FFP is starting to bite and will give us a better chance to compete’ is what he said more or less. I don’t blame him, what else can he do or say other than we are trawling the world for a Sheikh with twenty billion pounds to spare on blowing Sheikh Mansour out of the water?
We are not and my guess is most Holics would not want us to do this but many people would. Arsenal won’t follow this model because they have a Board with a self- sustaining strategy that has worked incredibly well and because we are effectively owned by a rich American who regards us( I suspect) as a cash cow that he doesn’t need to milk because every time he looks at it , the value has gone up. It must be the best investment he has ever made .
on 20 Sep 2015 at 8:19 pm137Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Lars.
By ‘firing on all cylinders’ I mean that it is working to its maximum capacity.
When you said ‘FFP is very much alive, many just don’t understand what it is about and how it works’, I assumed that you meant it is doing what it is meant to be doing, ie. firing on all cylinders. If not, fair enough.
I agree with Trev that the sentiment of fair play is not being honoured, regardless of what specific guidelines are, or are not, being adhered to.
TTG: and I sat in a meeting with Ivan last Saturday when he said FFP is not part of Arsenal’s strategy. None of what you quote contradicts that.
Why do the same bug clubs keep hoovering up most of the talent? Because they still have more money than most. The aim of FFP has never been to distribute money evenly between clubs or anything like that. In fact, is has been criticised for preserving the status quo which is where the changes to allow for a period of investment has been introduced (which is what is referred to as “relaxation”).
And like I said, FFP is far from perfect. I have always said that it was never going to level the playing field to the extent I would like to see. For that you need to introduce much stricter squad size limits and abolish loans for players over the age of 21.
Ned
I would have banged him up. Ask CBA!?
Lars
Don’t think we are going to agree on this. I walked away from that meeting with a friend who said ( it was the summer we lost RVP) – ‘let’s hope FFP works cos nothing else will save us.’
I think Ivan has changed his tune because he can see the writing on the wall for FFP
“Watershed” ?? Water boarding is more appropriate for Mike “Fucking” Dean. Sadly it’s a case of arrogance and incompetence over corruption.
Now where’s that bottle of malt ohmmm.
What a cracking day it has been.
After the odious going’s on at the Bridge of despair,i watched Japan put on the performance of their lives to beat South Africa,then saw Argentina frighten the life out of the Kiwi’s in the Rugby World Cup,then watched the European Ladies perform gallantly in defeat against the US in the Solheim Cup,[ amazing what pressure can do to you when standing over a 6ft putt ] !!,and then watched Andy Murray bring the Brits home in the Davis Cup,putting us in the final for the first time in nearly 40yrs.
Great to watch the wonderful sportsmanship shown by all, at the highest levels of their respective professions.
Quite restored my faith.
It doesn’t mean I am not still raging at the events of yesterday. In fact having thought long and hard about everything that went on yesterday I am even more fucking furious.
Hey ho. This will be the last season I spend serious money supporting my love in a competition that is being exploited by money and scum.
I’ll always support the Arsenal, but in different ways. I’ll no longer spend a fortune watching cunts like Dean, who wants to be the star of the show, fuck up nine months of my life.
If I go further it will be a blog post. I’ll save it for when I feel like this again. Probably Wednesday when another fucktard decides the match rather than the players on the park.
It’s a bit strong to suggest Dean is bent, imo. Or any ref for that matter. Incompetent, yes, but I wouldn’t go further. Dean isn’t the only ref to red card Arsenal players. I read somewhere that we have in fact received more red cards than any other side in Prem history. If that is true it makes the claims to virtue I’m reading here a bit suss. Or our players are really really stupid, which I don’t believe.
Do you have the stats, Ned?
Either way it’s time our guys wised up and calmed down when provoked. Getting booked for dissent or petulance is for mugs.
Dean’s myopia is really my chief complaint. What about the entire series of events, not just Costa and Fabregas complaining about a so-called kick by Gabriel that was not a kick in any way, shape or form. And a tip o’ the hat to anti-Dean spokesman Garth Crooks.
One thing no one has mentioned yet is that Chelsea did fire Mutu for taking cocaine. They didn’t have to; it seems the decision was taken in the interests of the image of the club. I wonder at what point, if ever, Costa’s theatrics and cheating will reach a similar nadir and force Abramovich’s hand.
on 21 Sep 2015 at 4:36 am156Tristram of Knightsbridge
I object strongly to the multiple, slanderous uses of my name and place of residence in the beverages above.
Knightsbridge is a wonderful area of London, full of restaurants, retail and close to many great parks but I fail to see how any of this is relevant to the so called demise of the true Arsenal experience. It could not be further from the soggy pies and warm beer dished up at the Emirates.
Tristram is a name born of Arthurian legend, a strong noble name forged through heroic deeds.
Indeed, if Mr Gabriel’s parents had seen fit to christen him with such a name then he may have thought twice about unnecessarily getting involved with Mr Diego and rather stupidly cruelling our chances in a game which, at that stage, we were well and truly capable of winning.
If Mr Gabriel had kept his cool, which he is paid handsomely to do, who is to say that we would not have won and thus avoided the collective ejection of pacifiers from strollers that has ensued?
Now, moving forward, let us beat the crap out of Tottenham – preferably early on so I can get home in time for supper.
Now that I’ve calmed down from the nadir of my emotions on Saturday, I say two things.
1. I still do fucking hate Mourinho, Costa and Dean – that’s a lethal combination of just complete and utter incompetence mixed in with contempt for the beauty of the game, bitterness, arrogance, foul play, classlessness, smugness and manipulation bordering on sociopathy.
2. I love our players even more after this massive shitshow for their display of character and determination to get on despite the ever deteriorating circumstances. They are truly products of Arsene Wenger and I say that with the words effort, strong mindedness, class and spine in mind.
Listen, I know Arsene has many faults and can be massively and legitimately criticized for many more things, one of which was the lack of purchasing a starter/cover at DM which now has become glaringly apparent at this point in time.
But I for one will never criticize the man for putting out his men to be disciplined, determined, principled and dogged to get the win WITHOUT being cheats and stooping to the depths Mourinho’s Chelsea has plunged our beautiful game to.
Down on football as a whole presently but in no ways out – that would be handing Mourinho and all I currently hate about the game a golden card.
Nothing in life is perfect and coming to terms with this absolute reality I’ll stand behind Wenger, the team and the Club because they are what made me what follow footie to begin with.
If I go further it will be a blog post. I’ll save it for when I feel like this again. Probably Wednesday when another fucktard decides the match rather than the players on the park.
Come on H, it’s only the League Cup. He always makes loads of changes for these games.
“I’ll always support the Arsenal, but in different ways. I’ll no longer spend a fortune watching cunts like Dean, who wants to be the star of the show, fuck up nine months of my life.”
Amen to that and in the absence of any better cliche, ‘right back at you, Holic’.
I had the good fortune to be a million miles away from anything digital so I didn’t (and won’t) see the game. Your very concise match report and the result was more than I needed.
Bear with me, a small offering of perspective. Not really what you think though.
The rage against the Mik-Dean is absolutely warranted. I don’t think I have uttered so many C-words that night at the local Arsenal pub. Livid, disbelief amongst many other emotions.
A day passed and the fire gets stoked every time someone mentions the match. It’s Monday and I take my time to see what ‘olic and the ‘holics think.
I am genuinely saddened by the idea floating about that the old schoolers, the real fans of the Red and White, want to stop going to the matches. Even though I truly understand the level of disgust that can push us over the edge.
September 2010, I was a newbie to London, to the Stadiums both old and new, to the Tollie. The entire experience of watching my first match at the club I’ve supported from afar since my teenage years would have been a LOT less amazing if ‘olic was not at the Tollie to offer a pint of lager to calm my nerves. If Esso was not there to chat with while having a shivering cigarette under the cold brollies. Post match drinks after the 2-1 win against Birmingham would not have been offered kindly as a way to continue the conversations.
A couple years on, BTM was at the Tollie as well, with his infectious rose tinted optimism and his slightly oversized Wilshere kit. I think you jinxed him forever mate.
And so on and so forth, all with the right crowd, as they say.
It would really be a sad day when these experiences won’t be afforded a chance to manifest.
I don’t think Mike Dean or the incompetence of the FA is worth that much at all to take away generations worth of Red and White blood.
Yes I realise it’s a bigger debate underneath this one incident, but this one emotion I feel today, I hope won’t last.
Usually the missus takes the kids away when Daddy watches the Arsenal because some of the language won’t be for little ears. I was watching events unfold in the game and was outraged by what I saw. At precisely that moment, the doorbell rang. It was my one of my in-laws who, on discovering that the match was on live, immediately felt like she was intruding. I turned off the telly, made some coffee and it proved to be the best decision I took all weekend. There is no reason why such incompetence should have such adverse affects on people who love the game. Anyone who knows anything about what Arsenal represent as a club will know that we are all about upholding the values of the game and try to play the game properly. Mike Dean will never understand that and a fact in point, his continuing torrid history with us must surely at this point be objectively questioned?
I’m glad, (and not surprised), that Clive mentioned Japan’s wonderful victory in the Rugby. It was just sport at its purest and the anthesis of what went on in Stamford Bridge. Furthermore, every single decision in Rugby is make with unerring accuracy in a game that commands and earns respect for its administration and refereeing across the globe. How long more must football decent in to the mire before the obvious implementation of video technology…? The arguments against it are utterly preposterous and if anyone doubts that, then tune into any game in the Rugby WC and see for yourself..!
In summary, we have to soldier on if we are serious about contending for the league.
Santi will be back for next weekends game, so only Gabriel to worry about.
Worst results of the weekend were Red Mancs and Spuds.
We didn’t lose pace on the league leaders. The meedja will be up the Mancs arse from hear-on.
Mike Dean has been a twat for a long time.
Anything else?
Yeah, UTA!!
PS: FA have to step in and punish Costa if they are a transparent association.
Nuff said!
on 21 Sep 2015 at 10:56 am169Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
“I’ll always support the Arsenal, but in different ways.”
I’m re-quoting that line. It sums up my feeling perfectly.
I’ll never be able to stop caring. But I’m just not going to invest any more of myself after this season. And it is not a reaction to the weekend. It is to everything football has been becoming for a long time. And it is getting worse so quickly, in so many areas, that clinging on by my fingernails is just delaying the inevitable. I’ll go on my on terms, in my own dinosaur costume, thanks.
I finally understand my mate’s old man, who had a WHam season ticket for 20 years and now barely checks the results. He’ll occasionally watch a match and likes it when they do well. But it is not important to him any more. That’s the template for me. I’ll find better, more positive things to do with my time and energy.
However, whilst I’m still in, I will try to be the best supporter I know how, as I always have. So I have lashed out an obscene amount of money that I can barely afford for a ticket to see us play Bayern Munich. I’ll be in full GSD gear, as per, and singing my heart out for the team. I look forwards to seeing as many of you in the Tolly as possible.
And I look forwards to watching my beloved Arsenal, the greatest club the world has ever seen, and to being right in the heart of our Gooner family. Because that is what this has always been about.
Sad to hear so many of the regulars thinking of jacking it in.
It does often feel like football is on the slide, and it’s certainly a far cry from what it was 15 years ago, but I still think there’s a lot of good stuff in there.
The bad moments always stick in the memory, but the lows serve to make the highs higher. I, for one, have met some top, top people in recent years through the Arsenal in general, and this site in particular. I’ve shared laughs, exchanged tall tales and groaned at puns. And that’s just the off the pitch stuff.
Last season when we beat City away I got a buzz that had me virtually levitating for days. The afternoon we beat the LWCs’ £100m dream team as the Ozil news rolled in, I was pretty much pinching myself. Only back in May, I celebrated one of the most crushing cup final wins in living memory in the absolute best of company.
I’m sure we all have similar moments etched in the memory.
The job of the support in weeks like this, after a couple of bad results, is to help lift one another. To roll out the black humour, go for the cheap laugh and tell stories of better days. I can’t be arsed to stay angry about Costa; he’s a Thundercunt and he’ll get his eventually, but – as we all well know from experience – trolls are best ignored. I’d much rather trade a few happy reminiscences with you all, and the above are just the ones from recent seasons.
Anyone care to add any more reminders of why we bother, or are we all still too depressed?
COYG
on 21 Sep 2015 at 11:20 am172Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
I saw what I think was Bendtner’s last goal for us, against Hull. The wild hugging of the stranger next to me was made all the sweeter given that we had both arrived early in our seats and spent the last half hour chatting about the club and mainly about how unlikely Bendtner was to score!
He did it a couple of minutes in. No messing about! The joy made all the greater by the sheer surprise of the thing. And then the rounds of ‘he scores when he wants’ were a pleasure to be part of. It was hardly an Arsenal classic moment but it does highlight the amazing nature of supporting your team and the joy it can bring. The unadulterated joy of Arsenal scoring a goal is a feeling like no other.
The highs of football have been unique to my life so far and I am not daft enough to think that they are easily, if at all, replaceable. I’ll have to try though.
on 21 Sep 2015 at 11:34 am174Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
I have no interest in a litany of what is wrong with football. But for all the wonderful high points there is a flipside. People are dying building stadiums for a world cup in the desert so that some very rich people can make more money. And the next Euros are being held in a country that is deeply racist and homophobic.
This is, for me, too high a price for the chance of seeing us win the league at WHL again (pretty much the best thing that could happen in football).
Professional football is one thing, one entity. I can’t separate out the bits I don’t like and ignore or excuse them any more. I can’t take Arsenal without taking all the rest. I have allowed emotion and my love of the club to bend my morals, or allow me to look the other way, for too long. Football these days makes me feel like a dirty hypocrite. I find it morally repugnant.
I will continue to be a hypocrite until the end of this season. Because I love our club so much and find it so hard to let go. And because I am a long way from perfect.
But I can’t keep flogging this particular horse forever. The beautiful game is dead. RIP.
on 21 Sep 2015 at 11:44 am176Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Cheers for the link N7. It’s stuff like that that keeps you going.
I had been visiting an ill relative in hospital that day. I was running late and bombed out of the hospital to The Tredegar Arms pub in Mile End. A lovely, old-school, residential East London pub. Just me, my Mrs-at-the-time, the barman and a group of tourists who had stumbled in occupying the place. I went absolutely nuts when that went in. It was one of the most perfect of all the things I have seen on a football pitch. Football has a funny way of distorting things but, if memory serves, when the match ended I picked my Mrs up and flew us both home.
Cor- I’m having a right old rollercoaster of a posting sesh today. Talk about your highs and lows!
Bloody football, eh?
on 21 Sep 2015 at 12:00 pm177Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
I know that I would have found it harder to maintain interest if it were not for this bar. Some days it is easily the best thing in football. And the people I have met and interacted with through it have certainly enriched my life. So an ongoing thanks to all, past and present. And of course to the Boss.
Drinks on the bar for all.
*reaches for a bottle of single malt and stares intently at naval*
Holic great drink @147, and Sarah J @157, and Joe @167 not too shabby either. N7 Great drink @171, one of your many great ones, and all are reminders of what brought me here in the first place. 🙂
Lars @140,
There are many ways to make the playing field level and competitive but football just isn’t interested in doing that right now. The incredibly naive and stupid aspect of it is this; once the law enforcement authorities start getting involved for reasons that are more serious, as the FBI has with FIFA, don’t be surprised if this transfers into ALL FOOTBALL including UEFA and the English Premiership. Big money sporting business is never ever 100% clean, and when it becomes a possible threat to the security of some nations, it will not be left alone to the “footballing world” to sort it out amongst themselves! Now that’s a fact of the modern world in which we all live. I feel incredibly sad for our kids and grandkids who haven’t seen the true “fair-play” sportsmanship and integrity of the game for many years now. Hopefully they will do so at some point soon if Arsenal FC just focuses on being “the best they can be” regardless. Up the Arse all day and all night!
Chest bumping opponent backwards to the ground. – Red card
Left arm / hand flailed at opponents neck. – Red card
Anything less than a twelve game ban for Costa is a kop out, according to the rules. That, of course, will not happen. The offences will all be viewed as a single incident and one retrospective red card will be awarded as a result.
The waving of an imaginary card will be ignored, as will the kick out at The Ox at the end of the game.
Ther HAS to be at least one red card though as I see it.
If Dean says he saw everything but decided to take no action then HE should get the red card ( he should be ‘rested’ for a while anyway.
If he didn’t see anything then the FA has no option but to issue some sort of ban – unless they are actively trying to make a case for corruption.
Still seething.
PS – on TalkSpite, Andy Jacobs, surely the most bitter, one-eyed, anti Arsenal idiot in any branch of the media said that, to him, it looked like Koscielny’s and Costa’s arms were both flailing everywhere as they fought for the ball, so he could understand why Dean had not sent Costa off.
N7 ( and GSD)
You have proper cheered me up even though I have gone off like a firecracker at two Chelsea idiots who tried to wind me up with the ‘ you don’t like it up you’ stuff. ( oo- er) . But I just opened the door to a Chav who apologised for Costa’s antics. Andy Jacobs is a twat and his loathing of Arsenal us only matched by Durham. When I come to power both of them will be straight in front of the firing squad.
Anyway N7 we have wonderful memories among them nights at Anfield , The Swamp and Old Trafford when titles were clinched, the Invincible season- nobody other than Arsenal has that and the wonderful night at Highbury when we won the Fairs Cup.
They are the high- profile ones but the win over Barca, the run to the CL final and that great win in Copenhagen were others, we are very privileged fans to have so many great memories and it’s a drug I can’t begin to give up even though I get very despondent from time to time. Like Saturday
Chavs and the media have somehow managed to delude themselves that Costa is an old school enforcer type who we simply couldn’t “handle”, rather than a geezer who moans and whines and falls over when brushed and cries to the ref. Not sure I ever saw Souness or Norman Hunter do any of that.
If he wanted to go toe-to-toe with Gabriel like a big boy I’m sure our resident psycho would gladly have ripped off both his arms and beaten him to death with them.
This sort of delusion isn’t new when it comes to Chelsea. Only last season we were all invited to believe that they played attractive football and that Eden “Banana Skin” Hazard was the third best player in the world.
Trev @182,
It’s Arse against the rest! I’m up for the fight! Bring it on Feckers! The Chavs are going to win feck-all this term and Maureen’ll be told to feck-off again by Abramovich as he chooses not to want his expensive life-insurance policy to become another PR disaster under the stewardship of the same narcissistic Cunt! Talkshite are Cunts, nothing more need be said!
Let’s wait for the upcoming Costa ban and his card being marked! He’s going to get at least three games for the face slap on Kos!
I’m now more concerned about Le Coq’s injury than that farce on Saturday. What exactly is the status with his injury? Will he be fit for the LWCs COC match on Wednesday? No better game to get back onto the saddle; and we’re still only 5 points behind Citeh! Win all our remaining games and we’re champions! 😎
Up the Arse! COYBG!
Both clubs charged with failing to control their players which is understandable considering the shambles of it all. I just hope that when the FA play judge and jury that they take into account the catalyst for the whole unnecessary affair?
on 21 Sep 2015 at 5:22 pm192Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
As predicted, Gabriel is charged as well.. Cazorla will have been warned because he engaged in a protest about the second yellow and didn’t leave the pitch in a timely manner, I suppose.
on 21 Sep 2015 at 5:25 pm194Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Mourinho’s ‘management’ style?
on 21 Sep 2015 at 5:26 pm195Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Chelsea being allowed to play football matches?
on 21 Sep 2015 at 5:26 pm196Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
The Mascot is oblivious of what’s happened and what he’s done!
on 21 Sep 2015 at 5:44 pm204Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Gunnersaurus is a daft bloke in a dinosaur costume. (sorry if that was a spoiler). So am I- so I fit the bill nicely as his Stunt Double.
Diego Costa has been holding auditions for his own C*** Double. The only person on the planet with any hope of fitting the bill is already his boss.
on 21 Sep 2015 at 5:46 pm205Gunnersaurus Stunt Double
Dan. If I’m having my goal ruled out and being sent off then I’m doing a lot worse to Costa than breathing on him. Not many people anywhere near a premier league football pitch have such good chances of concealing a samurai sword as I do…
I used to detest the old Leeds side of Revie, they were the devil incarnate but boy could they play football when they chose . Chavski have replaced them as the team I love to hate but frankly they are nowhere near the team Leeds were despite the fact that they’ve won more recently.
Standards have dropped.
GSD,
Give Costa a massive hoof in the knackers as you leave the pitch for your legend status! Costa is a cowardly wind-up merchant like his cretin boss Maureen. He’ll get his upcommance!
If I could be granted one wish this week, it would be to stick Diego Costa in a Welsh rugby shirt on Saturday evening and watch him play against England.
Try waving your imaginary cards at that referee …….
Great points on the hypocrisy of the governing bodies for failing to use the visual evidence that is available to the fans to review questionable decisions by the referees.
I read Keown’s piece today at the gym( won’t have the Fail in the house) and could feel him salivating at the prospect of doing battle with Cista. As Steve T said yesterday there would be only one winner. In fairness before Gabriel lost his rag the two CBs dealt with him well and Chambers didn’t look out of place but no one reduced him to the shambling wreck that Keown( or Bould or Adams) would have. I remember Chelsea in Vialli’s day trying to take us on physically ( with Gullit and Hughes chiming in) when we had those three at the back . They slunk away pathetically afterwards but at least it was a physical battle not a snide wind-up like Saturday. Even Zouma his team mate has claimed that he likes to ‘ cheat’ today. Sometimes those less used to a language use it more literally and effectively than those who are.
I suggest this is a case in point.
Costa will get warned as to future conduct. Gabriel will get three game ban for red plus one for the way he left the field. Both clubs fined less than a day’s worth of Costa’s wages. FA rules.
Succinct.
Brilliant as always, guv.
Unusually lost for words. I hear ya.
Bergkampesque holic…
Disgrace indeed. Mike fucking Dean.
Holic nails it.
Struggle to fault the lads today. Well in it, even a man down. Ref wants to take a look at himself.
Beautiful game, enjoyed by millions around the world, destroyed by one ugly little man.
Horrible from Dean,got to say that but I think we played into Chelshit’s hand. A.w pointed to our naivete.. Valid question; what was kozza doing getting up immediately after the bump from *that cunt* he should av stayed down and milked it for whatever it was worth. I know little about managing football but i reckon this on of the things you need to do to get an edge against other teams…and *that cunt* gave it to us on a platter … will never know how the ref sees it unless you try. ..we did not take our chance and got played.Simple. 3 points lost that ..on to the next 3
Spot on. Close to being done with football. Pointless. In all ways.
When you see headlines like, “Costa – master of the dark arts!”, you really do wonder where the so called beautiful game is heading. Correction. Its down in the sewer already, and has been for years.
Nailed it Guv’nor.
You know things are bad when you’re in full agreement with Garth ‘Gladstone’ Crooks.
He is spot on with his assessment of Dean here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34302203
Any fan blaming our players should really get a life. We will see again at the Emirates fucking twats.. Our players should fuck with Diego’s emotions and get him sent off next time. I sure hope Coq is okay, don’t know if he is injured or not.
Costa was a shit
Mike Dean a cunt
Ozil was a spectator
Can someone reminds Ozil that we spent a fortune to get him at the groove and we deserve to see him whenever he is on the pitch not only when he is being substituted
Any chance costa retroactively punished by the FA?
And yeah – hope le coq is alright. crucial to the team.
What a fooking mess.
You’d think the FA would do something wouldn’t you?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11876928/Seven-photos-that-prove-Diego-Costa-got-away-with-it-against-Arsenal.html
But the likeliest result is that they’ll do fuck all.
I didnt see the live version but from the meedja sources it appears that chelski were brilliant and arsenal was light wiehgt, namby-pamby.
No mention of costa or oscar doing anything wrong. “Guile” thehre calling it.
WTF?
I think you should find some better media sources then Homer 😉
Ha, agreed!!
My point is not to criticize arsenal. Its more my total dismay of what apparently happened. Based on replays Costa shouldve have seen red not gab. But gab has got to be smarter than to fall for costas cheating and antics.
Mike Dean. Pfft. It feels cowardly to blame the ref for a loss but apparently is justified here.
Nevertheless; Arsenal season once again heading for the shitter, fighting uphill. This is tiresome stuff.
I really hope le coq is not injured.
One of your greatest pieces Holic!
Holic nails it. That report said all that needs to be said about the game.
As Webb said on BT Sport, it all depends on Mike Dean. If Dean says he saw everything and gave a yellow, there’s nothing the FA can do. If, however, Dean says he did not see the contact to the face, he’ll get banned.
The only thing that might see justice done is if Dean decides that he can’t say he saw everything, as that will mean he ignored three opportunities to give a red card. He will have to claim he didn’t see the facials or he’ll be admitting to being a shit referee…
Add to this that Costa should have been booked (mandatory yellow) for waving an imaginary card to try to get Coquelin booked, and he might have not been such a prick in the Kos/Gabriel incident anyway.
Dean had a shit game.
He’s a shit ref.
Cheers Esso, et al. Costa is a vile cunt.
The only rationale explanation: Mike Dean is Diego Costa’s bitch. Or vice versa.
Dean is a fucking cunt, and I have left a word out for fear of the scumbag suing me, but we all know. ?
Fuck the cheat Dean
Fuck the rat Costa
And fuck the reptile Moaninho.
Aptly blogged, ‘holic. Anyone who tries to put that game on our boys is a cunt too in my opinion.
on 19 Sep 2015 at 6:29 pm153Steve T
Gents. I am not blaming us entirely for today. Let’s look at what happened. First off, Costa is a horrible, despicable excuse of a human being. No shocks there. He is also a crafty fucker. Of course he should have been sent off. I’m guessing that Maureen is the only one who does not agree. The fact is that he is not stupid. Most of his stuff is off the ball. That is why he gets away with it. Dean has not seen the stuff that should have got him a red because it’s off the ball. You have to hope that he gets done retrospectively.
But he hasn’t got sent off. Feel aggrieved as much as you like but that is the reality. So, as others have said before, we deal with it. Gabriel allowing himself to get sucked in was niaive. If he has kicked out then it’s a 3 game ban for letting a low life piece of shit like that wind him up. From that moment it was incredibly difficult.
Santi sent off for two yellows. Again, right decision. No real need to make the second challenge when on a yellow. These things happen in the heat of battle.
To be honest I thought it was just an average game. Neither side looked great in my opinion and I thought that before the sending off that the game had nil nil written all over it. Neither side created much of note.
Our defending for the first goal was poor. Seen it more than once though haven’t we? The second sending off killed any faint hope that we might have had.
So, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we played that badly today. But we can’t lay the blame solely at the feet of the referee. Sometimes we have to have a look at ourselves and realise that we will meet horrible fuckers like Costa. We have to learn not to rise to the bait and let him press his own self destruct button rather than reaching for our own.
officiating incompetence…how can no one see what Costa did to Kosileny? There are three officials on the field…the line man must have saw the whole thing…even if Dean did not
on the first goal.. two players were in an offside position and affected Cech which is why he didn’t get to the back post quickly…sure Zouma was held on by Kos but the rule has changed…
Two words. Says it all. Masterful, ‘Holic.
No justice can be done. Dean has cost us the points. The scumbag won’t even be dropped next week. The cunts have stopped glossing over their bias.
Very comprehensive report Guv. Well played.
Fucking ridiculous!
And just to twist the knife, the moaning one was extolling the virtues of having ’emotional control’ in derby games. This from a guy who poked a finger in an opposition assistant manager’s eye!! Does the football media in England have any balls?! And of course he didn’t stop there…he had to point out that we are always the ones moaning in games against his side.
Costa did raise his reputation slightly more than he bargained for today that’s for sure. Even lame pundits like Townsend & Hutchison who usually have moaninho’s testicles up their throats were downright appalled at Costa’s behavior. It is likely that from now on, referees will keep an eye out for his antics and he might probably get a few yellows(never red though!!) for his simulation antics, upon which moaninho will moan about Costa being targeted by referees. The cunt knows how to turn on his cuntitude. This league was so much better without him. It was slightly more about football.
And I am pretty sure the meedja or some sections of it will find some contrived way of praising the cunts ….or maybe abramovic pays them as well …
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/sep/19/chelsea-diego-costa-evidence-heist-arsenal makes the point that Costa didn’t have even one foul whistled against him in the entire 81 minutes he was on the pitch. Not one. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
So what was Costa whispering in Gabriel’s ear as he was waiting to be fouled? I think we should be told. I’m willing to bet that the ‘blameless’ one was not, after all…
NBN @35
A very good report there.
You know I love football much more than I should it has been my second favourite activity since I entered this planet and I have spent an irrational amount of time playing, watching and debating it. Yet after a day like today with the media activity around possibly the most loathsome club and manager I have ever had the misfortune to encounter and the way football is going I could easily fall out of love with it.
Today wasn’t really a defeat .I’ve told the one Chelsea supporter I’ve encountered today that if he tries to claim bragging rights I will deck him. He got the message and didn’t!
Citeh’s defeat underlined the fact this is a winnable title and nothing in the game before Dean’s intervention suggested to me there was anything between the sides . It looked another fairly boring nil- nil draw.
So if you are trying to relieve your frustrations and railing against the injustice of it all try not to blame Wenger. He makes his share of mistakes but he can’t be blamed for what went on here.
We need to rectify our run of defeats soon. The Spuds game is relatively inconsequential and Leicester is far more important and I think he will field a very inexperienced team on Weenesday. But that Leicester game is one we ideally need to win and it will be very difficult. The press want to provoke a crisis at Arsenal and we need a good week to stop it descending into what they perceive as one.
Nice analysis btw Guvna.
And points well made TTG. As ever.
Big week for us. Leicester miles more important.
I am worried by the implications for corruption of our officials that today’s game suggests. However the FA are notable for their mural dyslexia. It will not take many more games like today to make me feel that the lower reaches of the game, whilst technically far inferior, are a purer and less corrupted form.
Of all the ways to get sent off petulance and getting involved when there’s no need to are the dumbest. Credit to Gabriel for standing up to Costa, but he was dumb as shit. Santi did at least deserve his. Pity the ref ‘missed’ the real cause of events or we could have had a 9 a side game which would have favoured us greatly.
Sort of what I was expecting frankly, a game where everything goes wrong. But I was more disappointed with the Zagreb debacle than this one. A result there was for the taking but we chose to set up today’s mess.
I’m joining the ‘shoulda bought someone’ brigade. New players are unknown quantities and often perform well early on – Santi, Özilla and Alexis recent examples. But the first two both had poor second seasons and now Alexis is struggling in his. Fresh blood might have given opponents more to think about.
But I’ll stick with this being no real surprise and hope we can move on.
Öskar
Sounds like gab and santi reds will stand. Best you can hope for is costa gets a 3+ game ban.
But another set piece goal. Arsenals strikers couldnt score in a brothel.
There is a lot of blame to go around here. And this squads season off to a really shaky start. Very bery fristrating. P
Well. Said. Holic.
I’m with Esso. I’ve arranged to go out on Wednesday night. I won’t see a moment of us playing Spurs. That is completely my own choice but I’ve had a better offer. Unthinkable for so long but I just don’t care like I used to. Football is in the gutter. Soon it will trickle down into the sewer and settle with the rest of the country’s crap. I don’t want to be the next Joel Campbell and miss my chance to get out while I still can…
I might start watching re-runs of It’s A Knockout on Saturdays instead. At least you can take it seriously.
Apologies to anyone who is offended, This isn’t a newspaper/magazine/ etc. It’s a blog. It’s what I feel about what I witnessed today. That’s what blogs should be. That cunt Dean decided the result today. That isn’t his job. I honestly believe the cunt is just incompetent, not bent. That hurts. Professional referees were meant to be the answer. Take out Clattenburg, and Oliver, and they are all fucking garbage. I’ve had enough.
Coquelin out for a month. Many bad things happened today. This is the worst one. A month in Arsenalish usually means a season.
Chambers and Arteta to try to revive our season…
Actually I wouldn’t put it past Chambers, but Arteta?
Bt8, it’s clearly past Arteta sadly and Arteta is sadly past it. Bad judgement in the summer, I am afraid. I have been a big fan. I think he has been a very important player for us until 18 months or so ago but time waits for no man, least of all a professional footballer, and Arsene should have recognised that and been less loyal to a good servant to the club.
I’m not excusing Dean but if Costa was cute enough to chose a moment to start the incident when Dean was looking the other way, what can a ref do? Dean called in the assistants, but they were no help. And he had no alternative when Gabriel studded Costa right in front of him.
Are our players too honest? Both Kos at the time and Ox a short time later could have stayed down when taken down by Costa, but they didn’t. Dean would have had no choice but to send Costa off for the hack at Ox. Retrospective justice could/should see the bastard out, but I’m sure his manager will consider that a small price to pay.
I just wish our players used more common in such circumstances. They get themselves sent off far too often for DUMB reasons. More red cards now than any other Prem side.
Öskar
Lurky, that is truly terrible news.
Spot on Holic.
With you 100% Oskar. We seem to have a very commendable moral code that sees us taken for suckers by the likes of Costa and the Translator.
If Mike Dean has balls he will admit his falability in his report to the FA and state he missed Costa’s assaults on Koscielny but sadly I suspect he is too much of an arrogant cunt to do that. As for retrospective action, I expect the FA stands for fuck all!
Time to settle down and enjoy a favourite malt – there’s nothing that can be changed.
Onwards & upwards.
But would we gave it any other way? Need to be smarter. Gabriel was a sucker. Costa played him like a rookie. Needs to be a lot smarter.
Wise words Uplympian, every one of them.
And spot on indeed Guvna.
Yup, we need to be smarter but the referee needs to …
http://imgfave-chat-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/image_cache/1362754640257484.jpg
Too right, Cynic.
That is what I am saying Bath.
Imagine for a moment if the roles were reversed and Gabriel mugged off Costa, with Dean sending him early for a shower and us earning three valuable points… Just two points behind the leaders and leaving Chelsea in deepest shit in Abramovich era.
Wonder if the headline on this post would have been the same?
I think not. We would have enjoy our victory, with plenty of jokes on Maureen, Fabregas and Terry, praising our beast of a defender and our great squad, talking about destroying our neighbours on Wednesday..
I highly doubt that anyone would have even mentioned Dean, except some of the media, but hey, we know they are biased and they hate us. So we don’t give a fuck that Dean was wrong, it was a fucking time he give us some decisions. Bring on Wednesday, bring on the scum…
And yet it is same shit referee and the same shit decision, just that their player, that dirty scumbag, outsmarted both, him and our players.
It is time we ourselves put an end to this kind of stuff. Time to stop being naive, grow up some balls, use some street tricks. We are just to gentle.
Teach your team to fight Arsene, because they don’t know how to.
Apart from the result,and the injury to Coq,i must admit to being rather proud of both Kos and the Ox for playing the game in the way it should be played.
Both getting up and getting on with the game,when they could easily have rolled around in fake agony trying to get the offender sent off.
We do have standards at The Arsenal in the way the players are expected to represent the Club,both on and off the field of play.
Even Alexis has been educated not to wave imaginary cards at the ref every time he is fouled,which he did regularly when he first arrived.
Let other clubs have a win at all costs cheating/faking attitude to the game.
I certainly wouldn’t be supporting this Club if we were to go down the same path.
It is a credit to our Manager and his support staff that the players go out and play the game the way it should be played,which is to entertain the paying public,and uphold the spirit of fair play,win lose or draw.
Danny Murphy is a twat.
That is all.
Having been present to hear the majority of the Emirates boo Eboue for diving, and having watched my club replay a cup game they won through poor sportsmanship, I don’t believe for a single moment that we would celebrate an Arsenal player behaving the way Costa did today.
One of the many things that separates us from the Chavs. Please let’s not pretend otherwise.
Poor Eboue, nice fella I liked him. Shame that majority of the fans did not. So they booed him on many occasions.
Can’t remember Pires was booed by our fans? Anyone?
Spot on post Guv! One of your finest!
Drinks all round to celebrate the day when Mike Dean was finally outed for all to see as a “cheating cunt!”
Up the Arse!
55, 56 and 57 are all spot on.
I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of 55 and 57.
56 is simply a fact.
If Coq is out for that long, we are well and truly fucked.
Post says it all, Holic.
But I will say a little bit more – actually what I said in the previous bar but I feel no more, no less seven or eight hours later.
I can’t think of two people in the whole of football who are more perfect for each other than Jose Mourinho and Diego Costa.
Unfortunately they are a lethal combination in the presence of Mike Dean, the referee who danced a celebratory jig as Tottenham scored against us.
I’m not actually angry at us at all. Disappointed, yes, that we looked so unlike scoring, and disappointed that when Coquelin was injured we had no proper replacement for him – but that is old news now and cannot be changed.
But you cannot beat a conniving turd like Mourinho, his diving, provocative, cheating henchman in Costa, and a referee who lets them get away with it in Mike Dean.
Today has really left me wondering if it’s worth the heartache, time and cost, in that order, of continuing to support the club I have lived and watched since 1969.
Winning is not a divine right in football but the fair chance of doing so should be.
The obvious failure, or lack of determination, of the aurhorities to implement Financial Fair Play has made it almost imoossible for all but the financially doped to succeed.
Refereeing performances like today render the remaining remote chance of success irrelevant.
And before anyone else jumps on the “Gabriel was an idiot” bandwagon, try to remember that Costa should have been back in the dressing room before Gabriel got the chance to touch – not kick – him with his foot.
If Gabriel was to be sent off, it’s a shame he didn’t give the cheating bastard a full blown boot in the nuts for his trouble.
Trev @63,
Spot on fella! It’s all bullshit now this sport called Association Football! FIFA’s pretty much made sure of that universally. Which sport provides the perfect avenues for grand money-laundering and which sport permits club ownership to double as a life-insurance policy for unscrupulous billionaires of questionnable wealth attainment?!
Back to the match; Gabriel only got involved cos it seemed like Costa was getting a free-ride in assaulting Kos without any reaction from Kos or, more tellingly, from that self-important cheating cunt Dean! Gabriel had just had enough of the cheating Dago cunt’s antics to allow it any longer. He actually did try to give the cunt a welly in the knacker’s and that would’ve be comedy gold. The straight red he got would then have been worth it! Cunts!
costa is the mirror image of his Father figure Mourinho twins both are cunts that live a charmed life……………………..but Dean has no excuse he just shouldn’t be reefing anymore the man is a fucking liability to football………………………well played Arsenal still created chances right to the end.
‘holic
Every word is indisputable. Both of them. 😉
I’ve never liked Dean as a referee – his decision making is suspect and his man-management is extremely poor. I doubt that he is corrupt but have no doubt that he’s just not a very good referee.
But ..
I don’t think he saw the Kos / Costa fracas at all. If he didn’t, then at least the linesman should have no excuses not to have seen it.
Gabriel was foolish to get and stay involved and I agree with others that if you’re going to see red then make it worthwhile but ..
I don’t think that Dean saw the Gabriel kick / flick on Costa either – the way I saw it, only on tv, was that Costa was going mental and that Dean then relied on the advice of a linesman or the fourth official via his headpiece to make the decision.
Don’t get me wrong – I still think that Dean is useless but I believe that his support team were just as culpable on this day.
Finally, I think Santi’s second caution was a foul but not absolutely a yellow card. I think that the way that Fabregas rolled around as if he’d been shot made it look a whole lot worse than it was and contributed to the second red.
Anybody still think that Fabregas has us in his heart?
Onward.
UTA.
Agree with everything you say, Trev, but it’s the stupidity that gets me. Gabriel’s tap was reminiscent of Beckham’s red-card against Argentina all those years ago … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWsEuczNj48 … an idle flick of the foot always cops the same punishment as a two-footed ankle-buster. If contact is intentional it’s red. All players should know that.
Öskar
poor from kos after being thrown to the floor getting right back up again.
he did costa a favour and no favours for us.
could so easily have got the scumbag off. and no one, not even morinho would have complained.
every advantage counts for points in this league. the sooner the manager and his players understand this the better it is for the club.
Comparing Robert Pires to Diego Costa? Dear, oh dear. You might at least have gone with Vieira, and even then you’d have been wildly off base.
Sorry, but the notion that we’d all be celebrating Costa’s antics if he’d been wearing an Arsenal shirt is farcical, and suggests a real lack of understanding of what this club represents.
COYG
@69 true what you say ………………………….but it is about time the officials did their job for both sides we have a fourth official that is a total waste of fucking time apart from if the ref pulls a hammy or hold up a sub sign. I am positive one of the officials would have seen Kos been pushed if you have to roll around like you have been shot the game is fucked IMO
@71 we need the points. If the system is against us we need to do something about it.
costa is smart. have no doubts about that.
he does not elbow or head butt kos which is a sure sending off. he plays within the rules. or rather the very edge of it.
what is wrong if our players adapt to counter this sort of bullying. sure its not the right thing but if the officials dont help us who else will?
one thing that concerned me was that it appeared that gabriel could not converse in english to dean. and no one came over to help him out.
poor from his teammates and the manager to not planning it out.
where did santi go hiding? he was the stand in captain.
@72 Agreed but it is about time the FA did something about players that play on tackles and the likes……………………if you get tackled and roll around like you have been shot get them off the park for 5 minutes and bring a sub on for that time………………they need to make laws against players that cheat such as they did for divers but take it further…………but I am all for doing as the Romans do you get no where any other way
You do need English to converse with a cheating cunt like Dean.
+not
@70
You awoided the answer. Again. Simple question deserves simple answer, I know it is probably your proffesion but stop twisting everyone’s words.
Did you ever seen an Arsenal fan booing Pires for diving, like they did on Eboue?
Or we enjoyed him as a player that bought many great things to our club, no matter that other club fans thought he was a nasty diver.
Eboue was a scapegoat and you used the fans booing him to prove that Arsenal fans are better, with better standards that any other out there, that our players are reached to not cheat and fake.
I am not saying that we have to cheat the games. But when you play against team that explicitly cheats like Chelsea, then as a manager be ready and prepare your team to fight even on the cheating front. I am never going to suggest us to became fakers and divers, but more cynical on certain circumstances, of course.
That is how the points and games are won, prepare yourself on any aspect of the game. Pires dives were bad, but they gave us some advantages during the games. And can’t remember our fans booing him for that. Because at the time we were dominant, it suited us and absolutely no one cared what the newspapers write. All we cared about was us winning the game.
So, stop oh dearing me and and answer the simple question. In fact don’t, because I would probably won’t read the answer, I am off, this is no worth it.
@Lurky
Not entirely sure how you expect Gabriel to remain calm under harassment on the pitch when you become this emotional as soon as someone disagrees with you.
You suggested we would all celebrate a player behaving as Costa did.
I pointed out that Arsenal fans have barracked a player for less egregious cheating and that the club has an enviable rep for doing things the right way.
You then attempted to move the argument to whether Arsenal fans boo all instances of diving. It’s a lovely straw man, but unfortunately it wasn’t the argument I was making.
You are free to believe what you want. If you believe that all that Arsenal, as a club and as a support, care about is winning the game then you are sorely mistaken. There’s a reason our players don’t deploy “street tricks” (as you, yourself, have observed) – have a think why that might be.
Please do enjoy your disengagement. It’s the surest way to never question your own views and never risk learning anything.
COYG
Pires was no diver and to call him as such suggests you saw little of his play for Arsenal. Name some definitive proven occasions when his ‘diving’ resulted in advantage for Arsenal?
The supposed one against Portsmouth is recalled by all, but the incident involved contact and was hardly an outrageous dive at all. Many, many similar pelanties have been given against Arsenal over the years. I repeat I’d like to hear some other proven incidents that you refer so glibly.
No comparison between RP7 and Eboue. As Esso notes, many ‘softer’ pens are regularly awarded. Not least Shrek’s to end the Invincible run. RP7 tended to elude or ride tackles in and outside the box. Eboue’s repeated dying swan falls were an embarrassment and drew the crowd’s negative response.
Clive@55: Well said.
nice one ‘holic
barrel o swally on the bar for ye
(my special reserved for special occasions reserve)
.
and
never in a month o fuckin sundays
did i imagine someone here calling Bob a diver
just fuckin ridiculous
how long was i asleep ?
ye can buy yer own pint , kiddo !
One of your best Mr G’, one of your best. Thank you after the most trying of days.
To those that feel that Gabriel was naive I have to say you are wrong.
Look at the sequence of events, the total ineptitude of the officials, the scandalous actions of the Chelsea players, ultimately grabbing Gabriel around the throat after his dismissal (a very common Chelsea touch over the last few seasons) with no penalty. The management of the situation? non-existent. Two words describe it.
Those that wish for the enforcers, the leaders have been shown what happens when they do so with Mr Dean and many of the current crop of referees.
A team that realises that there is no protection, no regulation and no objective refereeing has what options?
Thank you Cynic – it’s past the sewers
Best report ever H!
A little wordy, but I struggled through it! 😉
CBA …. Agree totally. My purse is closed to this gent
Nice post, reminds me of the famous, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter speech” quote.
Hope we bounce back quickly from the after effects of the disgusting “match” and go on a winning spree, and hope the scum stay below 10.
btw, saw this link on fb, commendable effort from the other side of the world: https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game?recruiter=388399568&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=whatsapp
Can’t something like this be done in the UK? an fb group, a #?
For all those blaming Gabriel for getting wound up – N7 @78 gets it bang on. People in this forum get wound up even while discussing matters of our favorite club. For Gabriel to get wound up in that situation is an absolutely normal human reaction.
I also think it was overtly honest of Arsene in the post match interviews to mention that Gabriel was guilty of falling for the bait. He should have only alluded the fact that Costa should have been off much before the Gabriel incident happened.
Will the incident of yesterday make referees more alert to the antics of Costa? Will they be more proactive in issuing cards to him? That is the only hope of a positive from yesterday’s fracas….But I doubt it will happen. If he goes on a good scoring run, the media will find a good spin to his antics as ‘master of gamesmanship’ or ‘master if the dark arts’ as someone alluded to yesterday.
‘desi’gner gooner
It already happened! Just saw motd2 and you know fairplay means shit when not one but all four “experts” are trying to defend that kind of behaviour. All of them would like to have such a player in their side. To top it with cream they tell you that AW would like to have such a player in his side!
I’m literally sick to the stomache right now.
Happy birthday to me, i’m off to get as drunk as possible now
and drinks on me for all of you!
I am expecting the FA to land Gabriel with an extra game on his ban, because the referee’s report states that he didn’t leave the pitch in a timely fashion.
Just waiting for it to be announced.
It is inevitable.
By the way, he got a straight red card didn’t he. I’ve seen a lot of chat around that it was two yellows, but it was a three match ban red card.
dat wi studs
.
happy birthday
.
drink responsibly 🙂
Some good stuff above from, amongst others, Uply, DapperDan,
Noosa Gooner, N7, desi’gner.
Arsene Wenger seems to have been incredibly restrained and balanced in his post-match comments. What a contrast to the sly, oh-how-we-got-away-with-it-am-i-not-so-fucking-clever grin of that thing that manages Chelsea.
And there, in a nutshell, is the difference. One man, seething inside but trying to maintain a little class and dignity – the other, a cocky, spoilt brat who couldn’t tell you what either quality means.
Would I love to see Costa’s antics in an Arsenal shirt ?
I’ll tell you right now, that would be the first time I have ever booed a player in an Arsenal shirt and I would rather never win another thing.
Thank whoever you pray to that we are not Chelsea and never will be.
Cheating, desperate, plastic, see you next Tuesdays.
And while we’re at it, yes I do object to paying a licence fee to listen to that shrieking, lying c*nt, Robbie Savage trying to tell the audience yesterday that Costa did not cheat at all during that match – (and denying that he ever kicked Gilberto Silva, to the same caller).
Me, I’m going to struggle to even walk into Costa’s for a coffee.
Be nice if Costa got a ban for the slap on Kos and also one for the scratches inflicted on Gabriel. Not going to happen though.
If they tot up the offences he should be looking at nine games out and two yellow cards.
Is there any lightning about …… ?
I will be surprised if Gabriel doesn’t get an extra match for not leaving the pitch. This is, after all, the FA we are talking about.
amen brother trev
amen
.
another cracker post
.
and
another post articulating fucked offness brilliantly
.
.
.
cheers ‘hol for here
much needed and appreciated big man
cheers ‘holics various
I think we also need to look into the captain/leadership issue. We can’t have a captain that is not a first team player am sorry. Carzola didn’t help out gab at all yesterday. Am not mad at gab at all. Am happy we have someone that was willing to stand up for his team mates and not get scared or bullied. I sure missed Jacky boy yesterday. Arteta can’t get in and even Per can’t get in neither well I guess with this suspension he should get back in. We need a leader and we don’t seem to have one right now. Hopefully FA does the right thing and ban Costa’s fucking ass.
Cheers to everyone for your posts. Well, most of you…
It is good to know that I’m not alone in my disgust. Yesterday was undoubtedly a watershed moment in my love for professional football. And Arsenal cannot be separated from the game we play, unfortunately, so it’s not like I can support us in a vacuum.
Scumbags, cheats and billionaires of dubious background get what they want out of ‘football’. Honesty, integrity and sportsmanship count for nothing.
Why pay to watch something that I morally disagree with on every level? I’ll stick out this season. Then I’m done.
Although I’m not too disillusioned to lay it on a plate for…
ME
A Chelsea fan of my acquaintance( a very decent one amazingly) walked up to me this morning and apologised for Costa’s behaviour. He was quite sincere and I talked to him about the culture at his club. He agreed that Mourinho is an arch manipulator and Costa goes too far. That only made me feel a BIT better .
I couldn’t watch MOTD yesterday because I was too fed up and I would never waste time watching anything Robbie Savage had to say because he represents the morally bankrupt school of win at all costs , almost totally bankrupt of skill, pseudo hard men that TV seeks to use to promote their coverage.
I would like to make a few points:
– there is no question that Mike Dean is corrupt.He is not bent, I don’t believe any refs are. He is just a referee whose ego is bigger than his skill- level as a referee. He is nevertheless, a referee I don’t like controlling Arsenal games . We must avoid the looney agenda followed by Untold Arsenal. Oliver and Clattenburg as named by our host are the best two refs by a country mile.
– the demise of FFP has doomed football and will continue to take it away from its core audience. Eventually Tristram from Knightsbridge and his cronies who have never played the game in their lives will be the core supporters at the Grove but will spend the game outside at the Champagne Bar watching on the telly. They will leave twenty minutes before the end because the stretch limo picking them up is double parked
– this is the most upset I have sensed Holic to be since I joined this bar. He is a model of commonse and perspective after disappointments and for him to show this degree of emotion illustrates the level of disgust felt at yesterday’s antics
– pray tell me how many penalties Pires dived for in his career.? To draw any comparison whatsoever between one of the finest players ever to don an Arsenal shirt and Costa, a piece of excrement, is offensive in the extreme. The significance of the Portsmouth penalty was that it was almost the only time the Invincibles came close to slipping up and it carried greater significance to the Arsenal haters
-Coquelin’s injury is a massive blow. He has been extremely important to this team and we face a huge test at Leicester without him before we go into other matches. We now have Coq, Wilshere, Rosicky and Cazorla ( 1 game) out and the failure to recruit cover will hurt us. If Flamini is the answer we are asking the wrong question. Arsene unfortunately always needs to assume at least six of his squad will be missing at any stage of the season. Rather than retain Campbell and Flamini who are below standard we should have signed Cabaye and Ayew
– please don’t get on Arteta’s back. He has given great service and is just back from a long injury. He helped to restore this club after his signing and still has a role to play. Probably too prominent a role but he is being rubbished by too many supporters who suggest he has never been anything other than a liability.
A longer rant than I intended but emotions are still raw. Even the calm ones in this bar will be losing control!
–
*Pats H2H on the back*
*Watches in surprise as H2H drops to the floor clutching his knee and waving an imaginary card*
*Rolls eyes*
*Is sent off for aggressive eye rolling*
*Gets slated in the media for naivety*
“I would love to have played against Diego Costa.”
Martin Keown.
“I would have paid very good money to watch Martin Keown play against Diego Costa.”
Steve T.
In fact, add the likes of Adams, Campbell, Vieira, Petit etc to that list.
The Ruud van Shithispants incident would have looked like kindergarten stuff compared to what would have happened to scumbag Costa.
*applauds H2H for his skill and guile*
*wishes he played for my team*
@TTG
Your best post ever mate. I’m on the verge of packing it in, I really am. But then today I heard that one of my few chances of tickets together this season, Everton at home, has come up trumps.
So I’ll be there again. At least once. But it gets harder and harder to justify the expense or quite frankly the time it takes out of my life anymore.
TTG:
the demise of FFP
This is a myth that I am quite frankly getting a bit tired of hearing repeated. FFP is very much alive, many just don’t understand what it is about and how it works. It has had a very real effect on the overall level of debt in football in Europe and contrary to popular opinion it has at least slowed down clubs like Chelsea and Man City. Yes, City did spend shitloads this summer, but what most seem to fail to understand is that this has never been illegal under FFP. Transfer sums are also, as far as FFP goes, distributed over the length of the contract, so assuming City signed all their summer signings on five-year contracts (which seems to be more or less the standard length these days) their 150-odd million does, consequently, count as about 30 million per season in the FFP books. When they were in breach of the rules, they were punished but after having followed the rules the following season they were not punished again. That is not the same as FFP being dead.
steve T – 103
nice one chief
Lars.
Then FFP has none of the impications that I believed were the point of the original legislation. It certainly does nothing to ensure that clubs are run as businesses if it is firing on all cylinders at the moment. And I have definitely read a lot of commentary saying that is has been relaxed due to the threat of being sued under freedom of trade law.
Not my area to expound on the details. But given most people thought it was meant to stabilise football after the sudden and unexpected impact of the Billionaire Brigade it has done no such thing and is worthless to me.
Lars,
I believe FFP relates spending to income. Every time City want to spend more, they magic up a bit more, er, sponsorship to boost their income and down comes their proprtionate spending.
How does a club who cannot fill a 45,000 seater stadium for a Champions League game, justify spending £80,000,000 on Kevin de Bruyne under any kind of sensible set of rules ?
And, if I’m not mistaken, since City were punished by having their Champions League squad curtailed by one player, and a fine suspended, the rules have been relaxed again, which probably explains why they didn’t break them again.
Cheers, cba.
Great post, TTG.
gsd
if i was still in london
finances alone would dictate my attendance
nowt else would
but
i’m sure like everyfuckinbody here
you’ll still watch/listen read about The Arsenal
no option
after a wee while
people around ye realise
yer not gonna change
shortly followed by a nod
and a pfffftttt
as ye tune in the radio
at quarter to bastardin one
of a saturday
” I’m on the verge of packing it in, I really am.”
Esso. I know exactly how you feel no echo every word. It’s something I have given some serious thought to over the last few seasons. As a season ticket holder this may well be my very last one. Like you, and many others no doubt I’m just about getting to the stage where I have had enough of it all. For many reasons I might add, but if yesterday is acceptable to the authorities then I want no further part in it.
absolutely trev
meant to say
nice job m’lud
Does incompetent glory seeker describe anybody you can think of?
I refer of course to Mike Dean, not myself. 😉
bt8.
I don’t think glory matters. Just attention.
GSD. Hopefully the negative attention he receives will be much more intense and prolonged than Mike Dean is counting on. If he is not castigated for this I will be permanently turned off because the prospect of him refereeing another Arsenal game sickens me.
*descends staircase norma desmond-like*
.
“keep the fuckin’ noise down ! ”
“shower o’ blerts !”
Not had a chance to catch up yet so apologies if this has already been mentioned. If not then it’s your chance to have a say……
https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game
Trev/GSD:
since City were punished by having their Champions League squad curtailed by one player
Four players, not one. Their stadium is now also closer to, iirc, 55.000 capacity as they have expanded it. That will increase their match day revenue. City have also benefitted from the new tv deal just like other clubs have done.
Here’s a link that tells a bit about the relaxation:
http://www.espnfc.com/uefa-champions-league/story/2507973/uefa-relax-financial-fair-play-rules
It certainly does nothing to ensure that clubs are run as businesses if it is firing on all cylinders at the moment. And I have definitely read a lot of commentary saying that is has been re
Never said it is firing on all cylinders. FFP is not perfect in any way and will never be able to solve all problems. But it is not dead.
I may also add that FFP is not something Arsenal rely on. It is not part of the strategy at all to hope that FFP shall rein in Chelsea and City.
Cheers, Steve.
Definitely signing that one, for all the good it’ll do.
Not Dean but Wenger who is a disgrace for not targeting Costa as the weak link in the Chelsea set up.
Costa is a walking red card and tge tactically naive Wenger should have exploited this!
Steve T
You made your bed so lay in it lol
Not Dean but Wenger who is a disgrace for not targeting Costa as the weak link in the Chelsea set up.
Costa is a walking red card and tge tactically naive Wenger should have exploited this!
Steve T
You made your bed so lay in it lol…..
steve T
getting leviathans to listen is difficult
.
brought kicking and screaming
to the negotiating table
sometimes the only way
but
how d’ye do that with the sweet FA ?
Trev @109 nails it wrt FFP! It’s a farce!
Here’s how it works and is circumvented; even Man United are in on it:
If I am the billionaire owner of a football club (let’s say Citeh) and I want to buy a player that is worth far more money than the revenue we generate in my the club, all I need to do is tell one of my corporate mates (a company like Etihad Airlines or some other Sovereign Wealth fund company that I can influence) to sponsor my club’s “lunchtime oranges” at way and above the market going rate. I now have the extra liquidity to buy the aforementioned Kevin De Bruyne from Volkswagon United (aka Wolfburg), a company which my Sovereign Wealth Fund probably has shares within too. It’s all a big money-laundering merry-go-round!
Now, one of the main reasons that most of us support and love Arsenal FC with a passion, no matter how frustrated we may get (and it’s also why we as a club are so hated by the “cunt-filled establishment” exemplified in the form of Arsene Wenger), is because we have retained our moral principles and have not prostituted ourselves to the modern farce that is modern football corruption. When cunts like Joey Barton (a convicted felon) and Robbie Savage (a talentless cretin) are being employed by the British “public service” broadcaster (which we are obligated to pay a licence fee to) then what’s really left to be seen as evidence of what we’re up against. Other than our righteous club, I honestly do not see any top European club (and I include Bayern Munich in this too) that is swimming clean in a cesspit of fiscal immorality manifested by the justification in existence of vile cunts such as Dago Costa and Maureen. The day Arsenal FC win the Premier League again, or the Champions league, will be the day that football is reborn! I truly hope, for its future that happens this season! That’s why the “be the best we can be” adage is so relevant because, even with all the obstacles, our best is good enough to do just one or both of these things! Arsenal FC is fighting to save the pure soul of football in Sodom & Gommorah! We all better hope that it wins!
Up the Arse all day and all night! COYBG!!
Here’s how it works and is circumvented … to sponsor my club’s “lunchtime oranges” at way and above the market going rate.
Wrong. Sponsorship deals are assessed and may be deemed above market rate and not be allowed to count towards the income to the full value of the deal. This is exactly what happened to Man City and partly as a result of this they were punished with a reduced CL squad and a fine last season.
Lars@125,
Have you ever wondered in the post-match interviews just why there are so many sponsors on the backdrop placket boards? Sponsors that you never see anywhere else or have heard of? Even my own underpants can be sponsored to raise money for De Bruyne’s transfer fee whilst I’m answering the questions from the Sky Sports/BT spunk bucket!
The point I’m making is this; there is always a way where very wealthy people circumvent the rules in their favour. Whether it’s not in the manner of example that I’ve given, or it is, is not the point I’m making; unscrupulously wealthy people will always find the loopholes that make their “toy” successful thereby rendering FFP a farce!
DapperDan,
The thing about the Etihad sponsorships is that they have spinsored “new things” like half-time oranges precisely because they have no “going market rate”. That way, they are not breaking any rules.
Lars,
If I take out house i surance to cover my buildings and contents, I assume, in the event of a fire, burglary, etc. etc. that my buildings and co tents will be covered. I do not expect that a loss adjuster will arrive to tell me that because my cheque was written on a Tuesday afternoon, or the burglar was wearing bright pink socks and should have been spotted by my beighbour in the garden, that my insurance will not, in fact, pay up.
That, of course, is exactly what happens though.
Similary, when UEFA brought in the concept of Financial FAIR PLAY, that is what most of us hoped – even if not expected – would happen.
If what we have now resembles anything like “fair play”, how is it that the same six or seven clubs in Europe and the world, are the only ones with any chance of hoovering up the very top echelon of players, and why don’t the oligarchs and assorted mega-rich of questionable pedigree and intent, shuffle off back whence they came as their financial advantage is no longer of any use ?
My frigging iPad appears to have no “n”s.
Except that one. ?
Dan @126,
Whether due to my ignorance or whatever, I agree entirely.
To be honest, I couldn’t give a tinkers cuss what the actual minutiae of the rules are – or even how to spell minutiae ! – it doesn’t effing work !
lars
my whole life
nowt football-wise
i’ve been told about the safeguards in place
to prevent “skullduggery”
with good cause
i treated those leather-bound assurances
with the arse of me trousers
so
forgive me for not being talked off a ledge
by yours
I’m going out with the dog.
I may be some time !
Trev @127,
That cunt Dean sent of your “n” with a straight red for not catering to his vanity and self-importance! Wanker!
Trev @131, if you see a Costa, let your dog relieve themself as an AFC gesture of defiance! 😎
CBA,
Spot on ya mental Bard!
Esso
Please keep going mate . I don’t want to be sitting with Tristram from Knightsbridge, I want to be sitting with Holics who live and breathe the club. But I know exactly where you are coming from
Lars
FFP has been relaxed. Why? Because ultimately the mega clubs with all the best players that all the TV companies want to cover would never let themselves be constrained by it. You are hopelessly naive if you think it is going to have any effect on the oil- rich clubs. Wenger said as much a few weeks ago.
If they try to implement FFP stringently the large clubs will form a European Super League which will be incredibly lucrative because it attracts all the sponsors and TV coverage and neither FIFA or UEFA will be able to do a thing about it . In 2015 money talks ever more loudly .
Sorry but FFP has no chance of reining in the big clubs. If you sat in the Arsenal boardroom you’d hear them saying the same thing I bet.
Ps- Lars
I sat at the AST meeting three summers ago when Gazidis said exactly that. ‘ FFP is starting to bite and will give us a better chance to compete’ is what he said more or less. I don’t blame him, what else can he do or say other than we are trawling the world for a Sheikh with twenty billion pounds to spare on blowing Sheikh Mansour out of the water?
We are not and my guess is most Holics would not want us to do this but many people would. Arsenal won’t follow this model because they have a Board with a self- sustaining strategy that has worked incredibly well and because we are effectively owned by a rich American who regards us( I suspect) as a cash cow that he doesn’t need to milk because every time he looks at it , the value has gone up. It must be the best investment he has ever made .
Lars.
By ‘firing on all cylinders’ I mean that it is working to its maximum capacity.
When you said ‘FFP is very much alive, many just don’t understand what it is about and how it works’, I assumed that you meant it is doing what it is meant to be doing, ie. firing on all cylinders. If not, fair enough.
I agree with Trev that the sentiment of fair play is not being honoured, regardless of what specific guidelines are, or are not, being adhered to.
Boooooooooo, censorship
Trev@91 and Ttg@101: Well said.
If Costa had done in an argument in the street what he did to Kos and Gabriel on the pitch, he would have been banged up.
TTG: and I sat in a meeting with Ivan last Saturday when he said FFP is not part of Arsenal’s strategy. None of what you quote contradicts that.
Why do the same bug clubs keep hoovering up most of the talent? Because they still have more money than most. The aim of FFP has never been to distribute money evenly between clubs or anything like that. In fact, is has been criticised for preserving the status quo which is where the changes to allow for a period of investment has been introduced (which is what is referred to as “relaxation”).
And like I said, FFP is far from perfect. I have always said that it was never going to level the playing field to the extent I would like to see. For that you need to introduce much stricter squad size limits and abolish loans for players over the age of 21.
Ned
I would have banged him up. Ask CBA!?
Lars
Don’t think we are going to agree on this. I walked away from that meeting with a friend who said ( it was the summer we lost RVP) – ‘let’s hope FFP works cos nothing else will save us.’
I think Ivan has changed his tune because he can see the writing on the wall for FFP
And le coq out a month?
Oh crap.
You’re mellowing
“Watershed” ?? Water boarding is more appropriate for Mike “Fucking” Dean. Sadly it’s a case of arrogance and incompetence over corruption.
Now where’s that bottle of malt ohmmm.
Where are folks getting the “Coquelin out for a month” information from?
Physioroom dot com are reporting ‘no return date’ for Coquelin.
Rosicky is set to be out until Game Week 5 in the comments, but out ’til Jan 2016 as a return date.
Jack Wilshere has no return date.
Danny Wellbeck could be out until March 2016 according to Roy Hodgson, or Christmas (2015) according to Arsene Wenger.
All clear as mud and then.
What a cracking day it has been.
After the odious going’s on at the Bridge of despair,i watched Japan put on the performance of their lives to beat South Africa,then saw Argentina frighten the life out of the Kiwi’s in the Rugby World Cup,then watched the European Ladies perform gallantly in defeat against the US in the Solheim Cup,[ amazing what pressure can do to you when standing over a 6ft putt ] !!,and then watched Andy Murray bring the Brits home in the Davis Cup,putting us in the final for the first time in nearly 40yrs.
Great to watch the wonderful sportsmanship shown by all, at the highest levels of their respective professions.
Quite restored my faith.
Yes, I am mellowing A.
Because kids will be reading this.
It doesn’t mean I am not still raging at the events of yesterday. In fact having thought long and hard about everything that went on yesterday I am even more fucking furious.
Hey ho. This will be the last season I spend serious money supporting my love in a competition that is being exploited by money and scum.
I’ll always support the Arsenal, but in different ways. I’ll no longer spend a fortune watching cunts like Dean, who wants to be the star of the show, fuck up nine months of my life.
If I go further it will be a blog post. I’ll save it for when I feel like this again. Probably Wednesday when another fucktard decides the match rather than the players on the park.
are you sure Dean is not bent? He sure Has some strange stats against us. And then, there was his little issue getting involved with a gambling form for which he was suspended
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/apr/08/newsstory.sport9
Dean is either grossly incompetent, bent or has a problem with Arsenal. How about all three?
Evening Holic,
Know exactly how you feel.
After such a bitter weekend – and about right for this time of year – here’s something to make the heart feel better –
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n2MtEsrcTTs
– and smile 😉
According to this … http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/refs-should-wise-diego-costas-6481808 … Le Coq’s withdrawal on Saturday was a tactical decision, and “It is understood there is no ligament damage and Coquelin could even be fit to face the Gunners arch-rivals Tottenham in a Capital One Cup tie on Wednesday.
Öskar
It’s a bit strong to suggest Dean is bent, imo. Or any ref for that matter. Incompetent, yes, but I wouldn’t go further. Dean isn’t the only ref to red card Arsenal players. I read somewhere that we have in fact received more red cards than any other side in Prem history. If that is true it makes the claims to virtue I’m reading here a bit suss. Or our players are really really stupid, which I don’t believe.
Do you have the stats, Ned?
Either way it’s time our guys wised up and calmed down when provoked. Getting booked for dissent or petulance is for mugs.
Öskar
Dean can and must go f*** himself. F****** disgrace indeed.
Dean sacked should be.
And:
Dean should be sacked.
Dean’s myopia is really my chief complaint. What about the entire series of events, not just Costa and Fabregas complaining about a so-called kick by Gabriel that was not a kick in any way, shape or form. And a tip o’ the hat to anti-Dean spokesman Garth Crooks.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2015-16/chelsea-vs-arsenal/garth-crooks-destroys-mike-dean-on-bbc-for-chelsea-vs-arsenal-performance.html
One thing no one has mentioned yet is that Chelsea did fire Mutu for taking cocaine. They didn’t have to; it seems the decision was taken in the interests of the image of the club. I wonder at what point, if ever, Costa’s theatrics and cheating will reach a similar nadir and force Abramovich’s hand.
I object strongly to the multiple, slanderous uses of my name and place of residence in the beverages above.
Knightsbridge is a wonderful area of London, full of restaurants, retail and close to many great parks but I fail to see how any of this is relevant to the so called demise of the true Arsenal experience. It could not be further from the soggy pies and warm beer dished up at the Emirates.
Tristram is a name born of Arthurian legend, a strong noble name forged through heroic deeds.
Indeed, if Mr Gabriel’s parents had seen fit to christen him with such a name then he may have thought twice about unnecessarily getting involved with Mr Diego and rather stupidly cruelling our chances in a game which, at that stage, we were well and truly capable of winning.
If Mr Gabriel had kept his cool, which he is paid handsomely to do, who is to say that we would not have won and thus avoided the collective ejection of pacifiers from strollers that has ensued?
Now, moving forward, let us beat the crap out of Tottenham – preferably early on so I can get home in time for supper.
Now that I’ve calmed down from the nadir of my emotions on Saturday, I say two things.
1. I still do fucking hate Mourinho, Costa and Dean – that’s a lethal combination of just complete and utter incompetence mixed in with contempt for the beauty of the game, bitterness, arrogance, foul play, classlessness, smugness and manipulation bordering on sociopathy.
2. I love our players even more after this massive shitshow for their display of character and determination to get on despite the ever deteriorating circumstances. They are truly products of Arsene Wenger and I say that with the words effort, strong mindedness, class and spine in mind.
Listen, I know Arsene has many faults and can be massively and legitimately criticized for many more things, one of which was the lack of purchasing a starter/cover at DM which now has become glaringly apparent at this point in time.
But I for one will never criticize the man for putting out his men to be disciplined, determined, principled and dogged to get the win WITHOUT being cheats and stooping to the depths Mourinho’s Chelsea has plunged our beautiful game to.
Down on football as a whole presently but in no ways out – that would be handing Mourinho and all I currently hate about the game a golden card.
Nothing in life is perfect and coming to terms with this absolute reality I’ll stand behind Wenger, the team and the Club because they are what made me what follow footie to begin with.
@103 Steve T
I would have loved to see the likes play Costa it may have been a life changing event for the shit head.
This past weekend’s edition of the Sydney Morning Herald’s quick quiz had the question “What is the nationality of the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho?”
Unbelievably the answer “c**t” was apparently not correct! I’m thinking of a letter to the editor to correct their mistake.
UTA.
https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game
Already at 50k!
😀
So, let me get this right.
If I buy a tv in England and take it home, plug it in, turn it on, pour a beer and put my feet up – I’m not allowed to watch it without a license ?
And then, if I buy a licence, I have to listen to “experts” like Robbie the Afghan and Garth Crooks?
Ha ha ha ha ha. You cannot be serious – can you?
UTA.
If I go further it will be a blog post. I’ll save it for when I feel like this again. Probably Wednesday when another fucktard decides the match rather than the players on the park.
Come on H, it’s only the League Cup. He always makes loads of changes for these games.
*ahem*
😀
Oh fucksticks, I failed to close the tag
Noosa, Crooks’ analysis of Dean on Saturday was majestic. He gets it right sometimes!
“I’ll always support the Arsenal, but in different ways. I’ll no longer spend a fortune watching cunts like Dean, who wants to be the star of the show, fuck up nine months of my life.”
Amen to that and in the absence of any better cliche, ‘right back at you, Holic’.
I had the good fortune to be a million miles away from anything digital so I didn’t (and won’t) see the game. Your very concise match report and the result was more than I needed.
Bear with me, a small offering of perspective. Not really what you think though.
The rage against the Mik-Dean is absolutely warranted. I don’t think I have uttered so many C-words that night at the local Arsenal pub. Livid, disbelief amongst many other emotions.
A day passed and the fire gets stoked every time someone mentions the match. It’s Monday and I take my time to see what ‘olic and the ‘holics think.
I am genuinely saddened by the idea floating about that the old schoolers, the real fans of the Red and White, want to stop going to the matches. Even though I truly understand the level of disgust that can push us over the edge.
September 2010, I was a newbie to London, to the Stadiums both old and new, to the Tollie. The entire experience of watching my first match at the club I’ve supported from afar since my teenage years would have been a LOT less amazing if ‘olic was not at the Tollie to offer a pint of lager to calm my nerves. If Esso was not there to chat with while having a shivering cigarette under the cold brollies. Post match drinks after the 2-1 win against Birmingham would not have been offered kindly as a way to continue the conversations.
A couple years on, BTM was at the Tollie as well, with his infectious rose tinted optimism and his slightly oversized Wilshere kit. I think you jinxed him forever mate.
And so on and so forth, all with the right crowd, as they say.
It would really be a sad day when these experiences won’t be afforded a chance to manifest.
I don’t think Mike Dean or the incompetence of the FA is worth that much at all to take away generations worth of Red and White blood.
Yes I realise it’s a bigger debate underneath this one incident, but this one emotion I feel today, I hope won’t last.
Usually the missus takes the kids away when Daddy watches the Arsenal because some of the language won’t be for little ears. I was watching events unfold in the game and was outraged by what I saw. At precisely that moment, the doorbell rang. It was my one of my in-laws who, on discovering that the match was on live, immediately felt like she was intruding. I turned off the telly, made some coffee and it proved to be the best decision I took all weekend. There is no reason why such incompetence should have such adverse affects on people who love the game. Anyone who knows anything about what Arsenal represent as a club will know that we are all about upholding the values of the game and try to play the game properly. Mike Dean will never understand that and a fact in point, his continuing torrid history with us must surely at this point be objectively questioned?
I’m glad, (and not surprised), that Clive mentioned Japan’s wonderful victory in the Rugby. It was just sport at its purest and the anthesis of what went on in Stamford Bridge. Furthermore, every single decision in Rugby is make with unerring accuracy in a game that commands and earns respect for its administration and refereeing across the globe. How long more must football decent in to the mire before the obvious implementation of video technology…? The arguments against it are utterly preposterous and if anyone doubts that, then tune into any game in the Rugby WC and see for yourself..!
Drafted a post but deleted it accidentally.
In summary, we have to soldier on if we are serious about contending for the league.
Santi will be back for next weekends game, so only Gabriel to worry about.
Worst results of the weekend were Red Mancs and Spuds.
We didn’t lose pace on the league leaders. The meedja will be up the Mancs arse from hear-on.
Mike Dean has been a twat for a long time.
Anything else?
Yeah, UTA!!
PS: FA have to step in and punish Costa if they are a transparent association.
Nuff said!
“I’ll always support the Arsenal, but in different ways.”
I’m re-quoting that line. It sums up my feeling perfectly.
I’ll never be able to stop caring. But I’m just not going to invest any more of myself after this season. And it is not a reaction to the weekend. It is to everything football has been becoming for a long time. And it is getting worse so quickly, in so many areas, that clinging on by my fingernails is just delaying the inevitable. I’ll go on my on terms, in my own dinosaur costume, thanks.
I finally understand my mate’s old man, who had a WHam season ticket for 20 years and now barely checks the results. He’ll occasionally watch a match and likes it when they do well. But it is not important to him any more. That’s the template for me. I’ll find better, more positive things to do with my time and energy.
However, whilst I’m still in, I will try to be the best supporter I know how, as I always have. So I have lashed out an obscene amount of money that I can barely afford for a ticket to see us play Bayern Munich. I’ll be in full GSD gear, as per, and singing my heart out for the team. I look forwards to seeing as many of you in the Tolly as possible.
And I look forwards to watching my beloved Arsenal, the greatest club the world has ever seen, and to being right in the heart of our Gooner family. Because that is what this has always been about.
@GSD
You’ll be in the Tollie dressed as Per? The mind boggles.
Sad to hear so many of the regulars thinking of jacking it in.
It does often feel like football is on the slide, and it’s certainly a far cry from what it was 15 years ago, but I still think there’s a lot of good stuff in there.
The bad moments always stick in the memory, but the lows serve to make the highs higher. I, for one, have met some top, top people in recent years through the Arsenal in general, and this site in particular. I’ve shared laughs, exchanged tall tales and groaned at puns. And that’s just the off the pitch stuff.
Last season when we beat City away I got a buzz that had me virtually levitating for days. The afternoon we beat the LWCs’ £100m dream team as the Ozil news rolled in, I was pretty much pinching myself. Only back in May, I celebrated one of the most crushing cup final wins in living memory in the absolute best of company.
I’m sure we all have similar moments etched in the memory.
The job of the support in weeks like this, after a couple of bad results, is to help lift one another. To roll out the black humour, go for the cheap laugh and tell stories of better days. I can’t be arsed to stay angry about Costa; he’s a Thundercunt and he’ll get his eventually, but – as we all well know from experience – trolls are best ignored. I’d much rather trade a few happy reminiscences with you all, and the above are just the ones from recent seasons.
Anyone care to add any more reminders of why we bother, or are we all still too depressed?
COYG
I saw what I think was Bendtner’s last goal for us, against Hull. The wild hugging of the stranger next to me was made all the sweeter given that we had both arrived early in our seats and spent the last half hour chatting about the club and mainly about how unlikely Bendtner was to score!
He did it a couple of minutes in. No messing about! The joy made all the greater by the sheer surprise of the thing. And then the rounds of ‘he scores when he wants’ were a pleasure to be part of. It was hardly an Arsenal classic moment but it does highlight the amazing nature of supporting your team and the joy it can bring. The unadulterated joy of Arsenal scoring a goal is a feeling like no other.
The highs of football have been unique to my life so far and I am not daft enough to think that they are easily, if at all, replaceable. I’ll have to try though.
Nice, GSD.
While we’re still doing recent, shall we just go straight to one of the all time great moments?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExPNxsVJA9E
I have no interest in a litany of what is wrong with football. But for all the wonderful high points there is a flipside. People are dying building stadiums for a world cup in the desert so that some very rich people can make more money. And the next Euros are being held in a country that is deeply racist and homophobic.
This is, for me, too high a price for the chance of seeing us win the league at WHL again (pretty much the best thing that could happen in football).
Professional football is one thing, one entity. I can’t separate out the bits I don’t like and ignore or excuse them any more. I can’t take Arsenal without taking all the rest. I have allowed emotion and my love of the club to bend my morals, or allow me to look the other way, for too long. Football these days makes me feel like a dirty hypocrite. I find it morally repugnant.
I will continue to be a hypocrite until the end of this season. Because I love our club so much and find it so hard to let go. And because I am a long way from perfect.
But I can’t keep flogging this particular horse forever. The beautiful game is dead. RIP.
N7, indeed one of the greatest moments ever.
Cheers for the link N7. It’s stuff like that that keeps you going.
I had been visiting an ill relative in hospital that day. I was running late and bombed out of the hospital to The Tredegar Arms pub in Mile End. A lovely, old-school, residential East London pub. Just me, my Mrs-at-the-time, the barman and a group of tourists who had stumbled in occupying the place. I went absolutely nuts when that went in. It was one of the most perfect of all the things I have seen on a football pitch. Football has a funny way of distorting things but, if memory serves, when the match ended I picked my Mrs up and flew us both home.
Cor- I’m having a right old rollercoaster of a posting sesh today. Talk about your highs and lows!
Bloody football, eh?
I know that I would have found it harder to maintain interest if it were not for this bar. Some days it is easily the best thing in football. And the people I have met and interacted with through it have certainly enriched my life. So an ongoing thanks to all, past and present. And of course to the Boss.
Drinks on the bar for all.
*reaches for a bottle of single malt and stares intently at naval*
sitting in a tent drinking and looking at sailors , gsd ?
snap out of it , man !
Holic great drink @147, and Sarah J @157, and Joe @167 not too shabby either. N7 Great drink @171, one of your many great ones, and all are reminders of what brought me here in the first place. 🙂
Lars @140,
There are many ways to make the playing field level and competitive but football just isn’t interested in doing that right now. The incredibly naive and stupid aspect of it is this; once the law enforcement authorities start getting involved for reasons that are more serious, as the FBI has with FIFA, don’t be surprised if this transfers into ALL FOOTBALL including UEFA and the English Premiership. Big money sporting business is never ever 100% clean, and when it becomes a possible threat to the security of some nations, it will not be left alone to the “footballing world” to sort it out amongst themselves! Now that’s a fact of the modern world in which we all live. I feel incredibly sad for our kids and grandkids who haven’t seen the true “fair-play” sportsmanship and integrity of the game for many years now. Hopefully they will do so at some point soon if Arsenal FC just focuses on being “the best they can be” regardless. Up the Arse all day and all night!
Two-handed grapple of the face – Red card
Left arm fully thrown into the face – Red card
Chest bumping opponent backwards to the ground. – Red card
Left arm / hand flailed at opponents neck. – Red card
Anything less than a twelve game ban for Costa is a kop out, according to the rules. That, of course, will not happen. The offences will all be viewed as a single incident and one retrospective red card will be awarded as a result.
The waving of an imaginary card will be ignored, as will the kick out at The Ox at the end of the game.
Ther HAS to be at least one red card though as I see it.
If Dean says he saw everything but decided to take no action then HE should get the red card ( he should be ‘rested’ for a while anyway.
If he didn’t see anything then the FA has no option but to issue some sort of ban – unless they are actively trying to make a case for corruption.
Still seething.
PS – on TalkSpite, Andy Jacobs, surely the most bitter, one-eyed, anti Arsenal idiot in any branch of the media said that, to him, it looked like Koscielny’s and Costa’s arms were both flailing everywhere as they fought for the ball, so he could understand why Dean had not sent Costa off.
No words.
N7 ( and GSD)
You have proper cheered me up even though I have gone off like a firecracker at two Chelsea idiots who tried to wind me up with the ‘ you don’t like it up you’ stuff. ( oo- er) . But I just opened the door to a Chav who apologised for Costa’s antics. Andy Jacobs is a twat and his loathing of Arsenal us only matched by Durham. When I come to power both of them will be straight in front of the firing squad.
Anyway N7 we have wonderful memories among them nights at Anfield , The Swamp and Old Trafford when titles were clinched, the Invincible season- nobody other than Arsenal has that and the wonderful night at Highbury when we won the Fairs Cup.
They are the high- profile ones but the win over Barca, the run to the CL final and that great win in Copenhagen were others, we are very privileged fans to have so many great memories and it’s a drug I can’t begin to give up even though I get very despondent from time to time. Like Saturday
The club motto for respective Premiership sides:
Arsenal:
(Apologies for the initial fat fingered post)
The club motto for respective Premiership sides:
Arsenal: Victoria Concordia Crescit
Blue Mancs: Victoria Argentis Crescit
Red Mancs: Victoria Rubrinaso Crescit
Chelsea: Victoria Cunnis Crescit
Could not find a similar one for Tottenham, as has no relationship with Victoria.
Looking ahead to Wednesday: any health update on the BFG?
Ignore them, TTG.
Chavs and the media have somehow managed to delude themselves that Costa is an old school enforcer type who we simply couldn’t “handle”, rather than a geezer who moans and whines and falls over when brushed and cries to the ref. Not sure I ever saw Souness or Norman Hunter do any of that.
If he wanted to go toe-to-toe with Gabriel like a big boy I’m sure our resident psycho would gladly have ripped off both his arms and beaten him to death with them.
This sort of delusion isn’t new when it comes to Chelsea. Only last season we were all invited to believe that they played attractive football and that Eden “Banana Skin” Hazard was the third best player in the world.
Truth hurts.
Trev @182,
It’s Arse against the rest! I’m up for the fight! Bring it on Feckers! The Chavs are going to win feck-all this term and Maureen’ll be told to feck-off again by Abramovich as he chooses not to want his expensive life-insurance policy to become another PR disaster under the stewardship of the same narcissistic Cunt! Talkshite are Cunts, nothing more need be said!
Let’s wait for the upcoming Costa ban and his card being marked! He’s going to get at least three games for the face slap on Kos!
I’m now more concerned about Le Coq’s injury than that farce on Saturday. What exactly is the status with his injury? Will he be fit for the LWCs COC match on Wednesday? No better game to get back onto the saddle; and we’re still only 5 points behind Citeh! Win all our remaining games and we’re champions! 😎
Up the Arse! COYBG!
The FA are charging Costa.
And Gabriel.
Both clubs charged for failing to control players.
And Santi has been “warned”. Not sure what he’s been warned about, but there you go.
Both clubs charged with failing to control their players which is understandable considering the shambles of it all. I just hope that when the FA play judge and jury that they take into account the catalyst for the whole unnecessary affair?
Mike Dean’s ineptitude?
As predicted, Gabriel is charged as well.. Cazorla will have been warned because he engaged in a protest about the second yellow and didn’t leave the pitch in a timely manner, I suppose.
Mourinho’s ‘management’ style?
Chelsea being allowed to play football matches?
Yeah. I’m on to something there.
Ban Chelsea for three games.
GSD, you’re onto something, but you’re massively over-complicating it with this “for three games” business.
scissor kicks Costa in the face
glances over at the ref, TTG, who waves play on
casts eyes around for the actual football and sprints towards it
goes in for a thunderous tackle and pushes it forwards to…
Mike Dean who kicks it all the way back to Cech….
Nah N7, we’re all good. Cartman knows you only need to get one episode of Family Guy pulled…
As soon as they fail to fulfill one fixture then they will be disqualified from the league and all their results will be voided.
Much like Costa’s bowels if he runs into Gabriel on a dark night. I’d love to see Mike Dean try to protect him then!
Boom!
Just call me Nicklas Bendtner… I score when I want!
The Mascot gets in the way and gets sent off by Mike Dean for breathing on Dago Costa. I sense an appeal in the offing!
The Mascot is oblivious of what’s happened and what he’s done!
Gunnersaurus is a daft bloke in a dinosaur costume. (sorry if that was a spoiler). So am I- so I fit the bill nicely as his Stunt Double.
Diego Costa has been holding auditions for his own C*** Double. The only person on the planet with any hope of fitting the bill is already his boss.
Dan. If I’m having my goal ruled out and being sent off then I’m doing a lot worse to Costa than breathing on him. Not many people anywhere near a premier league football pitch have such good chances of concealing a samurai sword as I do…
I used to detest the old Leeds side of Revie, they were the devil incarnate but boy could they play football when they chose . Chavski have replaced them as the team I love to hate but frankly they are nowhere near the team Leeds were despite the fact that they’ve won more recently.
Standards have dropped.
GSD,
Give Costa a massive hoof in the knackers as you leave the pitch for your legend status! Costa is a cowardly wind-up merchant like his cretin boss Maureen. He’ll get his upcommance!
If I could be granted one wish this week, it would be to stick Diego Costa in a Welsh rugby shirt on Saturday evening and watch him play against England.
Try waving your imaginary cards at that referee …….
Great points on the hypocrisy of the governing bodies for failing to use the visual evidence that is available to the fans to review questionable decisions by the referees.
http://www.7amkickoff.com/2015/its-hard-to-use-video-replay-when-your-head-is-in-the-sand/
I read Keown’s piece today at the gym( won’t have the Fail in the house) and could feel him salivating at the prospect of doing battle with Cista. As Steve T said yesterday there would be only one winner. In fairness before Gabriel lost his rag the two CBs dealt with him well and Chambers didn’t look out of place but no one reduced him to the shambling wreck that Keown( or Bould or Adams) would have. I remember Chelsea in Vialli’s day trying to take us on physically ( with Gullit and Hughes chiming in) when we had those three at the back . They slunk away pathetically afterwards but at least it was a physical battle not a snide wind-up like Saturday. Even Zouma his team mate has claimed that he likes to ‘ cheat’ today. Sometimes those less used to a language use it more literally and effectively than those who are.
I suggest this is a case in point.
Costa will get warned as to future conduct. Gabriel will get three game ban for red plus one for the way he left the field. Both clubs fined less than a day’s worth of Costa’s wages. FA rules.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>