Driven To Distraction
Oct 15th, 2017 by 'holic
I don’t get to too many away games, and so tend to look forward to them when I do get lucky with a ticket. This was my second of the season, and following the draw at Chelsea I was definitely anticipating the match at Watford despite having to drive up from the West Country due to the current failings of Network Rail.
It started well. Lunch with a number of good people, an early stroll to a very different Vicarage Road to the one I last visited, and we took the lead after one of the tactical masters behind me had stated to all, but nobody in particular, “the first goal will win this”.
Per Mertesacker’s header six minutes before the break came out of the blue after we had controlled the first-half but only with a very static performance. The manager opted for Alex Iwobi over Mesut Ozil, but he was not a direct swap, and the young man spent an uncomfortable match on the right hand side looking every inch a learner with a confidence issue, not the player who shone at Stamford Bridge.
He became a lightening rod for the angry travelling Gooners, which was unfair because around him were others going through the motions as if this were a training exercise. Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny are individually good players but collectively a pairing lacking a spark. We were ambling through a match so important in relation to what had happened earlier in the day. We look a long way from a title challenge in October.
The captain’s marvellous header gave the half-time scoreline a veneer of respectability, but what happened in the closing eighteen minutes had a familiar feeling. We hadn’t made the most of our control of the match, mainly because the eventually introduced Ozil hit a tame effort straight at Gomez when put clear through on goal.
The equaliser came from the award of what the manager referred to as a ‘scandalous’ penalty award. From a hundred yards away the considered opinion was that it was an appalling decision, and the highlights on MotD confirmed that Richarlison dived. It proved to be a match changer but it would be wrong to put the final result down to that one incident. An ever more ragged Arsenal were in full self-destruct mode by then, lacking in movement and cohesive attacking intent.
Watford were denied when the excellent Mertesacker deflected a long-range effort onto the post. They would not be denied in time added on. Cech initially thwarted them in a goalmouth scramble only for the ball to end up landing perfectly for Cleverly, adjacent to a static Xhaka, to lash home the winner.
The travelling Gooners reaction was predictable. “We want Wenger out” rang around an emptying away end. I have been at matches where this would have sparked a response from those of a different view. Not this time. There is a general air of acceptance that this is where we are as a club. I have felt it before. In the mid-70s, the mid-80s, and the mid-90s. We are a team praying for cup success because we do not have the consistency to compete for league titles any more.
I enjoyed fantastic times with this club, indeed this manager, after those dark days and I’m sure they will return, but under Arsene, with this owner? I can’t honestly see it.
90 Responses to “Driven To Distraction”
First. More than most of the players can say?
?? Goonerholic!
Only a maximum of 20 more months of Wenger-ball to go! ??
UTAAD&AN!
AFCOF! NAWF!
http://www.skysports.com/share/11082090 ?
https://youtu.be/qVsS-Z84tn0 ?
Thanks for what must have been
a fairly miserable match report
to have to write.
Can’t disagree with any of that.
It all seemed almost scripted
as I watched it unfold. Said
my tuppence worth yesterday
and nothing really to add.
Onward to the Red Star game.
We’re a bit short of CBs now I
guess so I wonder if we might
see a short-term switch to 4
at the back for the midweek
games.
Very honest report Holic. I share your view. completely on Wenger and I would add the mid-sixties to the catalogue of suffering although a change of manager then ignited a new era.
I thought Silva showed more tactical nous with his substitutions and my friend on email a very fair Watford supporter thought Wenger’s second half tactics were appalling. I had to endure ESPN where an idiot said at half time that he wanted to see Arsenal close the game down . We haven’t got the team or the manager to do that. It’s Groundhog season number 12 coming up . If I were Dapper Dan I wouldn’t assume that it means a finite end to Wenger’s reign. This could continue beyond that
Nice write up H. Sadly your last paragraph just about sums the current situation up very well.
Nice one Guvnor, I agree totally.
We are where we are, and this is it.
The club makes money, and everyone on the ‘control’ side of the directors table is happy.
They don’t know what we’re complaining about.
Spot on, Holic.
Sadly, this has become so predictable.
The penalty decision was ridiculous and Richarlison will hopefully find himself up before the diving video panel. That, however, is no excuse for the capitulation that followed – by then the game should have been won anyway.
These performances are now, to quote Martin Keown on radio today, part of the players’ DNA. After 20 years, that has to lie at the manager’s feet. This squad has neither the physical nor mental resilience to win the league.
Yesterday’s was a properly depressing performance and one that has been seen far too many times. I honestly think only a top down clear out will solve the problem.
I also think it won’t happen.
Totally fair write up – Your “mid-70s,mid-80s, and mid-90s” team comparisons are bang on the money…
The teams above us in the table today would have escaped with a point regardless of how scandalous that penalty award was.
Not sure we should make Silva
some kind of tactical wizard for
bringing on Deeney but whatever,
they won so it worked.
Also AW may be many things,
including not the right manager
for us now but he’s hardly an
idiot.
Agree with Trev@10’s last 3
paragraphs as a clear summary.
But no faith in the diving panel
however.
Thanks Guvna. Didn’t see it. Sad state of affairs.
Bath
That’s a long way to go to avoid the game. Is there any space there ? I managed to catch it in Bermuda. It still hurt the same.
On the money, Guv’nor. Nothing to add to what Trev said @10.
Steve T from the last drinks: We played 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 throughout 2012/13.
Idiot may be too strong a word for AW but he is routinely shown up as out of touch and lacking game management by most other managers.
Each promising run like the one we just had is inevitably followed by a spineless collapse. Like the one we just had.
Ho hum, only 1.6 seasons more of this and then maybe we can have a replacement…or the dreaded contract extension. They wouldn’t, would they?
Thanks Ned. I guessed as much. May explain Theo being more of a first choice Chris?
Hallo Bath in Kyoto!
Just down the road, hope you’re
having a nice time!
The only shocking thing about it all is people are still shocked, We are so bang average it’s frightening – We have fuck all power, play with fuck all pace and the players look like they make it up as they go along, a sad inditement of the whole stinking lot of them at board level, We have slipped alarmingly and it’s a long way back, not that I hold out to much hope we will get there under this stewardship, At least now you can see a change a happening, people are voting with there feet and if there’s one thing Kroenke probably does understand it is a loss in revenue and the damage it can cause to the brand. Me I’ve gone past caring to much and spent a lovely day on the beach with my 4 legged companion far cheaper and far less infuriating 🙂
Up The Arse,
Oh and that midfield yesterday was quite possibly one of the worst I’ve seen in my 30 odd years, truly woeful, Just think a player like Edu used to watch from the bench, he would walk into this side probably even now 🙂
shit turns de shite
i tune me fiddle an rosin me bow
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vYZ0LQkWo0
Lots of excellent comment from the barman’s OP down.
To wrap up my debate with Steve … it seems we agree on just about everything Theo, then. He’s a right winger and never a centre forward, and neither of us would start him in the current format. As I have said repeatedly my current front 3 would be Alexis, OG and L’Exocet (until he proves himself either way) with Theo looking for another club who will utilise his talents. Although we’d both like to see a back 4 again, in which Theo might have a role to play. And neither of us has much faith in Danny either, so I’m not sure where we disagree mate!
Wrapping up the goal-scoring, Ned, I was thinking more of current form. Theo’s 2016-17 record was 19 goals in 2685 minutes = a goal every 141 minutes. And so far this season 3 goals in 295 mins = a goal every 98 minutes played. Given we are now -23 goals in GD behind the Prem comp leaders I think goal-scoring matters more than pretty football. Not that we’re playing pretty football.
As for my preference for OG up front it is a fact that Arsenal score more headed goals than any other side in the Prem … even with the guy who has scored most of them rusting on the bench more often than not. Perhaps someone can explain the logic of that to me.
Manchester City looking very easy on the eye in their 7-2 dismantling of Stoke City. Reminds me of the way we used to dismantle defenses in the distant past.
Comparing how De Bruyne has come on in recent years while Ozil has gone backwards tells you all you need to know about the clubs they play for.
I think it tells you more about the kind of person and player they are than the clubs, Chris.
Ozil lacks everything you need in a winner, on the mentality side of the line anyway.
De Bruyne doesn’t have Ozil’s ability but he has the personality to make more of himself than his talents should allow.
Was Ozil not a big-game player and winner for Germany and Real Madrid before he came to the Arsenal? ?
Great as he is at the mo, has De Bruyne won any trophies yet with Abu Dhabi Cit$h Globetrotters and/or Belgium? ?
Oh yeah, he won the Mickey Mouse Cup last term! ??
Arsenal Football Club Only Forever!
Not, Arsene Wenger Forever!
Decent player wins things with lots of other very good players is hardly a shocker though.
I could be in Germany’s team and win a World Cup medal but it wouldn’t mean I was good, just that the team was exceptional.
Obviously the counter to that is that ordinary players wouldn’t get into the team, but you can hide in a good team and I would say that if he was a truly top player, he would be outstanding in our very ordinary side.
But he ain’t
Richarlison is not being done for diving. I’m not surprised, even though he did.
http://tinyurl.com/y9m5r9u9
😀
OM@17, having a great time. First visit. Love Japan. Already planning another visit. Might get to Osaka next time and look up you and Cannons of Rhetoric.
Does Wenger still say his players should not do weight training?
bt8b@31: Given the way Iwobi has bulked up, I doubt it.
fat shaming , ned ?
.
.
?
FOR SHAME !
as Zeus-like meself
my unconvincing empathy
and entirely not falsehoodery
should not be taken as such
.
.
and thank the good lord
Ophelia danced round us
thankfully
rest in peace sean
Agree entirely about Sean, cba. Really shocked me more than I would have imagined. A fantastic talent lost at far too young an age. 🙁
Ned, bt8b, Ozil too has bulked up considerably to when he arrived.
Ophelia, Balls! – she gave us a blast this afternoon but not enough to do structural damage.
About enough to blow a few of our first team over though …. ?
great fella ‘holic
“H@38: Not least in the wallet.
cba@33: There is no way of telling under the robes.
I was reading elsewhere that Sean Hughes was teetotal until around five years ago. If true, he must have completely caned the booze ever since to have died of cirrhosis 🙁
that’s helping who cynic
“We had the chance today like we had at Stoke but we do not score enough goals away from home,” added Wenger … https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsene-wenger-could-face-fa-charge-for-angrily-confronting-referee-after-arsenal-s-defeat-at-watford-a3659371.html
No shit, Sherlock.
Maybe it might help somebody who thinks it’s a good thing to get paralytic every day but I don’t much care really. It’s just a sad way to go.
Most of us will have memories of two packs of cigarettes a day washed down by a few beers and a bottle of scotch on Saturday nights, cba, but eventually you get the message and give up, if you have any sense.
Meself I vividly remember getting into the second bottle of scotch while chain-smoking Gauloise back in the day. But apart from a brief relapse when I tried to shame a gf into giving up smoking I haven’t had a fag in 45 years, and my tipples amount to a couple of bottles of wine a week (usually shared) and very occasional drams of scotch or cognac.
Now, if I could just give up the fucking sugar…
my relationship with drink chris
is a strange one
.
most homemade
.
a lot of effort
for extra introspection
.
.
.
.
.
UP THE ARSENAL
?
i miss zico
tabs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8
Second coming of Ophelia? I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. Not least the Oirish.
Interesting team selection for U23s tonight at THOF
Debuchy played, Coquelin returned and Akpom scored.
I’m trying to work out Thursday’s team
Maybe
Ospina
Debuchy Holding Da Silva Monreal Maitland- Niles
Wilshere Coquelin
Walcott Giroud Nelson
Subs
Macey
Pleguezelo
McGuane
Elneny
Akpom
Iwobi
Willock
He could of course play or take Ozil and Sanchez
50/51
Me too,along with a few others.
Attrition rate in the bar,fucking atrocious.
As for young Sean,young that is for someone my age,i remember him most for his role in a very underrated TV show called The Last Detective
in the early 2000’s opposite the very likeable ex Doctor Who,Peter Davison.
They were the perfect couple.
‘The Last Detective’ was fun, but never made sense with Davison always solving the crime. The best Davison was ‘At Home with the Braithwaites’. In fact that was the best TV since Fawlty Towers, in my humble. The whole cast were excellent.
The Band was a great band, bt8, very tight in an easy rocking cross-over style. Garth Hudson, a monumental keyboards player, was the star for mine. And The Last Waltz was epic both musically and as filmed by Scorsese.
Nota bene Van the man performing Caravan … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44wDwMQVqCc
Clive @54,
I agree that the Dangerous Davies television series was underrated. The programs were adapted from excellent books written by the equally underrated author, Leslie Thomas.
As a regular beer and wine drinker I find it really difficult to understand the mindset of someone drinking themselves to death. After all, if you drink yourself to death today, you’ll be missing out on tomorrow’s beer.
Nutshell Dorset Mick. It’s best taken as a marathon not a sprint.
@30
Please do! Not many sights to
see in Osaka but it is the
culinary capital of Japan 🙂
I’ve been thinking about the
team for Red Star and mostly
agree with TTG @54 except I
wouldn’t play Nacho.
Of course that leaves us short if
we play either 3 or 4 at the back
but I’d be inclined to play kids
and take the loss if we get caught
out defensively. We’ve won the
first 2 games in the group and
it’s easier to take a risk here than
for the game at Everton.
It’s true that we’ve more chance
of winning the Ropey League than
the PL this season but from a
confidence point of view getting
something at Everton is quite
important just now.
And who knows the attacking
talents of Jack/Nelson/Theo and
OG might be enough to get us
through the game.
Shakespeare’s not in love anymore…
Leicester for relegation then. Unless they get Allardyce in who will save them but resign in 8 months.
Thought he was the real genius that won them the league. Bit like Bouldy this season….maybe
What a day/night it was. Robert Pires in Bangalore and what an outstanding human being he was. No PR stuff, just genuinely wonderful guy who was there in the Arsenal tent for more than 10 hours with absolutely no hassles, no airs, just magnificent. He spoke so much about the club, team, players, etc that we had tears.
On to the game and in pouring rain, we 500 plus fans stood there watching the present lot do shit. Elneny/Xhaka combined is worse than Denilson who i consider one of the worst to have played for us in recent memory. Why does lacazette keep getting subbed is beyond me. Why cant he and Giroud play upfront? atleast for 30 min?. Per and Kos turning their back whenever someone shoots is a miserable sight and the less said about Cech and his penalty saving exploits, the better.
The most painful one to write is about Ozil, i adore him but when he missed the chance after which watford scored, i gave up. He is a class player but just does not suit us and we need to let him go.
John cross is true when he said we are a mid table team without Alexis, with him also we are the same. I cannot see us even finishing 5th this time, we are mid table and the lull all of you are taking about is well set. We havent won the league is 13 years and wont in another 3-4 years for sure. 71-89 was a drought, we just may exceed that this time.
Thanks Bobby but you must be pained deep down to see your team let you and us down so bad.
For the first time in 20 years, i dont feel like watching The Arsenal play and i thought i will never say this in my life.
Vinay
I feel for you mate.
All that build up,meeting the great man himself,and then the letdown, in a weak capitulation to a team we should be beating with our eyes shut.
You had better get used to it,as i fear it will get worse before it gets better.
Dorset Mick @58
Trust you are keeping well.
I hope that woeful effort on Saturday night didn’t cause a relapse,although like me you are probably inured to it by now after many years of similar performances.
The only sliver of comfort on the day was seeing Chelsea lose at Palace.
With Everton/City next 2 away league games,not difficult to see us being
0-1-5 by the next Intl break.
if that happens,you will certainly need a few glasses of liquid nourishment to dull the pain.
English teams top of all 5 CL groups and a fine achievement by the Totts tonight. We really do need someone keeping an eye on where we are in relation to the best teams in Europe. It’s a gap that’s growing
I can only echo what TTG says above.
Having dipped in and out of various champions lge games this evening it’s alarmingly apparent just how average we have become. If our decline continues then I really think we will start to get close to the point of no return.
So other Prem teams are doing just fine, not just above us in the League but topping their CL groups. And all under far more recent management than us. I wonder where we’re going wrong…
Fact is AW should have gone 5 years ago, although I admit to having been still defending up to about 3 years ago when even I woke up. Had he gone 3 years ago we might not be much better off today, but the new manager would have served his apprenticeship and hopefully ready to make his mark, a la Pep and the Specious One whose first seasons were less than memorable. Even Klopp may be finally getting there, and Poch, with far more modest means than AW, has been there for several years now. Conte is finding the going harder, but he won last year so still way ahead of most.
Even a change now (more likely summer 2019) would unlikely mean instant success. But it might give us older gooners a fighting chance of having some before finding ourselves following proceedings from a considerably higher vantage point.
…or lower point, depending on circumstances.
Good thing you assumed higher in the first place, Chris. 😉
I’m always optimistic, bt8.
@62,63,64
Not even in work anymore.
It’s a tragedy with a winter of
discontent chaser mehopes for
Leicester.
Personally, I thought the Ranieri
sacking rank treachery and so
feel relegation to be an eminently
reasonable third act 🙂
Buckie Thistle traveling to face Cove Rangers tomorrow in the Highland League. Sounds more interesting than the Champions League fixtures.
My local football team where i grew up was Hendon FC.
I still keep an eye out for their results,and was delighted to see that they have moved to the top of the non league Bostick Premier table after a
1 nil home win over Needham Market.
Crowd was announced as 153 although there is a suspicion that the referee and lines persons were accidentally included in the head count.
Clive @ 66,
Feel pretty good thanks Clive, but a wee bit anxious until recent test results are known.
Saturday’s Arse result was fortunately offset by an excellent day on the gee-gees, but it really is becoming a bit of a habit with this squad. If only we had a Tony Adams in the team the backsliding would not be tolerated. Whatever people in this bar say, I believe that the squad is easily good enough to compete if they had a couple of real leaders on the pitch.
#65 “For the first time in 20 years, i don’t feel like watching The Arsenal play and i thought i will never say this in my life.”
Same here. Actually going to the Cotswold’s with some friends this weekend ; normally this long suffering crowd would humor me by finding me a pub to watch whatever Arsenal game was on whilst they go and have a couple of hours to themselves – but this time I have told them not to bother on Sunday.
The thought of some country air and a roast is more appealing than another 90 minutes of what we witnessed last Saturday.
Bet I will still check my phone every 30 seconds though…
Watched Villa play Wolves on Saturday as I couldn’t face Arsenal (I wonder which of the “I can’t watch Arsenal any more” posts will get certain people’s backs up?)
Interesting piece on Arseblog today but it does read rather like a starving man tucking into a shit sandwich because it’s all he has.
“Ozil is a warrior” says Robert Pires.
Funniest thing I have read this Century
Cynic,
Didn’t get my back up but
Villa vs Wolves? Surely Hendon
or Buckie Thistle were a better
bet 🙂
Now, disagreeing with the
incomparable Robert Pires on the
other hand…. that is bad
It pains me to admit but our neighbours have improved a great deal in the last few years and we on the other hand have gone backwards. It just goes to show that you can’t stand still in football and a new approach is required to really take this club forward.
Not going to rant because I have simply had enough of repeating my self like a broken record.
To me the whole club setup is just not healthy, starting from Kroenke, Gazidis, the board and right down to coaching level. It makes me feel as if everything that was promised had never really had any backing.I also believe that the fans were taken for fools and still there is no cleat direction of where this club is heading.
Ozil and Sanchez saga tells you everything you need to know on how this club is being run.
Sucker for a derby, Matt, especially Midlands ones. Fully expected a Watford struggle but didn’t expect to lose and I had a very rough Saturday and wasn’t in the mood to make it worse by watching us.
So I watched that instead and flicked occasionally to our game to see what was going on in terms of the score. I actually managed to see Ozil’s miss and their first goal live, which was a proper bummer.
Clive@75: Good to hear of the Greens doing well. A club that went through some tough times and a near-death experience, including losing their storied Claremont Road ground. Supporter-saved and now owned and on the up again. A heartwarming story of proper football people keeping a proper club going against a lot of odds (and a lot of them doing so unpaid for the love of the club). But even down in the Bostik League (the old Isthmian League) big money is stirring the pot. Billericay are owned (and managed) by a multi-millionaire who is flashing the cash to buy his way up the non-league pyramid. Billericay’s wage bill this season is said to be £30,000 a week, which doesn’t sound much by Premiership standards, but in the seventh tier (which is where the Bostik Premier sits), there are plenty of players on £100 a game. Money seems to rule the game everywhere.
At the end of last season, Guv’nor drop a masterpiece when he compared the life of a football manager to a professional boxer.
My comment was straight, “M. Ali retired with his head high, returned for whatsoever reason and was handed his a$$”. So shall it be for a man who stubbornly sticks to a career he neither got tactical supremacy or intellectual might to compete at the highest level.
I feel for myself, Wenger would get whatever he’s asking for.
Sad ??
It really hurt me a few weeks ago to admit that the future for Tottenham is massively brighter than ours. While Kroenke and Wenger are locked in their partnership I can see nothing but underachievement.
It’s heartbreaking, deeply frustrating and hard to see a way through. Tomorrow we are sending a rag, tag and bobtail team to play in Belgrade. Already the injuries are mounting up this season just as they always do.
Look at the sides our rivals will put out and see how few injuries they have. Chambers has suffered the classic Arsenal setback. Our back three in Belgrade is Debuchy, Holding and Da Silva. In what universe is that a proper back three? Can we really believe in the direction
of a club that robotically repeats the errors of the past season after season? Of course I love the cub deeply but boy do they stretch and challenge that love and will do for the foreseeable future .
Just noticed that Jermaine Pennant, formerly of this parish, is on Billericay’s books, as is Peggy Lokando, who was on Arsenal’s books as a teenager a decade ago (and has a full international cap for DR Congo). Quite a few others with Premiership experience including Paul Konchesky, Jamie O’Hara and Kevin Foley. All past the first flush of youth, but not that far past, but none of whom could have come cheap for that level.
Be the best you can be?
How much ridicule did I get when asking for that a few years ago?
Doesn’t seem to much to ask for now, glides it? Especially when as a club we are so underachieving?
Could do better? Maximise the club’s potential?
If only.
Does it…….
You got no ridicule from me Steve. My big concern is the image of Arsenal as a super- efficient , state of the art club and the reality. Almost every decision brooks an argument .
But it will always be my club and I will never break the faith. But that may not mean I pitch up at home games for ever and a day
Preview time my friends. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>