A Difficult Trip Awaits – In Many Ways
Mar 3rd, 2018 by 'holic
A week from hell is passing into history, although it is possible the repercussions have yet to be fully felt. Following two comprehensive defeats to a very good Manchester City team we have had the apparent briefing of members of the fourth estate by disgruntled players. If true then there is only one outcome.
A new week, a new challenge for a team with confidence at rock bottom. Brighton have a game based on breaking quickly and on both flanks which is exactly where City unhinged us on Thursday. They do have a plan B too. They won’t hesitate to hit long balls for Glenn Murray to scrap for. If Shkodran Mustafi felt bullied by Sergio Aguero then he may have further problems tomorrow.
Brighton, managed by the rarest of animals, a likeable ex-Llilywhite, have had a wonderful February, winning three and drawing one in League and Cup. In the process they have scored eleven goals and conceded just four. In their three home games in the month they were 10-3. To say they are on form is to underestimate them.
Under-fire Arsene Wenger is said to be considering changes to the team and it will be interesting to see who he might leave out. Those rumoured to be unhappy with how the club is run are some of the ones we could least do without on Sunday. I think he realises that the need for points is so great the changes will actually be few and far between.
David Ospina for Petr Cech would have been more likely if both hadn’t conceded three against City in the last week. It is more likely that Ainsley Maitland_Niles will come in for Sead Kolasinac. Mohamed Elneny for Granit Xhaka would be popular. Alex Iwobi might be on standby if Danny Welbeck is ruled out as has been rumoured today.
Our record at the Amex has been very good, which also suggests that Brighton are due their first home win against us since 1982. The Seagulls are looking to equal their Premier League record of three consecutive home wins whilst the visitors will hopefully be determined not to equal their record of four consecutive away defeats.
The ‘holic pound
We have to hope that the players meeting will galvanise the team in the same way as happened in the double season of 1970-71. After a 5-0 thumping at Stoke Frank Mclintock called his team together for a ‘no holds barred’ exchange of views in Highbury’s halfway house. We don’t have a Mclintock in this squad but there are senior players who should have been sharing some home truths with those not producing right now.
I will assume for the purpose of the punt that we will see a squad persuaded to stop feeling sorry for themselves and to give every last drop of effort to secure a win that would be far more significant than the three points up for grabs. After ten matches without a blank sheet I am calling on Petr Cech to ensure his new record in this one, with a single goal victory secured hopefully by Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang. The man is class and must surely start showing it soon.
Going to the game?
If you are one of the travelling Gooners it looks as the Southern Rail and the weather are doing their damndest to make it a potential problem. If you are on Twitter check out @GrampianGooner who is now nine hours into his trip from Falkirk High and is somewhere between Newcastle and York. I wish his travelling companion and him, and all of you well. It will be a tough journey and I pray the team turns up for those of you who complete the journey.
107 Responses to “A Difficult Trip Awaits – In Many Ways”
“……we will see a squad persuaded to stop feeling sorry for themselves”, Dare I hold my breath? Have they got the guts to play for the boss?
Lets hope so. Enjoy the game, Holic.
Difficult trip away to a Brighton side brimming with confidence and playing good football.
Will the players be arsed to put in a shift. ??
Will their pride not allow them to lose to a team that has had 17 visitors to the Amex stadium in all competitions this season,and only Chelsea,
Pool and City have left with wins.
Do our team want to continue our worst run of 10 PL games without a clean sheet since 2002. ??
Will they want to avoid equaling a record that has stood since 1925,of 4 straight away league defeats at the start of a calendar year. ??
Or will they want to continue Arsene’s record of 34 consecutive PL games without defeat against a promoted side in their first season back in the EPL.
We will be weary,both mentally and physically,whilst Brighton’s squad have had a lovely relaxing week,free of relegation worries,strolling along the beach promenade after training,taking in the bracing sea air and contemplating turning over the once mighty Gunners in front of their own fans.
Our last visit to the Seaside didn’t go well,with Bournemouth earning their first ever win against us in the top flight.
Let’s hope our boys can prevent an unwelcome seaside double from becoming reality.
I haven’t the words to apologise to Steve T.im so sorry,never met the guy in my life.
I feel just as bad for having a go on this website which is a real home of any gunner.i can’t forgive myself for talking about anyone like that let alone someone iv never met.my heart is broken with the gunners I’m sorry Steve pure frustration noting else.
“we will see a squad persuaded to stop feeling sorry for themselves”
If the report of the dressing room inquest is accurate, I think you’ve done your money.
I’d much rather a player got angry about this rubbish than burst into tears.
FUCK OFF 3
.
tee hee™
.
.
.
ITS A POME !
Clive@2: 1924-25 was a horrible season. Lost 17 out of 21 away games and ended up one place above relegation although a relatively comfortable nine points above the drop. We beat Forest away in the first game of the season and Everton away in November, but that was it for away wins until the end of the season. Only took two more away points. And lost all of the last twelve away games. In fact, we didn’t take a point in calendar 1925 home or away until March. Next season we were runners-up in the league.
Fascinating insight Ned
We must have done some serious buying in the summer of 25 if we improved so markedly the following season.
Thnks also to the Monks for the info in previous drinks.
Kudos to Garsguns for being man enough to front up and offer a mea culpa for his rant at the inimitable Steve T.
Knowing the ” I am an egg man ” himself through this esteemed Establishment,i am sure it will be accepted without rancor.
Balanced preview H. The bet for the Holic pound betrays how marginal you think any win for us will be. I concurred fully.
Then I read the records listed by Clive @2 and decided that you should break your rules and do what I understand smart traders do as insurance on the futures market, putting money on the ‘wrong outcome’ to cover your losses. ☹️
cba, you are back?
Still alive then cba? Welcome back!
Still getting over how poorly we were doing at this point in 2005-6, Ned, considering the squad we had that season – as I detailed in previous drinks: Cambell, Cole, Gilberto, Ljungberg, Pires, Henry, Bergkamp etc etc etc.
I used to get really pissed off when I had a boss who finished all his letters with the old Chinese proverb ‘ May you live in interesting times’.
We are living in bloody agonising times , summed up by the prospect of playing our next three games against in- form very well- coached teams, two of them away.
A few weeks ago I suspected we would be stuffed at Chelsea in the semi- final and we produced an excellent performance and followed it up with a very good effort at home. Tomorrow is only relevant as a preparation for the next two Thursdays but it’s hard to see us prospering against Milan if we don’t start the healing process tomorrow ( there is a rumour that Welbeck our only experienced striker for Milan is injured- as usual) . I’m very pessimistic about the current side but I’ve been pessimistic before and pleasantly surprised. Tomorrow will tell us a lot
Chris,
Ashley Cole was injured for most of the season and looking to leave. Campbell went walkabout for some time, Ljungberg has seen better days , Bergkamp was right at the end of his career , Pires was not the same player we knew before and Fabregas was still raw. When we played at the Bernabeu I was frightened to watch. It was the catalyst for massive change in our season and we didn’t look back but that was a team that needed to be substantially rebuilt
“…but they do look like a team…”
eXactlY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQBo68_8J7Q
Oh the times, they are a changin’.
Big summer ahead. I hope Josh gets it right, or we are heading for some tough times, again.
Lived through them before. Not sure I’ll live through too many more.
Fuck, please get us big ears, whoever is next.
Nothing succeeds like failure, but failure is no success at all.
The Wenger-era revisionism has already started: that he was not really actually very good, that he was “lucky” (even though Arsenal had something me of the worst lucks in terms of injuries and key decisions for many a years) etc. The most pernicious of these accusations is the bleak picture of failure being painted for all the seasons make after the Invincibles. Wheteas one of Arsene’s greatest achievements has been the consistency with which he guided a team — built on shoestring budget just when the crazy money started appearing all around — year after year after year to CL. That consistency was mocked by the English press, and lot of Arsenal supporters fell for it, but the moment we missed out on a CL spot all talk is about how very important it is to be in “top 4”, and hence the fucking LWCs and the Liverpool are apparently out-achieving us.
For years we were told that the only thing that matters is the trophies, but then when we manage to win 3 FA Cups in 4 years it is apparently “not important.” If Liverpool had done that then the glory of FA Cup would have been sung from all corner.
Some people will always kick you when you are down, the knives will be out the moment you have nothing left to shield yourself with. Arsène has overstayed his welcome, like many a great talents before him (especially in Sports) he got his timing all horribly wrong. His mule-like stubbornnes and the fear of the void has outwitted his capacity for objectivity and his dignity. A heartbreakingly sad end to a stellar, unique, groundbreaking career.
What can be saved from here that is in the club’s control? Europa victory is a possibility but not in the club’s control fully. I think the board,the owner, and Arsène’s remaining friends should convince him to announce that this will be his last season, citing failing health (disingenuous though that will be a little bit) and time for change (perceived by him). Then that is used to inspire the team to at least put on a series of performances that is worthy of the short and the least they can do. The realisation that they will also be auditioning for a new manager can play some motivating roles. Then we can cheer the old man off for the rest of the season and give him a fond farewell. It will not be the storybook ending that we all had hoped for. But this was an affair of the heart and no real passions end quite the way of the blockbusters. We are in a free fall, and becoming a bit of a farce: we can elevate that to a genuine tragedy while arresting the free fall.
Arsène, please.
Lots of typos above … corrigendum:
“Playing for the shirt” (though playing for the short may catch on 🙂 )
“… some of the worst lucks…”
“… for all the seasons after the Invincibles…”
“…no real passion ends…”
Maybe there are more.
TTG
Just so yano.
I replied to your reply to me! Its in the previous post!
18
Great post thanks.
I agree to all you posit.
And yes I think he has been one of the most unlucky managers ever. As unlucky as Mourinho (spit) has been lucky.
18 LPAG
11 goonerholic no
when ma mod bredren Steve
etc
in this earnest Jamaican accent I
CLEARLY OWN
was called bad names I
thought I’d rescind my shut the fuck up
and stick up for him
the wanker.
.
.
“””tonight Matthew ……””””
.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGtXPaZ1OJs
“””I and I will be Chesney Hawkes””’
that sounded Welsh
in I an I’s head
.
.
*ties errant tongue to foot*
.
boyo
Yup, cba is back…
Clive@9: What happened to turnaround our fortunes from being one place off relegation in 1924-25 to one place off the tile in 1925-26 was that we changed manager.
Herbert Chapman arrived in June 1925.
Ned
A bit like Arsene arriving then.
☺☺☺
Chris@13:
2005-06 was our first season after the sale of Vieira to Juventus. It was only a strong run at the end of the season that salvaged fourth place, pipping the neighbours on the final day of the season when they lost at West Ham. We still ended up 24 points out of first place.
After 28 games our record was:
W13 D5 L10 — 28 points out of first place
10 games later at the end of the season, it was:
P 38 W 20 D7 L11 — 24 points out of first place
A terrible December and January:
Lost to Bolton away
Lost to Newcastle away
Lost to Chelsea at home
(failed to score in any of those three games, which were also the first time Wenger had lost three games on the trot)
Beat Charlton 1-0 away
Beat Portsmouth 4-0 at home
Drew at Villa
Drew at Man U
Thumped Middlesboro 7-0 at home (TH14 hat-trick)
Lost at Everton (at which point we had won just four out of 15 away matches).
We also went out of the FA and League cups to Bolton and Wigan, respectively, during those two months.
Injuries took a toll. Pires played only 23 league games, Ljungberg 21, Campbell 20, van Persie 13, Cole 9, and Bergkamp 8. Lehmann was the only one to play the full 38. Gilberto played 33 and Henry and Fabregas played 30 each
That, of course, was also the season that we got to the final of the CL, and the manner of our defeat in Paris encapsulated a season that never quite delivered the farewell to Highbury that it should have.
Dr F@18: Top post. The wind howls like a hammer, the night blows cold and rainy. My love she’s like some raven at my window with a broken wing.
Clive@28: sort of. Though we were fifth the season before AW arrived and ended up third in his first season.
Thanks for the preview ‘H.
And Josh Kroenke, that’s what we’ve got left to hang us hats on is it?
(Even his name, somehow – to my tiny mind at least – sounds a bit like a phrase psychologists may have dreamt up to describe some recently discovered disorder wherein spoiled, entitled rich-kids smash up something expensive mummy & daddy presented to them on a plate – “Don’t worry, he’s having an attack of the JK’s, take 2 of these and it’ll go away” – I wish.)
S’pose you can live in the wrong sort o’ interesting times an’ all, then.
Oops, sorry ‘H – didn’t mean to sound that sour when i started. It’s only a bit o’ fun ent it?
Come On The Arse!
@18. Well said Dr F.
Faustus @18,
All of that is predicated on the now glaring fact that those now tearful and broken senior players which you your refer to, are going to be able to somehow “sort it out amongst themselves” over the next 2-3 weeks. Why amongst themselves? Well, because their Head Coach and principal Man-Manager, looks like he’s been completely whammied by it all this time; and to such an extent, that Brighton this afternoon followed by a now Gennaro Gatusso tough-as-fuck-re-monikered AC Milan over two legs, will surely fulfill Wenger’s very own “Ides of March” prophecy for him. Sad but nevertheless, “the inevitable is always inevitable”. He brought it all upon himself! ?
As for writing off all of his tremendous past achievements with our club, a club which has been very generous to him too by the way over the past two decades, he’s the one that tarnishing that incredibly positive legacy all by his very own lonesome; and tragically, he’s now making it very hard for those who still have a little-glint in their eye for him, to celebrate his wonderful CV any longer with unequivocal authenticity. Why? Well because at this rate, for our Club to even be able to get back into the Champions League and challenging again for the very big titles, it’s even further away than it has been before from other Clubs that are not doped-up (i.e. the LWCs and the Red Scousers. The Blue Scousers will be there or thereabouts next season with the correct Head-Coach!). Even Wenger himself has now admitted that it’s worse now than it was last year. But what I have always found incomprehensible and very difficult to fathom, is this; how could Wenger and those fans who still supported him to stay on after June last year, could have expected anything different? Were they expecting the top and bottom riders to just stay the same or to regress, when clearly there was absolutely no evidence of that happening? Hadn’t being in the Champions League with its riches, been Wenger’s and his chosen players’ one and only real saving grace in the eyes of the dividend-obsessed majority shareholder who supported him to the hilt last Summer? Was more that one season without the riches of world football’s richest club competition going to be acceptable? And whilst his investment continues to demand the highest of all fees and charges from the fans of the football Club? Hmmm…? Seems like rudimentary business logic for a Capitalist American Billionaire owner, to eventually have to reach the still unthinkable for some?! ?
Oh well, it’s not long left now; albeit quite painful watching. But I guess, that that’s what you were going to always get when you yourself chose to ignore your own sands of time; and instead opted to make this particular bed, that you’re now lying smack bang in the middle of?! ?
UTAD&AN!
AFCOF! NAWF!
@30 Very fine riposte, Ned.
Totally agree with you, Dr Faustus. The media deliberately underestimates our recent FA Cup achievements and our 20 years qualifying for the Champions League, despite the bankrolling of Chelsea and Man City and great wealth of Man U. For the most part, finishing fourth was a real achievement and remains so. If those clubs continue to be bankrolled and the Premier League continue to do nothing about it, then fourth place will continue to be a real achievement for us, along with Spurs, Liverpool and anyone else. Apart from the total anomaly of Leicester’s triumph, only United, Chelsea and Man City have won the league since the Invincibles. Unless there are changes to the system, I can’t see anyone else triumphing. That is, of course, if another team doesn’t get mega-bankrolled eg Liverpool. I hope however we don’t get bankrolled. It’s the worst thing that’s happened in football and City’s and Chelsea’s successes are absolutely meaningless and no different from Blackburn’s in 1995. Anyone can buy their to success.
Doctor Faustus@18, that’s a top top top quality post…
? Personally, one is going to deeply enjoy and revel in watching a brand new and up-to-date “digital” Head-Coach, giving it a crack that’s away from the analogue. ??
RIP Sir Roger Bannister. A true and humble gent, who managed to protect his ground-breaking, over 60 year, legacy in sport, without tarnish.
It’s not retconning for me I’ve been of the opinion that he was lucky and a poor coach for over a decade, and even those who have been most supportive, with the obvious exception of Untold Arsenal, have had a similar opinion of his abilities as a coach. They, however, chose to dress it up as jokes about how we don’t do tactics or other light hearted ways to describe his obvious failings.
The jokes have stopped now though…
Even his famed man management has fallen down in recent years and there’s nothing left of what was there before. And it’s sad, even for me, to see Arsene Wenger reduced to this.
But as was said above, he’s the one to blame for it. He has hung on ten years too long.
It’s not doing down the achievements to say that he was lucky to inherit what he did, because it’s a simple statement of fact. The first ten years were glorious years, but he should have walked after the first season at the new ground.
His job was essentially over then
Bellerin out, Iwobi in (ffs) and Xakha continues to be The Favoured Son. Undroppable no matter what.
Wilshere in as well.
Ho hum.
The bad news : hungover today – was “out out” for the wife’s birthday last night – so it will be radio or website commentary for me.
The good news ; me not watching usually brings us better luck…
That lasted long
We are down 1-0 in under seven minutes. More terrible defending.
I can’t ever see Cech making another clean sheet, what a poor goalkeeper 🙁
No blame on Cech for me there, the defenders were so flat footed they would never have cleared it anyway. Once he gets there he should do better but he didn’t make a mistake going for it. Nobody else did.
Are we playing with blue and white stripes?? ?
Of course it was a Cech error, he came for it in a bad place, didn’t get it and let his goal clear for a shot
Terrible mistake by Cech; 0-1
And we started well!
Next goal is huge. We MUST score it
Look at the defenders. If he didn’t go for that, it would have been a free header at the back post.
Chambers is under the ball with no jump.
Yeah he fumbled it, but everybody else just watched.
This is painful to watch!
We have turned beyond bad now!
Their every cross in is a threat! Damn
Cynic
If a keeper is going for the ball then he must get to it first otherwise you end up with what just happened. He was off his line at the end of the day.
Slaughter
No balls, no desire, no guts no soul……
This club needs saving!
Cech is finished
What a shambles.
We’ve lost every header and we’re so casual at the back on the deck.
Mustafi gave away a free kick a couple of minutes ago and if Bright had taken it quickly, we’d have been fucked because he’d run to the ref crying about the foul being given.
2-0 now, going from bad to worse. This season is more or less written off. Only question is when will Wenger go.
This game isn’t relevant in result terms but it is in performance terms. They must come back even if they don’t win it. We will see if they have any character.
any links for the game or should I spare my poor eyes?
ATG – True enough, which is pretty much what I said anyway, as he had to do better, but the main thing is we were just fucking standing there watching. He was the only player to properly react. Then he fumbled it, but I don’t really blame him alone for the goal.
Those players just don’t give a shit!
TTG – Lose by two goals to Milan and it should be all over for Wenger. It should be anyway, but as long as we’re still in that competition there’s a straw for him to clutch to.
Once that straw goes, he should be gone too.
If we want to even consider being in the CL again.. the back four has to be looked at and replaced even.
🙁
Cynic,
Neither do I! Just look at them they look like a lost cause already!
If we had shown this form from the beginning of the season, we would be in the bottom three with Stoke and West Brom, staring relegation.
At least the ref is on the same pot as us, utter shite
Totally static at a free kick again.
We just had a power cut here…but unfortunately the power came back on .
The two wingers have got our full backs on toast and we can’t deal with the resulting crosses. They are pressing us effectively in the middle and we need too much time on the ball to combat it.
Saved by an erroneous offside flag there as we stand and watch yet another free kick.
This could be anything the way we’re “defending”
One of Chelsea or Spurs won’t qualify for next season’s Champions League.
There, I found a positive!
At last. FFS a goal. A shot. On target. A goal.
Bloody hell
Auba gets one back. COYG.
Get in AUB
Another power cut, another goal. But this time the right way!
We scored a goal? Rara avis indeed. Sounds like we don’t deserve anything from the game though based on above comments.
I don’t think we’re too bad going forward..or even the midfiield.. the defence leaves much to be desired though.
It’s no wonder Pep spent hundreds of millions and Pool spent 75m on a single player in that position.
Regardless of whether Arsene stays or not beyond this season.. we HAVE to spend on the back four if we want to compete in the CL in future.
bt8
A man of culture!
Arsene needs a really uplifting team talk. Put on Elneny for Xhaka and tell Ozil to stop sulking. And ask Cech to remember how to keep goal .
And I’d bring Eddie on!
The problem is that that we can’t stop crosses from coming in and can’t defend crosses when they come in, whether from set play or otherwise. Both their goals came from crosses which Brighton bossed in our penalty box. Can now appreciate what Per brought to our defence.
They started the second half like the first…
NO DRIVE NO DESIRE!
Iwobi is truly useless!
Dear me, Xakha’s been cautioned so he decides to try to con a penalty?
This is the worst I have seen Arsenal in all my life. I don’t know what to feel right now. Bit of numbness creeping in.
*last post playing in the background*
Kolasinac lucky to be still on the pitch!
I’m surprised he got away with that, Kolasinac.
We’re channeling our inner Stoke!
Iwobi finally off. Hopefully for awhile.
Goal scorer Welbeck on for Iwobi.
Jesus what are they doing
These players have forgotten how to play football in my eyes, they look awful all of them
We don’t look particularly interested in getting an equaliser
If Brighton had a striker who could run, we’d have been in the right shit this half.
I want that bloke’s 91 themed hat
This officiating team has been absolute rubbish.
No urgency in them
We are hopeless. Our season will probably end this Thursday.
Easy task for next year, just replace 12-13 players, job done
A quick look at the ref’s history will tell you all you need to know about his ability.
Wenger looks lost! The team and the club look the same!
Bunch of over paid divas!
Quick lip read of Wenger at the end, saying “That was never seven minutes”
I wonder if that will be his leading excuse post match?
Not even you Holic can spin this into positive, ?
Another shit show and the man responsible walks around talking shit and gets away with it!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Switching to Barca vs Athleti, there’s 2 football teams playing there
I wonder how the board feel about that 2 year 9m contract they gave AW now ?
How can this continue ?
The board need to leave with AW as they are equally to blame !!!!
If you look at our away results recently it shows we are a side who would currently struggle to ward off the threat of relegation. Brighton deserved that because they can defend. We couldn’t close a game up like that.
Better level of effort in the second half but we didn’t move the ball threateningly enough and we had no width. We are a very fragile side at the moment and Milan could be painful . We can’t find a central defence . Mustafi is quite awful and stupid to boot. Koscielny is half-fit and lacking in confidence but we’d have to play a three with BFG and Nacho if we could get him fit in Milan. Don’t think Nacho will be .
Wenger looks ill to me. The poor guy needs to be rescued from this, although he has created it for himself