Canaries To Test The Atmosphere At The Grove
Apr 29th, 2016 by 'holic
Well that was an interesting day. Accounts of Arsene Wenger’s press conference spread quickly on social media and whipped up yet another mini storm. Most controversy was created by his linking our failure to win the title to the poor results suffered at home against the smaller clubs “in a very poor climate”. Whilst one cannot deny the atmosphere at a number of home matches of late has been less than convivial he might have been less than well advised to hit out at his critics at this particular time.
He also mistakenly suggested we would be top of the league based on away results only which is not entirely truthful. We would be only third, which is a position in the League that most would surely take in a heartbeat a fortnight on Sunday. I get that he will not be openly critical of his players who have let him down so often this season. His loyalty to them remains impressive.
Equally I understand he cannot yet judge himself in front of the vultures who would seize on any perceived sense of doubt or weakness. I do think though that he should have been advised to stick at telling his inquisitors that “I can understand the frustration, because nobody is more frustrated than we are.” and expanding on that rather than very clumsily poking a verbal stick into the angry swarm of bees that a portion of the fanbase has become.
All of which makes tomorrow’s proposed protest the focal point of the match rather than the three points which are so badly needed if we are to secure a Champions League berth again. That is my issue with the protest as I said on this week’s A Bergkamp Wonderland podcast. I can understand entirely how frustrated so many have been this season. It has been an opportunity wasted, although to be fair if Leicester avoid defeat in their final three matches they will be deserving champions. At the start of the season who would have thought we could finish above a team that only lost three matches?
Hopefully those who do raise their A4 sheets twelve minutes from the start and end of the match will also roar their encouragement to the team on the pitch at the same time. The protest, although deliberately a little vague, is about change off the pitch, not an opportunity to dig out those on it.
All of which leads us to the match itself. For the first time since Moses was found in a papyrus basket Arsene has a full squad to choose from. The last two players to be evicted from the infirmary at Shenley, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, are back in full training and available although the boss did say they wouldn’t both get any game time. Does that suggest a welcome cameo from the Spaniard who we have missed hugely?
In his chat with Arsenal.com the boss ruled out wholesale rotation, but it would not be such a surprise for Danny Welbeck to get a start ahead of the lacking in confidence Olivier Giroud. Other than that much interest will surround who makes what should be the strongest looking bench for many a moon.
Norwich have already won at Old Trafford, drawn at Anfield, and held Arsenal and Manchester City at home this season. They arrive at the Grove fighting for their Premiership life, as were Sunderland last week of course. Only one of those two plus Newcastle will survive the drop. Captain Russell Martin could return from a virus that caused him to miss the game against Sunderland but Timm Klose remains ruled out.
The ‘holic pound
A couple of seasons ago we enjoyed a 4-1 win in a truly memorable fixture lit up by a Jack Wilshere special. Jack should be available from the bench tomorrow, and I am attracted to another three goal margin, but this time 3-0 which is priced up at a market best of 8/1.
That’s another Friday preview done then. As it is a late kick-off tomorrow there will be no report until some time on Sunday. If you are going please remember everyone in that stadium wants the same thing for Arsenal. I’ll respect your opinion and hope that you will respect mine.
Have a great one, ‘holics.
161 Responses to “Canaries To Test The Atmosphere At The Grove”
cheers ‘hol
and
thanks for the deniece williams song
has been on repeat
bloody marvellous
?
am back in the home of the moooooooooooooooooooooo
?
Bam!
D’oh!
A blog what I read every-time it appears, love it.
Greetings to CBA as well. Sláinte
Heh Jackster!
Hehe, wonderful neighbour for the day 🙂
Good to see you back cba. A bit of ‘Niecey soothes many a troubled soul.
Cheers Esso. 🙂
See you tomorrow I hope.
Nicely put Holic, these are exacting times but we support a special club and we be aver in a civilised way. Santi will be very welcome back and we will have midfielders coming out of our ears tomorrow with Jack getting back to fitness. My favourites would be Elneny and Cazorla but I suspect he will use Ra sexy from the off. I think it will be 2-0 to the good guys in a very difficult and fractious atmosphere
I’m going too and hope it’s an entertaining match
Behave in a civilised way, I should have put.
And Ra Sexy is Ramsey. I just used my special name for Aaron?
sláinte esso
sláinte ‘hol
top fellas
Brilliant as ever H.
A joy to read amongst all the negativity.
Enjoy tomorrow, ‘holic!
At last a great new post! The comments on the previous one were starting to reek of Le-Moan.
Hopefully either Jack or Santi will do a cameo. Of all the 3 teams vying of a PL spot next year I feel Norwich is the least likely. We absolutely need the 3 points and as many goals we can muster. I’ll go for 5-0 if only for the pleasure of the supporting faithful.
I listen to the ABW podcast from time to time, if I’m honest 2 hours is too long but for those who have the most demanding commute. Then of course that’s his prerogative.
Thanks Dubs. Hope you are back in the saddle in a fortnight. 😉
@TTG
Love your posts mate. Always. Hope one day we can clink glasses, Well you know what I mean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJYhvcpmawc
But who would be Leonard Rossiter and who would be Joan Collins in a glass clinking scenario?
And if Piers Morgan turned up, who’d get to glass him first?
Important questions needing no answers…
Re previous drinks, Esso, all points taken. It’s a shame he had to respond if he was having a pop at Merson though.
Morgan is a different matter however. Have at him.
Results is the only thing needed & there is no personal agenda against Wenger . Dwelling about the past won’t help . Team failed to deliver the EPL & what irks most supporters is Leicester winning it. Wenger is always saying team has quality but why not delivering for a while? Don’t blame pundits for they say what they see .
Spot on post, Holic. The voice of reason.
cynic
“WHAT ABOUT A WALTZ , THEN”
?
unassociated etcs
just now having a homemade gargle
black treacle danger
bloody lovely
cut to 30%
a deceptively sneaky stealer of legs and dignity
UP THE ARSENAL !
https://youtube.com/watch?ebc=ANyPxKp83dnawt8l1a2sm725lMqq-erkEDIl2hA4poGoKe89hbTV4I1EMRzV7-HvPdyuITr3axJotdLqA2TQlNHZ1_H0lBoXZQ&v=hcPiip-xkyw
for them as duzzn know
.
beautiful !
and not a Ramone in sight ?
Well for me, I would never protest against Arsene Wenger, even if I do think this year has been a disaster.
I just have so much respect for what he has done at this club.
And for the fact that he could have left, at anytime at all, and secured that elusive European Cup with any of the top clubs in Europe, all of whom he turned down, despite being paid far higher money, just to stay with us.
For me, he has always been a man of real substance and class. And his philosophy of how the game should be played, will hopefully remain with us, in the same way Cruyffs did with Barca: that singleminded determination to play the game in the right way, with proper values, and with the ambition to entertain. It defines us as a club, as fans, as people who love to watch the game.
What I found most disturbing these past few years, was how his love for this club even superseded even the relationship he had with his wife and daughter at his stage in life. They both now live separate lives back in France. Yet still Wenger stays as committed and as determined and as classy as he has ever been despite all the abuse he gets. His relationship with AFC is just a life long love affair. He has given everything to this club. I think people should remember and respect that.
I know I do.
cba – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4AeoWn0f9c
wi my back an these feet ?
?
Esso
That would be a great pleasure I must organise myself for the Tollie next season. I drive to most games but I will make other arrangements.
I hope you and the lad have a great day tomorrow.
I have a football- filled weekend. I’m taking my grandsons to the Legends game at West Ham between England and Germany.
Joe
That’s a terrific post. That man is reviled by so many . Even if you want him to leave I find it hard not to have huge respect for him . I hope his departure can be a triumph not a tragedy for him
ah
howdy big man
silly has been slotted into my top 20
i fuckin love when ye hear a tune
an it thumps ye
just terrific
herself loves it
played it out the back
from the house
twas dark and calm
with a soulful herd o cattle
i’m sure if it was brighter
i could see the collective relief on their big faces
that they weren’t gonna have another night of Buzzcocks ?
Joe – a drink on the bar for you. Absolutely superb.
Hold whatever view you like on the future of this club, but show the man the respect he’s due. Criticise (God knows there’s plenty to criticise this season), but be civil and remember that he’s a proper Arsenal man.
COYG
Was thinking of giving it a miss, but have taken the positive comments on board and will be shouting on the Arsenal from the very back of the North Bank tommorow. Hopefully via a Piebury Corner pit stop if the train gods are kind. Protests be damned. COYG.
I really don’t buy the story that the banks wanted Wenger to stay for five years before they would ok the loans for the stadium.
Football (at every other club) doesn’t work like that and they would know this. There is no such thing as job security at a normal football club.
What if we’d done the unthinkable and been relegated after his first year of this five year deal after the loans? Would they still want him in charge after that, with the value of the asset they had lent the money to gone through the floor?
It’s bollocks. Sorry.
I can buy the banks asking about the possibility of a change in the near future, and being told that if we keep qualifying for the CL the club did not anticipate a change in the next five years, and the banks being happy with that.
But I don’t buy this “I did you a big favour by staying and I turned down all these big jobs to do you a good turn” bullshit.
“Football (at every other club) doesn’t work like that”
“Failing Manager”
“Complete Twat of a manager”
“no such thing as job security at a normal football club.”
There is no need to respond to your comments Cynic. In a sense, you provide all the answers, with everything you say!
Cynic @ everywhere
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘ less is more ‘. ?
Flogging a dead Horse. ??
I think you’ve beaten this one to a fucking pulp.
I get the impression if AW was crossing the road,you’d seriously consider running the poor bugger over. !!
Jesus,Mother and Mary.
I agree with everything you say in #23, Joe, but the guy is also caught in his own Catch 22, he cannot go until success proves he was right to stay until success finally comes and proves him right.
“I agree with everything you say in #23, Joe, but the guy is also caught in his own Catch 22, he cannot go until success proves he was right to stay until success finally comes and proves him right.”
Wengers record at Arsenal:
FA Premier League (3): 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04
FA Cup (6): 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2014–15
FA Community Shield (6): 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2014, 2015
Back to back FA cups these past two years.
Pretty successful if you ask me?
…but no Prem title since 2004 or CL title ever, Joe. It’s the drought of latter years that irks the fans, and FA and Com Shield wins are not enough.
…also the repitition of (relative) failure or lack of progression year after year in the eyes of fans who think his first decade is soemhow normal for Arsenal.
…the old saw of ‘doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result’ – that’s what irks.
joe@23, You don’t think the club has given him their all too. What other job do you as an employee decide when to leave. I respect the guy, but I don’t understand while some fans keep acting like he built the stadium with his own money. Did he take a pay cut during those years? He is been a great servant that doesn’t mean he is above the club. If he had gone to those great clubs, he better win a trophy in a year or two.They wont keep him for two years talkless of 12 years. Its only Arsenal that can allow that because of his legacy. Guess what, he is already ruining that with a lot of fans.
You could add the following to that record Joe,
Reaching the CL final and coming within 15 mins of winning it,after playing for 70 minutes with 10 men.
Plus these records that may never be broken.
Unbeaten season,
Season with only 1 defeat,
Unbeaten league season away from home,in a different season to the Invincibles.
850 odd minutes without conceding a goal in the CL,the year we reached the final.
No Club has a divine right to success.
Small minded people with small minded agendas.
Very sad.
Re: New Day Raisins @30. You have got the spirit. Naysayers be naysayed, and there is no time like the present to bring some positive energy to a cesspool of negativity.
GS54 positive contributions all around, not to mention a much needed dose of reality.
The facts are indisputable, AW is the finest manager Arsenal has ever had. I just don’t think he’s the finest manager for us right now.
Don’t mean to say those who want to protest don’t have the right to do so in a respectful way but frustration boiling over in a mass protest seldom accomplishes much in my experience. AW is a very intelligent man and knows his time is coming close. The hidden words behind the “time for change” in my opinion is a veiled call or him to resign and/or not to renew his contract and I would be surprised if one of those things is not going to happen at the end of next season anyway so what is the protest really going to change?
Joe thank you for these great posts.
@Chris: “the repitition of (relative) failure or lack of progression year after year”
@SAG: “he better win a trophy in a year or two”
We just won the FA cup 2 years in a row and we were the best team (most points) in England in 2015.
We’ve been on the up until the turn of the year, which makes the fall from grace all the more disappointing.
@ matt. Really? you think a team like Real Madrid/ Bayern/ Barca give a toss ass about the equivalent of an FA cup in their respective league. Best points in England in 2015 and we won what? PL, I didn’t think so. Nobody is denying what he has done for the club, but when is it time to say we appreciate it but its time for a new voice? He has been in the job for over 20 years.
Great set of posts by Joe, TTG, Clive, Matt, Esso…
@47: If you are comparing the domestic cup in other countries with FA Cup then unfortunately you give away your lack of appreciation about the history of the game and the value of FA Cup in English football. I grew up watching Italian football in the eighties but even to us outsiders FA Cup was one of the most prestigious domestic cups around the world, even in a time when English football was used to be sniggered upon as thuggish long-ball game.
And if you look at the history of those venerable clubs you just mentioned, they have gone through longer fallow periods. Barca didn’t win La Liga from 59-73, and then again 85-93. One of the best supported football clubs in history — Dortmund — went through significant periods of “failure”, even down in the lower leagues. As one of the wiser posters have commented earlier, winning trophies is not a divine right.
I have always disliked witch-hunts, simplistic narratives and forth-in-mouth aggression of self-entitled.
We are Arsenal. We stay classy.
Doctor Faustus, yes that was back then and this is 2016. Even top teams in England don’t care that much for FA cups. I want to win it anything we can and I enjoy us winning it the past seasons too.It just not what it use to be simple as that.Mancity sent a second string team to play Chelsea this year. Some of the top clubs don’t even like using their main team for FA cups. I am not saying there is no history to the competition but let’s be real,with all the money pouring into the game these days most top clubs don’t really give a toss ass about the FA cup like they use to back in the day.
Cheers Boss. You are a hero.
I don’t drink in here much these days for a variety of reasons. One of them is that I am, away from football, an almost manically positive person who can’t see clouds for silver linings, and I just don’t want to bring the tide of negativity that this place has become into my life. I make no judgments on the reasons for that being so. I just don’t need to read lots of unhappy people complaining about all the things they are unhappy with.
However, I might watch the game later so I thought I’d come and see what H had to say about it and then I decided to dip a toe in the drinks. Some good ones from some usual suspects. Clive has evidently used up his black paint since last time I was in- the new colour’s much better.
My pleasure at reading Joe’s 23 was immense. All protesters at the game today should read it before entering the ground. And then protest in whatever way they see fit, of course.
None of the fans want to accept that poor results are anything to do with them. Football is an area of life where blame culture has gone haywire. And undoubtedly the paid employees of AFC have the greatest impact on results.
But I, personally, believe that if we had played every home match in front of a German-style ‘wall of noise’ stadium, one that kept roaring the team on at every attack until the last second because they KNEW that if they did their bit then the critical goal would come (think late 90s Man Utd and the amount of late goals they scored), then we would have won the league.
Explaining the swathes of empty seats with ten minutes to go to foreigners watching on the TV is disheartening at best (the softest word I can think of). “Why don’t they stay to support their team?” comes the baffled question. I have to fudge something, because, honestly, I don’t know. Don’t they think that might help?
So blame whoever you want and be as heartbroken this makes you feel. But ask yourself if you gave your all at every point this season? And think twice about how you approach criticising a man who has lived and breathed every moment of his life (for twenty years and at the cost of so much else of great value) for our club in a way that we can only claim to have done when online bravado takes over after a night on cba’a homebrew…
I can think of nothing sadder than if, after everything Arsene has sacrificed for AFC, AFC was to leave him bitter, with the ungrateful idea that it was all a waste of life. An unappreciated effort that cost him everything and left him with nothing. He will leave soon. The only question is: how? Let’s walk the line between concern for the future and respect for the past, without stopping to take a piss on either side, eh?
Cheers GSD! Hope you’re well boss.
A tweet what I posted (drunkenly) last night. But for once, still looks OK in the morning;
@esso260589 8h8 hours ago Worthing, England
Anyways I’m going tomorrow. And I’m gonna have a few pints. And a laugh. AND THATS FUCKING IT.
Very Well said @GSD!
Great stuff in here overnight.
Don’t begrudge anyone wanting the boss gone. He’s knocking on now and it’s painful to watch a Spurs side ahead of us, much less one that seems better prepared and conditioned. Change has to happen some time.
Don’t think it’s too much to ask though that those who want him out behave a bit. Don’t call him a twat. Don’t pretend he’s only in it for the money. Don’t call him a dictator, or suggest that he’s senile, or only had success because he inherited the Graham defence. Don’t pretend that he’s the only reason we didn’t spend spend spend the last ten years (he all but confirmed it yesterday: we had no dough for years). Don’t question his commitment, or his integrity, because whatever his failings, the man has barrels of both, and wants only good things for Arsenal.
I think he’s had a really bad season, from the summer on. There’s a ton of stuff you can ask what the plan was, from Giroud starting the last game right on back to August. Why not stick to the stuff that’s real, instead of making him out to be history’s greatest monster?
Oh, and anyone who ever wishes for Arsenal to lose a game is someone whose opinion I’m not interested in at all.
Here’s hoping for a win today and a half decent end to the season.
COYG
Top post, ‘Holic. Points not protests are the order of the day. Then pints.
If only for a day the drinks are back. Thank you all. 🙂
Eh Joe, I admire your loyalty and personal life should probably be off limits but as you mention it a/ Wasn’t he caught offside (although Lordy wouldn’t 8 mill a year plus bonus distort anylifestyle) and b/ As maybe only a fairly average student of Wenger and all the books about him, I’d have to say Wenger was clearly wed only to football itself from an extremely young age (notwithstanding any distractions in a/ above!). COYG.
Joe
“Football (at every other club) doesn’t work like that”
It doesn’t.
“Failing Manager”
He has been for the last 12 years. Funny how the FA Cup only seems to matter because we won it recently. Before then all we used to hear was how unimportant it was in the list of priorities, usually after getting knocked out by some wank team or other. We can all play that game though, to pretend things are tickety boo. If we want to.
“Complete Twat of a manager”
If I used that term it was most likely during yet another shit performance, or the latest pearl of wisdom about how great we are and what top top quality our performances are, when even the loyalist fringe know we’ve have been rubbish far too often. But I certainly wouldn’t have used consecutive capital letters… :-p
“no such thing as job security at a normal football club.”
There isn’t.
There is no need to respond to your comments Cynic. In a sense, you provide all the answers, with everything you say!
Yeah it’s difficult to respond to something when it’s right isn’t it. Although if you can find me a club where a bank will demand a manager is employed for half a decade, in a business where managers tend to get fired long before that (longest serving manager in the league after Wenger? Eddie Howe, who doesn’t really count as it’s his first season at the top level. Time served? Three years. The next? Mark Hughes at Stoke with two) I’ll happily withdraw the comment. This also deals with the job security point. There isn’t any.
Failing? The record speaks for itself, as does the current state of the club both in how the fans see it and how other people see it. I don’t much care if other people think we’re awful and pointless but it does bother me to read that kind of thing because it is true enough.
It bothers me that we’ve got fan protests, even though they’re unlikely to amount to much.
It bothers me that we have fans fighting each other and the fan base is fractured.
It bothers me that Arsene Wenger is such a divisive figure thesedays.
But most of all it bothers me that he and the club either cannot see it or don’t care about it.
Anyway it will all be over soon (the season I mean) and we’ll be sat around waiting for all the top top quality signings to be made. They’ll be made by other clubs, but it will be fun. For them.
I’ll shut up now.
Nice one H.
And nice ones Joe, Clive, Dr F and N7.
We are all pissed off with the way this season has panned out, bemused by some of the decisions and desperate for the team to win the PL and the CL. However neither of these are a birthright and there are plenty other teams out to prevent us. Change is inevitable. Do we really believe that Arsene Wenger is satisfied with the present situation?
Despite our recent years of lack of success relative to the early years of the Wenger revolution, I am convinced that our successors will look back not all these years as a golden age for the Arsenal and a defining period in the club’s history. I wonder whether Herbert Chapman had to put up with anything remotely resembling the crap that Arsene Wenger has to. I suspect not. I am astonished that he has such a commitment to the club that he has put up with it so long.
Of course Chapman lived in a different age, a different Britain: fans with more moral fibre, more respect, less self importance and less self entitlement; no social media to whip up mass hysteria and a press corps that didn’t hunt in packs at the first scent of blood. I wonder what the social anthropologists of the future will make of us.
Anyway, I’ll be there this evening, cheering us on and without any A4 banner though I did think a few of the Arsenal Gent’s suggestions were somewhat more focused than the one proposed.
GSD
Wonderful post- you’re missed. And you’re right!
Holic, perfectly put.
No time to back drink yet.
I’m taking Erin today so hope to see one or two through the railings and Esso and Patrick maybe on the pavement bar ?
Btw, yes I am pretty fed up with the way this season has been managed but there will be some ripped up pieces of A4 on the pavement if anyone offers me one.
Not the time to be protesting in the middle of a match.
52 – exactly – and a pie of course…
there is nothing that says you you cant hold up a sign in protest and sing of your loyalty to the club….
Wenger must be made to know it will continue until resolved with or without him…
Then stand outside and sing afterwards.
Plenty of places you’ll get noticed.
and, billp79,
how do you know who you are protesting at.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been very disappointed at the way this season, and last summer’s transfer window, has been managed.
But who is pulling the strings ?
Are you certain it’s the manager and not the owner who is curtailing our activity ? After all, the owner has stated he is not in it to win anything and his main interest is in exploiting our loyalty to “the brand” to generate revenue.
Sorry, but waving bits of paper and walking out in the middle of games is not what supporting the team is about for me.
All these protesters are going to do is create litter. I’m just off to have a pint and a good time with my friends. Come on Arsenal give us a good game and 3 points.
COYRs
Cheers ‘h.
Trev @66,
The Manager himself, in just as recent as his pre-match presser of yesterday, said that it’s not the owner that’s “…curtailing our activity..”
Most Arsenal fans are just like the board members. They dont know what they want.When is the right time to protest? when the season is over?during the transfer window? when a new season is about to start? I appreciate the loyalty some fans are showing Wenger. Now some are talking about his personal life as a stick to judge him and not the results on the field. Most fans make more excuses for Wenger’s recent failings than the man himself. I dont care about his personal life. Its Kroneke’s fault, really? not a huge fan of him but is he the one working with players on a day to day basis? motivating the players or tactics? excuses, excuses, excuses..
I can’t speak for ‘most Arsenal fans’ but the one’s I know whom I meet in the North Upper and the Tollie and speak to on line want us to have a successful, entertaining team that is good to watch and competes for the biggest trophies.
They also want a distinct improvement on this season’s performances, the addition of an effective striker, a dominant CB and an ‘enforcer’ in MF in the summer. Furthermore they would prefer a dignified exit for a manager who has transformed the club and an end to the rabid intemperate and irrational abuse from other ‘supporters’. They would also like to have cheaper ticket prices and better beer and food at the stadium.
However the people I speak with may represent a minority opinion.
If you read that as excuses, SAG, that’s your prerogative.
You might be surprised to know what I really think right now but do you really want to hound the manager out in the middleof a game ?
As for Kroenke, it amazes me that the owner, or majority shareholder, of a sporting organisation can come out in publuc and say that he isn’t in it to win.
Anyway, I’m sick of this crap – there’s a game to try to enjoy this afternoon.
You speak for me, bath.
@Bathgooner that’s exactly what I wish for and I don’t think it’s a minority too. At the end of the day we all want the same for our club.
Top stuff Bath.
You certainly speak for me
Trev & Bath…every word!
Don’t forget the dancing girls, Baff.
Bath nails it. Well said.
Disappointment of the day: The BBC website, for advertising “for Scottish live text click here”
Gullible me, I clicked there but instead of getting coverage of the English league games in the Scottish language, received coverage of the Scottish league games in the English language. That’s what high expectations can do to yoy, I suppose. 🙁 😉
Esso @51. Cheers. What sort of question is that though mate? OF COURSE I’m well. Happier than a puppy with two tails and a big bowl of minced fillet steak, so I am. Just an average day then!
Bath nails it. Hello! Trev nails it. Hello! Cheers TTG- Hello! Cheers BB- Hello! I hope everyone is well and happy! (Arsenal issues not withstanding…)
SAG must be on his holibobs- I’m lovin the flip-flops!
I can only applaud Cynic for the finely-crafted online persona he has woven all these years. And he never breaks character. Just when I think I have got to grips with his obsidian dark brand of humour he goes and surpasses himself. No sooner had I posted the line about ‘unhappy people complaining about all the things they are unhappy with’ than he snaps into gear (@58) and trots off that hilariousy tongue-in-cheek diatribe, as though he is in deadly earnest! Inspired stuff… You, sir, are a master of your craft.
Drinks for all. And make sure yours is a double, barkeep. Cheers!
And Giroud starts. Hellloooo…
bt8. I’m not sure that Scottish is a ‘language’ per se. More a philosophy, really…
Where is Zico when you need him?
Nice signs. Perfect way to show unity and support.
Fucking twats.
On both sides of the split, Homer.
Disappointed not to see any Arsenal Gent signs though.
Wenger identified 5 years during which we had to be in the champions league 3 times and fill 54000 seats if not we’d have been in financial trouble. Congratulations to him, we did that, for 5/5 of those years. Those years ended in 2011. However if you look at 2008 when we had the meltdown post Eduardo’s injury you’ll see the same pattern that will play out over each season until the current one. More than a personnel issue I think the main problem has been mental. We tend to collapse when the pressure/expectation builds up. That’s the groundhog day/ deja vu situation that has many supporters frustrated. Its not just something that showed up this season. Its why despite all the good form and promise we showed in the first half of this season every single pundit (as much as I hate the twats) could confidently say we won’t last the distance.
The other thing that frustrates people is that we from the outside can always identify areas of the squad that are lacking. Right from the departure of Gilberto through our lack of a solid goalkeeper to replace Jens to our struggles with Chamakh and ponderous defenders but Wenger seemingly never prioritised these “problem areas”. Think Jose Mourinho going out to buy fabregas, Costa and Matic to fix the holes in his already quite good squad and promptly winning the league. Not that I admire Mourinho (another twat) but when your squad is consistently 2 or 3 players away from being complete why would you waste resources on a Sanogo or persist with Alumina or Walcott? The emphasis on youth and not killing players is admirable but first target the glaring deficiencies in the squad first. This summer is not the first time that has failed to happen.
One more thing is the players attitude. They beat 10 man Leicester and the selfies were all over social media and they celebrated like they won the league. Wenger as usual praised the “mental strength”. The response to that was Arsenal collapsing like a house of cards and Leicester going on a title winning run. That sums up the team and has done for years no matter the personnel.
I wish I was able to attend games regularly, but I school in a different country so its impossible. The atmosphere in the stadium hasn’t been the best but you can’t tell anyone with a straight face that the supporters could have changed our league position from fourth to first. Even those teams whose wall of noise we envy so much don’t have such a dramatic swing in their performances. It’s what happens on the pitch that matters and while the supporters have a role to play they don’t have ss much of an effect as you might think. And in most stadiums, the football on offer affects the environment as much as the supporter’s will to cheer no matter how bad things are.
Bring on Welbeck…and Santi!
COME ONNNNNN!
Dull as.
No shots on target against a team second bottom of the league?
Top top quality.
for what it’s worth
cynic is one of the reasons i enjoy a virtual jar here
pompous reverse put-downs of him ?
nope
twat tactic is that
snippy prehistoric jealousy
Piss off cba. ?
no
*hunts out printer ink and a4 paper*
let’s see who wins in an eff off – off , dino !
Get in!
Finally, Welbeck. Goal off the first shot on target.
Welbeck!!!!!!
Not too bad for a not natural goalscorer…
welbeck..GET INNNNNNNN!
Foook yeah welbeck!!!!
About fucking time. The goal is THERE. If you hit THAT, THERE you score.
cba – ta, but no need to fall out with anybody on my behalf.
Yeah. True cynic.
In my view: support the squad on match day.
Others ovviously disagree.
Boom
Anyway I take all the credit for the goal, I put 13p on Norwich to win at 9/1 in the 50th minute and also had a bet on a goal between 46-60 minutes.
So all hail me. Fuck tactics, reverse jinx gambling is the way to do it.
Bang
All the credit for both goals Cynic. Timing is everything…
@GSD’s shooting mimics Giroud of late…
but nice assist!
😀
COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Good tackle that.
cba.
I might win in an eff-off off. It’s when you start using the actual words that I’m in trouble…?
Pass the fucking ball.
If he’d passed it, I’d have been going FUCKING SHOOOOOT
GSD – cheers for the assist and point taken re earlier posting. Got to stop being a moany cunt.
Ozil…brilliant pass to Alexis.. but alas shot straight!
COME ON!!!!!!!!
Funny how much better we look when someone comes on who can run
Cynic. You’re welcome. I can’t take much credit- a blocked shot of an assist.
Still, my first appearance for a while, it’s nice to be involved in a goal!
If only Feo could say the same 🙁
dino and cynic
the pair o yee can farg off !
honestly
sheeeesh
one tries one’s best
and what does one get ?
two – in a love in !
.
just call me kofi
?
Alexis injured 🙁
3 points, all that matters. Hope Leicester stuff Manure tomorrow.
Kofi Be Arsed.
We won! And we kept a clean sheet! And we put the ball in the goal-bag! Woohoo!
Cheers to all. I’ve had a good day in the bar- it’s lovely to have a (virtual) drink with some friends I’ve missed. But my first post registered at 3.36am UK time- which makes it past my bedtime now. So I’m off. See you all another day. Thanks H, as ever.
I wish you all good things. Be happy!
*packs up subtle gooner/gooner mending kit*
*fades into the ether – job done*
*leaving nothing but joy , happiness and the stench of cow dung*
“Was cba here ?”
“I don’t know”
.
*distant moooooooooooooooooooooo*
Boom.
Awful football at times. Got it done tho.
Welbeck. Ozil … He played soo well. But then again, he always does.
I have returned from an Emirates that was not a hotbed of seething discontent . I was pleased and so was everyone around me that the ill- conceived protest was the dampest od damp squibs and affection on loyalty to Wenger exists among many who would prefer him to leave but won’t humiliate a great man in public. The protest was literally nothing and the most angry the crowd got was when Iwobi was pulled instead of Giroud. Giroud contrived to contribute his only worthwhile moment with his assist for Welbeck but the pace, mobility and aggression of Welbeck showed us just how out of form Giroud is. Ramsey was almost as bad. He has no place in that side and unbalances midfield where the estimable Elneny does a really excellent job. Ozil was not at his best today but played an improvised pass in the second half that was utterly brilliant. My best players today were Koscielny, Elneny and Welbeck and Cech made some good saves in the first half. Gabriel earned his bonus with a great tackle on Mbokani in the second half.
Don’t want to speak any more about the manager’s position but I do want him to look at how we cramp Citeh’s style next week and catch them on the break . That means starting Welbeck and playing Coquelin, Elneny and possibly Wilshere. Santi would be very welcome if he’d had game time.
My final observation was that it was the strongest bench I think I’d ever seen from us. Pity some of the team weren’t at the same level ?
Beautiful spring late afternoon. Boring first half but crowd (or at least North Bank) inspired enough by “protest” to sing out loud and clear. “Protest” when it arrived was a bit pathetic and drowned by the “One Arsene Wenger” chants. I would estimate about 10% of the crowd had posters – maybe less. Norwich definitely better team first half with Redmond foiled a couple of times by good Cech saves. Gunners firing blanks.
Second half better. Had to use a sub when Per went off (looked like a hammy?) -probably ensured neither Santi nor Jack got a game. Only real moment of anger was when Wenger took Iwobi – our best player to that point – off and left Giroud on. Danny made a real impact and a great finish for the goal (fair play – thanks to a knock down by the otherwise awful Giroud). Second half “protest” about half of the first and loudly mocked by most (Stick your banners, stick your banners, stick your banners up your arse!). Could have added more – one Ozil pass split the Norwich defence but because Alexis doesn’t have a left foot it ended tamely.
Clinging on just a bit at the end and hardly convincing, but a pleasant day out in the sun. I didn’t see any of the scuffles today or bad temper that I saw last week at Sunderland (although I did hear that the North Bank concourse at half time was a bit tasty). Team cheered off at the end.
Two more games. I think we all need a break.
TTG – nice report. We definitely saw the same game.
Countryman
Greetings- yes it was nice that it was a much better atmosphere than I anticipated
When things don’t work for Alexis, he kind of becomes a problem for the team. If he could add just a bit more awareness to his game and on bad days jettisons the turn-and-dribbles in favor of more spatially aware positioning and passing he would become much more versatile.
Others have mentioned already, but please no Rambo in his current form against City. They will attack and we should play on counter. The slowness of his movements and that turning radius of a tank, not to say being caught out of position so many time will be a problem. We should get Coquelin back in that match, play him with Elneny in center and upfront play Iwobi-Welbeck-Alexis. Or even get Theo back. Iwobi has excellent ball control and some great passing but his natural tendency is to cut inside and play more of Ozil-like role … against City’s tiring and aged fullbacks we can get some joy attacking down the flanks and cutting in the empty space in front of the box that their DMs often leave unmarked.
Ozil’s magnificent volley-pass through the middle to Alexis was the highlight of the match. On another day would have been led to a contender for the goal of the season.
Or even get Theo back.
Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jack. We need Jack.
It was a disappointing performance but very relieved we managed to gain the 3 points.
The protest happily fell flat, sadly I saw many very small children in Block 30 holding up the posters, dear me.
The train back to Norfolk was packed with both sets of supporters so it was a highly entertaining, good humoured journey home. A good day out apparently had by all.
COYRs
TTG, Countryman, both spot on.
Actually, I would have put the protesters at about 1% of the crowd, unless there were a lot I couldn’t see from West Upper.
There was also markedly louder than usual chanting in West Upper today to completely put down the silly protest.
Well played proper supporters.
Joe @23,
That’s an excellent post.
I do think AW didn’t help himself with one or two remarks yesterday but your post is spot on.
Countryman @124: I would have said Campbell but we all know he is not going to get a chance. I suggested Theo because I think against City in counter attack down the flanks would yield success and Theo –for all his limitations — can be a very effective winger in counter-attack. Iwobi’s progress has been excellent but his tendency to always cut inside may be nullified relatively easily by the experience of City fullbacks. Theo and Joel are the only wingers we have now.
If Jack is playing with Alexis and Ozil, we will either have to play one DM or play Alexis as the CF. Not ideal counter attacking formations.
Apologies for starting about next week’s formation. Feel like a win there might just yet ensure the saint’s arrival.
Arsene Wenger is a modern corporate genius.
He has achieved what all other CEO or senior managers have found impossible in their careers.
He has Convinced approx 50% of the fanbase that on field performances and results are not the priority or important.
He also seems to have convinced some in here that abandoning your family for football is acceptable ??? Seriously ridiculous comment that one.
It does seem that arsene is the king of SPIN and he has even spun the pro Wenger spinners on here. What an absolute joke if it weren’t serious.
Our club is on the decline and there are people here defending that wenger is actually more important then the club.
All credit to Norwich.fighting for their lives,tactics spot on,and but for one spark of inspiration,they almost pulled it off.
It’s been a long hard season,and the team are showing it.
Staying motivated knowing the Title is gone,is always difficult.
So winning ugly will do me.
If City are going to be vulnerable to dropping points,i think it will be at Southampton tomorrow,with one eye on the Madrid 2nd leg.
With their superior goal difference,i would prefer to go there needing a point to maintain 3rd,than having to win,given our current form.
On a lighter note,
Congratulations to Accrington Stanley,which was one of the oldest surviving clubs in the Football league until it’s collapse in 1966.
Reborn in 1968,and coming from the Conference league,now securing promotion to the First division,and to Burton Albion,also from the Conference league a few seasons ago,and now on the brink of automatic promotion to the Championship.
It is good to see,along with Leicester, that in the increasingly commercialized, agenda driven and win at all costs world of football,that Fairytales can still happen.
Holic – Do us all a favour next season. Get a Periscope channel or whatever Da Kidz use and set up your own version of Arsenal Fan TV for pre and post match banter, because that bloody thing is embarrassing.
If nothing else we can have fun trying to guess how many Babychams you’ve had between broadcasts and if you fall asleep on the train going home we can try to help you work out where you are, when you wake up. 🙂
And by “version of Arsenal Fan TV” I mean don’t actually have any fans on it, because… well you know why if you’ve ever watched AFTV.
3 points for the Arsenal and 0 points for the other fellas.
Tells you much of what you need to know.
Always a welcome three points but it doesn’t take away from the significant fact that it was another below par performance from the team, and Norwich City gave as good as they got for most of the match. They could have been two up in the first half through Redmond’s efforts if not for one of our 3 World Class players, Petr Cech, living up to his status and billing.
The 12 & 78 minute in-match banner protests were certainly not as vociferous or as volatile as was expected, and that’s a good thing because several of the players don’t deserve that whilst they are playing in another must win. However, the perception that the in-match banner protest was a failure I think is a little misleading and a misnomer. I personally saw the whole protest as having three different approaches that were being adopted by fans, with the banner protest being one of them. The three separate types of protests that I saw with my son were as follows:
1. Non-attendance; I saw quite a lot of empty seats at the match with some people telling me that it might have been around 10,000 empty seats.
2. Fans leaving at 75 minutes before the final whistle.
3. The in-match Banner brigade protest.
When you accumulate all of these numbers that chose to protest in their own way, the protest was actually quite significant and definitely worthy of acknowledgment. Not recognising this would be incredibly naive on the part of the Board and Club’s Management.
Like you Delia, I too saw young kids with “change” banners and that’s not surprising as nearly all of those young fans haven’t seen a major trophy being won in their lives unlike us. I asked one of the father’s of one of these banner kids what their view was and why he and his little girl were protesting? He told me the following:
1. Arsene Wenger has become like Robert Mugabe and he will never leave no matter what happens. We want him to know that enough is enough.
2. There is a very serious fear that 2 of our only three World Class Players, i.e. Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, will want to leave the club this summer if they don’t see anything different not just in other players coming in, but also in the mentality of the team improving and 100% materialising next season. He also told me that someone told him that when Alexis Sanchez was substituted for Coquelin, he just went straight down the tunnel and he was not actually injured as all of us in the stadium first thought. That’s a very worrying sign because if players of the caliber of Ozil and Sanchez are now also unhappy and may consider leaving this summer, what does that say about what’s going on behind the scenes with the playing staff and, more importantly, which World Class Players would ever again consider coming to the club with that clearly still going on? It’s very worrying times which all of us fans should seriously be looking at at the end of the season rather than just continuing to support the status quo because of the fear of the seemingly “unknown change” in our minds.
Up the Arse!
AFCOF!
Danny actually scoring says it all for me. Having to rely on our top goal-misser to bring us a win at home against a bottom two club, I mean, what have we sunk to?
A fairly restrained demo I thought, with this by far my favourite … http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/976/cpsprodpb/82A2/production/_89524433_supportive_fan_getty.jpg … the rest just litter as Delia observed (#67).
Electric Sanchez looked pretty disgusted to be pulled off and I have to agree with him, I’d have subbed half the team off before him if only for fear Norwich might have lucked in an equaliser. With all the rumours I would have thought AW might have wanted to keep him sweet.
Now, if Norwich can do Manure next week perhaps we can all breathe a little easier. And if we beat $iteh, and the neighbours lose their last 3 etc etc, but here I go dreaming of happy endings again…
No, not THAT sort of happy ending you sad perves!
Dapper Dan,
Seldom have I heard such a desperate attempt to demonize anybody, let alone Arsene Wenger, as to compare them Robert Mugabe. Do you really mean to make that comparison??
I see you noticed the same thing as me about Alexis, Dapper Dan, but I didn’t read yours before I posted.
Some fans singing ” Arsene in” what a joke. In for what? Another 12 years without winning the PL? Winning the league is nobody’s birthright but not doing or putting as much resources into winning it is ridiculous. It seems like half the fans cares about Wenger’s well being or emotions than the club. It will be the same fans complaining next season when we go through the same shit all over again.
Perhaps you are on the wrong blog? You should try le-grove, you’ll find more like-minded people and they enjoy posting the same stuff over and over again too.
@135: Robert fucking Mugabe, no less! Why be so nice, let us know how you really feel!
What a load of posturing and drama…whatever happened to the quintessential English understatement? 🙂
We live in a world where a chain of bureaucratic mistakes can lead to a hospital being bombed off, and a group of privileged pampered secure first-worlders finding Mugabe in their football manager because their football club didn’t win the trophy they wanted.
Back to kindergarten, good sir. 🙂
Same boring moans and moaners complaining about boring football. Is this bar now an irony free zone?
bt8, Matt, Dr F, Bored,
8-D
You clearly do not like to read things properly; permit me to highlight for you more succinctly:
“I asked one of the father’s of one of these banner kids what their view was and why he and his little girl were protesting? He told me the following:
1. Arsene Wenger has become like Robert Mugabe and he will never leave no matter what happens. We want him to know that enough is enough.”
Now my fine gents, where is it that “I, Dapper Dan C”, said that Arsene Wenger is an akin to an autocratic African dictator? Utterly Laughable observation on your part. Unlike yourselves, I tend to listen to everyone’s opinion and not judge even if I don’t necessarily agree with it. It’s called “Freedom of Speech and Freedom on Expression”, if you don’t have it within the circles you roam.
As we celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the bard William Shakespeare, let me say this to you all:
“Thoust doth think you protest too much.”
For future reference, please try reading the drinks in the bar more critically from ALL THE OTHER DRINKERS, and not just those from your view-supporting drinking buddies, before you make quick, ridiculous and uniformed assertions. What utter garbage!
Up the Arse!
AFCOF!
Robert Mugabe? Priceless.
Good to see the banner wankers revealed to represent only a small but hyper-vocal section of the support.
Frankly, I think these over the top displays of childish petulance only serve to rally support behind the manager – I very much doubt we’d have seen a loud “One Arsene Wenger chant” yesterday without the world’s smallest protest to provoke it.
At some point, poor behaviour and moronic statements, a la “Mugabe”, only serve to undermine the points you’re trying to make. I think we’ve reached that point.
The manager will be gone soon enough, one way or another. I’m sure we all have varying degrees of exasperation as to how this season has played out (and why Ollie Giroud keeps getting a start). Between now and the inevitable end, why not try behaving like grown ups and winding in the abuse? I know that the 95% of us who aren’t buying what you’re selling would welcome a break from the nonsense. Yesterday was your referendum, and you got beat. Enough, now. Criticism, by all means, but not abuse.
Beyond that, another insipid performance, but results are all that matter between now and the end of the season. We can see the team is in a state, all that counts is finishing above Utd and getting as close as possible to the LWCs in the hope they choke.
COYG
Bored,
Apologies for my thespian rant if you were being “ironic”! 😎
@142
Irony is a popular West Ham blog, I believe.
I asked a bloke I bumped into yesterday what he thought of the banner wavers. He replied “wankers, to a man”.
Not my words, just the observation of a bloke I bumped into. Thought I’d mention it here in the interests of supporting free speech.
Speaker,
I refer the “Honorable Gentleman, N7” to drinks #135 & 143 for more critical review.
Or is it the “Gazidis Dream Team”?
There is no speaker in this, the House of Mugabe. Your imaginary mate could have told you that.
N7 @150,
Priceless pomposity as ever!
I’m actually more of a Kim Jong-il man if truth be really told!
More like the father rather than the playboy son of today, Jong-Un.
Great day out yesterday, great to see Holic and the Neighbour if only briefly, as well as catch up with some other top folk in The Tollie.
I thought the protest was hilarious in its pathetic self-absorbed decrepitude. The songs on the forecourt afterwards praying for Wenger’s death sum up the total cuntishness that an admittedly significant minority of our support, exhibit to the rest of the world. Embarrassing? You bet it is.
Did n’t stop me having a good day out over the Arsenal. And they never fucking will.
Giroud regularly gets a start because he doesn’t trust any of his strikers to do the job, perhaps?
Plus he is really only using two players in that central role since Welbeck came back from injury.
Team selection has been a bit weird in the last ten or so games. Ospina retaining his place when it seems Cech was fit, for example. Mertesacker being benched when Gabriel wasn’t exactly an obvious improvement.
All feels a bit made up on the fly really.
Just let Spurs keep losing and let’s get to the end of the season please.
Wenger’s death, Esso? Seriously? Fuck me…
Glad you enjoyed your day. Knew you would.
Well played, Esso.
Esso,
That’s the way to go about it; do your own thing.
Not so sure about all the “Death to Arsene” perception though! Now that’s going over the top from any quarter, or sixth.
I only heard the death songs story second-hand, so was not absolutely sure of it. However just found this, which I think happened before the game.
https://www.livesoccertv.com/de/news/18460/arsenal-fans-sing-they-will-be-happy-when-arsene-wenger-dies-video/%22
Well done Esso, glad you & the boy had a good day out – don’t let the bastards grind you down!
Yet another dismal performance, however the 3 points very welcome this and every match thank you.
The protests were the expected damp squid and hopefully that’s the end of them during a match. The smart money is on Arsene seeing out his contract so let’s get out of it as much as we can of being Arsenal supporters. As N7 says, his departure is getting ever closer and it should be in a respectful manner – we claim to be a classy club.
As for those death songs it’s absolutely unbelievable , it’s only football ffs.
COYRRR
Absolute shit eating cunts. There are lines and they have crossed all of them with that.
I know I love a moan, but I would hate to think what those people would do if something important happened that they couldn’t deal with.
I suppose there will be excuses offered about how they only meant his regime dying but fuck ’em, frankly.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>