Fear breeds aggression – that’s a simple enough truism.We see it in nature, when an otherwise placid animal feels cornered and becomes dangerous. We see it in daily conversation, when the loser of an argument fears ridicule and so resorts to anger and insult. We see it in our schools, when the ‘intellectually intimidated’ band together as a street gang,and we saw it last week when a Bolton team, which had previously taken great strides to play flowing attractive football, resorted to over-the-top tackles and crude aggression.
Owen Coyle may have come out to the after-match interviews snapping and snarling and screaming injustice, but all but the most fervent Bolton fan and Sky Sports’ hack knew what he was thinking.
Coyle was ashamed, or he damn well should have been; ashamed of his capitulation to fear, ashamed of the abandonment of his lofty tactical principles, and ashamed of his team’s brutal ineptitude. His bare-faced show of post-match self-righteous indignation was a façade of sickening hypocrisy.
The reality is that Coyle saw a Blackpool team go to Wigan on the opening day of the season and win 4-0, then come to the Emirates the following week and lose 6-0. It frightened the life out of him. Far from being the Bolton fans cause of resentment, as both Coyle and the SKY Sports agitators had suggested, the match referee’s mental arthritis was in truth Bolton’s salvation.
Had the match been governed by anything other than appalling incompetence, Owen Coyle might well have found himself explaining three sending’s-off and a cricket score. But enough of Bolton; they always were yesterday’s men;we knew it, and now they know it.
As an aside… One of the most telling interviews I saw last week followed the appointment of Gerard Houllier to the post abandoned by the idiosyncratic Martin O’Neill. The interviewee was a slightly obtuse-looking, dyed-in-the-wool, Aston Villa fan, who, when asked if he approved of the appointment, nodded sagely and said ‘we needed a foreign manager’.
He was right. Houllier is a gentleman, and an ambassador for the game. He is a strategist, and a thinker, and he understands that teams at the highest levels of the game have evolved to become more strategically aware and technically advanced. Martin O’Neill, for all of his reputation, and for all of his bluster in last year’s fixture, was a boot it long, high, and wide, old-school tactician, whose hysterical reaction to ArseneWenger’s innocuouscriticism spoke volumes for the inferiority complex lurking beneath the outraged purist.
And so to the Stadium of Light, a misnomer if ever I heard one, because if there ever was a more faithful and genuine football fan than a Sunderland fan I have yet to see one, and if ever a fan base deserved more than the frightened, stone-age thinking of the current Sunderland management, it is those fans who religiously support Steve Bruce and his tactical myopia.
Don’t allow this mild-mannered even-tempered media darling to fool you. Bruce talks of cleaning up the Sunderland act but he is in truth the quintessential English Manager, and his teams are the quintessential get in yer face, don’t let em breathe, if you can’t get the ball get the man,reform-school bullies. It was no accident that Bruce appointed Lee Cattermole to team captain.Cattermole personifies all that is archaic and crude in the Premier League, and Bruce knew precisely what he was doing.
When Bruce appeared before the cameras last week, in the wake of yet another Cattermole sending-off, and pleaded frustration and ambivalence, he wasn’t concerned about his captain’s general demeanour and reckless challenges. His primary concern was that his role model for the quintessential English game had been so easily and so frequently caught in blatant acts of thuggery.To stand before the cameras shaking his head and bleating about Cattermole’s recalcitrance dragged post-match interviewing from the perfunctory to the absurd.
So gird your loins my stalwart gooners, because after only four games Bruce is already staring into the abyss. So far this season the only Sunderland performance of any note whatsoever was a goal to nil victory at home against a ragged and unbalanced Manchester City. With his number-one battering-ram suspended, Bruce’s only hope against us lies in a general war of stop-em-playing attrition, with the outside possibility of the mercurial Bent or the incongruous Gyan (their only chink of light at the end of an otherwise dismal tunnel) nicking a result.
Bruce and Sunderland lie tenth, with five points on the board, which is not disastrous until you analyse the fixtures past and then study those to come. They have taken only two points from Birmingham, West Brom, and Wigan, and Bruce is understandably looking worried. His next four Premier League fixtures see him matched against three of the old ‘big four’ followed by a gruelling trip to take on Fat Sam’s sluggers in an X-rated encounter at Ewood Park Swamp.
If he’s not to see Sunderland in crisis, before October is out, Bruce has to start grinding out results, and that inevitably means Arsenal could be in for more than the usual dose of systematic fouling and unbridled aggression come five-thirty Saturday. And if we are not to see a repeat of our under-achievement of last year, we are going to need further liberal helpings of the same steel and resolve that put Fat Sam and Outraged Owen to the sword.
So, I trust, it will be.
Written by mikeB
You seem to forget, that last season we beat you, Spurs and Liverpool at our home ground last season and by no means which mention…we simply played better football. If you even bothered to watch any of our games, we are to who tries to play football. You my friend are starting to sound like you whining manager. Lee Cattermole, is not the entire Sunderland, if you take a look…they are all people who like play the game you feel everybody should, just coz it suits you.
Morning all
Great post mike, I’m glad Cattermole is out. Its interesting to read that Bruce has told Cattermole and follow in Paddy’s footsteps and go sort himself out and come back a better player. Otherwise he will be dropped as captain….
Morning JJ
Steve Bruce is one of the managers i would like to see get the england job, he is no Fat Sam or Coyle. That doesn’t mean to say he won’t get his side to rough us up a bit, thant of course isn’t suggesting it will be in a foul play way..
Cattermole missing is better for all…
Hi JJ,
I believe I mentioned the match last year. As for playing the game that only suits us… It’s the future, and if you don’t believe that look to the European competitions… that’s where football of the future is played.
You are a great bunch of supporters, and instead of bleating about us you should be putting pressure on your management to play more attractibe and positive football.
See what Blackpool did… sure they got slaughtered by us, but they beat Wigan four, and your next-door neighbours two. That’s because they play flowing, attacking, positive football, and if they take the drop, they;ll do it with theitr heads high.
Try it… you may like it.
Morning Rico,
I trust you slept well 😆
A very well composed piece at the end of which I’m not sure if I have been complemented or pitied.
Sunderland, historically, have never had the graceful, silky skilled team that has been seen regularly (especially with Wenger) in north London. The north/south divide exists even in football as we tend to be more gritty in our football, usually out of necessity. I remember in the 90’s over New Year when we drew at Highbury, then beat you at Roker park. That game saw Bergkamp sent off for trying to be “committed” and simply felling one of ours. This was in response to Arsene’s complaint that his side were too soft in the previous fixture. It didn’t work. The third game soon after, again at Roker swa Bergkamp mesmerise all who saw it with a display of football so eloquent we just stood back in awe and applauded the Arsenal from the pitch.
I have been a season ticket holder for over twenty years and was getting a little tired of having to applaud Arsenal for reminding me what a tactically inferior side I supported. But beating you last season reminded me that I like the team I support and that should we dare to upset “bigger” teams by actually outplaying them, the whole football world looks to excuse why the “big” boys lost. It’s fun to sit back and listen to them sifting through hours of evidence only to come up empty handed.
I would love to play the Arsenal way, who wouldn’t. Arsene Wenger, as Bruce said this week, is a genius, I think he’s the best there is and continues to confound all with his recruitment policy, his stubborness, his youth policy and his desire to play the right way, which when you do is simply sublime.
Steve Bruce is like all mangers, he’ll excuse his players and cover for his shortcomings. Arsene struggles these days to keep his smile down when he “didn’t see” something again.
Don’t write us off please, we confounded the dritics last year against the big boys, who’s to say we can’t do it again? There are some fine players coming into our side these days and I hope they’re all on show on saturday and give you a great game. I’d settle for a draw!!
Morning mike, i didn’t 🙁
Morning Harry, good to see you here, to be honest after last season i’d settle for a draw too but in truth i just hope for a great game, a fair game and three points to Arsenal 😉
MikeB,
You seem to completely miss JJ’s point. We do not play rough football, and did not head out to rough teams up.
If you watched us play at all, you would know that we rely on Malbranque and Henderson (and now “Elmo” our Egyptian winger, and potentially Riveros) for their skill and passing.
Yes we have a strong defensive midfielder (who has lost his head this season and been sent off twice already), but look at Arsenal when they actually won trophy’s. For all Arsenals skill back then, they couldnt of done it without the steel of Petit or Vierra. Cattermole knows he needs to learn, and Bruce will strip him of his captaincy if his does not do so. In fact, he has told cattermole to look to vierra as an example.
Oh, and I dont think Cattermole is a thug, he is just young and hot headed and does stupid things. He does not set out to hurt players deliberately.
Hi Harry,
my compliments to you to… a very lucid and considered response. I wish you well, but there is a hint of defeatism in your response.
I don’t understand that.
Yours is one of the great teams of the game in England; you deserve more than a north-south divide excuse. Sure you can’t attract the big names from Europe to take the trip to the north-east, but Wenger doesn’t buy big names either.
You live in streets where football is a religion and a high percentage of kids grows up kicking a ball.
Why are you not harnessing that grass-roots enthusiasm? Sunderland should be playing European football year-in and year-out. With the right management you could be doing that in five years from now. Not worrying every year if you’re going to make the drop.
You have the stadium and the fanbase… now get the mentality.
Have a great day, and thanks for the input.
Forgive the poor English in the last one, I was using the iPhone and it’s not easy.
Sunderland do play football and if we can, we’ll play it against the bigger teams. Bruce likes to have his team pass the ball. It’s easy to forget how good Wigan were at times under Bruce….how many Sunderland games have you watched in the last year or so?
You seem to have this opinion that if a team can’t play as well as Arsenal, then they must be long ball merchants or play ugly football.
I’m bleating on at you because what your saying is utter twoddle.
Do you really think by only losing 3 games at home last season we did it by roughing up the opersition?
Other than Cattermole…who else fits into the category of being a hardman so to speak?
Malbranque, Henderson, Elmo, Riveros, Zenden, Reid, Bent, Gyan, Richardson, Welbeck and so on…they’re all people who like to play football. I’ve excluded defenders for obvious reasons.
The reason we lost so many games away from home last season is why tried to attack too much and repeatedly got punished.
I really don’t care about Blackpool and I personally think they’ll go down still…yeah, all that positive football will pay of then won’t it? :-)))
Arsenal fans are forever moaning about this subject. The object of football is to pick up points…the game is a defensive one…as much as an attacking one.
Go figure why you’ve not been winning anything, why Chelsea and Manchester United sweep the board each year. They are teams that understand both sides and use it to great effect. If they have to play agressive football they can and will.
Come this weekend, we’re not going to leave ourselves open so you can pick us off at will, so you can all go home with smiles on your faces, congratulating each other on how good your team has just played…get some balls man :-)))
We’re likely to play a 5 man midfield lined up like this.
Mignolet
Onuoha
Ferdinand
Bramble
Richardson
Elmo
Henderson
Malbranque
Zenden
Bent
Gyan
All midfielders and forwards are attack minded, Richardson is a wing back and Nedum gets forward too.
We nearly played and enitre game away to Wigan with 10 men and still attacked and actually took the lead withn some deverstating football.
Ultimately, your talking about team you obviously knowm little about given what you’ve written.
I’m book mark this thread because if you have to eat humble pie…I’ll be straight back on here looking for some comments
Hi Dan,
sent off twice in four matches is a bit more than young and headstrong.
As for my missing JJ’s point… so does your manager, if his comments on the game are anything to go by. You have to stop em playing was the gist of it I believe?
Thanks for the comment, and enjoy the day.
JJ – wenger doesn’t bleat on about physical football he bleats on about dirty cheating rotten over the top tackles which have lost us players for long periods of time… Eduardo’s EPL career is over because of one, the tackle on Diaby last week was just awful and the one on Ramsey the same.
When you have been on the end of so many disgraceful tackles, you will feel the same, only i hope your team never are…
JJ,
I seem to have stirred something of a hornet’s-nest reaction.
I’m not into vendettas, or public feuds. Win, lose, or draw the game on Saturday I’ll not be looking for you. I’ll be moving on to the next game and the next opportunity for three points.
Life’s too short.
Thanks for your comments. This is an Arsenal blog, but everyone’s opinions are welcome, and you have made yours well.
Many thanks
Thanks for your comment ned, but when you write something sensible you can join in…
mikeB – You have to stop the side you playing from forcing their game on you, that’s the defensive side of football. When you have the ball, you try to force you own game. It’s the basics of football. Of course we have to stop you from playing…that’s the aim of the game…
Are you telling that when we have ball and are attacking us, you’re not going to prevent us from forcing our game on you and stop us from playing.
“Stop them from playing”. Doesn’t mean “break his legs”.
Baring in mind, both red cards for Cattermole were for 2 yellow cards. 2 of those yellow cards were not yellow cards, one of the others was for a tug on a shirt and the second was for late tackle.
We I can’t defend Cattermole’s decision making, he’s not being dirty believe it or not. I’m sure some Arsenal players have tugged a shirt before!!?
“And so to the Stadium of Light…….it is those fans who religiously support Steve Bruce and his tactical myopia.”
Pathetic and ignorant comment from a club that hasn’t seen decades of seemingly endless relegations. Burnley and WBA have both tried to play ‘nice’ football and were subsequently relegated.
Arsenal fans seem to be losing touch with reality…..myopia? Good grief.
You’ve not stirred anything, it’s just a debate. I’ll not be “looking for you”…sounds a little agressive. I’ll be coming on here to here some of your comments…that’s all.
JJ, interesting what you say about Cattermole, your manager doesn’t agree though, he’s thinking of stripping him from bing captain and has told him to sort his game out….
i’d be furious with him if he were an arsenal player, getting sent off has cost you points, points you don’t deserve to drop…
JJ, HH is not an aggresive site, we don’t operate that way and certainly don’t condone it. Trust me, if you beat us fair and square we won’t be looking for excuses here…
We all know what will happen at the stadium of shites on saturday evening. Forward thinking Steve Bruce will park the bus – at home! – and rely on a long hoof to Bent/Cygan to grab the points. Howeever, what Bruce hasn’t factored in to his tactics is the fact that this year, The Mighty Arsenal are on a mission. I cannot be the only fan to have detected a sea change throughout the whole team. Almunia has astonished me so far. He is shouting at the defence, commanding his area and looks confident. The defence, bolton aberration aside, are doing their job and even Arshavin is covering back in defence when we lose the ball. Fat Sam, Pullis, Bruce and all can employ their bully boy tactics till the cows come home. Arsenal are on the march and this year, we aint taking prisoners.
JJ,
defence is by its very nature a capitulation to the opposition. If you are defending you are too late; they have already forced their game on you.
My answer is to close the man down, not put the man down; closing down a player and cutting his options to run or pass is part of defence. Late tackling and fouling is not.
Everone talks about football being a physical contact game’ it’s not. Shoulder to shoulder is the only physical contact. The rest should be closing-down and well-timed tackles… now that’s defence.
As for shirt-tugging… it’s wrong and punishable. Arsenal aren’t angels, they get it wrong sometimes, the same as everyone else, but they don’t start out to stop the opposition playing. They start out to play better football.
Nev – good to see you here, we are not ignorant though so please keep those thoughts to yourself…
Arsenal have always struggled when travelling away to the north of the country, managers like to talk about getting in our faces and how we southern softies don’t like it, well, this weekend we are ‘Off to the Stadium of Light’…..
Don’t get me wrong, Cattermole is still making mistakes. When you have a yellow (deservedly or not), you can’t go to ground and commit yourself to a tackle you have a good chance of not making.
Myself and many other supporters are frustrated with Lee. He’s cost us 4 points already…we’d up near the top had it not been for him.
What I’m saying, is the perception you have of Lee Cattermole and how Sunderland play is warped. Some of your statements are very wide of the mark and comparing us to how Bolton play is simply an insult.
Lee is actually a very good footballer, but he has his problems with switching his brain on and thinking about what he’s doing.
We are not a long ball team, we are not dirty, we have in fact played some very good football under Bruce and I hope you get to see that this weekend.
“With the right management you could be doing that in five years from now. Not worrying every year if you’re going to make the drop.”
Easier said that done. Arsenal have had consistently good management since when? 1996? Even before then it wasn’t exactly too shabby.
Sunderland are just entering (hopefully) a new period with Steve Bruce in his second season to hopefully avoid the relegation battles that Sunderland are so good at being involved with (we managed to avoid it last season incidentally). This is our 4th consecutive season in the Premier League since Roy Keane brought us up and when we stay up this season, next season will be our 5th in the Premier League which would be the longest consecutive period we will have spent in the Premier League since it’s inception.
It just doesn’t compare to what Arsenal have achieved in the same period since 1992.
We had a habbit of doing a lot better against the ‘top’ teams than those around and below us last season. Amongst the most memorable were;
2-2 draw at Old Trafford
1-0 win at SOL against Liverpool
1-0 win at SOL against Arsenal
3-1 win at SOL against Spurs
It would seem to suggest that we can play with the big boys on occasion but we really need to improve our away form and against the so called ‘lesser teams’.
Arsenal come as favourites as always but I’m sure that even Arsenal fans know that victory is not a foregone conclusion at Sunderland or anywhere else in the league. Arsenal won’t be kicked off the park but will be pressured more in the middle than what they have in their big wins this season. Should be a good game.
Sorry Folks,
gotta get some work done… will come back and answer the screams of outrage later. 😆
Thanks for all your comments
Hard football we can deal with, broken legs we cannot, it’s simple…
Fair and hard, not dirty and cheating, and mike you are right, we are no angels but i don’t recall an Arsenal player ever breaking an opponents leg… We seem to usually be on the end of it, which is the exact reason Wenger is highlighting it….
mike, you leave me all alone to defend you, you bad man 😉 😉 Catch up later….
McMackem, welcome to HH…
No Arsenal fan will take the three points for granted, we all hope, but….
Bruce isn’t a bad manager, what you need though is for the club to show patience in him, rome wasn’t built in a day. Yes we have had rosy times but for the last five seasons our cupboard has been bare. The diffence at arsenal is the club don’t press the panic button and sack the manager, that’s just what sunderland need to do, the rest will follow
MikeB, trust me I go to each game hoping to win. I’m sure if I was a gooner I would have more belief and confidence to back up my hopes. The last time I went to a game confident of winning was in Peter Reids heyday, when it was a case of not if we would win, but by how many. Remember, even with the appalling mid-season we endured last year, we finished in our highest position since those heady days of Reid, Quinn, Phillips et al.
I’m prepared to give Bruce time. He has put together a young squad (even younger than Arsenals) but has proven quality in there with internationals and confident players who are not frightened by the premier league.
Do you know what? I think my confidence is returning! I revise my prediction, 1-0 to the Sunderland. Enjoy the game and secretly I think the country (bar manchester and parts of london) hopes Arsenal take the title.
Morning jaygooner, you went into moderation 🙁
I don’t think Bruce will park the bus, well, not the entire bus 😉
Will Arsenal be favourites? Yes they probably will. Will it be easy? Most certainly not.
Only 2 teams have beaten Sunderland at home in about 18 months – and Arsenal are not one of them. 2 defeats to Chelsea and 1 to Man Utd. Thats pretty good going.
Sunderland home record to Arsenal since the PL began is as follows:
W3 D3 L3. Considering Sunderland have twice in this period been relegated on record low points tallys it shows how Arsenal can struggle against us at times.
You also assume our style of play is to kick others around the park and nick a goal – most certainly not. In players like Henderson, Malbranque and Al Mohammady we have a midfeld who play good football, run at opponents and play tricky balls behind the defence.
I’m not going to defend Lee Cattermole – he has cost us 4 points this season. If he had not been sent off in those 2 games we would have won those games – i’m 99% certain of that – and we would be sitting pretty on 9 points right now. 3rd in the Premiership.
You may be surprised at how we will come at you tomorrow. Not coming at you when you have the ball, but when we have it.
Harry, i like the last sentence 😉
Hope you guys come back on Sunday, regardless of the result….
Rico,
all right; I’ll hang on for a bit; just until the cavalry arrive. 😆
Now I know how the team feel when the opposition ‘get in their faces’ 😆
McM,good to hear from you; we never take any game in the PL for granted and Sunderland least of all. We’re still stinging a bit from last year.
My point was about short-sighted management and the automatic reaction to make the game physical when you fear a team… that way lies a return to the dark ages.
Tony, welcome to HH
Being favourites in a game means very little, we were probably favourites in the same fixture last season, but we know the result.
It will be Arsenal’s toughest test this season and to win the league we need to overcome this test. It won’t be easy, I just want all us fans to see football in the papers on Sunday morning for all the right reasons…
mike, just kidding you,i’ll be fine 😉 😉
I like it when the oppo come on and we can all have a sensible debate without name calling…..
I dont agree with the comment that we have never played skillful football of any note that is a very ‘sky’ comment Len Shackleton and Jim Baxter are just two of our past players that were two the most skillful British players EVER although in your defence it is a very long time since we were a force. On a whole your comment is spot on in my opinion, when we play to our own game high tempo and commitment and the roar goes up there isnt a team in the country who looks forward to playing here as we proved last season so im a little disheartened to hear brucey is planning on playing Bent in midfield on saturday. the fans hold the key if we show ambition and attack Arsenal the atmosphere does and will drive the palyer on at the same time as indimidating the Arsenal players. 4-5-1 and shutting up shop isnt going to inspire the fans to get the noise to that level. just hope he has a change of heart.
Harry,
thanks for that; I’m not sure a certain enclave in N17 would agree with you though 😆
As for the rest of it… a good game and a fair result is all any right-thinking supporter demands; we’re no different.
Have a good one
MikeB,
I didn’t say Cattermole was headstrong, I said hot headed. He does stupid things, like committing to tackles he cannot win when he already has a yellow card. He has not had a straight red yet this season.
As I said, if Arsenal had a steel in their midfield, at least one tough midfielder, you might have won some silverware.
I would love to play Arsenal at your own game, but if we do that we risk being cut to pieces. Every point will count this season, we must finish above NUFC at all costs! This means we have to stop you from playing your favourite style of footy. WHich means closing players like Fabregas down and giving them no space. We won’t be trying to break legs, but we will be looking to stop you playing your 25 pass football.
We won’t be playing defensive (10 men in the penalty box) either (at least I wouldn’t of thought so). I expect Henderson and Steed to give your midfield a run for their money, and play some good football through the middle and on the wings.
We have more skillful players than “hard” players, and comparing us to hit it and hope teams is unfair.
All in all i expect a good game of football on saturday, with us paying high tempo football while breathing down Fabregas’ neck.
As a Gunner of 68 years and counting I can tell all my young Gooners that Sunderland have never been a dirty team or club. They have had superstars like Shackleton who would fit next to Bergkamp any day…but they have not had a great manager for 40 years. I hope Bruce teaches them to get the ball down and play football….yes they may lose a few for a while but in the end they will become the best in the North East. They have the fans and the local talent to become a top four team if they play football.
Rico,
thanks; I really do have to go… talk later
Rome wasn’t built in a day which is why we can’t counter Arsenal based on their gameplan man for man. Why if we then get a result against Arsenal is it somehow down to dirty tactics in an attempt to grind out results.
We ground out a result against Birmingham having gone down to ten men and same against Wigan. We ground out a win against Man City. There is only the away defeat against West Brom to be disappointed about. Even then it’s never easy to play a promoted team in their first home game. Spurs didn’t exactly set the place alight either and were lucky to get a point in the end.
The club will show patience as long as there is some improvement in the team (which ironically is what the article wants). The ownership of the club is the best I’ve ever known. There is money but it comes with improved performance which if Sunderland are to progress is the only way it can go.
It is the hope that we become Premiership mainstays and then follow the likes of Aston Villa, Everton, Fulham and reach the dizzy heights of Europa League qualification, maybe even a cup win. A long way off maybe but there is always hope.
‘My point was about short-sighted management and the automatic reaction to make the game physical when you fear a team… that way lies a return to the dark ages.’
We shall see what Saturday brings. I have a feeling your opinion may change on Sunderland and it’s place within the negative side of football following the game.
Gunnerpete, good to see you here, I dont think anyone here is saying Sunderland are ‘dirty’ – not in the bolton, blackburn etc way ….
Morning y’all!!
Its Friday, yeah!!!
I see we’ve had some visitors here this morning who have expressed their opinion rather in a sensible and mature manner rather than as the post stated, “…so resorts to anger and insult!”.
To be honest, I wouldnt class Sunderland in the same category as Blackburn and Bolton cos I think Bruce is a fan of Wenger and the few years he’s been there he’s trying to improve the football there just as he did a decent job at Wigan before he moved on. Cattermole may be a bit exuberant in his tackles but a Ben Tactcher he aint and yeah.
Football is a physical contact sport and Arsenal have had one of the best tacklers in the past (Vierra, Tony Adams just to mention a few)so I dont think Wenger complains about the physicality of the game, its those that are malicious in their attacks that are what concerns him.
Hi T-buzz, got to nip out for twenty minutes,
back real soon….
Catch ya later riCo! 8)
Terrific post Rico – really enjoyed reading it & spot on to what’s happening at the moment!
Good day all, nice debate you had here 🙂 , but it looks like more Sunderlands fans today awkward.
Sunderland do play nice football but not in an Arsenal style well not since AW manage us.
As a gunner I think it would be difficult game, but we will win it eventually 3-1 maybe.
If have a clean sheet away from home would be astonishing.
Sunny day today.
Ah yeah great post MikeB and pretty long 1 too 😀
hi Pat7, read the first comment by rico 😉
Morning all, nice to read decent replies from Sunderland fans and like the article Mike but it’s a little on the we’re always moaning side. I for one like Steve Bruce for some reason I always have done but in all honesty if Arsenal fans think any team is gonna try outplay us then we’re in cuckoo land…… The reverse of that is that a few resort to just trying to kick us off the park and in my book it’s time we just got on with it and kicked em back. The other teams who will park the bus or just hassle us and close us down will try and do whatever it is to get a result and I don’t have a problem with that in the slightest as it’s up to us to impose our game on them and find a way through, its what the mancs and chav’s do and its what we have not done in a few years and then moaned as the team we just played were negative. If we’re not up to beating a negative side thats our fault. I think Cattermole is a lunatic but the boy can also play a bit and he needs to mature calm down and could be a very good player, he’s a lose cannon at present but wasn’t Paddy in the early years. I think it could be a good game and also if we win it’ll show us we have improved from the previous few years so we’ll see.
Hear from you all Sunday guys.
ps.GunnerPete, I envy you so much as one who will have seen first hand the skills of Len Shackleton. All we have is folklore as there is so little footage of the man. Coincidentally, he always saved himself for the Arsenal as it was they who told him he wouldn’t amount to anything as a footballer. So he would sit on the ball, dribble around the keeper before looking up into the north bank, smile and flick it in the net etc etc etc oh to have seen skills such as these.
A well written article – yes. But even-handed – no.
Self serving and arrogant – certainly. I like Arsenal, I like Wenger. Living in London now I have quite a few mates who are Arsenal fans. But all of them have a better understanding of the game than you and all of them have some ‘grace’ – a quality which is not displayed in your writing. Sunderland try to get the ball on the deck and play football. They hassle and harry when they have not got the ball, but they are not a dirty side. As for Cattermole – he could be a good player if he could stay on his feet (and on the pitch!) Lets hope he learns. But I have seen Arsenal dish out ruff stuff when the want to (and get away with it). I wish Arsenal well for the league and in Europe, but that sort of sentiment will disappear if I read too much more of your rubbish. Don’t tarnish your club by becoming as arrogant as Man Who and Cheslki, that would be a real shame for real football.
i personally think players dont go out deliberately to hurt the arsenal but that your boyz are simply too quick/skillfull,i do agree that certain teams are more physical but sunderland try to play football,dont think we’d get near 40,000 fans every home game if we played hoofball every week..ile be there on saturday screeming the lads on for a win,ive got a nice feeling inside that we will give ‘the arse’there biggest test yet…safc 1[bent]arsenal 0 is my prediction
Sorry Ray but no way will Bent score against The Arsenal he’s a Gooner and we’ve seen it before he can’t score it would kill him to score against us so give him a break put him on the bench then he won’t be torn lol 🙂
This is a well written and well thought out piece. Much better than some of the illiterate garbage that is blogged en mass.
I am a Bolton fan and am going to quickly distance myself from defending Mr Robinson and Mr Cahill. Paul Robinson’s tackle was reckless, stupid and dangerous. Gary Cahill’s tackle was simply clumsy and ill-needed.
I am a little old school in my taste of football. I have grown up enjoying teams built on Strong defences. Most Italian sides in the 90’s, Arsenal in the same era were built on concrete defences allowing talented forwards to flourish accordingly.
My long drawn out point is that Bolton and Sunderland’s Frightened style of football is not too dissimilar to the style of football that most of you Arsenal (well 25 and older) have grown up with. Was Mr Keown known for his mild manner and clean tackling??…..err not OOP north.
Bolton bordered on brutal on Saturday, no doubt. But if you roll back the clock to Gallas’ tackle on Davies, Diaby’s tackle(s) on Steinsonn and Campo (both resulting in Breaks) show a certain amount of “fear”. These things are part of the beautiful game!
I like Arsenal, I like the way they play, but you can mix it with the best of us, and I think that you’re perception of other teams/clubs is very blurry. Enjoy the physical game whilst you can! When it is gone, the memory of Adams, Keown and Viera will disappear with it, and that is a bad thing!
Good luck scaring Sunderland this weekend! OH………….and stop moaning!
The ammount of times I’ve heard Wenger complain about “The way they play the game” in post match comments is silly. Wenger does moan about teams simply being defensive. Other teams deal with it and play against it and they just get on with it.
How can you say Wenger doesn’t moan about defensive teams…not that we are one.
“Sorry Ray but no way will Bent score against The Arsenal he’s a Gooner and we’ve seen it before he can’t score it would kill him to score against us so give him a break put him on the bench then he won’t be torn” He scored against you last season ya blonker 🙂
JJ sorry mate but it was mean’t as a joke but seems you missed it. . . . . Who says Wenger doesn’t moan about defensive teams? He does and as I said time to stop moaning just beats whats in front of you simple as that.
Sorry for going AWOL 🙁
It isn’t moaning, when your Sunderland glasses maybe you’ll see the point is we do not get another player hurt like Diaby, Ramsey, Eduardo.
And it could of happened in the Bolton game again for Diaby and our new boy Chamakh who avoided the tackle.
Is it moaning when you have half the team in infirmary because some teams play rough and don’t mind if they hurt the opposition for the benefit of there team.
They say they are sorry are they? I don’t think so.
Hi Pat, thanks for the compliments about the post, mike, one of many regulars has to take all the credit though, it’s his fine piece 🙂
Stef, firstly i’m a Bolton fan. Secondly it was a subtle jibe asking you to stop moaning, which seems to have been lost on you.
If you read my post, i alligned to Diaby disabling 2 Bolton players. So when it comes to playing rough, you can mix it with the best.
Al(BWFC) Think when it comes to mixing with the best we are very average, in years gone by i’d agree but your reference to Diaby is basically a player who had to endure a snapped ankle at Sunderland and no I ain’t moaning about that donkey that did it as the fact he is now a plasterer or brickie says it all. . . I await to be corrected on that one by JJ. Diaby for me Al is a player who commits fouls as he was scared to tackle properly and for me went through a phase where he committed to many fouls cos he was scared not dirty at all just couldn’t and didnt tackle properly, Robinson and the like have always been dirty and always will be players like that can never change they are what they are and your comments were spot on. Now for JJ to correct me and tell me that Donkey is Bent’s window cleaner of something. . . .
Hi WATH and Stef 🙂
Allo Rico………. finished with the shopping..? Hope you got enouh liquid “stocks” for the weekend 😉
😆 WATH, no shopping, dog walking and came accross a Deer with its leg stuck in barbed wire, RSPCA just been out to do the kindest thing….. 🙁
Off subject a minute….
anyone seen the news about little Carlos Vela and the look-a-like 😉
Ah lovely Venison for sunday roast hmmmmmmmmm 😀
I just knew it……. 😉
morning all…mike, it seems you got quite a reaction from a few mackems. i have no problem with sunderland, i do not view them like a stoke or fat sam side. not a particularly particularly big fan of steve bruce – solely because of his distiguished career as a man united player – but he has done a good job with what i consider a useful sunderland side. i remember last season’s game at the stadium of light and thought they fully deserved to win. they had an unlucky 2-2 at old trafford (a match sunderland absolutely deserved to win), beat us and then went on a long winless run – up to that point, they were a decent bet for a possible europa league slot.
come this weekend’s fixture, our side will need to play hard, and play smart, in order to get three points up there. arsenal had a rather poor record at roker park, and i don’t think we have done that much better at their new stadium. they will want to get something out of that game, and i expect they will be confident they can. up to our players to make sure that does not happen.
nice to see coyle piling on. if he sees nothing wrong with robinson’s challenge, i have no time or tolerance for him.
Let me know what time I must be there Rico I’ll bring the grape juice 😉
Hi folks,
just back for a few minutes, thought I should put in an appearance 😆
Thought most of the Sunderland guys were great… lots of well constructed criticism.
Clapham Mack, you wanted even-handed commentary? Didn’t you know I ghost-write for Piers Morgan? 😆
Al (BWFC), I take the point, but that is also my point. The days of Adams and co. are gone, and if we go back farther Joe Baker, who was a real bustling, spit in yer eye, centre forward, and someone I loved watching at the time. It’s all evolved, in part thanks to Wenger, and I think the entertainment value is better for it.
wath; good to see you mate, but why is it only moaning when we (Arsenal) do it?
When Fat Sam and Outraged Owen do it, it’s called genuine concern for the integrity of the game… sauce for the goose and all that.
If I missed anyone I apologise 😆
Hi Oliver, yeah… that’s what we wanted, lots of reaction… and I agree with you about Sunderland, but Bruce’s comments do bear-out my point.
We need more of the ‘let’s play better than them’, and less of the ‘let’s stop them playing’, if the game in England is to continue to dominate Europe.
Hi oliver, take Cattermole out of their side and you take the dirty player, we aren’t up against him and I’m glad the way he is playing right now… Saying that, would be nice to play against ten again…
Was Braga the only game we played against eleven for 90 minutes this season 😉
mike, that would be refreshing wouldn’t it, imagine Fat Sam saying, ‘we are going to beat Arsenal by totally outplaying them for 90 mins’…… 😆
Afternoon Mike, point taken but your well written piece still falls under sounding like we moaning all the time when we get no backing from the media what so ever so sounds always like were moaning cos we got kicked to bits. Far to many Arsenal fans moan for the sake of moaning you have not but it could become part of a generalised point of view. I take exception to the media as the cause of a lot of this crap teams will always do what they have to and yet the media can see whats going on but say nothing and then point fingers at us when we upset we been kicked to bits, as I said yesterday so 2 faced makes me sicj hence I don’t read much anymore as I don’t need to I see every week what goes on. Fat Sam is a complete wanker and his only way of managing a team is to get them to boot ppl off the park. As for Coyle, he surprises me, maybe he pissed we didnt let him have Jack back… Oh well best he find a dummy to go suck………
cattermole is a one-off. the guy i am glad we won’t see tomorrow is kenwyne jones, who i quite rate. hopefully he will not play well when we face stoke.
even worse than cattermole was that pub-footballer dan smith, who made that horrible, two-footed challenge on diaby a few years back. hopefully that guy is enjoying a long and rewarding career bagging groceries. that was pre-bruce, nothing to do with the current sunderland side.
Hi Rico,
That’s exactly my point about Steve Bruce. If he’d said that I’d love him for it.
That’s why I respect Holloway so much. He tried to play the game the right way, and when he won he celebrated big style, and when he got slaughtered he said hats off to Wenger. I hope he survives; we need more managers who stick to principles and aren’t afraid to take a pasting from a great side.
Course if they lose 6-0 all the better 😆
Thing is Mike most of these managers cant get their teams to play decent footie most dont have the players to play decent footie and half don’t have the technique to train their players to play decent footie……. Your always going to have the teasm to grind out results and for me thats fine we need to be above that and to find a way to beat them but then the hackers who just turn up to kick you off the park need to be sorted out and again the media are the first to have the finger pointed at them as they never criticise this kind of play only if a manc gets booted up in the air….
WATH,
I prefer to call it a siege mentality, and it’s bred by the media. Listen to ITV last wednesday; they all but called us flat-track-bullies. MOTD and SKY are exactly the same; you either ignore them or come out fighting, and when you come out fighting you’re accused of moaning… can’t win 😆
Sorry guys,
that’s me again for a while…
talk later; have a good one
hi rico…
I don’t dislike Bruce to be honest mike, Fat Sam and now the whinging Coyle cheese me off, and Pulis of course, those three really get up my nose…
Bruce was a great player and I honestly think he is trying to do the right thing at Sunderland, labels stick though, wenger has now got one for being a moaner and Bruce has inherited the ‘dirty’ label…
It Fat sam I would like to hear say those words, just before he pulss all his fillings out after one too many peieces of chewing gum stuffed in his choppers…
I agree Mike just that far to many don’t come out moaning they just moan for teh sake of it…. I’ve long given up worrying about teh media they arse lick to the mancs n chav and hate us so they just make me laugh now but far to many Arsenal fans jump up and down for no rel reason if we can’t beat a negative team and that for me is us not being good enough to beat crap thats in front of us don’t moan cos the other team were negative moan cos we were crap and not good enough to beat them thats the senseless moaning that pisses me off. Ur’s is constructive but as said can get thrown in with the genreal whinge brigade and thats not fair at all.
What a terrible piece. Riddled with sound-bites and stereo-types. Sunderland are not a dirty side. Competitive yes, but not dirty. Arsenal appear to be trying to change the rules of the game (or maybe the game itself) to suit there own needs. Which is quite frankly pathetic, and is only being done because they are not good enough at the game as we know it.
The game on saturday is football. A physical and beautiful game. If Arsenal are not good enough at it then that is there fault.
jacko, i’m sure the author of the post won’t lose too much sleep over your view of the post, you do seem to be in a very very small minority with your view.
Most sunderland fans who have commented today have had a reasoned arguement, rather than just slating the piece written…
There had 2b one didnt there…………….
There usually is WATH……
Read, get the hump then post crap………. if they bothered to read the comments they’d see the responses but nope thats far 2 sensible…!
I know, makes me chuckle though as they never come back and enjoy a sensible debate…
I wouldn’t mind a 25yrs old Steve Bruce in our defence 🙂
WATH, I got to pop off for a hour or so, visiting to be done…
We’ll if your not around I’ll wait 4 Erick n AGAG to come chat………. Enjoy the visiting….!
Ok, laters WATH 🙂
rico: I could make reasoned argument tbh, but just riles when i see the words “thuggery”, “frightened, stone-age thinking of the current Sunderland management”, “systematic fouling and unbridled aggression come five-thirty Saturday”.
HArdly reasoned argument.
I think Arsenal fans have a “there out to get us” paranoia, where they think that each team they play must employ brutal tactics in order to win.
Yes, Bolton and Blackburn are physical teams but Sunderland are not like that. In today’s game you just can’t get away with being brutal.
Yes, we had a bad yellow/red card count last season, but that was down to clumsiness not brutality. We have a lot of skillful players in out team. The one player you could perhaps accuse of employing rough tactics is Lee Cattermole. And he is being urged to change … by Bruce.
just finished a meeting here at work and a colleague draped an arsenal/highbury scarf ’round my shoulders. nice gesture from a leeds supporter. unfortunately, i do not have any leeds gear to reciprocate with. i shall have to think of something else.
Give him a loaf of Hovis Oliver 😉
Ian_Safc, think with the amount of injuries we’ve had from ridiculous challenges I think most Arsenal fans are entitled to have the hump with tackles that seem far to common on our players. As has been mentioned in many of the comments Sunderland really don’t fall into that category well not for me anyway but these is no paranoia when the facts and the injuries speak for themselves the fine line is good hard fair tackles and filthy bastards just trying to kick lumps out of us cos they not good enough to play us any other way.
heh…turkish delight or halvah are out – clearly in bad taste.
Am sure a fresh Hovis would go down very well 🙂
In refence to:
W.A.T.H says:
September 17, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Sorry for the delay. I’ve just sank a couple of Guiness to ease the Friday afternoon pain.
It’s quite enlightening to speak frankly on a blog, and i am genuinely enjoying it! Let’s take Paul Robinson out of this cobversation. He is a poor footballer who i have no time to defend in any way. So in my eyes…conversation over.
I think Owen coyle’s response to Wenger has been over analysed by most. Owen is obviously annoyed that Gaz Cahill’s red card was not overturned and has vented by responding to comments made by Mr Wenger.
I feel that comments about BFS are justified, he has mutated in to someone who is anti-football. Coyle is doing the best he can with limited talent and resource, he’s not a bad man so any sh*te pushed his way is misplaced.
Afternoon all.That was quite a post which has drawn alot of reactions but i don’t think Sunderland are a dirty side.
Al(BWFC) Fair comment mate, I liked Coyle at Burnley and they were a hard team who also played decent footie Coyle has inherited a team of cloggers molded in the trilogy of FatSam does footie manager… Not easily solved and def not with players who still carry the mentality from the previous manager. Anotehr one who likes his teams to push the limits is Mcleish at brum… no time for that dick either he’s still defending that savage of theirs for teh attack on eduardo, sums the man up perfectly.
Afternoon KT………. Mike has def rocked the boat stirred the pot however you want to put it but nice that ppl not slagging each other off either but actually discussing the merits of the post despite agreeing or dis-agreeing…!
Afternoon W.A.T.H i agree what you’ve said about whining.I love Aw but he shouldn’t complain about how defensive the other team is.like you said we have to impose ourselves like barca do.i love the physicality of the league because we get to see contrasting styles of football because it makes us better equipped in Europe resulting to CL domination.Teams in laliga play similar footy and thus barca don’t face the likes of Bolton/stoke week in week out in preparation for teams like Inter and in last season’s CL you saw how barca struggled against inter and in the previous year against chelsea.
What i agree with Aw is rash tackling shouldn’t be allowed at all!!!We have a lot of leg breaks because of it.Those who say we are too skillful should go and train your own players how to tackle for them to be skillful tacklers.You don’t see Terry/rio/puyol go into rash tackles because they are actually skilled enough to make that judgment of when to slide in or not.Hiding behind phrases like ‘he was going for the ball’ ‘Ramsey was too skillful’ ‘He hasn’t got a single strand of thug DNA’ irks of hypocrisy.Is it ramsey’s fault that he had quick feet?
Aw should also avoid some of the questions the journalists give him which lead to his views being twisted making him look like the villain.There is a certain mentality created about him despite him speaking the truth.
Those of you thinking we can’t mix it up are wrong.RVP10,Rosicky,vermy,squillaci,diaby,song,sagna,cesc…can dish it out too.Jack took out Samba at Ewood Park which was a sight to behold.
Tomorrow will not be easy but with the right attitude we will triumph.
Talk about the “Man who kicked the Hornet’s nest”!!
🙂
Hey WATH, how diddly do?
T-Buzz it’s doing diddly ok……… Nice comment KT…. Only thing I would not agree with is us mixing it… We actually have very few who can mix it…. Look at when we drew at the Mancs n Keown scared the crap out of horseface, we had players all over the place up for it and the mancs melted big time can’t imagine we’d have to many to put the frightners on ppl now… TV Song and RVP maybe…? Anyway we digress…..
Oooooh! The image of Keown towering over Van Niistro-horse will forever be printed on my mind!! lol
That was a game and a half!!
Anyway, lets lighten the mood abit:
A Captain in the foreign legion was transferred to a desert outpost. On his orientation tour he noticed a very old, seedy looking camel tied out back of the enlisted mens barracks. He asked the Sergeant leading the tour, “What’s the camel for?”. The Sergeant replied “Well sir it’s a long way from anywhere, and the men have natural sexual urges, so when they do, uh, we have the camel.”
The captain said “Well if it’s good for moral, then I guess it’s all right with me.” After he had been at the fort for about 6 months the captain could not stand it any more so he told his Sergeant, “BRING IN THE CAMEL!!!” The sarge shrugged his shoulders and led the camel into the captains quarters. The captain got a foot stool & proceeded to have vigorous sex with the camel. As he stepped, satisfied,
down from the stool, and was buttoning his pants he asked the Sergeant, “Is that how the enlisted men do it?”
The Sergeant replied, “Well sir, they usually just use it to ride into town…”
T-B that’s terrible……………. 🙂
Lauren with his hand round Phil Nevilles throat about to punch him into the following week and look of pure fear on the face of the neville sister was the best one……!
ha ha ha!! I miss those players: Keown, Palour, Lauren, Adams, Vierra etc they took no nonsense from nobody!
Anyway, thats me off then, got to get outta here b4 the Pope and his crew do a drive-by my office!!
Have a great weekend!!
and to all Sunderland fans that have been here, its been a pleasure having you here! Good luck but I’m hoping we win at yours!! 😉
Adios!
Cheers TB have a good one mate……….
Last comment ’till Sunday, try to remember folks that tackling / physical contact is now a no-no in the premier league. Count the tackles tomorrow which collect a yellow (God forbid red!) when the tackle was simply too late because the other fella was too quick/skilful when a free-kick is all that is needed. Don’t get me started on the whole “feigning injury / affect the booking” debate.
Here’s to a great game!
Love to hear your memories of Shack if you have any GunnerPete.
Harry,
thoroughly enjoyed the banter; even if I had to miss a lot of it.
good luck tomorrow; may the best team etc.etc. which is of course us. 😆
Have a good one
Mike u stirrer lol……………..
Hi WATH, K-TR7, T-buzz,
see you’ve been holding the fort.
Anything happen while I was away? 😆
No Mike it’s all been very quiet while you swanned off down the pub……………
Hi WATH,
With Sunderland and Bolton in the title, it was bound to get a tug or two.
I actually quite like Steve Bruce, but there’s not a lot of point posting an Arsenal blog that says he’s a nice guy. 😆
I watched Alan Davies on Saturday last, I think it was Saturday.
He was talking to that air-head Louise Redknap. saying how he blogs and says dreadful things
about ‘Arry. In reality they get on quite well.
I’m sure a number of the Sunderland fans knew they were being wound, but they went for it anyway and I think more for them for it.
I just hope we don’t get stuffed on Saturday, or we may have some ‘visitors’ come Sunday 😆
Gotta also play devils advocate as well Mike add to the sauce 😉
As said i like Bruce and he seems to appreciate what we as a club are trying to do, dare I say a future Arsenal manager………. awaits the flak on that comment.
It will def be a hard game and prob all the better for us that Cattermole isn’t flying around like a headless chicken and although I quite like the fella best that he in the stands. If we go there and get 3 points it could indeed be the start of a shift in attitude and maturity but we’ll see won’t we…..!
Yeah, there is a definite edge to the kid that isn’t good. I think Bruce, giving him the armband, sent the wrong message.
But then Wenger’s not the greatest at picking his captains either 😆
As for Bruce and Arsenal… not a chance. If Wenger had got to him five years ago, and played the Yoda role for a while, then maybe, but not now. I see him moving to Manure when Old Red Nose finally succumbs to the Gout.
Arsenal managers today need a wider array of skills, and Bruce is too long in the tooth now.
Been a good day for the comments; not in terms of quantity, perhaps, but certainly the quality.
Bruce long in the tooth……… thats funny mike you make him out to be an old boy Rico will be most upset with you cos he def a few years younger than her….! Can’t see him going to the mancs 2b honest think thats moreenyo’s next job…!.
We had that captains thing the other day didnt we !!
Not long in the tooth in terms of years I agree, but in terms of being set in his ways. When you spend all of your managerial career fighting fires it doesn’t give you time to think more strategically.
That was the point I was making to some of the Sunderland guys… he has to spend more time looking to five years from now, and not the next five games.
Manure don’t care so much. When they finally shake off the shackles of the Glazers they’ll be up for buying success the same as Chelski and Citeh. Then a Bruce type might suit them… he certainly has the media skills.
As for Rico…? You’re as young as the person you’re feeling 😆
Hi again Rico/Mike/Stef. Obviously I made my comment to Rico as I didn’t see Mike anywhere on the post but as she posted it……I knew it wasn’t her write up but I’ve been impressed with the gradual improvement of the quality of posts here & wanted to register my appreciation.
I’m sure we’ll beat Sunderland on Saturday because we’ve got far too much firepower & movement for them & judging by the defensive improvement all round & the positive aggression added by the new boys we’ll be fine. We also have several play-makers now so if they use two players to stop Cesc the others will come into force!! – Happy days 🙂
Hi Pat7,
Whether Rico or me, your comment was much appreciated. One of the reasons I decided to post on this site was the maturity of the people who chat here.
And Rico weeds-out the idiots anyway, which is lucky for me today 😆
Thing is though Mike how good is Bruce if he had quality at his disposal…?
As 4 the mancs Mike the shakles may now never come off unless a very rich sugar daddy comes along and just wipes off the debt ??.
Hi Pat, Yes Rico has done a great job with HH in a very short space of time but also it’s the ppl that come on and contribute that makes it fun and intersting and not a site full of mud slingers only looking to cause crap or talk rubbish.
WATH,
I think there are great managers with a cheque book, and Mourinho immediately springs to mind. There are great managers at managing on a budget and fighting fires, Bruce, Hodgson,Warnock et al… and then there’s Wenger 😆
As for the sugar daddy WATH, they’re out there… all those Sheiks looking for immortality 😆
One of them will snap up Manure if they get the chance… that’s if Rico doesn’t snap him up first 😆
Just kidding Rico 😆
Yes your right Mike there are the sugar daddy’s out there but once in that scenario there is no escape and once they become bored then what..? It’s what we have all been saying about Abramovich when will he walk away due to being bored and wants the next challenge..? All these clubs become play things and the question then is for how long. . . . and then what. . . !
WATH,
thankfully that’s a problem we don’t have at the moment… and hopefully never will.
I would be seriously worried if I wer a Citeh or Chelski fan, and midlly concerned if I were Pool or Manure. I feel so sorry for them 😆
Don’t know where everyone’s gone today; without the Sunderland lot we’d have been pretty sparce.
The article was out there to get responses and it did that, most could see your intent a few idoits missed the boat completely and even those that didn’t agree with you responded in a really good way to make the post one that was debateable. As said was decent that no need for stupid name calling or your an idiot or stupid or rubbish article ppl debated the merits which was good. Articles need to be thought provoking and sometimes you need a carrot to get ppl to bite and you did that.
Yes lets hope we don’t ever need to worry about the sugar daddy scenario and as for feeling sorry for the dippers mancs n chav not a hope in hell from me mate… Reap what you sow..!
Boo, have i missed much 🙁
Only Mike setting you up with a nice rich Arab sugar daddy lol 😀
Can’t wait, I must go and read 😆
Brucie is definately younger than me, well Steve Bruce, not Bruce Forsyth 😉
hiya again rico.
Hi Rico,
you been out trawling for rich arabs again? 😆
Hi oliver, did say a quick hi earlier but then i had to dash 🙁
😆 mike, couldn’t find one in Lidil 😉
OK Folks, or to be more precise WATH and Rico,
It’s that time when the sun is over the yard arm, and I move on from dry white to full-bodied red… bit like my women 😆
Don’t tell the wife. 😆
Have a great evening, and thanks for all your inputs and supporting comments today.
Don’t worry about the amount of comments mike, we average about 100 a day and today we have passed that… There are so many established sites out there and HH is new, it will take time…
Sorry… and Oliver. Have a good evening
later mike. still have a couple of hours here, but thankfully it is much slower today. three points tomorrow please.
Catch up tomorrow then mike, have a fab evening and enjoy whichever ‘full bodied’ you get led to 😆
Be good 😉
rico, i wrote a post for avenell about six or so weeks ago, when the cesc-to-barcelona saga finally took a decisive turn. if it is ok, i would like to write another for hh in the near future. not sure what i will write about, but there is always something. my comments the other day could well have been a post in themselves and that got me thinking…
oliver, that would be wonderful, i look forward to it very much… 🙂
i was thinking about writing about our very own andrew sachs clone (almunia), but not sure what…i want to see him in a couple more matches and give my thoughts on his current form and future prospects with this team. he has played very well, but goalkeeper is such a confidence position, that we will not really know much until we see how he reacts to a major, goal-conceding error. if he can shake something like that off and quickly return to good form, i will believe this is a different al…but until then…
Boo! I’m late-ish today. Catching up… I suspect I shall be conversing with myself though, seems you’re all gone. 🙁
Cheers mike bit late but have a great evening watch out for those red women they dangerous….
that would be an intersting one oliver, like you i think he has started the season pretty well, will be interesting to see how he does against the so called better sides.. the goal n’gog scored shouldn’t have happened, but it reminded me of when giggs beat seaman in the fa cup… both keepers went down too early…
no filthy replies please 😉
Howdy agag, not gone just yet …
mikeB, another great write. And taking aside a few needlessly combative comments, some really good discussion in here. 🙂
Boo, rico! oliver, howdy?
All good thanks agag, and you??
What am I AGAG invisible………………. 😛 😛 😛
I’m good, rico. Et vous? Had a looong week but a fantastic Friday. 🙂 🙂
rico, I do check other sites sometimes, but I cannot imagine hanging out anywhere else. The level of expletives is toxic! 🙂 I like it here just fine; we have terrific football talkies but we can meander to pets and drink and cuties and a host of other happy stuff. 🙂
Hola, WATH! You have a lot of feelingly felts today, it seems. 😉
we’ll see the real soon enough, for better or worse. i hope the confident and assertive al we are seeing now is the real him, but until he has to deal with a significant blunder, i will not be sure. he has done well so far, and certainly looks a different keeper out there – but the proof will be in the proverbial pudding, when he has try and forget a soft-goal-allowing-mistake.
do not worry, i am “mr. clean”
hi agag. still here also.
Patience, WATH! I was saying “Hola!”, just as you were being all sensitive about beingg invisible. 🙂 What’s cooking??
oliver, your comments are separate posts a lot of the time. We’ve been saying that from the off. 🙂 House warming done?
just making sure you remembered me AGAG 😉
it’s been a good day today and nice to have ppl on who discussed rather than argued………
Well that’s just good news agag, don’t want you hanging around anywhere else 😉 😉
I like all the banter, its healthy… 🙂
spot on WATH, there were a few who wanted to argue and be quite rude, but they got binned 🙂
house warming all done, settled-in nicely, thanks!
Well we can rely on you to make sure the idiots get binned Rico least then we don’t have to call them knobs which then turns it all into a slagging match and discussions goes out the window.
I have said it before, WATH– women have an elephant’s memory. 🙂 My friends tell me, my memory is too good for their own good. 😉
You binned some, rico? Haha. Don’t let the ones with the nasty comments on. It will cloud the atmosphere.
So, WATH and rico? What’s on the stove top/oven??
AGAG Rico is cooking me Venison for sunday roast so am looking forward to that and as for your elephant memory just watch out faxtonegirl. . . . 🙂 I was under the impression AGAG women didn’t have a brain let a lone a memory 😀
Lights the touchpaper n stands back !!
rico, poster @ 7:44 is begging to be binned. 🙂 Maybe time at the dark, dank, dungeons of moderation will do someone some good.
Poster @7:44, those are fighting words. 😡
Rico poster @ 7.50….. obviously female and soooooooo predictable lol
😆 😆 agag, i’ll do my best but don’t tell WATH 🙂
Naughty night for me, pizza and coleslaw 🙂
WATH, my sad story turned into your sunday lunch, shame on you 🙁 😉
oliver, where was my invite 😉
Rico and sad story mush have a happy ending and i will so appreciate that venison come sunday lunchtime 😀
Coleslaw n pizza how healthy…………. Not….!
AGAG has a dark side she wants me tied up in a dark dungeon and all to herself lol……
Nite Rico chat 2moro.
Night WATH, have a good evening 🙂
I must go too now,
You all enjoy the rest of your day, tomorrow is footie day 🙂
stay safe all, nighty night 😉
Ice cold bottle of GG in the fridge is calling me so it needs my urgent attention so night all take care n chat soon…!
I bet it is WATH, go and enjoy it 🙂
Holla muchachas, great discussion today there are only hundred or so posts but because of the quality I think they weigh at least 3-4 hundred, have a gr8 nite folks we need some strength for 2morrow 😉
Poster @ 8:00 needs to be tied down all right. Straitjacketed. Dumped into a gurney. Delivered (and no time should be wasteed!!) Straight into a padded room. I’m just saying.
rico, your sad story made me sad too. You know my dog, the one with cancer is still alive? Silly vet! Advising us to put our dog to sleep.
agag you can tie me up as well.
But I don’t like letter 😀
well, if you should ever find yourself in washington dc…
Stef, something tells me you’ve been on the tipple too. 🙂
oliver, looking forward to your post. Tomorrow sounds good! 😉
Good night, all!
apparently I am a really bad speller meant *leather.
never mind off to bed I am wiser when I don’t write.
G nite no hаrd feelings agag was unsuccessfully trying to make joke.
c ya in dc oliver
Mikeb. Our issues with Cattermole were not him being dirty. He got 4 yellow cards not 2 reds. And none of his tackles were in the same league of robbo or cahill against you.last week so we’re not a dirty team.
This is the sort of drivel I’d expect from southern based biassed press anyhow..
agag, what lovely news to hear, silly vet indeed 🙁
see i am around, just writing tomorrows post…. a womans work and all that 😉
oliver, just realised, you have left NY and gone to WDC – i really need to keep up…. 🙁
thanks agag, but probably will not be just yet. i think it will be about al, but we will see…
see ya stef
tomorrows is done guys, i’m not one for writing first thing, thats why HH is always a day behind all the Arsenal news 🙂 🙂
oliver, i have always hoped you would write a post, now I am pleased you want to do one for HH
i’m now gone for sure now…
night all 🙂
night all. almost time for me to fight the dc traffic here.
Morning all
New Post up
You’ve been shown up!
Evening Gooners. Have enjoyed the debate so far… so, were Sunderland scared of you mighty arse boys?
Think you got quite a game, didn’t you? Looking forward to reading your review of the match.
Right… So, let’s recap on who the dirty team playing something about a tactical myopia? Your team of poor little starlets never got going, became ‘frightened’ and started fouling us left right and centre. And a red card as well! I hope you lose the title by 2 points, but then, being that close would be an amazing feat when you consider as MOTD put it, your ‘soft centre’. We’ve never claimed to be anything great, I really hope Wenger (& some Arsenal fans) lose the holier-than-thou attitude, as it really undermines what is at times a very good proper footballing side, but at times their comments are embarrassing. As for Wenger’s assault on the 4th official at the end – any thoughts?