The End Game Has Surely Kicked Off?
Feb 26th, 2018 by 'holic
The beauty of being at Wembley yesterday was not being able to post a review of the match last night. Looking at the press and other blogs today it seems that nearly everybody saw the same game that I did.
Let me take that a bit further. The beauty of yesterday was the taxi turning up on time, the train running on time, a first pint in the Queens Head in Pinner. Followed by a superb three course Sunday lunch with a bottle of Pino Grigio, and another of the delicious Ribera del Duero, at the excellent Friends restaurant with good friends.
The stroll up the slope at the stadium end of Wembley Way and there we were, among a sea of red clad supporters smiling, laughing, exchanging pleasantries. I even got to meet Nick Feldman (thanks Steve), a gentleman. I was in a dance hall daze!
Then it was into my seat in row 40, not a bad view I thought. This felt positive. Then the first signs that it might not be too enjoyable an afternoon. “Sit Down!” echoed around. At Cup Finals I’m expecting to be standing up in the lower tier behind the goal. Then the atmosphere. The songs started but petered out more often than not. Swathes of people not contributing vocally.
The game started ok. We might even have had the lead to celebrate had Pierre-Emerich Aubamayang found a finish to the first big chance of the match although VAR would probably have come to City’s aid. He looked to be offside. Then the first goal arrived. Not for the first time we were unhinged by a long ball down the centre of the pitch. Skhodran Mustafi got it all wrong, the cover had gone AWOL, Aguero of all people had the simple task of lobbing David Ospina.
What followed was seventy minutes or so of mind-numbing ineptitude. The lack of effort on the pitch being largely reflected off it. So many silent ‘customers’. A wee hip flask of Laphroaig kept the cold at bay during the half-time break. We’ll come out suitably chastised and have a proper go at them in the second-half, I tried to convince myself. Of course we didn’t.
Now I have been at many big match defeats in the past. Swindon Town, Ipswich Town, West Ham United, Luton Town, Birmingham City, all at Wembley. Yet in nearly fifty years of Finals at Wembley that was the standout as our worst performance of them all. We weren’t great against Leeds United in 1972, and like yesterday we were playing a very good team, but at least we have the memory of Charlie George crashing a shot against the crossbar that could have taken us to extra-time.
The third goal yesterday from David Silva, just seven minutes after Vincent Kompany had struck the second, sparked a steady flow of dispirited Gooners for the exit gates. I couldn’t blame them. I held on thinking a miracle might still happen in the twenty five remaining minutes. A quarter of an hour later I joined them. The new Wembley is a nightmare to depart at the end. I was in Paddington Station before the City celebrations were over.
Yesterday, however, wasn’t about supporters growing level of apathy. It wasn’t even about the players who seemingly could not get up for a Wembley Final. Yesterday was about the cruel exposure of one man. City are a fabulous team, they will be worthy champions, they would probably have found another gear had the Arsenal set about them with enthusiasm, discipline, pace of thought and body. We didn’t. Arsene can’t motivate this squad any longer. They have heard everything he has to say.
I always dreaded it ending this way. He changed football in England and treated us to some of the finest football, and footballers, we have ever had the pleasure to witness. He played a major part in dragging the club into the twenty-first century. He has had his opportunities to bow out a winner in the last five years. The Europa League may yet afford him one last such opportunity, but looking at his squad in 2018 it is tough to see that becoming a reality.
So I have added to the forest of negativity present everywhere today. I want to apologise, but for what? From what I have seen today, this year, this season, so many have now come to the view that we are witnessing the final months of the reign of a remarkable man. This isn’t how it should have been, and I take no pleasure from it, but for the good of our club it’s time for the change that has already been put in motion by the restructuring of the organisation.
Just let the man depart, his dignity intact, with the cheers of appreciation so utterly deserved for past successes ringing in his ears. We were so lucky to have him.
111 Responses to “The End Game Has Surely Kicked Off?”
Number 1, is Perry Groves…
I promise I won’t take it any further.
Cheers H! Fair blog mate.
Sadly only Wenger himself can allow an appropriate exit. If he announced he was to finish in May regardless of Europe results I would attend last game as a lap of appreciation. Sadly his hubris will see him subjected to torrents of abuse which the results deserve
such a shame but he has brought it on himself and board has negligently left it to his ego
Dear God I pray he can still go out on a high. Perhaps it might help if the club make an announcement that he is leaving and name a successor? Anything but the uncertainty that apparently caused the team last season to play shite… oh hang on…
1996. we were blessed and cursed at the same time
“Long is the way and hard, that out of light leads up to Hell”
Post-mortem examination – lack of testicles
Cheers H. Great write up. I’ve still not seen any of the game apart from the brief sky sports news snippets so I’m grateful. (Work commitments unfortunately, despite what others might think).
Sadly, no one will be surprised at the result, or the performance.
The season could still have a silver lining. Spuds to finish 5th. Their cabinet remains bare. We finish 6th and win the Europa. Lacazette punches in the winner with no VAR. Spuds back to Thursday and us back in the Champions League. Now if that’s not a great way to wave goodbye to the man then I don’t know what is?
To all of those kind enough to comment in the previous round of drinks, thank you. I’m very grateful.
Onwards and upwards.
RE: Cynic on #144 in the last set of drinks – “I wish Jack Wilshere had kept quiet and not made himself look like a fool today.
Whatever you think about the refereeing, and I happen to think he is wrong on every moan he has, his team mates simply didn’t show up. Again.”
Did Jack really show up or am I misreading your statement?
Jack is not good enough to play in a good to great team.
Good God that Luton final still sends shivers down my spine, All that said I think Gis would be an upgrade on certain centrehalfs we currently have ?
Gus !
No he didn’t show up either, but if he’s looking to blame anyone he should be looking at them, nit the ref. And himself.
If any of them think that was in any way acceptable, or that we were unlucky or cheated, they need to get out of the place and go somewhere else.
The overwhelming feeling I have, however, is that they’re so soft they think it WAS acceptable and the WERE hard done by.
Apologies for typos by the way, I’ve got fingers like Mary Berry today.
That was a post of some dignity, Guv’nor.
The final post- mortem on AW will be an interesting one, does anyone here think another loss to Man C this week will see AW stand down or maybe after the next Euro game, i think it would be a mistake for the club not to ask for AW to call it a day rather than be sacked.but also a bigger mistake not to remove him and allow a manager to have a period of time before next season with this group of players and a chance then to know what he would like to bring in, I only hope that all get behind the new manager
That’s great, Holic. Really thoughtful, well-penned piece.
Thanks to you Bath and Adam for a fantastic prematch on a picture perfect blue-skied February Sunday; three and a half Scots putting the world right, toasting Saturday’s dark blue rout and anticipating a 6th Wembley visit in only four years was a mighty fine thing to be a part of.
The three Cup and two Shield wins had just the slightest edge over yesterday’s effort, but hey, that’s football.
Amen to your last paragraph and let’s hope you’re absolutely right. Sadly, if the carriage load of knuckle draggers in red and white that I had the misfortune to ride the Central line to Liverpool Street with are a reference point, dignity and appreciation are words they won’t recognise, never mind spell. But hey, that’s the modern “Arsenal”.
@9
you cant possibly be meaning Gus Ceasar omg he had the look of near every AW CB shit !!!!!
Few revolutionaries age well. And those that have knew when to walk away.
Cannot argue with any of your postmortem H.
A sad day on Sunday for the Club we all love.
I had coffee with a good bunch of long time friends on Monday morning.
All of them are rusted on football fans supporting their own Clubs,Chelsea/Spuds/Utd/Pool/Hammers/Villa,our local Baker who follows Southend,and a house painter who bless his cotton socks,follows Grimsby. !!
None of them gloated at our spineless performance the day before.
If anything their was an air of nostalgia about how good the Arse were to watch back in the day,and how privileged we were to have the wonderful players we had playing for our Club,and how sad it was to see us in our current incarnation.
They all agreed that Arsene has stayed too long,and that the end game is near.
We were very very lucky to have witnessed some fabulous football in his first 10 yrs,and it’s very sad to see the decline in our standards in the last 10.
Change is coming,just a question of when.
TTG from previous,
I get that way as well sometimes after another dispiriting defeat,but dear old H still rouses himself to post a top notch blog after every game,so the least we can do is keep him company in a quality forum
for all civilized followers of the Arsenal.
After all,what else would we do with our spare time.
Thanks Ned, et al.
Thanks BtM. Yesterday was till made all the better by your company, and that of Charles and Adam, for yet another superb lunch and conversation.
Chippy, Gus Caesar made Skhodran Mustafi look like Franz Beckenbauer! I still wake up with the screaming banshees having nightmares of him against Luton.
Chippy@8. I think you were right the first time.
Or were you just going back to the days of when we had Seaman in goal?
Lovely to see you here, Clive, and thank you for the kind words. You will know better than most how much it hurts to write that.
Heh, Steve, when I had to write about Ospina lobbing Ospina I am so glad it wasn’t Seaman. ?
Just as well he was that good and didn’t get lobbed often.
?
” Just let the man depart, his dignity intact, with the cheers of appreciation so utterly deserved for past successes ringing in his ears. We were so lucky to have him.”
If only this is how he is treated and asked to go, then i wouldnt be so bitter about certain fans who just take every opportunity, specially after a loss to berate the man.
Yesterday was another humbling experience. Mustafi cannot be this naive else how can he play for Germany? Why does he want to every ball first? sometimes if not most, the ability to drawback and push the striker wide or narrow the angle is also an art, he is clueless on this.
Come to think of it, most of our defenders want to win every tackle, get the ball first than the opposite player, commit stupid fouls in trying to do or get easily sucked into a smile trick, fend or touch. It is exasperating and i wonder if this is a imbibed thing in training or we just have very average defenders.
Midfield not to be seen but for Jack, Auba outpaced by Kompany was shocking but then we saw it all yesterday. Ospina is not good enough but then how good is Cech anymore? it is shambolic everywhere and the rot is just getting worse by the game.
Arsene it is time, you did it all, gave it all but this cannot continue for your and more so the club good. Leave boss for the great legacy you have set is threatening to be shattered.
Who to replace, dont , dont care for this will take atleast a few seasons before getting better. We need accountability and unless it is done and there is a sens of fear of non performance across the board to the players, we will not see any change, changing manager only will not help.
@15
Yep Big Gus indeed, I tell you I would take him over a couple even now !
Holic,
That was my First Final loss live and bought a young chippy to tears – Have never forgiven him, Also every time I see a straw hat even to this day I want to shove it up the wearers Arse – Never have or had I seen so many as on that day lol
Great report by the way, Got to show some respect to the man for what’s hes done for the club he deserves that,
Started new job today. Had to do that horrible ‘stand up and introduce yerself to a load of stranngers’ thing. Mentioned I was an Arsenal fan and got a load of sympatheic ‘aaahs’ like a family pet had just died. Even from the onligatory Spud in the room. Says it all.
Great post GH.
I suggest drinking to oblivion until things improve.
Been my remedy since I cannot remember …….
PS – Steve T sure Gars never called you anything that I haven’t to your face 😉
Think Gars had found Catalans missing medicine box ?
Thnks H
I will give you Gus and raise you with Jeff Blockley.
Who was the next big thing in centre backs,bought from Coventry to replace the incomparable Frankie Mac.
The inimitable Nick Hornby was moved to write in his book Fever Pitch,
that Blockley was ‘ an incompetent to rival Ian Ure ” and Bertie Mee was opined to remark in his later years that Blockley was the worst signing he ever made.
Drinking works for me Dr z. ?
“Just let the man depart, his dignity intact, with the cheers of appreciation so utterly deserved for past successes ringing in his ears. We were so lucky to have him.”
Fine penmanship, maestro. You have summed the day and the circumstances up superbly.
Zico @27, there isn’t enough booze in the world, mate.
One of your best ever blogs ‘holic.
Tough to write.
Well I’ve just back drunk through the previous bar and, whilst most of the people here, and indeed my other friends/family who I go with are all of similar opinions, I REALLY do not yet think that our board get it.
Seriously.
If I was to have a loan of the holic pound I would place it on AW still being in a job at AFC next season.
Sorry, but it’s more to do with money than success on the pitch now.
A very fine report Holic, much, much better than the performance it described. Great posts from many especially Btm and Clive. Yesterday made me realise that Arsenal is ‘supported’ by a lot of very undesirable characters. The people in my row were idiots and chose to spend the first ten minutes of the second half in the bar. Now I like beer but this was a Cup Final. The language and comments were appalling and the appreciation of football ‘ Aubameyang Is another £50 million wasted’, sadly missing. The internet age has allowed blogs like this admirable one but it has much else to answer for .
Our support vocally yesterday was non-existent, the attitude languorous and largely disinterested from many of the mob in red and white and the sense of a Cup Final was totally missing. I agree it was the worst Final effort ever and boy has it got some competition.
Last week Pangloss and I had a civilised discourse agreeing politely to disagree. I sense his loyalty to Wenger transcends most nowadays. I’d love the once great man to leave on a happy note but he is the one who may prevent that happening. And I see no chance of him leaving before the end of the season.
Ian Wright is making increasing sense
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05zg8c3
But I agree with Mark the Spark. Wenger has Kroenke in his pocket.
I would take Blockley and Ure over Mustafi and Koscielny any day.
They were limited but they tried.
Been reading a lot of interesting stuff over the weekend about our past teams and players and not a single one of what we have now measures up in a any way.
Shit, I’d even take Eddie McGoldrick
TTG, I think AW may well get favourable treatment from Stan, but perhaps he will not be the Kroenke that matters, come the summer?
Cynic, I’ll give you Ure at his best (Quizball ?). Blockley was an utter clown. Only surpassed by Caesar.
I’d even take Caesar over Mustafi.
This one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6gwC-EiFw4
Matron!
Stop messin’ about…
The scary thing about Josh Kroenke taking over, should that happen, is the prospect of Thierry Henry becoming manager.
One would hope the succession plan is a little more thought through than a bit of crowd pleasing. Henry with Pires his assistant would be nightmarish.
Potentially.
Can you imagine it?
Hey Bobby, we need to make a substitution but when you go to give the official the bit of paper with the names on and when he reaches out for it, you give it to me instead and I’ll give it to him.
Err are you sure about that, Thierry? It’s a bit silly
Yes, yes Bobby. Trust me, it will be cool.
.
.
.
.
.
I can’t believe you dropped the fucking paper!
Thanks for the report Guvnor.
A hip flask of laphroaig was a
cracking choice of single malt.
I knew I could find something
positive to say !
Vinay please @ 23 above – “Midfield not to be seen but for Jack”. What did he do of any note in the game yesterday? If you were to rate the players’ performances yesterday, what would your rating of Jack be? Dude was tripping himself every time someone contacted/touched him. Jack just is not the player that some of us guys want him to be. He might have been that a very long time ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by81h49kCOo
@ 24
i dont think there are many great CB left comes down to coaching same as the basics of goal keeping every other keeper dives to his right trying to parry with his left hand, simply try putting your right arm out and try reaching your left arm across yourself,but still every keeper nowdays does this its a epidemic. but big Gus was the worst i had seen at a young age you could always count on Senderous for a fly kick every game,
Adams and co would clatter players but generally they were up the pitch and another basic in order to clatter a player its easiest to be goal side
On a lighter note what did AW say do Danny Welbeck befor he went on?
AW- (pats danny on the back) awww go on Danny win us the game son
Danny- Arsene they have Jesus on their side!!
@39
classic!!!!!!
I didn’t think Jack was any
better than the rest either.
On his twitter moan, it’s true
those decisions might have
gone another way on another
day but they didn’t, we lost,
and that’s that. I’m glad he’s
angry though.
In the olden days Jack would have
gone on a 3 day bender, been
seen on the back pages of a
tabloid “devastated midfield
star seen drowning sorrows with
bevy of gorgeous models in
London nightclub”. But nowadays
players take their frustration to
social media instead… another
positive perhaps?
AW is proud of never having reneged on a contract, and it would be dreaming to think he’ll quit on his present one.
As for Jack he plays the victim too much for my liking. Despite all the practice he puts into diving when breathed on by opponents his tumbling still lacks Dele Alli quality, and the resultant complaining comes across to refs like the boy who cried wolf. He should try and stay on his feet more and just get on with the game.
What Clive said @17.
Keep the faith, TTG, in these trying times. We need your inside track as well as sensible voice.
Holic
I think you’ve been misspelling Mustafi’s first name since day one. It should be Shk….. and not Skh…
Just wandering if you’ve jinxed him :-). I know I know, at this rate I’d turn to voodoo if it’d help us
Cheers
“Steve T, sure Gars never called you anything that I haven’t to your face”
I noticed that Steve immediately offered to buy the guy a drink, Zico. You’d obviously sussed that route to a ST investment in a round. I’m going to try it next time I see him. Nothing else has worked for me so far 🙂 🙂 🙂
Good stuff @17, Sweeper. I recall that early in the piece you wrote something along the lines of “Any team that starts players of the calibre of Xhaka, Mustafi and Elneny won’t have the quality to win the League” And so it has proven. I find it tough to watch X and M without raising my blood pressure. I expect I’ll have to if I go along on Thursday night. The talent pool is shallow. Brendan Rogers has work to do when he comes down from Parkhead.
I’m glad he’s angry though.
He sounds more like sulking and refusing to accept we were total shit to me.
As long as he does something
about it Cynic I don’t mind if
it’s anger, frustration or a hissy
fit. And it’s better than a dull,
resigned acceptance of our lot.
Thank’s Holic for your considered report on what was a sad day for Arsenal and all supporters.
It wasn’t as though Citi were at their best . A Cup Final and we who had won our last three could be bothered to turn up and give it a go. It just shows where the Club have descended into, a mire from which there is no escape under the current regime.
Hopefully Thursday’s game will be postponed. Heavy snow is forecast for the London area and I doubt whether it would be possible to travel even if I was inclined to make the trip to the Ems, which I am not.
My car is at the garage today for its service and MOT, fingers crossed!
I saw my first game at Highbury in 1957 and for me Arsene Wenger is the best manager the club has ever had, However, I fully agree with your analysis and the way in which you expressed it. A respectful and touchingly written post. Sad times.
Clive@29,
Gus Caesar, Jeff Blockley and Ian Ure were pretty dire, but probably no worse than Stepanovs, Luzhny and Silvestre. A blanket finish.
Then make sure that you weight it down and drop it down a mine shaft!
Perhaps this current lot are not so bad after all. Just non-existent confidence.
I think Mustafi is a decent defender. Gus was shite!
Cygan was a decent defender too but for Villereal or wherever it was we signed him from. He had no pace so why we signed when we need defenders with loads of pace was another baffling AW decision.
The squad is imbalanced and lacking in quality and that is the most damning indictment of the manager for me.
I was 100% behind him for years after the move to the Grove. He said we’d be skint compared to other teams until the majority of the debts were serviced and yet he still managed to put out decent teams found gems of players and served up some great football on a regular basis. All on a budget.
And he had to deal with impatient and greedy players who kept jumping ship because god knows they must have trophies guaranteed to go with their multi millions.
He also had heart break like Eduardos injury and Ramseys assault to cope with.
But then eventually he was able to draw upon significant funds and I thought… finally we will be able to compete. The great man will put together a title challenging squad…
But he hasn’t and there’s no evidence to suggest he ever will. In fact I think he wasted millions.
Such a shame. He just can’t cut it any more.
Up the Arse!
Does the Queens Head in Pinner still have a portrait of Winston Churchill on the wall? Used to be a pub for rich retired Tories but with the closure of virtually every other pub in Pinner save the Oddfellows it must be letting all sorts of riff raff in these days.
Ahhh, Dr Z. You see, there lies the difference. We would stand in the Tolly, toe to toe. You would look me square in the shoulders and we would do it over a pint.
BTM. Turn up once in a while and you might be in with a chance.
Heh Steve – or square in the kneecaps. 😉
Interesting piece suggesting the United Board are regretting the Alexis deal
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2761630-manchester-united-transfer-news-board-regrets-january-alexis-sanchez-move?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=world-football
@61 We were too quickly into the Guinness to notice whether we were in the presence of Winston, Sancho. We did have a natter about the merits of Darkest Hour funnily enough. Riff Raff? I’ve been thrown out of much more salubrious establishments than that one.
@64 TTG, Sanchez began to lose his way in the middle of last season when his penchant for running up blind alleys and then passing the ball crisply to an opponent became a weekly multiplier.
He never really cut it at Barca. I think we probably had him at his best and benefited from his contribution for the first two and a half years and in the absolutely stunningly fantastic 2017 FA Cup win when his breakthrough goal began the screw turning process. (If I recall correctly he was petulantly absent for the Shield rematch in 2017 when we absolutely stunningly did Chel$ki again and Laca made his debut). I was delighted when we signed Alexis. He had the ability to make things happen.
I was very happy when Mkhi arrived as a replacement for his diminishing contribution, waning effort and (reported) dressing room negativity. Sanchez did the right thing in going to Manure for the money. He would not have been a regular starter at City under Pep, repeating his Barca frustrations under the same coach.
“Manure should have waited until summer and got him for free”. Really??Go figure. I’m happy if they’re unhappy.
Mkhitaryan, who was a major disappointment in Manchester but has enjoyed a solid start with the Gunners
Yeah, solidly poor after that opening game.
Thank you Delia. Good luck with the car.
Sancho, they are even allowing Scots in there these days. ?
Cynic
To be fair he was good in Sweden.
Two good, two bad so far
Fuck sake cynic! Give it a rest slating every effin player! 🙂
He’s just joined. And at a really difficult time.
He is a brilliant player as is Auba.
Can’t help thinking that if they were any good they would not be playing for Arsenal, especially Aubamayang, who was supposedly on everyone’s radar.
Two years ago.
Then again, even Messi would look shit in this team I suppose.
They have always let Scots of the rugby persuasion in. Never the type I hang around with though.
Good to see my alter ego being mentioned so frequently on here – what a dodgy player he was, I grew up knowing that he was the nadir and I really don’t think we’ve found worse yet, in Mustafi or anyone, he had to be seen to be appreciated for his awfulness.
It was a horrible day for me – new Wembley is always a huge let-down and if the required result doesn’t happen then the trudge back to Oxfordshire is never going to be pretty. I left 10 minutes early and that never happens, but I didn’t regret it at all. I guess it’s all character-building!
On Wenger, I don’t think he was ever going to walk away if his health permitted him carrying on, he has too much self-belief in his own ability to be the best there is. It was likely only ever going to end in his legacy being tarnished and that’s the thing about us human beings, we’re all fallible in our own ways. The scandal is the mess above him, the inability of anyone to throw in the towel and to save him from his inevitable fate. I do genuinely believe that he will go this summer and my only hopes are that it’s with the little remaining dignity in tact and with a decent last push by the players who he has backed to the hilt. I wont hold my breath on the latter though.
You don’t know what you’re missing, Sancho. 🙂
Is the inside of your house painted matt black throughout by any chance, Cynic? Window panes (pains maybe?) and all.
Southampton and West Ham home games both now moved to a Monday night.
I fucking hate this corporate TV bollocks. It causes me no end of grief.
Sancho @61, they do indeed have a portrait of Sir Winston in the corner to the right of the bar.
Apologies that my companions on the day had their heads down in their Guinness and couldn’t answer you.
With you on that Steve T @75. Bloody irritating.
Dorset Mick @59
You may well be right on the confidence factor,but i have to say i was confused by the lineup anyway.
It just lacked any cohesion.
But funnily enough it worked okay for the first 16 minutes,with City having most of the possession but doing nothing with it,
But then Mustafi ignores the first rule of any defender,which is making sure when you are facing the play,your direct opponent is either alongside you or in front of you.
Quite how he allowed Aguero to be behind him when the long ball came from the keeper is beyond me.
We might well still have lost anyway,but the frustrating thing is we will never know how the game might have unfolded if we hadn’t given them the confidence booster of the early goal,which so often decides the big games these days.
Cheers Holic – excellent, thoughtful post.
I’ve only just mustered the enthusiasm to read anything serious about the Final.
I’ve nothing to say that you haven’t already said better.
How was it ever allowed to reach this point from arguably the best club side this country has ever seen ?
Complacency, Trev.
Of the managerial kind, yes.
After the Invincibles season I think he started to believe his own myth and with stuff he’s said since about how HE built the club (and other daft statements) he might actually believe he is the be all and end all, and we’ll sink back into the primordial slime without him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvMxUtPfxtM
Noisy neighbors are up to their cheating ways again.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43210300
@83
If the new SHL stadium isn’t
ready then forfeiting the points
seems best.
But then that may not be fair
to other teams who have to
play and risk losing points.
On reflection, all games forfeited
for the season and automatic
relegation is fairest.
Thanks Holic – spot on every word.
At #38 you suggest that Ian Ure was better at Quizball than as a player. Funnily enough, Terry Neill was better at Quizball than as a manager.
Coincidence? I think not.
UTA.
There is a little bit of a myth about Ian Ute. He had an awful start with us but after adjusting to the pace of English football and Don Hiwe’s defensive coaching he had a couple of quite reasonable seasons. Running up to that League Cup Final v Swindon he was in very good form but had a shocker there . We flogged him off to a poor Man Yoo who were about to be relegated but his memory should not be as besmirched as it has. Terry Neill was very average and the master stroke was switching Frank into the centre just as Peter Simpson was coming through. What I wouldn’t give for those two now. Although Frank is about 78 so he’d only be slightly better than Mustafi☺️
Heh @ 86, TTG.
More complacent nonsense in the manager’s press conference today.
The players gave everything on Sunday. They really did.
We lost to a terrible side last Thursday but hey, that’s fine because we qualified.
Apparently being in the job a long time means he should be allowed to carry on because having the job a long time is all that counts.
Make it stop, someone.
Only two men can make it stop.
One is the man himself, the other Mr. Kroenke .
They are probably the two men least likely to call time on Wenger’s reign.
DF, I used to feel your pain, but i dont anymore, I watched u a few weeks ago with a marshaled defence, but were going through the motions god help u on thursday.
next year spurs will rival u with a stadium that the club knows it can fill a team with talent and spirit, a top down management that seems at one
it can all change ..
resting on the past is a bitter pill.. i have tasted often
what past?
scratches head, thinks hard but only comes up
with one season getting on for 60 years ago
That’s the bubble the Totts have been in for donkeys years. Two League titles in their history and none on the horizon when 50% of their team leaves when Harry goes to Madrid ; signed by Pochettino!
Football is transient. With a good manager and new regime we can overtake them in the near future and put the natural order in place again .
Past ….. Pathé News ?
There is, of course, only black and white footage of Sp*rs winning the league …. ?
Going back on Jack’s performance, i should have mentioned he also did almost zilch but was seen atleast on the pitch, i did not notice Mesut and Ramsey at all. I felt yuck seeing jack’s twitter or instagram update saying 3 decisions went against us, really jack??? please grow up.
Arsene needs to go but i do not see that stemming the rot. He is tarnishing( if not already) his greatness by believing he can still turn this around. I do not see what he sees for he and this team are just not good enough to win 2 continuous games, forget anything else.
The biggest problem at Arsenal is accountability. Who is doing what? who is holding them accountable for their job? Arsene Wenger does not own the club so blaming him for everything is quite silly. He as the rest are need to be accountable for what they are doing and i do not see that at all. I wonder why Stan bought the club if he does not care, making money being the obvious answer.
It has become tiring to watch us play and i never thought i will say this in 20 years, we are pedestrian and no one person can change it, the system needs to.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-fight-for-premier-league-title-selffinancing-policy-sir-chips-keswick-a3778141.html
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Cash reserves have risen to £137.6m, from £100.5m in the corresponding period for 2016, but turnover dropped by £23.4m to £167.7m as a result of the team dropping into the Europa League.
Sir Chips has spoken… peasants!
😀
BB- I’ve said this many times before but if we’d sold Sanchez in July we could have made an extra £30 million. That sort of decision needs to be taken decisively if you have financial challenges not dithered over as we did.
Turnover would then have been stable . We would probably not have signed Mkhitaryan that way and may have spunked a silly amount on Lemar but those financial reserves are seriously high…and increasing.
I suspect the big change next time around will be the impact of much higher salaries.
BB, those cash reserves are after debt provision too. So there was a lot more than that sloshing about in the bank.
This article from the spiteful little hatchet man John Giles shows how different opinions can be. He blames the board for stripping Wenger’s authority. I couldn’t agree less. Wenger became far too powerful
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/john-giles-theres-one-glaring-problem-waiting-for-whoever-replaces-arsene-wenger-at-arsenal-36655745.html
But lots of people will agree with his comments on Ozil ?
I’m going for the century!
Bang!
Going back to BB’s interesting post re our results today the implication of his comment is that if revenue drops we will presumably have to sell players to balance the books unless Ivan can brung in much bigger deals.
Full circle from the early days of the Emirates?
If the rise in cash reserves after debt provision is larger than the fall in revenue, which on the basis of BB’s @95 they are by one and a half times, then there is a season’s cushion, though we can’t tell how plump it is without knowing the forecast cash flow.
(hiding in shadows where i don’t belong)
come on rochdale
Even if the Totts win ( which they must).I hope their supporters get very,very cold
VAR shown to be a completely shit idea that is totally wrong for football again tonight.
Fundamental flaw apart from the way it is being used is… they only care about wrong decisions if they lead to a goal, or a goal being ruled out.
In general play, if you’re sent free of the defence and the linesman wrongly flags you off, they cannot use VAR and bring you back to your positions if the decision is wrong and say “Right. Go again”.
It’s complete bollocks as a system and I hope it gets totally scrapped.
Apparently Son had penalty disallowed for fainting. Spurs collapse again . ☃️❄️?
VAR
what does A stand for?
Arse-sistant.
First world problems…. bought a different brand of tinned peas to my usual and was most angst ridden to realise that they weren’t ring pull cans. I had to use a bloody can opener.
Diabollockal liberty.
Arse-sistant
i knew that was coming
Press officer, Mark Gonnella stated, “We are appealing to fans for help, if
we can get enough snow brought in, there’s still a chance we can get
this game called off.”
C’mon Swansea
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You wrote that “Yet in nearly fifty years of Finals at Wembley that was the standout as our worst performance of them all.”
From a Gooner’s perspective and with apologies to the writer of this article, I humbly beg to differ.
May 2005 against ManU has to be THE WORST of ALL time. It wasn’t until half way through the first half of Extra Time that we actually managed a shot on target. We were dire and how ManU never scored in 120 minutes was, and still is, totally beyond me.
This game was notable for three reasons:
1) The first ever penalty shootout, which we won 5-4.
2) The winning penalty was Patrick Vieira’s last kick of the ball for Arsenal.
3) A red card for Reyes, the ignominy of being only the second player to have been sent off in an FA Cup Final.