Morning all.
Every footballing pundit who said many months ago that our squad was too shallow to win the league are all jumping on the ‘I told you so’ bandwagon and even though I hate them for doing so, can you blame them?
We have been saying the same since firstly, the summer transfer window closed and then again in January when yet again, Arsene Wenger decided we didn’t need any additions, despite the losses to injury of Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott and both were known to be long term.
Jamie Carragher has really gone for it saying we are ‘weak, slow and lack mental strength’. Ouch, but he’s right!
Success this season is now all pinned on the FA Cup.
Arsenal v Wigan in the semi-final this weeke. Arsene Wenger v Uwe Rösler.
The old Frenchman against a young 45 year old German.
A man who took his Championship side to The Etihad Stadium and beat a strong Manchester City side in the last round. A man who 13 years ago, fought and beat lung cancer. A man whose managerial career is well and truly on the up.
Under Roberto Martinez, Wigan won the FA Cup last season, beating Manchester City in the final so they’ll be no strangers to this weekends grand occasion, but what about us?
Arsene Wenger believes that having suffered an awful result after an equally awful performance against Everton, the break away from the Premier League is just what is needed to get some kind of confidence:
Once you are in the semi-final you want to go through to the final. To play in a different competition will help us find confidence back and focus on our next game.
We have to acknowledge that we must go back to basics and come in much stronger in the challenges, much stronger in the way we win the ball back, before we start winning games.
The Arsenal players must wonder where and why it’s all gone so horribly wrong since Christmas just as we fans do, well most, there’s still an odd one or two who think we are in a good place!
Arsene Wenger might be right though, some of our best performances this season have been in the FA Cup.
We have beaten Tottenham, Liverpool, Coventry and Everton to get this far and we got lucky as each of those fixtures were drawn at home, giving us a slight advantage.That aside, we played very well in all of those games and we’ll need something like that again on Saturday if we are to beat Wigan.
But how does Arsene Wenger get some kind of confidence and self belief back into his players after what has been an awful few months in which the only real light was a victory at White Hart Lane?
How do the players individually and collectively pick their chins up off the floor and start putting a lot more effort into the task they get paid an awful lot of money to overcome?
Well if they are to beat Wigan at the weekend, they certainly need to dig deep and find something. Something that was there before the turn of the year and something which desperately needs to resurface.
Having Aaron Ramsey back may just be the lift they need, knowing Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere are not far from a return may also help lift them but between now and Saturday, it’s down to them. They all need to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask themselves ‘Am I doing the best I can for my club’?
The answer for many will surely be no, just as it would be for Arsene Wenger if he did the same…..
Four days for all them to buck their ideas up and go and fight for their lives at Wembley on Saturday evening…
If they can’t manage that, then they don’t deserve to be playing for such a great club like Arsenal FC…..
Finally, poor Olivier Giroud has been on the end of some stick and seeing as all the newspapers are asking for votes about all things Arsenal, here’s your chance.
Finally the transfer gossip:
Arsenal are ponding a bid of £17m in the summer for Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti, 21 (Metro).
The Gunners are also interested in Rubin Kazan striker Sardar Azmoun, 19 (Daily Star).
On that note…….
Morning all.
Nice post, Rico.
I believe Giroud will go.
On the “pundits”…..i never care what they say as their opinion is just that, their opinion.
Two things have killed us.
We ran the gauntlet by having a thin squad, but we also had a shocker of a season for injuries.
Better squad strength would obviously have helped, and the terrible injury toll has really compounded the damage.
We risked….we lost….again.
Will we learn next time?
Thanks Scott..
I don’t care what the pundits say either but when it’s rammed in our faces each day, it’s hard to ignore.
Especially when it’s true…
Exactly why i stopped buying the paper 🙂
Did you read any in the Uk Scott?
id like to see(1)lakaku(2)grizamann(3)walcot,lead the line,with cazorla behind the forwards then flamini and barry behind him and richards mertasacker and kos with either gibbs/monreal and berkavic/krul in goal,,as for subs, sch(k)richarson-monreal/gibbs(d)chamberlin-wilsher(m)campbell-morata,,,i would sell vermalin-arteta-orzil-podalski-giroud-we should only have spent 20 mill with the sales in there,
Morning folks,answer to Scott, going on past experiences we never learn.Scott was that you making your screen debut on Arsenal Fan TV? As for G Rod,good enough as a bench striker,just.
Guys, get your Sky TV turned to the Sports 2 channel…..
All about 2003/04…
BT, no, not me mate.
Rico, one……i read one and it was enough lol
Sell Ozil Bob??
BT62, that’s my view too..
Sardar Azmoun, 19
He may be good , he may be the absolute Dog’s whatsits but we have young strikers that haven’t had a fair crack of the whip already, if we are to keep Giroud then we should be looking to take a step or two up from him . At best he is back up in a top top squad.
Agree potter
I wonder if AW’s ‘back to basics’ comment means he’s ready to go back to basics in the next transfer window and sign power, height and depth.
As he used to…
Or a lorry load of kids
I hope not potter, I really do. This has to finally be the time we spend some money and properly.
Morning all. You’ve started something here Rico, nice one.
A few observations from me on Wenger’s demeanour after the game on Saturday. I have never seen him so ‘down’, so lacking in passion or support for his players. It struck me that he no longer knew what to do, to alter things for the better. The same applied throughout the game, I have never seen him so detached from the goings on on the pitch.
This may be the beginning of the end for him. I think he is all out of puff. He just can’t do it anymore. Perhaps he is just not fit enough anymore. In any event the outcome, I believe, will be he will leave in the summer, handing over to a new regime. In the back of his mind, I suspect he knew he would not be re-signing and that is partly the reason he was so inert during the last two transfer windows. He is leaving the new man a large pot to invest in players of his choice, not Arsene’s picks. It would make taking the job far more appealing.
It’s sad to witness the demise of a truly great manager and the disappearance of a style of play that was the envy of Europe, for years!
Time to move on……Saturday we should win, we are the better team with better players etc etc but there are so many doubts, and not without good cause. Our team performances have been dire and the results have reflected the poor performances.
We are what we are and we end up with what we deserve. I do hope Le Chef can get the team up for next week and that we go on to win the Cup. At least that will be a sort of high he can go out on.
Let’s hope eh!
Morning All
Morning Rico.
Good post, difficult question…
No really!!!
I voted for Giroud to go, mainly because he has developed the look of another Chamakh.
But with the proviso that Wenger (or whoever) brings in at least one top quality and another decent striker as replacements…
Sanogo and Akpom would, with the two new additions give us four strikers (5 with Theo)…
Thanks Wavy..
Nice comment too…. Sky Sports have shown our invincible year and are now showing 1997/98..
Watching is heartbreaking, how have we come to where we are today is so so hard to understand.
Morning Kev, thanks.
Giroud is like Wenger for me, one day I say go, the next, stay…..
But I’d start Sanogo on Saturday with Giroud on the bench, maybe he will produce a performance similar to the Cup game against Everton from the bench…
Glad that I am at work and can’t see it.
I watched a Bergkamp goals compendium a few nights ago, nearly slit my wrists.
Yes Rico, Sanogo for me too on Sat.
I can understand why Potter…
So wish his goal had stood Kev, after all, it should have. Could give him a lot of confidence..
But Le Silly-Bolloks will probably go with Giroud, to prove a point.
Good read rico,
Have to agree with Jamie,mental toughness is whats lacking in a lot of these lads,we held our own at home,the players looked good to me against man city,liverpool and Chelsea.
It really is simple,we have the talent in this squad we proved at home that we can match the best.
We need a leader its crystal clear,we need winners around this squad,other than bouldy?
who’s won anything in the back room?
wrecking me brain trying to think of anyone.
The worry is now is wenger saying we must go back to basics,
not to sure if he knows what that means.
I hope not…
Thanks fred, I haven’t a clue what AW means by that back to basics comment either, bit late in the day to be thinking about basics on the football pitch…
Totally agree re the lack of leadership, we need a player who will grab the game by the scruff of the neck, and the players!
That starts in the changing room, then in the tunnel and then onto the pitch….
But we don’t have it behind the scenes and that filters down…
Headline suggesting Arsenal will not sack Arsene Wenger even if we fail to get a CL spot and the FA Cup make me laugh…
They wouldn’t need to sack him because he’s out of contract….
Too depressing watching 97/98 and 03/04…….how we have declined!?!?
Rico, Wenger has to make arguably his most important team selection of the season, to date on Saturday…
He needs to be pragmatic and bin his usual ‘We’ll play our game’ rubbish…
Two games, two teams, two strategies to beat Wigan and Hull/Sheff Utd, that’s all he has to do to finish this season off with a gloss.
I wish that I had the confidence in him to achieve that, but I’m not sure?!
Rico/Fred/Lee, Wenger simply has to be ruthless in his team selection.
He has to think deeply about the XI he picks this weekend.
No passengers, no fancy-dans, the team has to be the strongest group mentally, that he has available.
And if that means Sanogo and/or Gnabry and/or Kalmstrom, then so be it…
No room for sentiment…
Lata
It is Lee.
Spot on Kev, this is huge for AW and it’s a battle he must win…
Totally agree re the sentiment to, no room for it!
We need power and workhorses, nothing else will win this game…
Old dog and new tricks springs to mind!
Flamini banned?
The problem we have is…we know the players are good enough to win the next seven games..the teams left for us to play are average at best.
He is useless player i have ever seen. No ball control, no pace, shot ability zero, he can’t bring penalty to the club, why keeping him. The coach is sturbon, he should be sacked
Banned? Why, totting up of yellows?
flaimini misses the next 2 games, giroud needs to go…and back to basics means fighting for the ball (starting up front)… winning it back early and keeping a gud defencive shape…like we did very early in the season. i believe we will win the fa cup and get fourth, but im not sure wenger has what it takes any more….martinez looks like what wenger used to be!
Yes. He got his 10 th on Sunday = 2 games, Wigan plus the next.
Blessing in disguise?
For sure they are fred, they just need to start believing it…
Gabriel, I can think of a few who have been worse than Giroud.
Morning you lot,
Good post Rico,
Back to basics, win the ball win tackles… do we have those type of players in the squad… we do not have players with those physical attributes it’s why we lose so many games, back to pace and power again and it’s sadly lacking. He decided to buy a team full of central midfielders who are midgets now he’s seeing the problem after all these years of ignoring the obvious.
The comments from the board sum up where we are at as a club. They are so shit scared of change because Wenger is all they have known. They are not football people so have zero idea on who should come in and take his place so they crap their pants and rely on him to renew his contract, utterly pathetic.
Thanks Guys, Kallstrom in then… might not be a bad thing.
Morning Wath.
Ah, those kind of basics, I thought AW meant Sainsbury’s cheap range… lol
😉 rico
How about Kallstrom n Ramsey in middle of midfield with Rosicky and Ox n Gnabry wide left and right…?
A solid spine and bit of speed down the flanks… Not rocket science is it..?
Lets be serious..who at the arsenal has the power to give wenger the p45.
Only one person can sack wenger…and his french
That would give us something more and different to what we have had Wath, a lot more….
Got to nip off for a couple of hours, lata’s…
Good post. Arsenal players don’t fight for the shirt but for the weekly wage
Wath, excellent formation, and apart from Rosicky, fresh faces not blighted by Sunday. And our little Czech always has a fresh little boy face anyway 😉
Andrew, Rosicky gives us tempo and wants to play forward passes not backwards and sideways and with Aaron making runs off the ball it gives us so many more options and especially with a bit of pace on both wings. Does Wenger do the right thing and be ruthless and drop Giroud…? can’t see it but you never know if he truly is that upset with him like reports say but if that was the case why not put Sanogo in and just stick with the kid and get Akpom on the bench….? can’t be worse than Le Quiff at the moment can they…?
Wath, I’d rather have prat Bendtner at the moment the way Giroud is looking. Cant understand why when fit, Gnabry hasn’t had a chance recently. He exceeded expectations when he came in, he also looks to go forward, but no. You need a few sideways crab-like Wilkins in the team but not the whole midfield like we have recently. Ramsey and Alex belatedly added some thrust Sunday, we actually looked like scoring and would have done apart from officials and the woodwork. Players are most missed when they are out, not sure how Ozil started taking stick, I think media hype was partly responsible.
My team for Wembley:
Fabianski, Sagna, Gibbs, Vermaelen, BFG.
Arteta, Ramsey, AOC, Rosicky, Gnabry.
Sanogo.
Andrew, it’s suits the media to pick holes in Ozil…. he’s top top class but because he plays for us he’s an easy target and we have so many fickle fans in armchairs who know no better they jump on the pc bandwagon and say he’s crap.
When Giroud got caught out he should really not of kicked a ball for us again…. lay down a marker show some intent and that players cannot step out of line and show such disrespect to fellow players the club and most of all the fans.
I’d merely swap Arteta for Kallstrom in that team Kev….!
Ozil suffered from the price tag. He was ridiculously overpriced and the media were expecting a worldbeater. The man is a consummate footballer that relies on movement in front of him to pick passes. That’s why he was so good for Ronaldo at Real. Sideways football doesn’t suit him but a few runners timing their runs and he will be a success.
Potter, when we have movement from the forwards and runs from other midfielders Ozil is a worldbeater but when we are slow and stagnant he has no one to pass to and looks average. He can pick a pass out of nothing but that means pass and move and runs into space yet for many of our players there is no movement hence tippy tappy passes in and around the centre circle with zero forward movement and no penetration to hurt teams.
And therein lies part of the great Wenger Paradox.
How can the man who pioneered pace and power football end up with a donkey like Giroud up front and ignore the opportunity to introduce pace into the side? What happened along the way that suggested to him that slow, lethargic and predictable was the way to go?
We do badly miss movement , Rosicky runs from deep and hits a wall of stagnation. Forwards that run behind defences ,cross over in diagonals or come away from their marker are what we need . i would like to see Akpom get a go against Wigan ,he is in scoring form ,he’s quick and might just drag their centre backs around.
Great points Wath…
It was a close thing between Arteta and KK mate…
Drugs I reckon Adam…… It’ can be the only thing…..! 😀
It’ll be a standard predictable Arsene team and you’ll be able to set your watch by the time of the substitutions……
Wath, I even wondered how Jenkinson could affect things if he was played wide-right?
Bombing down the flank, whipping in crosses for Sanogo, doubling up with Sagna, giving us some extra height when defending corners/free-kicks.
Bit too radical I suppose?!!!
Drugs I reckon Adam…… It’ can be the only thing…..!
Grecian 2000,, hair gel and related products.
Sadly Lee, you are oh so right…
That’s why I’m not looking forward to it…
The same tired old line-up from the same old tired-out manager…
Yawn…
Still we’re making a fortune……. who gives a flying fuck?
Of course Lee, silly me, it’s all about priorities.
And as long as the cash is rolling in, then Kroenke is happy and Wenger is unaccountable.
I like Akpom Potter and agree try something different the kid is quick and has a point to prove.
Kev the Jenkinson thing in front of Sagna been mentioned a few times BUT thats no un-Arsene it means be pragmatic and thats not going to happen. That means dropping midget flair players who don’t defend for a player with less technique but way more graft and effort… Blasphemy…..!
Ah, those heady days of 2011, I was freaking it out like Stan, whilst watching Birmingham beat us in the League Cup…
It never leaves ya….
The despair of losing a final to a team we should smash…
It hangs over you like a black cloud, so that when games like this weekends come around, you just cannot enjoy the moment, because of that dread of seeing our team fcuk-up again is eating into your head….
it seems if wenger was going to sign a new contract he would have .
sagna also
I know Wath.
Thinking outside the box?
Mon Dieu, vous plonkers…
Sorry Kev yes that thinking outside the box comment totally uncalled for my sincere apologies mate 😀
Possibly Sagna is waiting to see if Wenger signs and possibly if Wenger doesn’t Sagna might . It is not inconceivable that Sagna is fed up of playing with no protection and might look on a new manager favourably.
Never thought of that one Potter, good call….!
Has Wenger ever left it this late to renew a contract…?
Afternoon all,
Thinking outside the box, that’s tsgh’s territory !
I’m quite happy to stick inside the box myself.
Micko you stick to ticking the box mate………..
Maybe Sagna is waiting to see if we are going to ge CL football next year, just like Wenger, “judge me in May”!
Or the club has done so much asset stripping they have run out of ink and can’t afford to buy any more, so no signing can be done!
I thought it was Giroud who had a thing about his box?
Wavy, am sure they can find a bic from somewhere………..
Back to basic’s………running out of the tunnel and giving your all for the club for the next 90 minutes !!!
Micko, ffs that won’t catch on with our plethora of time bandits in midfield!
Done wath, seems I am in the minority.
Maybe basics is putting a team out that works as a unit, fights for each other, defends as one attacks as one…. maybe thats just far to simplified but ain’t that how it used to be..?
You in a minority Micko, no way mate….
Wath 3.09, your slipping outside that box again mate… 🙂
Maybe the problem with tactics isn’t Wenger, as much as Boro Primoric???
Will Wenger be here next year?
Oui or Non.
Oui.
Kev 3.16 , one thing that needs younger hungrier personnel is the coaching staff , the whole set up has got lazy .
Potter. Do you think they won’t sack him and he still thinks he can win the PL or the CL!
They won’t sack him, at least they will offer him the chance to continue because you can’t sack someone out of contract. However if they have any sense they will start looking at replacements now , if they haven’t already. Knowing this lot – they haven’t
Non! I think he’s a gonner, gooner as of last week in May. Sad, but true?
They would be foolish to let him go without a replacement , I don’t think that they have thought that far ahead.
Adam, I think he’ll stay, he to stubborn to walk and they to gutless to help him on his way as they cant see other options being better because they so blinkered and also stuck in their ways. They cannot even see football has moved on so they think more of the same is great and stability rules ok…!
As far as Arsenal are concerned I usually work out what makes the most rational sense and then go with the opposite.
Wath. Wise words but I have a feeling he is leaving. Probably wrong though.
Adam is your feeling is correct and he leaves the mere fact that the board are going on about the fact he won’t be sacked if we lose and don’t make top 4 tells you thay have not even really looked at replacing him… What does that tell you about the people in charge of our club…? why has this even been allowed to drag on this long.
They are clueless mate and if he walks away they will have a hissy fit about who to about will be knee jerk no thought and will probably ask him his opinion as well.
If he walks he needs to take most of the baord and backroom staff with him.
I’m sure he’s going. After his lack lustre, downhearted performance after Sundays game, he looked like and sounded as if his whole world had just imploded. He looked like a small, bewildered East African boy who had seen the dark at the end of the tunnel and realised his number was up!
And it will be ” judgement day comes in May!”
Afternoon all, we signed anyone yet?? 😉
I would imagine that there are feelers out and that the board have a short list of potential replacements. These probably contain the usual suspects.
Personally I think that the fans have seen enough of Wenger’s football to know that there isn’t going to be a massive change with him at the helm.
The other point is, can he actually manage the ins and outs that are likely. If we assume that we need a new goalie, one or two new CDs, if TV goes, a replacement for Sagna, one for Arteta, a quality and pacey wide man and one or two strikers, possibly three if Giroud slings his hook. And all this is to bring us up to strength, without really adding to the numbers. Can anyone really see Wenger presiding over those movements? This is why his shocking inactivity has been so damaging to the club. I don’t think he can take Arsenal anywhere now. It needs a new man, a new regime in fact to facilitate those changes because he will be given time and patience by the fans to implement his own culture.
If all this sounds too logical, I completely agree.
I think he’ll stay…
Bet you a glass of Cava he doesn’t.
If he goes then his background team will go too. I would expect Bouldy to take over in the short term . As suggested before maybe this is the thinking behind Jonkers.
Just a glass Adam, your as tight as Wenger. 😉
I too think Jonkers could be the long term plan, but right now is too soon which is why I think he’ll stay for two more years allowing Jonkers time to settle and then takeover….
If I had a choice and I know I don’t but, I’d rather Kroenke went right now with Usmanov taking over.
Then I think we’d see something very different….
Harsh Rico. I hope I am not tight. 🙂
Stakovic’s(spelling) contract is also expiring in japan I heard…he is replacing Boro if AW stays…
Good debate…
I will keep OG12, he just needs competition IMHO…
Micko,my views are round pegs in square holes or is it the other way round? 😛
A friend tells me the Emirates stadium is getting 40 new 4G base station for next season…
They want folks to be using lots of data when watching boring football…
After Rico and HHers…
Micko,since frimpong left how many games have we won?
You see there is no clown in the squad anymore.lol
Make it a bottle then Adam and you have a bet… 😉
Hi Ts, would that be Stankovic?
I just googled him and not employed, according to wikki lol
tsgh, tbh it hasn’t been the same since Eboue left !
Evening all.
I see you have had a fun day. Wenger on the rack again Boring. I see you are all out for blood, Maybe the post would have been better with you voting for Wenger rather than Giroud, Now i would like to see who you would install.
When times are tough for us, as they are right now, its times like this when i realise that Kroenke is the right man at the helm, Not a football background i know but a very shrewd man indeed, He knows who he has, and if he is as shrewd as i believe him to be he will twist Arsene’s arm up behind his back to keep him.
Supporters who have the hump and threaten that they wont buy a ticket, will be given the chance not to buy, move on and allow others that support when a team is down to sit in the stadium and show support
Hiya Rico… my bad;I meant Dragan Stojković he left his post with AW previous club 3 months ago…
the man AW said he wanted as his replacement
Dragan Stojkovic Rico…………..!
If it’s all so boring for you SP I wonder why you bother. Will you be renewing your ST this year? I imagine you will. Though last year I seem to recall you were completely down on Wenger and told us that this was the worst Arsenal team you could remember. Now you are telling us that Kroenke is ‘a very shrewd man indeed’. Have you met him then? You concede that he doesn’t have a ‘football background’. Of course, an American businessman with a history of sporting failure is just the sort we need isn’t he? Or as you put it ‘the right man at the helm’. What are you talking about?
Don’t you worry about me Adam i’m quite happy, of course you will be selling your tickets for Wembley as we lost to Everton, now thats a supporter for you. You want change but you don’t have a clue who or what to change now thats forward thinking.
Thanks Ts, Wath – I think I have read that about AW believing he is the man to take over…
SP. No, that’s right SP. I don’t have a clue what I want despite talking about it on here for months now and laying out options in several posts. In fact I recall you asking me in your usual bizarrely patronising way if I had swallowed a dictionary as I used words containing more than two syllables and had the unmitigated gall to include a modicum of punctuation. Do you even have STs? Thanks though, I realise that next to an intellectual giant like yourself my arguments will always be found wanting.
Sp, you have been here on HH soon after this place set up.
Over those years, your opinion has changed frequently – from employing a foreign manager, knocking the signing of ‘too many foreigners’, hells teeth, you have even suggested we sign English players just because they are English.
Some of the posts you have sent me, which haven’t been used, have been bordering on racist, if not at least, very insulting to many people within our club.
I chose not to post them because I understood that you have your view and you are entitled to it, and I didn’t want you to be lambasted for your archaic views….
Yet here you are, defending an American who has not given a penny of his money to our club, other than to invest in shares and make money.
On top of that, you are defending a Frenchman, yes, a man from the very same country you slated us signing players from.
I have always, well in the past, enjoyed the fun side of your comments, you have been a big part in all that HH has been but now I just don’t understand your agenda.
And I’m not really sure why or how you can defend two people who you once considered to be undefendable…….( I know, there is no such word)
This next part saddens me greatly because you always have been such a fab part of HH but surely, if you can’t be part of a debate without trying to insult myself or others for our views, it’s time to part company?
Trust me, what you may think is debating, comes across as being nothing other than sarcastic, condescending and quite rude….
Actually Steve I feel you have to separate the playing side of the club from the business. I would be happy with the way the business is run if it didn’t impact on the playing side , however it does. You say that Kroenke is the right man and I say he is holding us back and that is the only defence that can be mustered for Wenger. My view on him is that he is tactically flawed but that with a new coaching staff he could still be of as much value to the team as he is to the financial side. This of course depends on Kroenke releasing the funds to enable the manager not only to buy players for immediate first team action but to build for the future as well.
If however Kroenke is releasing sufficient monies for this and it is Wenger that is holding things back then Kroenke is at fault for not insisting on Wenger taking action and they both need to go.
I yield to your superior prose, I am just a working class Gooner, as you can see i am not as intelligent as you, but i have dignity and respect. Its my view which i know is not yours that Arsene Wenger deserves my respect. You want him out and no matter how well worded you are, you show the man no respect for what he’s done, and is still doing. We are 4th in the league and we go to Wembey this weekend if that is failure in you mind i am conversing with the wrong person
Being satisfied with 4th and a semi doesn’t show the ambition that a club of Arsenal’s size should be aiming for. The purpose of sport is to win , not just making up the numbers.
By the way, I would like to add that I don’t give a flying one where any player, manger or owner is from as long they give 100% to the most important part in what this place is all about.
The Arsenal!!
Absolutely Potter, absolutely!
Potter, Don’t like it don’t go
You know SP, if you had anything about you at all instead of all this bile you would know that I have been very respectful to Wenger and have praised what he has done in every single one of the posts I have written for Rico. So, for a man like you to come on here and attempt to play both the victim in claiming that you are you are not as intelligent as me, while at the same time accusing me of somehow being less respectful than you towards Wenger, is deeply insulting. This is a place for opinions if you hadn’t noticed. I don’t agree with everyone on here but I do respect their opinions.
And as a matter of fact, I too am just a working class Gooner but one who has been paying for his and his wife’s season ticket for years and years. I have been attending practically every Arsenal home match since the 70’s. I don’t think this gives me any extra room to criticise but I am fcuked if I am going to take a lecture from someone like you who has recently been on here spouting quite horrible things about gays and then a vile, disrespectful post about women that was offensive in the extreme.
From now on please ignore me and I will do the same to you but if you want to dig me out again then expect me to respond.
Rico, You dont like the owner you dont like the manager you dont like the players what do you like about The Arsenal
Don’t like it don’t go
Is like saying I have a headache so cut my head off.
Like many others I have been going to the Arsenal long before Wenger and Kroenke which I think includes you as well. I went through the Billy Wright era , attended that ill fated night against Leeds . Things were wrong then and I believe they are again now. Arsenal is in my blood So tell me to glory hunt and support another team, and if you want meet me at the block 10 bar after a game you can tell me to my face.
Sp, you really don’t get it do you?
What would happen if every fan, every season ticket holder shared your view?
They’d be no fans left at all, well certainly very few.
All fans want is to see us set up after a summer with a side capable of winning the league, and play like they are set up to do so.
Do that and then we don’t win is understandable, but to know we don’t have a chance from the off, when there is £150 million sitting in the bank is inexcusable…!!
Don’t all laugh at once but if Man U did go on and win the Champions League, 4th wouldn’t be good enough for us anyway.
I’m sure come 9.45 tomorrow nite it will be put to bed !
Micko , Would that be such a bad thing. ?
It might create a ripple in Colorado if the golden fleece was not around for a bit but we might actually be entered into a competition that we have a chance of winning.
Sp.
I love all that is Arsenal FC!!
The club, it’s history and the mere fact it sits above the rest in everything it’s done.
I don’t hate the manager as you well know so that, and one of many recently, stupid assumptions of yours, is very wrong.
I don’t hate Kroenke either, another wrong assumption of yours!
What irks me is that one won’t make sure we invest in the squad, the other doesn’t invest in the squad and nor does he seem to have the ability any more to get the best out of whom we do have…
So, please stop filling in the gaps from mine and other peoples comments and actually give five minutes to try and understand why and where those comments are coming from..
This is not a witch-hunt against the manager and owner, it’s merely stating what is the bleedin obvious!
😛 Micko, Kev and I shared that in a text earlier… But can’t see them winning it, mind you, 4th place is looking dodgy…. lol
Micko, you thinking outside the box again? lol
Win the cup and we qualify through the back door. And that’s looking dodgy too.
Unless Utd and the Totts overtake us Potter… Back to the CC then. lol
Get past bayern and anything could happen but I can’t see it either rico.
Europa league Potter, no thanks, the boot would be on the other foot, Spurs having a laugh at us on a Thursday nite.
Bayern will batter them Micko, well, I hope they do…..
I’d rather no Europe than Thurs/Sundays….
Veratti of Psg, we are linked to him aren’t we?
A real nightmare rico, sky plusing EE every other week !
Point taken tsgh, I’m gonna get back into mine.
Over and out.
Can’t be doing with it Micko..
Night to you…
Nasty by Eto, very nasty!!
Eto is one snide git Rico.
This ref is a bit of a no nonsense….
That’s being polite Adam….
I don’t have your vocabulary Rico. 🙂
Where its ok to disagree:. Some one tells me they don’t like the owner they tell me the manager is useless we have a bad team Wenger has no idea we cant win a game. If we were facing relegation i can accept many of those comments, This man has put us in the top 4 17 years and with 6 games to go we are 4th in the league how bad is that,
Doesn’t matter to me how long a supporter has held a ticket for, 20 30 40 years if he doesn;t like what he see’s he doesn’t have to go. Whether his Father or his grandfather was also a supporter means very little as they are probably not supporting now.
Arsenal today is being run how Arsenal has been run for quite a few years and nothing has changed, the owner is happy and the manager is still churning out top 4rs. Trouble with you lot is your pride has been hurt, we have lost by big numbers but were still 4th. the season is not over yet, and you sound like you have given up and you shout about the players and manager having no heart. With you lot supporting i can see why the players look down. I wouldn’t want to play for you.
🙂 Adam.
And what exactly does top 4 mean Sp, the last time I looked, it meant 3 places off top spot…
Is that winning?
No, and that perhaps is why the players feel like they do if supporters like you see that as being a success….
It isn’t, all 4th place means is CL money, yep. money we seldom see invested in the all what matters. The bleedin team!!
Out of interest Sp, how much does your Season Ticket cost you each season??
Mine is about £1400 Rico. Each. 🙂
I know yours Adam… 😉
Just wondered what Sp pays….
That’s me done for the day….
Night Adam and all….
Oh, come on PSG 😛
Eto’o certainly knows how to draw a free kick . he’s in the Ronaldo class.
bvb 2 up wow…
klopp magic tonight…
Benzema should have scored… what happened to the French strikers of the calibre of Pain, TH, Trezeguet etc…?
Hummels is having another shaky one…
It should have been 3-3 on aggregate… M’ktari you k_ _b
I never thought RM were a 1 man team too without CR07
sorry not a bvb site… 😉
Kev your 2nd best buddy reus just got done for simulation in the box… it should have been a penalty to make it 3-3 though imo…
How did it finish TS.
Potter 3.34, yes I agree
Just off to catch up…
I have to totally disagree with everyone on here and I actually do have der words so do ‘t you bleedin’ mess wiv me Potter, yeah I’ll sea ya outside Block 10 or bloody block 11 if you like, and bring yer mates as well… 😉
Dear oh dear Brainwashed, what’s been going on ffs…
That Rico, she certainly runs a rowdy bunch on here…
I blame that Scott…
And that Mick, I always blame him…
Whilst that terrible Adam chap, so argumentative… (Is that a word?)
Anyway, sod you lot, I’m up for the Europa Cup..,
I can’t wait to visit Rubin Kazan, wherever that is?!!!
unlucky dortmund, missing a few big players as well, if wenger is going i wouldn’t mind getting klopp. also credit to mourinho there, running down the touchline in the 91st min in the middle of celebrations to tell ba to sit in front of the defence and pick up alex, and tell torres to mark maxwell… he may be a prick of a human but a very good tactician.
How much is that Edison Cavani worth???
On tonight’s showing, about £9million
Steve, just read your 8.28…
Do you seriously believe that Arsenal are being run the same as they’ve been run for years…
Definately not in my opinion and certainly not since they moved to the effin Emirates (fcuking hate that name)…
It’s a massive business, far bigger than any of us imagined when Wenger came in 1997…
We, the domestic fans, are gradually being marginalised, they’d rather have 60,000 tourists who’ll spend zillions in the poxy Amoury…
BrainwashedKev :- I’m johnny no mates so it wont be much of a fight but if your in the mood I can always hold your coat.
I’ll hold both your coats and get the beers in…………
As far moaning and having the choice not to go anymore, as you suggested to Potter.
Well I know quite a few hard-core Arsenal fans like that…
They’d never be seen dead inside ‘The Grove’ not whilst that American cnut Kroenke is in charge….
But instead they go to the away games, you know, the fans that make all the noise…
The ones that saw us lose 6-0 at Chelsea, but kept on singing.
They travelled up to Liverpool and saw us lose 5-1, but kept on singing.
They went to ManCity when we lost 6-3, but kept on singing…
You know, the fans that Kroenke couldn’t give a shit about…
But that’s alright ain’t it…
Potter I’ll meet yer wherever you like, and buy you a pint…
Hey, Wath’s buying, gotta put that in my diary… 😆
This could turn into a session . Anyone else ?
Cheeky old git… behave yaself….!
Potter, don’t get to excited mate Kev is on his ear after half a shandy…………..
Potter, I’ll blow the froth off a couple with you….but I never promised you a rose garden!
Horrible odious hi-ho cnut but he wins big football matches!!!
Moaning all.. very apt considering last night’s banter!! I blame the Aussie, oh and Adam!
Morning all.
After reading back todays posts, i am disappointed.
Not in anything, or anyone in particular, but disappointed that, at possibly Arsenals darkest hour in decades, Gooners, though sharing a love of the club, are pulling in different directions, and tearing shreds of each other.
A year or so back, i started a Facebook group, and kept numbers relatively small.
It is open to any Gooner, whether or not they love/hate Wenger….it doesn’t matter, as long as the debate is kept respectable between members.
Today, for the first time, i had to warn several members that if they kept abusing each other, they’d be deleted.
Now, i turn to HH, and i see it happening here.
Why?
Why is it so hard to accept someone else’s opinion without deriding them, abusing them or insulting them?
No matter how “out there” it is.
No matter how “out there” you are.
Hey, i have been guilty of it…as guilty as anyone, but if can do it, certainly you all can.
Cut the crap, guys.
It does nobody any good at all.
We are ARSENAL.
We are better than that.
Hiya Lee.
Tense times mate…..do we pull apart, or stick together?
Not good atm for Gooners.
I can not even begin to imagine how bad it will get if we can not beat Wigan though.
Morning Rico and all.
Agree Scotty but Arsenal bring this shit upon themselves….we’ve got to stick together and get behind them! Nothing less than a F.A Cup and top four finish imho!
Yep.
Aaron is back 🙂
Morning Adam.
Lee, i know the club keeps backing themselves into a corner, but even i have been shocked at some comments flying around the net of late, and that is saying something lol
The last days of George Graham saw the club in a far worse state than this though. Far worse. In those days though there was no Internet with sites like HH to offer anybody a voice so people would sit around in pubs talking about it. And don’t forget that, back in the days of Billy Wright, fan power got him sacked.
Last night wasn’t about Arsenal at all really.
Morning All…
I hope Bayern iron those schlaags out tonight.
Morning Adam, Lee, Scott, Kev and all…
A new day and the sun is shining…..
COYRRG’s…
Morning Rico, in London today, the morning chill is fading and it’s turning into a beautiful sunny day, complete with a blue sky…
I have my doubts, but hopefully the weather Saturday will be the same…
Morning Lee, Scott, Adam, Wath, SP, Potter, Rocky, Fred, Andrew, Henry, CG, Nasher, Stan, Agag, Wavy, Oz, all our African fans, and everyone else… 😉
After many years of running teams at different levels,theres nothing like being told by a bunch of mothers that you no nothing about tactics and my johnnys left footed not right.
Thats football ein’t it..do miss old greaves
It’s a bit chilly here Kev but not a cloud in the sky, could almost be summer 🙂
fred, what do you know about tactics??? 😉
So Wigan rested 7 players and lost 1-0 to Millwall…….
That paid off then Lee, now let’s go and batter them on Saturday!
It would make a welcome change this weekend, if Arsenal could be as lucky as Chelsea were last night…
Wouldn’t it just Kev but they did hit the bar twice too..
Shame Ibra was missing, he’d have buried that chance Cavani had towards the end…
I think we should sign Cavani, simply for his name of course 😉
Rico, you 9:06 I’ll let you know at about 7.00pm on Saturday!
Just thinking about that makes me quite nervous Lee, huge day for Arsenal..
No tracksuits, no headphones and let’s see a bit of togetherness and attitude!
We should be ok though, we rested 11 against Everton!!
😆 😆 😆
How has it come to this Rico???
Why should we be freaking out over playing Wigan?!
What a fcuking joke…
Chelsea, Liverpool or ManUre would just roll up and smash em…
I won’t mention ManCity… 😉
I’m seriously shitting myself about this Saturday!
I go with a resigned and rather unattractive grin on my boat.
It sure is hard to understand Kev… But recent results/performances are to blame in the here in now. Had we been blowing sides away, I’d be full of confidence.
I just hope we show FC Cup form from this season and not PL, and if we we should have enough… Surely..
You going Lee, or watching from behind the sofa?
Take the tube Adam, going by boat will take ages…. 😉
Morning
Nice one Rico, very drol!
Kev, did you check Cavani’s birth certificate after that performance?
He made Eto look like a spring chicken…
Morning Rico and all…
Snap, where are you my buddy?
I want to know how your team RM became a one man team?
Isco looks a shade of the player he was at Malaga… then again I always thought he was a poor Joe Cole without Jose shouting at him…
Ah the Tube. What a delightful prospect. I remember the journey home from the Chelsea and Birmingham matches with such affection. I think it was then that I realised just how insane I really was.
Aaron is back.
We will win 🙂
Joe Cole may or may not be a lot of things Ginge.
But he ain’t poor…
I let a co worker have my two Wilsons, so he can take his son, so I’ll be plotted up in the rub -a-dub-dub….
lol… definitely true
Morning Wavy and Ts…
🙂 Adam..
I need to brush up on my ‘cockney rhyme’ Lee 😉
New post up now….