Morning all.
Yesterday evening I sat and wrote a post about the match but decided to leave it where it is. Like you all no doubt, I’m tired of writing about how poor we play the game these days under Arsene Wenger. Robbed of two points by a poor decision from that horrid man Dean yes but let’s be honest, we didn’t win the game because we didn’t do enough to. Moan all we like about the penalty decision but let’s not forget that a few dodgy decisions have helped us to win three points sometimes, certainly against Burnley.
We fans didn’t need Arsenal to win for an excuse to party, it was New Years Eve, everyone parties. I even spotted one Arsenal fan in the stadium with a bottle of beer which made me smile. So much for tight security eh. I didn’t party though, I stayed at home, caught up with all the stuff on my Sky Planner and went to bed stone cold sober so unlike some of you no doubt, 2018 starts hangover free for me. Nice.
Anyway, instead of moaning today about another ninety odd minutes of tedium, I thought we could reflect on the year gone by and it’s good points as far as Arsenal are concerned although there aren’t many. In fact I can only think of one, well two to be pedantic.
Firstly, beating Man City in the FA Cup semifinal and then totally outplaying and beating the newly crowned Premier League Champions in the Final at Wembley.
We’ve scored a few tasty goals throughout the year though but since the new season kicked off they’ve have been hard to come by. Some of the goals which stick in my mind are Walcott against Bayern, Ozils header against Stoke, Lucas Perez volley against Bournemouth, Ozils stunner to beat Newcastle and of course, who can forget Girouds two overhead kicks, especially the scorpion..
I’m sure you can add to my list, as well as any special moments, not that I can recall many, in fact my memories of the 2017 for Arsenal are similar to years gone by. Disappointing, boring and toothless. Stale too.
Finally, thank you all for being part of Highbury House as without you, it wouldn’t exist. Thanks too to those of you who have contributed with articles for us all to discuss, and finally, thanks to Wath who yet again keeps the place going whilst I take a break or two and if you’re reading Mr Manager, thank you for all your support behind the scenes, I’d be lost without you..
Happy New Year all, May 2018 be a happy healthy and peaceful year for all..
For this one – for once I’m on the side of AW. We are talking about a ref who has twice been filmed celebrating a goal against us, and frankly holds a bank of unbelievable decisions when he has officiated our games. Wenger is right, the standard of refereeing in this country is lamentable. Away to Stoke – a perfectly good onside goal. Away to Watford – a deliberately outrageous case of diving for a penalty. Away to West Brom – enough said! Add to that, away to Citeh – a clear dive by Sterling and Silva 2 yards offside before setting up a goal. Yes, we didn’t play particularly well, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t work hard enough. Factor in the ridiculous ‘fix’tures – why did we wait so long between Liverpool and Palace – then two days later away again at West Brom? Football nowadays is a farcical merry-go-round where money talks and there is a clear hierarchy of favouritism. It never fails to astound me how openly disrespectful pundits are towards our manager and players – comments about Xhaka last night and Monreal v Palace just encapsulate the disdain levelled at our club. Yes, we need a new manager, and yes, we are not always fabulous, but total disregard of the rules and taking pleasure from wrong decisions is reprehensible. Alas, these days I sit and watch our games fully expecting a shocking decision against us. Sadly, I am rarely disappointed.
Db, I totally understand why both Wenger and Cech were angry with Dean, and the fixtures and both were right to be angry too. How can the bloke give a pen when even Gibbs was only appealing mildly for a corner.
The officials are a joke and I for one can’t wait until VAR comes in.
We were poor though…
Back in the 1990’s whyen match fixing was rife in the French leagues Arsene Wenger stood against Bernard Tapie and exposed the wrongdoings of Marseille in particular.
I bring this up because as an Arsenal fan going back to the 1950’s , I have believed that the man has run his course with us and in fact has overstayed by approx 2 contracts. I have held these beliefs on a purely footballing basis and have felt that a change of direction has been needed for some time and that the average fare that we are being served is in need of new thinking.
This has not lessened my respect for the man as a person I just feel that the time for him to step aside is overdue.
However I have also believed that he has still a lot to offer football in general and perhaps the condemnation of Mike Dean and the PGMO is the direction that he should go to. It has become obvious to all that watch ” the game ” or should I say business that it has too many anomalies for it not to warrant deeper investigation but as we know there is little incentive for the mainstream to delve too deeply into it because it sells the papers feeds the media , main and social, and keeps the tongues wagging in pubs and clubs all over the country.
Were he to step down from Arsenal and perhaps team up with his old mate Mr Dein and go for the establishment , it would cause a shockwave and the results would be for the common good . If he forced Riley and his merry men out into the open and instead of allowing them to tinker around the edges with things like VAR and exposed what could well be possible that money from abroad , betting syndicates , whatever are influencing results ( what were the odds on a draw yesterday ?) then he would have a cause which many of us feel would replace his day to day life at London Colney.
BTW Happy new year to all
Good morning!
Best wishes for 2018
Incidently BET 365 were offering 3 /1 not bad for an unexpected result.
Judging by AW’s reaction and comments after the match, I get the impression that he wouldn’t be afraid to challenge the PGOM either.. Someone has to and soon..
Morning Rico and happy new year !
Did you see that .
https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/947554434279792640
Cheers
Morning Alex. That’s almost identical, if not far more likely to be called a pen as he raises his arm..
Great post Rico and happy new year all. Yes we can moan all we like but there is no where else to place the blame. When you have Mertesacker, Niles, Chambers, Iwobi all first team regulars. When you also have players you don’t trust Walcott, Coquelin, Debuchy, Wellbeck, all occupying spaces on the bench and squad places and are too unreliable to be enlisted to help. The quality in the team is poor, yet Arsene cannot see anybody to improve his squad. Right before our eyes other teams are unearting gems – Mane, Sallah, etc and we keep moaning we cannot see them.
The quality of our play has terribly gone bad and the commitment of our players to marking and defending is nauseating .Nobody is demanding that they mark as our manager seats comfortably on the bench only rising to either complain to the officials or to zip up. We have another opportunity in the transfer market to remedy our problems, but will we take it? Ramsey, Coquelin, Ozil, Wilshere, Kolscieny, even Walcott will all get injured, what is our plan to cover for these eventualities? Every year, these things repeat themselves and the disappointment really is that our response to them is same – nobody acts. Lets not just put it down to not having money, it is because we have a manager who is so comfortable and believes he has nothing to prove. Very sad!
Interesting that Dean is clearly saying it’s too close . How close was Gibbs to Chambers ?
Rico for sure we do not deserve nothing but a.point because we are rubbish but i truly believe that man in black since he does it repetitevely against us i question his integrity
Happy New Year Rico and All
Ref’s………………..Name one good one.
I will never forget a Ref I had the pleasure
to know when playing.
I used to give him hell..He was effing useless,
Everywhere I played ..He somehow turned up.
Floodlight football,Five a side,Seven a side,Eleven a side.
One game I can never forget was on The Hare and Hounds
Lee Bridge Road.
We were playing a right old mob,half of em were gangsters,
I won’t mention any names..anyway I kicked the centre forward
up in the air when clean through..He screamed at the Ref.
The Ref just turned round and run down the other end of
the pitch..on our counter attack.
The well known centre forward chased him the length
of the pitch..Got him around the neck and began to strangle him
on the ground.
We managed to get him off the Ref..then the funnest thing I have
ever seen from a Ref..He got up and just carried on as if nothing
happened.
Anyone who played and lived around the The East End new him.
From the History of the Hackney & Leyton League.
Albert Whitehead was another well-remembered secretary.
Albert though had an easier task during his term of office
when referees were not as such a high premium and more plentiful.
However, Albert was a most colourful character who seemed
to referee every day of the week, and probably did.
It was alleged that he made so much money by refereeing so
many games that he owned a large villa in the south of France.
Sadly Albert passed away when he was still refereeing
and was still relatively young.
What a dream that would have been Mike Dean in them days
getting strangled..Not sure anyone would have been dragging
anyone off the cheating little git.
You could argue that when the pgmol reviewed the Leicester game they concluded that it was a penalty in secret of course and that why something similar happens the penalty gets awarded. It just that both decisions went against Arsenal that rankles. However I am sure that Sean Dyche has a wry smile on his face at the moment which highlights what I said easrlier it’s a football thing not just about the Arsenal
Fred I remember on the East marsh a ref getting chased by a supporter with a shovel in his hands. Also we were playing on Hampstead Heath extension in a cup match the week before our left back was due to get married. He went into a tackle and the other guy went completely over the top and broke his leg. At this point the bride to be raced onto the pitch and hit the leg breaker in the groin with the pointy end of her umbrella as he went down she got him another couple of times.
They got married on schedule but he was on crutches and I don’t think she ever let him play football again.
Ha Ha..Like it Potter
The old east marsh..We played a team of Rasta’s
from broadwater farm..
Waiting on the pitch..no show from them freezing
cold day..The Ref ask me to go with him and get them out
of the dressing room.
I opened the door..It was like a steam room everyone of
them was smoking a fat joint.
I remember playing over Fairlop somewhere for a team of ‘faces’ against a police 11.
I thought I could take care of myself but some of the stuff that went on that day was really x-rated. It wasn’t so much a game, more 90 minutes of GBH. I took a right-handler from a fat desk Sergeant, kicked him in the cobblers and nobody said a word. After the game I left because I knew it was going to kick off. It did.
Ah, those were the days. 🙂
Thanks Daniel. Hard to disagree with most of your comment, although I do think Maitland-Niles is doing rather well, especially considering he’s being asked to play out of position. Shock horror eh…
A very similar distance Potter..
Afternoon Fred, HNY to you too, let’s hope it sees AW finally hang up his boots, cones and whistle.
Happy New Year
to all you Gooners, Doomers, AKB’s, Curry Clubbers and general Arsenal enthusiasts, it would be a dull world without you.
A big thank you yet again to Rico, like you I was early to bed last night (with a heavy cold) so I’ve just caught up. Some good comments from this morning.
Anyway, have we signed anyone?
Rico we need someone to tread on his
alarm clock.
The only days he has off are during the transfer windows.
I think its obvious from Twattenberg’s comments about the Spuds/Chavs game that refs go into games with an agenda. We have always known it to be so. When most refs are from ‘oop North’ too its a double whammy. Wenger is right when he said that standards haven’t improved though. The list of joke refs goes back years. Clive Thomas, Norman Burtenshaw, Pat Partridge, Roger Milford, George Tyson, Alan Wiley, Old Mother Riley, Keith Hackett, Paul Durkin, Paul Danson, Jeff Winter, George Courtney, Neil Midgeley, P Don, David Elleray, Gerald Ashby, Dermot Gallagher, Webb, Graham Barber, Poll, Webb, Uriah Rennie, Mike Reed, Phil Dowd, Joe Worrall, Martin Bodenham, D’urso, Rob Styles, Steve Bennett, We have been stitched up by all of them over the years. And others I can’t recall!
Happy New Year!!!
Bob. I think you missed out Alf Buksh. What a plank! I think Graham got him banned from Highbury. 🙂
I wonder if there is any truth in the rumour of Arsenal cancelling the loan of Lucas Perez to Deportivo and bringing him back to North London..?
Cheers Adam. Yes Buksh was another nincompoop!
Perez back from loan, unlikely as Wenger never encourages the breaking of contracts, once signed! But, if Sanchez is out of the door he would not be the worst replacement in the world. On the plus side he doesn’t pass too often to an opponent as Alexis is wont do. He would unquestionably improve our overall possession stats and successfully completed passing stats! Yeah, I’d go for a Perez back to Arsenal campaign, especially as we appear to be so strapped for cash!!
And aHappy new year to all Housers.
Bless you Kev, no pun intended..
Fred, his alarm is probably firmly in his brain by now..
Afternoon guys…
I’d love to see Perez back but only if Wenger will play him..
re Perez: We bought him for 17 million and there is a story that Gazidis interfered so Wenger hardly played him
Deporting Offered 10 million to have him back at the end of his first season,which was last season
The club refused so a loan deal was arranged
Yet again a shamble of negotiations by our club
A Happy new year to you all.
I read something like that too re Lucas Kelsey. Pathetic really if true.
Depotivo,I meant. Look at the tabl tonight we are drifting away I am afraid.
I’m off guys, night all.
Might as well bring Cohen Bramall and Joel Campbell back as well.
Morning Kev and all.
New post up now.