Well, the media are all going on about the transfer window in January already.
We’re linked with several players and I’m not even going to bother listing them as you all read the papers and news feeds but needless to say we’re months away from January and need to get our season rolling in the here and now…! It would be great to bring in quality in January but we should of brought in more quality this past summer. I suppose we will have to put up with months of gossip and rumours about signing players but in all honesty it’s about us getting results on the pitch now.
On to today’s post… Thanks Kev.
Injuries are part and parcel of sport and in particular contact sport. I have to admit that recent events have again raised my suspicions about the unfair treatment dished out to Arsenal players.
I first heard of the term and became aware of ‘rotational fouling’ around the time of the Arsenal vs Man Utd FA Cup Semi-Final of 2004. That day at Villa Park a succession of Man Utd players and in particular Gary Neville, Phil Neville and the vicious Paul Scholes systematically kicked Jose Reyes out of the game. Nothing was done to protect Reyes, the referee that day was the weak and inept Mike Riley.
The very same Mike Riley who now controls the senior referees in England via the PGMOL. Riley is the man who picks the referees we suffer week-in, week-out in the English game.
Riley of course isn’t the only symptom, it’s also because the English Press and the Media in general seem to enjoy, nay they almost celebrate as the likes of Everton, Bolton, Stoke, Man Utd, Chelsea and their ilk routinely kick the excrement out of successive Arsenal teams and players.
Eduardo, Sagna twice, Diaby, Ramsey, Walcott, to name but a few, have been on the end of violent assaults on the football field. All suffered serious injuries, but to no avail, no protection.
‘Arsenal don’t like it up them’ so they say…. ‘Arsenal don’t like it if you get in their face’ say the dinosaur pundits. ‘Arsenal don’t like it if you close them down, hustle them and deny them space’, say the Shearers and Hansen’s of this world.
Of course, all those are coded statements for, in plain English, ‘Arsenal don’t like it when we continually kick them’… What team does, most sides het protection from the refs and when other teams have it “put up them” pundits and media call it fouled and kicked but of course when it’s us it’s a case of ‘That’s all OK, referees let teams kick Arsenal’….. They don’t like it up em it’s not a foul it’s proper hard football.
They won’t do anything to protect someone trying to play football, so it’s Open Season on anyone in an Arsenal shirt… ‘Get stuck in lads’…..
SKY, BBC, the Press and the general media have ignored this state of affairs for the last 10 years. Despite the violence handed out to Arsenal players it gets papered over as “we don’t like it up us”
All the injuries Arsenal get are, poor training methods, poor medical treatment, poor preparation, the boots, the training pitches, the Emirates pitch, even bad luck… But is it…? What about the fouling and the way we are kicked continuously week in week out..?
Match of the Day, following Arsenals defeat at Chelsea and possibly influenced by the involvement on the pundits panel of Martin Keown actually highlighted several choice examples of Chelsea’s rotational fouling as the game was analysed.
It was an obvious tactic, every time an Arsenal player beat his Chelsea opponent the late challenge went in. Late tackles, tapped-ankles, late kicks and lunges which over time can lead to an injury. It was a miracle that Jack Wilshere didn’t suffer more ankle damage, let alone the possibility of a Sanchez broken leg.
Mesut Ozil also took his fair share, just as he had against Tottenham the week before but surprise surprise the result of successive fouling has now culminated in the news that Ozil is out until at least January with a knee injury. The same knee that he got kicked by a Tottenham player in the NLD.
So it goes on, the awful standard of refereeing, the violence, the fouls, the succession of Arsenal players getting injured.
Nothing changes and still the useless Mike Riley keeps his job.
In general, the Media, the TV and the Press will ignore this. It doesn’t fit in with their agenda of Arsenal being full of timid weaklings.
Why then do players with good injury records join Arsenal and become crocks.
Players leave Arsenal and all their injury problems clear up.
Coincidence? Bad luck? Or our opponents tried and tested tactical policy?
Let’s ask Mike Riley
Thanks Kev, nice post mate and very thought provoking…….
I always say players get away with murder kicking us yet you know if the same player had an Arsenal shirt on they’d be off the pitch with a red card…!
Great comment. The game you were refering to though wasn’t the FA Cup game, it was the infamous 2-0 Old Trafford game where United ended Arsenal’s 49 game unbeaten record. It was also the game that ruined Reyes’ career.
Riley is a coward. Arsenal players are very unfairly treated by refs and given zero protection. Case in point the red that should have been given to Cahil or the 20 yellows that should have been given to Oscar.
I can’t wait for the Stoke City game……….
I was under the impression that Coward Webb has taken over and the spineless Riley has retired, either way it will carry on til we get ourselves someone like Paddy to dish it out and protect the players, this is English football and it’s the reason we lag so far behind the rest of international football, maybe with the core of England being Arsenal players we may do something
another odd stat from this season is that arsenal have the most yellow cards from the least fouls committed this season in the FAPL, Its funny that our soft squad as the media like to say is seen as dirty by the refs. its takes on average this season less than 4 team fouls per Arsenal player booked. If Oscar played for Arsenal he would have been booked about 8 times on sunday. The PGMOL is inept at best and corrupt at worst.
I agree with the article that the media push this kick arsenal agenda, as Liam Brady said while working on RTE when it was stated Arsenal don’t like it up them, “no team likes getting kicked”, and he said “most teams get protected by the refs from being kicked”, the other pundits could not counter his statements.
its becoming a farce, pundits say to stop arsenal you must foul them, that has been taken on board by the referees who now see a red card foul as yellow card offence or a warning.
Ozil’s injury was probably from the game against spurs where he was fouled.
The issue also stretches to we need some tough players like Viera, petit, silva and edu ( the latter two were not scared to protect there team mates) who can make other teams realise we can be physical also. We need a presence
and
some good refeeres
Morning All,
Kev Many years ago at the bridge,chelsea players were giving it the big-en,
ankle tapping,squaring up and all that stuff,we were defending a corner and Osgood wanted to get at Bob Wilson,as the ball was knocked in Osgood was looking at Wilson not the ball,Our great captain at the time Frank spotted Osgood and took him into the back of the net,then nutted him…
That stopped all the macho stuff from chelsea…….
…………………I loved Frank..if we could another Frank
…………………………………..if we could find another frank
The current state of affairs :-
Theo Walcott
Abou Diaby
Aaron Ramsey
YaYa Sanogo
Nacho Monreal
Serge Gnabry
Oliver Giroud
Mikel Arteta
Mesult Ozil
Matheu Debuchy
and apparently Ospina will not play for Columbia as his thigh is not 100%.
You’re pretty much right, but I’m more depressed than angry about it these days. Cahill’s was, pure and simple, ridiculous. We now appear to be back in the position where, when it matters at least ( a live, important game) only a broken leg will earn the red.
Interestingly, one of that man Mourinho’s most famous pieces of dramatic theatre was after one of his player’s Pepe, was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Barca with the scores 0-0 in a champ league semi first leg. Afterwards he launched his infamous tirade about a Fifa conspiracy. Anyway, the ref was right, it was a reckless dangerous challenge, and the rules are that you don’t even have to hurt anyone, don’t even have to connect for it to be a red.
Compare that to what we can now expect. In a big live match (refs might dish out a red in our favour once the score is settled either way, but not before. When was the last time? It defies all laws of averages. While against us, it’s pretty regular, and never involves anything dangerous) only the broken leg is likely to see red. Cahill’s was as good an example as you’ll find of a reckless dangerous challenge, he ignored the ball, and flew in with huge force on the ankle. Basically, a very similar challenge to the one that did for Eduardo.
And those leg breakers are only a small, if important, part of it. More important is the persistent tactical fouling, and the fact we have to be ultra careful around our penalty box because refs find it so easy to give pens, bookings and sendings off in that area, while the opposition are more likely to get away with something, and can chance their arm a little.
Depressing, and the only question now is what happens once Wenger goes. While he’s here, the die is cast, though it’s worth noting that the increased number of English players can help a little (they are rarely on the end of the horror tackles, and the media is more friendly towards them)
Depressing. Even more so when you can be sure that behind the scenes, every manager is aware of the exact situation in terms of how Arsenal are reffed (just as they are aware, say, of the difference in how the league is reffed to a European competition) and will look to exploit it accordingly. For instance while Mourinho persistently bemoans mistreatment from referees, behind the scenes he, allegedly (from a recent book covering his time at Real), tells his players exactly how much they can get away with (‘refs are shit scared of sending off Real players’). That sort of thing, applied across the league (though no-ones saying all are as dirty as him) adds up to a huge disadvantage.
Going it alone, being a foreigner who ,to a certain caste of mind, will be percieved as aloof/thinking he’s better than us,/ making us look bad; with a philosophy foreign to the English game and ending up for a long time with a team almost entirely made up of foreigners, has carried quite a high cost. It created an incredible amount of dislike among any fellow managers who instinctively understand that if any of the contrasting characteristics (lack of cynicism being one, commitment to an attacking philosophy another, only spending your own dough another) Wenger has are considered virtues, that makes them look bad, and both the media and referees have more or less followed suit.
I think of it in terms of how a nervous system is designed to try attack and break down a foreign entity. Wenger and his ways are that foreign entity (more so because of his attitude and unwillingness to change it than his nationality) in the English game, and the situation can only possibly change once he has gone.
You just have to hope another leg breaker is not on the horizon, as it has always felt to me that there’s a sort of group intelligence covering football, and that the Cahill challenge, and it being a yellow, will be noted by that intelligence. That’s the current benchmark- it’s okay to go up to that- and that challenge could easily have bust Sanchez’s ankle.
Great post Rich and welcome to all the others making comments on HH for the first time.
The problem as I see it is that when we get stuck in we get booked others kick the crap out of us and get warning for basically the whole game and Oscar as previously stated above is a prime example from the chav game….! we dont get 4/5 warnings we just get booked…!
Excellent subject to post on. Personally I think that any pundit advocating kicking anyone should be getting a public kicking themselves to see what its about. In the teeth, so they cant do their job in punditry. Because kicking a player in the legs and knees stops him doing his job on the pitch.
Hi this could so easily be sorted if these attacks were committed in the street it would be abh or gbh so when a player is fouled badly the club should report it to the police and take out a case against the player if this happened and the club won their case they could then summons the PGMOL for not orotecting players lack of training in their refs this would stop overnight
Morning all.
I’ve been saying this on the net as, at least in part, a major factor in why we have so many injuries, yet I get howled down.
Great post Kev.
We get smashed by the opponents, and then by the scumbags in black.
Oh please! Spare me this sanctimonious bleating about referees and players being roughly tackled. All teams are hard done by refs and teams also get appalling injuries. Is it the ref’s fault that we have a group of midgets, ballerinas and metrosexuals swanning around under an incompetent manager? Stop making excuses for Arsene Wenger. Both he and the rest of the players need to grow a pair of real testicles and start acting like real men when they come up against real men. Nobody was complaining in the days of Adams, Keown, Vieira, Bouldy, et al. Now those were men, a hardened bunch of vets whom George Graham made even harder. What does our zen-like manager expect when no one is allowed to shout at anybody and the Arsenal players are playing Barbie games while the real men are smashing each other? Clichy said when he went to Man City, he couldn’t believe the tackles they got in training. So please, do me a favour. Stop all this gnashing and blame the real culprit, one Arsene Wenger, who has made a bunch of pansies out of our team.
Rich…..brilliant.
Goonergoonerjust go.
Heaven forbid we play football and not some form of kickboxing.
I mean, it’s not like the game is about skill.
Can’t work out why England have no technical players when fans like you exist!!!!
Hello rico
Our arsenal like hospital.
@Scottfromoz
Mate, I don’t know what crap you are talking about fans like me existing. I’m a Gooner for 46 years now and maybe you were not born when I was supporting Arsenal.
By the way, where must I go? Must I join you and like-minded Arsenal fans like you at the Emirates Colney Creche to swan around like a ballerina. Grow a pair mate.
It’s shocking that in this day and age, there are still turds bleating:Arsene Knows Best!
Thank you Goongoonergone for posting. I was getting a little worried that there were no trolls around. I mean, an actual intelligent debate going on with no retarded trolls spawning hatred and spiteful trash? Thank you for bringing back the internet.
We almost made 20 comments without someone coming in and insulting fellow supporters, the club, the players and the manager. And just to clarify. He’s been a “supporter” for 46 years! Like that means what exactly?
Thanks, Wath. As you imply, and as I’ve already banged on about in m post, I think we’re pretty screwed. We certainly can’t win by asking the players we currently have to go in a bit harder. It takes a commitment to cynicism to become good at it. And refs appear to operate with the mindset towards us of ‘now, I can give a yellow/red/pen for that, and I will’ whereas with the opposition it often appears more a case of ‘I suppose I could give a yellow/red/pen for that… but maybe I can do otherwise’
Even my best idea- get in an animal or two who will play with equal cynicism and match the dangerous challenges we recieve (a Mello type)- has some serious flaws.
One, were we to injure someone, the media and fellow managers would pounce of this as proof we’d been hypocrites all along, and at worst it could justify ‘well, if they’re going to play it like that..’ i.e a renewed wave of crazy challenges on us; Two, it’s probably not quite right morally to be wishing to see us dish out the treatment to others which, in the case of Ramsey and Eduardo ones, literally left me a bit sick in the soul for months (still does, to be honest); Three, Wenger just will not think of football in those terms.
Whatever, it’s still my best plan. There comes a point, reached about four years ago in my case, when it is essential to at least try something different. Wenger’s a better man than me morally in all sorts of ways, but in refusing to bring in any dirtbags it not only seems to compromise us tactically but ,in a roundabout way, is leading to our players being more vulnerable to injury than they would otherwise be.
It shouldn’t be like that, you shouldn’t have to fight fire with fire and come down to the level of the opposition in terms of dirt (that’s what refs and the governing body are meant to protect you against); but it’s reality, and there’s ample proof you do have to do that, or at least that not doing it doesn’t work.
Four years ago, I’d have said ‘right, the next centre back must have a high level of physicality, and a dark side, ditto the next centre midfielder’. We got Per, the nicest giant you could find, and a plethora of little skillful good guys.
I’ll be sad whenever Wenger leaves, very sad, and I can’t see him getting the ending I crave; but a part of me absolutely can’t wait until we finally have people willing and equipped to stand up to this bull**** in the only way football people understand : simplistically, directly, cynically, with the morals and behaviour of a poorly behaved child, and with lashings of the hypocrisy and selectivity found in most successful big-time managers. (Wilshere doesn’t have the body for it, but he does have much of the attitude, and in particular he has the intensely competitive spirit- which recognises something has to happen, as nice guys may not finish last in football, but they will lose out time and again against people with no interest in fair play)
I’d give up a good bit (every last bit in certain moods) of the moral high ground which we’re lampooned as thinking we have while we actually don’t (why, look at how many cards you accumulate!), but which we actually do have (we’re not cynical, not dirty,etc)…in order to see us no longer being pushed around (while at the same time being told it’s not happening, or that we’re actually dirty, all sorts of conflicting nonsense which only goes to illustrate, yep, we’re being bullied, and the headteachers are whistling happily or even taking a little glee – ‘man up, boy!; oh, now that was probably a bit much (is it broken?)…no?…you are a character’- in it)
Ggg, Scott def ain’t a Wenger lover and there is no need to antagonise him because he doesn’t share your opinion.
I agree we have a bunch of softies and not hard players like in the past and yes I blame Wenger for not buying physical players who get stuck in BUT does that condone the way we are kicked off the park…? No it doesn’t and if you think merely having harder players would solve the problem think your missing something as even when we did we had players sent off willy nilly whilst others flew into us…!
Again a matter of opinion but please don’t insult people on here we don’t suffer that kind of crap we debate stuff argue but we don’t insult.
Scott you know the rules 2…..!
Goonergoonerthugadvocate, what Normsville said hahahaha.
Rich, in the past we had big strong physical players…. were they dirty? did they just kick people for the sake of it or just get stuck in…. I think we just got stuck in and even then had way more red cards than anyone else…! double standards as usual with the establishment and The Arsenal….!
Sorry Wath, but just keeping you on your toes 🙂
I’ll behave.
When we had big physical players, it was a big physical league.
Clubs are now better technical groups, in general, but we’ve gone a step too far in that ALL of our guys are technical, where most clubs still have a few enforcers.
I think if anyone wanted to use a couple of minutes of footage to indicate this point look no further than Cahill’s challenge on Sanchez only being a yellow followed almost immediately by Chambers getting the same punishment for breathing heavily on Hazard. This has been going on for years where we get the granny kicked out of us but get a yellow/red for something innocuous or slight retaliation. Unfortunately, Wenger has not done himself any favours over the years by distancing himself from the ‘in-crowd’ of British managers and the Fergie gang who’s football philosphies are totally different from his. The likes of Bolton and Stoke rolled over to have their tummies tickled when they played the Mancs but treated us as punchbags safe in the knowledge that the likes of Riley, Dowd, Dean and the rest of the Northern mafia would turn a blind eye.
BJ, there a definite dislike of all things Wenger and Arsenal……I don’t get it, tbh.
Maybe I am too far away to see why, but I can see it’s there.
Night all.
Have a great day guys.
Cheers Scott
Take it easy…
I feel that this was the season for Wenger to prove his doubters wrong. I was so optimistic when we won the FA Cup and followed that up with the early Sanchez buy. But what has transpired since then has made me question Wenger in a big way and his ability to now take us forward. It’s sad because I do think he has the ambition to compete I just don’t think he has the ability to do it any other way but his own. And unfortunately you cannot win the league or the CL with our defense.
You cannot play every single game and conceded the first goal. Last season we had a fantastic start and faded. Now we’ve had a bad start. How does Wenger turn this around? If we finish outside the top 4 will he have the good graces to walk away? Or will the club have the balls to sack him.
I supported Arsenal long before Wenger came around so I know what he did for this club. I can understand ‘NEW” Gooners turning on him. But those that have supported the club even before Graham? I don’t understand that because we more than most have seen where this club has gone under Wenger and it is frankly astonishing. But as much as I hate saying it, I think it is time for new blood. We need a manager whose goal is success in the form of trophies. EPL and CL. We are a big club now off the field. It’s time to be one on the field too.
Well said, Wath – everything you write here are my thoughts in words. I’ve never understood this yorkshire axis of referees, who are enabling the NW teams. The tv admissions last weekend about rotational & niggling fouling being acceptable & clever, have been accepted. Its appalling if we cant win games by playing the better football.
Goongoonergone- surely football stopped being a place for real men at the time when those who hit hardest became among the most likely to roll around pretending to be hurt (like girls, a tradionalist would say, even though, funnily enough, few in the women’s game do anything like that). You just have to watch someone like Ivanovic closely. Immensely strong, will hit you very hard whenever there’s a chance, and regularly throws himself to the ground when contact is slight or pretends to have been hurt when he isn’t. That isn’t a man, that’s a strong, dirty ultra cynical modern proffesional footballer.
We lack those, and under the pressure of seeing what happens when we lack them while others don’t (but also because it is thrilling to see strong, honest physical fighters), I want us to have something close to that (though I could really do without the acting side), but the suggestion we are more likely to go down easily, or pretend to be injured, etc, is completely false, and despite the disappointment which comes from our shortcomings or from, simply, not getting the results we want, it’s one hell of a shame when one of our own fails to recognise this, and joins in with the crap which justifies some of the worst of it (it’s ok to kick them, because thery’re namby pambies and that’s what they deserve; no, it can’t be a foul, it’s Ozil and he’s a weakling)
If you really want to watch honest brutal physical sporting contests, you look to rugby, simple as. Football lost its claim to being a real man’s game long ago, unless men are defined as being tough when it suits them, and showing less toughness than your average toddler when that suits them. Again, rugby, or boxing, are the places for honorable toughness.
However, plenty of us are still hooked on what may have been our first love as a sport, and end up with the conclusion that, truly, ‘if you can’t beat em, join em (but please, not the worst of it)’. But don’t kid yourself that amounts to being more a real man.
It’s been clear to me for years that we desperately need a bit more strength and aggression in the team, a bit more dirt, but in a sport where some of the strongest and most aggressive are most likely to be squealing on the ground in an idiot’s caricature of pain (think Pepe) the next moment, the model simply no longer exists for old-fashioned honorable tough competition.
All our eggs are in the skill basket, and it is a mistake from an idealist who has refused to compromise his idea of how the game should be played, including a refusal to factor in the way we’ve been reffed for years and will continue to be reffed. It’s possible to admire that yet wish it was a bit different
Normsville, don’t want to monopolise space here but had to say I like your post a lot. Feel the same about nearly all of it, and I really do think he’d go if we drop from last year.
I made a sort of last-stand defence of him at the end of last year, but it included the proviso that he would, finally,finally, sort out dm this year. Astonished that it didn’t happen, and can no longer mount my defence on that basis. Will never understand abuse or a lack of respect,though.
8 1st team players out something needs to be done about our medical team
Rich, you take up as much space as you want, not normally so quiet in here must be the international rubbish thats on and ppl just busy…. good comments always worth a good read and responding to.
Afternoon Wath
Afternoon All
Thanks for the positive feedback and even those that disagree…
Good to see so many new contributors.
Hope you all hang around…
Rich thank you. You just feel that when everybody, punters, players, the media, the fans all keep telling him. You need a striker. You need a DM. Somehow that makes him not buy those positions. I believe to the very core of my being, that Wenger CAN win it all. He could be the only manager to win all 4 trophies in one season if he just stopped being so stubborn. Unfortunately though after seeing him fail to buy another CB and a DM and the start we’ve had? I have finally lost faith in him. But, it looks like we’ll be stuck with him for 3 years and I will NEVER be one of those Gooners that hopes we lose because it might get him sacked. That is not supporting.
How’s it going Wath?
What’s the weather like in Camden mate?
Mega-busy today, so only a flying visit.
Mind those ankles.
Dingy n dodgy Kev lol
Drive safe mate…!
It’s quiet because there is little to say that hasn’t already been said. it has become a running joke in the stands and where we used to play odds and evens for the first goalscorer we now bet on how many fouls are committed before our first card . if we want to stop the fouling we have to have a quiet word with one or two . But first we need someone imposing enough to say it.
Injuries “we’ve had a few, too few to mention”
But, all our players return to action………eventually (bar one!) years ago when men were men and women lived in the kitchen whilst the men folk cheered on their local heroes before going for a well earned pint or six, to discuss the ups and downs of their team! My oh my, how things have changed! No beer after the game as too much has been spent on the ticket to watch the game, the women folk searching the Indian takeaway menu for the evenings meal! And they say fings ain’t what they used to be!
Ozil, Debuchy, Ramsey, Walcott all suffered injuries that had they got 40 odd years ago or more, would have finished their careers, as it is they will all be playing first team soccer for Stan the man by Christmas or shortly after. We’ll have a full side again of first teamers! 21st century medicine is a wonderful thing!
There are some horrendous fouls and some career threatening injuries but mostly our players return to the fray eager to win the next game, the next trophy, the next accolade! Yes we are very badly beaten up by some very unpleasant thugs, often without ever exacting any kind of retribution. I think we are too soft, too fair, lacking danger or threat to the well being of our enemies. We should toughen up, get our revenge tackle in first! Show the thugs we can mix it with the best or worst of them! Perhaps the referees will show us the same leniency they show the likes of manure or the spuds or the chavs and even rfc Stoke!
The bullies that dish out the unacceptable assaults on our players need to have a bit of their own ‘medicine’ returned will interest. Will this make any difference, no probably not but at least we will be seen, once more as a team that no other side can just roll over!
Normsville, the Pure Stubborness Theory; I’ve never been convinced by that one, even though it looks like exactly what’s happening. I fear it could be a case of one of the other accusations being true : that he’s walled off from other opinions (or maybe those in the circle all have a similar opinion)
A sign for me that he’s probably never looked too much at the Internet/ fan opinions is that he’s still got that full head of hair!
To me, the whole story will eventually come down to this : a good football philosophy, particularly one devoted to passing,attacking football will, eventually, win the overall war against a master tactician, especially one who excels defensively and will use any means necessary… so long as the latter does not have significantly greater financial power. But, with three rivals with signifigantly greater financial firepower, you will lose most battles, decisively lose the war, and finish, well, fourth.
For the first half of his reign, this was the case. One team had more spending power and a coach who, make no mistake, was a tactical pragmatist first and foremost, and we gave them an almighty battle. Then first one then another with huge financial power became involved, and fourth it was.
The other great example of long-term philosophy versus short term tactics is the mega battle between Barca and Real. Both had huge finances, obviously, and Real won a good few battles, but they lost that war decisively over a six or seven year period. At the very highest level, The more negative tactical way can, if backed up by lots of money, undoubtedly win you a champions league, but only the footballing philosophy way gives a real chance of winning the title multiple times in a short space of time (Barca had a great chance of more than three between 06 and 12).
If finances were to stay as they are now and have been for last two years- since FFP had some effect and since we got back in the market for real for the big signings/wages- it would only be matter of time until we were challenging very strongly again, even if there remained certain blindspots (ie dm dm dm!!!); but I believe he is pretty much out of time. The emotional element is massive in football and has a decisive impact on the environment; and even the loyalists are battered and worn out at this stage
It has to happen very quickly as, in a world as famously devotedly and for the most part understandably short-termist as football, even if there were perfectly good reasons for the drop off in league positioning, that drop took a toll on even the staunchest fans ( a decade is a decade, and it is a long time for people who thirst for immediate results) and believers, as well as creating an incredible hostility in the media ( Wenger’s still being around is totally at odds with the way it is supposed to work : success is measured by trophies/the league; a drop must bring up the prospect of a managerial change (regardless of the workings behind it) and ,if not arrested quickly, the football club is supposed to make their sacrifice (even if it’s not particularly rational; i.e if there’s no reason to believe a new man with the same resources will do better); that’s how it is supposed to work from a media perspective, and so Wenger’s survival has been like the decade long teasing of a pack of wild animals who can smell the blood, see who they want to eat, but are being denied the chance of the great feast. They can write severely critical pieces, but what is that next to the chance to actually getting the prey down, proving all their criticism was right, and seeing the job finished?)
Given that, the fans, and everything else that makes the environment we’re operating in, it has to be quick and definite (the improvement from the last decade); and yet he still manages in the way he is famous for, as though he has ten years and as though it’s his own dough. Plus, you’d be mad to count on the relative spending power remaining the same. FFP is but a decision or two from collapsing, and a free-spending new billionaire could roll into two or three viable clubs at any time. I was desperate to see a managed overspend this summer, in recognition of a unique opportunity and with the logic that we could safely (without breaching FFP) return to the ‘not spending a penny more than you have’ model immediately afterwards. It didn’t happen, nor did we sign one or two of the types we chronically need, and I think the chance of immediate success/ a glorious end for Wenger went right with it.
Very good post Kev, it certainly seems that way. Just heard Kosielny injured already before a match starts. You couldn’t make it up!
For a start Wenger should heap pressure on referees at press conferences prior to the games. He should illustrate his concerns with footage of previous experiences when Arsenal players have had no help or protection. Before the next game he should show Cahill’s cowardly assault several times and then show Chambers getting booked a little later. Show both from very available angle. He might then turn to the assembled throng of journalists and ask just how both of those incidents warrantied the same punishment, a yellow card. He should ram it home too and ask if we can expect the same during the next game. He must demand to know why rotational fouling against Arsenal teams and perhaps others goes unpunished year after year and there are numerous examples he could use to illustrate that. Look at Jack’s treatment against Spurs or Oscar’s incessant kicking of players last week. He really must put the responsibility on those who allow it. That is Riley and the referees themselves.
Yes, he will be called a whinger and yes, some other managers will mouth off about it. These will be Mourinho and the rest of them who engage in this sort of thing on a weekly basis. But, it will certainly put pressure on Riley and the referees and it will make it a talking point. He doesn’t need to exaggerate anything. Just let the footage and the timeframe speak for him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/11151877/Arsenal-hit-with-Champions-League-blow-as-only-Premier-League-winners-will-be-guaranteed-top-seed-status.html
That might make Stan Kroenke come out in a cold sweat……
Afternoon folks…..
Hi Rico. I think that is fair enough really but it will certainly impact Arsenal’s philosophy.
Hi Adam, so do I and I totally understand why Pellegrini was in favour of change. That’ll be few million less for Kroenke to pocket….
As long as the club is in profit he will still take his pound of flesh it will sadly mean that there will be a lot less for the club to use. Anyway he can always put the prices up again and again and again.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/69427
GO on :- You know you want to.
Maybe Potter but right now I can’t see us getting 4th, so the profits will drop and surely the club wouldn’t have the bare faced cheek to oik the ST prices up without CL football….
Also, even if we do manage to get 4th, without being seeded, we’ll never get out of the group stage, not all the time we have a squad so weak and limp as we do right now…..
By the way, I tripped over a sea shell and broke my metatarsal….. 🙂 🙂
Rico, this seeding change doesn’t seem like something to worry about much at this point. Being first seed hasn’t served us that well these last couple of years in terms of drawing nice easy groups (last year’s was pretty brutal, and we only blew finishing top at the last); but more importantly, we’ve been extremely unconvincing in knockouts for a good while now (and, I expect, the bulk of the money has come from group participation, with the smaller part being from our 2-4 games in knockouts)
So, the main issue from the financial perspective and from the fans perspective, is that we need serious improvements on recent CL performances, we need to be able to take on the best and win again; being seeded first or fourth makes little difference to that.
And if we’re good enough to head to Bayern and co with justified confidence, we’ll be good enough to ensure City, Chelsea and United have to worry about finishing fourth as much as we do. We’re a way off that.
I tripped over an ant and did a knee ligament.
As you put it Rich :- I expect, the bulk of the money has come from group participation, with the smaller part being from our 2-4 games in knockouts)
From the boards perspective why would they invest the money needed to go for a better finish and gamble that we would progress further. That in a nutshell is what holds us back. The club does not have the same ambition as it’s fans.
Gibbs, Wilshere, Welbeck and Chambers start for England…
I dropped a cup green tea and did my cartilage
Rich, I get what you are saying but nearly every season we have progressed to the knockout stage, albeit in second place and with that has come an extra few million. Stick us in a group with seeded clubs and we won’t go any further..
Mind you, my money is on us not getting 4th and I hope that smacks Kroenke right in the mouth!!
Adam, you sure it was Ant and not Dec?
Wonder how many will return in good health Kev…….
Rico. 🙂
I fell over and got right up again!
hi there!
the news rules for the League champions will be worst for us
Talisca, Khedira, Cavani…. from the media, we will buy a new team on January. but for what: probably will be out for all ours targets.
And always the same problems: we buy expensive players, we not balance the team, we play in the same way of last years, we haven’t a plan B for solving the problems when plan A is blocked, we haven’t a strong physical midfields and with those tactics, the best players don’t make the difference.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/roy-keane-autobiography-disrespectful-chelsea-4409349
Do it Roy, you know we all want you to!!
Morning all…..
Howdy Rico, any sand lodged where it shouldn’t be?
Hi Bt, some stuck on the bottom of my wellies… Lol
It’s a beautiful sunny morning – so typical when it’s time to go home….
As long as you had a good time….
I have thanks Bt, the woofa certainly has!! 🙂
Catch you later, off for breakfast and get packed up and go home… Have a good day Bt and all….
Rico, breakfast in bed i hope…..safe home……
Morning Rico, BT and all. Have a safe journey home.
Morning All,
Has football changed…No
Systematic fouling always works….against possession teams.
Pointless crying for help from the refs,
What will work every time is to have players who can have-it either way.
Anyone who has played the game knows,this fact,
You have to earn the right to play.
Show me a team who have won our top division,crying for help from a ref.
Morning All…
Rico, what happened to my postcard? 😉
Fred, maybe they’re the teams doing the fouling and getting away with it 🙂
Nothing other than bias officiating can possibly explain why we get so many cards, as we simply don’t have thugs.
Morning all.
Adam is a thug.
New Post up…..