That Was The Week, That Was.
Oct 27th, 2017 by 'holic
What a funny old week. Oliver Holt, of all people, persuaded me that in our last eleven matches our best result was the defeat at Watford, not the nine wins or the draw at Stamford Bridge. His astonishing logic after a strong Tottenham side chucked away a two goal lead at home to a piss poor West Ham team was that they had ‘bigger fish to fry’. The useless bastards haven’t even caught a fish in 56 years (thank you whoever I unashamedly stole that off). What are they smoking over at the Sun?
As if that wasn’t enough we had another Silent Stan movie at the AGM accompanied by a quite unmissable falling out between shareholders representing three percent of the Football Club and a figurehead chairman, both sides of which failed to appreciate the reality of the situation. Sir Chips incredible performance should surely herald a review of the composition of the board.
We are no longer in need of, or indeed indebted to, the Hill-Woods who steered a widely-owned club through choppy waters for decades. What we do need is someone who has oratorial competence, allied to a love of Arsenal people, and more than an ounce of common sense. One who can defuse what clearly has the capacity to be a bun fight as long as nobody has acquired overall, if temporary, custodianship of our legacy.
Sir Chips I am told was brought into the fold to ensure that the financing of the building of the Grove was achieved at beneficial rates. I think it is clear that he achieved at very least that. Thank you for that sir, but it is time to slip into the background and make way for somebody comfortable in the company of bakers as well as bankers. Match preview? What? Oh, sorry.
Well my normal preview format was getting a little stale anyway, rendered so by the fact that we have a team to play in the Premier League, and one to play all the other fixtures. There is little point in speculating on who will play against Swansea. We already know, don’t we. The only player who went into the Norwich League Cup tie with a realistic hope of promotion was Jack Wilshere. Bless the little master, he failed his latest audition, though not for lack of trying.
Swansea? Lukasz Fabianski has been a stand-out performer for them this season if the press are to be believed. They held the neighbours to a goalless draw at Wembley, but generally have struggled and sit just outside the bottom three on goal difference from West Ham, Stoke, and Everton. In short they aren’t conceding many goals but they are scoring fewer.
The ‘holic pound
The empty kitty this season should persuade you to steer clear of my pointless punt. On the basis that it has to happen at some stage I am again desperately laying my cap out on the floor before a 2-1 to the Arsenal. Last week I turned my back on a £69 cashout with twenty minutes to go. 4G coverage permitting at the Grove I will not repeat that mistake if we are 2-1 up at a similar stage of the match. Shop around for 9/1 if you are as daft as me!
All that remains is to set the alarm, book the taxi, and pray that GWR follow the timetable and get me to the pub on time. Big day tomorrow with an old friend paying a welcome visit from the Cape. It is set to be yet another very enjoyable day up the Arsenal.
Have a great one ‘holics.
98 Responses to “That Was The Week, That Was.”
Drink!
I’ll go for a 3-1 Arsenal win
The empty kitty this season should persuade you to steer clear of my pointless punt…
Couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Football predictions nowadays is awkward
Beggars can’t be choosers as they say, and £69 is not to be sneezed at if my exchange rate calculator hasn’t gone haywire like Chris’ corporate language generator. Enjoy the game ‘holic. 🙂
2-1 is nailed on, Holic. Enjoy your riches and thanks for this rich preview. Have a great day. I’m still in distant lands and don’t expect to see the game. I’ll look forward to the match report.
Have a good one tomorrow H
Good company to look forward to,and i expect a good win over a very doughty Swansea,who have done very well on the road so far with a win,2 draws and 1 defeat in their 4 league games,and as you mention in your preview H, includes a highly creditable scoreless draw at Wembley against our near neighbors.
Let’s get on the scoresheet early and upset their game plan,or else it will settle into a war of attrition.
Dorset Mick,
Great news on your test results mate,couldn’t be happier for you,takes a big weight off your shoulders,and the rest of your family i’m sure.
All the best for the future.
Nice preview Guvna. Can’t be there tomorrow and unlikely to see any more of the game than the MOTD editors deign to share. I’m fervently hoping that we can keep this winning run going. COYG
Nice preview of the match, Holic,
and review of the mismatch that was the AGM or, to give it its full title, the American Geezer’s Malfunctioning.
I would love to enjoy the excitement and anticipation of another game but, especially after such a recent exhibition of disdain, I can’t see team on the pitch without being intensely annoyed by the paragons of arrogance, incompetence and verbosity behind the scenes.
We are still capable of some brilliant football, as witnessed by some of our attacking play at Everton last week.
If only that brand loyalty exploiting, revenue generating (his own words, Holic, so no fear of litigation there) majority share holder would tire of the whole thing and stick to his american “enterprises”.
There must be an Arsenal loving oil sheik out there who was born in or around Gillespie Road and could make Kroenke an offer he actually couldn’t refuse ………
Isn’t there …… ?
What we do need is someone who has oratorial competence, allied to a love of Arsenal people, and more than an ounce of common sense…
I think I may have found the perfect candidate, if we could persuade him to move upstairs from his present pitch-side Citroen seat.
Thanks for the preview Guvna.
I have to admire your staunchness
with the 2-1 prediction. I’ll follow
your advice and predict something
else 🙂
My guess is an early goal to force
Swansea out and then carve the
Swans up for a 4-0 win – a well rested
1st XI will overwhelm the Swansea
bus and send another under pressure
manager into an early season holiday.
But different from last week as
Clement seems a nice enough sort
of fellow, albeit with an odd
predilection for Ancelotti.
I had to google Oliver Holt as he was
a “who’s he” to me. A biographer of
some very iffy footballers and a
journalist at some even iffier papers
it seems.
Anyway, 3 points and some cheering
up after the usual AGM bollocks would
be nice for us gooners today.
@Bt8
Beggars can’t be choosers as they say, and £69 is not to be sneezed at if my exchange rate calculator hasn’t gone haywire like Chris’ corporate language generator.
Right bro… That’s about 18,000 units of my currency here. Reasonable money
Enjoy H, and all others going. I will be at the Allianz and taking up my now regular seat there.
If I wasn’t disillusioned with it all before the agm then I certainly am now. That said, I hope to make one game before Christmas to at least catch up with a few friendly faces.
If the Flapster is their player of the season so far then we really have no excuses.
Have fun boys and girls.
OsakaMatt@10: 4-0 at home to Swansea would break new ground.
We’ve played them at home eleven times. In seven of the matches there was only a goal in it. We failed to score in three of the games, scored one goal three times, two goals three times and three goals twice.
Our overall home record is P11 W6 D1 L4 F15 A14.
SteveT@12: Fabianski is the second best performing goalkeeper across the top five European leagues this season, behind only Lloris, according to the Squawka player rankings. Cech, by the way, is ranked 24th best.
Thanks Ned, it seems my optimism
is historically undue then.
They had a good side for a little in
the early 80s. I remember
going up there for an away game
at Vetch Field I think it was – a
cracking time drinking with the
locals and we took home the 3
points. But they soon went down,
although as you mentioned
have given us some problems
since coming back up.
I’ll stick with my groundbreaking
4-0 🙂
That must have been the 2-1 win in the 1982/83 season and right in the middle of a meteoric rise and fall that saw Swansea go from the old Fourth Division to the First and back again to the Fourth in less than ten years.
At the zenith of which, if memory serves me, they signed Ray Kennedy.
Yes it was Ned !
That season we made the current
team look like a model of
consistency.
I checked and we finished 10th,
looking at the results brought back
several scarring Gooner experiences
that I can mostly laugh about now.
I believe your memory does serve
Bath. An Arsenal great.
Phew! Another neuronal complex that has survived the ravages of time, alcohol and environmental pollution. ?
Just confirmed. One season 82-83 with 42 appearances and 2 goals.
He scored 53 goals in 158 appearances for Arsenal from ‘68-74. Left us too soon. Same old story keeps coming round.
And one unforgettable header 🙂
Sad victim of early onset Parkinson’s Disease, too.
There’s a definite touch of the Liberace about Graeme Souness thesedays.
He’s had his eyes and teeth done for sure. They should dress him in a sparkly jacket with a big fur collar just for the lols.
Spuds will be Spuds. No need expecting that lot to do anything worthwhile. Buggers.
Yep, a hoof from De Gea, uncontested
nod on from Lukaku, bit of pace from
Martial and Spuds undone
Expected XI for today.
Up and at ’em lads.
LOOks like our best players are selected in the team and available as subs. Tactics and performance need to be spot for on though to vanquish a determined opponent I expect. COYG
Llorente would have helped Swansea more than he seems to be helping Spuds.
MUst be leery of Abraham thought
Though
Xhaka gives the ball away so often.
Bright start but need to convert the chances into goals.
Noooooooo
Huffing an puffing with nothing to show for it
One thing to say here really they need to wake the fuck up!
So much for 4-0.
What ATG said @36.
All too familiar a tale I’m hearing at second hand. A measure of our quality here.
Yeeeeeessssss
Get in Kolasinac now go and win the game please!
Kolasinac!!
Jesus that was close! Wtf are they doing at the back?
Just win baby.
Never in doubt!
Cheers, Clive.
Yeeeeesssss
We woke the fuck up!
Get in Aaron
Ramsey!!!!
Ramp it up again boys
I don’t trust this one at 2-1.
Sorry ‘holic, I’m hoping we get a third!
ITcouldbe a very Ramsey year
Are we trying to break some kind
of possession record?
Get a third!
Does this break the duck for ‘holic?
Job done but we wasted a great deal of opportunities to put this game to bed. We need to be awake from the start. All in all a hard day in the office!
Have a great weekend holics!
We won, Spuds lost so it’s a good
day.
And well done Guvnor.
Did you resist the urge to cash
out?
2 good finishes in the end.
Hope Kola coming off was
precautionary.
And a nod to Cech too for an
important save at 1-0 down.
2-1? A good day for the Holic pound. I hope you had the bottle to stick with it until the end?
How many “Under – ” World cups does England have now… Time for the senior team to step up?!
😀
Never doubt the Guvna’s bottle Steve. You know him better than to do that. ??
3 wins in a week and the Holic pound coming in; what’s not to like?
To be honest though, the performance was far from assured and some lads struggled.
Having said that, we have three points in the bag, one behind the spuds and just four off the Manc reds.
Will take that for now.
Well done.
UTA
Congratulations, England.
It seems like Ashworth and his crew are good for something after all.
If we beat City away next weekend…. then it would get interesting…!
😀
All valid points Bath my old friend. However, my money is on a full cash out at some stage.
?
sometimes Scottish people and English people disagree
.
.
.
meh
clown races the pair o them
.
.
*pffftfft*
anyhoohawaaah?
here’s for the mighty ‘holic
drinkin til his hair hurts
.
.
.
UP THE ARSENAL !
god bless all here
liberace ???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTBC7ckTWpo
.
.
.
but , come on now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTBC7ckTWpo
cynic ?
or
DEV-i-STATION
*tears drip*
Hello
nobody talkin
.
nowt new
.
.
.
the boss is in that there london
meantime
.
.
.
.
keep the consul purring
SHOWERAPOOVES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcomaxXYotQ
but
sometimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvO7HNQPFRI
.
sometimes
.
.
aaaahhhhhh Ooooooohaaaaaaahhhhh
.
DON’T LOOK AT ME
tiresome now
eff
Off
CBA@78.
Now there’s a tune old man.
Well done
Went to the match and saw some people I recognised sitting around me although one of them is giving up his season ticket to move abroad.
Very poor , tepid first half and like on Wednesday we were completely undone by one ball.
Ozil was much less influential than last week , Ramsey worked very hard and Sanchez tried his cojones off but the star was Kalasnikov who is a magnificent acquisition. He took his goal calmly and picked out Ramsey even more calmly. I notice he seemed to injure his hip and asked to come off straight away . I hope it’s not too serious and think it may be a recurring problem. Hopefully we can manage it. We lack wing back options anywhere near Sead’s level.
One final note- Theo achieved nothing but made no mistakes whatsoever.
Spurs without Kane, like a blind man without his dog*.
Meanwhile, back to the norm for Ozil Gummidge faffing around in midfield, and the back 3 looking paper thin again.
Thank Rambo and his Kalashnikov for smashing us into the lead and grabbing the points. And sheer good fortune for the Swans not grabbing two back in the last stanza. Very wobbly late on.
Time for OG to get a run at CF? Overdue, imo.
*Q. Who picks up the poo of a seeing-eye dog?
Theo’s movement on the bench was eye-catching, TTG. Never shirked a tackle and his positioning was first class.
Congratulations Holic !
Two-One, Two-One,
Swansea can do One.
That is all.
Here’s to an extra hour’s sleep ??
Theo hid in the middle of the bench and fell over the end of it when AW tried to bring him on.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ?
84steve
i cling to any buoyancy
lost so many friends to the water
now trev
trev changed my life
trev is wonderful
y
Etc
,and
OF COURSE
the rest of ye…a hhh
I don’t know
Stick to whiskey and leave the water alone, cba. You can’t drown in whiskey.
Kola picked up that injury on
the last international break I
think. He’s looked less than 100%
the last couple of games, but fit
enough to smash home a shot 🙂
Away at Shitty, Home to Spuds
and a tricky trip to Burnley – I
hope we’re all cheerful after those
3 games.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>