OK Then, It Was A Bridge Too Far!
Oct 4th, 2010 by 'holic
The morning starts well. The trains are running on time, so I hit the Broadway early and find a continental cafe. Well this is West London! A coffee and brandy under an umbrella in the rain. Only the English…
At twelve it is on to Bodeans BBQ where large portions of pig are washed down with some particularly agreeable Porter. A few pints of Dublin’s finest quench the thirst and it is time to take up position in the upper tier of the Shed. We are serenaded with words to the effect that we haven’t won a great deal in five years. They sing that another couple of times over the coming hour and a half. We remind them that as supporters they are lacking somewhat, and we spend the rest of the evening proving it.
View from the Shed
Arsenal start like a steam train and Chamakh goes close. Then Koscielny heads over. From the other end of the ground I don’t appreciate just how good a chance that is until seeing it again on Match of the Day. Arsenal are pressing, dominating possession, but that final ball is always frustratingly not quite in the groove.
There are shades of last season at the Bridge when despite controlling the ball we are unhinged by a couple of breaks from defence by a home team happy to soak it all up. The question is what can you do to change it? Part of the reason for the dominance is that we commit players forward to support each other, but that means leaving the odd gap.
Like a tired old television repeat we are unhinged against the run of play when Cole gets free and Drogba, who else, applies a truly special finishing touch. Those who lay any blame at all to Fabianski here are just plain wrong. Most are convinced we should get a free-kick before Chelsea, but that is the sort of fifty-fifty decision away teams don’t get.
Half-time produces the biggest laugh of the day. Not sure why, but Erland Johnsen, a central defender for the Blues in the nineties, does a lap of honour to some polite applause. The magnificent travelling support is quick to seize the opportunity. “YOU’VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE”, is followed by a deafening round of “HE WAS HERE WHEN YOU WERE SHIT!”. Brilliant. Even the glory hunters the other side of the stewards applaud them.
At this point the ‘holic pound is very much on. I suspected the hosts might be ahead at the break, and now with a little bit of good fortune, and continued control of the football, we can do the business. Control the ball we still do, by and large, but Lady Luck is being particularly choosy with her favours today.
There is a point in many games when you know it is up. For me that moment arrives when Chamakh is flattened in the box. From the frenzied atmosphere of the Shed that looks a stonewaller, but it is unclear on Match of the Day, and is not analysed further. I’ll check it on ATVo later today.
To be fair our defensive mistakes multiply and Anelka should seal the points. He doesn’t, but when Koscielny is forced to concede on the edge of the area we are beaten for good by an Alex thunderbolt. There is much muttering of ‘the hole in the wall’ around us, but again no blame for Fabianski. Two good games in a row from the Pole. Slowly, slowly, is confidence built.
The top, top man who has sourced the tickets and brought lunch, then nails on his claims for sainthood by giving me a lift back to Paddington. The looming tube strike added uncertainty to the journey home, but it seems all of London is travelling by car tonight. I owe you fella.
On the train home I reflect on Friday’s arsecast. I hope, and still believe, that Blogs is wrong about the importance of the three points at this stage of the season. Plenty of time remains to recover the deficit, but I’ll accept there are worrying undertones of last season.
We have had too much of the ball not to score against a side that is set-up not to concede. Last season four matches were lost to our closest rivals in similar fashion. It is too simple to say we will address that with everybody available because it won’t happen. We have too many glass idols. I thought we had the squad this season to cover that. Chelsea’s faultless exposure of our naivety casts doubt.
I’m waiting to be proved right.
173 Responses to “OK Then, It Was A Bridge Too Far!”
First drink of the day. A pint of plain please!
Make that two pints. Cheers.
Each!
Make that three for starters….each that is!
Injuries, injuries, injuries.
Youth? It’s ok they’ve got bags of potential!
Leaky defence? Don’t worry, hopefully we’ll outscore our opponents!
Outmuscled in big games? Don’t worry we’ll beat the smaller teams.
Come May, use one or more from the above as excuse(s) to why we fail to win anything.
Forget yesterday (as I always say, barely anyone gets away from Stamford Bridge with anything), the damage was done against Sunderland and West Brom. But what’s done is done and hopefully we can regroup now and get back on track.
Another performance where we flattered to deceive.
Would we have won that game with Vermaelen, Cesc and RVP instead of Squillaci, Diaby and Arshavin? I think we would.
Bottom line: we are too reliant on our two best players who are both too injury prone for us to ever be serious contenders for the title.
It’s good to know that if Mansour and Abramovich dropped dead today Chelsea and Man City would be plunged into administration and wound up within one financial year, as their success is 100% dependent on the wealth and whim of those two individuals. But in the meantime we’ll just have to accumulate profits, send out kids and bargains and wait for the grim reaper.
I would have thought you would be ever more positive, ‘holic 😉
And I see goodplaya was the only one who mentioned that Drogba was actually offside at the start for his first goal, which is something I noticed too. Ref a bit of a homer, but yeah, although they should easily have got one or two yellows in the first half, on Song and I think the Essien on Diaby was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over the top, and the case for a peno on Chamakh was big, well fair enough we lost again because of lack of cutting edge and some defensive naivety.
I was 100% convinced we were going to score in the second half when we were all over them though.
Shame we still can’t win this game without a Fabregas and/or a Van Persie, but I still think we were much much much closer than them than the last few times we played them.
Positives? Fabianski (yes, really 😉 ) and the fact that despite my greatest fears, heads didn’t drop at all after they scored the first goal.
Getting there, this is not over yet.
We sung our whole Arsenal repertoire on sunday 4am which was a bit early, but heh a stag do that includes many gooners can be fun 😉
Mine’s an Irish coffee please!
Morning,
Fair report Holic, I hate to say it but I just cannot see this side winning either of the big prizes, Theres no doubt they have the ability as footballers but they just make to many basic defensive errors and that starts with the midfield not tracking runners and ends with defenders thinking they are pele instead of just clearing the ball, We will have some fun and great performances to marvel at but I fear it will end as the previous few years.Under his great sides we had no shortage of flair but we also had steel and a you shall not pass atitude this side lack no flair but are sadly lacking the other 2 components.We can have the best profit margins in football but until they add the 2-3 players we so badly need Groundhog day will repeat! It could be worse tho we could be scouse eating oops carried away 🙂 in the bottom 3!! That would give us something to moan at lol
Up The Arse,
I would just like us, for once, to have a full strength squad when we go into a game like this. I defy any other team in the league to play how we did and not get beaten by a bigger scoreline. This isn’t an excuse (rosicknote) it is a fact. Take the same quality of player out of any of the top six and there is no way they would have competed as well. Van Persie and Fabregas in the side alone would have seen a different game.
Would the injury demon please go away!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sander E. Smørdal, Arsenal FC, footballURLs Arsenal, Natasha Henry, Goonerholic and others. Goonerholic said: Morning all. I've reflected. OK Then It Was A Bridge Too Far! http://goonerholic.com/?p=2895 […]
It’s sad to see our guys get beaten again by the bustop. I really did feel that we’d score there in the second half and that we didn’t compounded the negative feeling of what I thought was actually a decent display.
Disheartened & downbeat. Only the black stuff could cheer me up now.
One of them please!
‘holic I have a clip of it taken with my iphone as it happened right in front of us (shed lower), let me know how to send it to you and I will!
In a very Bolshie mood, Nuclear Arsenal’s Red Army took the number 15 Petrograd bus over to the Bus Stop in Fulham, hoping to start Rocking the Kremlin, leaving Abramovich’s Russian Empire in Tatars, and beginning an October Revolution to keep the red flag flying high and power their way to Premier League primacy.
Neutron Jack was the fissile material in the heart of the Gunner’s mid-field. Molotov Squilaci and Rostropovic Koscielny were the new Red Guard, hoping to wage a long, cool Cold War and leave Vladimir Dogbreath de-cossacked and shivering in a nuclear winter of discontent for Ancelottski’s little boys in blue.
Could Arsenal leave Chel$ki Caspian for breath in a mood darker than the Black Sea? Could Arshavin be the Spy Who Came In From The Cold and make Smiley’s People of the traveling Gooners? Or would we meltdown faster than a Chernobyl nuclear reactor and splutter like a lumbering Lada in the paws of a Russian bear?
Arsenal started off like an express train on the Trans-Siberian Railway, could have scored inside two minutes when Chamakh launched Soyuz 1 just past the post and should have scored inside two when Kos fired Soyuz 2 over the bar from right under it. Arsenal played some beautiful stuff and were, (to my completely unbiased eyes, Comrades), by far the better of two very good teams, serving up some really hot stroganoff with a Smirnov twist.
Wilshere was at the heart of most things good, and he seems to have genuinely “arrived”. Arshavin had two good shots on goal. If both had gone in, he’d have been Comrade Andrei. If he hadn’t made the shots, he’d have done nothing other.
In a late first half moment of ironic curtain intensity, a Cashley cross was back-heeled off the post by Dogbreath, could have gone anywhere, but shot behind Fabianski who could have done nothing to defuse the missile. One nil to the bad guys, proving once more, that it’s better to be lucky than good. Moments later, Diaby’s ill luck seemed to have struck again when Essien twisted his ankle into a reef knot. Amazingly, Abou emerged for the second half instead of General Denilson.
Arsenal were all over Chel$ki for most of the second half. The blue mid-field was spinning around more than Laika the orbiting dog in Sputnik 2. Their attack looked as healthy as a Chernobyl Chicken Kiev and Nasri, Chamakh and Song all gave them a dose of the Leon Trottskies with some fine attacking play. But how, oh how, was our defense Bering up? Well, to be Straight, not wonderfully.
Squillaci stopped hearts with a howler that the Incredible Sulk wasted. And then it was a Nasri cross field brain seizure that prompted Kos to foul Dogbreath for a free kick about 30 yards out. Malouda stepped clear, AA looked at the hole in the wall and didn’t fancy filling it and Alex said “Dostoyevsky, Perestroyka” as he thumped an intercontinental ballistic into Fab’s top left hand corner to sink our Red October. Game over. (The record shows Fabs fingers touched the rocket – hand still intact).
“We played well – We lost”. Not a new headline. Not by any means.
But there was much to feel good about. A VERY strong overall performance. Excellent goalkeeping by Fabianski, particular from a shot by Le Sulk, that dipped viciously and hit him square in the Urals.
Would we have done better with Cesc in the mid-field, Robin and Theo up front, the Verminator alongside Kos with B52 available off the bench to take a load off Chamakh and Gibbs to replace the tiring Clichy and Rambo to fire a late brace? Maybe. But we’ll never know. That we did so well without all of them promises greatly – and we’ll thump these pretenders at the Emirates with a full team. And best of all, today signaled the beginning of the long reign of Vladimir Lukas Fabianski twixt the sticks of the best team in Europe.
“It’s a long way to Vladivostock, it’s a long way to go”. There are many more points to be gained. We may be down, but we’re very far from out, ‘Holics. We just need to jump on our balalaikas and Steppe on the Gasprom-ptly.
Soyuz all next week for some more fun filled Arsenal moments. Pity that ‘Holic’s lucky shirt is now his unlucky shirt, isn’t it.
A champagne sip from the Ryder Cup for me please, barman. At least one of my teams won today.
the pelanty that is
DG, the easiest way is to upload it to YouTube. You could try sending direct to gooneratgoonerholicdotcom but likely to be too big a filesize for email?
Bootiful BtM, just bootiful.
Tempting to say this was history repeating, but despite the result this was a much better performance than we managed against Chelski last year. A few things:
They defended with a near first choice back four, plus three holding midfielders. Any team would struggle to create chances (especially one without Cesc, RvP and Theo).
We were not outmuscled, we at least held our own, especially in the first half.
Drogba was a threat (he always is) but the defence managed ok against him on the whole.
The defensive mistakes we did make (Fabianski’s punch, Squillaci’s fuck up) didn’t cost us the game. Both goals were great, unstoppable finishes.
We lost on fine margins yesterday: on another day we might have got a free kick in the build up to Drogba’s goal, 9 times out of 10 Alex’s free kick ends up in the top tier, Ramires got a bit of the ball but still more a penalty than not on Chamakh for me, Koscielny’s miracle miss etc.
Much as I hate them, Chelski are good. Not much better team than us, but harder to beat and very strong defensively.
I can forgive yesterday and stay optimistic, but it just makes that debacle last week even more costly…
I love Wenger..I really do but wen r we going to stop makn xcuses n accept dt Wenger has lost it!! He’s priority is to make profit n not to win trophies..! Can’t y’ll see that! Its d same BS everytime..we lackd quality,depth..we r still a young team,we will win DZ year..why is he scared to ply HS trade elsewhere?he wldnt last a season at Madrid.Gd day.
“YOU’VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE”
“HE WAS HERE WHEN YOU WERE SHIT”
Absolutely classic stuff! Reading that made me laugh out loud like a madman here at the office, my co-workers probably wondered what I really have in that glass of water next to me!
A pint of John Smith Extra Smooth, please.
Ed, care to repeat that in English?
Ed, I believe you can pick up new keyboards for pocket money on eBay…
Ed I think you should respect this bar and write in proper english otherwise no one will take you seriously, there is always Asda price or Tesco value…
i love how you start your post ED “i love wenger” and pass the rest destroy him coming short of saying sack him.
Hopefully fabianski can continue on his good form and the “buy a WC gk” can be put to bed.Fabianski the new Eboue
is it just me or has wenger missed the obvious? You can send in your talented world champion lightweight boxer against any average heavyweight and he will lose. Thats why they have weight-categories- to make it somewhat fair. We have now a hugely talented group of lightweights who can be knocked out by lesser heavyweights. This team can win nothing.
@ ‘Holic #21
Thanks for excellent post as usual.
Your “pocket money” retort almost as sublime as “HE WAS HERE WHEN YOU WERE SHIT” – that was inspired – generally speaking we’ve got a fabulous bunch of supporters 🙂
Something warm and comforting please to lift the dented spirits please barman – how about one of those Brazillian beauties that BtM often mentions?
Brighter days for us all are sure to come. The Pires news from the previous post (thanks again Matt) was a good start!
Having Cesc and Tommy V back to face the other Blues on 16th would be even better.
Realistically, I think we’re going to be waiting another season for The Championship (I’ve posted before that it’s a marathion not a sprint) but the 3 cups are all up for grabs and very much within our sights and our capabilities.
James let’s not compare footy to boxing completely two different types of sport in my eyes.
We weren’t exactly out muscled were we now?
@ James #24
I know this is the age of the opinion but that’s a bit harsh matey.
There’s some really good stuff going on in our club both on the pitch and behind the scenes. We’ll get there sooner or later. We could try and enjoy the journey. No-one said it was going to be easy and the level of competition is definitely increasing.
Chin-up and have a drink on me – barman, whatever he wants please 🙂
Depressingly familiar. ZM’s analysis really could be talking about last year’s game(s). The fact that it was Samir, one of our best performers so far, that let Cashley breeze past him for the first goal was distressing. Can’t switch off against Chavs.
On the plus side, some of our more maligned performers had strong games. Fabianski saved everything you would expect him to save and dealt with every single corner well. Clichy looked close to back to his best. He went AWOL at the end of the match once we were two down, but I put that down to wanting to win too much rather than simply giving up, (as evinced by his rather ludicrous right-footed thirty-yarder). Even Diaby put in a decent shift, though I wouldn’t have started him. Samir should have been central with Eboue on the wing; Wenger’s refusal or inability to change the team to deal with world-class left backs (including Evra) is getting on my nerves.
Drogba wasn’t interfering with play until he was onside for the goal, let’s not make bad excuses
We screwed up the stonewall chance in the scone minute, the moment that happened the follow minutes was basically scripted. Arsenal need to work on their finishing because it is desperately poor. We need 5 clear chances to score in most games and vs the big boys you won’t get 10 great chances which we will need to get 2 or more goals.
To Ryan’s point, we had 16 shots against Chelsea on Sunday but only four on target and, as we know, no goals. Chelsea had only one shot more but five were on target and two scored.
A restorative pint of Guinness, if you would ‘Holic.
@24 – It’s just you James.
We were steamrollered, much the same as last season.I am trying to remember the days that Chelsea were a side that couldn’t beat us.Was it so long ago?
ANyone noticed that the Dutch coach has dropped De Jong for his leg breaker? while the FA have done nothing? when will they learn…
No doubt I’ll be crucified for my comments. We don’t have a decent GK, we have a fragile defense, a Captain who is NOT commited & injuiries always. #24, you are RIGHT despite what BTM thinks. So what’s different this season? 7 Points behind the Leaders after just 7 games played, we’re a point above Stoke. We’re seeing that our Summer “signings” are what you’d expect from bargain shopping. Once again, it’s hoping we can stay Top 4 & we will never win silverware with Wenger. It’s becoming oh so predictable. Glass of water please ‘ holic.
@32 it wasn’t(so long ago, I mean), we could come from behind to beat them. Kan U?
Bernard
I have to disagree with you, can you please name me a team that wont loose at Stolichnaya Bridge?
I don’t think you can, you have maybe this one maybe that one but nothing 100%
Our summer signings are fine – you can argue there wasn’t enough of them, but it’d be pretty harsh (if not downright premature and daft) to say they’re bargain basement quality. And ‘hoping’ we can stay top 4? What are we, Tottenham?! Top 4 is of no concern.
#37, Charlie, my idea of a “signing’ is someone like VDV at Spurs. A player that can make a difference, something you didn’t have before. Surprise, we sign 3 french league players. We’ve become so predictable & all our new signings played yesterday & what happened differently? Drogba scored & Chelsea won.
Wenger doesn’t sign players, people like you moan.
Wenger does sign players, people like you moan they’re the wrong players.
And Spurs got Van der Vaart? Good for them. They’re still crap though.
Charlie, that’s the problem with this site, one can’t express an opinion without some type of response that says we’re moaning. I hate Spurs as much as anyone & I hate it when they sign a “class” player. All I’m saying is they have improved their squad & I’m yet to be convinced that we have. As a result, my expectations for this season stay with my feet firmly on the ground.
Bernard, Chamakh has 4 goals and 1 assist for Arsenal this season. Van der Vaart has the same for Spurs. As for me, I’d rather have Chamahk.
Squillaci was from La Liga, as was VdV. Just to be a pedant…
[…] a good tactical analysis of the match, Zonal Marking has a good piece on it. Goonerholic has a good first-hand account of going to the match as a traveling fan. Arseblog has a good, and eloquent, perspective on […]
Catalan, my mistake, quite correct. However, VDV played in a World Cup Final & the other was Gallas’s “back up” w/ 1 game played at the World Cup.
You can go on whinning.The battle is lost and won.Excuses all the time.”If this did not happen,this would not have happened”.I’m sick and tired of all these rubbish.We should learn to be man enough in games like this.Or are our players different from the rest?
It does seem to me that a lot of our defensive issues arise from the midfielders/forwards not doing their job ALL the time. Nasri didn’t track Cole’s run for the first and Arshavin does his 10 yard run and then gives up.
A lot of this comes from the fact we keep buying guys who spend their entire career as forwards (No. 10 role) and converting them to wide players in the hope of Total Football. Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott never had a defensive responsibility before they joined Arsenal, so it is innevitable that they lose the plot sometimes. We would never have expected Bergkamp to track an overlapping full back would we? Compare this to how Beckham used to cover Neville his whole career. Without it the central mids are pulled out wide leaving holes in the middle and the CBs are defending running bAck towards their own goal which is never good.
I honestly think we need to have more specialized players uncertain positions rather than the squeeze the best 11 in to the team mentality.
This bar needs some spirit lifting, come on you Gooners it ain’t the end of the world, fuck Chavs we are still the best team in the world!
Barman Wisniowka for everyone in the house! Polish suasages to nibble on, on the bar for everyone to share!
Dogbreath = Van Persie
Maluda = Cesc
Essien = Walcott
An yes it may be an excuse but with that lot in the team we look a different side. Nasri needs to learn a lot more to be anywhere as good as Cesc or Jack for that matter.
Well done Arthur! Just the ticket. Top man!
Moping and criticising without offering any real PRACTICAL solutions is the easiest sport in the world.
I thought this bar was all about supporters with well reasoned, sensible arguments – pro or anti – all views welcomed but we engage our brains before we type, right?
Supporting is all about the thick and the thin. As painful/frustrating/embarassing as they are, two defeats do not define an entire campaign. What about our two 6-0 wins, do they count for nothing? What about beating Partizan away and a 4-1- whipping of the LWCs? What happened to balance and perspective?
I’m delighted to have a nibble on your Polish sausages Arthur…er, so to speak, heh!
Barman, strong East European spirits all round please and throw out the borscht and tears please, they’ve gone cold 🙂
BtM for Fabianski’s sake I hope the Urals are not in a particularly painful geographical region. But if he can keep up this level of play Arsenal will be all the better for it, and we will finally have a much needed sense of competition for the #1 spot. I can’t believe the negativity some people have after yesterday. But those people are likely to turn their attention elsewhere while the rest of us stick it out to enjoy the fruits of our faith.
sent that over to you ‘holic
Nasri,
I think his Urals are behind his Vladivostok. But they may have taken a swift trip North after the walloping they received.
Either way, he’s one thick-skinned sonofabitch! Well done LF – I can’t believe I just typed that but there you go 😉
Desperately disappointing result but let’s have a round of applause for the ‘Pole in Goal’.
Let us also enjoy Jack Wilshere and remember that there are a few more like him yet to emerge from the academy. Wenger is doing it right, he has a long term plan which if it stuck to will stand the club in good stead for years to come. When the money runs out others will be well and truly ‘Donald Ducked’. Look at the mess Liverpool are in and the debt level of Man U, and when the twitchy one gets bored or buggers off to manage England he will leave nothing but debt and a squad of overpaid players, what kind of a legacy is that?
Our team mustn’t become disheartened they have the ability to improve still further and bounce back.
They/we will norfolk, they/we will. Nice words.
Barman, keep the spirtis coming please and fresh sausages (any origin will do) for Arthur and all 🙂
Depressed, thanks, but actually I had forgotten that one. I was referring to the one the other side of the area when Ramires took him down.
I think the Cech one he was never going to get at the Bridge, although it was worth a shout.
Back in the bar ‘Holic? Good to see! Have a large one for yourself 😉
True Story
I heard German can be nice and Italian too 😉 or forgot the French how could I?
Thanks TS. I’m back on the Fursty Ferret. Very nice too.
Any funksters out there don’t forget on Mondays from 8-10 pm we have a proper Gooner spinning some of his favourites on http://www.jfsr.co.uk/
Also have to say big thanks to European AND American Ryder Cup teams for a fantastic competition.
Arthur
I’d much prefer Brazillian melons of course!
Spirits raised?
Lovely day to be a gooner and so will be tomorrow!
Squillaci Fabianski’s Chamahk
Was I surprised at the result ? I am going to say no !
Prior to the game in the local 3 chelski fans who I have to admit knowing ask for my prediction, I said we would loose 2-0 !
This is based on current form, injuries and just plain form book when it comes to playing the chavs. Do we learn anything when it comes to playing these annoying bunch of A-Holes ? It seems like history repeating its self every time and its getting very old and boring.
Squillaci was caught ball watching when the drogba pain in the Arsenal was one step ahead of or defence AGAIN. The alex goal was proof that we allow teams to make holes in are own wall. WTF !
Koscielny and Squillaci need time to gel and sadly they have to do that on the job when any miss communication is exploited to the max. Squillaci was playing way to deep and Koscienly never thought to tell him step up. Clichy tried his best to get forward but was to slow to get back at times. Sagna was also caught out of position too many times, so defencive frailties shown up again.
All the possession in the world and no goal threat, if only Cesc,RVP,Theo and the Verminator were playing I do believe we would have seen a better result. Their class and ability were sorely missed by the whole team.
Like all games there were plus points and stand up young Mr Wilshere you were the shinning beacon to be seen by the whole team. Flapanadski gave me one heart attack and settled into a good game.
11 points in 7 games dose not look good and the previous defeat to WBA still stings when I think about it. I have been an Arsenal fan all my life and always will be but I have concerns about this season. Its very early in the season and there is a long way to go but who would think we would be 7 points behind the leaders already.
Gooner til I die, a pint of brandy please barman.
Amongst the angst – nice to see JET get on for his premiership debut. Now, all he’s got to do is grow a little and he’ll be ok..!
Football games hinge on next to nothing but in reality we were put down by injuries as we have been in the last few seasons. The most obvious reason for our defeat is Chamakh not hitting the target with his headers. Had we taken the lead we deserved CSKA London would have been much more vulnerable at the back and we’d seen an entirely different game.
Worryingly Chamakh looked jaded from the go. Not really a surprise considering the amount of efforts he puts in every game. But with Bendtner back in 2 weeks, needing probably another month to get back to his best and the 2 other strikers even further away, we will still have to rely on Chamakh for the rest of October with a very heavy schedule (he’ll be playing for Morocco during the interlull). Playing with only 2 strikers is bad enough, playing with 2 tired strikers will be worse.
As others have said, a near full-strength Arsenal would win every game but until then we have to fight hard for our wins. The real test is not CSKA, it’s how we will perform against Birmingham and Newcastle until our best players are back and the team is balanced again. If we win those games, and even better the Citeh game after them we will be back on track for the chase, it’s a very tight season with surprises every week-end. If not…
@Catalan: if he gets as many opportunities as Vela how will JET grow?
If you saw the look on Vela’s face when he was introduced with 5 minutes left, you can’t help feel for him. What a waste. I hope we won’t have to pay for not developping him while our main striker looks like he’s run a marathon 15 minutes into a game.
Ultimately ‘holics, it’s not this result that’s the kidney punch – call me negative, but i was hoping for a draw. It’s Sunderland and WBA at home!
The KGB result is simply groundhog day 🙁
And they are good at it. They let us paint pretty pictures in front of them with a delicate 00 sable brush – then WHAM! Out comes a mother fucking Harris 5incher to negate all our beautiful artistry. You’ve got to hand it to them.
round and round we go
Matt @63 … I was talking about physically, but point taken.
What are the odds of Pires doing a Campbell and signing (I know it won’t happen but it’s really nice to hope for it to happen 🙂 )?
@ Snir #67
I made the same point/wish this morning. It’s a longshot. Maybe someone else in the bar this evening has an inside line on that one? Please speak up if you do!
Whatever Snir’s drinking please barman.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to vent. Yesterday after the game, I went with my 4.5yo son to visit my Geordie mate and watch the Citeh-Newcastle game he had recorded (it was too early to watch it live here). We both carefully avoided to learn about the result to keep the game more interesting. 5 minutes into the game and we get to witness another horror tackle by a plodder (De Jong) against a gifted creative player (Ben Arfa), I have to soften the blow for my son, lie about the severity of the injury, divert his attention away so he doesn’t watch the horrific slow-motion replays. Game starts again, we come back watching and his fist question is “why is the player who injured the other one still playing?”. He’s not even 5 year-old and it’s already an evidence for him.
But not for the journos, barely a mention in MOTD.
But nor for the “shit-happens” FA who just got slapped across the face by the Dutch national team’s coach who banned the leg breaker from his team: “I’ve seen the pictures back. It was a wild and unnecessary offence. He went in much too hard. It is unfortunate, especially since he does not need to do it. The funny thing is that the referee did not even show a yellow card for it. Apparently, there are other standards”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/04/de-jong-holland-ben-arfa
The FA and the english media attitude towards the leg-breakers is beyond disgusting. It’revolting.
Matt, is it any wonder that Kevin Davies is in the England squad?The same weekend Shawcross broke Ramsey’s leg, he was called up to the English squad. Until the FA starts taking severe action, England will never win a major tournament. I’m just wondering now that Mark Hughes(Zamora) & Chris Houghton(Ben Arfa) have had a taste, will British Managers start talking a bit more or will Wenger still be the lone voice about violent tackling?
I’m already a bit worried about our trip to Wolves next month, the way the dirty gits tackle we’ll be lucky if we come out of it with no injuries.
@bernard: “No doubt I’ll be crucified for my comments.”
You’re not crucified, just ridiculed and deservedly so.
All summer you you have been eructing about us needing to sign Joe Hart or Schwarzer, now that both have been dropping clangers every other game you’re still lashing at our keeper despite a noticeable improvement but, how strange, you stopped mentioning your 2 champpions as the “signing” “we all know” needed to happen…
Of course, not a big surprise considering your idea of a “signing” is always the hot player of the moment. The best club VdV could find at bargain price was the mighty Spurs. When in 3-6 months the guy will be on the bench flopping like he did in his 2 previous clubs after a sparkling debut and making Gallas look like Gandhi in the dressing room, will you learn from it? No chance. Some player somewhere will have 2 good games and you’ll come back here bemoaning the fact we did not sign him.
Matt, Bernard
In case you weren’t aware, our friends at Le Grove are running a campaign called Kick Kicking out of Football. It’s only a matter of time before Karl Henry does another Shawcross/Robinson/De Jong and we hear the same old “he’s not that kind of guy” b*ll*cks as some poor victim lies on the ground with his leg in pieces.
‘Holic hope you don’t mind that mention of another blog in the posts but it’s for a worthy cause. Heaven forbid we have to go through another horrorshow like we witnessed at The Britannia earlier this year.
Cheers all.
@bernard: the FA will not take action spontaneously. We know who they are since Keane the thug came out openly bragging he intentionally broke a player’s leg and they did nothing.
Zamora,
Valencia,
Ben Arfa
Now maybe if Gerrard, Rooney and Lampard got their legs broken in the same week…
@True Storey: quite a lot of Arsenal blogs have taken a strong stance in the past but as long as it’s only Arsenal bloggers it won’t make any difference and I doubt it would even if many other bloggers joined the fray.
Untold Arsenal is on it too today.
No problem at all, TS.
Not sure they would be delighted with being called ‘our friends’ though 😉
@ Matt #72
“…making Gallas look like Gandhi in the dressing room…”
Heh! Classic! 🙂
Barman, a cylinder of N2O for that man please.
@ Matt #75 – You’re proably right but no harm trying.
@ ‘Holic #76 – Oh, I dunno, everybody needs a friend, right? 😉
Matt, 72, again no surprise the attacks launched at people who have differing opinions than yourself or others on this board. I’ve said we need a GK, I’ve never mentioned a particular name, just if you half a brain, we need a GK. The 2 Clowns they are still. I mentioned VDV as an example of a good signing as he brings something else to the table that TH don’t have, “quality”. It sure beats hearing you bleat on how this is the year Denilson “breaks out”. He’ll never break out, he’s not that good. Wilshere makes clear what Denilson, Nasri, & Vela are, mediocre & over-rated. Based on your comments I’ve read you wouldn’t know a footballer if it tackled you.
Obviously I hit a nerve didn’t I? Must not be too far from the truth then…
Holic and fellow holics
I think a good joke is required to lighten the depression of 1 point from the last 9.
So here goes.
A Spurs supporter has a heart attack and dies while watching a game at the Lane.
He arrives at the Pearly Gates still wearing his Replica shirt.
He rings the bell and after a while Saint Peter appears wearing his rather ragged looking Arsenal double winning shirt from the 70-71 season.
He looks at the Spud and says ‘ What do you want.”
The Spud replies,’ I want to come in.”
Peter says ‘ well you can’t.’
The Spud says,’ But i’ve done some good things recently,only last week i gave 20 quid to a homeless man,the week before i gave a tenner to the salvos,and the week before that i gave 20 quid to my local church to repair the roof.Surely that counts for something.”
So Peter says,’ wait here a minute while i go and talk to God.”
After about 10 mins Peter returns and says,’God and i both agree,here’s your 50 quid back,NOW FUCK OFF” !!!
We were definitely better this time around than the last visit there but how many more times are we going to lament our injury situation?
Glad to see that Fabianski had another error-free game – his performance and the shift put in by Jack the Lad were the main positives for me.
We get caught out by attacking relentlessly – be interesting to see what would happen if we invited them on to us rather than continually camping in their half – might then be able to expose the lack of pace that they have at centre back. Just a thought.
And the dreaded interlull to come – what’s the odds on another Arsenal player coming back crocked?
Best fill up this half-empty glass tonite ‘Holic – I’ll have a Guinness and one for yourself.
Loved it Clive, thanks!
All, can we have a moratorium on writing out Sp*rs in full, it’s just wrong 🙂
Spuds, LWCs, Scum, Tiny Totts, Shite Hart Laners, ad nauseum all acceptable in my book.
Night all. Barman, a hot toddy for me please and a round of drinks for whoever’s left in the bar.
Nice one Clive – cheered me up!
Please let me amend myself:
Three Spuds fans were moaning that their team kept losing.
“I blame the manager” said the first, “if he would sign new players, then we could be a great side”
“I blame the players” said the second, “if they made more effort, I am sure we would score more goals”
“I blame my parents”, added the third, ” if I’d been born in Gillingham, I’d be supporting a decent team!
Haringey council has blocked Tottenham’s plans to build a new ground on Northumberland Park. A town hall source said: “We don’t mind having a funfair there once a year, but a circus every fortnight is a bit much.”
Quality Clive.
Bernard, you are welcome here. You air your views and explain them which is all I ask. Just be careful not to turn the digs about ‘this board’ into any personal abuse, please.
Thanks.
Excellent, Matt 🙂
You can buy ‘Spurs, The Glory Years’ from most shops, priced £200. That’s £5 for the tape and £195 for the Betamax player.
A white van driver is making his deliveries through London when he spots an old preacher hobbling along the street and pulls up along side him to offer him a lift.
”where you going to father” asked the driver
”Oh just to the end of this road” replied the preacher
”Hop in I’ll get you there faster” said the driver.
The old preacher climbed in and off they drove.
Along the way the driver noticed a man wearing a spurs shirt walking on the pavement, being an arsenal fan the driver began to pull to his left and speed up to clip the spurs fan.
At the last second the driver remembered the preacher was in the car and swerved right back onto the road, although he was sure he missed the spurs fan he still heard a great ‘thud’.
”forgive me father, it appears I might’ve hit that guy back there”
”No you missed him” said the preacher, ”But I got him with the door”
AW says it wasn’t a case of deja vu yesterday, but it did feel that way to me. Look good, scare the shit out of them for a while, create some openings, don’t take them and end up getting beat.
I can accept the result, as the performance was decent and the attitude of the players was good, but it just makes the Sunderland and WBA results harder to take.
With only 1 point from the last 9, maybe this international break has come at a good time. Just hope that there are no new new injuries and the boys are raring to go against Birmingham when they get back.
Long way to go yet.
A rum and coke to toast Monty’s Marvellous Men please.
CoYRRR’s
How many Sp*rs fans does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, they are used to living in the shadows.
How can you tell when Spuds have a good player?
He’s having a medical at Manchester Utd!
Bloke goes up to the box office at white hart lane, hands over £60 and says two please. The bloke behind the counter say what would you like sir… defenders, midfielders or strikers?
@True Storey: That cylinder of N2O worked great! Another one please barman!
Matt, you’re on form tonight, make sure you don’t peak too early!
Nice to have RP7 back at Colney. Wonderful memories and right up there with my two other favourite No. 7’s, Chippy and Rocky.
You’re right Jersey, I’ll stop here then: http://www.northwestblues.co.uk/SpursShop.html
I have mixed feelings about these jokes, in the sense they feel a bit contrived and generic (replace Spuds by just anything else and you get a similar effect). On the other hand the Liverpool forums are full of real gems…
“Give me administration, a 9-point penalty, relegation and some bottle.”
“We will be the new Leeds United…
– aye, the old one was bad enough.”
“Wishing for relegation is like wishing for your arm to be cut off so you can stop injecting heroin in it. ”
“If you prefer relegation, go root for someone in the 4th division. Like Northampton.”
“But, why the fuck are you even talking about relegation? We all know we won’t go down.”
“It’s easy to say though that we won’t be relegated, but if you’ve seen any of our games this season then you might have doubts.”
“Our club is now being hurled forward on rails leading to death and destruction.”
“I know Hodgson is second rate and the team is playing shite, but we’re better than some relegation foddering teams. ”
“We’ve taken everything for granted. Our rightfull place in the top four. And then in a relegation scenario we’d take our return stronger and fitter and better for granted too? ”
“Inviting relegation though, that’s a huge risk, for every Newcastle that bounces back there is a Sheffield Wednesday, Notts Forrest and Leeds.”
“I think we would get mullered in the Championship. Blacpool and Northampton proved that.”
“I’m just sick of the lot of it – boards, players, fans, money, authorities. I just want my club back, if it even exists anymore…”
“For me it’s a combination of many things, all conspiring against us.”
“Any stats on average of where the 18th placed team after 7 games end up after a full season? 19th? 16th?”
“Let’s rebuild this club from scratch.”
On Hogson:
“I don’t like saying this but sack Roy”
“And for the record before someone has a go, I never called for Rafa to be sacked. ”
“the man is a great big unambitious flabby sack of nothin’. hope he quits.”
“It is better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
“this is not a go at roy hodgson, but have we had any good games under him yet?”
“The thing about Roy is that he is a foreign manager who is English.”
“We could have easily gone for the reverse, so to say, a swedish manager with experience in England. With a better track record as well. Not saying i want him, but his football record would’ve been loads better.”
“A few years ago I would have been in stitches if you’d have told me we would sack rafa for roy hogson. Now fucking look at us.”
“I recall many on here discussing some post apocalyptic vision post Rafa and with G&H still here. Well it’s coming true. I just fear how far we can fall?”
“I think, at the minute, we’d make the most accomplished managers look shite givin the clubs circumstances.”
“Jesus Christ. He’s not the devil. He’s a limited football manager doing a job he’s ill equipped for. ”
🙂
North bank Ned you can bring up that one statistic as if that shows that there’s not so much difference between the two teams but that’s very unreflective. Wasting golden opportunities like Anelka for example did with the open goal is not what you expect to see on a regular basis. Us wasting chance after chance really is. Most of our shots in the game were very long range efforts so they were never likely to go in either.
How many times are we going to hear that we created a hatful of chances but only drew, or we won 3-0 but it should have been 10 etc etc. It’s just normal for arsenal, not for Chelsea. Look at the partisan game. How many one on ones does it take to put a game to bed??? Against us we are always seeing fantastic keeping displays denying us all our chances. More often than not it’s just average finishing on our part and a halfway decent keeper, nothing more.
We can act like it was a one-off, bad luck, unfair or any other thing, but the fact is the way this game went was predictable and anyone who thinks otherwise is incredibly naive
Looks like I am a bit late to the party tonight. I have enjoyed the report and the drinks. Some interesting points made but the questions posed in your last paragraph holic sums a lot of it up for me. What really frustrates me is that for me we just do not seem to have learnt anything at all. Against the Chavs we were the masters of our own failure.
Sure we battled and gave it our all. But the quality and balance just is not quite there for me. I said last season that I would hate to finish just short having not addressed obvious short comings. I was very frustrated. AW in his prog notes at the Citeh game at the end of April stated that he had identified the weaknesses, had identified targets and and was actively pursuing these. Fantastic I thought. Especially as my honest belief is that we really are not that far away from being a really top side.
Now fast forward to Sunday and where exactly are we? We turn up at the bridge on the back of 2 poor results and performances in the league. We are missing key players but we are The Arsenal. Surely the lessons of having a squad not strong enough have well and truly sunk in? It would appear not. Loads of possession and all of a sudden we are one down. In my opinion we were sloppy at the back and did not defend it well. I also do not think that Fabainski is blameless. I know that is not the popular call but I do feel that any keeper beaten at his near post should ask certain questions regardless of the quality of the finish.
I must admit that when the first went in I really did not think we would get back into it. I just did not feel good about it. We again had loads of ball, sent in loads of crosses but still could not make Cech make a save. Completely unacceptable in my book. The 2nd goal was a great hit and I think you just have to well done when that happens.
All in all there were a few positives. Fabainski had a decent game on the whole. But for me that just demonstrates why he should have spent the season on loan and playing every week. We worked hard and battled but quite frankly were just 2nd best.
So where do we stand? Is it a bridge too far? Well, I agree with your sentiments holic and would suggest that it is. I said in a previous post that when you are chasing a game at the Champions then I am not jumping out of my seat when I see our match winning subs as Vela and JET. No disrespect to either but I am guessing that Chav fans were not too bothered either.
For me the same problems that existed 2 years ago still exist. The balance of the side, especially on midfield is not right. There is often a huge gap between midfield and defence making us vulnerable to the ball over the top and a break. This is nothing new. Just ask Stephen Pinnear.
But my real big problem is that this year we have had the money to do something about it. I look at the players we have lost and have to ask, is our squad really any stronger? Marginally perhaps but not enough to make an impact on games like yesterday. For me, that is inexcusable. As I said above, I really believe that we are only a few decent signings away from being something very special. One word of warning though. For those above who want to Pires back playing in an Arsenal shirt again please take a long hard look at what you are saying. Nostalgia aside if you really think a 36 year old former player is the way forward them we might as well all go home now. I am still a massive Pires fan. He is up there as one of my favourite Arsenal players of all time. I have also be fortunate enough to meet the great man. But please get any idea of him playing in the first team out of your heads. That is not the way forward.
We now have another unwanted week off. I hope that AW gets hold of his golden generation and can somehow turn them round.
Sorry for rambling holic. I will have a pint of London Pride please.
Heaven help Birmingham City in 12 days’ time. Given the fury that we need to unleash it does not look like a good time to face the Arsenal.
Spot on bt8bbnn!
All we need is a win vs. Brum and a loss of points for Chelsea at Villa, and everybody will calm down and come back to normal again :).
@ Bernard 40 too true pal,if your opinion differs with the regulars in the bar you are scolded and basically told to sit in the corner like a bold child,your original point was bang on the button,nothing has improved from last season.
@ Bernard,you should also realise that Matt is the biggest brown noser of Holic you’ll find on this site,anything Holic says Matt agrees 100% with,if Holic makes a joke Matt guffaw’s with laughter like a court jester,there are other’s not far behind Matt in the arse licking of Hollic,but he certianly is the clown prince.
If you really think that an improvement is seen only if you beat a team that you lost to last season then you’re wrong. We have improved drastically from last season and it’s quite obvious to the neutral eye (not an anti Wenger and not an AKB).
Gaz, you’re right about everything even if your wording is, let’s say not unexpected.
1) I love this blog and yes I am a great fan of `Holic, I’ve said it many many times and I’m proud to say it again, this is the best Arsenal blog bar none thanks to the quality of `Holic’s posts and the exceptional community of holics whose contributions tops any other blog I know of (and I read many). If you want me to, I’ll gladly develop on the many aspects of this blog I appreciate.
2) I’m particularly honored by your acknowledgment of me being a jester and a clown and I’ll do everything I can to live up to that reputation. I do entertain the secret hope that some holics indeed find some of my contributions entertaining.
3) I also acknowledge gladly that I can’t stand the people that only come here to pounce on the manager or the players at every opportunity. The ones who never show up at the bar before the games or when we win but barge in to shout abuse when things don’t go our way. Hum, who could I be talking about do you think?
4) And perhaps because I’m old-fashioned and despite english not being my mother-tongue, I confess a tendency to dislike disregard for cogent arguments, proper english and adequate punctuation. Funny, that matches the exact same people I alluded to in my previous point.
Now considering most of yours and bernard’s contributions are along the lines of “Wengker out” and “al our playerz R shit”, why don’t you go and share your pearls of wisdom on a like-minded site. Or even better, come out of the closet and buy that blue shirt you’ve been lusting after for so long?
@Snir: pushing your line of reasoning further, having someone like Alan Hansen come out 3-4 times on MOTD along the lines of “Arsenal were the better team” or “Arsenal had the better players” (even if according to him CSKA London had better tactics) is a hell of an acknowledgment of our progress.
If this is what we can do on their turf with 3 strikers, Cesc and Vermy missing there’s definitively hope for the return game at the Grove.
@Steve: I’m really ecstatic about Bobby Pires coming back, not as a player (although I think he could perform in cameos) but as a mentor. Looking back at some of our performances, Bobby could do wonders tuning our young players’ mentality. He’s the one who’s young enough to relate to them and knows exactly what needs to be done week in week out to win silverware.
Matt- I’ve said yesterday that with this kind of performance and with Cesc fit (not relying on a fit RvP ever again, I’ve just had it with his chocolate legs) we get the 3 points at the Emirates.
I also know that Chelsea’s defense is probably the best TEAM defense in Europe. They way they close with 7 players in their own box makes it impossible to get Chamakh/Arshavin in on goal without having a Cesc pass rip the defense, Nasri is good, but not there yet.
On the other hand, Chelsea’s play away from home is a joke and they have some tough away games coming up that will cool everyone down once the gap will be closed in Mid November (Villa, Blackburn, ‘Pool, Brum all away, I see Chelsea losing at least 4 points from these 12 potential points).
Snir, I’m happy to see you’re in such a good disposition! But I would urge some caution in your optimism. I’m still dejected with the Chelski result but as others have said, the real issue was the West Brom game. We face sterner tests with Birmingham, Newcastle and Citeh after the interlull and we’ll go into these games with the same lack of balance we’ve been suffering from since the injuries to our strikers, more precisely we’ll play 433 with only 2 natural forwards (natural in the supporting striker role), one of them giving it all in every game and looking jaded already (unsurprisingly). Not only that but building the team around Cesc means we have to drastically alter our formation according to his availability which doesn’t help the players find each other on the field.
7 points is a big gap, the best we can hope imho is to maintain or slightly reduce it until our players are back and then gnaw at it during the winter. If we’re level next year it will already be a huge achievement in my book.
@ Steve T 97
Interesting comments. Well articulated points although I take a slightly more positive view. Yes, I would have liked to see Wenger use a bit more of the cash burning a hole in his back pocket but I still believe this assumes (a) the ‘right’ available targets were out there who could easily slot into our squad and (b) they were available at the right price. I personally believe Kos is a highly promising player and his partnership with Squillacy, having been thrown in at the deep end, has largely proven successful. I feel the same way about Chamakh. These guys have been thrown into the lions den, due in part, to our injury problems.
I do believe there are issues to address around our strike rate against scoring opportunities. Simply put, we need to score more goals ~ for goodness sakes, we get enough opportunities! There are other issues I have around the gaps that often appear between defence and midfield (I completely agree with you). Under those circumstances, when we leak goals, the defenders are too often blamed [unfairly] when the fault lies with the midfield.
Though just to conclude, I personally feel a bit of perspective is needed. Sunderland, I believe, are a better team than given credit and the West Brom result was unforgiveable. There are few sides who will go to Chelsea and come away with a result. Their squad is incredibly strong! Right now, I think we’re good for 2nd or 3rd place, which I think will be proven over the course of the season.
One further point please. I thinking trying to use players like VDV at Sp*rs to justify how we have failed to strengthen in the transfer market is a pointless argument. VDV has been a spectacular failure at every club he has played (despite starting wth a hail of glory). Not forgetting no one else wanted him before he finally arrived at the Lane. I wonder why that was?
To Bernard…..I say don’t be fooled.
An early morning refreshing Orange juice please barman 🙂
Matt, Well done sir! A truly eloquent tongue bashing!
As for Saturday, the young’ns played well, for the most part. I’m of the school of thought that says if you allow Drogba to take that shot 100 more times that he’ll make it 3, maybe 4 times. Alex’s shot was a bomb, but if the line stays strong it could’ve deflected elsewhere. Fab number 2 played fairly well, and hopefully he can do this consistently. Now all we can do is sit tight and hope we come from the break unscathed.
I don’t know who said it back there in the comments, but it’s the truth. Take any other squad’s best player from each position and then some and see if they can put chelsea on their heels at the Soviet Bridge. Hat’s off to the gunners.
How about a cider to chase the strongest thing you’ve got ‘holic.
Bit of leeway being given here, but the game was now two days ago, so please refrain from personal ‘digs’ and debate the points in question please.
I like the usual atmosphere here and I want it to stay that way.
Thanks all.
Morning Holics!
Matt you certainly were on fire last night good on you son!
Looks like the bar was very busy last night, I had the honour unblocking my toilet last night as my 5 year old stuffed it with bog roll. Anyway, some very interesting points on here you have to admit.
I still disagree with Steve T that Fabianski was at fault for the first goal, not that he’s my fellow country man because anything off the post is impossible to save. Nasri was at fault and so was for the second too, this guy had a really good pre-season however he’s still making school boy errors. I’m sure he will learn from his mistakes and makes up for it during the season.
From now on lets forget about the Chavs, Man City and Man U or Spuds for that matter. We need to look at ourselves to be honest with you. I suppose I wouldn’t mind loosing to the Chavs because they are the team to beat this season especially in the Premier League, however what hurts the most is the WBA game where three sweet points should have been secured in the bag end off. It is in games like these we must show we have improved and for now we are not making enough progress.
The only improvement we had so far was the Sunderland away game, that game should also be won but wasn’t and we all know why. We lost there last season so a draw was a good achievement especially with 10 men on the pitch, Chavs was another slight improvement. However if we don’t improve from now on against the minnow teams then we are truly not getting any silverware this season. Last term we gave away points like there is no tomorrow against lesser teams especially towards the end of it, we all remember:
Win The Next Game
Time to regroup rethink few strategies and resume the League with bang after those boring internationals.
Barman a nice tall latte please for me and another N2O for Matt if he’s still around
West brom comes back to bit us in our arse.
I think the most profound sentiment is that most gooners expected a loss – and that in itself tells a story.
Chelsea are a next to impossible to beat at Stamford Bridge and I thought we put up a very good fight, better than last year.
Steve T @ 97,
Bang on the money comment,
Finally after a week of waiting and a days holiday yesterday, I toddle into work this morning to find True Storey sitting on my desk Happy Days, Thats me sorted for the week and the interlull 🙂
Pint of Leeway please Keeps, esp if you’re giving it away 😉
Matt – like your comments on post 103, very well put together. Maybe I shouldn’t celebrate you putting someone down, and to be fair poor Gaz did feel a bit of an easy target, but it needed doing.
As for the concept of brown-nosing ‘Holic, surely if you were invited to someone’s house you would be polite and deferential to the host? I think the same should apply to the barman surely?!
Also this is one of the few blogs that doesn’t seem to degenerate into personal insults and somehow seems to allow a good healthy debate among fans who all want the same thing (success for Arsenal) but just have different ideas as to how this should be achieved.
On a separate note, the pictures of Bobby back with Arsenal filled me with joy. A truly class player, he can surely only help the squad in training. However given we still have some spaces in our squad of 25, I would love to see a cameo from the bench! Come on Arsene we need something to lift the gloom before it settles!!!
Untold is friends with everyone. We’re awfully nice people really.
Tony
Awww fuck it – look on the bright side. Drogbas 33 next year.
Seriously though – I’m not upset at the signings this summer. I think we have an enviable squad. But it comes back to injuries. Lets stop bickering about ifs and buts. We have to except that we will very rarely have even 80% first teamers for any given period in a season available. That said, can the rest cope, yes they should.
Sunderland was unfortunate. WBA was a disgrace. KGB was probable.
Simples.
@ Matt and essexpieboy,’this is one of the few blogs that does’nt degenerate etc etc….’,only if the views agree with all the Holic regulars,i dont come on here to knock the manager or the players,i have an opinion on them like we all do,Wenger is a great manager but he has a very stubborn side that is in MY view getting in the way of progress,also if i think a player is not good enough for Arsenal i will say it,whether you Holic devotees like it or not,it’s MY opinion,and Matt as for my blue shirt,well that comment just shows you for the gobshite arse licker that in MY opinion you are,you dont know fuck all about me so i’ll just leave it at that.i took a look at this blog because it gets good mentions on Arseblog,which in MY opinion is the top Arsenal blog,but after a few weeks of looking i think i’ll say my goodbyes to all the arse lickers and go back to a more Arsenal blog.
Problem I see with this team is they dont defend from the front to the back, Song has started playing like Diaby, its as if someone told him “ok last season you learned the basics, and did them well, now we want you to push further up the pitch” why? The best teams of Arsenal in last ten years had flair, but they also had defenders and midfielders who’s priorty was to defend, Sol, Dixon, Adams, Viera, Petie etc etc, they defended first played pretty football second, not this lot.
Gaz
Offending people when you don’t know them is just plain wrong, there are people here who would disagree with Holic himself me included. It’s one thing to have decent debate on a subject but calling people “arse lickeres” just shows how much intelligence your brain can hold and how much respect you have for other fellow Gooners.
Gaz there are plenty of people having a pop at players and managers on here – eg Steve T, but in a reasoned and intelligent way.
It’s called an argument, and it doesn’t mean one person is right or wrong. It doesn’t have to degenerate into personal and generalising abuse.
Glad to see that the penny has dropped and you will choose not to visit again – as that is your right, and I’m sure you have better things to do with your day than wasting energy on slagging sites / people off. If you don’t like or enjoy, don’t click.
Simples.
Good morning ‘Holics one and all.
The memories of Sunday are now fading nicely only to be replaced with the tedium of the interlull and the nail biting and fretting over our boys not coming back crocked in some way – especially young Jack!
I see we have royalty with us this morning in the bar in the fine form of Mr. Tony Attwood.
Tony, a very warm welcome from me. I’ve read your blog many times although this is where I feel most at home, hence I only post here. That’s probably a blessing in disguise for you and I can hear groans from my fellow ‘Holics as I type this 🙂
Nevertheless, I for one will consider you and your site as friends and being awfully nice people too. We’re all on the same side after all differing only in our views and opinions and long may it continue.
Barman, whatever he’s drinking please and I’ll have another coffee.
PS for Gaz: I love the fact that you’re forthright with your views – it’s good to have a diversity of opinions here in our bar and your taste in music, I seem to recall, is also pretty cool. So, let’s try to keep things friendly amongst us all. Sorry that you feel the atmos and tempo here is not you – you’ll only get out of it what you choose to put in. Regards to the The Arseblogger (another great site) and maybe you’ll pop by for a drink again sometime soon? Oh, and if this post counts as brown-nosing in your view, well so be it.
Yes chelsea are the best / strongest and a very shrewd side , they have 18 points the most you can get is 114 they have already dropped 3 , if they drop another 15 they will end up with 96 , so I think they will drop between 11 and 18 more points, which means WE ARE STILL IN IT come you gunners
@ Matt #95
Fantastic post mate, thanks! You must have put some serious research into that although the thought of trawling other clubs’ blogs makes me feel just a tad queasy.
To be fair to our friends at Untold, they’ve been predicting the implosion of Liverpool FC for some time now, driven mainly by a financial background which is a debacle. I think right now if Liverpool was a horse you’d shoot it NOT that I want them to go all Leeds on us.
It looks like the N2O worked last night so please have an alternative, er, drink on me of your choice.
Cheers!
Untold is friends with everyone. We’re awfully nice people really.
And always welcome here, Tony.
@True Storey #124
I, along with many others, also predicted the Liverpool implosion and I have to say I am suprised at how many people actually seem surprised about what is happening now. For all the fancy-dan accounting trickery in the world that can show that you are making a “profit” despite ever-increasing debts, at the end of the day there is one simple truth that we all know you can never escape: if money in is less than money out for too long, then you’re fucked.
I would also say that unless Liverpool are very, very lucky and a buyer who doesn’t care about losses (like the Man City plonker) comes along, their problems may have only begun. Many still seem to think that if only a new owner comes along then all will be fine but things are far from that simple, in my opinion. If the new owner, who will still have to shell out a hell of a lot of money just to buy the club, does another LBO it’s just out of the frying pan and into the fire. They need serious investment in their squad and they desperately need a new stadium to increase matchday revenue etc. How many potential owners can provide that without making the club have to pay for the whole thing?
@Gaz, 100/101/118…Good man. Sounds like you have your opinions & like myself get scolded. I read Arseblog daily, the #1 Blog & like yourself found out about this “blog” from his references. I don’t come on here to slag off the Manager & Players, I give my opinions & then I’m told to sit in the corner. Having 1st visited Highbury at 8 years old, born at the Angel, Islington. Arsenal runs in my blood. In true tribal fashion, you’re born in Islington, you’re a Gooner through & through. Bad times & good times. Hope to see you on here again Gaz. Cheers.
@ Lars # 126
Spot on, totally agree, no surprises.
If you’re looking to make an investment, why would you put your money into a basket case? There seems to be precious little in the way of sound business arguments for a cash rich individual or organisation to sink a substantial sum of money into Liverpool FC. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen of course but the economic climate is also against them.
I’m taking a very late lunch now so can I buy you a drink?
Barman, are we still open?
The sad thing is that Liverpool isn’t the only team in that situation. Man Indebted, Barca-loan-a, and a number of Premier League sides have tons of debt. Success on the pitch is the only thing keeping them up. Liverpool finally got to the point where they couldn’t keep up the performances, and are free falling accordingly.
If that offer of a drink is still on the table, I’d happily take you up on it, Storey! In that case mine’s a pint of Boddingtons.
It sure is Lars, enjoy!
@ Joshua – it could also be argued the otehr way i.e. that the financial crisis is now affecting the perfomances of both the manager and the team – stands to reason?
Very true, True Storey. I think they feed off of each other, spiraling downward. Finance effects the team (decreased morale, less money for signings, etc.) which effects the performance, which effects the finance (loss of Champions League income, fewer people buying tickets, etc.), and so on…
A toast in honor of Arsene Wenger who has been so wise about our finances, barman (I’ll take a Guinness). Hopefully he’ll raise a cup of his own in return (the Champions League Cup that is).
Newcastle justifiably demand punishment against Dejong for breaking Ben Arfa’s leg:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/9063879.stm
Dejong also broke Holden’s leg 7 months ago and made the famous reckless studs in the chest challenge on Xabi Alonso in the WC Final. Strike up the chorus to get these thugs the punishment they deserve.
@ Joshua #132
“Very true, True Storey” – Heh! I knew I should have picked a better pseudonym.
I’ll join you in that toast to our Arsene and before I get branded as an “AKB”, I see his faults too. A double, double toast to lifting the CL Cup!
Barman? Your very finest please of whatever this fine fellow wants, and one for yourself too.
Sorry barman, failed to spot that Joshua had already specified Guiness. I’ll have one extra cold if you don’t mind 😉
Cat@121 are you trying to nick my sign off 😉
Simples.TM
@gaz: you’re the one who came up after me out of the blue, being aggressive and insulting in a comment that was totally uncalled for. What did you expect?
@bernard: look this is a site for people who love Arsenal. Now there are many opinions about what’s best for the club and everyone is entitled to his own. You are very critical of many players and the manager, this is how you see it, fine. But others are equally entitled to disagree with your points. You choose to be blunt and assertive and sometimes it backfires. Let me hust give you a few examples from comments you wrote this summer: “Wenger thinks we’re all mugs. Come the end of August when we’ve lost our 1st 2 away games at Liverpool & Blackburn & the transfer window is closed. What excuse’s will he use then?…. Arsene Knows Shit”
“Very sad to see our 2 young Spanish players, Cesc & Merida leave for brighter pastures.”
“Chamakh will be our only acquisition this off-season. Sad but true.”
Well obviously you were wrong on all counts. If I spoke like you I would say “bernard knows shit”. Doesn’t that feel insulting? I bet it does. So please watch your mouth, accept others may disagree with you and you may be wrong at times and drop your martyr stance. And perhaps from time to time you could also share a positive and constructive opinion too, it musn’t be that hard for someone who loves Arsenal. You’d be surprised how easier it would be for your points to come across if you adopt a more balanced stance.
Thanks to everyone for the appreciative comments on my jestering but I do have a bit of hangover from my N2O binge 😉
@Tony/116: Thankfully you’re not that friends with the leg breakers! Untold Arsenal is a top-notch blog, thanks a lot for all your good work Tony, always a pleasure to read your posts.
@True Storey/124: I read a few blogs from other teams, it keeps things in perspective. But above all I love reading the Liverpool forums because:
1) I’m totally into the financial aspects of football and I’ve been following their progressive demise for a few years now.
2) There are a lot of things to be learnt from what happens to Liverpool. Perhaps I’ll develop more on it during the interlull, I’m eager to read the holics opinions on the topic.
3) Scousers have a great sense of humour. I laugh often when reading their forums.
Evening ‘holics.
I’m looking for this place to become all touchy-feely interactive over the interlull. (In other words I can’t think what to put in for a fortnight!)
That’s not quite accurate, but I am looking for any contributions for us all to read and admire. As one of our number has already submitted the opener, which will be published tomorrow night, I am taking his theme and inviting more contributions about MEMORABLE ARSENAL MOMENTS!
Got a favourite game, a favourite player, a goal you just can’t forget. Tell me about it please, by email to gooner(at)goonerholic(dot)com, and I will post it in the coming days.
I’m sure you won’t let me down 😉
@behind the 8 ball but not nasri: Another Arsenal blog has a good short post on Newcastle’s complaint. At this point, I wish the FA does nothing and Newcastle sues them as I can’t think of anything else that will make them take action.
Here: http://anotherarsenalblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/well-done-newcastle-united-fc.html
Squillaci’s pass to Anelka was poor but he could have done much worse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBaOjw2yqCU
Matt, I’ve just read your posts from the last week. I was going to list some of your quotes on here as you did with mine but this 1 summarises you best, “Many whispers on how Vermy could find himself relegated to 3rd spot given how outstanding the 2 newcomers were”.
Says it all.
Evening all.
Some interesting view points as always.
@Snir 102. Please explain to me how we have “improved drastically.” Obvious to the neutral???? Not sure about that one. Yes we have made improvements and players have made strides in the right direction. Jack and Theo being the obvious examples. But have we improved drastically as a team???? Not in my opinion. Have a look at who has left the club in the last 3 years and then see who we have brought in.
@Matt 104. You make a point that I have made for many years. I have never understood why we let players go when they reach a certain age. I agree re Bobby. Perhaps if we had held onto him for a few more seasons then he could have had a great influence on the likes of Theo, Jack and many others. I felt the same about Gilberto. You can’t tell me the likes of Denilson and Song would not be better players for having his like mentoring them? I have never understood that. Sol was a great example of that last season.
@Don 107. I hear what you say about targets but AW himself basically said in April that he was already talking to targets, there was more than enough finance and that he hoped to conclude all deals prior to the world cup. What happened then? We lost a striker and replaced him with another. We lost 4 centre backs and brought 2 in. We failed to address the goal keeper situation. We failed to address the holding midfield player situation and we have still failed to bring in an out and out striker. I am a big fan of Chamakh. For nothing I think he is a great signing and a great team player. But the fact is that the “identified targets” just did not materialise.
@Arthur 111. I do not blame Fabianski for the goal. I think the goal was defended poorly all over. My opinion is that any keeper should and would be disappointed if they let one in at their near post. To blame for the goal? No. Blameless? Also no.
@Chippy 113. Thank you.
Just to put the record straight I am not anti Wenger or anti any of the players. I am a big AW fan. I love the football we play and I love the way we bring players through. But there has to be a balance and I just do not think we have that right just yet. What I want for the club is to maximise it’s potential. I want us to be the best we can be. At the moment I do not think we are doing that. I think it was Don that mentioned about paying over the odds for a player. Well the transfer market is no different to any other market. Sometimes you have to negotiate and sometimes you end up paying a little more than you would have liked. But the ends has to justify the means. If the end result is that we spend a few bob, get the players we need in and improve then in my opinion that has to be the way to go. I do not mean spending ridiculous amounts on average players, but genuine quality. Quality of the likes of a Pires, Gilberto, Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Overmars etc etc. It worked before so why not now?
As I have said, I do genuinely believe that we are not that far short of being something very special.
My take on these tackles is that they will continue just as long as average players can get away with it, and average managers can get away with sending their players out to play like that. They will continue until the victim is a Rooney or a Gerrard.
Keep the faith……….
It’s all right bernard, I don’t claim to know it all in football. I’m sure you can find many quotes from me worse than the one you selected as I’ve been ranting here for years. Like everyone else I’ve been wrong more often that I’d like, even more so since I left a written trail of my shortcomings for all to see…
Looks like I picked a good night to skip the bar (last night) – nice and lively lads !
Personally, I felt a little bit encouraged after the Chavs, despite the defeat, because of the fight we showed – for the most part – and made it a much closer encounter than last season.
With a bit of distance though, you look at the score, and look at their goals, and it’s the same old, same old.
I can’t agree with BTM, that we ‘will beat them at the Emirates’.
I dearly hope we will, but it won’t matter how many players we have back from injury, or who they are, if they don’t improve their awareness and desire to defend properly.
When our full-backs hit their goal-line, as they often do, someone, “wingers” or defensive midfielders, has got to cover until they get back.
The Chavs classic ploy is the long deep ball to the wings for Anelka / Cole / Drogba to run onto. The amount of wide open space on both sides of our defence, time after time, was incredible.
We hear from the players that they are desparate to win a trophy.
A shame, then, that so many of our defeats are so avoidable.
On the subject of special goals etc,, one springs to mind with the return of the majestic Robert Pires to the club.
Aston Villa, at Highbury, ball played wide to Bobby who chips over the defender’s head. As he turns to try and see where the ball has gone, Pires is already primed to chip, even more sublimely, over the keeper into the far corner for the winner.
Pure class.
I do think that one of the problems our current squad has, is that it is inevitably compared to our last title-winning squad.
That team, with Henry, Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires and so many more, was like a perfect storm.
Fantastic technique, power, pace, amazing mental strength, and an iron will to win.
A team like that happens along once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky.
Every minute of Bobby’s return should be savoured, in whatever capacity, before he’s gone again.
Welcome home Sir Robert !
Steve – Improved drastically in both defense and offense. Take a look at the win at Blackburn, that is a draw/loss in previous years. For a long time I felt secure with our defensive game and was proud to see the way the team dealt with that aerial bombardment.
You can also see improved play on offense with addition of another dimension – Chamakh (goal against Bolton, and most importantly Belgrade cause I personally had the feeling that we won’t get a goal from nice little flicks around the box but only from a cross).
We either got tougher or stronger but we don’t (!) get bullied around anymore, not even against Essien and Mikel. We did lose against Chelsea but that had nothing to do with being bullied, we were just missing that Cesc killer pass to break down the best defense in Europe, believe me you’re not gonna be the only team to be shut down by Chelsea’s defense at the Bridge.
@AFC 74….. oh, come now. I’m sure that AA23 trademarked that little sign off before you! 🙂
@bernard, take a look at how Steve T disagrees with many of us on several things – but he argues his points in a calm and balanced way. No insults, no being a martyr or anything, just arguing his points and exchanging views with the rest of us.
@Storey, thanks for the pint yesterday, it was very tasty!
@SteveT: I agree completely that “improved drastically” is a bit over the top, but I still think we have improved. I don’t miss Gallas one bit and however many players we lost or bought our central defenders look stronger as a group this season. In reality, Djourou was never part of the squad last season due to his injury and Senderos was only part of the squad on paper and was replaced by Sol in the January window. This meant that effectively we had Sol/Senderos, Gallas, Vermaelen and Silvestre, this season we have Djourou, Vermaelen, Koscielny and Squillaci. I think that is a stronger group because however hard Silvestre always worked I think we can all agree he was a bit shit 🙂
As it is still rather early, just a cup of tea with a shade of milk, please.
It seems that Liverpool have been bough by an American:
Boston Red Sox owner buys Liverpool
So, what will this one turn out to be – a free-spending nutter or another LBO leech?
Morning ‘Holic & ‘Holics
@ ‘Holic # 139 – I’ll do my best to dig out memories of a mid week match against Juventus in the ’80s, now where did I put that programme…?
@ Matt #138 – Thanks for added points esp. the one about Scouse humour, it is a bit special isn’t it? What would Harry Enfield know, eh? Maybe I should quell my nausea and take a quick dip into one of their forums? Can you recommend your favourite for the uninitiated?
@ Lars #148 – You’re very welcome mate! I passed out early after mine. Thanks for the ‘Pool update – well I never – I hope it works out for them/him. That should send their blogs and humour into overdrive…
Have a great day all.
Barman? How about coffee and croissants all round – I’m paying 🙂
Partly in response to Matt @ 141 but generally for all the people who can make it to the bar for a morning coffee. How to bring your keeper into the game nice and early to settle the nerves….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpSo1aciPqU
Lars,
From what i was hearing on Sky this morning its far from a done deal and it looks like the whole sorry mess could be played out in court, Im not a fan of the Scousers and subscibe to the view its the city of pity but whats happening to that football club is a complete farce and so unfair on the fanbase – Besides that this bloke to me seems no richer than the two muppets theyve in charge at the moment hes not exactly Abu Dabi Do is he, Seems the pain will get a whole load worse before it gets better.
The other interesting snippet from this morning was an interview with Cesc regarding Spain and Portugals 2018 bid but the commentator made a snide remark thats all Cesc could talk about as he was pretty much gagged from discussing Arsenal/Barca saga which was worrying !!
Chippy – re your comments on Cesc. It is hard to tell given the blanket silence that has fallen on the Barca story, but I have my worries that Cesc’s position is hardening now. I’ve heard nothing from him recently (maybe a good part of this due to his injury), but this interview almost feels like a veiled dig at life in England and therefore his unhappiness.
That said, it is very easy to read all manner of things into the nuances of a sentence, so this could be absolute rubbish. Can’t help but think the last three EPL results for Arsenal won’t have helped.
I think all Arsenal fans want Cesc to stay, but almost as important (at least for me) is that I want him to want to stay, yet no one at Arsenal has any control over that.
Morning Chippy (@ #152)
It’s going to be a helluva job to sort the information form the b*llsh*t on this deal. I think you’re spot on regarding the (significant) pain before the gain. Given the awful state of their finances, any businessman with nouse is likely to push for some kind of fire-sale deal before committing to his hard-earned. This one is going to run and run. My guess is that no package will be put together until Liverpool enter administration – it’s only a personal view of course.
I’ve ceased to worry about Cesc. As magnificent as he is on his day and wonderful professional that he is, I believe we’re already well on the path of building a team that can cope admirably without him. Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather that he stayed for at least the duration of his contract but when he goes we’ll be just fine. No one man is greater than our fine club. I include Arsene in that statement as well.
It’s good to be talking about Arsenal again – for a minute I thought we might be turning into a Liverpool blog, heaven forbid! 😉
Essex,
Agree – Im of the opinion (Only my opinion) that this is his last season at the club and to make the move as harmless as possible he and the club have agreed to go all silent stan on the issue. Im not sure id want to be in the boards shoes or Wengers in the summer if they sell him mind 🙂 Project Youth is dead the minute he leaves the club and as our only truely world class player a whole host of shit will hit the fan.
Fabregas is a clever boy and knows exactly how his words will be taken and thats what worried me about the interview well that and that smarmy barstard who took great delight in pointing out he couldnt say anything about the summer.
Your last sentance is spot on – Great players have come and gone and weve always survived quite nicely
All these worries about Fabregas, Arsenal and the world… Barman, can I please have a dash of something stronger added to my coffee!
True Storey,
Morning Mate – Im not big on Financials and dont really understand the full significance of whats happening but from my basic knowledge Liverpool are crippled by their debt and the interest payments
Now for them to become competitive over a substantial period they need to wipe out the debt, Build a new stadium and then invest a couple of hundred mill in the team – Now to me you need to be a seriously seriously rich man or country to be able to do that and from what ive read and heard this blokes personal wealth is nowhere near enough a case of from the frying pan into the fire if you will,
Calm Down Calm Down we havent gone that in depth 🙂
chippy, it would seem you are right, the article I linked to actually even mentions the legal proceedings but only does so in passing as if it is just a formality which it would seem it is not.
@ Chippy #157
Eh! Eh! Alright mate! I’m of to that London near Oxfordshire this afo.
PS: Does this count as racist? Slap my wrists if it does 🙂
@Steve T: great series of posts really.
I would like just address the financial aspect because there are many ways to interpret “there is money to spend”.
Even if we don’t like it, football is a business driven by money. In the last decade (and probably even before), every season in every major league the clubs end up ranked in the order of their wage bills bar a few outliers.
This season the wage bills will be something like:
Us 4th
United 3rd (wage bill like us + 10%)
Chelsea 2nd (us + 30%, it was more before their summer clearance)
Citeh 1st (us + 50%)
So on one hand you can count on project youth to hatch and defy the odds (that’s for us fans), on the other hand you want to grow the club until it’s close enough to the biggest wage bill (the owners). Fans want success, owners want to grow the value of their investment as much as they can. Luckily our paths cross because the more revenue the club generates, the bigger the wage bill, hence the greater likelihood for silverware.
The football side of the club is barely above breaking even today because we’ve hit a short-term ceiling on our revenues. We have tied ourselves on long term contracts for the stadium naming rights (2021), the shirts sponsoring (2014), the Nike contract (2014) and the merchandising (2012). We were happy to get the money upfront to build the Grove but these contracts are severely underpaying 7 years later. To give you an idea if all of them were renegotiated today we could afford a wage bill similar to today’s Chelsea. So we’re more or less set at the same level of revenue for the next 2-3 years. Chelski’s and United’s wage bills will come further down (who knows for Citeh…) but the top 4 ranking won’t change fundamentally until 2014-15 (unless United does a Liverpool) nor will our ability to increase the wage bill.
But then couldn’t we use our cash to puff up until we get those revenues? The fan’s answer is yes but not so much for the owners who have to work out the different scenarios.
While we take for granted the CL spot finish, the owners would be foolish not to plan for the worst case-scenario, a terrible season, out early from all the cups and out of the top 4. Unlikely but far from impossible. To cover for the revenue loss would take more than half the available cash and that’s if we get back in the top 4 the following season, otherwise there goes all the money from the flats.
They also have to plan for the best-case scenario, we win silverware (or a CL final) this season or the next, just when most of our players contracts are to be renegotiated. All the big clubs will be sniffing around and we’ll have to increase our wage bill very significantly by an amount that the increased revenue will certainly not cover (remember Barcelona and their emergency loan?) until 2014.
In short from the owners perspective, most of the money is stashed away for rainy or sunny days and we cannot afford to increase our wage bill substantially until 2014.
Unfortunately the quality players you’re calling for do cost a lot of money because Citeh, Madrid and Barca inflate the prices with their reckless spending. As it is today I can’t see how the owners would consent on spending 25M+ on a player + 6M+/year in wages.
For free and relatively cheap players and cheap there has been and will be money available. For the expensive players? Not until the second half of the decade.
Sorry to bear the bad news. I could be wrong of course but don’t hold your breath.
‘holic you asked for fav goals – look mate after all these years and all these cognacs it gets a bit difficult
but is it a flashback or just a wonderful premonition you’d better judge for yourself
When the bustoppers come back to our place, our goalie boots the ball up the field (can’t tell which of them it was), Terryble heads it backwards, it hits Cuntley on his arse, and dribbles between the goalie’s legs, just as the clock goes to the 96th minute – 4-1 to the good guys
Suddenly I feel good today even though I agree totally with @160 Matt that this is Cesc’s last season – still Matt dont you think JW is ready to take over, and seems less injury prone – oops Ive said it now
lets find some XO Cognac all round barman
@Matt #160, that is a very good summary and one I wish all Arsenal fans would read (and understand). Too many don’t understand that paying a transfer fee is one thing, the trick is having enough income to pay the wages. More or less any club in the Premier League could spend £50m on buying a player – but they would be wound up within months because they would not have any money left to pay their bills.
However, I don’t share your pessimism about the revenue having hit a temporary ceiling. From now on, Highbury Square will provide a steady income instead of costing us money and this will make some money available. I have no idea how much they cost, but I’m quite sure that the flats at HS aren’t exactly rent-free – and there are several hundreds of them so I’m sure that money alone could cover a player or two even at fairly substantial wages. I mean, even assuming an average rent of £200 per flat per week (which, as far as I understand, is a VERY conservative estimate when we are talking about popular locations in London), that’s well over £100k of steady and reliable income every week of the year even after deducting costs for maintenance etc.
(if anyone knows how much it actually costs to live there, please enlighten us!)
Post-lunch pint of John Smith Extra Smooth, please!
Good things come to those who wait. The thing is a good drink makes the waiting easier. Barman, do you have any good sipping brandy? I have a feeling you can make a good profit if you get in an extra dram or two during the interlull. Just for general waiting purposes, I mean, with a possible spike or two in usage should we incur any more injuries. Happy lulling …
A bit late but just to add my two penny worth to the game on Sunday:
My son said after five minutes ‘this is just like last year – we commit forward they hit us on the break’. Not quite right but near enough to sum up my feeling in general. We still have not mastered the Barcelona ways of commiting people forward while choking off counter attacks. We need to press high to do that, but that leaves us vulnerable to route one if they have someone like Drogba to get on the end of things.
That said –
I begin to see the potential in Fabianski. I am a doubter but have to admit he looked more confident. Will watch with interest.
An eye opener I think for our two centre backs – route one from Chelsea and Drogba bullying. If these lads are fast learners then they will not get much more of a test the rest of the season.
Great to see JET come on. He will only get limited opportunities this year but I think this lad is going to be as big for us as Jack. Quick feet for a biggun and just as committed as the young tyro.
AA drives me nuts. He gave the ball away all the time, missed opportunities but at the same time looked like the only one who could cut them open.
That is it. Bit nonplussed overall. We are closer to the finished article but still not there. We will get there though – but will it be this year?
Snir. I hear what you say re improvements but do not agree. I do not see that the loss of gallas and having him replaced with his 30 year old understudy is progress. Kos has potential but i do not see the massive improvements you talk about. Chamack has been a very good addition to the squad and has been great so far. That would be strengthening if we kept eddie. But eddie was sold and not replaced. Replace him and add chamack and we would have improved. For every blackburn there is a west brom or a sunderland.
Matt. I hear what you say re finances but we continue to hear from the board that there is plenty to spend if needed and the figures released also back that up. It is a case of speculate to accumulate. A bit of calculated and measured speculation could make a big difference.
Steve – Obviously we have different valuations of Gallas. I think he’s shit and was our main defensive problem last year (not to main our dressing room problem) and that understudy thing doesn’t say a lot, after all, it is Domenech we’re talking about, he’s even worse than Gallas :).
main – mention.
Steve, don’t you feel the squad is stronger, more aggressive? I certainly feel that way and am not afraid that we’ll get kicked out of the park again no matter who we’re facing.
Steve, Squillaci was acquired with a view to being 3rd choice behind Vermaelen and Koscielny, at least judging by the difference in their transfer fees (about 4.5 million I think) so the comparison between him and Gallas is not fair but I do agree with Snir that Gallas would also not be the solution by any means were he still with us.
Gents i do think we look stronger and tougher. Denilson has got bigger and jack has added some bite.
The gallas situation is an interesting one. The fact is that we offered him and sol a new contract so i guess arsene wanted both to stay. If both had signed would we have bought one centre half? I would suggest not.
My point is really a simple one. Have we maximised ourselves as a club? With all that dosh sat in the bank and clear weaknesses my opinion is that there is room for improvement. And for whatever reason we have not taken that route.
To add to the above debate as it’s a good one in my view it’s not the personel that’s the problem it’s the system – The lack of communication is startling and rather than a unit they are 5 individuals that are also given no protection from ahead.
Our great back 5 all had weaknesses that could be exploited if left as one but as a unit they’d cover each others weak spots making them the best back 5 this club ever had, This took years of drilling and work on the training ground and my guess would be the art of defending as a unit is low down on the list of prioritys.
Steve, Snir and all,
Theo and Vela have also improved, and Nasri and Rosicky are playing above their levels of last season. Koscielny and Squillaci have been guarded successes considering they were not the planned CB pair. I feel marginally more confident with Squillaci than last season’s stopgap 3rd choice (Campbell) and Djourou as this year’s 4th choice is lots better than Silvestre. Also, Koscielny and Squillaci are much younger than Campbell and Silvestre. With Wilshere featuring regularly and Fabianski and JET having featured recently there is a greater sense of competition for places and that’s what keeps players on their toes. The new faces make the team more flexible and able to face a variety of situations but the benefits should be measured over the whole season, not 7 or 8 games.
@Lars & Chippy: The Liverpool situation is riveting. They are in self-destruct mode, everyone at the club is sniping at each other, there’s no consensus for the future (and the deal is not done yet as you mentioned, looks like the owners are still deluded they can get more). If the club ends up in administration in 10 days, they’ll be docked 9 points.
Top 4 is history for Liverpool. Avoiding relegation is their new dream.
One of the funny things is all the fans being in their majority totally disconnected from reality. You can still read countless comments bashing Houiller and Benitez who brought them european medals while they are fighting for survival. Very surrealistic…
I don’t agree with everything Steve said but like him I don’t see us in such a better situation compared to last year. Even if I believe our signings are excellent value and many players are becoming better, in the end it will still be down to injuries and on that front I don’t see much difference between this and the previous seasons.
I’m hoping that the efforts the club has been doing to reduce injuries will bear their fruits in the second half of the season but it’s not something we can count on. I’m sure we’ll have better periods than now, that the team will improve as a unit and some players will progress noticeably but as I have said from the get go this season is going to be a bumpy ride and the next couple of months won’t be the most comfortable. Every game will be a battle, we should take nothing and no one for granted, starting with Birmingham in 10 days.