A few comments from the manager after the Aston Villa game which were directed at the idiots with a microphone:
What is the thinking behind the substitution? I will not explain every decision I make.
I have managed for 30 years at the top level and I have to convince you journalists I can manage the team?
The same interviewer couldn’t wait to ask him about the chants following the game and Wenger replied:
I don’t want to comment on that. I do my job and do my best for the club. Why should I create a rift? I have given you the answer.
I leave it to you to judge. I try to be as good as I can be. You are all great managers! I read the newspapers every day and I can tell you that you are always great managers!
You judge the game for the papers and I sit here and explain to you our game. How many games have you managed? I promise you if you manage one I will sit in the stands and chant ‘you don’t know what you are doing’!
You can discuss every substitution. You think what you want. I do my job and I let people judge it. I do that every day and I do my best every day. I know why I do it.
I would like to show what you (the media) wrote about us last year in September, October (when Arsenal were struggling).
Why should we panic? We will worry about our next game and we will play that. We are focused on the next game. Don’t worry for and about us too much.
Ouch!!Do you get the feeling that that interview really hurt our manager?
So did I but I’m not sure why now, what has finally made Arsene Wenger snap?
Since the day he set foot on British soil in 1996 he has been victimised by the British press, abused by ignorant fans of other clubs and blamed for the English national football team being so poor but he’s taken it all in his stride. Even the sick chants from the Manchester United fans didn’t seem to faze him. Fergie could have stopped those a lot sooner than he did but of course Arsene’s Arsenal were a big threat to him in the early years.
Even when we were at our best, winning trophies, dazzling everyone with our style of football and battering other sides for fun, Wenger was still criticised for fielding a side that contained no English players.
Reality was, the media couldn’t really find a lot wrong with what Wenger was doing and they probably hated having to praise a Frenchman. After all, some of these so called pundits, journalists etc were so old and out of touch, they probably still held a grudge against the French!
Again though, he seemed to breeze through his managerial career, batting off the twits along the way.
None of these people had a right to judge him, they weren’t/aren’t football experts, otherwise surely they’d be managing a club themselves, they’d certainly be able to earn a much better salary wouldn’t they? Most, if not all of them weren’t/aren’t Arsenal fans, they weren’t/aren’t spending any of their own money to either get to the game or into the stadium and they certainly haven’t ever had to dig deep into their pocket to purchase and beverage so what gives them the right to judge?
But judge they did and still are today and there is no doubt, they are loving it….
I’m sure the ‘you don’t know what you are doing’ chants would have been clearly heard by Arsene Wenger as I am sure were the ‘we want our Arsenal back’ but why when the interviewers asked him what he thought about them did he snap?
He’s clearly had enough, but of what or who I wonder??
Maybe it’s just because he knew that his day of having more money would come again and January could be the start of his spending without selling our better players?
Maybe it simply a case of ‘it depends who asks the questions’?
The Daily Telegraph have a comment from Wenger after being asked if how he spends the money from the Emirates shirts deal this January would be crucial in quelling the unrest amongst fans.
He said:
I knew about the money before. It means the people who invest in us believe we are doing things in the right way. So it’s first a credit in the way we do things and after that, we try to use the money intelligently.
When asked if that proved someone did believe he knew what he was doing, Wenger replied:
Not so much. I only managed 1,600 games, 200 Champions League games. So I’m a bit lucky.
That tongue in cheek reply is more like the old Wenger.
Isn’t that the man most of us want back with his managing hat on?
That’s it for another day……
Morning all..found this piece from Seaman.
Arsenal legend David Seaman has suggested that players currently see a move to the club as an opportunity to develop before moving elsewhere for more money and trophies.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the former goalkeeper explained that Arsenal need to stop selling influential players every year if they are to be serious about winning things again, like when he was still playing.
“Losing your captains all the time – like Van Persie and Fabregas – is like when Patrick Vieira left. It takes the heart out of the team. We used to be able to keep our best players and that’s why we were winning trophies, but at the moment we can’t do that.
“What are people looking at Arsenal for? Are they looking to advance their careers? They’re not looking to advance themselves financially because they know they can get more money elsewhere.
“It’s going to be hard for them to attract players and what’s happening is they’re getting players in, making them into great players and then they’re having to let them go.
“When Arsene came it was a given that they’d be in the Champions League all the time and we were winning things as well, but you can’t do what they’re doing at the moment and expect to win trophies.”
I for one am glad he fired up.
Forget this situation….i jave seen so many scumbag journos ask questions that deserve a smack in the mouth simply to glad someone,it isn’t funny.
For what it is worth,i will always respect anyone involved in sports if they tick a few boxes.
A….they give 100% every time they are asked to perform.
B….anything they do is for the betterment of the club….well,they BELIEVE it is.
C…..anything they do is of sportsmanlike behavious.
D…..they carry themselves with class and dignity.
I am yet to know of a journo to be guilty of even two of my prerequisites,let alone all of them.
Wenger ticks all the boxes.
Just my opinion.
Morning all…
Seaman was on Goals on Sunday and they showed some of his saves. His best was in the cup and he was 39 at the time 🙂
I am sure he said many other things about how good Wenger was and still is and other positive comments about Arsenal. But and as so typical of Sky Sports, they seem to have printed only the negative comments he made…
when wenger gets rid of all our c*** everthing will be ok. We have a lot of players that just aren’t good enough for the top half of the Premiership.
Mannone, Fabianski,Squillachi, Dojo, Kossa,Vermi,Mert’s, Santos to name a just a few.
Until we realise our short comings and do something about it we will always be second rate.
There are certainly a few out there who are worse than others too Scott…
Good morning,
Ah did someone had a good sleep? A super post Rico.
Jornos and AW, well the never ending saga. Did you see how they treated Fat Sam softly after he told the fattest lie by denying he heard WHU fans sing ‘ A.H is coming for you’ at the scums?
A bunch of weasels they all are!
Good news is that Inter are broke, and Liverpoo say they have no money to spend this January. One less team to compete for Klaas’s signature even though I believe he will not be suitable to our style.
Thanks Tsgh – You’ll laugh but I wrote this post whilst Strictly, X-Factor and I’m a Celeb was on…
Since Wenger snapped, I kept wondering why now after all the crap he has faced and heard since 1996…
Makes me wonder if there is something bubbling away in a large pan in the club….
Morning Rico and Lee.
Morning Adam, lovely to see you back….
Many thanks Rico. It is appreciated believe me.
I saw the interview and it did get somewhat tense.
So long as the team continues to underperform, he should expect that. And I am honestly not very optomistic about the incoming revenue from the new deals. We all know how shrewd the boss is when it comes to transfers.
Go back that photo of his death stare at Stan……yep,something is simmering away.
What qualifies a numbskull with no talent (other than muckscraping and rumourmongering)to question Wenger the way he did?
Hi there Adam, I was beginning to wonder if Goonster had fed you to his piranhas. How are you doing?
I am not optimistic AW will spend it either Lsg, but we know the club has the free money now. If AW doesn’t get given it to spend, he needs to start telling the fans that, otherwise he will continue to get the flack….
Scott, agree, I recall thinking the same at the time, add that to his AU comments, and AW is clearly not happy…
But why is the question we would all love to know the answer to…
Not bad TSGH. Thank you.
I hope we do not have to wait until he retires, Rico.
Rather find the truth out as soon as the yank is sent packing.
Good morning Adam, glad to see you back matey!
That’s my point Scott – all they are is people who watch football, draw their own opinion and write about it to sell newspapers.
Have they ever run a business, a football club, done their coaching badges, played the game etc etc… No!
I can understand ex top footballers have more of a right to an opinion as they have been there and done it but I don’t include idiots like Linekar in that, what has he ever achieved?
But the likes of Keane Keown & Neville etc are different and usually very fair…
Good Morning my Esteemed Bragging Gunners.
Good Post Rico. However, if you cut off the tail of a pig it will still remain a pig, nonetheless.
And patience is a bit like pee. There is only a limited amount of time you can manage to hold it until it finally escapes. And I can tell you that when patience explodes it hurts more than when you cant manage to hold on to your pee.
I am better today, but still not good enough. Even the little prince is sick.
Morning All,
I trust your all well on this gorgeous Monday… Make that evening in Scott-land…!
Now more than ever the fans know there is lots and lots of money to spend if Wenger does not spend he will take the flak for sure IF he is not allowed to spend then it’s about time he pointed fingers at who won’t allow him to buy the players we need.
Good to see you back Adam…!
By pigs I meant the press and journos if you can manage to call them that.
Thanks devil, not sure of the pig bit though 😉
Best you go back to bed, did the Villa performance make you feel worse….
Totally agree Wath. If he is the sacrificial lamb then it’s time he told us.
Has he really got anything to lose?
Oz I see you are back to your old self?
I don’t claim to know anyone personally within the club but know people who do and are close to a couple of the young players too and most suspect AW is walking soon. Some say he did not take kindly to being overruled on the VP case when they initially decided they had to make a bold statement to the world that they were not a selling club. We all know or suspect the club had money in the regions of £35M to £40M to spent last summer including player salary and contract improvement of course and there was no need to sell VP. This was the most they have had since 2006.
Additionally, AW was really vexed that he had to be involved with the negotiation to get the most out of the manures. The board were willing to let VP go for roughly £12 to £15M initially.
Rico, did you see the link I posted on TW house sale. It could be a non-story but…
Hi there Dev…
Reality check.
Is this for real. Seriously can you actually mean this?
Do you question what Tony Blair did as your PM? Or David Cameron? Do you have an opinion on what Bush did as US president? Or On Obama? Or , if you are English, did you think that Steve McClaren did a bad job as national manager? Or do you think that Sean Connery was a better Bond than Roger Moore
If you answer yes to any of the above, then you cannot complain about a journalist putting a question to Wenger about obvious flaws in his work. It is dangerous stupidity beyond measure to say that we cannot criticise (or even ask questions of) a man who does a job that, by collectively millions of hours of exposure to it ourselves, quite a few people have a relatively informed opinion of. Whether you like it or not.
The point is, quite simply, it nothing short of fascism to suggest that none of us has a right to question Wenger. He is paid an absolute fortune to manager a team that I care about far more than he ever will. And, face facts, it is pretty bloody obvious when someone is making a mess as a football manager.
Its not a question of how dare the journalist ask these questions. Its more a question of how dare you, if you are Arsenal fans at all, not ask more questions like this yourselves.
Ginge,i did my best to give an honest appraisal of the game,and realistically,i coldn’t find too many positives,but little scraps held me together 🙂
Rico,you know that i have always felt Wenger is the scapegoat,and the board hang him out to dry every chance they get,well here is his chance…….January.
Ow he,himself, has admitted the cash is there to spend,he had better spend it.If he doesn’t,then we know who to blame,and i will be the first to concede i was wrong all along.
If he does go on a little spree,will people start admitting the board truly are to blame?
I hope so.
Anyway,let us see what comes of it.
LSG- I disagree with you there. I do not think AW deserves that at all. Some fans expect AW to behave like O’Neil but if AW was like that he would have left us and the board would probably have recruited John Barnes and Winterburn to succeed AW and claimed they are pioneers in appointing the first black manager for a top 4 team whilst we will all know it was to save money. Martin O’Neil is already mourning and he wants to jump ship in order not to tarnish his reputation as the one who brought Emile Heskey through at Leicester City. lol
Lets all look at Liver-poo who allowed their legendary manager to spend the equivalent of the budget of a 3rd world country on a bunch of flops that included Charlie Adams and now they are saying they do not have money to buy in January. Yes they won a trophy but what is the long term prognosis of that club?
Tsgh –
I did see the link and don’t know what to make of it really
It could be he is on the move to another club but it could also be false.
It could also be his house which he wants to leave since it got burgled…
We’ll soon know for sure if he’s off…..
I missed the game, did Coq take Arteta’s place, moved Arteta up and put Gerv as striker? The sub was because Giroud was injured?
Another reason for stick is why was Chamakh not on the bench or is Gerv classified a striker?
sleepinggiant
I have an opinion on the politicians in England because I vote.
I am a fan of England, therefore I have a right to an opinion.
I am a fan of Arsenal so same as above..
Are any of those idiots who ask Wenger stupid questions Arsenal fans??
No but we are and that is why in the post I say we are entitled to question what is going on at the club…
Or did you not read that bit???
We only have to wait and see till next January.
But I still feel that there are politics involved. The same feeling I had with the RVP situation. He had to be sold. And go he did.
The Villa game performance did nothing to help my mood nor my health. But I kind of was expecting it since we are still a Jekyll and Hyde team. Its coming all along bit by bit, but its taking a bit long for the team to gel. The fact that it is still a thin squad is not helping matters.
Yes we supporters have every right to ask question. Even journalists should ask questions.
But none of us, I repeat…NONE OF US, has a right to demean and belittle anyone. Some have even gone as far as calling AW clueless. Yes clueless is the man who has done so much for AFC. I myself will still hold him responsible for some of the decisions he did, and some team selections and some results. However in no way will I pose questions which are aimed at putting him in a corner or demean his dignity.
And remember………a question will always say more about the person asking it than the person who answers it.
Yes I suspect AW is on the case of recruiting. AW may be stubborn but stupid he’s not.
All of GG scouted players have been injury-prone thus far but Grimandi is being reported to have been to see Toulouse on 2 consecutive match days. There is hope still for either Capoue, Sissoko or Abdennour. The only issue is that the latter will be representing Tunisia in January & February in the AFCON.
Rico is it the dancing of the young Olympic gymnast that made you write a positive post? 😀
Hiya tsGH. How are you mate?
Bradster, Le Coq was placedon to the RHS actually, but the ignorant Journo will say he replaced Arteta as a DM. It was in that position that Le Coq had the last great chance that he blasted miles away from goal at the final kick. 😉
Sleepinggiant,i question the intentions of any journo,because in general,they are the scum of the earth.
Scott – I’m not sure Gazidis isn’t in a similar position to Wenger, just athought
Thanks Lee and WATH.
Haha Tsgh, I don’t know what you mean….
sleepinggiant – i take from your ‘angry’ comment you are a journalist who reports on football??
Hiya Adam. Back again I see. Good to have you around. Still sporting an open shirt nowadays??????
You know me. I am always positive apart from a lose before an international break. 😉
As Emma and I both said yesterday it is imperative we win or not lose at G park.And it is more important to rotate at Villa. AW made the right call to rest the players he did. When you look across the whole Europe in the major leagues less than 37% of teams who played in Europe won this weekend. Its less than 20% for CL participants.In England, 2 team won, Manure won because they had the advantage of playing at home and also the refs (wink wink). Tottenham won because they had extra time off between Saturday and Thursaday and then played on Sunday at home too. Lets be positive guys we have what we have.
Hi DG. No, it’s a hair-shirt these days after watching the Villa game.
Rico,i agree.
Very rarely have i said anything on Gazidis.
The guys above him though…..
Scott. I agree 100% (if there was such a thing as 1000% I would agree to that extent too!). But that doesn’t negate the point. Of course people have a right to question a football manager. Don’t let anyone pull the wool over our eyes – football is not rocket science. It is one of the things that very many of us have spent (some would say wasted!!) 100’s if not thousands of hours watching, playing and thinking about. Of all of the things that we actually don’t do for a living, it is probably the thing which quite a few of us have some decent knowledge of and therefore an ability to give an opinion on the qualities or performance of manager and team.
That’s all I’m sayin’!
But tsgh – out of the two fixtures, the Villa game was the ‘more winnable’ – if we should lose at Goodison, that rotation was all for nothing and cost us 5 points.
I always believe we should look at the game in hand, not the one around the corner….
Ahhhhh. I thought that you had to show the Squilly tattoo on your chest that is why I asked. 😉
Yes Sleppinggiant. I agree with you. But no question should ever demean a person’s dignity and intend to corner him. Remember…….you might be an AFC supporter. But a journo might be a spuddie, or a Manure or a shitty or a dipper. Hell, even refs have their allegiance.
Let’s face it……..if you are a journo and you had a chance to ask Redknapp a question (when he was a spuddie) wouldn’t you have asked him a question if you knew you could embarrass him and make him laughing stock? Or if you are a ref and an AFC supporter and AFC have a chance of winning the league and you know that if you give a penalty in the last minute against Manure they will loose and AFC win. Wouldn’t you give that penalty?
There is no need to answer it to me or anyone. Just answer it within yourself.
Sleepinggiant,the difference is watching the game from the stands or on tele gives you absolutely l insight into exactly what it takes to manage a football club.
A massive budget,staff,playing staff,the board,owners,fans,contracts,scouting,tactics,rotation,pressure,fans…..the list goes on and on.
Unfortunately,too many believe winning the league on Fifa 13 qualifies them to do the job.
Sorry…not sure where those spaces came from.
Yes Scott…………..some people play Fifa whatever number, or Soccer Manager and think that coaching and managing a club is as easy as typing on a keyboard.
Regarding those spaces…………..have you eaten a lot of beans recently mate????
Whenever the issue of coaching comes around I still think of one of the most beautiful teams I saw playing which was split through the middle where some players refused to pass or play with other players. That was the dutch team between 1993 and 1997. That was a great team……..destroyed by cliques and friends.
The job of the manager was not to pick the team……..but to create a team.
Its not simply putting Messi in an AFC shirt and expect the business. Maybe the rest of the players do not want to play with Messi after all. He is the world’s best player, but that does not qualify him to be a success anywhere.
Devil, I understand your point, and in an ideal world, would agree with you. But if we have a society which has a free media(and the debates on that are probably for a higher forum) , where does your point end? It is quite probable that every question that has ever been asked of any public figure has an intention or agenda behind it. There will be scumbags who will ask questions, and sadly that is a fact of life. Perhaps well paid public figures should accept that answering these lowlife is a part of the job, perhaps they shouldn’t – that is, as I said, a question for a different time and place.
But that does not prelude or disallow any of us from asking questions when we think they should be asked. And let nobody ever tell you as an Arsenal fan (who presumably has devoted quite a bit of your soul (if devils have them!!!), time and money to the club, that you are not qualified to ask searching questions of the club. Any mature football fan will have a damn good idea of what is going on at the club. Our opinions might not always be right, we might not always agree and we most certainly will not always be popular with the club itself, but we would be betraying ourselves as mindless toadies if we all meekly said ‘ah thats what the club says, so it must be ok’.
sleepinggiant
Your last comment, I take the second paragraph to be again directed at todays post. Please, I ask again, where does the post say that fans don’t have a right to question what is going on at the club and on the pitch?
In fact, it says the opposite…
Asking legitimate questions is fine,but when they are designed NOT to get an answer so much as a reaction,then they are just crap.
Most journos do this.
For the record,i just got Sean Fifa 13,and my management credentials are as follows.
7 games in,no goals conceded,6 wins and one draw…..i guess i am ready lol
@ Rico,but if we had played JW10 and lost him for 6 weeks then …?
Personally I do not care if we draw at Everton so far as we do not lose and dont come back to Colney with injuries. I believe if we have most of our players available past December we will have a decent season and possibly win the CoC in February.
The league is not a race, the manager who utilises his squad well has a better advantage. I would prefer us to have more players available from now to March than we have had in the last 4 years where AW had not utilised the squad until everyone is injured.
And there is no guarantee AW will sign the 4 players we want in January so we better make use of the squad now. And the £40M will not buy you 4 good players in this market. What people fail to acknowledge is that our transfer kitty also includes the salary for those players in the first year at least.
Of course it does not forbid me from asking questions. But I would never try to put someone in a corner……even if I may be fortunate to be a bit more qualified than others to ask certain questions. Each and every person has a right to be treated with the dignity he or she deserves. And no I would not accept all that the club says with a meek attitude.
What I want to say also is that I would not have answered that journo any differently to what AW said. You cannot expect to be treated with respect if you do not do the same to others.
At least AW gave that answer.
SAF dealt with it in a different matter……….
But we could say the same about any player Tsgh….
There is an argument for both sides but, stories are around suggesting that Jack is injured so imho, he shouldn’t even be in the squad…
Sorry Rico, I didn’t see your original request.
My point is about asking questions of the club in general. Believe me. I share your ill-feeling towards the media in general. And to be honest, I suspect that the agenda of pretty much all of them is their own pocket. And I would love it if we could somehow keep Arsenal for Gooners.
But the truth is, we can’t. Arsenal is a multinational juggernaut that cannot go under the radar.And as such, we attract the attention in the wider world. When there is discontent at the club, it will inevitably be picked up by the wider media, magnified and focused on. It is hateful, but is the same as us as it is for goverments, politicians, sprotsmen and women elsewhere, business people and other football clubs. While it would, in an ideal world, be desirable, it is sadly not an option to ignore or refuse to answer these people. Indeed, it does the club no favours if we become so defensive and inward looking in these situations. It makes us look frankly silly, and, given the sad rifts that exist in the fanbase at the moment, just fuels more aggro.
And this is particularly important at at time when there are genuine questions that do need to be answered by the club. And these questions do need to be asked. The club would rather this all went away and that the answers were given on the pitch. Modern life sadly isn’t like that.
Didn’t Wenger have a blow out like this last season stating his CV? It sounds familiar that he needs to point out his experience and fans have none.
I think the song was the same then too…”you don’t know what you’re doing”.
Sad thing is that these were the same away fans who got praised for singing while we played utter trash. Perhaps they too feel fed up with the performances we put out.
The thing that worries me about this influx of cash is the danger of the pressure making us buy for buying’s sake. We know that last time we went on a buy one get one free spree we ended up with 2 good to Ok, 1 just about o.k and 2 that have already gone. Not a great return on patching up after the infamous 8-2. If we buy, it has to be for the right reasons and has to be in the positions we need today , not players for the future but ones that can make a difference now.
Rico,a player coming back after 18 months out is at a much,much greater risk of copping an injury.
Tsgh – why should it include the salaries?
We could get rid of 5 or 6 players, that would cover any salary and some…
Bradster,wouldn’t you remind ignorant fools if they needed it??
Any man with a hint of pride will stand up for imself at some stage!
Enough is enough already.
Wankers in the stand who hae never managed anything but their bloody household budget need reminding,as do journos who only ever mangage to piss people off do as well.
You don’t know what you are doing??
These morons don’t know what day it is!!!
You are right Rico……offloading some would certainly offset more than enough to cover the wages.
I know that Scott but Merts and Arteta must both be exhausted, they too could easily pick up an injury at any time….
I am not being pedantic, just again showing that our squad is frail. As soon as we rotate, we don’t play as well and drop points….
Yep,i am sure we all agree.
Bring on January!!
Off to bed guys…..play nice 🙂
Well Scott, seeing that he has interviews weekly, why would this week’s interview make such a difference?
So, I guess Rafa should’ve told the Chelsea fans something similar?
Journo’s need to sell papers and people love scandles and sensationalism so of course he will try stir something up. It’s up to the manager to keep calm and rational.
Bradster, I personally am not knocking the fans, they have their own right, they paid good money to get there to watch the team..
But, i’m not someone who would boo or jeer during a game. Afterwards yes, but not during….
Agree Potter.
And a DM, Gk and a striker could certainly do that…
Night Scott
surely if wenger and the management knew how long arsenal funs hve suffered the humiliation of these so called yesterday clubs.i dont even knw wat to do.may God help us.
And there you have it. He goes off to bed while we all have to hold fort till he does. A bit like a hamster aint’ ya Scott?? 😉
Joking my friend.
Good night mate
Yes Rico………we need fresh faces and rotational assets in all four departments. And get rid of the deadwood.
I’m not condoning it Rico. I don’t see a need for it at all and it doesn’t help the team. I just don’t understand why it’s the journo’s fault for doing what they always do and Wenger reacting the way he did.
If Wenger didn’t like the question, then refrain from answering or say we’re all entitled to our own opinions or something but not that reaction everytime someone brings up you don’t know what you’re doing.
@Rico because AW, IG and PHW have stated on a few occasions that the transfer kitty also looks after improving player contracts and the salary of the buys.
That is where the infamous ‘we can not afford to spend £50M on a player’ comes from… 😉
And very soon no club will afford to spend £50m on a single player tsGH. Those days will soon go down the drain. Clubs will no longer give out small contracts or long ones to any player. Players know only too well that it will be detrimental to them to sign long term contracts like eight year ones since it will not be beneficial to them when they try to trash their salaries. So they would prefer to sign 3 year contracts, maybe 4 at the maximum. It all depends on the age of the player.
Imo I think that AW wants to tie Theo down to five years while Theo himself wants only two or three, safe in the knowledge that in three years time he can command more than RVP is earning due to being a bosman. And he also knows that according to the present climate AFC will not be able to afford him that salary. So he will be after 100k a week for the next 2 or 3 years knowing full well that when he is 27 he will command more than 250kpw.
However as the banks say…….the past is no guarantee for the future. Theo should keep that well in mind.
What sickens me on this current furore is that the official Arsenal Player site, which plays all AW Press Conferences has used SS/Stasi tactics and zeroed out the fact this shambolic conference took place at all.
A new spine devil, that would sort us out once and for all…
I didn’t think you were Bradster 😉
I think the journalist overstepped the mark but yes, you have a point about he could have just said i am not answering…
But no doubt he’d be wrong again if he did that.
In the fallout from two points dropped on Saturday and Wenger’s response to the press inquisition it seems that the piece of good news to come out of the Villa game has been missed. We have now kept TWO CLEAN SHEETS on the trot!!!! The first time since we conceded a goal in the 6 – 1 thrashing of Southampton back in September.
Let’s hope we can make three on Wednesday.
Only Shitty have a better GA column than us. We only need to start creating chances and scoring them.
For those who say that Bould is not having an influence all they can do is look at the GA column. Then comment.
Currently we are fifth in the GF column. We need to start scoring more. Remember….11 of these goals came in two games against lowly teams 😉
I was being ironic really Tsgh, get rid of the crap that we pay so much, then it wouldn’t be such a big deal….
Just why I wont pay for it Jim…
Hi JW, I’d have been really downhearted had we conceded to a side who had one real shot on target 😉
In the league we have kept 5 clean sheets out of 13 games. That is nearly half the games. and we have failed to score in four.
Seems I miss the games we play poorly. I always have to sift through all the bad sentiment and player bias to see how we really performed.
On Sky sports mobile it seemed like in their text Ramsey was playing well and shooting and was unlucky not to score. According to the fans he was worse than McManaman’s shooting combined with Denielson’s passing.
True Rico, damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
But if you read the reports regarding the Villa game they said that had AFC scored late on that would have been hard on a Villa side. How many games have we been harshly dealt with? We created chance after chance and failed to score with the team encamped in the opposition half and then they score with their sole attack. Villa did it twice in the same game with us around 3 or 4 years ago I think. On them harsh…………on us we are wasteful.
And then people wonder why AW is so arrogant with journos. They all should get a life.
Righto off for now folks.
Need to rest a bit.
cu later on today.
I think a lot of you are stepping around the real issue here. Its not that journalists are asking stupid questions about something they know nothing about, they have always done that.
Its the fact that finally the stalwarts of arsenal support, the travelling away fans that so often have been praised for supporting the team no matter what, even in the infamous 8 – 2 hammering are now turning on the manager.
It must be troubling for him to hear, what I call the elite of the Arsenal fans, namely those that travel to all the away games finally turn on him.
I think that’s why these questions were being asked but not because of some biased anti Arsenal agenda.
How many have we conceded in the PL so far devil?
Thirteen Rico,
A.W’s spat with the journos just goes to prove that the pressure inside the club is mounting. Going back to Scott’s comment earlier about the looks between A.W and Kroenke, there must be a good thousand words there. I get the feeling that something is boiling up within but not on the playing side.
Bradster, Ramsey was unlucky not to score and I didn’t think he played that badly but then nearly all of the team were below their usual standard…
Thanks JW…
Good point TT, you could be spot on there..
I still think something is brewing..
I’m hoping its an AU takeover…
Potter,
I don’t think it means anything more than that on a day when his team dropped two points to a relegation candidate, much to his obvious frustration, he was asked a dumb question that appeared to impugn his coaching ability. He snapped! He did what any reasonable person might do in the circumstances.
Wenger’s contract runs until the end of next season, he will not walk away and the board will not sack him, so for better or worse, just like in a marriage, the club, players and fans will just have to get along.
13 goals Rico
But then again AW will contest that if you take away the 12 goals against BB and maure last season our record is not much better at this stage.
Apologies JW I did not see you post earlier. 😉
The stats for all the teams are here:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/premier-league/best-defence.html
Also…
In this post I am looking at how often a team Win , Lose or Draw when scoring or conceding the first goal. I also want to look further into the time of the first goal so offer an info-graphic to show the time of the first goal in 15 minute bands.
We can look at the limitations first which is that there have only been 11 games played by the majority of teams but I am looking for trends to form as the season progresses. It would obviously be a good idea to review a trend to see how well it has been maintained. Although Manchester United broke the 1-0 away trend at Half Time by beating Aston Villa it is historically a very strong trend.
It should also be noted that the Time band 31-45 includes added time in the first half and 76-90 includes added time in the second half.
The second table shows what the full time result is when the Premier League team scores first and the third table shows what the full time result is when the Premier League team concedes first.
If we look at the data we can see that Everton are the “Comeback” team . They have conceded first in their last 6 games and not lost any which has been well documented. Man United have won the most games when they have conceded first this season thus far with an impressive 5 wins. Now the key here is that will Everton revert to the mean and lose games when they concede first or is this a long running trend? The answer is that time will tell and if we revisit the updated tables in a few months we will certainly have more of an idea.
Scoring First Goal Result Stats
All tables can be sorted by clicking on the Column Headers.
Team Scored First Goal Won Drawn Lost
Arsenal 4 3 1 0
Villa 6 2 2 2
Chelsea 8 6 2 0
Everton 4 3 1 0
Fulham 7 4 1 2
Liverpool 5 2 2 1
Man City 5 4 1 0
Man Utd 4 4 0 0
Newcastle 5 3 2 0
Norwich 4 2 1 1
QPR 2 0 1 1
Reading 4 0 4 0
Southampton 4 0 2 2
Stoke City 5 2 2 1
Sunderland 5 1 3 1
Swansea 3 3 0 0
Spurs 7 4 2 1
WBA 8 6 1 1
West Ham 6 5 0 1
Wigan 5 3 2 0
At this stage people who like to Bet on football may use the data to predict which team will score first or the probability of winning full time, but it is certainly not my position to suggest that. It is clear that Wigan do not have any “fight back” in them thus far when they concede as they have lost 6/6 thus far. Equally Reading and Southampton just cannot take advantage of scoring first as they are still to win full time when scoring first. Swansea and Man United have a 100% win record when scoring first this season thus far.
Conceding First Goal Result Stats
All tables can be sorted by clicking on the Column Headers.
Team Conceded First Goal Won Drawn Lost
Arsenal 5 1 1 3
Villa 5 0 1 4
Chelsea 2 1 0 1
Everton 7 2 4 1
Fulham 4 0 3 1
Liverpool 5 0 2 3
Man City 5 3 2 0
Man Utd 7 5 0 2
Newcastle 6 0 3 3
Norwich 5 0 2 3
QPR 8 0 2 6
Reading 5 0 1 4
Southampton 7 1 0 6
Stoke City 3 0 1 2
Sunderland 3 0 1 2
Swansea 8 0 4 4
Spurs 4 1 0 3
WBA 3 0 1 2
West Ham 3 0 1 2
Wigan 6 0 0 6
If we take this further we now need to look at the time of the first goal in the respective time bands and see if we can see any trends forming. I am going to break that down and look at the time of the first goal by the home team and the away team. Is there is correlation between the time of the first goal and the probability of winning full time? I appreciate that the limitation is that we have a small sample but it should not stop us from exploring this avenue early in the season.
We can see that only one HOME team has lost this season thus far when scoring the first goal in the 0-15 time range and that is Fulham who score on 10′ against Man City at home and lost 2-1 Full Time.
You can also see that just one HOME team has lost this season when scoring first in the 31-45 time band and that is Aston Villa who lost to Man United when 1-0 up at Half Time scoring on 45′. This I expected as you may be aware by now of the 1-0 HT blog which shows how difficult it is for the away team to win FT when losing 1-0 Half Time and Man United are the only team to achieve that this season thus far.
Looking at the 46-60 time band we see that there is a high % of Full Time wins and that is 76%. The key is to follow this trend and see if it continues. The only home team to lose this season when scoring the first goal in the 46-60 time band is Liverpool who scored on 46′ but were already down to 10 men and lost 2-1 at Home to Man United.
Looks like Manchester United and Manchester City are the “trend breakers”.
My conclusion is that it is of interest to look at the time of the first goal in terms of exploring the probability of a team winning the game Full Time. I do not offer a detailed Football predictive model but it is something that is certainly worth exploring for the rest of the season as Southampton, Wigan, Reading and QPR are not picking up points when conceding the first goal. Last season Blackburn and Wolves struggled to “fight back” when conceding first and they were relegated.
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DG 10,
I tried to translate your 1:31 post but it blew my computer up. }}{{{{{{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{
TsGH that gave me a headache…….
Blimey Tsgh, i have to read that again 😉
Afternoon all,
I’m with dutch.
TT 1.06, well said, it’s been going on for far too long now, even the home fans can’t be arsed anymore.
Scott 11.59, wankers in the stand, steady on old boy.
I haven’t read all the comments thus far, so please excuse me if this question has already been asked.
SleepingGiant, if you are still around, may I ask you a question, or two?!
Are/were you a journalist?
Are you a student doing a degree in journalism/media?
Are you employed by a media organisation?
Are you related to anyone who maybe fits any of the above catagories???
Are you a journo, blogging under an assumed name, trying manfully to justify some of your discredited profession???
Kev, SG is a 30 year old who has held a season ticket for 35 years. 😀
haha TT just we rumbling on as usual… 😀
JW 😉
Questions in any form, relevance or context are meant to annoy the brain. Look around you advertising/marketing use them all the time. Why? To tell your subconscious you’re never satisfied. To displace old information. To refresh, influence and convince.
Afternoon Dg Kev and Micko..
Ginge, I simply could not add a thing to that most succinct comment mate.
Afternoon Rico…
A very very good post…
Wow ts, I need to look a little closer into that post. could be worth a bit on spread betting.
A friend of mine saw 8/1 odds for Vettel to win the championship last year with 2 races left. He thought great odds, he’ll bet 1000 bucks. He then re-checked his bet and it said for the 2012 season. Lucky dog still got it right, just.
Mick Dennis, Jim Holden, Amy Lawrence and Steve Stammers are four football journalists I have a lot of time for…
With Adam also rating very high on my Richter Scale…
The rest are all much of a muchness…
Work calls, lata Gooners
Afternoon Gunners how rude of me.
Anyone can see traditional journalism is dead in the water, civil journalism is eroding their authority. Them reverting to extremism and provoking polarity is just knee-jerking on behalf of their employers.
Adam welcome back matey.
Thanks Kev, go steady out there…
Most journalists are like dogs, when ever anything moves they begin to bark. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
You should never pick up a newspaper when you’re feeling good, because every newspaper has a special department, called the Bummer Desk, which is responsible for digging up depressing front-page stories. ~ Dave Barry (Dave Barry is not making this up)
Journalism could be described as turning one’s enemies into money. ~ Craig Brown
Thanks DG. As a (non-sports) journalist myself I must admit to a certain degree of self-loathing.
It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world everyday always just exactly fits the newspaper. ~ Jerry Seinfeld
Thanks Kev and Brad.
I was trying to emphasis why I had been commenting since the Southampton and chavs game that we were conceded goals within the same period almost every match and something had to be done to change the way the team prepared for games. When you look at it last season we were the come back kings of the whole Europe but the media said we had no leadership. This season however, in games such as the Stoke and the AV games where we kept a clean sheet we still had goals disallowed within those same critical period. What is cause the lose of focus at those times I hope Bould and AW are working!
Conceding close to 60% of our goals in the first 20 minutes is a worrying trend.
Very true DG- I have old associates who support journos in conflict zones and what they say happens never gets reported.
The ‘news’ should be termed the ‘filtered must know’
Haha Adam. You experience the same professional deficiency as me. As an creative marketeer I despise most of what my field of work puts out.
You know that the world is changed by those who aren’t satisfied with it. I’m a rebel with a cause, always have been. Self-loathing is a price I happily prepared to pay. Leave milking trends to those whom call themselves guru. I’m throwing my weight at blazing my own trail. Independent thinker.
Not all are that bad Adam 😉
Off for a bit…..
I don’t so much mind that newspapers are dying-it’s watching them commit suicide that pisses me off. ~ Molly Ivins
Tea-break, hmm.
Sorry Lee, how rude, hello mate, how are ya doing?
With Adam back the blog has taken on a more comfortable feel…
Like your favourite slippers… 😉
DG, how are tings in the Low Countries?
Any transfer tittle-tattle to report?
It must be getting close to Christmas…
The Charity Stormtroopers are out in force…
The first time Adam and I have been compared to a pair of Jack the Rippers!! 😆
Lee, busy mate…?
Rocky must snowed under… 🙂
Well that tea was very refreshing, now I must return to the fray, lata
Yeah been manic here mate….
Goodday gunnersphere,
Good post rico. Your post reflects little of what went on in the presser. For those of us who haven’t seen the video but read the script above, watch a 7min of it here and judge for yourself. The question asked by the journo was intended to cause a rift b/w Wenger and the fans. But AW was smart enough to know that was their intention.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4663537/Arsenal-fans-turn-on-Arsene-Wenger-after-dull-0-0-draw-at-Villa.html
Lets keep the faith my fellow gunners. The team is slowly picking up again. The unbalance caused by Gibbs and Diaby is gradually being restored. 2 cleans sheets in last 2 and we can push on from here. The team wasn’t as bad as we are being made to believe in the Villa. Just that we couldn’t get a goal to win that match. But considering that match was played under a dreadful and treacherous condition the team did very well. The defence is now looking solid once more, hopefully we get theo back so we could have goal threat from our front three
Kev
Only Huntelaar ordering pillow & bed covers in our fanshop. Says Arsenal ultimately makes up his dreamworld much like Alice in Wonderland. 😉
Well said Emma! Here’s to a win on weds night! 😉
https://twitter.com/premierleague/status/273093903345938432
Lee – 😉 hoping for the best on weds
Thanks emma..
Wenger should have left Jack in London, and had someone else on the bench… Hindsight is easy isn’t it….
Wish I’d seen that i/v before writing the post, those asking the questions were quite hostile at times weren’t they and others you could feel were almost laughing at him….
‘you have a little bit of Alzheimer’ said Wenger 😆
How rude, evening….
howdy folks, what’s new? theo selling his house huh? jack injured and we spend a million more on wages more than totscum? is there no positive news this morning? and don’t nobody say klaas jan huntelaar!
is that adam i see? christ blood, where have you been buddy? i missed ya. how’s the family and your book? am almost done with mine though….just waiting for a good proof reader.
Downing goonster 😉
rico – Hindsight should have left jack in London. But i doubt if he had any minor injury. The condition under which the match was played was too risky to take a gamble on wilshere and the lad deserve a rest.
hahahhahahh rico you tease…….
Emma
Why? Why didn’t you exercise your right? Don’t you know you’re entitled? Ask questions like you earned them!! 🙂
DG – 😉 probably sleepinggiant was the one harrassing AW during the presser 😉
Emma
SleepingGiant is Huntelaar’s nickname. 😛
In tonight’s evening standard..”I have my views on AFC and they are tendered with respect for a great football man. One is that his policies have ensured that the club will remain stable and potent in the era of FFP. Another is that the £40m AW is understood to have for the January window should be spent on,at most, two players.
There are enough bodies about the place – what Arsenal is more of the class that used to ooze from Henry, Bergkamp, Viera and company. Jack Wilshires and Cazorla have it. One more top notches would make a difference.
But don’t imagine that this argument – or any – would come as news to AW. He knows what he’s doing!” By Patrick Barclay.
Lee – Arsenal will return back to it’s glory days again. The drought is almost over. We ve being in the wilderness for so long. It hurts AW to see that after building a team and you are about to reap the reward of your labour, you lose a core component of the team because of financial cloud Flamini/Hleb(2007/2008), fabregas/Nasri(2010/2011), RVpursering(2012). If only Flamini/Hleb had stayed
But, we knew it was raining emma 😉
We really aren’t that far away from silverware…..
yep lee…….just check the emirates trophy cabinet yo ninny!
Crikey Lee, did a journalist really write that….
wow to think that the quartet” THEOVANASREGAS ll be confined to history, the last of ’em ll soon slip out of our hands. bummer.
Evening all,
Good debating Post Rico,
Many seem to think that Arsene should be protected from arsehole Journo’s but when a game ends and the fans are chanting, it opens the door for sick Journo’s who are trying to get the headlines. At the end of the day Wenger has had a very barren run and it doesn’t look like things are going to change anytime soon. I have been a Wenger supporter, but for a club that is supposed to be one of the best run business models for other clubs to follow, i can only wonder why our team is as bad as they are. Perhaps the club is being run well but there must be a question mark over the running of the team. Our away supporters have shown regulary that they are behind the team, but when they start to question, so should the board
Evening and thanks Steve..
I can’t understand why we so often play so average, yet another day play so well… Frustrating….
Passing to a team-mate shouldn’t be so difficult should it…?
Was listening to that Spanish journo Guillume Balague on TalkRubbish earlier.
And he said that he was told that Wenger is give £10million each summer and told to sell if he wants to buy more than that…
Not sure how true that is, but it would not surprise me one iota.
Haven’t you peeps discovered yet. We are playing basketball tactics. Avoiding the shot clock area until we run out of passes to complete.
Wouldn’t surprise me either Kev, wish he’d tell us that though if its true…
I’m off to get dinner, back in a bit….
Hey Rico, great result in India…
Think we can go on and win the series now.
Reminiscent of our past passing and slam dunking. We can be great again. We know you players read HH.
Unleash the beast of the unexpected, unexplained and unexplored. Trash glory, reap rewards. COYG!!
evening all..
Mornng all.
Fans should never boo anyone giving their all.
Doing so only gives gives the scumbags ammo,and makes the entire club look stupid.
Is this what they are trying to achieve?
We can dance around the factors all we like,but i have not read one single comment from anybody that even attempts to suggest there is a positive to be found in booing Wenger.
Sorry Micko,but i do believe wankers in the stands is a fair desription of anyone thinking they know more about managing Arsenal FC than Wenger…..i didn’t,however,mean to suggest everyone sitting in the stands is a wanker.
Those chants do no good at all,but plenty of bad.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Sure was Kev, maybe not such a bad idea to forgive KP 😉
Evening peoples….
Scott –
but those same fans are the backbone of the support on trips away from home. Just look at how much they spend, how far they travel etc etc.
Kev re. 6:09.Balague said something similar last year when the Mata saga was ongoing. He said the same the year before too during the WC in SA that the Cesc told the Major of Catalina that AW told him that he had spent all his transfer budget on Kozzer and the salary of Shitemak that year.
During the Mata rumours, Balague stated that a deal had been agreed between both parties however, AW was waiting on the money of the sale of either Cesc or Nasri to pay of Valencia but Barac knew that AFC needed the money to pay of Valencia so they were dragging their feet.
The discuss went south though the moment Balague said he would like AW to take over RM and see what he can do with a huge budget. The Ginger twat then concluded that i/v saying AW was scared of big stars so he was not man enough to take over RM.
I am intrigued to find out what the moron said in responds to that old news. I bet he acted like that was the first time he had heard that!
Crazy Joey barton in a french accent during a presser
Scott talking of idiotic fans in the stands, a typical example is WHU fans spilling anti-semitic chants against the spuds when WHU have a Jewish owner in David Gold and Yossi on the field.
Some of the things I hear when I go to chelsea does not surprise me though.
is that the Normandy accent? lol.
Big difference the Atlantic ocean big difference.lmao
Tsgh, those fans at west ham are stupid and ignorant, the club have said they will ban any caught on cctv and for life if deemed fit…
Good…
Couldn’t care less what language Barton speaks, its all Burgundy to me.
Evening Rico, Scott (morning), Emma, Ginge.
Evening Dg, that’s very polite about Barton…. 😉
WHU another club that tumbled from grace. Or is it me remembering them as respectable?
gosh i love joey barton……i ll take him now over most of our out of form mid fielders. hahahahaah afternoon folks, what’s cooking?
Rico
I have moral ethics for those suffering mental issues. 😉
when did this mug swim the channel rico? i didnt even know he’s in france. please what club is he playing for?
hello……..anybody home?
Blame Big Sam Dg….
You are on form today goonie, yesterday Downing, and now Barton 😉 Back in the summer he moved to France, to avoid his PL ban….
hahahaah what club is he playing for maam?
Marseille goonie….
hahahah marseille? christ in heaven!
It is funny goonster….
Anyway, i am done for the day, you all have a good day/evening/night, wherever you are…
’til tomorrow….
Night all…
Ginge, Balague was on the mid-morning show.
I never listen to Durham, if I can help it.
Durham has psychopathic tendencies, nobody else is allowed an opinion when he is on.
That ginger twat is a certainty for psychiatrict treatment sometime in the near future.
Nite nite madam. Monday blues today. I’m off too.
Night Goonie, Ginge, Scott, Emma.
Night Rico, 🙂
Nite Kev. You be safe in the small hours.
Dank u wel Dutch, 😉
Kev
You might not realize but I sometimes worry about your safety. You know those nutters and all. There are more in society than instituted.
Rico,this is a massive stretch,i know,but am i entitled to verbally abuse my son since i fund him?
No,dignity and respect must be maintained,and blame must be aimed at the right target.
The board has a big X on it’s forehead(s).
Scott, it don’t sit easy with me that’s all.
These guys are an extremely loyal and closely knit bunch of supporters who eat, breathe and shit Arsenal, it’s a sure fire sign all isn’t well at the club.
They’re entitled to make their opinions known and like it or not Wenger has become one of those targets, not everyone’s happy with the job he’s doing, although not a member he’s still very much part of the board set-up imo so you can stick an ‘X’ on his forehead as well.
The protest march before the Swansea game next week should tell us a bit more about supporters feelings, not sure the board will be quaking in their boots mind ya.
Micko,i know what you are saying,but booing the manager is not on,imo.
A march that is well organised gets my vote every time…..it can get the message through with class that booing the manager does not.
The only time i would ever boo a player or manager is if they didn’t try or didn’t care.
Nobody else should suffer the embarrassment of copping this abuse from people incapable of doing the job 10% as well,let alone better.
A march can achieve ten times more than a boo,and gets the message to the right people.
Just for the record,i am not happy with the job he doing.
My problem with condemning him is that he doesn’t have the tools required to do the job right,and we really do not know whose fault that is.
While i defend Wenger,i have also said that if he is given the cash and still fails to produce,then get rid of him,and i would have no issue at all.
Scott, I was an away supporter for over 5 years albeit a long time ago now, giving up your Saturdays, early starts and often late night returns, taking half days off from work during the week and pulling sickies the following day because you were just too knackered to get out of bed in the morning after a night in Newcastle, I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys, back then the players were earning an honest days wage, now they won’t get out of bed for less than 60K a week and the supporters are paying through the nose for it.
I’ve been chased out of Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea, even Luton by a mad bunch of Hatters but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Nite Scott, remember if your sweating your working too hard, take 5.
Micko,again,i know what you’re saying,but in this case,i still say they they are wrong.
I will admit that it shows how serious the coubs situation is,though.
Hopefully the message gets through to those who need a kick up the arse.
Morning all…
New Post up…