Written by 26may1989
A few days ago, someone called JRS put up a link to a Twitter page operated by Opta, the collectors of statistics for all matters football. See http://twitpic.com/4t9shh. I hadn’t seen it when it was published, but it had a table showing what the Premier League table would have looked like on 1st May had all shots that hit posts and crossbars actually resulted in goals. And the impact was incredible.
The top six places on 1st May were transformed from this:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
GS |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
||
| 1 | Man Utd |
35 |
21 |
10 |
4 |
71 |
33 |
38 |
73 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 2 | Chelsea |
35 |
21 |
7 |
7 |
66 |
28 |
38 |
70 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 3 | Arsenal |
35 |
19 |
10 |
6 |
68 |
36 |
32 |
67 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 4 | Man City |
34 |
18 |
8 |
8 |
53 |
31 |
22 |
62 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 5 | Liverpool |
35 |
16 |
7 |
12 |
54 |
39 |
15 |
55 |
| 6 | Tottenham |
34 |
14 |
13 |
7 |
50 |
43 |
7 |
55 |
…. to this:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
GS |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
||
| 1 | Arsenal |
35 |
27 |
5 |
3 |
89 |
38 |
51 |
86 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 2 | Chelsea |
35 |
22 |
8 |
5 |
86 |
38 |
48 |
74 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 3 | Man Utd |
35 |
22 |
7 |
6 |
82 |
43 |
39 |
73 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 4 | Liverpool |
35 |
19 |
2 |
14 |
64 |
44 |
20 |
59 |
|
|
|||||||||
| 5 | Man City |
34 |
15 |
11 |
8 |
66 |
43 |
23 |
56 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| 6 | Tottenham |
34 |
14 |
14 |
6 |
64 |
54 |
10 |
56 |
Of course, looking at the staggering 19 additional points we would have got in this Alice-in-Wonderland scenario of shots hitting the net instead of hitting woodwork, my first thoughts were “If only”. After all, that magnificent victory over United on 1st May would have seen us crowned champions with three games to go. But thinking that way, of course, is pointless; this is a completely artificial analysis and United deserved to win the title because, in the real world, they did better than us, and better than anyone else.
However, there is still something interesting about the OptaJoe table, it still says something. Specifically, it illustrates the significance of luck in football. Of course, skill accounts for some of the difference between shots that hit woodwork and shots that hit the back of the net. But the sheer scale of Arsenal’s 21 hits (and Chelsea’s 20) as compared with United’s ten hits take it beyond a question of skill. The point is only underlined when one looks at the number of goals that would have been conceded (something that must be even less controllable, since it is a question of the opponent’s accuracy): United and Chelsea would have conceded ten more goals each, but Arsenal would have conceded only two more. Less accurate shooting is one factor but, with these margins of difference, luck must also be an ingredient in the mix.
It’s not sour grapes to talk about luck; anyone who succeeds in sport depends, to some degree or other, on luck. Last season, United were lucky and we were unlucky, but in the years when we succeeded (remember those?!), I’m sure we got the benefit of plenty of luck as well. And who can argue that our epic league win back in 1989 was anything other than the pinnacle of good luck? Beautiful, dramatic, fantastic: yes. But also very lucky.
Quite simply, there are too many variables that cannot be controlled by individuals for luck not to play a significant part in sporting success. It is an ingredient in sport, always has been, always will be. In cricket, there are the dropped catches or even the occasions when a ball hits the stumps without dislodging the bails. In horse-racing, there are the horses that collapse or trip while clear in the home strait. The hope is that luck is not the dominant factor in deciding the big issues in sporting competition. But in the words of that titan of philosophy, Larry King: “Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves.”
Many factors contributed to our abject failure in last season’s run-in: personnel, tactics, refereeing decisions and player psychology, all played a part, of course. But what the OptaJoe table underlines is the importance of luck. The existence, nature and sources of luck (good and bad) have been the subject of philosophical and religious debate for millennia. Buddhists, for example, dismiss the idea of luck, saying that there is a cause behind every event, even if that cause is moral in nature (karma). But for my money, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the US and a five-star general in the US Army, was closer to understanding the capricious nature of luck when he said “I would rather have a lucky general than a smart general. … They win battles, and they make me lucky.”
Perhaps Eisenhower would have shown Wenger the door for being so unlucky last season. But I’m glad that’s one American who can’t influence our club. We need the 2011-12 season to be different in a number of ways. Here’s hoping one of the differences is that we’re luckier.
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
No luck in the opening fixtures……
13 Aug Newcastle Away
16/17 Aug Champions League Qualifier
20 Aug Liverpool Home
23/24 Aug Champions League Qualifier
27 Aug Man Ure Away
We need to be up and running early !
Oh and I forgot England play Holland 3 days before the season starts. Fingers crossed for Robin.
5 in 14 days good good.
Just looked at the run in, only Chelsea Home, Manchester City Home and Stoke Away in April and May should cause us any concern…….oh wait thats similar to last season isn’t it?
Great post 26May, we do appear to be stunningly unlucky in comparison to others, but as the oldest saying goes…”you make your own luck”….. I guess that goes for good and bad, we seem to make our own bad luck…. A season of positive thinking programming, can we get a Paul Mckenna hypnotherapy CD for all Gooners (fans and players) the night before the game?
In theory, due to our CLQ games, we should be better warmed up than Liverpool and Man Utd.
We definitely need a change in luck, peaches. 🙂
And for the northern bias of referees to swing round.
CL qualifier play-off round draw is on 5th August.
Super post 26.
With luck and decent refereeing we would win everything! e.g. had RvP stayed on the pitch we would have won the CL, had Dowd not given the worst refereeing performance of the season at Newcastle we would have won the League and had we not hit the bar in the CCF we would have won that!
Oooops nice one, 5 squared plus one.
Sometimes the ball seems to be magnetically drawn to the woodwork. 🙂
Are the goalposts/crossbars made of wood anymore?
Very good article 26 only query, I always thought it was Napoleon who made the lucky General Quote, perhaps Eisenhower nicked it 🙂
Maybe Arsene could copy him amd nick some points on bad days as well as good. 🙂
7+7+7 (+5), Beautiful post, a joy to read 🙂 It is an incredible statistic – I just cannot believe it!
Not just in sport, but in all that we do luck plays a big part. Most of us don’t like that stance, as we rather believe all we have achieved is through a combination of genes, merit and hard work, but without lady luck’s smile on us it would not have happened as it did.
There are two kinds of luck: enforced luck and spontaneous luck. Every season, MU ensure they get the biggest portion of both: hitting the/ getting protection of the woodwork, penalty decisions in their favour, added time in their favour, and their biggest lucky friend: OG (who was at one point their top scorer in the season before last). We need Lady Luck to listen to Tevez – Manchester is wet, small and you should not even go there for a holiday – and to relocate to the south in order to become a season ticket holder at Ashburton Grove!
Cheer chums.
Raddy, completely agree re Dowd. My hatred for him has reached truly epic proportions (actually, am becoming a bit worried about it….).
Interesting re the fixture list: tough start, esp playing Liverpool early again; I think they will start strongly even if they have problems later in the season. But glancing over the rest of the fixtures, it looks pretty benign. Few big matches after CL games, no bunching of games against our main opponents and the run-in looks pretty sane.
The start of our luck turning?? Maybe!
Red Arse, where are you? Give peace a chance 😉
Hi dandan: Yes, I thought it was a Napoleon-ism too, but when I looked for the source (including seemingly comprehensive compilations of the little Corsican’s quotes), there was nothing there. And further research produced Eisenhower as having said almost the same thing. Perhaps he did pinch it though – after all, he did steal Montgomery’s thunder in the closing days of WWII, when Dwight took over command of the Allied forces coming through France, Netherlands etc, apparently determined to be the glory boy at the by then inevitable moment that Germany would surrender.
Come back RA.
Rasp can’t help it if he’s overbearing and editorialising! 🙂
Arnold Palmer
“It’s a funny thing, the more I practise the luckier I get”
Funnily enough I was in St Helena ,South Atlantic a couple of years ago, (where Napoleon was imprisoned and died) and that Quote is on just about every bit of memorabilia in the tourist type shops. So I guess he probably said it
As for ideas being nicked by America there are a fair few British scientists and engineers who would lay claim to that experience since the war.
Whatever it is a great article and it does one good that the inbuilt suspicion that we are unlucky is backed up by facts, if only of the what if variety.
Any port in a storm I guess, And I don’t know who said that 🙂
“I need to keep working and Arsenal will open the door for me. I have dreamed about that club. To play for them will be the best day of my life and I will do anything to play for Arsenal.” -Gervinho
no wonder Arsene want him!
apologies,, superb post 26may1989!
now that is a Gooner!
Good post, I don’t usually look at the Arsenal blogs but they seem decent.
Morning Peeps, 🙂 and especially those who emailed me personally. 🙂
Good Post 26,
I am delighted and not a little surprised you have taken us into the mathematical arena. And you a charming, innocent young lawyer to boot!
Did you know that it was once expected that we would be able to successfully predict and even control the clockwork fate of the universe based on interactive universal equations.
This predictive quality should also, you might think, be capable of being applied to the much more mundane and simplistic footie predictions you have highlighted in your post.
Your point seems to be that if luck (however you define that) had, irrespective of the seemingly inconsequential changes in the flight angle of the ball been marginally different, we would have won the league.
However, the mathematics of Chaos Theory shows that if it you do not repeat exactly, in every respect, the parameters of the force, angle etc of the striking of the ball, it rapidly becomes utterly impossible to predict the outcome.
This phenomenon in the scientific world came to be called the “butterfly effect” originating from a scientist’s observation to his colleagues in the 1960’s, that the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Kansas (where a guy called Lorenz worked) could potentially have a measurable effect on the weather in the South Pacific.
Apparently, there is a hidden order within the disorder of unpredictability.
In short, the Chaos Theory says that it is impossible to predict the outcome if the ‘goal post bound ball’ had been even slightly differently kicked, and therefore it is wishful thinking to imagine we would have won the league using this data as a basis point.
Or perhaps you just meant that we were cheated out of the title by ‘luck’, defined as; — a chance happening, resulting in success or failure thru’ circumstances outside our control.
I’ll drink to that! 🙂
Hey sq root of 676..cracking post.
Morning all
Chas, many thanks for your video of THAT pass from Bergkamp to Paddy vs Chelsea.
I’ve described it to many people, but can never quite convey how DB10 passed it under pressure, with the outside of the boot, in a way that seemed to make the ball curl around the back of Paddy’s run and then appear right in front of his left foot. Of course Paddy’s intelligence in letting the ball run on played a massive part as well. Lovely cool finish was the icing on that already quite delicious cake.
If my memory serves me right we’d just gone a goal down shortly before that, against the run of play.
You’ve been to St Helena dandan. I’d love to go there. Were you in the forces? How did you get there? I’m excited about the start to the season.
Hey Rouge Cul…did you get my mail…??
In it I revealed our starting 11 for each of the first six games of the season, including the new signings.
One of them has an ‘E’ in his name.
It has been my lucky gastronomic week. 🙂
I was invited to lunch yesterday at the Runnymede Hotel, in Runnymede oddly enough, just up the road from where the Domesday Book was signed.
Never been there before, but I can highly recommend it, even if it blew my strict dieting regime out of the water.
I met someone there while raiding the food tables, it was a spectacular buffet, — he is a stranger to me, who claimed to be on the staff of a well known footie agent.
Apparently rumour is rife in his agenty world, allegedly, blah, blah — that Arsene was not given a choice by the Board about entering into the transfer market this Summer. Altho’ he has complete control over who he buys.
It seems Kelsey was right, all is not well in our camp, and that is a shame, because I still feel we are so close to achieving success!
Hi FIL, 🙂
Sadly no email from you, quelle domage! 🙂
But it is so wonderful to see that TA has worked his magic on you and you now speak cul de rouge French. Excellent!
Off to the doc’s again now, so if you see your mate Sharkey, give him my best and I hope to see that garcon mechant later! 🙂
Thanks for another fascinating post 26m, I love the way our subject matter on AA invariably invites us to go beyond the realms of football.
I am aware that everything that happens can be explained by mathematics by the introduction of random variants, but I am also aware that there are things that science cannot explain – consciousness for instance.
So although luck may well be a form of self-fulfilling prophecy (and I think that is most likely) I also choose to believe that the power of the mind can be affected by outside influences beyond the control of the individual.
I’m getting a bit off topic here I know. I would expect that many of those shots that hit the woodwork would have found the back of the net if the shooter had been more confident and not unconsciously been thinking that the world was against him and he would only score if he tucked the ball just inside the post.
Sorry I can’t hang around to enjoy the debate today, I look forward to reading your various ‘pearls’ when I return later.
Nice to see you RA, to see you nice. Your reference to chaos theory is well made: who knows how things would have developed if a particular shot had gone in rather than hit the post? One can’t simply add on a goal to the real scores. Which is one reason I hate it when commentators say “He could have had a hattrick by now” – no, who knows how play would have developed had the first chance gone in?
Dandan: St Helier? Impressively obscure bit of travelling there. I bow to your better knowledge on the Napoleon quote, and in fact am quite pleased that my use of that quote over the years turns out to be sound after all. Always amused me that Napoleon was sent to the South Atlantic after he escaped from his first place of exile, Elba in the Med, and then stormed back to Paris and power, launched new waves of conquest, culminating in defeat at Waterloo. How did the powers react? No messing around with nice places for you, down to St Helier with you. Where he was (supposedly) poisoned with lead if memory serves.
On the question of luck vs skill, footballunlimited.co.uk put up two links which illustrate things nicely: one a brilliant goal scored by the Vancouver Whitecaps in their local (but cross-border) derby with the Seattle Sounders (http://www.mlssoccer.com/videos?catid=114&id=15800) (you’ll recognise the keeper); the other a magnificent one from a penalty shoot-out I assume in Italy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V3DeqELS8A).
By the way, sorry about the formatting of the tables.
SS, a pass of extraordinary beauty, to be sure.
Also, I’d forgotten about that goal against Everton, another exquisite Dennis assist.
Was the Chavski game the one where Gudjohnsen scored in the first minute?
Barcelona will not ‘break the bank’ to sign Fabregas
What a meaningless headline. Well shut up and f**k off then because you can’t have him.,
HI 26. I went to St Helena on a cruise, actually its a beautiful place.yes you are correct as It seems the governor was jealous of Napoleon in many ways and his end was arranged, in fact so worried were they of his powers that his body was not allowed off the island and buried him there, he had to be exhumed many years later and reburied in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
Yay, the doc thinks I can come off one more wretched tablet/pill! He’s happy, I’m happy. What was I worrying about?
26, the quote is sound but Dandan is right that, usually, it is ascribed to Napoleon but others such as Bismarck and General Paton have also used a similar expression.
Of course, others, such as Buddhists, do not believe in the concept of luck, and neither do I really. But I was lucky to meet you lot on AA. 🙂
Now there’s a paradox.
I was taught, at school, the famous palindrome “able was he ere he saw Elba”. In addition, the guards on the island thought that Napoleon was a french panjandrum, which I think was a bit harsh, so when he contracted stomach cancer, from which he subsequently died, they thought he was ‘acting up’.
Not that much could have been done about the cancer anyway, of course. Some historians now think the cancer was caused by the glue used to paper his bedroom which contained arsenic (?).
I think he actually died on the island of St Helena. St Helier is in the Channel Islands, Jersey (?)
Well done, another fantastic article and more food for thought.
Really enjoyed it. Great job 26.
WG
DD. As I understand it, Napoleon died as a result of arsenic poisoning which came astonishingly from the wallpaper around his bed. The humidity on St Helena caused the paint on the wallpaper to sweat which slowly entered The Little Corporal’s body.
Another strange fact about Nap – upon his death his “crown jewels” were removed and in 1977 was sold in auction to a urologist from Columbia University!
RA. Is my memory faulty? It is many years since I was obsessed by the Big 3 (Nelson, Wellington, Napoleon) so perhaps I am confused..
Raddy,
Not sure what you mean.
– Nelson lost his eye, his arm and finally his life at Trafalgar.
– Wellington, born a catholic in Dublin, died in bed.
– Napoleon died on St Helena of stomach cancer caused by poisonous wallpaper glue; or by naughty business by the governor, if Dandan is right. 🙂
European history is not my forte — my excuse for memory going too, Raddy! 🙂
dandan
I went to see Napoleons tomb at the Musee de la armee. He’s not at Notre Dame. I used to have a big interest in him. I’ve got about 30 books on him.
Able was I ere I saw elba.
Blogfart again 😦
GM. So did I, for many years he was my hero and I used to have a bust of him made from a cannon used at Waterloo which very sadly was stolen, still unhappy about it.
The wallpaper /arsenic theory came from a paper I read in a medical digest, but who knows, could have been a load of waffle.
What is definite is that he is dead 🙂 (and short of his member).
RA. I was writing of Nap’s mysterious demise.
BR The people of St Helena are British Commonwealth members and very patriotic, but have no- time for the man who was Governor at that time as they are adamant that Napoleons cancer was induced, how they didn’t say.
There is a staircase that climbs a cliff face above the town and has 700 steps, the roads cling to the cliff face as well, it is a super place.
The little town is made up of brightly painted houses and shops and they sit in a steep sided valley, hence the staircase, there is also a tortoise wandering around the place that is over 200 years old.
The guys there tend to go to the Ascension or Falkland islands to work as apart from the odd tourist and some farming there is not of employment. But to a visitor it is a magic place.
Raddy
Did you ever read “anatomy of glory” about the history of Napoleons Imperial Guard? I loved that book
Dandan did you go to Trastan da cunha too?
Has St Helena always been British? I find it odd that Napoleon was sent to a British controlled island. Is the answer as simple as the island changed hands?
Dont know but is has certainly been British since the time of Nap. we had 3000 troops and afleet gaurding him back then
No I did.nt Gooner,, Ascention, Tin Can, Easter and a number of others but not TDC
Sounds like a fine cruise DD.
GM. No I haven’t. I will look for it on Amazon. Thanks for the heads up …
By the way, on a football note, I cannot find a word in the Spanish press to back up this story that the President of Barcelona said that the cost of Cesc should be lower because of wear and tear and that they only have 45 mil euros to spend.
In brief, I think this is a complete fabrication of the English red tops.
The other thing I found interesting was that in the interview that Cesc gave while in Madrid a few days ago he was far more positive about Arsenal than even the BBC reported with their head line of “Cesc is happy”.
In fact, if you want an accurate impression of the mood I would say this: you know how respectful Cesc has always been of Arsenal; well it is simply more of that. He does not hide from the idea of returning to Barcelona but equally he gives absolutely no hints that he wants to leave now. And if you bear in mind that this was reported in El Mundo Deportivo (the Barcelona mouth piece) then you will see that if there was the slightest hint of him wanting to leave they would have picked up on it and exaggerated it in their paper, which in turn would have been blown out of all proportion here.
The fact is Cesc was as honourable as ever and because of which I suspect the papers here and there will move this onto the back burner as there simply is no story in him wanting to leave Arsenal.
FIne post about posts Vingt-Six
I suppose you could argue that had some of our wood-bound efforts gone in, we would still not necessarily have gained the points because, even at a goal to the good, we would have embarked on our usual panicky defending and conceded another one.
Also, the stats don’t take into account how certain refs would have tried to help our opposition further if they had fallen behind.
The point being that even if, say, half of those post-hitters had hit the net instead, we probably would not have accrued the points tally that the chart suggests.
Certainly it’s true that the flapping of a goalkeeper’s hands in one continent can cause a hurricane of change in another…
Redders
Nice to see you 🙂
Ah I see now, he was under British control, for some reason I thought he was under French control.
Imagine you are in the British army and you get told there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you are going to be made a Governor, he bad news is it is the Governor of St Helena. Your orders are to guard Napoleon for the rest of his life only being able to return to England’s green and pleasant when he passes away.
Hands up all those who think he was poisoned?
Speaking of cruises, I’m off for a couple of weeks on a Caribbean one as of tomorrow so I’m afraid I shall be mostly absent from these fine pages. With a bit of luck I’ll be able to pop in now and again.
Peaches,Rasp
If I get the chance today I’ll try to put one or two ‘non-time-sensitive’ posts in drafts for the fallow days. However, I’m hoping that while I’m away the transfer news will be so busy and exciting (Eto’o?) that there will be few fallow days anyway.
There are few fathers of Arsenal players who control the movements of their sons more the Nikki B senior, so I found it interesting to read in L’Equipe that according to Bendtner’s father they had received concrete interest from Sporting Portugal (is there such a team, I thought it was Sporting Lisbon) anyway concrete interest from them and from Borussia Dortmund in his signature.
Bizzare behavour from those West Coast Canadians, Rocky, smashing up their own town after losing, it’s not like they were in Boston where they could take their frustrations out on the local septics. Is there more to the story than simply being upset becasue they lost?
Another superb post on AA! How does the quality on here keep improving during a newsless time? Well played 26m! Not around much- heading a Swedish midsummer break early doors tomorrow but look forward to catching up with you all at the end of next week. The DvD still hasn’t arrived so I’ll have to post it the following week 😦
London
Someone did make quite a funny point to me:
“That’s Canadians for you. All round the world people are taking to the streets and rioting over human and civil rights. In Canada we do it over hockey.”
Apparently there was (quite genuinely) a large influx of anarchist types who had planned a riot well in advance, even to the point of parking a bus full of inflammables which could be set light to and would then go up in spectacular fashion.
Most Vancouverites (?) seem quite shocked and appalled.
Hi Rocky
I think the longer version of that quote about Canadians and rioting comes from The Atlantic (seehttp://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/06/video-canadian-hockey-rioter-falls-onto-burning-car-runs-off/240544/), which wrote yesterday as follows:
“In Syria, they riot for freedom. In Pakistan, they riot against U.S. drone strikes. In China, they riot over many things, most recently in Guangdong province for worker’s rights. But in Canada, which is officially ranked as one of the wealthiest and most peaceful nations in the world, they riot over, yes, hockey.”
Quite funny, I thought.
As a low level fan of (ice) hockey, and as one who thinks the NHL has become far too oriented on franchise teams set up in sunny parts of the US rather than the traditional hockey territory of Canada plus Illinois, Michigan, New England and NY State, I can understand the Canucks’ fury at seeing the first chance of a Canadian Stanley Cup win for yonks lost. Not that I would condone such appalling behaviour of course…..
@London: The official name is Sporting Clube de Portugal. In my very Portuguese part of Northwest London there are a couple of supporters’ club branches for them.
Hi Rocky, 🙂
I have been extremely naughty again and had yet another lunch invite I accepted.
Everyone must think I am looking skinny, and at 17 stone, that does not say much for how I looked before! 🙂
I hope you have a great time on your cruise ship, but in the Caribbean the weather is a given so enjoy!
Dandan, I have not been to St Helena, but a BBC documentary I saw some time ago had a ‘Sir Hudson Lowe’ as the Governor at the time, or maybe ‘Sir Rock Hudson’. He was widely despised by all the garrison for his inhumane treatment of poor old Boney.
The official cause of death was cancer, but from what you heard and I saw on TV, it must be a strong possibility he was helped on his way to Valhala by the Governor.
Enjoy your hols RL 😆
Enjoy your hols Carlito 😆
Thanks for that 26
Can you recommend an authentic Portuguese restaurant in the area?
London @2.12 very funny 😆
Have just had a closer look at our fixture list.
Boo for me: I don’t get to go to a home league game until nearly the end of September.
Hooray for Gooners: The only away game against one of the other Big Six teams in the second half of the season is against Liverpool in March.
Boo for Gooners: The African Cup of Nations clashes with Man U’s visit to our place in January, so we’ll be weakened then. (I don’t think United have any African players right now, do they?) Overall, we’ll probably be without our ACN players for five league games (Swansea A, Bolton A, Blackburn H and Sunderland A) plus one or two domestic cup games and perhaps a CL game.
Hooray for Gooners: Although there are four games in two weeks, our Xmas and New Year run is good, just one trip out of London and that only up to Brum.
Boo for Gooners: Stoke away is our third last game, so we might need to get something in the den of neanderthals.
Hooray for Gooners: Our last two games are Norwich at home and WBA away (surely we can beat them home and away this time!). If we’re still in the mix, useful fixtures to finish on.
Overall, it still looks pretty good to me.
26may – great post, thanks a lot! I can barely believe that we hit the post so many times. Blimey, if only…
I believe we had our run of bad luck and deserve a change of fortune. But my favourite modern philosopher claims that ‘everything is just the way it should be, nothing happens by mistake’. Also, I like the proverb ‘coincidence is when God choses to be anonymous’.
@London: It’s more of a cafe scene, but you could try Om Amigos Burgau or Santar in Harlesden or the Sporting Benfica Restaurant (I kid you not) in Kensal Green. Not a salubrious part of town but it is genuinely Portuguese (the community’s been around here for quite a few generations, though are now outnumbered by Brazilians).
Hi Evonne. Interesting isn’t it, the nature of something as intangible as luck. Personally, I think in essence it really is just randomness, and the best one can do is ride the waves. But I’ve seen references to studies that suggest there’s something to the “you make your own luck”/Arnold Palmer view – they seem to say lucky people are wired to see opportunities when they present themselves and are psychologically wired to expect the best, whereas unlucky people (metaphorically) go around with their eyes to the ground, so don’t see the chances, and then compound it by assuming the worst in terms of what uncontrollable events will do to them. And by assuming the worst, they contribute to it happening.
Sound familiar in terms of our players??!
That’s quite uncanny, I was cycling home in the rain from Wembley, down the Harrow Road, back to where I live, feeling thoroughly dejected after that game earlier this year when I noticed the the Sporting Benfica Restaurant, I stopped to have a look at the menu thinking that it would be a good place to bring the family but I since forgot about it……….thanks for reminding me, I shall go there this weekend.
26may – you and A Palmar are probably right, it would explain why I usually have so much bad luck , ie being negatively wired 😦
Don’t kick me out from the blog, I am not jinx when it comes to Arsenal. When I wasn’t ill and was going to games, we seldom lost. My then director sometimes paid for my ticket 🙂
Ha ha, London, you and me both, I cycled back from Wembley in that rain too, and through Harlesden! I was swearing and shouting like a mad’un, I (like all right minded Gooners) was so utterly pissed off by THAT game. I’m pretty sure a lot of people thought I was a right loon. But then round there, loon behaviour is the norm, I fitted right in. Got home bloody quickly though: anger really does it for your speed!
Evonne
“my favourite modern philosopher claims that ‘everything is just the way it should be, nothing happens by mistake”
Do you mean Red Arse?
Kick you out Evonne, with your knees??! 🙂 (That was just to feed Sharkey’s mucky mind…)
26,
Just because I like arguing with you, can I say that Gary Player brought out a book some years ago with the title; “The More I Practise the Luckier I Get”.
Although some believe it was either Arnold Palmer, or even Lee Trevino.
Good quotes, like good ideas have many parents, while bad quotes and bad ideas are orphans!! — Author: Red arse! — 🙂 No, I am lying, that is a bastardized paraphrase! 😦
Luck is just something that humans allude to in rationalizing a chance happening outside their control.
We just feel more comfortable having an explanation for a consequence of chaos, and a name to hang our hat on, metaphorically.
From that ensues superstition. The old, “if I do that, we will be lucky; if I don’t we are doomed”. It is an attempt to get some control over the uncontrollable lottery of life.
— Now that is me! 🙂
Hi Carlito, 🙂
Missed your comment re Hols.
Anyway, hope you have a great time and come back refreshed! 🙂
Rocky,
Don’t know who said this but I like it for its sense of abject realism.
— “You shouldn’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things.
— The saddest summary of a life is one that contains three descriptions:
— could’ve, might’ve, and should’ve.”
I could’ve said “G’Nite”
I might’ve said “G’Nite”
I should’ve said “G’Nite”
G’Nite! 🙂
Red Arse – are you saying that my sleeping in the same stinking Arsenal shirt before every game did not win us the league in 2004?? That’s outrageous!!
Also, I believe the theory of chaos has now been proven chaotic and abandoned by most scolars. Dr Mersini is now leading the field with her theory of clusters. Rocky would know, the biggest and most advanced centre for cosmology is in Canada.
Arnold Palmer released a motivational film through the Visual Arts Co. many years ago.
It showed you how hard work could bring great rewards, in his case a private Jet and a mansion among other things.
The final section which has stuck in my mind ever since: I used the film a lot over the years: Showed a beautiful wooden coffee table in his lounge with all his championship medals sunk into it, plus it had an ugly hole cut into it completely ruining it, Palmer said that was for the next medal he won and then he would have another hole cut to remind him he ain’t finished yet. The presenter said that he had been very lucky to collect all these medals, trophies and wealth how did he know his luck would hold up. Then came your phrase because the harder I work the luckier I get, funny that isn’t it?
Stupid question dandan. Are all the golf medals the same size and shape?
.He said they were. Mike
Thanks. I was trying to visualise it. Great story.
Oh Bollocks.
Logged on for a quick gas, but got so engrossed reading every comment that I have no time left.
26,
Great idea really well presented.
My thoughts are that the hidden patterns within the chaotic world are very very well camouflaged indeed!
I have a nasty feeling I could be personally responsible for many of the Wood Hits. Every time RvP lines up for a dead ball, it could well be my negative waves that eases the bloddy thing woodways. Sorry.
Over and out.
GM
I don’t know if you meant that to be funny but it made me howl with laughter.
“Are all the golf medals the same size and shape? It sounds as though you know as much about golf as I do. lol
Rvp and free kicks
Ok I have had a glass or two of Spanish red now but what has happpened to his free kicks. Do you remember when we were awarded a free kick at Highbury, we would expect him to score………and more often than not he did, I seem to remember a free kick against Blackburn that flew into the net and took the roof off……but now, who expects him to score?
Yep, he certainly could score from free kicks. Didn’t Theo take some lessons from David Beckham in taking free kicks too
Thanks Chaz
That’s how I remember them
I think our inability to hit a dead ball is shocking, both from corners and from free-kicks.
Shocking in a professional football team imo….
WG
Surely this is the daddy of van Persie freekick goals:
Some more free kicks/goals by RvP ‘Boom’. Rather appropriately it starts with Robin hitting the woodwork a few times… 😉
Apologies guys, link does not seem to work
Er… just a thought, but could his reduced strike rate lately be anything to do with the type of balls currently used in the EPL?
I don’t actually remember that many great free kick goals this season from any team (although an Alex thunderbolt against us in the away game at the Chavs sticks in the memory).
Happy holidays to Rocky and Carlito.
I’ve had a few bevvies with a Liverpool fan this evening he is convinced Dalglish is building for the future I asked if £80m for three young players was justified if it’s for the future. He seemed content in the idea.
My brother has been charged by his boss (Norwich conpany) with the duty of obtaining an Emirates box for the visit of Norwich. Of all the teams they could have chosen to come see extravagantly they chose the Arsenal…..I’m now obviously going to try and blag a space in there for myself.
Thanks GiE
I hope you get that place in the box and I hope to get to meet you when I’m over in the UK early next season.
Peaches,
Sorry, I’m not going to be about till this evening, would you mind sorting out today’s post pls 🙂
Morning Rasp – yes don’t worry, it’s sorted. Have a nice day 🙂
Trying to fill time I have just waded through Le Grove’s comments, eight hundred and fifty odd is very impressive I found a single, solitory one worth sharing.
Keyser says:
June 17, 2011 at 12:48
Seriously I’d be disappointed if we bought either of Cahill or Samba, because it’d be like Wenger’s given up on winning anything and is just now pandering to the masses to shut them up and also because he no longer believes he can find the quality elsewhere.
Morning London
I tend to agree with Keyser’s sentiments there. I think we should have taken Samba in January when we really needed the cover in the knowledge that if we had 4 fit cb’s to start the season we could have offloaded him had he not been able to fit into our system.
I don’t believe AW will want to pay the money for Cahill – he’s overpriced because he’s English but the board may insist if you believe that AW is now under pressure.
Morning Peaches, London
I said that about Samba before and was told I was being unreasonable.
London I was serious about the golf medals but I knew it would sound funny.
Nothing to say – just wanted to be the 100th comment.
Juvenile, I know
Damn you BR. I wanted to be the 100th, and I think it would have been very sensible 🙂
I can’t bear to think of you chaps sitting tapping your fingers on the table …………….. waiting …………………….
New Post 🙂