Fraternité, And Now Life Goes On
Nov 18th, 2015 by 'holic
The evening after England played France while matches in Belgium and Germany had to be cancelled. It’s less emotional. The events of last evening will never be forgotten, nor should they. The next time someone looks down their nose at you and talks with a sneer about ‘football supporters’ do remind them about the night when two nations who have not always seen eye to eye came together for a very moving show of fraternité. When football supporters embraced each other and filled Wembley with love and respect.
From the laying of the wreaths, through an impeccably observed minute’s silence, the blending in together of the teams to show a united front to those who would like to divide us, to the incredible rendition of La Marseillaise by both sets of supporters, the two governing bodies got the pre-match show of respect and unity spot on. Bravo. Well done.
With some of the visitors showing wholly understandable signs of emotion what followed was not a truly competitive affair, and yet that didn’t matter. For once the scoreline wasn’t important either. What was critical was that ninety minutes of football passed off without incident, and that two historical rivals put on a display of togetherness. No small amount of credit too to the security forces who ensured that the event could take place as planned.
From an Arsenal perspective Kieran Gibbs got 90 relatively comfortable minutes under his belt which will surely have provided a confidence boost for our second-string left-back. Laurent Koscielny, clearly affected pre-match, played throughout for the visitors, and Olivier Giroud featured for just over half an hour as a second-half substitute.
Alexis completed his second full match of this international break for Chile in their 3-0 defeat by Uruguay. If he was fatigued before jetting off to join his team he will not be any more refreshed now and I’m sure Arsene will look at his numbers on Friday before making any decision about resting him on Saturday.
Petr Cech, rested by his country on Friday, was beaten three times on his return to the side in Poland. His understudy, David Ospina, returned to action with two matches in five days for Columbia who drew 1-1 in Chile last Thursday before losing at home to Argentina by the only goal of the game last night.
Joel Campbell got another couple of appearances for Costa Rica as they beat Haiti and Panama.
That’s just about it for now. Arsene’s press conference could be an interesting one. Expect his views on last night and possibly also drugs in football to be sought as well as the customary ‘who is fit to play’ and ‘have you heard what Mourinho has said about you now’ questions. I’ll cover that in the preview on Friday evening, probably very late and indecipherable as I have a leaving do to attend at the local.
Cheers, ‘holics.
48 Responses to “Fraternité, And Now Life Goes On”
Get in.
Time to score a few goals in a real football match.
Good evening young bath. Always a pleasure.
Nicely put, H. It was indeed a great exhibition of fraternity by players and fans last night. Well done all. Can’t imagine the welcome at the Hawthorns will be as warm.
As you know maestro, I’m always inclined to drop in here for a quickie.
Cheers H!
Has seemed like a long, long, painful interlull.
Anyways all coming together for the Sad Mackem Bastards in December. Me, Big Ian, Silva and possibly Treacle in the area.
#lookinggood
That is a party I will not miss Esso!
Baff!!! Early Bird…
Horlick,
You have a great gift for summing up events with the right mixture of economy and style. I had to do a phone broadcast in the middle of the first half but for once I was more interested in the pre- match aspect than the game itself. It was truly moving, a splendid affirmation of the power of compassion and decency. The result mattered little albeit that England played very decently.
As for Saturday we w I’ll win 2-0, Alexis will start on the bench and Theo will make a surprise comeback on the bench too.
Spillchucker strikes again ( am on train) – Holic
And we will win 2-0. You heard it here first
Nice write-up Holic, or Horlick with the Dickensian ring to it. 😉
I think not, bt8. Wrong sort of malt involved.
Very nicely described Holic – it was a fitting tribute by all involved.
Now back to some real football and no interlulls for some time ahead.
Hopefully many of the walking wounded will be fit and available for selection, giving the boss something to think about in terms of selection.
Ned @ 11 – heh.
Evening Holic.
TTG made a right Horlicks of that then ……..
All things being equal – there’s your ‘egalité’ – it would be rather nice if the West Bromwich fraternity could leave us at liberty to whack in a couple of nice early goals on Saturday.
😉
You certainly don’t send us to sleep Holic!
Heard a very interesting story today about us and Messi and a chance to sign him two years ago. Just like stuff you read in the Star or Metro you know it’s rubbish but it’s very compelling.
Basically Gazidis felt we could sign him but Wenger said it would be ridiculous. The way the deal was to work I think Wenger was right. But Lionel at Arsenal with Ozil would have been fun. So we signed this no- hoper- Alexis Sanchez. Not a bad alternative!
An opportunity for Usmanov to impress us by paying Messi’s salary? In my dreams.
Oskar
Oskar- I think he’d go to Silent Stan first but I doubt investment in the club is on his agenda. I wonder if the Holics could have a whip round?
I can offer a Kit Kat (2 fingers) and a bottle of Moretti beer (330ml). :0)
Bath,
We could all offer Usmanov 2 fingers ……… ?
?
A serous question to all Goons here.
Which club do you define as your biggest derby.
Spurs
Chelsea
West Ham
some other.
I shall come back to read your responses but shall not comment.
And Hi to the owner of the site
KE @20-
Still the Spuds for me.
It never was Chelsea or West Ham, and it never will be.
Fuck off you Spurs!
West Ham?? Are they still in the same league with us most years?
The Marshdwellers by a country (spelling optional) mile. We left them behind for a good few years but they are crawling back towards us through their faecal slime. The Chavs are slipping back into the corruption and ordure from which they arose. Meanwhile Wet Spam remain a minor irritant on the eastern margins of civilisation.
There’s only one real derby, and that’s against the swampies. Other London clubs are loathsome – Chelsea always hated those mouthy have-to-have-the-numbers cunts with a passion and West Ham – will always be murdering bastards after 1982. But nothing compares to beating the Middlesex marsh dwellers.
Spurs, the one that matters most.
Chelsea, the one I dislike the most these days.
West Who ?
Middlesex Marshmen every day of the week.
Evening all. I’m doing a live ABW podcast at 7.30 if you want to hear all the bits that normally end up on the cutting room floor.
I’m old school like my learned friends above. Only the swamp dwellers count as THE derby match and the one to win / gloat over.
Chav$ki are currently the most detestable of course , particularly since the despicable one is perched over there.
Stratford who?
Have fun with the broadcast H.
Spuds are for derbies. They’re no good for anything else of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxSbk7DbGDg for the hangout.
Hope WBA aren’t listening to the drug test evasion parts of the AWB podcast. Scary stuff.
Slipped on to the ESPN soccernet website,and saw in the scores in the headerbar in small print, a scoreline which read,
Manchester Utd 1 Port Vale 2, 54 min played.
I thought,what the fuck are Man Utd doing playing Port Vale.??
Then i put my glasses on and saw it was Maidenhead Utd. !!
Panic over.
Lol!! We can but hope H
howdy all
as the defiant parisian tribute flower seller said
“if i don’t open an hour earlier
the terrorists have won”
.
.
just random back drank
years of it
‘holic
i just wanna say thanks
‘holics – thanks so much too
dunno if ye realise the fuckin amazing level
ye operate at
proud to be a goonerholic
.
UP THE ARSENAL
i do apologise
seems i only show up looking for something
trev baff and anyone else
who can put an erudite chime in
am using wifi
not secure
maybe it is
i dunno
won’t go into my email
through paranoia
.
what pain medication is appropriate
for
sacroiliitis
.
another mate of mine is struggling
he has psoriatic arthritis and other stuff
affected his sight too
steroids
formally a walking disaster
now a hobbling disaster
me missus is stressing about him
what i can gather is its morphine
of some description
is that normal ?
i do apologise ‘holic
but
like everybody
i worry about me mates
and
sorry for treating yer bar
like a surgery
and to be honest
trev and baff
don’t need tortured
having said that
???
?
Not a medico, but been having spinal trouble for over a decade. I’m lucky that rest and Naproxen usually sorts it out, but I’ve been prescribed Diclofenac in the past, which I think can be addictive. But then all medication can be.
There are muscle relaxants that can be used that are related to things like valium, but I don’t think they are long term solutions because of the side effects.
Speaking as an end user and not one who dishes out the sweeties 🙂
Over the counter anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen never work for me though. Naproxen is a prescription only thingy and it can cause stomach problems. I get the shits when I take it, but it might be unrelated and entirely coincidental.
cba,
Haven’t got time to reply right now, cba. Will attempt something later.
In the meantime, no NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) should ever be taken without food. They include Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Diclofenac (which is what is in Voltarol), and damage the lining of the stomach, leaving it prone to ulceration.
Treatment for your mate’s condition will depend on whether the inflammation is in the tendons and ligaments around the sacro-iliac joint, or in the bony tissue.
First thing to try would be ice application – 30 minutes, placed in a dry polythene wrapper, on the joint – and gentle, rocking, side to side movements of the legs while lying on his back – so, non-weight bearing.
He can try that immediately.
Got to go.
Only hector back for tomorrow as expected. Good news is Aaron and Ox should be back next week.
WBA will be a tough game for 2 reasons. One they are compact and have the players who can hurt us, two and more significantly, the mental state of our players. Kos and Giroud are the obvious ones, Sanchez more so the physical angle and how will the entire team be.
We need to win this and the rest 3 before we play city. Time to lift the gloom Gunners, time to win.
cheers trev
I’ll try and get more info about his condition
I do know he stands rather than sit
and
it’s a whole feckin fiasco
when he tries to get in to his car
he’s a big old boy
used to pain from the arthritis
but
even my blurry notions
could see it was agony not pain
sounds like
everybody i know is falling apart 🙂
(wee Sean has moved house and nobody knows where , bath)
i really appreciate you fellas help
and
i do realize it’s a nuisance
as am i
but
just hum good old Arsenal
and I’ll be off soon
howdy cynic
bag o them jelly liquoricey sweets on the bar for ye
top man as always
he is getting an mri done shortly , trev
i should be back in donegal then
so i don’t have to bring the big eejits trouble
to ‘hol’s bar anymore
i can use my email
🙂
Nom nom nom, cba
Ta.
cba, I will defer to Trev as it’s his area of expertise. As an occasional sufferer from sacra-iliitis I can attest to rotational and postural exercises as the best long term remedy but NSAIDs (with or after food, but avoided if there is a history of gastric ulceration or acid reflux) and massage (even from a massage chair) do help relieve the pain and sitting on a stool, standing or lying flat is far preferable to any kind of comfy chair.
Hic! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I find Diclofenac useful for a number of things and keep a supply on hand at all times. I mean the prescribed 75mg tabs not the lesser strength Voltaren you can buy over the counter.
1. I have a habit of pulling muscles in my back while showering or digging weeds in the garden or any number of other ways (possibly some form of genetic weakness, or just plain carelessness) and other medications take weeks to take effect. I even had a chiropractor beat me to a pulp once – without even an offer of a happy ending either! Diclofenac solves the problem practically overnight.
2. I also get occasional bouts of gout, nothing major, but bloody annoying when it happens. Diclofenac quickly sorts that out.
3. My teeth are nearly as old as I am and disintegrating as rapidly, compounded by the lack of a small fortune required for their upkeep. So nothing gets done until the pain and face-swelling, which Diclofenac calms.
4. I cannot sit for any length of time in a cramped position, or where I cannot fully stretch my legs occasionally. Theatres and cinemas used to be torture, which is particularly annoying as theatre is one of my great loves. I used to endure it like a bloody martyr, but now I take a couple of Diclofenac half an hour before I go in and I’m blissfully pain free for the whole show.
I’m aware of the side effects of course and only use sparingly. In fact the supply I have now was prescribed in July 2014. But when I need it Diclofenac works like magic as far as I’m concerned.
Oskar