Alright, I know he scored four goals of great individual skill and single-handedly dumped us out of the Champion’s League, I know he’s the new Messi-ah and he’s going to light up the World Cup this summer, but bloody hell, didn’t Messrs Gray, Tyler and Keys have the hots for young Lionel? By the end of the game I was gagging on the great dollops of statistics they’d been shoving down my throat about the wonderboy; four hat tricks since January; Fifa world player of the year by the tender age of 22; already Barcelona’s equal highest goal scorer in the Champion’s League. At any moment I was expecting Tyler to tell us that he is now officially the most famous person ever to have been called Lionel:
Tyler: “Surely the best Lionel of all time, would you agree Andy?”
Gray: “Don’t get me wrong. I loved Lionel Blair in Give Us A Clue and as for Lionel Richie, well… he could do it All Night Long… but this little Argentinian – he’s something else.”
And he was. But that’s going to be documented just about everywhere else today, so I want to talk about the Arsenal.
There’s no getting away from it, we were well beaten over two legs by a team that is superior to ours. Yes, we were missing Cesc, Robin, Arsh, Gallas, Song and the rest, but even if we had had every member of our squad fully fit we would still have been beaten. Barcelona are a team who play football the way Arsenal play it, but do it better. Strangely, I don’t find this depressing, I find it encouraging. The fact that the best team in the world plays our type of football is a vindication of what Wenger is trying to do, albeit with fewer resources and in a more hostile environment (if Barca played in the Premier League I wonder how many broken legs they would have suffered over the last couple of seasons). I believe it will fire up Arsene to move us up a level in our team play and we will reap the benefits next year. And we may even reap some of them this year if the players show the same positive reaction to this setback that they did to defeats this season by Chelsea and Man Utd.
Despite the 4-1 scoreline we put in a better overall performance than we had a week ago when we drew 2-2 at the Emirates. This time we didn’t stand off the Barca players and admire their pretty passing patterns, we chased and harried them from the off, with Nasri in particular putting in an almighty shift.
Messi gave an early warning of his menace with a snap shot that was going wide but was sensibly turned round anyway by Almunia and followed up a few minutes later with a shot that dipped onto the roof of the net, but those chances aside it was a cagey start.
And then, on Oh My God! We’ve scored – we’re one nil up at the Nou Camp. Great determination by Diaby to win the ball in midfield and release Walcott running in behind the Barca defence. Theo did his best to mess it up with a lame pass to Bendtner but when his shot came back off Valdes, Bendy was first to react and poked it home – a finish of great determination.
I’m sure all Gooners really started to believe at that point, but the euphoria was cut cruelly short. A quick Barca attack, the ball rebounding perfectly to Messi off Nasri and Silvestre and it was 1-1.
To their credit, the lads kept battling, although every tackle seemed to bring a foul to Barca (Denilson was hard done by to get a yellow for a great ball-winning tackle on Messi). Then the Argentinian struck again on 36 mins, Abidal sending a low cross in from wide left and the ball again falling kindly for Barca. Pedro helped it on to Messi who took a lovely touch before placing it past Almunia.
At this point you’re thinking – if we can hang on at 2-1 until half time we’re still in it, but it wasn’t to be: Messi charging through a massive gap in our defence after Vermaelen was caught forward and dinking a sublime chip over Big Al.
The second half was a less spectacular affair. We continued to chase but our final ball usually let us down and Barca were fanatical in their attempts to win the ball back when we had possession. On a couple of occasions where we were stringing passes together we ended up going backwards towards our own goal, such was Barcelona’s pressure.
Pep Guardiola, keen not to repeat the mistakes made at the Emirates, brought on Yaya Toure to keep things tight and for most of the second half Barca played at a slower tempo, keeping the ball.
We had a couple of half chances – Bendtner’s touch letting him down in the box, Rosicky firing high from the edge of the area and Bendtner hitting the post with a header (which wouldn’t have counted as he was flagged for offside), but it never seemed likely that a goal would come.
Eboue came on for Silvestre, with Sagna moving to central defence; Eduardo replaced the tired-looking Rosicky, but nothing really changed and Barcelona’s and Messi’s fourth goal was not a big surprise. He did well to hold off Vermaelen in the box, but when Almunia saved his shot the ball again fell kindly for the Argentine and he slotted between Al’s legs.
Full time 4-1, aggregate 6-3 and you couldn’t disagree when Arsene said Barelona were better than us.
But this team can push on and get better. We clearly need a world class finisher – let’s hope Chamakh is that man (if the rumours are true) and some of our young players need more experience, but if we take one lesson away from these two games it’s that pretty football is not enough on its own. Barcelona play like thoroughbreds but they work like shire horses – and we need to start doing the same.
Next stop, the terrible Totts. A win there will soon put this honourable defeat into perspective.
Player Ratings:
Almunia: Can’t fault him for any of the goals (he was particularly unlucky for the fourth) and he made a couple of decent stops. He kicked long too many times when he could have played it to one of the defenders, thereby ceding possession to best ball-holding side in the world. 6
Sagna: Worked hard, made a couple of good forward breaks with little end product. 6
Clicy: Good game, constantly trying to get forward and coped moderately well with the waves of Barca attacks. 7
Vermaelen: Was stranded up field for Messi’s third. He and Silvestre struggled with Barca’s movement (but so would most defenders). 6
Silvestre: Did OK. Unfairly blamed by some for Messi’s first (check out the replays: it bounced off Nasri an instant before MS played it). 6
Denilson: Worked hard, but was occasionally caught in possession and final ball not great. 6
Diaby: Much improved performance compared with his showing in the first leg. Battled hard and set up Bendtner’s goal. 7
Nasri: It didn’t always come off for him and his final ball was sometimes wayward, but he worked his socks off, closed down the Barca players all night and was involved in some of our better forward moves. MotM (for us – there might just be a different candidate for overall MotM). 7.5
Rosicky: I thought he was our best player on Saturday, but looked leggy in this game and was responsible for a lot of lost possession. 5
Walcott: Started brightly but faded. 6
Bendtner: Never stops trying and took his goal well, but just lacks that bit of class in games like this one. 6.5
Subs:
Eboue: Did his best but the game was already lost when he came on. 6
Eduardo: No real chance to get in the game. N/A
By our guest writer RockyLives
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
My grandfather was Lionel.
I vote Blair – I hated Ritchie’s music(he can sod off and take his ghastly daughter and ghastly music away with him), at least Blair could poke fun at himself.
And morning all, again.
Ah… if only I’d known – he’d have been in the mix too.
Denilson, Clichy, Nasri and Bendtner came away with credit for me. Sure Diaby was better than last week but 7 is way too high. He was probably a 4 last week and 5 this. If he’d have played Walcott in the second time we could have been talking a different story.
but hey, hands up Messi was class and with a depleted side was always going to be difficult. Need to raise our heads for one final push on the title..
Morning all
Superb report Rocky,
If that’s your debut article then the blog world is in for a treat. It’s easy to highlight the negatives at a time like this.
I love the idea that being beaten by a team that plays our type of football is a vindication of what we are trying to achieve. I wonder how Barça’s budget/spending on players compares to ours? One thing is for sure, every player in the world who has ambition wants to play for Barcelona.
How rude of me, thanks for the write up RockyL’s.
Morning Livers,
In the past few years, we’ve had ‘one week’ when all our hopes were dashed and we were left looking forward to what might be next season. We must pick ourselves up and put in a battling performance against the spuds – I’ll settle for a draw. I had texts from spud fans after the game last night and want to return the compliment.
Good review Rocky Lives. I agree Mozart was below par. I actually thought he would make a difference but he fell well short of that IMO.
Morning again all
Thankyou again Rocky for a great read this morning. Well done to you.
I watched the pre-match chat between the sky guys and they were really looking forward to the game, looking forward to watching Us and Barcelona. They would have found superlatives for us too if we’d had the upper hand. They were in the end, just delighted to have witnessed a great night of football – did we contribute to that or were we just the fall guys?
I reckon we were the stooges to an extent Peachy, maybe we should have resorted to giving Messi a bit of a kicking, but then that’s against our team’s nature and it would have resulted in a pretty quick red card. We don’t know how to foul efficiently.
Come back Nelson(Vivas, not Lord), all is forgiven.
We are going to beat the Spuds and get back on track for 84 points.
Great write up RockyLives.
Rasp, Barça have apparently spent about £90m on players in each of the last two seasons. They are among the top spenders worldwide.
A star is born……great match report Rocky after an extremely emotional game, if we beat spuds you could truly have a field day with writing of that calibre.
So am I the only one voting for Lionel Blair then? All you buggers like the slushy songs of the other one then?
anyone with the initials R.L. is good in my book.
I will disect the team at a later date.Nice post rocky.
Morning chary, I’m going for Lionel Jeffries 😛
Chary, you have missed the target completely by not considering Lionel Barrymore 😉
Was he in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang rasp?
Yes and he directed The Railway Children… what’s that got to do with footie 😆
This is definitely descending into post-match hysteria.
Its unthinkable that we’ll lose next wednesday evening, I’m not even going to consider it as an option.
Alfa surely you mean Michael? And whose Lionel Jefferies Raspers ?
Lionel Jeffries, now we are talking. Not many know that he played briefly for the wartime Arsenal team in ’41, before the games were stopped completely. Due to complete deafness in the left ear he was unable to serve but was still able to play pretty well. After a couple of disastrous early games at right back he eventually moved into midfield for Ealing Dramatists XI where he developed the vision, creativity and authority that later led to his fine performance as Director of the Railway Children. A true Messi of reserve team football in the war years
Morning chary – how are you?
Alfa – are you pulling our legs?
Like I said – post-match hysteria 🙄
I think it was very fair of Guardiola to keep Thierry on the bench yesterday.
Peaches, there is a long tradition of transfers between the creative and football worlds – just look at Julio Iglesias. Or Albert Camus.
Hi Peachy, as I said on the tail end of the previous post, I’m a bit cheesed off. Not angry as I sort of expected it, but I was hoping for a miracle of sorts, at least a better showing form half of the team.
I’m only focussing on the king of “Give us a clue” as a means to avoid the misery being drubbed 4-1 has caused.
chary, we shouldn’t avoid the difficult questions ….
….. here’s a couple….. is anyone to blame? …. and if yes, who?…
The gunners seemed to be so weak at defence.
see how Barca’s players reacted when Arsenal had the ball.
The gunners are beaten by counter attacks again and again when they play against so-called bigger teams this season.
In last night, Arsenal could have scored more — they had the chance, but they just didnt make it.
well im not angry/ disappointed. just hope the gunners can kick the spuds out!
Raspers, I’m quite happy to stay at that river in Egypt, living in denial. BUT…..
…the majority of any blame lies with Wenger and his squad policy. Too many players at the same stage of their careers and not a correct blend of youth and experience and added to that a boredom with practicing defence.
So its true what they say about goal-keepers alfa – I wonder what the future holds for Almunia?
Thanks for the kind comments guys. It’s quite daunting writing a report here as this is such a consistently well written blog.
The Telegraph today says Wenger is planning an overhaul of the squad in the summer. That may be just paper talk for the fact that we’re going to need to bring in 2 or 3 new signings, but I would like to think Wenger has seen the benchmark to which he aims to aspire and that his signings will be geared towards giving us a more pressing game, like Barca’s.
I agree chary – when you see how Barça hunted the ball in packs of threes whenever we had possession – is it laziness that stops our players from doing that?
At the start of the season we were attacking the ball all the time but quickly got tired/bored of playing like that and are now generally happy to allow teams possession. Why?
chary – I’d add to that, the failure to buy a keeper in the summer (should have had Given the year before) and the signing of Silvestre instead of a CB worthy of facing Barça in a CL QF
I find it a little sad that our entire first team squad that was available(except Vela) travelled yesterday.
We have to address these soft tissue injury problems,otherwise with limited funds we will remain in a status quo situation.
Eduardo and Rosicky cannot be relied upon to either get back to their best or remain injury free.
Walcott may improve his ball skills, but how long do we wait.
RVP is a class act, but in his 4+ years here, he has been injured for more than half the time.
Diaby can never play more than 4 or 5 games without getting some sort of injury.
nasri, will come good, but reserves his best performances for home matches.
Eboue is either a right back or what, and he is out of contract.
bedntner is still learning, and the emphasis for him to be our only out and out striker is unreasonable at this time.Chamakh will most probably either take his place or they may play together.bedntner will not like that.
Gallas,Silvestre and Campbell may or may not be with us next season.
Vela appears to be not in AW’s starting plans.
And of course we need a top flight keeper.Almunia did OK yesterday but his disrubition was awful.
Eastmond will only get a limited amount of games
Merida is another to be tied down.
Senderos has gone for all intensive purposes.
Song has shown great improvement
denilson is a marmite player
Therefore a lot for AW to think about IMO
By the way, did anyone hear the brilliant singing by our away support long after the final whistle last night? Richard Keys was doing a stand-up interview with Gullit and Souness and in the background, loud and clear, you could hear “We love you Arsenal, we do…”
Great credit to our travelling fans who had just seen us well beaten but whose spirits were not dampened.
‘An overhaul of the squad’ that can’t be a good idea, I thought this squad had now come of age and were going to push on to greatness.
The addition of 2 or 3 better players should not be seen as an overhaul of the squad just an improvement.
That’s bang on Peachy, our good start was largely down to pressing the opposition when we didn’t have the ball yet this has gone from or game in favour of the lackadaisical approach we’ve seen lately. A lack of talent can be compensated for, to a degree, by hard work put oin to regain possession.
Also, consistently putting players into high profile games when they are not ready is hardly going to help their development is it?
Exactly how much good did the drubbing our kids got at Man Shitty in the Fizzy cup do them? Winning games breeds confidence and the desire to improve.
Argghhh, again it seems we’re already looking the opening of the transfer window in June for salvation, but sadly unless we get our purchases in early, any decent players asking price will quickly get out of our range.
I do feel that with Cesc, Song and Gallas in the team we would have done better last night. Even just with Song as CB we would have had more stability at the back.
When I think of the team that beat AC Milan 2 years ago the work-rate of Flamini, the style of H**b ( 😳 cattle-prod) and Cesc working his magic have we moved forwards?
RL
When the 1st goal went in I thought some of the home fans were cheering, the noise was so loud by th travelling gooners.
As Gnarley said yesterday R Lives, our away support always do us proud : always outnumbered, never outgunned.
Did you see where they were sitting – so high up!!!!!
Clichy and Diaby got the same score, are you sure you watched the game?
Clichy had an easy 9 yesterday and Diaby should feel flattered with a 6!
The Spanish stadia always stick the away support up in the gods to stifle their volume Peachy.
Gobi, none of our players was close to a 9 last night. For a fullback to get a 9 would mean they had the opposing wide men in their pocket all night long and also had time to maraud forward and put in lots of dangerous crosses. As well as Clichy did in the circumstances, he didn’t do that. As for Diaby, maybe I was a tad generous, but his closing down play was good and he played the through ball that led to our goal.
Hi Gobilux,
I think although Diaby worked hard, he lapsed back into some of his old ways – misplaced passes at vital times and wanting too much time to think when on the ball whilst Clichy was my Arse MotM. He ceratinly merited a higher score than Diaby in my estimation, but that is only my opinion and doesn’t detract from an excellent article written under the hardest of circumstances.
Peaches, a cruel person might point out that Almunia already has his place reserved at Billy Smarts.
Like I said before, we put on a great show against the best team in the world, let’s enjoy that. I’ve got no criticism of the players or manager today.
I missed Flamini but I’d have Song any day, he is a better player and at least we might get more than one good season out of him.
Morning all – hope the spirits aren’t too down.
It was always going to be a major ask. Barcelona are head and shoulders above every team in the world. They collectively defend better than anyone and they collectively attack better than anyone.
Good post RockyL but I disagree with Diaby, thought he was rubbish to be honest. Just lazed around and gave the ball away far too often.
Nikki B, Clichy, Theo and Samir were our best players last night.
As someone described Denilson as Marmite, I think you can put Diaby into that category..
Hi Irish – agree with you about the best players last night. Shame Rosexy was a bit jaded.
While you’ve got a bit of internet do you fancy writing a post for tomorrow?
Sorry Peaches no can do, I’m getting shouts to get off the net 😦 “The bill, the bill” but I’ll write so many when I get back home you’ll have the summer off 😉 Catch ya soon 😀
Hi Livers – Diaby kind of lost his marmite status a few weeks ago when he seemed to come of age. The last couple of games hes gone back to giving away the ball cheaply by either wanting too long in possesion or making the wrong decision as to who to pass too.
Any one of us would have known instinctively that Theo was to his right when he inexplicably passed to Nik for what could have been our 2nd goal.
Ok bye then, text you later 😉
Chary
The idea of travelling to domestic away games does not really exist in Spain which is more the reason why they are not geared up for away support in the CL hence the reason why they away support are way out of sight rather than wanting to stiffle volume. The idea of having prime seats available for away supporters would make not sense to Catalans when they could sell them as season tickets at the beggining of the season.
I reckon we should do that too London – we should stick the away support in the upper tier behind the goal. I hate the fact they get the lower tear near a corner flag so their volume gets amplified.
Why the hell does our club fall over themselves to ingratiate themselves with the opposition? If I was in charge they’d get a small allocation, charge them more and have a retractable roof section so that if it rains they get pi***d on.
Man City away was the perfect opportunity for the younger players to gain experience. It would be nice to win every game but the reality is that we cannot. Games like Man City are a right of passage; it toughens the younger players, it sorts the ones that should be kept and the ones that should be let go. The idea that that loss somehow had a negative affect on the younger players makes no sense. As for playing a more experienced team, just look at the bad luck we have had with injuries from the two cups we have taken seriously then imagine the consequences to the squad if we had played more games in the CC. I understand you are angry this morning and the need for a scapegoat but your anger at Wenger is misplaced.
Great to have the marauding, confident, bombastic clichy of 2008 back with us.
He is a very important link in our attacking credentials.
We have missed him greatly.
(but he should leave the shooting to others)
Morning SH – if he doesn’t shoot he’ll never score but I agree its great to have him back as before.
There is a rumour that Vela didn’t travel because he had mislaid his passport?
Magic report Rocky, thought you covered it well, a little generous about diaby maybe.
Loved the notion that we are playing football the right way and done correctly no one will touch us – barcalona have set the standard now, its up to us to improve our ball retention and harry the opposition when we dont have the ball….
anyway guys the premiership is still on – 5 straight wins and we’ll win it, i’m sure.
Not angry with Wenger London, a little disappointed maybe but not with last night’s performance per se, just his squad policy. As for the benefits of the drubbing given to our kids by Shitty, we’ll have to agree to differ on that one.
So no takers for my hospitality policy to away fans at Ashburton Grove then?
yes i like your policy chary perhaps also on the flight path of emirates pigeons suffering frequent bowel movements….
Chary
Grab a sun bed, the view of the palm trees, the pyrimids in the distance and the Falukas sailing down this river is wonderful, actually that is a very interesting idea about selling the away end…hmmmm……I’m not sure…
Hi chary, I’m wondering if the away fans section has any design features with a view to minimalising the opportunities for vandalism. I have heard many spud fans say how they delight in wrecking the seats or anything else they can damage. I think putting the away fans up top is a good idea. One thing that astonishes me is that they let the away fans spill out onto the concourse to mix with the home supporters. At a totnum game a couple of years ago, there was a single line of police that just stopped and allowed them to run marauding amongst us. I saw a spud thug just run across and punch an Arsenal fan in the face right in front of my young son.
I get really angry with Arsène sometimes …. not playing AA in the FA cup semi / leaving subs too late / saying he’s going to buy when we know he won’t etc etc …. but then I remember all the fantstaic things he’s done and I forgive him instantly 😛
and more importantly, remember barca won nothing for 6 years… and now look at them.
Wenger can be frustrating and stubborn, but I doubt any other manager in the Prem could have kept us in the top 4 for the last five years with a negligible transfer budget. But with the debt being rapidly reduced and the new stadium bringing in the wonga, I feel this summer could see some significant transfer action.
well in rocky
nail on the proverbial 😉
In all seriousness London, I’d never travel to the middle East for political reasons, but on the other questions, I get the impression from away gooners that they get treated with utter contempt at opposition grounds and by locals. I’m only suggesting we make more of home advantage – for example if the home support at Ashburton Grove aren’t allowed to have lots of banners then why should the away?
We are far too accommodating with away supporters, way more so than away grounds are to us. All they do is sing songs like “There’s only one Martin Taylor” and the like.
That doesn’t surprise me Raspers – it’s skimping on the policing that let’s those sort of things happen and remember the Stoke game last season – there was a pro Wenger march before the game which the Stoke thugs waded into with fists and kicks flying. It seems to show to me that the Club is happy to take money of us, but doesn’t want to protect us.
Rocky,
You make very good points. The only thing that worries me is that, as you say, AW’s worked miracles on a shoestring, but what happens if we get to taht wonderful debt free position and then one of the investors buys the club? We could end up saddled with more debt and it will all have seemed to be a waste of time. What AW has done, is to make the club an extremely attractive purchase to the ‘money men’
rasp, that is correct… but you neglect to mention the wonderful talent factory is has built… the conveyor belt of talented kids coming through now, and for years to come.
the culture of the club has been changed, now and for ever more, there is an arsenal way to play and all future teams will follow this blueprint.
i would not worry too much about off the field issues, i think the men in charge now know exactly who would be best to hand the baton on to.
having researched mr kroenke, he is a defo safe pair of hands.
Rasp, fair point. I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen, just when we have got to the point of having a self-sustainable model.
It won’t be Wenger that gets the club into a debt free position it will be the board. Wenger works within the constraints dictated by the board; he is after all just an employee.
London, Wenger plays a signiifcant part in the debt reduction.
How do we get the debt down?
1. Transfer profits – Down to Wenger as he has full control of who he buys and sells.
2. Gates – Down to the football Wenger’s side play.
3. TV Revenue – Down to how many worldwide viewers want to watch attractive footy played, down to wenger.
Aside from signing shit, undervalued sponsorship deals… not sure what the board have done to get the debt down?
Good point SfH – not only are the stadium naming and shirt sponsorship deals bad deals for us but the name of the sponsors makes me hurl.
The board employ Arsène Wenger and dictate the financial restraints. I am not trying to praise the board I am in a way criticising them for the constraints they are putting on Wenger’s spending budget but by doing so it will be they and not he who reduces the debt.
I do, however, agree that with the wonderful use of hindsight the sponsorship deals could have been better….wasn’t David Superman Dein in charge then?
no they were done after him demise.
i believe it was fella edelman who done those deals.
Putting aside my dislike for Em***tes London, I concede that part of the reason the sponsorship deals were so undervalued was because they receipt of money was front loaded, i.e. if we received more of it later, the overall amount of money received by the club would have been more.
I aslo thoght most of the sponsorsahip deals were done by a combination of Fiszman and Ken Friar, not that I’m suggesting David Dein was perfect in any way.
Exactly, they were front loaded.
we got zip to woryy about as gooners
i would be shitting myself as a fan of pool or man IOU
When’s that sponsorship deal up? We’re stuck with it for eons aren’t we?
there was talk of buying it out like manure did.
Good afternoon all.Super debut Rocky on a difficult day.
Wide range of opinions today, IMHO Diaby, Clichy and Nasri gave top class performances, no one was glaringly bad. Sylvestre has been targeted because of a couple of bad bounces, but in all truth he was found guilty before we kicked off.
In my book this was a salutary lesson on where we are and if we stick with Arsene where we can go.(minus Messi of course) Imagine had he worn an Arsenal shirt last night what might have been.
My pre-game post that Woolcott and Clichy would be key were justified by the first goal, but the high line we tried to hold against such pace was always going to be a difficult act. Especially with Barca pressing so well the midfield was congested and allowed the space behind that Messi thrived on.
But we lost to a superb team with the best player in the world on fire. So time to acknowledge that lesson and concentrate on the premier League,while planing for next year.
Sell some players and buy a couple of top drawer additions to help bolster the squad bring the next generation of youngsters.
No 1 need a Goalkeeper, Sorry Mr A you ain’t a top level keeper.
R Lives, the stadium name stays till the end of the 2021-22 season, but the shirt sponsorship deal runs out at the end of 2014-15 season, i.e. 15 years and 8 year deals respectively for a total of £100m
Thanks Dandan – and I agree with every word. Some people will never find a good word for Silvestre but I don’t think Gallas or Sol would have made a huge difference. It’s not often you see as clinical a display of predatory finishing as that shown by Messi last night.
mancs could not even get a goal against barca, chelski barely got one over 2 legs
we managed 3.
I hate Barcelona today especially that Argentinean dwarf.
naah, aint got no hate in me for messi, the fella is a little genius.
i can take this defeat, this is the polar opposite of say losing that quarter final against the chavs 6 years ago.
wenger put it perfectly, the best team won.
no shame in that. we move on for a title charge.
I’m with London on who is controlling the money. It’s the board, AW just does a great job of working within those constraints and taking the rap for it (which irritates me no end). SfH, why do you think Kroenke is a safe pair of hands? What about Arsenal that is important to us will be safe with him in control?
We could have avoided the need to front load the sponsorship but it would have meant sharing the risks and the rewards around a bit more and the key owners didn’t want to do that.
I don’t hate Messi either, just a shame he is going to be playing for the Argies in the world cup a) because I still think Maradona is a cheating low life who doesn’t deserve to be talked about as a great player and b) because I think he is going to mess up Argentina’s world cup so Messi won’t get the stage he deserves.
Remember what happened to Pele in the 1966 world cup, he was never quite the same player again. Look at Argentina’s group and wonder.
Alfa – the way he has managed his amaerican franchises shows perfectyl well what his gameplan is.
his model is in line with the “be self-sufficent” model wenger prefers.
And london’s point was NOT who controls the money, as that is patently obvious, of course the board control the money.
his point was about debt reduction, and wenger has very clearly had the most significant effect on reducing it.
i had 50 quid on the argies at 25/1 back end of last year
so i hope they do ok 😆
lol, kenny sansom on talk SPORT just said
“cesc may move to barca to win trohies as he is now what 25, 26”
😆 dear oh dear
SfH – talk SPORT – the home of quality sports broadcasting. Mind you, Cesc does play like a footballer in his prime.
SfH, we’ll have to agree to disagree. The club is a lot more than self-sufficient financially, and that is what has reduced the debt. AW has helped by playing ball and by smart deals (obviously the Anelka one but many others). But he didn’t decide that we should have the highest ticket and food prices in the league, or that we shouldn’t spend any money on improving local transport, or the investments in property etc.
RL, SfH, by the Sansom reckoning, Messi is 28 and in his prime 😆
never listen to the winkers on it… i get tweets telling me when arsenal guests are on.
thats when i turn it on
True alfa, but take a look at the accounts.
He has made a transfer profit since we moved into the stadium, and kept the stadium full, which helped those ticket prices pay dividends.
shit team, no CL, no full ground
this club is all about wenger.
6ft 3ins, Itlian international, central defender Leonardo Bonucci anyone?
I agree with SfH, AW is certainly far and away the main reason we developed the training ground, built the stadium, have the ticket sales and play great football (against most teams 😦 ) – the best thing the Board did was to appoint him …. and DD played his part in that process
who does he play for?
True, AW was a great decision by the board and one that very few predicted. Man City, Liverpool, Villa could all do with appointments like that right now.
By the way, my point was that the board have played the largest role in reducing the debt not Wenger; he has just worked very well and I mean very very well within the contraints that have been dictated to him by the board.
Alfa
None of us can be certain about Kroenke but he comes from a sporting business and therefore it is hoped that he will be more sympathetic to a club like Arsenal.
London, I agree with you on the roles of the board and AW. As for Kroenke, he owns a lot of sports teams and a lot of property and he won’t want to mess Arsenal up but I’m too cynical to believe that he is really interested in anything other than making sure he has a stake in the most lucrative international sports league in the world. Not that that is a bad thing in itself, as long as he is honest about it.
I hate to say it London, but the Glaziers came from a sporting background!!!!!
No-one big SfH …
“Leonardo Bonucci is being tracked by top Premier League clubs Arsenal and Manchester United, who are looking to buy the Bari defender this summer.
Premier League-bound: Leonardo Bonucci made his Italy debut against Cameroon in March Premier League-bound: Leonardo Bonucci made his Italy debut against Cameroon in March
Bonucci, who made his international debut for Italy against Cameroon in a friendly last month, is being scouted by both the Gunners and United after hitting the headlines for his performances in Serie A.
The 6′ 3″ centre-back would, at 22, be a good, young player to compliment William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen as options at the heart of Arsene Wenger’s defence next season.
However, with United as well as Chelsea and Manchester City thought to be showing an interest in the former Inter Milan youngster, the Gunners could be drawn into a bidding war for the player.
Bonucci is pushing for selection in Italy manager Marcelo Lippi’s 23-man squad for this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.
And, as a result, Wenger is keen to secure some kind of agreement on the player before the tournament squads are announced next month for fear other clubs will be alerted to his talents.
With Bonucci playing a starring role at centre-back this season, mid-table Bari still have an outside chance of trumping far bigger clubs for a European spot by the end of the campaign” ….
Guys – we need a post for tomorrow, anyone fancy expanding on any of the subjects touched on today to get things started in the morning………
It would make sense to get signings in early before the WC inflates prices out of all proportion.
One thing I would like to include in tomorrow’s post is a plug for the Willow Foundation World Cup Quiz night at Sopwell House in St Albans, Herts on Monday 26th April – Bob Wilson is the Quiz Master. Tickets are £20 a head. http://www.willowfoundation.org . Maybe I just did it 🙂 but worth a plug I think.
Hi Alfa – will you be going? Could we put together an AA Quiz team … “the AAgheads” 😛
I’m wavering on going but might be persuaded – only because of some work commitments.
Actually, my knowledge of World Cup history is very patchy so I’d have to get the drinks (hope London’s not reading, I can’t afford his consumption)
so what result do we want tonight?
the usual for me
120 hard slooged out, injury ridden minutes
culminating in a heart breaking penalty loss for the mancs 🙂
I’m not too bothered tonight except hopefully an exacerbation of Rooney’s injury, I just want Totnum to have 150 minutes of fruitless toil on Sunday and injuries to Modric, Defoe and Baile
haha love it.
Rasp, I think the World Cup theme may be a bit misleading. I don’t think the whole quiz is going to be about the World Cup, it’s more of a peg to hang the publicity on. It’s obviously going to feature but I think a lot of people would be put off by 10 rounds of ‘who scored for Korea in the 3rd round?’.
who was it that predicted the stretchering off of rooney last week?
can they make another inspired prediction 😉
SfH I think that was Rasp, he also predicted the score correctly.
Alfa:
“It’s obviously going to feature but I think a lot of people would be put off by 10 rounds of ‘who scored for Korea in the 3rd round?’.
Easy – Park ji Sung, scored the equaliser against France in a 1-1 draw (World Cup 2006). Everyone knows that.
OK, I looked it up.
Thanks Alfa – modesty prevented me 😳
I want the Mancs to go out tonight because it will demoralise them for the title run in. Mind you, I predicted a Chelsea collapse in the Prem after being booted out by Inter and, er, that didn’t quite happen…
RockyL, you are in the team! The Messi of quizzes.
I’m sure Google is allowed 😉
Actually I had some memory of Korea winning a match against someone important in 1962 or something and no I don’t mean the Korean War 🙄
Rasp
Believe it or not I am regarded as the drinking lite weight of the group. The others look at me and shake their heads.
The beers are on SFH if Rooney is strechered off.
Dandan
It is an interesting point you make about the Glaziers coming from a sporting back ground, although, it should be noted that they haven’t failed yet, in fact they are far from failing with three EPL titles in a row. It is growing number of manc fans who know nothing about running a business that are clouding what is really going on.
rooney starts!!!
WTF
The glaziers purchased a going concern, the concern is now going down the tube. The Glaziers will be judged by the end of next season, we shall see.
Which doesn’t mean I am anti our American backer London, just a cynic who worked at board level with Yanks and Japs for 30 years.
Alfa Alfa I was opening the batting that afternoon in 1966. When Korea played Portugal, Eusebio and all.
My partner was out and the incoming batsman told me Korea were one up, the next guy in, told me they were two up, when the next guy came in I gave him short thrift for a wind up when he told me They were three up. I was then out and they were three up.
Funny old game football LOL
fergie is going to kill rooney’s world cup chances.
Dandan, you are in the quiz team as well, can you make the 26th 🙂
OOOhhh you tease Dandan……what did you used to do?
Like you London I value my Privacy LOL
Wow did you see that goal from Robben – the mancs could be out now
At least we lost to a great player on his home patch and on the top of his form in a game that will always be remembered. Old red nose is not happy, whats his excuse.
Shame about the mancs being the last English team and all that getting knocked out.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot
Dan
Back to a serious note: the original question was why should we trust Kroenke and the only thing I could suggest was that he came from a sporting background which to me is better that a metals background like Usmanov. Not perfect I know but what are we the fans supposed to do or think? Sporting — good, Metals — bad. You brought up the Glaziers being from a sporting background and my point is that as far as I can see they haven’t done anything wrong. And winning the EPL three times on the bounce goes a long way to prove that. Just becasue a few mock Norwich supporters think other wise is not proof enough to make me think other wise.
London – have you cheered up a bit then 😉
London are you being serious? about the glaziers?
Mate you need to google just what they have done to harm the long term of that club.
To begin with, the way they purchased united in the first place.. is banned in every other western country, and will be in this country by the end of the year.
Go have a read of some of the wonderful articles over on untold.
Haven’t they re-mortgaged the stadium aswell, wasn’t that what the £500m bond issue was for? I’ve been trying to find something on that………
right, here it is in laymans terms
figures not 100%, but you will get the idea.
united bought for 700M on a mortgage, with a down payment of 200M
that 200M came from mortgaging one of their US franchises.
the remainder ( 500M ) lent by Hedge funds.
so far… glaziers have not spent a penny.
right.. then the fun bit.
they now own the title deeds on Chez United.
Soooo, they remortgage the entire debt, and pay back the 200M they borrowed on the US franchise and stick the whole god dam debt on united.
so, they spent not a penny of their own money, borrowed to by united, and then refinaced the lot and stuck it all on the united.
oh, and just for good measure, they pull out around 20M a year to pay themselves.
genius.
exactly what the yanks at pool tried to do, but they bought a duff 😆
Heres the link to the articles on Untold Arsenal
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/?s=glaziers
Were manu carrying any debt before the Galziers bought them?
very minimal, peaches
the 80M from ronaldo saved their bacon bigstyle.
but only short term, hence these red knights and others trying to step in before it all goes pear shaped.
I believe ManU were more or less debt free when bought.
So why did they allow it to happen? Only the Glaziers have gained any benefit ……
peaches, can you not remember all the smart united fans protesting against it?
they ( edwards and co ) let it happen as they got a top price for the club and feathered their own nests.
the glaziers made promises to not take money out etc etc
but they reneged on that.
Yes I do remember the protests against the Glaziers and I remember them saying they weren’t going to take any money out.
Could Kroenke do the same thing to us?
It makes no sense for the money men to lend them more money when they can’t afford to pay the interest payments now. At some point they’ll be well and truly stuffed – I hope we didn’t give them any money for Silvestre 🙄
realistically yes, anybody could.
if you own the club, you can pay yourself whatever you want.
So what have we learnt from the latest round of CL. You take out Rooney from manu, they are ordinary. 2 years ago, if you took Ronaldo outa manu they would have been ordinary. If Messi was sidelined for an RVP period, barca’s deluded fans would be asking for Pep Guardiola’s head.
So it is a fine line between winning multiple trophys & being The Arsenal IMO
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