A Deadline Day Ode
Sep 2nd, 2014 by 'holic
‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house, every brain was thinking, Arsene. Man or mouse?
Some laptops were broken, their batteries dead; the ice bucket challenger had some ice on his head.
What’s this? The anguished cry of so many, no central defender? the man is a Benny!
No beast of a man, to anchor the middle, oh Arsenal, Gawd’s sake, you boil my piddle.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear, and what, prey, did my Britneys’ hear?
As the three wise men had spotted afar, we had acquired our own bright northern star?
And Lo we had our new striker Danny, oh please be a Wrighty and not a damned Franny.
From the boardroom a cry with deadline day cheer, “Enjoy what you’ve got, you’ll be paying all year.”
Danny Welbeck, welcome to Arsenal son.
330 Responses to “A Deadline Day Ode”
Arsenal News 24/7
First?
Result!
Chuffed about Welbeck!
Absolutely chuffed about Welbeck. I’ve been a long term admirer of his and have been hoping we get him [right from the time we sold them RvP] – as a player exchange or something.
Anyways, Im glad he is here. I personally think he is on par with Giroud and we look great up front.
Of course, going into the season with 6 defenders and 1 currently knackered is stupidity.
But if Wenger feels that using Monreal as 4th choice CB instead of getting a Slyvestre is fine.. then so be it.
UTA.
Awe Holic, that was really good. Last bit scares me, though (before your welcome to Danny. Want to be clear about that!) ๐
๐ between yourself trev and CBA surely there’s a book of odes in there ๐
Further , despite some folks taking the piss out of Arsenal for signing him – fact is that you just need to see Man Utd reactions. Their fans are absolutely gutted, and not because he is their version of Jack Wilshere.
I think we are on to something here.
Renewal and a life line courtesy of Manchester United as they go down in flames? It looks like a possibility. And I thought last year was hilarious.
Virtuoso verses, ‘holic. ๐
๐
nice one big man
Nicely done, ‘Holic. For a moment there I feared there would be a reference to St. Nick and that TGSTEL was returning.
Welcome Danny…..great signing
Nicely put ‘holic!
Didn’t see this one coming…but I suddenly have a good, lucky feeling about this lad.
We shall see!
http://therepublikofmancunia.com/stats-danny-welbeck-compared-to-other-strikers-at-23/
Someone posted that on arseblog, I think it was rather interesting and it seems there’s alot of Unitedfans of the same mind. The goals per 90 minutes was surprising to say the least.
I realize this is a bit off topic, but I’m genuinely curious as to why people think not signing a big-name CB is a failure of Arsene’s, as opposed to a logical result of good players not wanting to put themselves in the position Vermaelen found himself in last season. Any player good enough to be in the reckoning for a decent-or-better international side knows, foremost, he needs to play regularly. In Mertesacker and Kozzer, Arsenal possesses a duo that ranks amongst the best in the world, and I can barely think of 10 CBs that could possibly believe they would be a preferred option to either of those two should they come to Arsenal. And all of those players are currently guaranteed starting spots on high salaries. They have no motivation to leave.
Had Arsene signed another Squillaci, the moans emanating from North London could have been heard on the International Space Station. And yet, only a player of that caliber would be willing to come in and be, at best, the third-choice player behind a duo that will play every non-league cup match provided healthy. The only way you convince a better player than that is to offer him wages far too outsized for his role on the team. And even then, you lose that player as soon as a better offer comes along, even if you make him the captain.
Yes, I wish we had brought in defensive cover. But I completely understand why that didn’t happen, and if you don’t believe me just listen to the bloke who passed up Arsenal to go play at Roma. That wasn’t over wages or transfer fee, it was over playing time, and I bet that is a fair representation of the attitude of any player fans would have rated as an acceptable acquisition.
There’s also the chance that Wegner has reason to believe that between Monreal and Hayden, he already has a fourth-choice CB better than what he could have gotten in the market. And, you know, I’ll go ahead and take a punt on what that man has to say about players. Not that he’s said anything, yet ๐
Cheers all, from a regular lurker and very rare contributor.
“To see him leave Manchester United is sad. He had been there since he was eight and his heart was in Manchester.”
And allways will be. Make no mistake about that.
Bucket, please.
Not quite ode-e-ous.
UTA!
Older readers may remember Brian Kidd. He joined us in 1974 when we were shite but had Brady and Ball. He was superb in his first season and virtually kept us up ( yes we were that bad) that year. He was apparently very homesick for Manchester and later went off to Citeh before becoming a trusted lieutenant of Fergie. But if anyone maintains we never get anyone decent from United I would mention Kidd and Jimmy Rimmer.
Great Post cdoyle @ 13.
Agree completely.
You should contribute more often! ๐
Heh! Holic,
You’re not a verse to an odd ode, then …….
Cdoyle
You should contribute more if you express that logic when you do. It’s a very good point. I suspect Hayden or one of the young prodigies on the youth team have impressed Arsene more than Squillaci who brought back memories of Cygan who brought back memories of Stepanovs ( you get the picture).
I was led to believe Winston’s Reid was keen to come and may run down his contract to join us on a free. As a New Zealander he is keen to reach as high a level as he can and believes he has the ability to break into the Arsenal team. Allardyce wouldn’t let him go. But your point holds good .
I think the other solution is someone able to play CB but who has another main position like Sagna or Carvalho. He was the addition I would have liked to have seen
Good stuff, maestro, I didn’t see that coming.
Sajit @3 please, could you explain how going into the season with six defenders is stupidity, especially when compared with our rivals? And which one of our defenders is knackered?
Good stuff, cdoyle.
I think your sister, Lynne, used to clean my football boots …….. ๐
Good stuff, H. Didn’t know you had poetic talents.
This boy is going to set the place alight, I am 100% sure.
Fine post cdoyle @13. Could not agree more.
@ Doyle, i am with you, but i don’t think people were asking for a world class CB. I think it was more of a good, strong, athletic DM. You can always get a third CB, which most definitely will not be world class. I think people were just saying how light we were defence wise. Bar that, i feel we did good with this window.
SAG, I think it was Dr F, who outlined our squad in the last set of drinks side by side with that of the Chavs, are we really any more low in defensive numbers than our rivals? I would say apart from City we are on par with, if not better than, the rest.
Franny Welbeck?
Trev – surely your cricket bat rather than football boots?
‘H – don’t give up the day job ๐
COYG
Cynic – Franny Jeffers.
Ok, Holic, so to continue your Christmas poem theme –
(to the tune of Jingle Bells) –
Hacking through the deals
On Transfer Deadline Day,
Where’s the Arsenal boss ?
Oh no, he’s gone away !
Gone to ref in Rome,
That seems very odd,
He should be at home
Building up our squad.
Chorus:
Oh, one DM, one CB
We need a striker too !
Falcao, Remy, Cavani,
Only the best will do.
Carvalho, Winston Reid,
Only famous names,
We need at least three of them
To get through all the games.
But you know Arsene,
He loves to buck a trend,
He’ll ignore the stars –
He’d rather match and mend.
He loves scoring goals,
Defending’s just for girls,
He won’t buy a centre back,
He’d rather go for thrills.
Chorus:
So, no DM, no CB,
What’s he trying to do ?
If our defence gets torn apart
Where’s the feckin’ glue-ooo ?
No DM, noCB,
What the flippin’ heck,
We’re only bringing in one man,
Please meet Danny Welbeck !
Happy Christmas – I hope ! ๐
Never played cricket, Pangloss. Hated it !
My dad made me use “dubbin” (?) on my boots – you’re right, not Lynne-cdoyle. ๐
Cent
can I try to explain where I think Sajit is coming from?
I feel that there is a small confusion in this bar especially after N7@417 post in the previous drinks when he compared our defense and the Chelsea one.
At first I thought to pay no attention, but after that post almost everyone in this bar started to believe that we don’t lack defenders number wise, compared to other squads. The example was Chelsea.
And it is true. We don’t lack defenders. Number wise we are nearly covered and nearly there, as the rest of the squads.
But there is a slight problem.
As far as I remember, no one here and barring few fans on twitter, ever complained about the lack of defenders in general.
Everyone complained about lack of CENTRAL DEFENDERS.
No one, correct me if I am wrong, have asked Arsene to buy a right back. No one have asked Arsene to buy a left back. But everyone was pointing out the need to sign CENTRAL DEFENDER. Arsene himself too, after he sold Vermaelen, said that we are little bit short. Blogs mentioned it too in today’s post. And now suddenly we are OK?! What changed this past couple of hours? And why the fuck are we comparing defenders in general with other clubs? We should be comparing CENTRAL DEFENDERS as that is the area where we are short!
So, where we are at the moment on that front comparing to other teams…
As City is out of our league at the moment, both quality and quantity wise so, let me take Chelsea as an example, mostly because it was used before, and because we all think they are a little bit short at the back like us.
It is true that they have the same or similar number of defenders. But, as their players are more versatile they have a lot more CENTRAL DEFENDERS.
They have Terry and Cahill,
Then they have Ivanovic who played there for a long time. Young Zouma is their number four.
Mikel, who covered there in the past and Matic can play CB’s if needed. That is potential six. Wont even count the youngsters like Ake or others.
We on other hand have two senior CB’s, Per and Kos. Two!
(speaking of versatility, can Per cover any other position on the pitch then CB? Can our DM’s cover in CB if needed? No, they can’t)
Young Chambers
is a good player and I like him a lot. But he never previously played in that position before joining us. EVER. He could cover well, off course, I don’t doubt he will, but we bought him as a RB who played as a DM is his young days. Is evident that his preferable position is in midfield and I would love him to play there, mostly because that role suits him so much it fucking hurts.
Monreal.
He never previously played as a CB. EVER! He had one good game there and I like what I saw then. He can cover against some small teams for sure. But, how will he keep Costa wuiet? Can he play against Sturridge? What about Ibrahimovich, Levandovski, Falcao…
Hayden.
A good prospect and one for the future. The question is, can he perform on the highest level? Can he choose when to make an offside trap against Sterling, Aguero or Hazard or when to chase them? We don’t know yet. And why we don’t know yet? Because he never played at the highest level. Yet.
That is five.
Two senior CB’s, one RB, one LB and one for the future….
Number wise, it is OK. Any other way, you tell.
Whenever one of the senior CB’s is going to be injured, his cover will leave huge gap on other area on the pitch.
So, was Sajit right when saying that we lack defenders? Or maybe what he meant was that we lack CENTRAL DEFENDER?
Something we ALL, including our beloved Arsene, think? Baring some exceptions, that is…
cdoyle, thank you. You are welcome to return.
You other trouble makers, especially those who can’t tell the difference between Linseed and dubbin, behave yerselves ๐
Pangloss, if you want the poet bleedin’ laureate you have to pay a few shillings ๐
Have a good one all.
Good stuff, Lurky.
Lurky, I know we are a bit short in central defence but I’m just saying it is not a disaster and certainly not stupidity, there is a method to our madness.
On the Chavs, they have Ivanovic as their only really good cover at centre-back, and contrary to what you posted above Mikel has NEVER played Centre-back in his career, he even started out as a no10, Chambers on the other hand has played Centre-back for England U21’s and captained the team from that position. Furthermore, I have never seen Matic play Centre-back and I see no evidence to suggest that he can feel in better in that position for them than Monreal can do for us? I don’t know how Monreal will do at CB against Sturridge, Ibrahimovic or Lewandoski but I do know he did a pretty good job, albeit for one half against Jovetic, Dzeko and the rest of Shitteh’s attack a few weeks ago.
I also wonder why you think the Chavs DM can cover for them at CB if needed but ours can’t do same for us.
I don’t think Per can cover in any other position on the pitch but I also don’t think we will need him to do that because we are pretty stocked in other positions apart from the one he can play.
Speaking of cover, I’m sure Debuchy can play Left-back if needed, Koscielny won’t do any worse at RB than Gary Cahil would nor would Monreal do any worse at CB than an ageing John Terry would at LB. We all know what Flamini can do as a fullback as we know what Ivanovic can do at CB, Coquelin didn’t do too bad either when we needed him at fullback.
As far as unknown quantities and qualities go Bellerin, Hayden, Ake and Zouma are all at the same level, surely?
And just to be clear; I do NOT think everything is all good with our defence or that we shouldn’t have added to what we have in the just concluded transfer window, I’m just saying it’s not as bad as it looks at first sight.
‘H – I’ve never said we needed the poet laureate. I think we’ve just about got enough cover at rhymster. The problem is that we seem always to be just one broken nib away from a complete crisis at well-honed phrase-smith.
Thanks all for the kind words, everyone. I usually don’t feel the need to write because its rare whatever’s floating through my head not be covered by another drinker, and I hate being repetitive ๐ It’s my sincere hope to share a real pint with the lot of you in the Tollie next time I make it out to a matchday.
I too was hopeful there was fire to the Carvalho smoke, because he seemed the quintessential modern, versatile player. But I suspect he’s not a Gunner today because Le Boss isn’t convinced he’s a better option for the team on a game-to-game basis in the deep lying role than Arteta, and 20+ million quid is a lot to pay for someone who isn’t one of the first names on your team sheet (basically, he’s so perfect because he could cover three roles on the team, yet he would not be first choice for any). And as for Arteta, I feel that he became the scapegoat of our heavy losses last season, when I’d argue that one of the hallmarks of those losses was him being literally marked out of the game. I suppose it’s possible that were he in possession of quicker feet he couldn’t be so easily stifled, but I could also argue that if he wasn’t so integral to what we do, they wouldn’t bother paying that much attention in the first place. There aren’t many recyclers out there doing it better than Arteta’s done; all we need to do is look at Stevie G flailing about in the same role to realize that it’s a hell of a lot harder than it looks.
This isn’t an explanation or defense of Arsene (he requires neither from the likes of me), simply my attempt to make sense of what I see. I am incapable of believing that Arsene is simply bottling it. If he thinks this club is better off standing pat then spending a fortune on Carvalho, I won’t be the man to tell him he’s wrong, and if that makes me a sycophant in another’s eyes, I’ll wear it.
On another point, which references something Lurky said: We say Hayden is one for the future, yet it seems we’re always in a rush to get “sure things” to take the spots that, conceivably, are tailor-made for younger players graduating from the academy. I suspect there weren’t many who felt Cashley was ready when he was pressed into the forge, and I remember vividly those who once ridiculed the idea of Ramsey or Song being legitimate members of the first team, if not the club at all. It’s hard to imagine any young player making good if he hadn’t had the ability to at least sink or swim at the senior level, even if it was only in league cup games. Barring a horrendous turn of events โ the kind that sees Per and Kozzer attacked by an insatiable bear โ our fourth-choice CB should play less than 20 Premier League minutes this season, and fewer than a dozen senior matches in all this season. Is this role not exactly the reason to have a youth setup at all? Let’s not re-write history to have Miquel being the reason we’ve fucked it up the last few years.
So if we’re really down to choosing between Winston Reid and Issac Hayden, I fail to see how much better off we are with the former, especially since it would likely serve to hinder the development of the latter. And isn’t that supposedly what we’re all about?
Apologies in advance if everything above is complete shite. Cheers!
Cent, a quick one mate.
You have some good points. And some that I don’t agree
You are right about Per for example. He doesn’t need to play in any other position as we are stocked well everywhere….
Well, almost everywhere. As many other pointed out we lack personnel in defense midfield.
You are right about Chambers. He has one game played as a CB. for England u-19. In the same team he played two games as a DM. And 8 more as a RB. Never ever played as a CB for So’ton. Ever.
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/calum-chambers/leistungsdaten/spieler/215118/saison/2013
Like I said, Monreal had a good game vs City. I like what I saw. But it was most off all a friendly game and a more of a relaxed approach then usual. Anyway the question is, can Monreal do that on weekly basis if there is a long term injury to one of our CB’s?
As for Mikel NEVER playing as a CB….
http://mtnfootball.com/news/445742/Mourinho-Mikel-key-player-for-Chelsea
http://www.football-analysis.com/the-john-obi-mikel-years-part-two-scolari-guus/
Speaking of cover… and this is quite interesting
If Debuchy can cover as a LB, and Kos can cover as a RB…. Whothefickityfyck will cover Kos, mate? ๐ ๐
As for Coq and Flamini covering fullback, I won’t spend any more words on that because as I previously said, who cares. We don’t lack defenders, we lack CENTRAL DEFENDERS.
I am glad that you think we did a good job this summer transfer wise. I feel the same too. We did marvelous job and I am proud of that. However not buying a central defender was a very, very big omission. I am sure Arsene himself will admit it in some of his press conferences.
Re: 28. Trev, you are a metrically gifted so and so. ๐
Can’t quite tell whether this explosion refers to sex, war or something else. ๐
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11071376/Danny-Welbeck-is-a-top-signing-and-can-flourish-at-Arsenal-says-Rio-Ferdinand.html
bt8b, he’s definitely not gifted in any standard way…
What 8ball said at 37, don’t how I managed to miss it earlier.
Cdoyle, good stuff above too. And never apologise for stating your opinion. Except, said opinion is offensive which the ones above aren’t, in my opinion ;).
‘Night all.
bt8b, i hope he doesn’t mean this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXH_12QWWg8
Hey abb! Enjoy your company in the bar as well, lovely nurse.
Interesting posts above. Very good arguments and counter-arguments from Cent and Lurky. I’m enjoying the debate.
Trev and the Guv: exceptionally talented Gooners you are.
COYG!
Wasn’t really a Welbeck fan before and seeing the bloopers on youtube didn’t help his case really. That said, I think that he gives us a wholly different dynamic to our attack than Giroud does, and we truly have the potential to scythe through opposition defenses if we can break with pace so I’m coming around to the idea of playing him up top. Problem I’m worried about there though is that we need to change the way we’ve gotten used to playing with a target man on his own, bouncing short passes off of him with the midfielders trying to run through. I think this setup has really hit its limitations in terms of chance creation so I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to put it together soon. I still think we needed more experience in the back and that elusive DM to bring along after Arteta and Flamini inevitably go next year. Before Monday, with Giroud out, my opinion was that we were worse off than last year even with Sanchez, but with Welbeck I think we are marginally better and if by some miracle Shad is able to keep Theo and Gibbs and others healthy for more than 10 games, we will do ok. I guess we’re really banking on next year by replacing Diaby, Arteta, Flamini and possibly Podolski and Campbell and getting in the players the fans have been crying out for for a few years now. Most frustrating thing is that for season after season, ignoring the injury curse that is on us, we still seem to be a few key players short, and I hope we don’t rue the opportunity that was there last year to beat United and the others; we definitely should have finished above Liverpool at least. Also, a little frustrating considering we have strengthened slightly and it seems City and Chelsea have leaped ahead with United and Liverpool trying to do the same. It’s going to be another nailbiter for sure.
Hmmmm. A valiant effort, ‘holic, but, er … don’t give up your day job, you’re only encouraging Trev!
Transfer window’s closed thank Dennis
Some spent millions some spent pennies
Who will be a bigger menace
Now it’s over we shall see
We have paid for Danny Welbeck
Less than one year’s Radamel cheque
All agree our money’s well spent
Next stop EPL top 3
Mathieu, Calum take the biscuit
Alexis, Dan who thought we’d risk it?
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Signings all in harmony
รskar
It is raining carols. And barely 113 days to go to Christmas.
Good stuff from the regulars (and regular troublemakers) above.
PH-W in the previous drinks: I will have to take your word for that, old boy, as you are the one down in the trenches.
I try to watch as many of the Arsenal reserve highlights as I can, not the same as watching the entire games of course, so I have seen some of Hayden’s performances before.
I personally feel he can step into the Centre Back position if needed. His strength belies his age, he seems to read the game well and he likes a tackle. But the last time I saw him play a full senior game last season was in the League Cup (I think), and he seemed to run out of energy near the end of the game though so there’s that…
I think Welbeck will do well once we play him up top and not on the left. Hoping to see him turn Citeh’s defenders inside out when the League restarts. I mean let’s face it, if Stoke can batter them who are we? ๐
If I had to grade our transfer business, I think I would give it a 7.5/8 out of 10. We made some good signings this time.
New goalie (who impressed at the World Cup), new right back (who slotted right in!), new back up right back/centre back/defensive midfielder (who also slotted right in!), a star forward from Barca (who already looks the business!), and a good prospect from Man U (who has made the proper Mancunians cry so that’s something).
My biggest concern is why we sent Jenkinson out on loan though. I felt he was perfectly fine as a backup right back so we would’ve had an extra defender in the squad. But if he improves even more on loan then when he comes back (if he comes back) hopefully he can add more to the club next season.
Anyhoo, enough of my rambling, I’m glad TDD is over so I can get back to NOT having to refresh my screen every second to see if any of the media lies and made-up bullshit is on the level and just focus on the stuff that matters, football.
Morning,
Have done a bit of back drinking. The subject seems to be defenders.
I am going to keep it simple. We lost Vermaelen and gained Chambers. However this analogy will only be justified if either he or Per are equally as comfortable playing on the left side as they are on the right. Monreal has stepped in there and hasn’t rocked the boat too much. If I recall, Chambers stepped in for Kos and he and Per conceded nada.
Wenger stated that he was going to sign a defender if Vermealen leaves. Instead, Chambers has been comfortable although inexperienced in that position. For a 19 year old who has never ever played there before, he is doing one hell of a remarkable job (I think it is worth seeing him in person to appreciate his competence. It is unreal).
The only reason I can assume we did not bring in another defender, is that the boss did not feel those available were as good as what we already have, which appears to be his policy. I don’t mind that.
So in conclusion, we lost Vermaelen and gained Chambers although, I am not 100% sure if Per and Chambers are comfortable playing on the left. This remains to be seen.
Good read this; http://woolwich1886.blogspot.de/2014/09/van-persie-advises-welbeck-on-what-to.html?m=1
I see Chelsea have 26 players out on loan at the moment. That is a serious number and has serious implications for the game. Some dudes supplement their efforts with loaners like Everton do and I think the system needs to be looked at closely.
I was actually thinking about that this morning Ttg.
It’s madness.
They just horde all these players and deal them out to the highest bidders it seems
and now welbeck is injured…this could only happen arsenal…did we piss off dennis or he jtus doesnt like the lad??
First interview, and all I can think is: what a great kid. I’m sure he’ll fit in very well indeed.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140903/video-danny-welbeck-s-first-interview
where is the sweeper?
The voice of reason?
Lovely stuff Holic. Trev and Oskar too.
Lots of good stuff above everyone especially cdoyle.
Abb from last drinks- you’re always welcome to an apple!
Just watched Welbeck interview and it is odd seeing him in our colours. Can’t wait to see him step out on the pitch for us though!
Here is one we have in our group-
“Come on Danny, come on danny, You are far better than the shrek who sh—-d his nanny”.
On a serious note, i still think we missed out on a DM and a CB. The numbers look ok but the presence of a DM is essential. Well time will tell but i sincerely was praying for Carvalho to come through.
Overall the media and the world wide opinion is chelsea did the best business and in a way i have to agree that they do get their business done quick and effectively. They go for a player, they buy that player without any hassles and it pains me to say that.
I also agree that let us not judge this team by september, thats to early. I believe we will stutter initially and so far the indications are the same. Once we jell, i foresee a great run and hopefully end may we will be the ones smiling.
*waves * ‘holic, baff & snรถwy*
58
๐
haven’t seen a woo wave in a while
Interesting explanations on what happened vis a vis our rearguard resources. My view is simple, the club did very well early in the transfer season (though mainly on a replacement basis…and I would have worked harder & earlier to tie in Sagna rather than paying him “only” 50-60k/wk all the way to the end of his contract). The club then decided to wait to see if we qualified for CL proper, perhaps indeed to make it easier to attract the bigger stars (although that doesn’t make a lot of sense in the case of looking for cover who wouldn’t play in CL very much anyway). It was too late and in fact we would have needed plenty of defensive back up even for domestic competition. A very large number of targets were chased around Europe (Carvalho, Nastasic, Reid, etc,etc) but there wasn’t time. We got Welbeck mainly as a by-product of Falcoa taking place but fair play to the Manager and club for seeing the need and getting the deal done. Personally, I also believe Campbell would have left to Benfica (about 10 million, great price!) if we had got the 1 or 2 defensive targets, but that was shelved to make the cosmetics of the last-day debacle look better. I think Welbeck could be a superb signing with a 3-4 month free-run at CF. But the rest was a cock-up. TV5 only left because he was going to be replaced, Jenkinson (who is over 6 ft by the way and could have figured in League Cup at CB surely) and Miguel both left. It’s ridiculous and a cock-up. The notion that AW decided we didn’t need cover is not something I’d agree with, nor would I agree with ideas that players won’t move because they may not get first team action (money is more important). Chambers will not now be sparingly nurtured, won’t be tested as much as DM and we face a terrifying first half of the season every time Per or Kos pulls up in a game. It’s a cock-up so let’s call it what it is. We can do that, still get behind the team and enjoy a front 5 or 6 players who are, in all likelihood, going to tear teams to shreds this season. However, we are going to face key games severley disadvantaged in central defence. It’s statistically inevitable I’m afraid, even if, in the absolute best case scenario, it’s only due to severe over-use in midweek games. It’s a big shame. COYG.
A Woowave, how wonderful. ๐
RIP – the good, old fashioned, paragraph.
I miss you. ๐
Short of defenders you say?
Micah Richards, boyhood Arsenal fan, once a terrific defender, international, centre back / right back, subsequently blighted by injury and looking for a way back.
Now a season long loan to Fiorentina for 1 mill. + 75k per week wages.
Personally speaking, if City were at all willing, I think it was worth a punt.
UTA.
howdy dr Z
absolutely
an impenetrable wall of words
has no business here
๐
Make your mind up z, normally I get grief for only writing old fashioned paragraphs. ๐
perhaps the ‘holic model
of recruitment for deadline day
bears some consideration
sit back
pay no heed
and cdoyle and gsd climb over yer back wall
match fit and firing on all cylinders
‘holic knows
not sure what yet
but
he does!
yes , he does!
*mooches thirstily by the whiskey optics*
Sc
You make good points. I would only differ upon the activity on deadline day in comparison to our other activity during the rest of the window. We started the season with 4 new signings. I feel that if we had nobody covering CB well enough, we would have brought in cover. If rumours are to be believed we made late bids in several different positions and not only in defence, but it appeared that we made CF our priority. We now have cover in every position.
I also note that third party ownership and FFP are major factors within the transfer market hence the way particular players have moved around clubs during this past window.
We are now three games in and if you deduct the two points we lost against Leicester from the point we gained against Everton we are one point down from last season. However, it may be just a too little too soon to panic. From here it is now down to the players to be consistent and prove their worth.
I’m going to get behind the lads again and see if they can at least improve upon what they gained last season.
UTA
Holic, Dr Z. some of us, are ‘twitter trained’ ๐ 140 character diet!
Impec1 , you always have a bounce in your step. ๐ Thank you xx
GSD @ 56, ok mate. Free food and good drinks. Be a fool to complain โบ
~~~~ @ Mrs Woo ๐ and the rest of you swell folks xx
cba, from last drinks. Think you would give ‘Andrew’ some competition ๐
To the point of King GT above, if you take transfer market value as a proxy for quality, then there are only 17 centre backs spread across just 9 clubs that are better than Per and Kos. They are:
Gerad Pique, Barcelona
Mehdi Benatia, Bayern Munich
Jerome Boateng, Bayern Munich
Mats Hummels, Borussia Dortmund
Neven Subotic, Borussia Dortmund
Gary Cahill, Chelsea
Diego Godin, Atletico Madrid
Miranda, Atletico Madrid
Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid
Raphael Varane, Real Madrid
Vincent Kompany, Manchester City
Eliaquim Mangala, Manchester City
Matija Nastasic, Manchester City
David Luiz, PSG
Marquinhos, PSG
Thiago Silva, PSG
Ezequiel Garay, Zenit St. Petersburg
Not a much that was available there, save possibly Nastasic. If you look at the next level of values down, the same is true there โ mostly the established starting CBs of the second tier of top teams (the Juves, Inters, Schalke’s, Liverpools).
I would have been happy if we had bought experienced like-quality to replace Vermaelen as Per and Kos’s back up. It doesn’t look like that was ever going to be likely this window. The best hope was that AW could spot some young, undervalued defender of similar quality that had stayed off every other manager’s radar. Ah!
Overall, we are in adequate, if not great shape at CB. Far more concerning is the DM position. It may be that playing Chambers at CB is part of his grooming as a future DM, teaching him to read the game just as AW likes to play his future central players on the wing to teach them to play in confined spaces. But that would only seem to strengthen the argument for bringing in an top DM now to bolster the trio of Arteta and Flamini, neither of whose legs are getting any younger, and Coquelin, of whom I can only assume AW is taking a Song-like long-term view.
Noosa: the problem with Micah Richards is that he almost makes Diaby look like Superman. He’s been out injured for most of the last two or three seasons.
Like others have said, this “4th choice CB” is a massive red herring. Could we have found someone willing to be 4th choice? Oh, yes. Easily. But I am ready to wager that a grand total of not a single one of them would have added anything to the team that we don’t already have. Face it, any such players would be in the Squillaci/Cygan category or either a very young player who is not yet eastablished – but we already have young players who are not yet established so why shell out money on a transfer to buy what we’ve already got?
Also, Carvalho? Well, I for one had never heard of the bloke until April or something. He’s played no more than 30 games for Sporting and six for the Portugal NT. And he’s supposed to be such a sure bet that Arsene should have just shelled out 35 million or whatever it was it would have taken to get him? I am far from convinced. In the last few summers Arsene has been branded cheap, stupid and other stuff for not buying subsequent mega-successes such as Melo, M’Vila and Capoue and others. Am I going to get my knickers in a twist because he didn’t succumb to the Twitter hysteria over the latest Internet sensation? Hell no.
For me this transfer window is at least a 7/10. Just bloody look at what we’ve got: an attacking player who last season scored 19 league goals for Barca in Alexis, one of the most exciting young talents in England in Chambers, a goalie “everyone” was calling for Arsene to sign during the WC, an experienced right back who had taken the place on the French NT from our previous RB and then a 23-year old attacker with quite a lot of experience from a direct competitior. With a really good defensive midfield player it would have been at least 9/10 for me all things considered.
Also, “spend some fucking money” is a popular phrase these days (talking in general here, not neccessarily in this bar). Well, we’ve spent somewhere upwards of ยฃ75 million. Yes, that is not net spend but what does that matter? We’ve spent a shitload on improving the team any way you look at it, Mr Payton. Yes, I know some are replacements but Alexis and Welbeck instead of Bendtner and Park… well, the difference in quality is so huge it’s ridiculous. And besides, the players we’ve got are all better than the ones they replaced (possible exception for Ospina/Fabiansk, remains to be seeni) even if we see them all as replacements so no problem for me there either.
Are we title favourites? No, we’re not. We’re not there yet. But we ARE making strides in the right direction. The last two summers we have signed two proper top-class players in รzil and Alexis. We’ve smashed our previous transfer record many times in just over a year. Four out of five players signed this summer cost more than the previous record (NB: some sources say Cazorla was more expensive than Arshavin but I think they have got their euros and pounds mixed up) so if we take a step back and try to see the big picture I think most of us will see the change in direction.
We have a very good squad. The problem for me is not the quality or even the quantity of players. At the risk of sounding like a broken recsk of sounding like a broken recsk of sounding like a broken recsk of sounding like a broken recsk of sounding like a broken recsk of sounding like a broken recsk of sounding like a broken rec…ord I once again point to our injuries as the biggest problem. Even cutting the muscle tears and similar injuries to half of what we usually have would go a really long way.
Anyway, a drink of your choice on my tab for reading this far!
nice of you to say nurse abb
but
c’mon
blogs is a legend
a titan
a leviathan
a big deal altogether
*mooches thirstily by blogs rum optics*
i’m such a tart
๐
Lars absolutely sums it all up for me. Post of the week, right there.
We are clearly moving in the right direction. You’d have to be barking mad to doubt that right now: this summer has been our best for at least a decade, judged solely on transfers. We’ve also taken much needed steps to address the ongoing injury issues.
The centre back thing is no biggie to me. If others want to get worked up then fair enough. Perhaps Matic can play centre back at a push. Perhaps Arteta can. But the charge was that we were “a defender short”. If we’re a defender short then so are Chelsea and so were we last season when virtually no one was getting too het up about it. Personally, I think a lot of the confusion is arising because people are forgetting about Bellerin, who is a top, top prospect and the reason we let Jenks go and signed a 29 year old RB. He will be our first choice in that position within 3 seasons, mark my words, and for now he is our seventh man.
The fact is that if you end up playing a bunch of games with your fourth choice centre back then you are going to have problems, no matter who you are. That’s because very few clubs are able to entice someone of real quality to sit on the bench all season with little chance of game time. Would I have liked us to add a player here? Sure. Is it a big problem that we didn’t? Nah. I suspect the boss has taken a look at Monreal at CB and decided that he is as good a bet as anyone we’d be able to entice to be fourth choice.
DM is the one real gap, for me. The area that gave the first XI direct problems in big games last season and that still hasn’t been resolved. I think we remain a top quality DM away from a proper title challenge. Hopefully, I’ll be proven wrong. I do, however, think that we are now closer than at any time since Eduardo broke his leg, and that another summer like this one will put us right over the top – which is why I am sticking to my prediction that we will be champions next season.
Beyond all the above, I’m really looking forward to watching Welbz make his Arsenal debut. All the noises coming out of him sound very promising and if it all works out then we could be left with a genuinely scary looking forward line. Just imagine Sanchez, Welbeck and Theo breaking at pace, with Ozil threading the through balls.
COYG
abb, zico: you are far too young to remember this but the ancient Greeks wrote in one long block of prose and put a short horizontal line under the first three words of those sentences where a new section of the text started. That was the first paragraph mark, long predating the modern convention of leaving a space between the sections and/or indenting the start of each one.
Zico, this looks to be a good read for the paragraphophile: EH Lewis’s The History of the English Paragraph published in 1894, and available, I have just found, at https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00lewirich
with respect, ‘holic,
“Danny, welcome to THE Arsenal, you left the best to join the GREATEST club in the world!”
Re: Lars @71. A broken what? ๐
Alexis and Welbeck for Bendtner and Park. Did we really do that?
Good stuff Lars & N7. Drinks of your choice on the bar.
I can’t wait to see this Arsenal squad fit and flying.
NBN @ 74 Fascinating read! and @ 70 those (over)evaluations. That’s what’s bankrupting football.
Lars, what is your take on Jenks. Some of the holics feel he would come in handy (I’m inclined to agree with them). But N7, makes a valid point about Bellerin.
On a non footie note Lars, that was a very effective use of repetition (big wink!).
78 rpm
@ 79 funny!
Speaking of which, just listened to Danny boy, say over and over again (twitter) “I’m a Gooner” ๐
@Cent
fair enough.
I think the point is whether do we go in with 1 defender short or risk a Sylvestresque buy. I guess Wenger preferred to risk one defender short.
And as others mentioned I guess if things get really bad, one of the first choice full backs such as Monreal or Debuchy can play central and Flamini , Coq play fullbacks..
I hope so.
My concern is in terms of injuries. Yes everyone is susceptible but then our injury record sucks. The recovery time is diabolical at times and time and again we have had a recurrence.
Shad Forsythe maybe a miracle man but even he is human.
So every time an Arsenal player winces, we all die a thousand deaths.
Hence the CB options are light. Per and Kos cannot go through the entire season. Chambers is the only foreseen backup and remember he was signed as a RB initially and hoped that he will be moved on to CB in due course. Hayden is unproven so it leaves us short and no, Monreal or Debuchy is not the answer.
DM again is the same issue. Arteta cannot play that role any longer. He is out muscled way to many times, bullied to be honest. He is intelligent but is found out against quicker teams.
Flamini, sorry i dont rate him at all. He is out of position every damn time and i am tired crying my eyes out shouting for him to get back. Not that he listens.
So yes it was a very good transfer window yet the crux was not addressed. Wenger himself admitted we were short and now the fear is it may come back to haunt. Well maybe not for they say Prayers can do the improbable.
Sorry if i am sounding all gloom and doom but it is my fear thats making me say this. I am proven wrong, no one will be more happier than me.
Scgooner@61
Nice post and I think you are basically right but each year Wenger gives us the same ‘poker game’ analogy and I think he thinks we get better value from a late dash to the line as Jim White moves into overdrive.
I will not give unlimited credit to Wenger for this year’s window but it is an improvement on recent ones. We should have better cover at CB. Kos has a dodgy Achilles and Chambers has only played 5 games in his life at centre back so as contingency planning goes it leaves much to be desired. In fact it was an absolute necessity rather than a desire to find a decent back up CB.
The DM situation was a desirable rather than a necessity. We have got options there and we couldn’t get who we wanted to although in my forty odd years of business experience at a senior level I find brinkmanship a poor method for achieving decent deals.
I think 7/10 is about right for this window maybe 7.5 / 10 because all of the recruits including Campbell are of high quality.
Who did better? Chelsea got Fabre… Something for about ยฃ28 million, Diego Costa who sadly looks full of goals and Felipe Luis who is an excellent left back. Torres was farmed out and Remy brought in and much of this was financed by the ridiculously inflated price paid by PSG for Luiz. That’s excellent business made more so by the fact that most of it was done around the World Cup so that the side could blend in preseason. I hate Mourinho but they get 9/10 for their work.
Otherwise we compare well with our rivals . Liverpool bought good players but have discernible squad weaknesses and United have lopsided mix of galacticicos and donkeys. Spurs did very little of note and thankfully keep relying on Daniel Levy . Hull were the other side who clearly strengthened but that is from a low base.
Lars @71 – great post, sir. In any language.
Personally I couldn’t give a monkey’s how many defenders Chelsea, ManYoo or anyone else have, who they are or how many times they have played there. I would rather take a logical look at what Arsenal FC does or doesn’t have.
I don’t think there’s any need to say any more than Lars already has.
Clearly the manager didn’t think that anyone who was available was either worth the money, or better than what he already has.
To us fans, the centre back department looks a little thin, certainly in terms of known names, but we do have a youth and reserve system, and those inside the club can evaluate those prospects a lot better than we can.
If it can’t provide us with a third or fourth centre back occasionally, maybe it’s not worth having anyway.
Hi All
Welbeck ?
Was he given a proper crack at the wip at Manure in the strikers role. No he wasnt, but he was picked ahead of rooney against Real Madrid *due to work rate* I have no problem with a player who gives all.
He is only 23 so many years to improve, and the main thing is that the man is quick. Pace up front !! Can only be a good thing.
We will just and wait and see.
COYGS
Quite interesting to note that even after more than a day since the Transfer window ended and we had acquired a reasonably good alternative to Giroud to play his role in his absence and may even surpass him eventually, there are no comments from Arsene yet on the Arsenal web-site, not even the customary words of praise for the new recruit. Not a word since that charity match in Rome.
I hope the mother Church didn’t take him away and put him to work in Vatican to improve their finances and worldwide image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ1VWXaZmi4
@Vinay
I think yours is a telling comment. When we worry about the fourth choice CB, what we’re really worrying about is our propensity for injuries – and particularly the way that injuries seem to target and strip particular areas of our squad: who can forget the joys of Arshavin at centre forward, after all?
What we have at CB right now is perfectly normal and fine for most teams, but will it be fine for Arsenal, given that we suffer injuries every time the wind changes? It’s a fair question.
I suppose my view is that this isn’t something we can address by simply building the squad out and out. It’s something we need to address by putting a stop to whatever is causing this glut of injuries through which we seem to have been suffering for years now.
Work that out – and hopefully Shad might be the answer – and we will be a massive step closer to challenging for major honours. Far, far closer than the signing of a fourth choice centre back would have taken us.
Cheers all!
abb: my take on Jenkinson is that he needs time on the pitch if he is to stand a chance of taking the final step towards becoming a quality player which is why he was loaned out so such a shame he got injured before he had the chance to play for West Ham. I have not seen too much of Bellerin but what I have seen is very promising, he’s quick and seems very good on the ball too. We have Coquelin and Flamini who we know can fill in at right back as they both have done so with some success in the past so I think we are fairly well covered in that area.
Heathen’t be arsed @ 87:
Rise up fallen fighters;
Rise and take your stance again.
‘Tis he who fight and run away
Live to fight another day.
With de heathen back dey ‘pon de wall!
๐
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMvzBfa1Y9I
Lars@71: not a word to disagree with.
๐
Lars@89 : Hopefully Jenk will get to improve his game in WHU under the walrus, who, by the way, has also got Song from Barca on loan.
Whatever Songy did to get in Arsene’s black book — hard to get in, impossible to have your name ever erased ๐ — he will probably regret forever. Basically threw away a career.
nbn
oskar’ll have plenty to disagree with you
ending a senence with with
instead of
“not a word wi which to da da”
etc
or somesuchness
?see oskar?
love that man ๐
lars appears to be being carried shoulder high
round the bar
wholly deserved
i might add
wallets accidently on purpose
fall out of jubilant pockets
and fund joy for all
long may lars
give reason to be held aloft
WHAT’S EVERYONE HAVIN’?
๐
Since I cannot count in Greek, i am not sure whether I am old enough to remember, Ned. ๐
Death to the twitterati…… ๐
Lars, Thanks for your reply. Yes, you must be right. Weekly play time should be his first goal xx But when I look at players like Shawcross, just feel we lack some size in the back. Arsene going for more agile lads, and that’s not a bad thing, either. xx
Oh zico! I didn’t blink when Ned brought up age. ๐ I’m probably old enough to be his mama! โบ And your older sis ๐
abb@96: Fullbacks in modern football should be agile, and their physicality is less about heftiness or bulk but more about pace, especially the recovery pace. A Maicon like combination of everything would be great, but is rare.
Our central defense trio are quite physical in stature, and at least one of them is so tall that if he were any taller I am not sure his center of gravity would be well suited for a tackle or trapping or for that matter…seeing the ball. By the time the reflected light travels back from the ball to his eyes the extremely nimble Messi would already be past him and slotting the ball into the goal. ๐
Can we have any loan deals for free agents available. Valdez supposedly has signed for pool( where are the mingolet admirers).
There is this guy called jorges i think, brazilian, striker( what else) and free. He is 30, so comes in with the right experience, can score, so take a punt!!!!.
We are close, yet doesnt feel close enough. I just hope we should not feel the if only if feeling again.
oops
i vati can’t be trusted
Cheer up everyone, top up your glasses to at least half full. I’m more than happy with what we achieved in the TW and expect great things once they all get back from this interlul.
Chambers I suspect will turn out to be a “best buy” and I’m not dismissing our refugee from ManU as other than a bonus. With the BFG retired from this international lark we have one less worry.
Looking forward to seeing Jack and the Ox tonight, keep safe boys.
COYRs
Vinay @ 99: I am sure Mario Yepes will jump to the chance of spending six months or a year in our bench. He is 37 I think — or is it 40? Has been around forever — and can be more than coaxed into a decent performance in the center of the defense if needed. As he proved in the WC.
@103, You might be up to something there. Am just scared about our injury record that’s all. Too much game to play between now and January.
Games, sorry
Dr Faustus, Per(fect)! ๐
Hey, fingers crossed our paths cross with Mr Messi, this year. What a treat for us all, that would be.
grabs keys (Ollie use to say that xx)
SAG @ 104: As Lars and NBN and others have mentioned, if we have such an injury crisis that we cannot even field Chambers-Monreal as CB pair and have to look for solutions beyond even that for more than a match or so, then well we are fucked whether we play Hayden or whether we play an on-loan Yepes.
Or not fucked. I live for pleasant surprises. ๐
But I take your point, it would not be inconceivable to have an experienced free-agent on loan just to have the safety of numbers. Only because there is a downside to playing someone like Hayden in a key match: if things go really wrong he will get dog’s abuse in the media etc., and being young and impressionable it would affect him more. One may say that it is a test of character to see how he responds but probably a gentler introduction to the vagaries of first team football is better pathway to build self-confidence.
@107: The phrase on-loan in the previous post makes absolutely no sense. whatsoever! I meant ‘temporary’ instead. ๐
Fine stuff Lars and N7.
Mark me down as being in the 7/10 Club.
I think Welbeck will do just fine. Good signing. Quick, technically excellent, strong and with huge potential to improve. As long as he gets off the mark fairly sharpish, and confidence is thus high from the outset, it really could be the signing of the summer. Far better surely, than spunking a significant loan fee and the best part of ยฃ349k every week on a 29 y/o who’s coming off a serious injury?
I can’t really add to what Lars has said about the 4th centre half. Completely agree with him. I don’t really understand why some do not consider Chambers an adequate replacement for Vermaelen, citing his lack of games for Soton in the position. Completely irrelevant how many games he played for Soton at centre half. The fact is that he was clearly scouted and bought for his ability at CH (and possibly a subsequent stint at DM). 15m would not have been paid out for just a reserve RB (especially in circs where we already had reasonable back up at the Club in Jenks). He was bought to play at CH, slotted in straightaway, and despite a couple of rash challenges borne of inexperience, has done nothing to suggest that he won’t be anything but a fantastic player in the position.
That leaves the need for the much talked about 4th centre half. I would have preferred that we had bought someone in, but I never thought that it would be anything other than a workaday player and I certainly don’t think our chances of success depend on whether we have, for instance, Winston Reid on board. If the worst happens, and both the Bfg and Kos get injured, then we will no doubt pay for it, but name me a Club (outside of the Oil clubs) who wouldn’t be similarly affected. The Oil Clubs can still entice footballers with what amounts to a huge weekly bribe to give up, or at least postpone, their desire for weekly football, and as N7 has said, even with that financial wherewithal at their disposal, Chelsea have also ended up short in the position.
So pretty much a free pass from me as regards the centre half. Not so the missing DM. That for me was the signing of the summer that was required, above any other, and that’s where the missing marks go for me. I cannot comment on whether we should have bid up for Carvalho. Beyond a 10 minute Youtube vid, I know nothing about him. All I can say is that our need for that ‘type’ of player was acute and I have no idea why it hasn’t been addressed.
Heh ho, it is what it is, and we go with what we have. Maybe Arteta and/or Flamini can get down to the Fresh Legs Store and hopefully prove me wrong.
Right off to pick up Mr Welbeck for some “Chips an’ gravee”. I have promised to ignore his Northern accent. Only fair, he’s paying. Not calling him ‘Chuck’ though, even if he throws in some mushy peas.
UTA!
Czechs playing USA in friendly in roughly 20 mins from now, looking forward to see TR in action, might be actually a good game.
Wolfie on the pick-up again @ 109.
Incorrigible.
Which means he doesn’t like the Corrs. Or Corrie. Or something. ๐
Substitute right-back Bacary Sagna says he left Arsenal for a “challenge” but he appears to have gotten a bit bigger challenge than anticipated. Last weekend against he got his first runout against Stoke but (coincidentally?) the club lost its first game of the season. Poor Bacary will most likely get another chance or two between now and the holiday period. Could this be the reason he brings up the word “frustration” in this article?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2742409/Bacary-Sagna-shares-Arsenal-frustration-Arsene-Wenger-s-transfer-strategy.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Heh, heard that somewhere before DrZ ๐
Great christmas carol above btw Trev and good to see PHW put in an appearance earlier in the week ๐
I still find it hard to dislike Bac, even though he’s wearing a City shirt now.
Nice backdrink there. Loads of good posts above. Special mention to Lars.
110@ Eandy.
England playing in a friendly too! Not looking particularly forwards to seeing anyone play. Hopefully none of ours get injured. And I doubt it will be a good game…
Excellent posts by Lars and tabs
Mostly agree with everything they said
I rate 6/10
A defensive signing would have made us contenders. Now sadly I think we will fall short
I know many people blame our injury record. But that’s why modern football is a squad game. 6 defenders for four spots throughout the season fighting in three competitions is just not enough
Cheers
TR evidently frustrated by the lack of quality of his teammates in czech team, he is constantly in good positions but they just dont see him there.
N7. Not hating Sagna but glad he is consuming Man City petrocash by sitting on the bench rather than doing more to help them win.
This may have been posted already, but it’s superb:
http://player.arsenal.com/player/5386-jonker-exclusive?
Video with the new youth supremo mega don capo capiche man. He has a wonderfully dutch arrogance to him. Looks a keeper.
Poonward
WOW. That Manc accent on Welbeck is a real blow, taken the lustre of that signing a bit… Does ray parlour still give out the free cockney lessons to the foreign imports?
In his defence, I enjoyed the “we won the FA Cup” line. Seems genuinely happy about the move, who wouldn’t be, but certainly seemed he certainly felt like it was a step forward for him. Good bit to about his qualities as a link player and the team style, he gets it already. Be interested to see if he starts against City. (I doubt it, Alexis up front as he’s had no time to blend in to the Arsene-ball I reckon.)
Top quality transfer window from us. I think we really improved. Quietly, Wenger was very, very ruthless. Shipped the nominal captain off for a better, younger alternative. Let Sagna and Flappy walk and at first look we got an upgrade on the former. Added ยฃ50mil worth of international attacker between Sanchez and Wellbeck to a team that only managed 60 odd league goals. Giroud is fighting for his place now and someone is getting dropped for Alexis because he’s already the nuts. (I like the fact Campbell and Rosicky already want more game time, no free rides here anymore.) If the biggest negative you can find is that we are weak at 4th choice centre-back you’re looking too hard.
I think Arsene has handled this transition wonderfully. He often speaks about how too many players can destabilise a team, we all know about that joke firm from down the road last season for example. Having 4 new starters these past 2 weeks has clearly hurt our fluency, but we will only get better from here. It’s all well and good saying we should dump x, y, z of our most reliable players for newer models, but the genius of Arsene is that his teams exceed the sum of their parts. You can’t just tear up the base of midfield, for example, with all the other changes and assume we continue as before. I reckon he’s juggled this well. We’re still sitting on funds so in 5 months, or 10 months we can go again, if needs be.
We are in the race already. No time to be afraid of losing it. We just need to fight for every point right to the end. This can be an historic season. Funnily enough after all that transfer hubbub, feels to me like t will be the ‘internal solutions’ that determine how historic. If we get Wilshere, Ozil, Ramsey, Walcott, and Schezznaaay all hitting the heights we know they are capable of, and keeping that form for 4/5 months in the home stretch, I think we piss this league. It’s all in play now, every single trophy. Arsene has bumped us up another level again and they can’t even see it yet.
Poonward
EPM@121- Good stuff.
Welbeck on for three lions. Looking good already…
Ok, Welbeck so far very impressive for England
still hasnt sunk in that welbeck is ours…great game…best of all no injuries!!
(EPM
I like your attitude. I’m a perfectionist but far from perfect.Now we must go beyond post-mortems and get behind the team.
Tabs described stuff very well in his note as he so often does. I’m a pessimist as regards injuries but the big issue is at DM.But we are where we are so sod it. Onwards and upwards!
Turned on for the second half today. We were generally awful but I liked Welbeck when he came on. The team had much better balance with Rooney off. He was awful. Sterling, Surridge and Welbeck had much more fluid movement.
Welbeck’s admission that he envisaged playing at Arsenal is interesting and will upset Mancs (good). Don’t normally hear Manc accents at old Trafford!
Ha! Good one ‘Hols.
Worth reading about Welbeck from his former clubhttp://www.unitedrant.co.uk/latest/data-rant-danny-welbeck
Dear cba, I do wish you’d consult me before being so semantically definitive. ๐
If you really were taught never to end a sentence with a preposition you should retrospectively dismiss your pedagogue.
The correct rule is never to end a sentence with a preposition WHEN THE SENTENCE WOULD MEAN THE SAME WITHOUT THE PREPOSITION. For example “Where are you going to?” is incorrect because “Where are you going?” means the same thing.
In NBN’s example (which is more a statement than a sentence, but forgetting that) “not a word to disagree” is incomplete without the final ‘with’.
Your friend and syntax guide
รskar
Cheers Tabs – decent effort yourself too. ๐
More good stuff, El Puno.
I hope you’re right but I can’t see us “pissing this league” past Chelsea and Man City. It will be THE most incredible achievement if we win it, but piss it we won’t.
As for Welbeck’s accent, if he scores 20 goals and we win the league, I couldn’t care if he speaks in a computerised cline of Harry Yappyapp himself.
Well, maybe …. ๐
Oskar,
Your preposition proposition is preposterous ! ๐
Grrrrr, cline = clone, iPad keypad. ๐
Oskar@128
Much appreciated sir.
Although the concept of cba’s pedagogue is one that fills me with dread…
Preternaturally predisposed to prepositional prepotency, Trev. ๐
รskar
Poetic licence excuses multiple sins, GSD.
รskar
Presently pretty pretentious, I’d say. ๐
Indeed Oskar.
But I had cba down in a league of his own. A one-off, if you will.
If there is some uber-madman out there who is responsible for the creation of our own vertical-lyricist-savant then who knows who else he has unleashed on this world?
And, without proper outlets for their depraved genius, what the damage could be?
If they are in fact capable of bringing the world to its knees then will all be forgiven simply on the strength of their riveting cadence?
And could they write Welbeck a hat-trick against the oilers?
๐ oskar
love ya baby
ye’ll not bite
one o’ these days
and that’s a day
to which i am not
looking forward
to
not
to
๐
There’s the man.
cba- did you have a pedagogue? Was there some guiding light who set you on the path you walk today?
The one that takes you through the cow-cake on your way home… wink
What me, Trev? I used to be conceited once, yes, but now I’m perfect!
รskar
The day may never come, cba, when you write something up with which I will not put. Depend on it. ๐
รskar
And what, by the way, is a pedagogue ?
A place where very fussy Jewish people go to pray …. ?
Oskar @140,
I think you might have used a negative too many there – ‘cos you don’t ever put up with anything cba writes now…….. ?
#irony
#there’s only one doggy oskar
#one doggy oskar
#there’s only one doggy oskar
yer a star man
full bottle o green spot
on’t bar for ye
give young dinny a wee charge
as a wel come
iffin ye’ve spare
slรกinte fella
๐
(has he seen the ‘ yet)
*waits*
ssshhhhh
Pull t’other one cba. Not sure I can manage a full bottle at 11.00am, as it is here, but thankin’ yer for tha kindness of it.
Shouldn’t you be in bed by now, Trev?
รskar
Pedagogue: the look on the face of a shirtlifter caught in the act.
รskar
Oskar the dog, I forgot to mention you last nite. People from far, distant lands and post here. It’s got to be lonely, yet you make the very best of it xx
Impressive Failage you’re from New Zealand ( at least that’s where I recall you are), same goes for you! (hope you see this).
Now for me to play catch up ๐
Well Oskar, maybe you’re not lonesome! *giggles
i do apologise gsd
didn’t see yer question @138
but
i promise to keep looking
.
anyhoo
evening all
time to hit the hay ‘n’
lay this big ass down
.
cheerio
๐
Cheerio, cba ๐
Thanks abb, but I’m not from a far distant land, I’m from Surrey currently retired in NZ after an extended exile in Australia. And definitely not lonesome, my dog is excellent company, better than any of my wives ever were. And casual affairs are never boring, offering greater variety with none of the downsides of permanent relationships. Or not so permanent relationships as the case may be. ๐
รskar
Re: Trev @141. I thought it was funny but maybe Snir will offer an opinion on the political correctness of it all. Seeing as he’s never around here though, even at transfer windows, we could put in a want ad for a Jewish pedant to fill the role. Does anybody do Groucho impressions?
Oskar, (smiling) New NZ is far away! You see, what I meant was most of the holics are tucked away in bed, by the time you visit the bar. But it sure was interesting hearing your life story!!! Just too adorable โฅ
Nite 8ball, nite Oskar!
and anyone lurking xx
Adorable you reckon, abb? Yeah, I get that all the time. ๐
รskar
ืืคืฉืืืช ืฉื ืื ืืืืจืืืื ืฉื ืืืืืื ืืืจืืืื! ืืื ืืืืืื ืืื ืืืื! ืืืื!
Apologies for the above. Our friend and mentor, the Grandmaster, has in his menagerie some strange looking autodidacts … they move stealthily as well.
First of all, may I welcome you Jewish Pedant and say how happy I am to see you here. The other thing is I am severely Hebrew-challenged so put your sentence into Google Translate, which says you wrote:
The simplicity of the embodied Intolraibl disturbing ! How I wish I had the space ! Space !
Don’t know what to make of the above. Oy vey!
ืืืื ืืช ืฉื ืืืืื ืืื ืืืื ืืช ืฉื ืืขืืื. ืืื ืืืื ืืช ืืืื ืืงืื ืฉื ืืืื ืฉื.
abb – NZ not far – I can see some of it from my bedroom window.
Lonely?
Nah. I’m from Islington, but chose to live as far away from Blighty as possible.
Do I miss it?
No.
Sooo, any of you lovely people watch England v Norway?
I find it hilarious how badly Rooney has been playing for both Man U and England yet he is captain of both teams!
Shit and undroppable, devastating combo
COR – I did watch and it was a half glass match, with interesting comparisons between the starting team and the replacements.
Up front it was interesting to see the difference between the ManUre CF (if there was one playing) and their reject DW, who showed the energy that Rooney lacked due to the extra weight of his armband.
The Sturridge-Sterling combo was impressive, with Sterling showing Cesc-like vision, but the Ox and JW worked hard , but with little to show for the energy.
I think that Jack would do well to learn from Sterling, when the latter dropped back to replace him later on – he showed that snakey runs can be effective with better ball control and retention which Jack lacked (I am not sure exactly whether the opposition were more frightened of Sterling, or just too tired to challenge him later on)
When Calum came on for his cameo, he looked relaxed and smiling – amazing for his lack of experience at a moment when you are getting your first cap. He was more adventurous than Stones when going forward, but was out of position during one attack.
Overall I am worried that the gooners will be called upon too much by Uncle Roy, to the detriment of our effort in the league
Lol CoR – how on earth does he manage it, season after season?
I have no idea! He’s so shit that it boggles my mind when people say he’s England’s best player. He hasn’t done anything good for England since 2004 so I’m not sure where this rep comes from
I know this is a partisan fans forum, but I slightly balk at people dismissing Rooney as “shit” @161,164. Anyone who has scored over 160 goals for Man Utd and 41 goals for England can’t be all that bad a player – I certainly wouldn’t be devastated if he wound up in the Arsenal squad.
The more prevalent thing about Rooney is that never quite lived up to the messianic prophecy of his form in 2002-04 when he all too easily fit the bill of the English media’s myopic desire to unearth the next world-class domestic footballer. That he’s moved on into a thoroughly decent Premier League striker and solid international footballer (but no more) is not his fault – I think the issue is more with the repression of our own thwarted high expectations against the relative ordinariness of our national team and ‘marquee player’ over the years…..
Or it could be that Rooney has had a great career and people have spotted that he’s not quite what he was. He’s certainly not playing with MU teammates who are as good as the old ones, but the man is getting a bit older all the same and maybe it is showing.
Rooney turns 30 in a bit over a month. RVP is already 31. Falcao will be 29 in February. Speed merchants for the long term? Welbeck for one is gone.
Hi (International!) England Fans ๐
Oskar, I bet you do hear that all the time! Please give your precious doggie a big sloppy hug from me ๐
Hey Impressive! How funny that you can see NZ from your window. Made me smile xx
Now THE game! Thought the OX and Jack looked mighty sharp in the 1st half. Danny, Sturridge and Sterling all played well. Surprised Roy kept Baines on for the whole game. He looked exhausted by the end but gave it his all. Chambers is like a breath of fresh air!
Has anyone seen any utterances to the tabloid media by Dim Pillock, the self annointed spokesperson for all Arsenal fans throughout the universe?
I fully expected emissions about how badly the club has managed the transfer window as it has closed and there is still money in the bank. In particular that they failed to sign a top quality centre back to sit on the bench as backup to Mertesacker and Koscielny, conveniently forgetting that the only type of player to be attracted by such an offer would be a Squillaci or a Silvestre.
In the interests of free speech I have no problem with the idiotic utterances but it is the claim to be speaking on behalf of Arsenal fans that irritates me, especially when bottom feeding media types regurgitate them.
Joeos, Googled ‘Dim’ Pillock, then tried ‘Jim’ (cause I thought maybe you meant dim as in dim witted ๐ nothing comes up related to football!
But seriously mate, stick with Amy Lawrence or John Cross. Life is too short ๐
The thing about shrek is he will have a poor game but will score and everything is sadly forgotten. I have never rated him or Gerrard high, specially at the international level.
I saw the Argentina Germany game and boy did ADM have a good game or what. He made the german defense look absolutely pedestrian and it makes me wonder what would have happened if he had played the world cup finals. I think he will be very good for united and may forge a great partnership with falcao.
Most papers again going hammers and tongs that Jack and Ox were not good enough and they are not stepping up. I really do not what is expected of them because i can assure them that they are not magicians, just very good football players.
One more international this weekend before we see The Arsenal play. Reminds me of what Sagna has said about us today- i had to move to city to progress, flash news bacs- thats your retirement home and if you feel thats progress, then good luck.
Just watched part two of Welbeck interview.
Boy, this kid is saying all the right things. He seems well up for kicking on in his career and I’m getting more and more excited about what he could do with us.
Gregoire,
I agree with you about dismissing Rooney simply as “shit”.
It’s not nearly harsh enough.
8ball,
If anyone found anything even remotely politically incorrect in the pedagogue joke, they are trying too hard. I did think about it, knowing Snir is having a troubled time at the moment, but there’s really nothing in it at all. ๐
Heh! Abb, – Jim Pillock !
He could be the best thing since Alistair Hurrah ! ๐
Joeos @170,
Is it even physiologically possible to regurgitate something that has been acquired by bottom feeding ?
Not one to try, I feel …… ๐
I watched last night’s match on the box and wasn’t half reminded of THAT match against Argentina in the World Cup finals of a few years back. You know, the one when Owen scored THAT goal. As far as I remember from that match Scholes kept on getting the ball and not passing it until one of his ManYoo team-mates was free and then passing it to him. Eventually he worked out that the Liverpool kid was fairly useful, so he would pass it to him too. The connection with last night’s game? Well, it seemed to me that Stirling was only willing to pass to Sturridge, and if he wasn’t free would try and get through the defence all on his own.
Actually, that’s what I found so frustrating watching England last night. A player would get the ball and look for a hollywood pass, or would try to score a really difficult goal himself. I’ve become very used to watching a club team over the past, say, 18 years where they move the ball around a lot; lots and lots of simple passes. I guess it’s harder when you’re playing for a national team with team-mates who you haven’t been training and playing with for several months. That’s why I so much prefer watching the Premier League over internationals – whilst individually the players may sometimes be better in internationals, the overall quality of the game is higher in club football. However, I still think football is a team game, so what do I know?
COYG
Sorry Trev, Didn’t mean to imply anything. Just genuinely thought your initial joke was funny. ๐
I see Sanogo scored twice for the French U21 team today, although it was against the Kazhakstan(right spelling?) Team of the same age group, it is good to hear.
I guessed that 8ball, but just to cover myself. ๐
Pangloss,
Agreed. I thought The Ox started brightly but because he wasn’t Sterling and Sturridge’s mate, he gradually got squeezed out of his natural territory too.
By the end of the first half he seemed to be moving all over the place trying to keep out of their way as the terrible twosome dribbled more than Dribbly McNoscore.
Where is he now, by the way ? Another great Barca move …… ๐
Gutted over this.
http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/09/04/ex-arsenal-defender-denied-return-to-the-emirates-stadium-this-s/?
Suppose he wouldn’t have been wearing red and white anyway. ๐
Tim Stillman spot on as always.
http://arseblog.com/2014/09/welbecks-mellow-gold/
Thoughts on TW in general, the signing of Welbeck.
The final part is about the center half options at our beloved club. Will paste the whole paragraph although I doubt there is anyone who didn’t read it so far.
However, it is difficult to deny that Arsenal have left themselves troublingly short in defence. I mistakenly believed that Vermaelenโs transfer had been signed off in the knowledge that a replacement had been secured. Maybe the club were in the final stages of a deal that didnโt come to fruition at the time. It isnโt just quantity that is a prevailing concern back there, but compatibility, or rather, a lack thereof.
Mertesacker and Chambers for instance isnโt the most symbiotic pairing. Both prefer the right side of defence for a start and they are similar types of defender. Neither is an aggressive, ball hunting centre half. We saw Romelu Lukaku expose both Chambers and Mertesacker high up the pitch for Steven Naismithโs goal at Goodison Park last week. Nacho Monreal is a good defender and one of his principle strengths is his ability to intercept. In this respect, he will be viewed as a deputy to Koscielny.
But leaving aside the fact that Monreal can expect plenty of games at left back deputising for Kieran Gibbs, I could imagine the Spaniard struggling with a more direct, physical threat. I was far from Vermaelenโs biggest fan, but I think I would prefer to pit him against, say, Diego Costa, than Nacho Monreal. Letโs just hope we can keep a relatively clean bill of health back there until January and hopefully, another centre half is scouted in advance of the January meat market.
I’ve enjoyed it, such a good read. He failed to mention the lack of DM options in the article for some reason, but I am sure he will on some other occasion.
Santi and Debuchy on show at a packed Stade de France. Score 0-0 at half time, Sky Sports 5.
They still care about internationals in France then it seems. Maybe they win more often?
Stillman is indeed on the money Lurky. From what I have seen BFG and Chambers both prefer the right side and I still think we have major issues if we get long- term injuries especially as Koscielny has a recurring Achilles problem.
January is a long way away with our predisposition to injuries
The “25” man squads submitted to the premier league would indicate that we are equipped to compete.
We have registered 23 out of a possible 25, incuding 8 home grown and 15 non home grown. Our additional under 21 list includes The Ox, Chambers, Gnabry, Bellerin, Hayden, Sanogo and Zelalem.
Chelsea have registered 20 of a possible 25 with 3 home grown and 17 non home grown. Their home grown element comprises Cahill, Fabregas and Terry.
Liverpool have registered 19, 9 home grown and 10 non HG.
Man City have registered 24 of which 8 are home grown.
Man U have also registered 24 of which 12 are home grown.
Spurs have registered 23 of which 6 are home grown.
All have registered long lists of U21 players.
We are told that it is a certainty that Chelsea will win the Premier League and we may as well settle for fighting for fourth place again.
Their strikers are Costa, a past his sell by date Drogba and Remy. I think we have more than enough capability to match them in this area of the pitch.
As to our defensive numbers, they have Ivanovic, Terry, Azpilcueta, Luis, Cahill and a few younger relatively inexperienced players, so again numbers wise we are not more exposed than them. If we could have one player from them it would be Matic.
I think the main challenge for us to overcome this season is our next opponent, Man City, at vast expense they have assembled the strongest squad in the league in terms of both numbers and quality.
The other challenge is to avoid sloppily inept performances that gift goals and points to the opposition. If we fail to eliminate such self inflicted wounds then we will again be battling for fourth place.
Joeos, speaking of Remy, he just scored a real beauty.
The whole move was really nice, also, thats some atmosphere made by home crowd for a friendly.
and my word Pogba is hell of a player.
Eandy did you see the West Ham goal earlier on, with a certain Alex Song back heel included. If you didn’t it is a must see.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/west-ham-insane-tiki-taka-golazo-today-ft-alex-song-rabona-backheel-passes-video/
Lurky, it was not my intention to imply that he would not score for them but that I believe we have as much goal scoring capability as them.
Joeos, it was just a great goal from Remy a result of a great team work from 4 players, which deserved to be mentioned, just like West Ham one. Nothing more. If you haven’t seen them you have a chance now. It is what football is all about.
well Lurky, thats nice to see, but could they do it on cold November afternoon…. ๐ no serioulsy, goal like this is always nice to watch, but still rate Wilshere goal much higher since that one was scored in proper competitive match.
Thanks Lurky, I will check them out later.
Wilshere’s goal is one of the best goals I’ve ever seen in my life.
I love team goals. As Arsene said, many footballers out there can score a great individual goal, it requires a good shot and not a very good keeper, or dribbling skills and lot of average defenders.
Good team goals are the rare diamonds in this game we all love.
Evening holics,
Agree, team goals are a bit special. โฅ
Rarer are the ones scored by one player working his way from one end of the pitch to the other ie Messi.
Excited about Welbeck. We need to not only start winning games, but scoring more in each game. Darn injuries have kept us from achieving that, but Danny and then Theo give us added fire power! ๐
Trev @175, I googled that as well. Took me to goonerholic, Jan 2014. Read many drinks, but couldn’t find it. Grrrr โบ
Nite everyone ๐
Pre-assist
assist
Nursie, I think Dim billock = Tim Payton, I could be wrong tho, ‘Night.
Abb,
I think it was a ‘ttg’ typo during the Jan transfer window.
A last hurrah for ……….. became Alistair Hurrah …….
probably courtesy of his spill chucker. ๐
Thanks, BB.
quick howdy trev
๐
spill chucker always a ๐
hope yer well chief
see ya
The ole one-two Cent!
๐
Just saw on the Daily Express that we might be bringing in free agent, Mario Yepes as Centre Back cover.
Assuming it’s true, it would be a good piece of business bringing in a Colombian superstar on a free, the best price ๐
CoR: Yepes is 38, though to be fair to him he did play the full 90 mins in four of Colombia’s WC games (he was also the oldest outfield player in the tournament). And he is a left-sided CB so that would provide cover for Kos in particular.
Well in for the double ton, Cent.
abb@197: Or you can have a goal like this: one player from one end of the pitch to the other but without the work
http://youtu.be/P-9UWexAUrw
CoR/NBN : Please see @103 above. I think Lurky had also posted something along those lines earlier. I hope the tabloids are not picking up their free-agent signing gossips from free-associative ramblings of fans with lots of free times ๐
@206, 209: I think maybe the press listened to the latest Arsecast to just pull out that Yepes name out of the blue like that ๐
CoR @ 210: Won’t be the first time. I think couple of TW back arseblog planted some wild speculations in the weekly blog just to experiment and inevitably those appeared in some tabloid or another as some serious transfer gossip…hilarious. ๐
BTW, would you be following the FC Twente matches? When Ryo was playing for Feynoord I was told that some Japanese sports bar started to show Dutch league games as well. Hopefully he will have an injury free season…it is getting much tougher for him in Arsenal, if not quite impossible, but if he stays injury free he will make a career in one of the top European leagues. I think he will be quite suitable for Bundesliga.
Yeah, I think he will do well if stays injury-free but who knows if he will come back into fold at this point in time, eh? It might sound a bit cynical but I think they extended his contract before he left so they could get a good fee for him if any buyers get interested…
On J Sports channels they do show quite a lot of Bundesliga and Eredivisie matches so that locals can keep track of the Japanese players, but usually I’m busy enough just following Arsenal so not sure how many matches I will catch!
I wish him well but unless he significantly improves it will be very hard for him to get back into the team I reckon…
If worst comes to worst hopefully he’ll come play for Vissel Kobe so I can my shirts signed! ๐
hahaha this is really really good https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1_2QzUvLNDI ๐
Thanks for the back-drink, Dr F. Had forgotten that Yepes’s name had already been raised. Couple of other CBs without clubs are Quido Lanzaat and Martin Neubert, 34 and 33 respectively, and both with deep bench-sitting experience in the Dutch and German leagues. I will look out for them popping up in the popular prints, too.
Although Yepes is pretty much 200 years old, he had pretty great World Cup, would not mind if we signed him for reasonable salary.
Eandy. “Reasonable salary”? I say “splash the cash”! ๐
New Puma logo in the works : http://i.imgur.com/tdRCnh8.jpg?1
๐
The Gent is in top form; arseblog.com/2014/09/arsenal-gentlemans-weekly-review-36/
COR @ 212: I am afraid I agree with your assessment as he has Alexis, Theo, Ox and even Campbell and Gnabry as much more established players in the speed and trickery combination category to compete against. And once Poldi leaves next season we will definitely get one more left sided forward. I had always thought the fight is between him and Gnabry, and Gnabry is definitely physically more suited to PL and by now technically has become more advanced as well. But if he has an excellent season at Eredevisie he would probably get one more chance to impress next pre-season. Anyway, I think he will have a career if he can stay fit.
NBN @ 214: Now that you have mentioned those names rest assured that those will indeed appear as potential signings. ๐
@219: Ooops, stupid browser cache… ๐
Cent @ 218: I must admit nowadays I look forward to the Gent’s weekly musings more than even the wonderfully eloquent and insightful pieces by Tim Stillman. ๐
The gent rocks. ๐
Now having read this week’s gent ramblings though I would add his voice sounds a bit less like “the Gent” than normal, and a bit more like “Blogs.” Not a bad thing of course but I am beginning to wonder if the two voices are one and the same. ๐
@ 224: You are beginning to wonder? ๐ Or was that meant jokingly.
Unless, of course, the mythical butler is the blogs, and he interjects his own brand of imagination (if that is the word, hallucination is not too far as it is) into his master’s reverie. ๐
Dr. F. A bit like the Gent’s forgetful tendencies, I forgot to put a :; instead of an ๐ to show a joke was intended there. A bit like a laugh track, really, since the audience is not really expected to think the joke is particularly funny. ๐
Got my emoticons wrong twice in a row. Time to repeat my typing lessons.
@ 226/227 : I liked your joke, even without the laughing track.
Lessons are meant to make you unlearn things that you already know. Can you really afford that? ๐
First they give us a “close season,” most of which coincided with a “transfer window,” and finally three league games and a two-legged European qualifier in a brief span of about two weeks. Now they give us an “international break.” Is this a plan contrived to create the maximum amount of confusion, distraction and disinterest? It seems like we are still waiting for the “actual season” to get off the ground.
Just flicked through the weekends “football.” It is a fucking disgrace. I’m outraged. Take a look at the pile of shit they are offering up on Sunday. Greece/Romania the only decent game. Other than that it is absolute nonsense like Gibraltar/Poland. Luxemborg. Scotland. Who has even heard of these places?
Fucking Gibraltar? Outraged. This is a rock with half the capacity of the Emirates as ‘citizens.’ The closest thing they have to a stadium is the sport centre. Really. They took away our Arsenal for 2 weeks for this shit. It is a disgrace. Why not get the Falklands in to? If we are missing the Arsenal, we might as well make it diverse.
(I’m also curious why if Gibraltar and Israel are both in UEFA qualifying Palestine aren’t to? If we are bending for places not classified as states and the far west of the middle east, they should be a raging NAP to be invited to the party. Who has Platini’s number? No wonder I can’t get any tang around here. Fother Muckers.)
#DontFreePlatini
#ThrowAwayTheKey
always said the strength of here
was
it is like a bar
a real one
sense bad sense good sense shite
fights thumps lumps
tripe
but
i try my best to keep politics out of my nonsense posts
failed a few times
good landlord
cheers ‘hol
.
anyhoo
howdy
.
Bla Bla bla bleep squelch
(repeat)
El Puno @ 230: As CBA has sagely noted, politics can be a needy and acidic mistress in this forum dedicated to the beauty of Arsenal. ๐
There is Brazil vs Colombia friendly later tonight — 9PM EST in US — with Neymar and Falcao both to appear and Neymar as captain, youngest in Brazil’s history.
We should see Ospina in goal.
howdy doctor F
.
the “beauty” of Arsenal?
well now
i’m not an elder statesman here
and
i don’t like the gooner dick measuring contest
but
i would say that the beauty of Arsenal
has been evened out by the plain
over my years
but
i think we are approaching a Michelle Pfeiffer
explosion of well deserved joy
Re: EPM @230. You asked for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands_official_football_team
Their games would probably be more entertaining than the average international friendly you see on the TV.
Hey! cba
La Pfeiffer ? Oh yes.
Here’s that explosion of joy for you.
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/21900000/Michelle-Pfeiffer-michelle-pfeiffer-21961078-647-854.jpg
Now, if she played her cards right ………. ๐
Holics
I’m exhausted. Bet you are too. So when folks spend their energy replying to you, why it is such a pick me up! Thank you xx
Dr Faustus, I envy you @232. Wish my provider, carried that game!
Ordered Chinese (delivery). Maybe my fried rice and veggies will give me energy! Will be ‘in house’ checking out what my mates (like our poet cba) are thinking and feeling ๐
been a strange day today
walked a lot
sat a lot
sang a lot
met some brilliant souls
vintage cars
one gooner
asked if i read arseblog
i said of course
i asked if he read goonerholic
he said
“Aw the geezer off arseblog”
.
Spanner!
girlfriend had a wigan casino badge
looked about 20
time travel eh ?
.
just by my brief encounter
the bar hasn’t lost a hemingway
although
a
yeah ummm
howdy 8ball
howdy trev
howdy abb
๐
Fellas, ‘Scarface’ Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, The Word!
Ice Princess, cba. She’ll only break your heart ๐
mind you
a very new close second
is
The Rose of Tralee 2014
who
two days after winning the thing on telly
announced she was a lesbian from lesbia
roads and airports were closed
as the nation took it all in
been quite the few weeks
(she is bloody gorgeous)
sssshhh though
the jesuits are on my case
.
*disappears into the night*
bt8b@224: You may indeed be correct in your assertion. One can only assume pressing business caused The Gent to pass off his hebdomadal feuilleton to his gentleman’s gentleman. Alas, a pastiche of a parody is a damnably difficult trick to pull off.
NBN. Pressing business indeed. Lovely phrase, that other one you used. Had to look it up. Copied it for the benefit of your other readers. ๐
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/hebdomadal
cba.
lovely scandal @240
stinks of globalization
in some of its aspects
but bloody entertaining ๐
NBN. Brilliantly alliterative “pastiche” of a sentence, full of meaning and style:)
abb. Hope you enjoyed your fried rice and veggies. ๐
Oskar. Re: Your assertion about Ana Ivanovic in the previous drinks. I am coming around to your point of view, even if she shares the same last name with that Chelsea player. Lovely color coordination too:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R0jRoboSUsI/UP1R-QVVmJI/AAAAAAAAANs/lpKqClYNLgw/s1600/Ana+Ivanovic+09.jpg
Saw Wozniacki’s semifinal win against the unfortunate Peng Shuai of China yesterday. I hope Peng is okay after suffering severe cramping that caused her to default the highly competitive match.
Wozniacki-Peng match report.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/sep/05/caroline-wozniacki-us-open-final-shuai-peng-retires
I thought Peng Shuai was a way of arranging the furniture …… ๐
NBN – nice one at 241 ๐
Bloody interlull.
Ain’t that the truth, GSD?
COYG
Great quote from Tommy Docherty (one eyed Manc though he is) talking to the BBC about Scotland’s 1957 victory against West Germany:
“”So nobody thought we’d beat West Germany. I was made captain that night. It was the greatest honour you could get but, you took the ball out and tossed the coin and that was it. We didn’t even have a manager. We had a sponge man who gave us a bit of a chat. ‘Tommy, take that Helmut Rahn out of the game’. ‘What, today or forever?’ We knew we were good, though. That was a nice Scottish team.””
If this has been posted already, apologies. Funny shit though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_2QzUvLNDI
Tommy Docherty was a Gunner for a few years Bath and I had the pleasure of meeting him just after the first Wenger double. I suspect he might pick up the odd yellow card nowadays!
Hi All
So AW has lost his TV gig in France.
Im glad
Cheers all
BBC piece on the Germany-Scotland game in 1957:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29075461
Amazed to read the team were criticized for, having got 3-0 ahead in the first half, not putting six past the world champions.
Trev. The way the match announcers pronounced her name I thought it was a furniture arranging contest. ๐
Brilliant results in League One today. Three games scheduled, three games postponed. ๐
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/results
Not to mention any non-results in the higher divisions.
Interesting to see that the BBC’s version of the country that thrashed Liechtenstein in an international friendly on Thursday. A lesson in the importance of brevity in the realm of nation naming?
Bos-Herce 3-0 Liechtenstein
8ball @ 244 I did, saved some for work tonite, too. ๐
Btw, bloody good show, keeping this bar open ๐
All you Tim Stillman fans, he got married. A photo of him and his beautiful pride on twitter. Arsene wrote them a congratulations letter!
What a gentleman, eh xx
*bride
Of course, I’m sure he has a lot of pride, too! lol
Hello abb, and all.
Nice one cynic.
Tommy Doc, eh? Long time since he was an Arsenal man…
Back with a piece tomorrow. Roll on Citeh at home.
Frank Lampard partially attributes Luke Shaw not knowing who Tony Adams is, to why he retired from Engand team. I’ve always had a soft spot for Frank. This will be just one more reason! ๐
Abb
Good supporters get married on international weekends- sound move.
I chose the cricket season !
Hi Holic we’re looking forward to that. Arsenal ‘stuff’ ๐
ttg, You got that right, mate. Cricket, stolen from baseball!
Holics, Lampard also said he would have stayed with Chelsea, had they made him an offer. He was Chelsea, in my eyes. Along with Petr Cech. (hope I spelled his name, correctly).
Have a great day/evening everyone!
TTG, you clearly do move in elevated circles! ๐
I knew that TD had played for the Arsenal a very long time ago but remember him claiming that Manure were the greatest team in the world, despite that. I never forgave him for running out on Scotland to take over as Manure manager and was delighted when they wee subsequently relegated. ๐
bath
he couldn’t keep it in his trousers too
as i recall
the dirty brute
๐
cba, I’m shocked! ๐ฎ
He’s not exactly HFB.
Horny Fat Bloater, perhaps?
Tommy Docherty mentioned above brought back memories for us elder statesmen of this fine establishment. He spent most of his playing career at Preston North End and joined the gunners in the twilight of his career. He was a hard tackling half back who took no prisoners, and as we are talking about late 50s / early 60s, not a man to cross on a football pitch. He was successfully being groomed as a coach with us but was lured by that team who play near a bus stop in Fulham. Eventually he became manager there and after a trying start, got together a terrific team of young players and their future looked very bright indeed. But this was London of the “Swinging 60s” and the money and success grew too large for the young players to handle and it eventually imploded into disharmony, with players and manager moving on.
Later in his career, when he was managing Manure, he was found to be having an affair with one of the coaches wives and was forced to resign.
They were eventually married and have remained together for more than 30 yrs now. No doubt a role model for Terry & Giggs to follow!
I met him many moons ago at a sports lunch for businessman and chatting to him afterwards, found him to be a man of generous nature.
howdy uply
tommy doc ?
always find it interesting
when someone shits on their own doorstep
if said wandering results in
decades of deep joy
original wankerdom is understated
and somehow understood
never liked the turnip headed mouth
never will
.
bath
clearly
Le Giroud de Gorbals
had his own charms
Heh @ Uply and cba
Le Giroud de Gorbals, eh?
canny whacckit.
goann yersel bath man !
๐
Howdy cba and bath.
Cba, you could shit on your own doorstep…..and blame it on them damn cows ๐
in somewhat related bla
in that it has scotland in it
niece of mine had her eye
on my leather jacket
for ages apparently
bloody old
(jacket not her)
she’s off to Edding Burrough
for big smart school
havent worn it for a wee while
so i said she could have it
*heartbroken*
saw the Ramones in it
saw Neil Young
saw The Smiths
saw Highbury
saw me without a pot belly
good luck to her
she’s a fine young woman
a credit to her arsewipe father
my brother
who put her up to it
how long is an appropriate mourn fer a coat
*composes self*
lock o numpties bbc1 the noo ๐
How long should you mourn a jacket, cba ?
Er, donkeys years ? ๐
CBA@274
Well done that man.
You’ve obviously shown that jacket some good times. Great work in passing the love on.
And don’t mourn the coat longer than you need to say goodbye. You’ve given it a whole new lease of life…
And with new chapters in mind and nothing going on in the world of Arsenal I’ll simply add.. COYG
You’ll need to get a morning coat, cba.
Barges the attacker off the ball for a throw-in deep in our half. Looks round defiantly at the opposition and exalts all of our players to look lively and track back…
*goes to bed*
Uply,
Enjoyed your reminiscences which were spot on. I also thought Tommy was very interesting to chat to. Wenger had just done his first double ( the Monday after) when I met him and he was full of admiration for our team. He told me some interesting stories about Arsensl in the sixties. Chelsea always used to murder us at Highbury. He said Arsenal had a very patrician Board and not as focused on football success as Chelsea were but he was very fond of Dennis Hill- Wood.
The lady he had an affair with was the wife of Laurie Brown who was of course another Arsenal player; if memory serves me correctly he went on to join Spurs.
NBN
no nay never
a morning coat?
are we at a chelsea wedding?
ummmm
yeah darren+darrenette ร millionteen
wheres all the …
..
ooohhhhhh
no bride
yup
chelsea
gotts da luvvim
.
vulgarities
thunder T
he got turfed out of his job
for not keeping a keen eye
on where his keen eye
was keen
yup
don’t always need to meet people in person
to either reinforce
or
wallop apart
my idea of them
but
i remember what an annoying shite he was
he went to aus too didnt he
I only remember the North Bank response at the time –
“Who’s up Mary Brown,
Who’s up Mary Brown?
Tommy Tommy Docherty
Tommy Tommy Docherty …. ”
(Repeat as required)
๐ trev
.
how’s yer pin fella?
Seem to have hit a bit of a barrier, cba.
Not literally, you understand – just struggling to increase the old range of movement. Making the seat at The Emirates pretty uncomfortable.
Sitting rolling the foot on a ball right now to make the knee bend a tiny bit more each time.
At home – not at The Emirates, you understand. ๐
TTG…..you are right about Laurie Brown, he did transfer to Spurs after his stint at Highbury. He caused some excitement in those success starved times at the HOF as he was a previous English Amateur international prior to signing for us….a real wow factor ๐
Trev….football fan chants were ever straight to the point. ๐
Almost a terrible experience today –
thought I’d chanced on the mass grave of thousands of snowmen ….
turned out to,be a field of carrots ! ๐
all the best Trev
jeez
bit of
physician
not bein able to heal thyself
.
fair play to ye fella
sore pain is sore
hope ye’ll be pogo stickin soon
down holloway rd
after a NLD
to join the cracker shower
of etcs
i like to think
are my bestest nearly newest aquaintenced
in a pile of chips
abb @ 236: Sorry for the late response, the match was in beIN Sports, it also has the full rights in broadcasting La Liga and Ligue 1 in US cable (I also get some Ligue 1 matches from the the TV 5 French channel ), and most Latin American/Central American internationals. Somewhat similar to what GolTV used to be, but without the Bundesliga and the Brazilian leagues (for which you need satellite, which is a dysfunctional idea especially in Winter months here in the snowy North East).
beIN also has the rights to the English Championship matches and they show a lot of them. So if you want to catch up on what Iggy is up to… ๐ They also have the rights to the League Cup.
I think your cable provider may carry beIN…if you don’t get the channel just call them up. If you subscription used to include GolTV previously you should have automatically upgraded to include beIN.
Good luck to your niece and her new acquisition, cba. My favourite leather jacket was bought, c1965, with winnings on a horse called Armagnac Monarch (odds of 100-8 from memory) and went on a similar journey to yours for the next 30 years. Eventually it passed to my teenage daughter in much the same way as yours to your niece. I’d not actually worn it for some years before on account of it mysteriously shrinking and no longer fitting.
Old clothes have a tendency to do that.
รskar
I have knee problems when in cinemas, theatre or anywhere I’m sitting for any length of time but can’t stretch my legs, Trev. Nothing as worrisome as your history, but still impossible to enjoy the experience with knees constantly aching. But I found a solution.
Diclofenac – prescription strength 75mg, not standard 25mg Voltaren. Take one or two half an hour before game starts and hallelujah, no pain for a couple of hours however cramped. No doubt your physician will qualify this recommendation, if he hasn’t already prescribed something else.
Works for me anyway.
รskar
Hang in, Trev. One step at a time, so to speak. And don’t overdo it. Otd seems to have the Plan B.
Otd@291: ain’t that the truth.
*Picks up were GSD left off, and goes to bed*
*Peeks onto the pitch and seeing nobody around punts a ball into the midfield. Notices a spider about to fall into his whisky and sprints off to save both spider and drink*
Trev
I feel your pain ( metaphorically ) but as a back sufferer I understand the issues of cramped seats. My local club is Gillingham and until they rebuilt the stand I really struggled to sit in those seats. Similarly when driving hire cars it can be a problem.
I prescribe a week with Shad Forsythe to sort you out.
Incidentally my struggle with the box office drags on as my friend’s seat is covered by a bond.
TTG…..sit on that and it will verily be a season ticket. ๐
Good luck with sorting out the ticket office, just don’t hold your breath.
Trev, I found several pints with large whisky chasers numbed all aches & pains. The following morning however……..
Lumps the ball aimlessly into the opponents half………
No one else on the pitch, so trots off after it. 5 mins later reaches the
ball lying there desolate & alone and gives it a gentle tap into the area
hoping someone is there to smash it into the empty net……
Gets out the old plate-laying kit once more before knirding…
*wakes up in time to see Pangloss finish in style*
So, I knurd. Nothing much to add, except sympathy to Trev for his knee and to Mr Arsed for his jacket.
I can honestly say that I’ve never before seen a defender deflect a shot towards his own goal only for the ball to hot the bar, spin wildly upfield, bounce over the opposition keeper and into their net.
COYG
Nonchantly scored Pangloss.
Thankyou, fellas, for the kindness above.
Cba was good enough to ask, so blame him – it’s a boring topic by now.
Problem is that the bone graft I had for years – now gone – left the muscles with a reduced range of movement that is proving extremely difficult to get back.
Interlulls don’t help either ! Is it over yet ?
Oh …… ๐
Well in, Pangloss!
Well taken, Pangloss !
You owe Uply one for one of the most unselfish assists ever ! ๐
And Gunnersaurus Stunt Double walks off with “Euphemistic Post of The Week” @301…….
and it’s only Sunday morning. Confirms all my suspicions though, what with you being able to see Pangloss when you wake up, GSD.
Ooh, I say ! ๐
Sorry to hear about your difficulties with the knee, wishing you better and speedier recovery.
Thanks, Cent, but I suspect my problems are as nothing compared to yours.
Hope you are ok, too.
howdy and best of luck all
with yer ailments
and predicaments
pain is no joke
no siree
just an unforeseen fart cough or sneeze
can send agony and expletives
shooting all directions
and
here’s me moaning about a jacket
disgraceful
*hangs head*
Sorry about last night cba. I wandered off as I got caught up in a great movie. Mesrine – I can strongly recommend it.
Have no concerns about your jacket. Your niece will give it a whole new generation of experiences. However thinking a wee bit more about that, by the sound of it’s experiences with your good self, it’s probably pretty knackered and in need of a rest home.
Morning all, by a whisker.
– first it’s
+ its
tsk
The Grammar Police will be after me again. ๐
๐ bath
grammar police , eh?
hang on i’ll see if i can raise them
“front and centre sgt mjr ร of NZ”
๐
oh and what’s the point apologising to me
i’m sure yer not the first
to wander off on me
๐
cows bla drunk bla bla
shite bla bla same old bla
๐
have a good sunday fella
have a good sunday all
i’m gonna eat and drink me own bodyweight
anyhoo
spuds to peel
cheerio
Cheers, Trev. I’m in a relatively safer place now.
Good to hear, Cent.
enjoying iggy on 6
not that iggy
short wirey genius
the stardust fella?
all enjoying his tunes here
the vegetarians included
not that they were
s’pose makin them eat
their lightly steamed air
‘mongst the cattle
was a stride too far
cos
they’re just shitin’ machines after all
but
i thought
give the cows summat to look at
๐ฎ
With five possible starters in future England teams we might have to get interested in them again. So the interlull might not be a lull anymore
mind you
the big uddered lumps
aren’t helping with
my separation anxiety
feckin shower
clearly wearing very snug
figure hug
leather jackets
herself looked up
what she thought would
be a funny piss take cheer up of me on youtube
I love my leather jacket – the chills
backfired
when i told her i saw them
singing that song
in that jacket
camden falcon
the cows the missus the windy veggies
happy sunday
anyhoo
thunder T
yer not wrong
someone here earlier
seemed to be proud of
all the arsenal england call ups
fuck off
like school
they shoulda took the desks
down the back
and hid
avoiding the Roysaurus
internationals can go fuck off
‘cept for eurovision of course
wolfie would be devastated
The only international match I caught in this window is the Brazil-Colombia friendly in Florida. It was hardly a friendly match with tackles flying and the game played at breakneck speed. Way too much for some Canadian referee who started dishing out yellows after yellows, and eventually had Cuadrado sent off with two yellows, after which the game lost the edge. Until he was sent of Cuadrado was having a brilliant game, combining technical abilities with pace and power.
Brazil eventually won the game by a single Neymar goal, which was a brilliant unstoppable free-kick … one of those that go right in the top corner after hitting the goalpost. Nothing Ospina could do. Neymar overall had a good game, and Dunga would be happy to see his team play such commitment in his return.
Other than conceding that goal Ospina had a good game, though twisted his ankle at the beginning trying to clear a back-pass when under pressure. Nonetheless carried on and made some good saves and was accurate in distribution. Looked a little shaky with his footwork under high pressing.
Guarin came on as a sub after Colombia went down to ten men and played brilliantly, both defensively and attacking wise. He is more of a box-to-box but can also effectively play at the base of the midfield. Falcao made a cameo appearance at the end and missed a header that a fitter Falcao would have scored.
howdy doctor F
indeed
howdy dr F
indeed
howdy lurkers
indeed
pipe up
join in
don’t leave a gooner hangin’
๐
veggies on the toke
at least they fuckin brought somethin
cockahoop
bout my homemade swally
mind you
it is a triumphant rum and raisin
takes time and attention
work of genius
as indeed
is
the toke
๐
gonna be an unConscious man
brrrripppppp
bleep ๐
is your brother jolly
mine fuckin is
wee herself looks good in me coat
he’s fuckin loaded too
coulda given the poor relation lolly
couldnt he
clearly no
Not sure what half of that means but carry on cba. ๐
Cent safe travels to you.
cba:
Iggy Pop.
Vegetables.
Maudlin remembrance about a jacket.
Is this drugs speaking? Or is the weather so bad?
Put on some good old Bach or something.
Pablo Casals playing the Cello suites.
Not much left said that need to be said after that.
Or watch old Arsenal matches in the Player.
The surest cure for the Blues.
And if sentimentality it must be
Then follow Ms McRae…wise wise voice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTKpfcG6gYA
cba, amazing work ๐ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bon, je n’ai pึ int fini de regarder mais je ะณeviens dษns la journรฉe
Here is my webpage – Godemiche.Sx
ะe terminerai dะต regarder tout celka dans la soirรฉe
My web site blog coquin
Above you will find our Clash of Clans Hack.
This Clash of Clans
Hack works for every account and best of all its undetected, meaning that this Clash of Clans Hack will never be detected and will always be able to grant
you unlimited amount of elixirs,gems or gold.
Using Clash of Clans Hack is very simple, all you need to do is enter your
username and desired amount of Clash of Clans
Elixir Gems or Gold you wish to hack, after that Clash of Clans Hack will take care of everything else.
Enjoy using our Clash of Clans Hack and tell your friends about this awesome Hack!