Morning all.
Not much news around again this morning. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored for England last night, Kieran Gibbs also played but thankfully, Theo Walcott sat the entire match out. As did Santi Cazorla for Spain.
This international break concludes tonight, with Chile, Costa Rica, Wales, Czech Republic and Spain under 21’s all playing so plenty of Arsenal players could be involved. Hopefully not too many as with a tricky away fixture on Saturday evening, they could all do with a rest. Not Joel Campbell though, the more playing time he gets, the better it is for him and Arsenal imo.
Sam Allardyce – every relegation threatened clubs saviour is back in management with Sunderland. Can’t say I’ve missed him in the Premier League since West Ham showed him the door but it won’t be too long before we have to face his team and no doubt, their bullish tactics.
Well the big fella has written a book and it’s being serialised in The Sun! Today’s piece is about how he liked to get right at us when he managed Bolton. He also claims that Arsene Wenger is arrogant!
I enjoyed beating Arsenal more than anyone when I was in charge of Bolton. We’d really got to them and Arsene Wenger hated us. Of course, Arsenal beat us sometimes, but we drew with them or beat them more often than expected and Wenger couldn’t handle it.
There was one time he wouldn’t shake hands with me at Highbury because we got a draw. I saw him ripping his tie off and throwing it on the floor in anger. He takes it all very personally and has an air of arrogance. He’s not one for inviting you into his office for a drink after games.
He’s a fantastic manager, I cannot deny that, but the more I could wind him up, the more I liked it.
He’s like a taller, perhaps wider version of Mourinho isn’t he?
What really irked Sam was Wenger’s comments to the press after the game and how the Frenchman would seldom praise the ‘smaller’ teams after they’d defeated Arsenal.
He tried to influence refs through the media and create a perception that we were bullies committing all the fouls while his team just wanted to play. It seemed he wanted a rule where they should be allowed to do what they wanted with the ball, without us being allowed to tackle them.
I was always getting questions like ‘Arsene said you kicked them off the park, that you weren’t interested in playing football. What have you got to say about that?’
There was no credit for the fact we’d spent all week studying how to nullify their skilful player and not let them have a second on the ball. It was a skill finding their weaknesses and how to exploit them. But when we succeeded, the press were usually on about Arsenal having an off-day and the ref being soft.
What to make of all that then?
Does Big Sam have a point, or is he just talking rubbish?
Saturday 5th December we face Sunderland at home, could be fun. Then again, Sam could be out of a job again before then…..
Finally, according to reports in newspapers this morning, both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are set for new deals at the club. Nacho Monreal has already agreed a new deal according to reports in both the Mirror, Mail and TransferMarket.com which if true, is great news.
There’s a lot of transfer rumours making the headlines, but like Christmas Cards and decorations being in the shops, it’s a bit too early for those….
That’s it for Tuesday, have a good day guys…
If it takes all week to study how to kick the shit out of a talented player, then Sam is as slow as wet week.
He’s done himself no favours with those comments.
Morning all.
Morning rico, Scott. Cant deny Wenger has a hint of arrogance ;-). And refusing to shake hands does Arsene no favours at all.
Remember an awful game at Bolton once where we needed the points. Were sailing along 2-0 then player after player injured and I think we ended up drawing 2-2?
Good morning Rico, Good morning all,
Rico, I can’t believe you keep on bringing great articles even if there is much club football happening…it’s great man. I love it.
I think Sam is just continuing to reveal what PL managers do when they play us…there is nothing new in his tactics…most teams try to knock our players, trying to stop us from playing football….. If I am not mistaken at one point in time we were playing against Sam’s team and we ( Arsenal) fans we discovered that most of the mid field of their studium was some how water logged…..lol…it was very difficult for our players to pass the ball properly around that area… It was a joke of the day in the club house… One of the tactics he forgot to mention.
In reality most teams have realised if they can allow Arsenal to play their passing football, then they will be slaughtered…so the apply dirty practices…we have seen it with Newcastle, Chelsea…this year already.
I think it’s good for our technical advisers and players as well when such info is coming out.. Surely its a good feedback to building on and adapt new strategies which such tactics have been used..
Once again good article Rico..Enjoy your day guys.
Morning Andrew, Scott and all..
I don’t like the non shaking of hands after the game either, signs of a sore loser but sometimes I guess certain people get up others skins so much, a handshake is the last thing they think about…
Can’t remember the last times AW praised an opposition when we’ve lost, something many fans struggle to do also…
Morning Simon, thank you… 🙂
The levels some managers will stoop to eh….
How often do managers praise the opposition when losing………hardly ever.
Andrew, it’s true Wenger is arrogant more especially when it comes to buying players…however I agree with him when he doesn’t shake hands with likes of Mo…when they talk rubbish to the media and when they meet the man they were talking about..pretending everything is well….
For those that know Mo very well what he was trying to do after the Charity cup loss to us was just sarcastic….and Wenger did well not to shake hands for me regardless of how other people saw it.
Similarly you can see how other teams rough they become when they play us….and obviously those are instructions from their managers and I wouldn’t be happy with such if I was a manager and let alone shake hands with someone who wants to end a career of my players….just my opinion
Some do Scott…
Rico, that’s true, but not managers of the biggest clubs….well, rarely.
Some of the guys in charge of the smaller clubs are every humble, and it’s refreshing.
Hard to disagree there Scott…
Just typical of Ignorant Sam , he is a bully and no gent whatsoever, typical of his tactics on rhe field. There is nothing arrogant abou Arsene Wenger, he is a gent and big Sam could never be one that is what he callls arr ogant, Arsene is just out of his league
Morning Rico and all. Allardyce is another enemy of football. Some of the fouls I have seen his team commit rival some of the shit I have seen from Pulis and Hughes, another pair who should be doing something else somewhere else. Jay Jay Okocha’s vile assault on Ljunberg was born in the mind of the Walrus. Gross Sam has always fancied himself as something of an intellectual and expert in mind games. The ghastly lump has never forgotten the fact that he was overlooked for the England job so thought that he would exploit the mental weaknesses of referees by doing what scumbags always do. They accuse their opponents of the very things that they are the most guilty of. Ferguson and Mourinho are just two who have continued this rather sick practice. Neanderthal Allardyce was thrown out of both Newcastle and West Ham because his football is appalling and primitive and the fans couldn’t stand the stench of his ‘style’ on their team.
I have little doubt that he sees his book as a complete justification for the lengthy injury list his thugs have perpetrated on opponents. A foul man we would do well to ignore.
Good Morning to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Andrew – “…Cant deny Wenger has a hint of arrogance ;-). And refusing to shake hands does Arsene no favours at all. ” I agree in part, but unlike Fat Sam, Arsene has something to be arrogant about, at least a little.
Allardyce can save a team from relegation, but he will never win the league, no matter how much money he’s given. He is a one trick pony and a rather dull and slow one at that. One of his major talents is talking utter rubbish and winding people up. i doubt he has had an original thought in his life.
Scott – I remember that Sir Anal Fergusmoan was only complimentary about and to managers of teams he did NOT consider true competition and/or were old cronies of his. Notice the thawing of relations with Arsene after sir retired.
By the way, how are your hounds? Earning you the odd beer I hope.
Afternoon Adam..
Well said…
Afternoon Cg.
Adam – “…A foul man we would do well to ignore.” – excellent advice sir.
Unfortunately the gutter press are only all too willing to give the odious thug a soapbox for his bilious outbursts. Like many small minded people, they denigrate those they aspire to emulate.
Ahead of the nation’s clash with Chile on Tuesday, supporters performed a bizarre ritual which they hope will put the forward off his game
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/4160/extra-time/2015/10/12/16258672/-
Are Arsenal going to have to put a shaman/witch doctor on retainer to counter this magic?
The irony of course is that Wenger doesn’t invite the walrus for an after match drink because he has no respect for him and thinks he is a pig.
That seems more honest to me than having the arrogance to assume that someone who despises you should want to offer you a friendly drink, or in his case, a nose bag full of stale herrings.
Maybe Wenger couldn’t offer him a pint of egg and chips, his favourite tipple! Ham Allardyce very fitting name……………. F.C in my book!!!
Good afternoon all.
Are you well Cg… its been awhile.
I have to agree there Adam. If you make a career as a relegation battler one can’t be seriously considered for the England team.. unless there is a relegation battle at international football too that I haven’t found out yet…
How many times is fat sam going to make a deal about the after match drinks…
Its funny how the media like to portray Aw as a manger just in it for the £8m but also exaggerate his reaction after his team performs badly…
🙂 Adam…
Nipping off for a walk before the rain falls…
Ginge – I am fine. Family matters have had me preoccupied since late August. Life is slowly returning to what passes for normal for me. Of course, I make it back just in time for a boring international break. I hope to be back in the House regularly in the near future. Hopefully starting with a convincing win away to Watford on Saturday.
How are things with you?
but am thinking that this could be another tactic of marketing his book. he (sam) is much aware that any time you talk about Asene Wenge and arsenal, anything will sell itself. not surprised by such comments from sam.
I suppose there’s two ways of looking at it…
Great post Rico btw…
Anyway, regarding the Wenger is arrogant accusations…
Maybe he isn’t a hypocrite?
Why, after all, should he shake the hands of a manager, who has sent his players out to kick the shit out of the Arsenal players?
Allardyce was a big useless lumbering dirty centre-half, when he was imitating a footballer…
And he’s just a fat faced tosser now…
Great news regarding Monreal…
An intelligent footballer, a million miles away from Fat Samual, the Notts County stopper, Nacho is naturally fit and most important of all, stays fit.
Being intelligent, I can see him being an effective defender well into his mid-30’s in a kind of Iberian Winterburn/Dixonesque way…
Pig’s head…pig’s head, he’s got a fucking pig’s head!!
I could quite go a bacon sandwich…
How’s it going Lee?
The important question is???
Red sauce or brown sauce on your bacon sarnie?????
B-R-O-W-N! Without a shadow of a Brussel sprout!
Why don’t we drop that silly ‘Gooner’ name.
Cg- glad to hear…
Its been busy for me too… looking to move house so I spend the weekends house hunting and getting over priced a few days after making an offer;
Allardyce is fat gum chewing slob and an enemy and enema of football. He belongs in the dustbin of northern ‘proper football’ with the likes of Peter Reid, Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Phil ‘year round suntan in Bolton’ Brown and the rest of Fergusons drinking buddies.
Did someone mention a brussel sprout… Non nom…..
Evening guys….
Well said Bob!
?? John
Ah Bob the old M62 mafia , don’t forget McLaren and Owen Coyle all of whom seemed to lay down for Fergie and then play out of their skins against us. I see Sam is talking up a bit for Nolan , no prizes for guessing the style he will employ oop North.
John :- the gooner nickname was in fact an insult aimed at our traveling team of fighting supporters , It was taken up by the media and a certain fanzine and now has become a catch all label for anyone that has a cannon on his shirt. I became an Arsenal supporter before the term became fashionable , hopefully I will still be one when the term has gone by the wayside.
Well said Potter on both points. My Brother hates being referred to as a gooner as he , like you associates the term with hooligans from the past.
Potter, I never knew that about the term ‘gooners’ – I always thought it was a ‘nice’ name for the fans… Guess I got that totally wrong…
As I understand it, the term Gooner originated back in the late 1970’s and actually came from the many Scandanavian fans who frequented Highbury back in those days and who pronounced Gunner as Gooner in their Scandic accent…
I used to hate the term Gooner, but now I quite like it…
But that’s just me… 🙂
Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s I hardly missed an away game, midweek league cup ties etc, and we were quite rubbish for a lot of that period…
Tbh I don’t really recall us being abused with the term Gooner…
All those Northern monkeys tended to use more basic Anglo-Saxon expletives, as did we in return…
Akpom has just scored for the England u-21’s
I quite like it too Kev….
No surprise there Joe
Got to admit I have nothing left to say about big (fat) Sam that has not already been said. But I did like the point about why would any manager who had any concerns for their players shake the hand of manager who’s teams where sent out to injury Arsenal players.
I wouldn’t shake his hand, especially after reading the stuff from his book…
I’m off, night all..
Night Rico
Ramsey scored
Morning all.
Van Persie with two sublime finishes lol.
Loved it…well, the first one.
CG, I always enjoy a beer and the hounds are ticking over…..our latest has raced twice recently for a second and a third so is building to a win.
Injury issues have halted progress of a few but that’s always a factor, so onwards and upwards.
I do have one potential top liner but still a long way to go for her.
How’s things in your neck of the woods?
Hope all is well.
Ps…..he’s been very complimentary of Wenger, has Fergie.
In fact, I saw an interview yesterday, and he stated the following which I know some agree with and some don’t……when asked why Wenger is still at the club, he responded “who can they get that will do a better job.”
He was serious in his belief Wenger is still the best man for the job.
He’d never have said anything so respectful a few years back.
In the 70’s Kev I spent most of my Saturdays playing and only did midweek matches. However I was sure of the term , often the ordinary supporter a (scarfer ) might find themselves cut from the herd so to speak and would be rescued by so called hooligans that shouted the term Gooner as they went into battle. I did my best to keep out of it but away London matches sometimes were a bit tasty.
Joel Campbell scored v the yanks.
Morning all 🙂
Real Madrid are lining up a £37.3m bid for Alexis…… good fucking luck with that, are they on crack? He’s got to be worth double that, no?
Morning Rico and all…
Potter I never took my scarf to away games, unless we were playing a team that wears red…
Tbh, I never came across any of that Gooner malarkey, but although I chatted to the boot boys on the way to games, usually as they were dismantling the football special that I was on, I avoided them when we arrived Opp Norf. And continued to avoid them going to and from the ground and during the game…
Never heard the term Gooner though, not till an Arsenal fan used it at work around 79/81’ish…
Not saying I’m right, just saying…
Tbh, the term Cockney Bastards was usually what I heard to describe us Southern Softies….
It all seems like another age…
And another sport…
Congratulations RvP…………… hahahahahahahahahahaha!
RIP the career of RvP!
You reap what you sow!!
Lee, apparently Real only want to buy the right left of Alexis 🙂
Morning everyone.
Are Vee who??
I don’t remember him lol
I guess he is telling himself the little boy inside him is still happy I suppose… 🙂
Sitting on the bench at Fene’ is a serious fall from grace…; maybe the £150k a week salary does him fine
Is winning 2 FA cups > or < 1 EPL title?
Cracking own goal for his country…… anyway back to Turkey to get some more splinters in your arse!
Morning you all…
Real Madrid can go forth and…….
Ginge, if he stayed, we probably would’ve won a League AND the cups 🙂
Reckon you are right there Scott… Didn’t we sit top of the tree until Christmas and then a lack of goals cost us dear…?
New post up now…