Morning all.
Ivan Gazidis has confirmed he’s off to the USA with the club in the summer for our one and only pre-season fixture which will take place outside of Europe:
We are delighted to be visiting the United States for the first time in 25 years. We enjoy fantastic support there, and in particular in New York, so we are looking forward to providing our fans with an opportunity to watch the team play live.
The fact that Thierry is the New York Red Bulls club captain makes this a particularly special fixture, and everyone involved with the club is looking forward to it.
Arsene Wenger is off there too and he’s happy:
This will be a great chance to play in front of supporters who have not seen the team play before. The New York Red Bulls will be midway through their season, so they will provide a good test. Obviously it will be good to play against Thierry. He is a very special player in our club’s history and I know the players and the supporters will enjoy this very much.
Did you really think Ivan and Arsene were about to up sticks and leave the club?
I was watching Sky Sports yesterday morning and Tottenham were being battered for the way they approached their game against Liverpool. Paul Wash I think it was who said the Tottenham players looked like they were waiting to catch a bus rather than getting pumped up for an important football match.
The cameras then went onto Vincent Kompany at The Emirates and showed him psyching his players up for the game against us.
What caught my eye though was the Man City team were out and lined up yet there was Tomas Vermaelen, stood on his own whilst our players came out at their leisure.
Where was our urgency and passion? Why weren’t our boys out there together, ready to face the battle ahead?
Back in the days of Tony Adam and Patrick Vieira, there was none of this ‘hugging’ players in the opposition line up, they were pumped up, fired up for what was to happen next and to be honest, they didn’t often draw let alone lose, not on their own turf, not at their home of football. Not all too often away from home either, especially under Arsene Wenger….
So what’s happened, why has our approach to the game changed so much?
I still believe that the only reason we lost the Carling Cup Final against Birmingham was all down to the way we approached the game. Players wandered off the team bus with headphones and tracksuits on and they wore the same attire onto the Wembley turf.
Whereas Birmingham turned up all suited and booted as a team, they already had their ‘collective team spirit’ in abundance yet there we were looking like a bunch of individuals who thought they merely had to turn up to get their hands on a trophy.
We need a leader in the camp!
Liverpool have Gerrard, Chelsea have Terry, City have Kompany, yet we have a captain who half the time isn’t playing because he’s not deemed good enough to start ahead of Laurent Koscielny or Per Mertesacker.
We need a man who will put fire in the bellies of the players, a man who will get every member of the squad up and ready to battle for the red and white which is Arsenal FC……
Do we have that player in the squad?
I don’t think so……
That’s it for another day……
Diaby signs contract extension……..
Now that is an April fool….
Not sure when it was that u sayTommy V was ” stood on his own whilst our players came out at their leisure” the players come out as a team b4 the start of all game except for the warmup period when they come out when they want as it is “at their leisure” when they feel they need to
Rico get your coat……. That’s sooooooooo bad…!
Flamini’s the man!!
Morning all,(well both of you),just a thought, Arsenal were refused planning permission for a high rise development,near the stadium yesterday.This raises a few questions,will this be judged as losed revenue by Arsenal,which will need to be made up some how? Could this be more of an excuse,for ticket price hikes in the near future? Just a thought.
Seriously , I didn’t get a lot of computer time yesterday but I read Mikes question this morning and i thought I would add my two pennyworth.
I believe that our short ( tippy tappy) style does contribute to a number of things that go against us. We tend to play short passes and often to players that are marked, this player tends to lay the ball off quickly and either gets caught just a little late or sometimes plays it too quickly and the pass goes astray. We have witnessed Wilshere in particular get a series of little niggly knocks throughout the opening half hour of matches ,these are often due to a deliberate rotational fouling system operated by opposing coaches. No wonder he keeps getting ankle/ foot injuries. By playing this style we invite teams to pack their midfield and we get caught in possession as a defender only has a few yards to make up as the ball is coming, an overhit pass or one that the receiver has to stretch for as it arrives means a loss of the ball and players out of position to defend a quick break ( witness Podolski Saturday).
In short yes I do believe our style contributes , we need runners off the ball to stretch the game and make space for the people with the ball to pick the proper pass.
BTW Morning All.
Hants, I am on about in the tunnel…
http://shewore.com/2014/04/01/diaby-returns-and-signs-new-long-term-deal/
I did warn you Wath lol
Mike, good to see you back. You have a point re Flamini, but not sure he’d ever be made captain after ditching us a few years back…
Morning potter, good comment…
Lee, thank goodness that relates to 2010 and not 2014…..
Morning all,
nice supporting post, i expect the same for the semi then can i.
get behind the team at least once this season please
laters.
Potter, I agree whole heartedly with your tippy tappy point. We have been giving the ball away consistently all this season and much longer, for many seasons now. Not since the glory days, up to 2006 have we had the players who could and did anticipate where their team mates were and pass the ball to them. The level of skills of the former players was such that a pass made was unerring in its accuracy and the control by the receiver was instant and total. We do not have such skillful players any more! It is noticeable how passing movements are slow, deliberate and laborious. What has become of the back to front passing move from the team. The 17 second goal, from goal keeper to striker via six outfield players? Gone, that’s where. We don’t have the players to act or react to those moments in the game when the counter attack, for example is performed effectively.
We have ceased to play 1 or 2 touch football….the beautiful game!
Hi everyone. Would have to say Flamini is the closest we have to a Vieira figure at the moment. Has the necessary guts and aggression (in a positive sense) to demand more from his team mates. However I agree with you Rico that having left the club earlier in his career he’s unlikely to pick up the arm band again. Mertesacker would have to be the next best thing, leads by example on the pitch and we all remember what happened between him and Özil. I think he truly feels proud of representing the club.
Diaby is our leader
Sp, what on earth makes you think i’m not behind the team??
Why can’t you enter a debate about who/where are leadership is instead of just moaning about the post each day?
Morning All
Morning Rico, nice post.
Lee, a shiver went down my spine when I read your opening comment, almost as frightening a prospect as Bendtner re-signing..
Almost had you……
SP, it’s called gallows humour mate…
If we didn’t laugh, then we’d cry…
Morning Wavy, Bota and Kev…
Thanks Kev…
Almost not near enough Lee 😉
As much of a wind up as it is wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Diaby played the last 3/4 games of the season and got a new contract……
Wenger will want to reward him for his fighting spirit…!
I doubt it would surprise anyone Wath, not when it comes to our manager….
Rico if history repeats itself then we know full well Diaby will get a new contract shortly and that’s not funny at all……
Do we play Ramsey Sat or do we give him another week to recover properly from his injury, I hope he not being rushed back after the last two set backs…!
With Diaby, Wenger feels responsible for the injury he sustained at Sunderland and he has done his best to protect and encourage Diaby’s return to full fitness. The fitness thing is now a pipe dream, but I don’t think you’ll see Diaby leave the club, in the short term. Wenger will continue to stand by his man. A new contract, absolute certainty!
Your problem Rico is your far to cynical and not positive enough……
Diaby could be signing of the decade….. Wenger will spend all the £150 million in the bank not on midget midfielders either and then Krunkey will sell up and leave us as well….!
See it’s easy if you just put blinkers on and hallucinate…
No, it’s not funny, not at all Wath..
Tough re Ramsey, if and only if he is 100% fit then play him, even it’s just from the bench or at the start and take him off early second half…
I don’t think he’ll leave either Wavy, but he should. He needs to follow Eduardo and find a less physical league imo…
Me a cynical Wath, wonder where I got that from, or should I say who…. lol
I hope your not insinuating Rico….
Monday to Friday I am a realist and say it as I see it come the weekend and game time for 90mins I support but that don’t mean I am not going to say what I think is wrong.
Seems far to many assume they can spout on about fans who are critical as not being real fans or should go support someone else…? Utter bollox and how condescending and arrogant in the extremes, who gives these people the right to judge others because they dare question the manager or the club or players attitudes?
Far far to many think the club was formed in 1996….!
Tell me I am wrong tell me you don’t agree with me and tell me exactly why and that’s great but don’t even start to tell me what kind of fan I am as you have not one iota what kind of fan I am or anything about how I support my club….!
Kroenke to sell up would be a very good start though….
Your last is spot on Wath!!
Saw some bollox yesterday Rico where the headline was something like how REAL Arsenal fans follow the club…
Who are these people to utter such drivel..? So what’s a real Arsenal fan then, one with blinkers and a paper bag over their head..?
Makes me laugh although it’s actually quite pathetic that some plum on a keyboard can question another person who they know nothing about, nor do they know how many games they go to or been going to for how many years and how many countries they been to following the club.
Thankfully we don’t get very much of that on here and the last one got his marching orders for all that go follow someone else crap but it seems common elsewhere that if you dare question the club your not a fan…. Really….?… Yeh right…!
Spot on again Wath.
Someone tried to get on here a few days ago suggesting I go and support the Totts. Who exactly do they think they are?
It’s clear there are things wrong at the club and on the pitch, but that will never stop me supporting the players each and every match day….
Following on from the media gossip and subsequent denials….
Tim Sherwood did or didn’t punch a spud player Sunday…….. Which one would you most like to punch…… Hmmmm choices choices…..!
Adebayor!
So predictable Rico 🙂
Mate of mine took his boys to the chavs game,
arsenal fans fighting among them selfs again,
die hard wenger fans sticking up for the players,
even when weir six down.
What I can’t understand is that some of these fans cannot think of life without wenger and his a 67 year old.
Not saying nows the time to change..but some of these fans need to get real.
Someone tried to get on here a few days ago suggesting I go and support the Totts. Who exactly do they think they are?
Probably Daniel Levy :- He needs all the help he can get.
If you think about it , the average age of actually supporting a club starts at about 9 -10 years old, Wenger has been with us for 17 years or so. The average computer user having been bought up with them is 25 -30 and they have only ever known Arsene as Arsenal’s manager . Now we know one of the faults of the computer age is the dumning down of the average population’s ability to think for themselves , it’s too easy to get google to do it for you, so a computer that tells them that it’s Wenger’s way or nothing ,means the chances are that they will accept it as gospel.
Can’t stand him Wath….
Mr Wath. Now if the choice was any Spud in history, that really would be a choice. Sheringham, Clive and Paul Allen, Vinny Sideways, Ruddock, Jamie Redknapp, Ardiles, Bentley, Gazza, Lineker, Graham Roberts, van Den Hauwe, Yorath, GARTH CROOKS. Sore knuckles after that lot!
They are scared of change fred…
Ha ha Potter, he sure does….
Ah good Mr Wath is back, a big improvement on that other misery guts of a similar name… 😉
BJ you missed Maxi Miller and Alan Brazil, but if there was one I would have liked to have met it would have been John White, absolute class turned the wrong way at Tottenham Hale.
Btw, did anyone notice all that PR merde concerning Kroenke giving Wenger a £100million to spend this summer?!!!
As If that Yank parasite has actually put his own hand in his own pocket and promised £100m…..
That’s the money that the fans put up you American ponce…
Now piss off to Colorado and stay there you waste of air…
Bob J, the choices really are endless but from that lot would have to be Sherringham all day long… Closely followed by Graham Roberts… Never liked that knob Richard Gough either…..
Yes Rico barndoor and Walker from the current lot…
Kev, the misery guts is my twin brother he’s off protesting about something…..
The £100 amount is funny, that’s what was available from the last set of financials released….. By June add in the new season tkt money. The new tv money plus installments from emirates and puma and your looking at £150million to spend without even going into the red….! Scary cash available and everyone knows it’s there…!
Mourinho is in the market for Costa.
Wenger is in the market for Kalou, according to the Evening Standard…
Adam, Lee and Rocky will be ecstatic…
Wath, it’s all so predictable and pathetic and shows exactly what the club thinks of it’s fans…
Season ticket re-newals by any chance???
They make me sick… 🙁
Kev just spoke to Wath he parading outside our local they changed brands on the dry roasted peanuts he’s gone nuts about it……!
I did Kev, thought it was an April fool…
That’s inexcusable Mr Wath…
You tell Wath that we’re all behind him… 😛
AK sends his regards btw… 😀
I ain’t so sure Rico… 🙁
He will appreciate the support Kev…. 😉
He will appreciate the support Kev
He’ll wear it always,
I meant the mega bucks for Wenger Kev…
The Costa story I believe, why we are not in for him I just can’t understand…
Rico re: Costa. Chavs hold all the aces. Not only do they have Courtois and Torres to bargain with but Costa is a nasty, cheating womans willy who fits right in with Moronho’s type of player!
We won’t go head to head with Abramovic on money , we are scared of them. Wenger has said that we don’t go shopping until the big boys have finished.
I know Bj, annoying though… I think he’s just what we need, a big no nonsense striker but I can’t see Arsene Wenger ever going for him, he’s not an ‘Arsene’ kind of player…
And that’s half the problem potter, we get left going for players other clubs don’t seem to want..
Even Ozil to a degree as Moyes said he didn’t want him….Allegedly..
Off for an hour or so, later folks…
I wish Costa was our woman’s willy though…..not some cuckoo clock making bell-piece! Or a geezer that is intent on poking his tongue out every 15 seconds whilst adjusting his quiff!
Even though he’s merde!
Or booking early morning romps so he can flash ‘his old chap’ as Adam would say…..
If Vermaellen had anything about him he would have resigned the captaincy when he realised he was no longer first choice. He is a
“dead body” who is totally devoid of personality. Equally if Wenger had a bit more about him he would have made the decision for him. A little nervous of confrontation I suspect. Anyway he is our worst skipper for a while, alongside Gallas…. Mertersacker it should be.
A bit harsh on Verm methinks….
Agree regarding BFG…
Can anyone see the irony?
Kroenke’s so-called £100million war-chest for Arsene, balanced against the reality of Wenger’s reported targets, two ‘strikers’ totalling some £10million…
What happened to the other digit?
You serious MW??He’d be playing but for the gelling and fitness of Kos and Merts..
How many times do we fans say, ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it’?
Well, that is exactly what AW is doing at the back….!
Kev, £100 million is a good amount, just not sure AW will spend it….
That could get a striker, winger and a DM…
Evening all,
If Ramsey can stand up on two feet on his own he should be in the team same as Ozil I would say the same about Koshielney, Handful of games left and every one of them so important. Diaby has sat on his arse for a year surely he can manage a show. Arsenal football club is in for the double, yes many feel that Wenger should be gone but he’s not, and he has us in the mix for the league. 6 players out injured and they reckon they may be fit for the semi at least some of them ,Walcott will probably make the final should we get there.
Top players have let us down this year not Wenger and should they man up we may just clinch something. All this only play them when properly fit means the end of the season we need them now busting a gut and they can have a rest after.
‘If Ramsey can stand on two feet’ – that’s not very supportive towards our top midfield man Sp….
‘Top players have let us down this year not Wenger and should they man up we may just clinch something’
Neither is that very supportive Sp, come on, you have been moaning at me about not getting behind the team….
A team is eleven men, and your best eleven. Ramsey could have had a heart transplant in the time he;s been out Ozils Prides hurt Walcott well what can you say for him Diaby come on sone you could have been rebuilt in that time. and you want to give them longer, Kick their arses out help their team. We all seem to see support in different ways, Myself if you are a proffesional football your supposed to play some football.
Sp, funny that, most here get behind the players, you seem to want to criticise them…
You are a hard man to please…. Still, as long as the manager is fit and healthy, that’s all what matters eh…
I see you got the hump with my comment this morning, so it really doesn’t matter what i say you will have an answer, but if you write a blog for the supporter, you should at least try and find something good about the team now and again. My comments although you don’t like them, are in support of Arsenal, when i see players swinging the lead i’ll say it. Wenger getting us to a semi final and still a chance of the league is all i can ask of him, I don’t know what resrictions are on him if any, but he aint doing bad in my view
I don’t get the hump over anything on here Sp, honest.
I write about how I feel, I guess that’s my prerogative but imo, Arsenal FC is about more than just Arsene Wenger!
I just struggle to find consistency with your views, you want us all to support the team, but then you go on to slate the players….
My view on players, Is my own interpretation of football players. Having played myself for many years, and i also know you did as well, I had never heard of Cruciate and the term metatasial was a foreign word for me 40 years man and boy and nobody i played with ever had any of them the odd hamstring sprains and strains and a couple of broken leags maybe the odd collar bone. But today these players i watch go down in a diving swallow dive just to get their fellow pro booked or sent off. I pride myself that when i played i tried to play the game as fairly as i could, I made sure i never got friendly with any of the opposing teams we played i shock hands at the end thats about it. Players today is a bit of a let down to me as i don’t like cheats and i don’t like seeing players pull out of a challenge, i know i am a Dinasour but i have allways seen football as a Mans game but the older i get the more it looks that a tackle is a bad word.
Yes i Watch Arsenal and we have a few tackle dodgers but its inbread in me to support them and i do but i don’t always like what i see.
As far as Arsene Wenger is concerned it looks like i am on my own, I can live with that. while the man keeps us at the top i will support him, He is consistent enough for me to keep him here, as i really can’t knock the bloke, of course i would like an Englishman but there are none about i like, but while he does the business he’ll do for me.
Football and injuries have moved on since your day Sp… Maybe the club need to look at why so many injuries take place to so many players…
I for one don’t believe it’s the players fault, I think it’s a lot to do with diet, training and as Potter said earlier, the way we play and the constant fouling by other sides…
So, if there was an English manager who you happened to like, would you prefer to see him as the Arsenal manager Sp??
At the moment Rico, I class Wenger as the best manager in the world, I can hear the laughs from where i sit, but that’s my view. If he ever retired or got the sack or left, i haven’t a clue. But in my opinion for Arsenal at this present time, i wouldn’t even consider it.
No-one is laughing at your opinion Sp and that’s where I think you get a bit twitchy, everyone is entitled to have their own view but when it comes to certain aspects of Arsenal, you prefer not to listen.
I totally get why you rate AW so highly, I really do, but is 4th place each season really what our great club is all about?
And, when AW picks a lesser first 11 for the domestic cups, have you always been happy with that?
Over the years of HH, you have heavily criticised AW for many things, yet you still stand by your man and that’s why I struggle to keep up with your opinions….
But as far as getting the hump goes, no chance 😉
Anyway, I’m off for the day…
Night all..
And evening Micko 😉
Rico, You know me, I moan about everything, I never agree or very seldom thats why i like this blog. I don’t understand many things Wenger does, and if i think he’s wrong i vent my opinions. FA cup Milk cup CL i would always put out my best team Wenger doesn;t but many times i realise that he knows who is really fit and who’s not. He puts players on the bench who i didn;t think was fit but as i said before he knows better. I am no expert and i see every competition as winnable, Wenger has to pick what comps he wants to compete in. Over the years we have had small squads and i understood why he did what he did, this season our squad looked a lot healthier and had we not had the injuries we had i believe we could be in better position.
But its my view, that he gets the big bucks and he’s in the know, I do not believe he is holding back, and i feel that if he had the money released to him, he would have no qualms about spending it.
Evening Mick
Bayern look good…
Hmm, Welbeck bottled it…
Ok, I’m obviously getting too predictable and stuck in my ways ! Hint taken.
Wenger used to tell us it wasn’t important who wore the captains armband as the team was full of leaders, everyone will need to put in a gutsy performance this weekend.
The best leader for me……. the one and only Tony Adams.
Just time for a couple of beers and a laugh at Man United.
Evening kev, this champions league malarky is well over-rated, would rather concentrate on the league and cup double, laters.
Night Mick
Don’t let all those plastic Mancs bother ya…
Steve , Lots of us played and whilst I agree about players nowadays going down too easily, you didn’t show you were hurt back then but we still got injuries we just called them broken foot ( metatarsal ) , and cruciate could be a cartilage. There are no new injuries just better knowledge of what they are.
McLintock for me. Inspirational!
Rooney dives to get Schweinstieger sent off . Just wait for the condemnation in the morning !!!!
Luck lucky Utd…
Morning all….
Just seen Rooney’s dive, what a cheat!
I hate that fucktard…
I hope Bayern smash the living daylights out of them!
Morning Lee, so do I am I’m sure they will….
Don’t want those Manc chumps winning the CL, could threaten our 4th spot 😉
F.A cup and 3rd would be good!!
Last Friday, ahead of the clash with City at the Emirates, Wenger was asked whether he is accountable to anyone at the club.
He said ‘I don’t know’.
And there you have it….
Sure would, we really have to win the FA Cup, we need it….
New post up…