I had the pleasure of two free tickets in Club Level yesterday. Did you know that that lucky lot get free beer and you know how good yummy free beer tastes? And, as if that wasn’t enough there is actually a Chinese noodle bar in there, yes, real people cooking fresh stir fry in woks right there in front of you, amazing, it really is another world.
So why I asked myself did one person swap two tickets in club level for my one ticket in the Upper West? Because, as I found, all is not what it seems in club level: I have long had my suspicions about a group of Arsenal supporters that collectively leave five minutes before the end, this may be a generalisation but you surely must have noticed how embarrassingly empty Club Level looks long before the final whistle? In short they collectively struck me as being a bunch of tossers, my suspicions were confirmed by one incident that made me feel ashamed to be an Arsenal supporter.
After taking my seat and adjusting my focus to being that much closer to the pitch I surveyed the people around me, like you do, and noticed three men in their sixties getting animated at the wrong time, then bizarrely, one of them let out a cry on “Come on Wolves” very strange behaviour, most people around just smiled. On the pitch they were the domesticated variety of Wolves that had made their way down from the Black Country and these three supporters were certainly the domesticated variety off the pitch. They really were no harm and if anything they were creating a bit of atmosphere where otherwise there would have been none.
Do three men in their sixties strike you as being a threat? To my shame there were Arsenal supporters everywhere with their hands up calling the stewards as if they were at school telling teacher, I really expected the stewards to tell these girly Arsenal supporters to get a life but to my shock they took them seriously and actually asked them to stop making a noise…for goodness sake they only said “Come on Wolves” three times in the whole of the first half. I thought that would be the end of it but no, sadly they never returned for the second half; the stewards ejected them from the ground at the break. I was truly ashamed.
Oh yeah, the game. The first half was a frustrating light weight affair with Walcott making good runs down the wing but no end product. Half time came; I now understand why the whole of club level is deserted: free beer.
Second half and we continued in the same frustrating way that looked like we weren’t going to score if the game were played for a month of Sunday’s. This all changed when one of their not quite so domesticated Wolves got himself sent off for a silly lunge at Rosicky. Down to ten men and things were better I now thought, rather than a month it would only take two weeks of Sundays’ for us to score.
Subs were made Nasri brightened things up as did Vela, although, it was clear why Wenger leaves him on the bench so much and last but not least on came Denmark’s finest: Nikki B, gone is the nonchalant smile suggesting that maybe, if I can be arsed, I will put in a bit of effort into the game and on is the more gritted look of determination and determination was exactly what he brought to the game.
But time was running out and along with it were our title hopes; then, deep into injury time, when all the obituaries had been written and many a “Supporter” from Club Level had left, Sagna sent over the best cross of his life, Nick forced his way in front of a Wolves defender to powerfully head it home. Unbridled joy, relief and my son keeps his one hundred per cent record of only ever having seen Arsenal win and his time stretches back to when Seaman was playing. I digress again; three points and we are still in the hunt. Next up Barça
By London
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning all
I will leave the player ratings to you.
My MOM would be Rosicky
Morning All
Please bring your son to the Barca game…..We need him.
That made me smile, nice one gooner.
Wont be able to make the game due to work commitments. Have got a ticket in the Arsenal end. If anyone in Cyprus wants to go to the game I will gladly give the ticket for free to a fellow Gunner
morning peeps…
interesting post LOndon.
so were you the only one in club level to see nikkiBs goal due to early leavers?
cant believe we got another late goal and still in with a shout at the title… arsenes selection was justified in my opinion and this time he got away with it! this set of boys sure have team spirit – was there a huddle London, I didnt notice.
Morning Tommy
I might be a good Arsenal supporter but I’m not that good. Huddle? I was long gone 😉
Morning all,
Fine post London, I highlighted the ‘fans leave early’ a while back, the same thing hapened in the blogworld, with ‘fans’ writing us off before the final whistle. Someone said that Sol went mental when we scored, but I couldn’t see it on MoTD. It seems that Sol is the the most highly motivated in the squad although sadly, I assume he won’t be playing on tuesday.
An Irish gunner here. A couple of seasons a go I was treated to trip to the Emirates. We had tickets for the club section which was excellent, however the fans that inhabit this area leave a lot to be desired.
As we got wrapped up in the match, we passionatly shouted on the lads. To my amazement 4 guys sitting in front of us (season ticket holders) asked us to be be quiet as they couldn’t hear the match. We informed them to go in and watch the game on the TV as we were here to support the team ,not analyize the game.
Unfortunately there was a lot more of these type of fans there whom sit in silence watching. Thankfully some of that section joined in with us and we had a great time.
If Sol is not playing on Tuesday it will not because of fitness; he very cleverly kept his whole game in second gear, except for when we scored and then he put it in turbo but seriously, yesterday for him required no more exertion than an afternoon on the training ground.
I know it’s out of character, but our game plan on tuesday has to be to keep it really tight at the back and try to nick a goal. If we play open expansive football they’ll cut through us. It’s the ultimate role reversal.
I’d play Sol at CB and tell Song and Denilson to sit in front of the back four. If its nil nil after 80 minutes, there’ll only be one winner – the mighty Arsenal………..
i love it when them tossers leave early and we score a last gasp goal. it cheers me up no end. keep it up bendy
OK, here are some ratings:
Almunia: Not much to do, but misplaced a few clearances: 6
Sagna: Solid performance, although not called on too much defensively. Gets an extra point for the match-winning cross: 7
Silvestre: Solid defensively and had one or two good forward runs that stretched their defense. One of his best games for Arsenal: 7.5
Campbell: Another strong display. Wolves played with only one man up so our defense was never that challenged, but he was solid and made one marauding charge that lifted the crowd: 7
Vermaelen: A typically sound defensive performance, and roamed forward a fair bit towards the end: 7
Rosicky: Pulled the strings all day long and his strength on the ball belied his stature. MotM: 8.5
Song: Combative as ever, but seemed a little off colour: 6
Denilson: Tidy game – kept things moving and tackled well: 7
Walcott: A curate’s egg of a perfromance. Was outstanding for 15 minutes. Threatened all game long but there are still issues with his final ball (the four-against-one break when we were 1-0 up was a perfect example – he just needed to slide a sideways ball to make it 2-0 yet contrived to play the pass behind his team mates): 6.5
Eboue: Bright start but faded: 6
Eduardo: Oh Eddie! The crowd’s desire for him to start scoring is palpable, but it just won’t happen. One embarrassing fluff and a couple of near misses. Most worrying was his lack of movement when we were attacking: 5
Subs
Nasri: Brightened things up when he came on. Always available and eager to make something happen. 7.5
Vela: Showed glimpses of skill, looked lightweight in the tackle, but we won’t really know what he’s like until he gets a few games: 6
Bendtner: Great effort and a great goal. Not the most naturally gifted player but he is a real tryer and, as London’s post so aptly put it, he saved our bacon again: 8
Sol was fabulous yesterday, he was the back one yesterday while TV played in the hole for most of the latter part of the second half and Silvestre and Sagna played on the wing. None of this comes across on MoTD.
Worth giving credit to Silvestre; he was skilful, put in some great crosses and made a big difference.
Enough of the moaning about Theo. He was the most effective attacking player on the pitch for the whole game. He must have made about twenty crosses as well as attacking the goal. Two of them were useless, most of the rest fairly threatening and a handful should have led to goals (the Eduardo miss anyone)? He still has some way to go, just like Nik, but if every cross was like David Beckham’s then Theo would be the first name on the England teamsheet, so give the guy a break.
London, I wondered where you were. Good write up today, I hadn’t realised it was so bad in club level. Arsenal fans used to have a reputation for sporting behaviour and appreciating good football. I think we showed that against Barça. We even had a Spud fan behind us when they last came to the Emirates, he was respectful and no-one really took any notice.
Rockylives, good assessment. I agree Rosicky was great. He also seemed quite good in the air which surprised me a bit.
Alfa, I take your point about Theo – he definitely can’t be faulted for the constant level of threat he provides. Sometimes I just wish he would look up before crossing. The weird thing was, in the first 15-20 mins he took the right option every time and almost made a couple of goals. In his second half efforts he wasn’t helped by Eddie’s lack of movement.
RockyLives, Eduardo’s lack of movement is a key part of it. Theo is still learning; if every time he puts in a cross, and even the good ones don’t find someone’s head or boot, how is he supposed to progress.
Nik’s goal (albeit from Sagna’s cross) came partly because he did make some movement and got across in front of a Wolves defender. That happened very rarely in the rest of the game.
London, can you see the dugouts from the Club Level?
Did you see McCarthy’s clownish goading of the Arsenal fans after he’d slapped his boy on the back for kicking Rosicky? Or at the end of the match?
Hi Rocky,
Thanks for the player ratings. I learnt a long time ago that the prespective from the TV is vastly different from the stands. I saw the performances pretty much as you described them. I nearly kicked the screen in on my TV when Almunia cleared the ball straight into touch in extra time.
Thanks Rasp. As the match wore on I think the pervading sense in the stadium was that we weren’t going to pull this one out of the bag, so big respect to Nikki B for battling right to the end and proving us wrong.
Late morning all
Great write up London. I’ve sat in club level a few times and its just not the same.
I did think we would always score but to leave it so late means all the ‘you’re so jammy’ comments come out from that spud lot.
What a shame for Eduardo that he fluffed his chances early on – he just needs to score. I was surprised he started but he worked hard for the first 20 minutes.
I was impressed with Tweety at left-back. Sol was, of course, immense and the crowd do love singing hes a gooner. As long as hes not beaten for pace he’s just soooooo strong. Vermaelen drove the play forward in the 2nd half on the left-hand side – he was everywhere. It was pretty obvious that Wolves weren’t going to score and we just threw everything at them.
Didn’t notice a huddle after he game but as we’d only just scored it probably wasn’t necessary.
McCarthys behaviour was disgusting when Henry got sent off – hes like a pantomine character.
McCarthy was trying to make a statement that he didn’t think it was a sending off. I haven’t seen TV replays of it – I just had the real-time view in the stadium – but the newspaper reports I’ve read today seem to indicate that it was a harsh red (and even Wenger seemed to support that thought with his comments).
Great player ratings Rockylives, do you fancy doing the match report for the Barça game? I have done about twenty on the bounce and I am bored of reading my own so a fresh view would really be welcome.
I think the red was harsh as it turned out, but a fraction of a second later or an inch to the left and it could have been a season ending tackle so I doubt it will be rescinded. It is possible that refs are more sensitive to those types of challenges due to our recent history. I don’t think the fact that they were down to 10 men necessarily made it any easier for us to score. Mind you it was easier for us to score than miss when we were 4 on 1 at the end and we managed to fluff that.
Rosicky did go down as if it was a really bad injury and I was very worried about him, that might have persuaded the ref. I haven’t seen it again either but heard some callers to Talksport saying that Rosicky was almost stationary when Henry went through him.
Wolves weren’t very good and I’m not sure whether the sending-off made any difference to either team.
Hi Alfa
At half time there is a huge table full of pints of Lager that people can help themselves to. I burst out laughing thinking about the expression on Bob P’s face, can you imagine him seeing that for the first time? Lol
😉 snap rasp
Just to put the record straight. It doesn’t matter if the tackling player gets the ball or not when he goes straight through the player as well – it is excessive force. It’s only dinosaurs like McCarthy who think that getting the ball means it is a fair challenge.
Morning/afternoon peaches 😛
London – thats why they all leave before half-time so that they can get to the free pints!!!!!!!!!!!
Theres free wine too but you have to know which table its going to be on.
Where you been rasp I’ve been here for ages 😳
I found out some information for you and sent you a text.
London, happy to have a stab at the Barca report. I’ve got my headline all ready: “Arsenal Nik it in injury time.”
By the way Alfa, do you know who picked up my season ticket?
Morning all
Interesting observations London, well written. Although I suspect for some one as worldly as you the surprise probably wasn’t absolute.
AS for the game, watched it on “footy on line” getting more and more nervous until the stream itself bowed to the pressure and expired completely in injury time, thereby denying me any sight of the goal. Only a quick switch to five live enabled me to discover the outcome, thus saving me the embarrassment of drop kicking next doors cat over our conifer hedge and back into its own territory.
Five more of these tense affairs to go, so keep taking the heart and blood pressure pills pre-game and lie down in a quiet place afterwards and you might just live to see us lift the pot.
Happy day Arsy bloggers, arry definitely wont be happy at home today “Bless im”
Very quiet is everyone down the pub
I am with Alfa. Theo needs to get moving up that steep learning curve ahead of him. Chamakh will make a difference to Theo. (So will Rooney in S. Africa.) Bendy is slow to break into the right positions for crosses, as we saw with Barca and Nasri’s balls in from the left. There is not enough guile in our team at the moment. We made Mancienne look very good and he’s only just good – a dogged, good athlete, but inexperienced and certainly not quick of thought. Barca made me realize this about us. We play too simply. Not enough twists and turns, of picking out the third option, of intentional misdirected passes to set up an unexpected killer pass or dribble. Cesc, Arshavin and Nasri are fine. Rosicky when he’s playing. Diaby, Bendy, Walcott, Song and the full backs, even Eboue, are too predictable. It’s all a bit la-di-da around the box. Bendtner and Walcott in particular and it’s easy for defenders to defend that type of build up play, even at speed. Very little savvy between those two. I am hoping that Chamakh knows a bit about disguised runs to the near post at the last second like Eduardo used to. I wonder how Bendtner will feel about being our third choice striker up top? Chamakh doesn’t get hurt much.
Welcome Icey,
Some very perceptive observations. I dont think Nik has the physique to ever be that quick, but he is learning to make the most of what nature has given him. I agree that Chamakh will give us an extra missing piece in the jigsaw. Diaby does have the ability to turn defenders and one day I’d like to see him playing in the No. 10 position or just as far advanced as Cesc has been lately.
Great comment Icey
I hope you come back with a few more of that high quality comments.
nice write up london.
hope you are all enjoying the hols with friends/family
usually… we all dread a long bank holiday weekend coming to an end…
the magic of supporting the mighty arsenal, makes us gooners excited and in anticipation of the weekend coming to an end..
and the classic game of football on tuesday night.
they are awesome, saw them again last night, they truly are the best team in the world
been a while since we had our backs up against the wall, so to speak… this team have the resilience of the GG team in the cup winners cup in the early 90s
maybe not as rugged, but mentally, they have it.
some night ahead for us.
Hi SFH
I was too scared to watch last night. I feel like I’m in the boat at the beginning of the Saving Private Ryan and we are all about to land on Omaha Beach. I have to admit that Tuesday terrifies me.
I’m just excited, we are expected to get butchered, so things can actually only pan out better 😉
I feel we’ve a much better chance of winning at Barça than we did at home. By the end, their confidence was shattered and they’ll remember that. They thought we were dead and buried, but we just wouldn’t give up. To them, a draw in that game feels like a loss, to us it was a massive victory. Puyol said the first half was the best he’d ever seen them play – and they didn’t score. We have the mental advantage, there will be so much expectation heaped on them at home.
absolutely, rasp.
true rasp the had to change to long ball tactic to score and now zlatans out the dont really have that option any more
*they
boy would i love to be heading out to barcelona for the game… we got a draw the last time we went out there..
i fancy 2-2 again, 4-4 on agg
an incredibile et, then pens.
🙂 ECG’s at the ready
Tues night could be very interesting, no one gives us a chance, which as all gooners know is when we are at our best.
If we can hod them long enough for the crowd to turn then anything can happen.
Liverpool just drawn 0-0, bang goes there fourth place
1-1
Me and my silly fingers, LOL thanks String
you watching the game with your son again, dandan?
i have to watch it by myself, i won’t be able to tolerate other people whilst watching this game 😆
interesting that both puyol and guardiola say thats the best performance that theyve had in the last couple of years….
whats the chance of them replicating on tuesday considering their moral after last wednesday! i expect them to be good but not as good.
If we are at our best (a big ask, i know) then we have a good chance!
Whats more i dont believe the talk about them letting their foot off the gas on wednesday and letting arsenal back in it. Whenever any team plays that high tempo pressing game they always tire and arsenal finish stronger.
Hi Icey. You clearly have an insightful and discerning football brain ;).
London, I thought the reason the club level cleared so quickly at half time was precisely so they could get to the beer before Bob did 😆
I don’t know who had your ticket, didn’t know it was even free. Don’t tell my daughter 😉
Yes I will watch it with both the boys, I think the Man City fan is gonna drive over. Gonna get some stick no doubt.
Alfa
The ticket certainly didn’t go begging I swapped with the guy who sits to my left but he was supposed to give it to one of us. Did you sit down with us or back in your usual place?
Rasp
I think you had better do the pre match team talk. My images of Saving Private Ryan might put them off a bit. Lol
London i was in my usual place.
Gael Clichy is a studio guest on SKY for the Real game.. he speaks very well on the game.
I see the make-up girls have done a good job on that scar under his eye.
I loved Andy Gray’s analysis of tuesday’s game. He didn’t quite say it, but maybe his head says Barça I can tell he has a gut feeling we’ll win.
I think Andy Gray should do the team talk – when he loves Arsenal he really loves Arsenal.
Late late evening all…..
I watched via some streams yesterday, and I really didn’t see that goal coming when it did. It was one of those moments when you’re sinking further and further into your armchair….and praying.
Just when you;re thininkg well its been a good PL battle, and there’s still Tues to come…..up steps Nik B. F-ing Brilliant.
Re Tues. I was at the Nou Camp for our last visit back in 1999. Wot an experience. I managed to combine catching that game with a first anniversary trip to the City.
A year earlier I’d taken my new bride to see River Plate vs Ferro whilst on honeymoon !!
Somehow, I’m still married nearly 12yrs on.
Nite all….
Morning all
Theres a NEW POST
Have you noticed the other main difference between Bendtner and Adebayoffside? (The clue is in the question)