I’m not feeling at all witty this morning and the things I have to say are mostly obvious and not earth shatteringly different. What I want to know most of all is what on earth happened in our dressing room at half-time yesterday? We had played a very acceptable game up until then, we were good for our lead and yet we didn’t come onto the pitch with any belief that we were going to win the game.
It’s glaringly obvious that goals win games and until we start converting our early chances the burden of being only 1 up is going to weigh heavily on the team and the manager, but what on earth was Arsène doing getting out of his seat to glare at Theo for taking a shot???? Other managers applaud their players for a shot that doesn’t get converted.
The bad luck that we’ve had this season with injuries to our full-backs has affected our game more than we could have imagined. We rely on attacking using our wide players and those who worried early in the season that Santos wasn’t up to defending should eat their words now. We’ve tried to struggle on using our spare centre-backs (not like us to usually have spare centre-backs) but we’re not ticking as a team and now we’re down to the bare bones. Thank goodness there is a week until the next game.
Many players let themselves down in the 2nd half yesterday but some of the manager’s decision making was also strange. He claimed after the game that Djourou was being targetted by Fulham players after his yellow card. Surely it would have been sensible to take him off before he got the 2nd yellow, we were well prepared with both Miquel and Squillacci on the bench.
However, weren’t the team falling apart before the sending off? Where was our mid-field? Our reliable ARS had gone missing. Arteta must be exhausted, Song’s ability to shield the ball and come away with it after a tackle has disappeared completely, although I did think that Ramsey was having his best game for a while.
Too many games in such a small space of time are bound to take their toll on such a small squad already ravaged by injuries and we now have Djourou banned from the next game.
Szczesny told the world on twitter that he was at fault for the first goal and hadn’t had a good game. It was unusual to see him flapping and it goes to show how important an unflappable goalie is.
Would we have been stronger with Vermaelen on the pitch? His leadership qualities were what we missed, I hope his ‘three weeks’ doesn’t turn into more than that.
This Arsenal team has done very well at protecting a 1 goal lead but you have to ask why were they sitting so deep for more than 25 minutes. Where is the get up and go? Was it just that they were too tired to do anything else?
Many of us have wondered why Arsène doesn’t learn from previous mistakes. It’s not his fault that we have so many injuries but it is his fault that we have signed players to score goals that just don’t seem to be able to.
The blur of these last four games should disappear quickly if we return to form after a much needed rest but a repeat of last night’s second half is never far away.
Arsène, if you want this Arsenal team to be successful, let them shoot. We have a great defence now, solid centre-backs but they can’t win games by themselves. We need to score goals, if you’re not going to buy someone then at least release the players we have from their straight jackets and find their shooting boots.
peachesgooner
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Peaches. Superb cobbling!
Killed the debate though as everyone has already had their say 😦
Not the end of the world obviously but why did we fall apart?????
Very well done peaches. Let’s get it all off our chests today and then we can begin to rebuild the positivity.
It would have been so good to go into this break with a victory under our belt, but maybe we needed this reminder to reset our targets at a more realistic level.
Rasp. I cannot agree.
I firmly believe our squad is better than the MU squad, so why should we settle for anything less than top 3? I do not think this is unrealistic.
With the return of some of the injured defenders added to JW and Diaby, we are well served in all areas, particularly when adding in the TH factor. One or two key signings and we are unstoppable.
Work beckons – back later
Let’s be honest here …. Fulham deserved the win yesterday. In the second half they were all over us and this was BEFORE JD (why is he in an Arsenal shirt) started his stupidity and it was down to his inability to cope with the pressure mounting on us. The only players who put a shift in for me yesterday were Coquelin, Kos, Ramsey and Song. Theo and Gerv both put their boots on the wrong feet before kickoff, Arteta wasn’t in the game at all and might as well of stayed in the dressing room, RVP looked tired. In the second half especially there was no passion from the team and sadly, no one on the bench that could instil that passion or turn the game back in our favour. Chamakh and Arsh don’t deserve a place on the bench, give the Ox, Park (if he’s any good) and Ryo a go, they can’t do any worse …….. lets not get all negative on Arsene just because of one defeat, but lets ship out the dross and get in some quality, or at least give the young quality we have a chance to shine …..
Hi Raddy, it is possible that our squad is man for man better than manu’s, but their ability to grind out a win in hard games is what makes them a stronger team. They are 9 points ahead of us, we will not catch them.
A post from peaches….wow 😉
I am a staunch Wenger supporter but his comments after the game and his use of subs were both quite wrong.
Fulham have played i believe 54 games since june and though no great shakes looked hungrier and fitter than us. Why?
Welcome big ernie,
Absolutely Fulham deserved the win yesterday – we gave it to them on a plate in the second half – it wasn’t the ref’s fault only our own.
The call for ‘clearing out the deadwood’ has been made for several seasons now and is subjective – one man’s dross is another’s rising star. Many would have seen the loan of Denilson and sale of Eboue as just that, but maybe those players could have made a difference yesterday.
No squad is perfect, I won’t hear a word said against Arteta, he was not at his best yesterday but he has given his all and run his socks off for us so far this season.
I feel really sorry for the players. All the amazing work that they’ve done since the Bolton match at the end of September has crumbled in the last 3 matches culminating in terrible decisions by Wenger yesterday. I’d like to think that Wenger will buy at least 2 players during January coz Henry isn’t a solution to the teams problems. If the Scum win their 2 games in hand they will be 9 points ahead of us – a situation unheard of since the early 60’s. This is something that Kroenke can’t ever possibly understand or appreciate like all of us. I hope that when we play at Swansea in a fortnight we won’t see a repeat of the last 3 games.
Nicely done Peaches, but please don’t be swayed by Sky’s commentary saying Wenger was annoyed at Theo for shooting, I’d say he was annoyed because he hit it over the bar from an impossible angle.
A side that had 17 shots is not one told not to shoot, most of those were probably in the first half too.
I actually thought about ten minutes into second half (and after we scored) that we were going to defend solid and launch counter attacks. As others have said we didn’t keep the ball enough to launch the counters.
There will always be blips in a league campaign, but we need to find our scoring boots soon, and as Kelsey said this morning a little help by refs wouldn’t go amiss.
Riise pushed Theo off the pitch, nothing given, the penalty on Gerv, the push on RvP in the penalty area. There were others too but they spring to mind.
Fact is we can put that second half to a bad day at the office and I couldn’t blame any one player. RvP was as bad as Arteta who was as bad as Song in the second half. When three key players are not at the races it’s hard to expect the squad players and younger players to pick up the pace and possession.
Wenger could make three changes, his bench was as follows:
Almunia
Miquel
Squid
Arshavin
Rosicky
Chamakh
Benayoun
What could he do differently? Does anyone think if Ox was on the bench that the way we were playing second half he could have changed anything about the way the game was going, for me that’s too high an expectation to put on a 18 year old with only 49 senior games under his belt. And an expectation that’ll end up with us judging him as we judge Theo, setting the bar a little too high.
Agree with Raddy I beleive we are good enough to finish 3 rd and we still have time to do that. Wilshere and Sagna will be a massive boost even Santos, he adds a bit extra in attack and has an eye for a goal. One thing i think needs looking into is adding a natural finisher. We are seriously lacking goals. Chances created but not converted. Robin cannot do it alone and Henry is a short tem solution.
Great post Peaches you should write more 🙂 . I agree with Raddy that our squad is better than the mancs. The mancs don’t always grind out 1 nil (Blacburn) However we gave them a 12 point start before we put this squad together so I agree that we won’t catch them up. I’m still gutted. I think I can use “disgusting” this time.
Moussa Sow is the best bet as our next striker but that is unlikely to be in January (although not impossible). At least he is a striker who can score with his feet! He’s a very good player and would be a great asset, I just wonder how much faith AW will be placing in Joel Campbell who also looks a very good prospect and is already on the books.
Danny whilst I agree that we need a couple of new additions I fail to see how it’s possible to feel sorry for the players yesterday. At the end of the day they were on the pitch and they didn’t effect the play second half before Wenger made changes. Wenger was forced to make changes to try and help his team get a foothold in possession, it didn’t work.
He needed to be able to change 5/6 players.
Well on reflection my belief is that we lost the game in the 1st half not the 2nd. We were the dominant team and could well have been up 3-0 in the1st ten minutes.
Our problem is as obvious as the nose on our face and it’s been the same problem for the past 6/7 seasons – we don’t have a high enough return on our scoring chances. Some of the shooting was abysmal I applaud Peaches for her post- mortem, but I think that AW would have very sore hands if he were to clap every one of our missed shots.
All that happened in the 2nd half was a direct consequence of our failure to take complete control of the game in the 1st half – it happens far too often and the management are at fault for not solving the only real problem that continues to plague us.
Oh, how I wish VP had a solid partner up front!.
Szczesny’s confidence must be taking a hammering due to the total lack of continuity in the make up of the back four. It is no coincidence that his blossoming into a very good ‘keeper came about with the steadying influence of Santos, Vermaelen, Koscielny and , to a lesser extent, Djourou playing in front of him. Recently, however, that settled back four has been ripped apart due to injuries first to Santos, which necessitated moving Vermaelen to left back, and then to Vermaelen himself. Coquelin did well at left back, but Djourou is by no means a full back and his dismissal compounded the problem, Sqillaci’s introduction further served to confuse the already disjointed defence.
It is not surprising that the mid-field dropped deeper, to cover the erratic defence, whilst the removal of Walcott and then Gervinho deprived van Persie of any support and also removed any threat to the Fulham defenders.
All of the above would have been rendered irrelevant had Gervinho, in particular, taken the chances offered him in the first twenty minutes during which time the game could and should have been wrapped up.
GN5 – “I think that AW would have very sore hands if he were to clap every one of our missed shots.”
😀
Maybe he could borrow the clappers that the Fulham fans had yesterday.
Morning GiE,
Don’t take this the wrong way, but at what age do you think it will be fair to judge Theo?
As I said yesterday, Cesc and Theo were both playing regularly at the Ox’s age. AW has hinted that he will emerge in 2012 – but that may not be this season.
As far as the options from the bench are concerned, Miquel should have been brought on for Djourou before he got the red – I know I’ll be accused of using hindsight but I have witnesses to the fact that I said that at the time. Don’t take off Ramsey or Gerv, but perhaps replacing Arteta for Rosicky at about 60 minutes would have injected a bit more energy. It was right to bring off Theo, but if The Ox had been on the bench, he would have been the ideal replacement. As he wasn’t, I’d have put on Arshavin for Theo, at least we would have maintained an attacking threat.
VVC,
I dont know whether to kiss or kill you !
I tapped that postcode into my TackleNav2 ( 2 being what RA rightly suggested ) and found myself in “trouble”, Liz said to Phil, ” Did one phone for Donut delivery service, looks like one has only one”.
Bad news is, I`m now staying at Her Majies Pleasure.
Good news is, they made a mistake and I`m close to THOF, Holloway Prison !, sharing a cell with 11 bisexual nympho`s, F**k Arsenal I`ve got my own team, glick football manager, right girls lets talk tackles and formations !.
Bad news, there letting me out tomorrow, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…… 😥
Oh, peaches, what a fine post, you should do more !
Well cobbled Peacher, 🙂
Having said I had no idea what went wrong in the second half, and not having anything to contribute, I now realise from what I have read that no one else knows either.
That being the case, and having had a while to reflect – here goes!
RVP has been magnificent for us and without his goals we would be buggered. But, in the last few matches, he has seemed strangely unable to keep control of the ball in general play, falling over or having the ball taken off him. Too much on his shoulders and insufficient midfield support are reasons that spring readily to mind.
The mid-field is where that critically important support, both for the offense and the defense is supposed to come from.
Arteta, Benayoun, Rosicky and Theo are all gifted players with great individual skills but they have one other thing in common. They are all physically light weight and not noted for their tackling skills.
When the going gets tough, and the physical demands increase, like last night, none of them are able to slam into ball winning tackles or doggedly track back to frustrate the opposition and help out the defense.
I know some will say that their skill is the key, but even the greatest teams have succeeded on days when skill alone has not been enough, by having physically strong midfield players to ginger up the team and carry the fight to the oppo.
We have Song and more recently Rambo to fulfil this necessary ‘hard man’ function, but with so many problems in defense caused by injuries and players filling in which has resulted in so many holes at the back which need protecting, I fear it is becoming just too much for them game after game.
Last night we should’ve and could’ve scored another 2 or 3 goals and that is clearly a worry, but clearly the midfield was swamped in the second half, after Rambo was hooked off and without either the Gerv or Theo to threaten with pace, this meant we were incapable of either midfield defending or of launching counter attacks and that left the defense exposed to a continual bombardment with predictable results.
QED
Wenger got everything wrong yesterday – his starting line up, his substitutions, his tactics in the second half etc. This is why I feel for the players.
LG you describe the awful cycle of dropping deeper well. Midfielders are forced into position by defensive line, the defence did not squeeze the play when they did clear which led to the midfield being too far from RvP. Which then forces us to drop deeper as we can’t get out of our own half so we don’t dare squeeze.
Needed a general to take charge yesterday and he was having an off day.
Heart felt stuff Peaches
My take for what its worth.
We had a bad 45 minutes, not a big deal
We will probably finish 3rd
We will still finish above Tottenham and give them a good beating at the Grove
We will win the Champions League (i have seen this as a vision so it must be true)
We will challange for the title next season and probably win it
We will reap the benefits of our current policy and become a european powerhouse for the next ten years
And lastly we will always be “Arsenal”, a club with great history and tradition which sets us apart from the rest.
GIE,
May I suggest in answer to your question at 11:03, that we could have brought Miquel on at ls
eft back and move Le Coq over to right back after JD received a yellow card and started to grimace and hold his tackle. (He really should not listen to GLIC 🙂 )
That way, with perfect hindsight, we would not have gone down to 10 men, which most punters are saying, with some justification, was the start of our real defensive problems.
See, I am good at hindsight, but like the Rasper, I was yelling my advice at the screen with some intensity last night! 🙂
I`m changing my Team to, TMHT , he `s much more entertaining .
And it`s Terry Mancini, Terry Mancini HT, he`s by far the greatest Transplant, the world has ever seen ! 🙂
Danny name your starting XI (even with hindsight I don’t see who else starts). Maybe one change Djourou for Miquel and switch full backs over.
Rasp it’s not the age I am judging Theo at it is the standard we are setting him to. I don’t know who most people are comparing him to, Nani, Messi, Bale, Young, Giggs, Ljungberg (at peak). He is still only 22 comparing him to his current peers he is not far away. But my point was that we already have decided Ox is better but he isn’t even playing, do we think Wenger is that blind that he would not play him even if he thinks he is good enough. He is undoubtedly talented but i think I have missed him put in the performances that everyone else seems to think makes him a better option than Theo yet.
I think you’re right that Wenger has acquired players like Ryo and Campbell with a view to unleashing then (work permits allowing) in the future,Jenkinson and Ox fall in to this category too IMO.
This is why I don’t like the Henry signing if it is at the expense of other new faces we need more players. Around the age of 25-28, Podolski is first choice, I’d also take Larsson back and if stories about Richardson are true i’d be happy to see him arrive.
TMHT,
Your glass is, as ever, half full. Sadly I am confident that only your final paragraph has a genuine ring of truth about it.
Terry
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
You alwayse cheer me up
I am going to lie down and weep now.
MerryT has downgraded his uber optimistic forecast from us winning the Premiership to settling for 3rd place.
As his forecast calculations are well known in the accounting profession for having 2 options; either a +/- accuracy of 30%, or alternatively “what do you want them to be”, I fear we are doomed.
Oh woe ….. woe is me …….. MerryT the accounting soothe sayer has spoken …….. Arsenal are doomed …….. nay and thrice nay ….. we are all doomed! Bugger!
Thanks GiE,
I agree Richardson would be a good signing – as a potential replacement for Gibbs and to play second fiddle to Santos when he’s fit. Is he available/in the last year of his contract?
RA I agree it was a possibility. But to change defenders is always risky and we were not losing the game there.
BTW, I’d have started with Theo as he is currently better than the Ox when on his game, but the Ox would be a good sub to take Theo’s place and keep him on his toes.
Saw this on twitter (albeit we and Chelsea have played one more game)
Points since 1st September:
Man City 36
Man U 36
Sp*rs 36
Arsenal 35
Chel$ea 30
Liverpool 27
GIE,
I feel bad having a chirrup at accounting colleagues — well not a lot really, as I am a well known tart (like GLIC) 🙂 — but I think you are defending Theo when that is not the issue.
Arsene hoicked Theo off around the 60 minute mark, and what I understand some commenters to mean, is that they would have liked the option last night of having young Oxo on the bench, to be brought on for his undoubted pace, as an outlet for the over worked midfield/defense. Nothing wrong with that, I think.
Neither have I seen anyone say they think Ox is currently better than Theo, or that they think AW is blind.
Perhaps I missed that? 🙂
Well done Peaches, your bravery is commendable, unlike anything we have on the battle-field.
The management are becoming a liability, and get far more wrong than they get right.
After putting ticket prices up and subjecting them to this, I’m surprised fans aren’t demanding their money back.
Sorry Redders, i have to be realistic. We will have to settle for the Champions League this year only, disapointing i know, hahahaha.
In all seriousnes though i do believe in my forecasts. We are very close to been a great team. The ony thing thats not based on anaysis is winning the Champions league, but my vision was so vivid ‘Arsenal 2 Munich 1’, it must be true. Lets hope so anyway.
GiE, although at that point we weren’t losing, it was apparent that we were unlikely to hold onto the lead unless changes were made
I agree redders,
I always use Terry as a yard stick, If he say`s champs, I put us 3 places below it, he`s now saying 3rd or 4th, that means 6th or 7th, were indeed dooooooooooomed ! 😦
Wenger: ‘We had chances to win the game’
Dear Arsenal supporter,
Obviously Monday’s defeat at Fulham was a big disappointment.
You want the right decisions in a game of that importance and I do think that we should have had a penalty when Gervinho was tripped by Philippe Senderos in the first half.
That was frustrating because we could have had penalties in the games against Manchester City, Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers too.
I don’t believe that Johan Djourou should have been sent off either and of course it makes a massive difference to play with 10 men when you have played 48 hours earlier.
But despite all that we had the chances to kill off the game in the first half. Laurent Koscielny scored a header but we had a number of shots on goal and their goalkeeper made some good saves.
There was so much at stake in the game on Monday and we needed decisions to go for us. But we are guilty because we still gave two goals away and we didn’t take our chances.
Now we have to look forward and focus on the next game – an FA Cup tie against Leeds United next Monday.
Thanks for your support.
Arsène Wenger
RA maybe I am reading between the lines too much with the hopes of many to see Ox over say TR7, Benny, AA23 on the bench. That’s a big ask.
Rasp I meant we weren’t losing the game at the back, we were losing it by not holding possession and moving up the pitch hence there wasn’t a lot on the bench (or in the current squad with Frimpong on loan, Wilshere/Diaby injured) to change the team where it was really needed.
The game was so fast and so set in a pattern that I don’t think there was any real changes that could have altered the game that greatly. The players dug themselves a big hole.
As for asking for money back, I must have missed the statement that says we pay money to see a win. Maybe it would be churlish to ask for money back every time we lost. I don’t think the away fans even demanded it after the OT journey, they understand they pay their money and what happens happen they pay their money for the privilege of supporting their team in ground.
Come now everybody, a couple of months ago people were saying we are crap and would be lucky to finish seventh. Third spot is up for grabs and looking at the teams involved in that chase we can and in all fairness should do it. We are a quality side and just had a bad 45 minutes last night, the players are determined and have loads of charachter and will bounce back quickly and strongly.
GiE,
Don’t you think that with a lot of players there is a coming of age, or a window of opportunity when they can announce themselves on the scene. It happened with Ashley Cole and Cesc and I believe Coquelin put in a performance yesterday that must have surprised some people who have not seen him play before, he is definitely a star of the future – I hope it is with us.
One wonder goal in the CC from the Ox doesn’t mean we must expect miracles, but a good 60 minutes against quality premiership opposition and we may have to consider him as a regular from the bench.
GIE,
I would not have you or MerryT any other way.
Altho you both approach things from different aspects, the unfailing support and intelligent analysis you both give are just what is needed on an otherwise gloomy day!! 🙂
Long may you both continue to do so. 😉
TA,
I haven’t seen you on AA this morning – the blog, not our little Meerkat — but I read your comment last night, for which thank you, and speak to you later when you come on to chat!! 🙂
My thoughts…
When we have a few full backs back we should think about sending Djourou out on loan – he’s been in the squad to long without ever nailing down a spot. He is actually less dominant and physical than he was 2 or 3 years ago and is heading into his peak years as a shadow of his potential.
i remember him as an absolute animal for about 6 months and now he is a tippy tappy panic merchant.
Squillaci is simply way out of his depth (his depth being La Liga di andorra or whatever)and Miquel should be ahead of him in the selection –
although why wenger can’t adjust from 433 to 351 (or 531) when he has a sending off – He has 3 centre backs on the pitch.
Why did gervinho have to come off – sure he was missing shots but he was terriying their full backs. Benayoun doesn’t give that width and thus doesn’t pin them back
Coquelin is a class act… Vermaelan is another of the one mans in our one man team…
RVP was a little prima donnaish with his wild arm gestures at walcott (who is having a laugh looking for a payrise of any kind… man you are so lucky to be still playing for Arsenal and have so much to prove)
I think when most people purchased their season-tickets, it was with the belief that another end of season collapse was a defining line-in-the-sand moment, lessons had finally been learnt, and we were about to see a cultural revolution. But mostly, because above all else, they trusted them to build a squad capable of challenging for the title.
Not with any given right to win it, but to show their fighting qualities when the going gets tough, and to produce the rare piece of magic to make the difference when it matters, as all teams do when they win cups.
If you have the highest paid manager in the league, that is the very least you expect. We don’t even have players who have to fight for their starting place, let alone show any mettle out on the pitch.
Is that really the best our money can buy?
When a team is dropping points it always seems to be viewed from 2 extremes of either being bad luck and poor refereeing decisions, or the team and managers failings. You will get some Gooners who blame it all on bad luck and decisions and some that rant about getting rid of AW as it is all his fault. For me it is a combination of all of these and this helps to balance the view of the team and manager. He has made mistakes, and some big ones. If we had bought all the same players we eventually got 5 weeks earlier I think we would now be 5-7 points better off, but we do not know if this was down to AW or the board holding back, so who to blame? Despite all this AW has had to do his best with our defensive injuries, which I can’t blame him for, and we have actually done fairly well considering how many defenders are out, and how many have had to try and fill in at unfamiliar positions. Could he have done anything more about it before January? Not really. Hartson has criticised AW for criticising the ref. While I thought his comment about Djorou being fouled and not the other way around looked a tad childish AW certainly has a point that Hartson shouldn’t just dismiss. I never subscribe to the view that all decisons balance out at the end of the season and if we had got that stonewall penalty and been 2-0 up the dynamic of the game may have been different and would have seen us scrape the 3 points. Also I never saw a replay of RVP going down. From the way he fell twisting backwards it looked as if he had been pulled back which would have made it even more blatant than Djorous on Zamora. Another penalty maybe and at 3-0 it is game over. We have also had blatant poor decisions go against us with Spurs and City, also in games we have lost by one goal. These have even more impact due to the fact we are in direct competition with these teams, so unless we get some dodgies back before the end of the season, and in games against key rivals, then I think we will end the season some 4-6 points down due to decisions. There are things within our control which could be better though and despite the defensive injuries the main reason we have dropped points to the likes of Fulham and Wolves recently is not converting our chances. We play an attacking three with one of the deeper midfielders contributing to this. Currently the first choice are RVP, Walcott, Gervinho and Ramsey. RVP is obviously above questioning but where are the goals from the others. We have had players like Overmars, Pires and Ljunberg all contributing heavily to the goals of the main striker in the past. Ramsey has done ok but needs to score a few more but it is the 2 others that have not stepped up with goals. I am reaching a point where I feel Walcott and Gervinho cannot play in the same 11 and both will need to be rotated with another player/players who offer more goal threat. I am sure this will upset them but it is no-ones fault but theirs. I actually like them both but one or both of them needed to show more than just creating goals for RVP so at a club like Arsenal we can’t accomodate how they feel about being rotated with better goal-scorers, and having been regular starters it is not as if they have only had a couple of chances to step up. Henry is a good start as a temporary measure but we need another and possibly at the end of the season another still. I have not included Chamakh, Arshavin and Park in this because they should be replaced with something better. Walcott and Gervinho I would keep but they will have to accept being more rotated now in order for us to score more goals.
Hi Herb, 🙂
I’m not too keen to get into the subject of the Arsenal management and the price of tickets, but I would like to hear what you think went wrong in the second half?
I suspect the thing that shocked most of us (well me anyway) was our ‘failure’ not to have scored more goals in the opening half hour, and then to have been comprehensively outplayed in the second half.
There were many views expressed as to why this happened, mine being the poor midfield performance, but how did you see it?
Hi GoonerB and welcome,
An excellent and well reasoned comment more worthy of a post than being lost in a debate.
Most of us would agree with the majority of your points. I think dwelling on refereeing decisions after a poor team performance is unwise as it enters into the realm of looking for excuses rather than answers.
How many supporters complain about the ref when they’ve won a game as compered to when they’ve lost, I’d guess its about a ratio of 1:10. We didn’t deserve to win yesterday and that was due to our own failings.
Cheers Rasp. On a tactical front I wonder if we could have brought on Miquel, as some are suggesting, but played him with Koscielny and Mertesacker and switch to a 3-5-2. Coquelin and Rosicky could have played as wing backs. Rosicky is not ideal for this I know but was there ever an ideal answer with the defensive injuries. We could have put Theo up top to use his pace on the counter dropped RVP in behind him to link up with midfield. Maybe we would have controlled the middle of the pitch better then and could have brought Benayoun on for Ramsey once he looked like his legs had gone.
Hi RA,
we literally ran out of gas because of an over-reliance on certain players.With our current injuries we don’t have enough options to rotate, which inevitably puts the midfield axis under constant pressure. Ramsey, good as he is, is playing far too many games for a boy his age. We over-relied on Wilshere last year, and are paying the price for it now. Is Diaby ever going to be fit enough to play?
Gervinho needs to front up more, and Walcott needs either sending out on loan, or just selling.
Wenger has bought some great wingers in the past, Overmars, Pires and Ljungberg all stand out, so it is very puzzling that he no longer seems able to identify one now.
Got to say, I think Rasp is talking a lot of sense today ( I`m not saying he doesn`t always talk sense ), sensible realism. I thought I was one of the few with realistic views. Yes I know, I dont have many sensible one`s !. You lot are way too clever, all those mind numbing tactics and formations, I thought It was supposed to be a simple game ! 🙂
Thanks GoonerB,
I don’t think AW would play a 3:5:2 any more than a 4:4:2 although what you suggest would have made sense.
With my Championship Manager hat on, I’d have brought on Miquel before Djourou got sent off, moved Coquelin to the right and played Miquel on the left – it’s so easy after the event.
Once Djourou had been sent off, I’d have moved Song to CB, played kozzer on the right, kept Ramsey on the pitch and brought on Rosicky for Walcott – there are as many connotations as there are opinions.
Wenger scowled at Walcott becuase the shot was so bad. I did more than scowl at the time. Playing Ox would at the very least give him a kick up the arse. He seems to have the luxury of a guaranteed place. I’d still sell him personally though.
Fulham deserved the win with or without refereeing decisions. They played with much more heart than us second half.
afternoon all. Well done peaches, i thought you were the grand master behind the scenes and then you pull a post like this out. Definently more needed.
I’m not going to go over old ground, especially when i said it last night. Personally i would have started with miquel and then coq at RB. Djourou is a shadow of his former self, i know we need him but it’s damaging us and himself by playing him there. Personally i’d rather give yennaris a go over him.
I don’t think ox is better than theo…yet, but he would of been ideal coming on at 60mins. He may of been isolated up top with RVP, but who cares his pace would of pinned the fulham defence back and given them something else to think about. By bringing on yossi and rosicky meant they could invade our half pretty much as they pleased.
i wish people would stop mentioning diaby as an addition to lift the team. Until he strings a few games together he should not be relied upon in any way. Yes it’s unfortunent what happened to him and completely not his fault but he’s as durabable as aliadiere.
GM,
Loved your comment yesterday about getting a qualification and invading Poland 🙂
Hi Glic,
I often talk rubbish you know 😆
My tendency to offer my own particular brand of realism does tend to get me bracketed with the cup half full merchants (a term I despise BTW).
I see CL qualification as by far the most important goal for us this season and for seasons to come unless FFP actually does level the playing field (which I seriously doubt), in which case I expect us to compete for all major honours and the trophy cabinet to be bulging once again.
That’s part of the problem GM. We have adopted an uncompetitive culture where certain players can consistently put in dire performances with the knowledge that their place in the team is safe as houses.
Jeepers lads, its football not rocket science.
We have about the 4th or 5th best attack in the league, and hey, guess where we are.
Two options.
Plod on in 4th/5th and wait to see what happens with the Gerv finishing, two years for Theo to hit his peak (whatever that may be), two years for Oxo to develop, two years for Ryo to develop and two years for a back up striker to develop.
Other option.
Flog some of them, and buy some others.
Whatever rocks your boat really.
Oz, Diaby is taking up a valuable squad place that could be used for someone with genuine hunger and desire. He’s vastly over-paid in terms of what he has given the club.
Djourou,Squillaci,Vela,Bendtner,Diaby,Fabianski,Almunia,Manone,Arshavin, Rosicky,Chamakh
, all offers welcome 🙂
Park ???
Kelsey,
Saw your comment to me earlier. I think you must have read mine upside down or backwards, as I completely agree with you.
Kelsey
Vela has been on our books for about 5 years now. Apart from JD and Fab they will all be gone.
Arsenal have a plan, and we are paying the price short term but will reap the benefits long term.
Unless your mega loaded, like City, modern day football finances dictate you build teams through astute purchases. you can do this like Tottenham but any success they may have will be short lived since they procure players at there peaks who will not always be a success, spend to much on transfers, and do not have the resources to keep players like Bale and Modric long term. I know we have this problem to, but our aim is to increase our revenues through new commercial deals which will give us the clout to keep our players, and besides our resources are already greater any way.
The 3 players playing behind RVP, Gerv is 24 and its his first season, Walcot is 22 and not at his peak, Ramsey is 21 and also not at his peak. We have Jack to come back and Ox waiting to have an impact.
I have said this before but will say it again, if we can keep our players we will have a side that will match and even surpass the best teams in Europe. The club has a fantastic future, the defeat against Fulham means little in the grand scheme of things. What do people think the move to Ashburton Grove was all about? some kind of a laugh? Lets be a bit more paitent with the club and the current players. The club is not ats its financial peak and the players are not at there football peaks and when those peaks are reached we will blow the others away.
Have no idea about Park. His finishing in internationals is fantastic.
I’ll be going for a shitty win tonight.
a We can’t catch them.
b I f**king hate the red mancs so much more.
c Liverpool can go above us with a win.
d God forbid the scum might challenge for the title.
Nice how the FA gave the mancs a nice long break in between thier games. It’s so currupt it’s comical.
Definitelely lunch time on AA. Or another one of my special blogfarts
Rasp,
Check your email.
Hi TMHT,
Surely you must have picked up on the change to that ‘youth plan’ since last season. The financial power of the super rich clubs means that we cannot keep hold of our best young players (unless they value loyalty over earnings – rare!!) and so we risk losing them to bigger wage payers. The corollary of all that means that we cannot rely on potential to come to fruition in an Arsenal shirt.
Wait two years for Theo to hit his peak? He has trouble hitting a pigs butt with a banjo!
I really am becoming tired of Walcott, he has not improved at all since he first arrived. All he has is speed and lacks the ability to dribble around the defender, he lacks the ability to deliver a decent ball into the box, he lacks the ability to hit the target 95 percent of the time when shooting.
As others have alluded to, we used to have such wonderful wingers and now we have two who seem to have come from the same pod. It is depressing. 😦
Thanks GN5, I’ll have to do it this evening if that’s OK
Hi Rasp,
There has been a change of policy but its only slight. Our biggest outlay was on the kid Chamberlain..Of course the risk is there that we lose players but the club knows that lucrative sponsership deals and some form of impact of FFP is round the corner. You will not see the club incuring transfer defecits, the general policy is still to nurture young talent and pay them handsomly. you may be right and we still lose them but in a few years years we will be in a stronger position to resist.
Hi Brigham,
I undersatand your frustration with Theo, he frustrates me to.The reality is however that he is only 22 and no were near his peak. I tend to defer to Arsene Wenger on this one who does believe he will be a great player.
Thanks TMHT,
I don’t think I’d call it a change of policy as it is something that is out of our control and therefore cannot be legislated for.
AW admitted that he was hit hard by the loss of Na$ri and Cesc as they were two player who we developed but who left before they had realised their full potential (well at least in the case of Na$ri)
Hi back TMHT – I understand that, but he really does frustrate me, to the point that I often shout at him during games both home and away and when watching on the television. The boy has talent, no doubt about that, but there is something missing in his game play and definitely his decision making.
I would like to see OX giving a chance and hopefully he will once the ACN gets underway. Who knows what goes through Wenger’s mind at times and last night proved that in many ways, especially those substitutions.
Rasp,
That’s fine – pictures of the lead characters would be appreciated.
Hi Peaches, great, well-balanced post – top stuff. As you can see you have generated great debate today, with some quality new bloggers coming on as well. 🙂 You really should write more!
I am going to lay low today as i am still prickly and too many comments irritate me. Sometimes it is best not to blow against the storm 😦
RA, good to see we are still friends 😆 and looking fwd to many more discussions on AA.
Rasp, The loss of those players was a big blow to Arsene personaly. I think the policy has been moderated now and to be honest i welcome that. The stark reality is however that the club will not indulge in transfer defecits. they will only pay big outlays on exceptional young talent or large sums on players after they have recouped money from sales. Faced with the wheeling dealing option or the youth policy i think some were in between is a good compromise.
How did Frimpong do against the chavs? I couldn’t bear to watch motd last night
Brigham,
Theo has proved my theory that if you if you throw a half full can of Kronenberg at a JVC telly, the telly survives.
A few months ago someone on an Arsenal website said that we would be third by January.
GM,
I agree with your@1:53pm, apart from b, I currently hate city more, until manu get richer owners .
Terrym,
There were so many peaks in your earlier comment, but I noticed ‘widows’ was missing, altho in your case that was understandable! 🙂
TA, there was never any real danger of our falling out.
Your comment came after 26’s impolite personal comment and I was still cross at the time!! All is well! 🙂
GM, I watched the Wolves game to see the Pong play, and I have to say he looked pretty lost and got the hook in the second half.
No biggy, as it was his first game and it will take a while for him to settle down. McCarthy said he was pleased with him.
GM,
As your personal Gofor, I can remind you that Shitty played on New Years day, Sunday, so only 48 hours in betwixt.
The other Manc team is, of course, a law unto itself!
RA
When I say the mancs I mean the red ones. The other lot are shitty. Most teams have had 2 games in 48 hours. I think it’s been 6 days for the mancs
GM,
I don’t bother with them to be honest, but I think they played (and lost) on Saturday and play again tomorrow.
Hope they lose by 6 and have 2 sent off!!
I love that some people know the details of personal contracts. I wish I had access to them. Then perhaps I could judge them too. But it wouldn’t be football if discussions weren’t based on unfounded rumours.
Wolves play a different game to us (obviously) so it will take him some time to get the gist of it. I think it will do him good.
Redders, all those peaks are definately freudian slips. I have to end my obsession with hair, after all my transplant looks great in certain lighting.
Just a quick question, if both manc clubs lose tonight, are we back in it?
Those two blokes have been found guilty of murdering Stephen Lawrence. For 18 years they thought they got away with it.
We are definitely ‘in’ something TerryM, but not the title race.
One Manc club managed to wangle an extra day break, and don’t play until tomorrow.
But if West Brom hold Spuds to a point and the same with Shitty and Dippers we will be a lot happier than we are today i assume (don’t want Dippers to win).
Remember Guys & Girls this is me speaking, so go easy, I`m not known for sensible comments. All the different comments on here (not just today) about tactics ,formations, who we should bring on and bring off, all the different permatations, they all seam to make sense and quite possibly would have made a difference in our favour, there is/are some very intelligent technical post match thoughts, which leads me to the question, apart from the non football side of running a club, how f**king hard Is It to Pick a team and use wise substitutions and dont bring on ( which everyone of us knows is) crap, Even I could do It, and my players would have squirty water flowers and honking nose`s !
Early kick off on Saturday, evening match on Wednesday. Not bad if you can get it. Shitty and us (and others) 48 hours
Herb
lamplard says the chavs can win the league and they are only a point above us. They have a struggle for 4th with us I think.
1 Man City 19 9 0 0 28 4 5 3 2 25 12 37 45
2 Man Utd 19 7 1 2 30 14 7 2 0 19 3 32 45
3 Tottenham 18 6 1 1 17 8 6 2 2 18 12 15 39
4 Chelsea 20 6 1 3 23 16 5 3 2 16 9 14 37
5 Arsenal 20 7 2 1 16 6 4 1 5 20 22 8 36
Forgotten why I posted that 🙂
Lets face it, yesterday was a hangover. In fact, my hangover from New Years Eve got worse after watching that game. It was a supreme feeling of De Javu. How many times can we let that ginger score on us? It’s like playing Chelsea, no matter what Drogba is gonna score on us (until he gets sold to China this winter).
What was Djourou doing starting anyway? I’d have Miquel over him any day. Djourou is a very nice guy and tries, but neither of those win trophies. Theo is fast, that’s it. If he’s not running at and frustrating defences then what’s the point? My dead grandfather who never played football can cross the ball better than I’ve seen Theo do it.
I think the squad yesterday, and I’m sure I’ll catch some flack for this, should’ve had Chamakh alongside Theo as forwards in a 4-4-2. The midfield should’ve been the Ivorian Forehead who can’t score a goal, Song, Arteta and Arshavin with AA having a more open role to play down the middle as well. Back 4 of Kos, Per, Miquel, and Coquelin (who was brilliant).
If/when Arshavin wasn’t working out bring on Ramsey. When/if Chamakh wasn’t getting it done, then bring on RVP with 25-30 minutes left in the match. If & only if there was an injury should a defensive sub been brought on in the form of Djourou.
It was an overall bad game from Czesny I’ll admit, but what goalie would feel confident watching that defense in front of him?
For me, Wenger got it all wrong with the starting lineup and the subs. Djourou should’ve been off after his first yellow. He too easily gives up the ball and then gives up a bad foul. IMO, Zamora dove, but I’m not the ref watching a near the penalty box foul by a player with a yellow already. The ref surely didn’t help up out and I don’t think Gervinho’s was a penalty. I think he made a meal of it and is starting to get a reputation for it. I’ve seen him go down far too easily, far too often. He needs to focus on his first touch and trying to shoot more.
I think I’m most looking forward to seeing Henry back in the squad to show what composure and creativity he has. How many goals did he score seemingly out of nowhere? That’s what we don’t have right now. I hope the younger lads feed off it and learn a thing or two.
GLIC,
I refute the notion you are not smart.
You have managed to write a 6 inches deep, 123 word, mini War and Peace epic type of question using only two sentences, and made it sound sensible — albeit rhetorical!
Classic sheep shagger territory!! 🙂
GLIC,
By ‘rhetorical’ I mean it did not require an answer, but if you insisted, it could be answered with a 1 or at maximum 2 word reply.
“Very” or “Not very” dependent on your wont! 👿
GM,
personally I don’t agree with Lampard, I think AVB is still learning the English culture and is under-going a massive squad over-haul at Chelsea. And Lampard was lucky to be on the field yesterday after that ‘red-card’ challenge.
The difference with us and Chelsea is that they will spend big to bring their club upto the necessary standard required, where as our Board seem only interested in making money for the shareholders.
Different expectations.
£50m Torres
£20m Luiz
Yep they certainly spend big.
Neither of whom were AVB signings GiE, they were bought by Ancelotti/Abramovich.
But isn’t that the point, if AVB is given more to spend does anyone expect Arsenal to match that level of spending? If you do your kidding yourself, if you don’t and think they should perhaps you need to have another look through the accounts.
But lets be fair and look at what AVB spent this summer.
Courtois (GK Age 19) £7m
Lukaku (FWD Age 18) £18m
Mata (FWD/MF Age 23) £23.5m
Davilia (MF Age 20) £1.75m
Meireles (MF Age 28) £12m
Recouped only £16m from selling Zhirkov and Mancienne, net spend £46m value for money? And just spent another £5m on a 17 year old midfielder from Brazil)
Whereas in the summer Arsenal made £23m in transfers in and outs and have some would argue more acquisitions that have influenced our squad for better.
In Lukaku you have a player that can be compared directly to Ox (although we bought Ox for £5m less and the Ox had no previous Euro experience).
I think a lot of Arsenal fans are scared of change, and are terrified of looking at Arsenal after Wenger. He has become unsackable because people have come to accept our slow painful decline.
I think Bergkamp was pivotal to Wenger’s early success, and we haven’t had a player of his class since he retired.
Wenger plays the part of ‘unlucky loser/victim’ perfectly, and there’s always an excuse waiting when his footballing philosophy is unravelled.
We are suffering from a significant lack of investment in the playing squad, which is down to Wenger, Gazidis, or both.
Afternoon Fellow Gooners and AAers around the world, oh to be a gooner………..
If I ever need a cake icing with a sour cherry on top to cap a miserable period in my life I will call AW for advice, because he gave it to me with double helpings yesterday………..
Anyway, RHWP, a peachy article is always a soother after a poor display, you always seem to do them when we all get ourselves in a tiswas………
FGG saw your comments, fair play and understood, apologies myself for getting irate………..I stand by what I said, but you misintrepreted it slightly, certainly 6 WC players for each position is Middle Eastlands Oil tactics, not ours……..
Whereby AW cannot possibly account for every doomsday scenairo, he must truly evaluate his and arsenals predicament and get the right reinforcements in.
Even with yesterdays result I believe we have scope to push for the title, I believe we have at least 2nd equal best squad in the league, apart from city with all 25 players fit, who has the best squads?
But if all we bring in is TH, i feel we will fall short and probably scrape 4th. If we bring in TH (only 8 games remember), then another goal scorer and a Utility player ie Vertonghen or even Richardson as suggested earlier, then with our other players back we can kick on, maybe and probably we wont catch City, but 2nd is ours for taking and then next season we can challenge from the start.
There are no excuses for yesterday, we were poor in the 2nd, referee decsions aside we deserved to lose due to our poor attitude to the game, which was mystifying to say the least, complacency with a double helping.
I wont as no one seems to, highlight any players in particular, there was one in the first half, I would have quite happily shot at half time, ok shot is extreme, he certainly wouldnt have come out for the 2nd half……..Guess if you want!!!!
Personally, AW was the architect yesterday of this downfall, those of you who actually have met me and know me, understand that I support AW 1000%, but I always caveat it with he isnt perfect, yesterday was a bad day from him.
From his Half time team demotivation speech to his poor and wrongly timed subsitutions to his ill advised lambasting of the referee, he got so much wrong. Why not sub JD before his red, this isnt hindsight, my 13 year old said get him off 5mins before the sending off…….And then to take ramsey off as a result, i was gobsmacked……….
Anyway, moving on, a slight respite with a cup match against Leeds before Swansea away, a very tough match, no complacency needed there thats for sure……….
Thanks RA for being the only one to answer ( i think) my question. 🙂
Due to lack of answers, I can only make my judgement on all the fine intelligent and tactical comments from the “usual suspects”. and that is , most of you could have managed the Arsenal team yesterday and got a better outcome, even mad terry ! 🙂
@GLIC,
To answer your statement and indirect question (didnt notice it the first time), it is a lot harder than we give any of the managers credit for sometimes. I manage in youth football and that has its pressure, so god knows what wenger and co must be under at times.
When a manager brings on a player and he scores, its a great sub, when the players fails, it was a poor choice, damn if you do scenairo to a point, if you like.
Would any of us done any better? Unlikely to be honest, do we think we could have done better, hell yeah…..For me Wenger needs at times to be a little more ruthless, i like his style to a point, fluffy and caring, backing his players with belief……But just every now and then, instead of, {well done boys keep plugging away we’ll get a second, away you go etc}, which is close to what he said yesterday……I would have given them an absolute rocket, for only been 1-0 up.
Finally if we want to see spending of the like of Chelsea, and City, bear this in mind.
The above have on average spent £50m a season net.
Assuming every player signed for three year contract you could argue that each season the cost of owning these players is £16.7m, but that compounds each year, so in the first year the cost is £16.7m and the second year it is £33m (as we would not have sold anyone).
Our Reserves at the end of May 2009 were £97m.
2010 profit was £22m (excluding gains on sales of players)
2011 profit was £6m (excluding gains on sales of players)
So far so good, now take off the depreciation (£50m over the 2 years)
Our Reserves are already down to £75m
Now extra salary, well I’m assuming conservatively that these players are going to need a salary of £150k per week and there are 2 as we are talking about £25m signings here. £31.2m for those bought in year one and £15.6 m for the two lucky sods who came in in year 2.
So bugger we are now down to £28.2m reserves.
Right then lets think about the following year, assuming 2011 is our stable profit (not many property deals).
We have bought another two lucky sods, spent another £50m net.
So our starting point of £28.2m reserves
Depreciation of £52.8m
Wages of £46.8m
Oh shot we have no money left In fact we now owe someone (probably the banks) £71.4m.
Oh I forgot we would have won a few trophies that would bring in the extra revenue wouldn’t it…..ECL Bonus and EPL Bonus.
Well the EPL extra income from winning it would have been £3m (so £9m over the three years). Champions League Prize Money £20m a year (so £60m over three years).
Oops even winning the CL three years on the trot and the EPL three years on the trot we would still be in debt by £2m.
It’s not what we spend GiE, it’s how the money is spent.
Are you telling me that we couldn’t have signed anyone better than Almunia, Fabianski, Djourou, Silvestre, Squillaci? Wouldn’t you agree that Arshavin, Rosicky and Diaby have all flattered to deceive, and along with Walcott, Bendtner and Denilson are a drain on our resources?
Why would you buy Gervinho if you can have Hazard?
Why was it we moved to the Emirates? To show off a fantastic state of the art architecture, or to compete at the top level?
A sobering lack of ambition.
GIE,
read The swiss ramble we have in excess of 30 million to spend after taking everything else under consideration.
peaches,
re your what does Wenger say at half time. Well i only know personally one player who has played under AW (Lauren) and the answer is that he says next to nothing regardless if we are winning,losing or drawing.
In the last published accounts, wages comprising all staff playing and non playing amounted to 113 million, Spurs 66 million. So we are either paying some players too much or/and carrying a lot of deadwood.
Herb,
the policy is quite clearly stated.financial stability first and foremost. All managers buy players for far more than we do that turn out flops.
The main difference is that AW doesn’t sometimes know when to get shot whilst other managers make quicker decisions.
GIE,
You have a bee under your bonnet methinks? 🙂
I’m sure there are very few who understand where the hell your figures come from, but how dare you use all our reserves on your spendthrift profligacy (there’s a double whammy) buying players willy nilly? Anyway, our reserves are never worth £97m. We wouldn’t get £100 for Eastmond and the good ones are out on loan!!
Anyway, as the REAL boss of AFC, I want to know what you are doing about my working capital?
Rates have gone up, policing costs are going up, fuel costs have gone up 30%, my brandy prices are going up in the budget — I don’t know – I am going to have to call in the fearless Auditor General Terry Mankini to give you a going over.
Selling all my reserves indeed!?! 👿
Hi Kelsey,
don’t you think it’s time for a big revolutionary dismantling of what we’ve been allowed to become, and start concentrating on first and foremost becoming a successful football club?
Hi kelsey,
That is truly shocking. I’m sure others will come on to explain the disparity, but if totnum really are paying £47m a year less than us in wages, you are tempted to conclude that either they are getting excellent value for money or we are paying over the odds in some areas. I’d like to know the breakdown in terms of player’s wages at each club as opposed to other costs.
I do know that our scouting network is about the best there is (= kozzer) so if we are paying a lot more for that I would consider it money well spent.
Rasp,
they are not individually disclosed that’s why Usmanov wants his 30% so he can then see the books (so i am led to believe)
Cornwall, my knowledge of football management extends as far as subbuteo were as i was know as flicking tactical genius so i think i fall short in terms of Arsene Wenger hahahha.
At the end of the day all managers can be criticised but i for one am very grateful and pleased we have Arsene Wenger who for me is the greatest football manager in the world. One thing that strikes me is as fans we are living in unprecedented times with Arsene in that he is our longest serving manager. The longest period before him was George Allison, and that was before the war.
I believe that this longevity of control can create a feeling of almost demi god status were some people are loath to criticise through the notion that they are unloyal or something, i do not hold this view and people should be allowed to say what they want about both the manager and the club, it makes for healthy debate.
Herb,
In a word no.
I support the club for life, I don’t always agree about many things, but in this global recession I feel we are doing it the right way but there should be perhaps a little leeway in our policy.
I don’t expect us to win the PL for a number of years but then again I don’t want us to go to the wall.
Rasp,
Smooth words butter no parsnips. 🙂 (I have no idea what that means).
I said to my next door neighbour that I thought he was letting down the ambience of the area by not having a Ferrari in his drive.
“I cannot afford it he said.” “Well why not”, I asked? “Because I am on the dole” he had the cheek to reply.
“Well borrow money on your house, and buy the Ferrari that way – a little debt won’t hurt you … much” Quoth I.
“But the Ferrari will cost more than the value of the house” the little bugger responded. “And I don’t own the house – I just rent it — and anyway, Red Arse, you don’t have a Ferrari either.”
Always quibbling these shit heap people and boring me with financial niceties.
They simply refuse to spend, spend, spend and live beyond their means, unlike those nice football clubs in Chelsea and Manchester. Tsk — what can you do?
I think your Spurs figures are wrong, having just looked myself I can tell you that Spurs Wage costs (playing and non playing) were in fact £91m for 2010-11.
Click to access annual_report_2011.pdf
Page 42 but I warn you you have to get past a bunch of waffle and horrible pictures of spuds to scroll through.
They were £67m in 2009-10 (increase of 35%) when Arsenals were £110m and this season ours are £124m. (increase of 12%)
But our Staff Numbers went up by 38 to 454 (10%), Spuds by 25 (6.4%) to 315.
This excludes the 200 odd extra temp staff for match days that it takes to service 60000 punters compared to 35000.
The staff numbers have different splits, but lets assume their Football Admin includes groundstaff, players and coaches, and our admin includes retail staff we employ about 47 more people on football side and 100 more people on admin side.
So relative increases I think we are ok. And when comparing to income I seem to think we will still be ok Arsenal £257m Spuds £163m.
By the way Kelsey I wasn’t suggesting we couldn’t spend, I was suggesting that we couldn’t compete in the market with City and Chelsea.
RA a Bee? I’m not sure about him but I’m more worried about this bonnet you think I am wearing 😉
Hi RA,
I’m not an advocate of spending beyond our means.
It seems I have something in common with Usamov – I’d like to know how the wage bill is apportioned (not what any individual earns).
I am prepared to believe all our money is wisely spent but I cannot make a judgement without facts. Obviously since I am not a shareholder I have no right of access to those figures.
Thanks GiE, If the spud wage bill is £92m then it is proportionate to ours and that is what I would have expected.
GIE,
“They were £67m in 2009-10 (increase of 35%) when Arsenals were £110m and this season ours are £124m. (increase of 12%)”
I was looking at those and i wasn’t miles apart.
But why do we have 53 male and female nurses in the casualty wing 😉
So by that logic, Redknapp is doing significantly better pound for pound than Wenger is.
What does that say about our tactical genius?
Harry ,
Thanks for the reply, All you heavyweight AAers write some fantastic detailed knowledgeable stuff. Even though you dont always agree, you all make great justifiable points and I find myself agreeing with someone only for someone else to come along with a counter remark which also has some creditability, even though their different they both make sense, does that make sense ?.
My God my brain is frying, all this serious stuff. I think I will go back to the silly stuff, I feel more comfortable with It !.
How does TMHT manage to do both , another rhetorical question ?.
RA, seeing as you are the Zeus of words, is there a word which sits in between a “rhetorical question” and a “question”, a rhetorical question which one wants answering, this is a question not a rhetorical one, and I dont want the answer to be, “it`s called a question”. F**k me , my head`s about to explode !. 🙂
GIE,
Recently, Levy, in explaining why Spurs needed to increase their stadium capacity to 60K, and thereby increasing significantly their matchday revenue, said it was difficult to get a £360 million loan for the new build, when the club was only valued at a net £91 million and as a result they were looking at various innovative methods of financing their project.
Without an Arsene Wenger to keep their team in the top flight while the work is carried out, one can only say — Good luck with that!!
I fantasize about you wearing a bonnet and shawl only when I am worried about GLIC and his alter ego, or when TerryM responds to my comment by calling me “Cornwall”. Now you have ruined it!! 🙄
never thought you were GIE, but when you hear today that 3 yes 3 chinese clubs are offering Droba 300K a week on a 3 year deal the world has really gone mad.
Just one thing about Tottenhams wage bill, it increased 35% because players were paid bonuses for champions league football, but even more importantly than that they have had a switch in policy. There days of transfer defecits are over. They now intend to plough there profits into player wages, (look how they fought to keep Modric) and are deperate for a new stadium in order to pay competitive wages. In other words they are trying to replicate the model of the more ilustrious club down the road.
Rasp
I always hope the club in retaliation put all the figures out there or maybe they should be forced to by the Premier League with very other club.
The problem of not knowing for certain is that a website or paper can publish “according to a club source” and it becomes gospel, like Diaby’s £60k a week, or Wengers £115k a week.
Just for perspective
AVB is believed to be on £150k a week (Ancellotti was on similar) Fergie is believed to be on £77k a week, Mancini £115k a week.
I’m guessing there are bonuses added on to all their salaries at the end of the season.
Herb
what redknapp is good at is getting rid of players generally quicker than Wenger. gomes was the worst keeper in the PL: even allowing for Almunia and he got shot and brought in Friedel.AW dillied and dallied with Almunia far too long.
however when city or chelsea get modric and bale which is highly likely he will suffer as we did and are still doing.
flicking funny terry 🙂
Now look Doolally,
A rhetorical sodding question (‘sodding’ now there’s a word that comes in between ‘rhetorical’ and ‘question’) is a question that does not call for an answer, because the answer is bleedin’ obvious!!
Therefore if someone asks a rhetorical question that requires an answer — it isn’t a rhetorical question, it is an oxymoron.
I always thought oxymorons only lived in Norfolk. Oh God, I hope no one here lives in that part of the world!! 😳
Anyway, GLIC, you be careful who you are accusing of talking seriously. I have not been serious since last year!!
Ask Sir TerryM, Auditor General — not that he would know. 🙂
Right, that’s me done. Enjoyed the debate. goodnight one and all.
Very true Kelsey, the only thing is he wont care because he wont be there. He will either be managing England, doing bird, or managing some were in the middle east for sheds load of dosh.
I do not give a rat’s arse about the Miscreants. What interests me is how AFC manage the funds at their disposal.
It has been clear for some time that we need to get rid of the deadwood and sign a couple of WC players to boost the team. Arteta is quality but he is not World quality and which of the other Top 8 teams in the world would have signed him? (not a criticism of MA who has done very well).
However, selling the deadwood appears to be a difficult task what with Denilson, NB, Vela etc all on loan due to their high wage demands.
Nonetheless, IF we could sign that little chap at Dortmund, I would be a very happy Gooner because the rest of the PL need to see an indication that Arsenal remain a top club and not a feeder for Barca and MC.
Redders, this Auditor General stuff makes me sound like a witch finder from the 16th century. Apperantly those cunning devils would accuse some atractive wench of sorcery and have there wicked way with her (they had to burn her afterwards though, so i suppose it was like a one night stand). I dont think i would have minded that profession. hahahha.
Rasper,
Sorry to address my musings to you earlier.
It was like talking to the Speaker in the House of Commons, i.e. in your role as Blog Leader, so I was not meaning to impugn you, I was being flippant with a fairy tale to prove a point, without wanting to upset anyone who may have read into it what I really meant.
That did not include you. 🙂
Maybe a happy medium could be found financially.
At the moment we spend on Nett the same as a relegation side if you look at fees alone. I know Wenger hates spending over the odds, but maybe he should allow himself to loosen the purse strings to that of a top 6 club, afterall, that’s what we are. I think old habits die hard and let’s be honest the club aren’t going to moan at him for having money left over from his budget.
At the moment, I think Herb has it partly correct in saying he could spend more sometimes without crippling the club, but expecting us to match City or Chelsea is unrealistic.
See, Terry, a perfect match – you and some old witch who wants an interpreter for GIE’s financial shenanigans!! 🙂
I always think of you!!
Cheers Kelsey, goodnight.
Raddy,
My sentiments exactly!! 🙂
RA,
I gleaned that it was partly directed in my direction, but in my short history of blogging, I can’t ever remember saying we should compete financially with either Chelsea or City.
So Redders, the answer to my rhetorical question is, none of us could have done much worse.
Is that a rhetorical answer ? ( notice a question mark there ). Is there such a thing ? ( another one )
And If theres none of us, does that mean there`s nobody, and If there`s nobody, there`s nothing. Then that means, we couln`t do as good a job as Arsene yesterday, because we weren`t there !
What are you doing to me Redders, was that rhetorical ?.
I`m going to lay down now. 🙂
Raddy,
Are you reading my mind , top comment.
Herb,
What levels should our transfer/financial dealings be taken to? You are clearly dissatisfied with the current investment in the squad, so what would it take to make Herb happy?
My boy just won the EPL on Xbox with Arsenal, make that 14 titles, come back e va va vonne, we won something ! 🙂
Hi FGG,
We could have had Bale, Modric and Van der Vaart.
Right now, a decent back-up for Sagna, rather than an 18-year old kid, Goetze or Hazard, and Podolski or Benzema, who we could have probably bought last summer had we shown any hint of ambition.
Herb,
Not really aimed at you. It’s just that we have been round and round on this particular merry go round many times
There are many people who agree with you, at least in part anyway, but as GIE was trying to say, it is an obscure argument because none of us (including me) know all the details of what is available or who makes the “buy – no buy” decisions.
What I am against, is this idea that we are only a ‘big’ club if we are spending ‘big’ money like some of the nouveau riche clubs, who swagger around like the football equivalents of Del Boy.
That is not for me.
So, not in anyway meant to denigrate you, Herb, I have always said your views are worth reading, but sometimes my comments cause unexpected umbrage when all I am doing is expressing my own views.
As Raddy has said, I would love us to buy a Goetze or a Hazard, either of whom would be expensive, but I am also realistic and do not expect Arsenal to do any such thing. I will support them none the less, as I am sure you will too! 🙂
May I say fellow gooners,when we eventually win a trophy, the Ring Donuts will be on me !, just send me your postcode ! 😆
Terry and Redders, yes, you can have fresh cream one`s. 😆
Ok RA, no problem mate.
If you go like for like FGG,
Bale or Clichy (who couldn’t wait to leave us for City!)?
van der Vaart or Arteta?
Modric or Arshavin? (Both cost £15m)
Gallas or Squillaci?
Who would you say got better value for their money?
Apples with Oranges
Herb,
You say we could have had Bale, but then you want us to sign someone to cover Sagna who isn’t an 18 year old kid. At the time we could have bought Bale, nobody knew he was going to turn out great. How do you know Jenks won’t end up being just as good?
As regard Goetze, Hazard etc what happens if we try and sign these players and the likes of City, Chelsea and Barca show interest? We can’t compete, so the only option is to look elsewhere at players they don’t want ie Gervinho, Arteta etc.
There are 2 marketplaces at the moment, one for the rich, and one for the mega rich.
I know you will say that we could have had Modric or Goetze if we had pushed but you don’t actually know that 100%. Also, you don’t know that the likes of Goetze will turn out any better than someone like Ramsey.
Your in fine form tonight Herb, hahahaha
Herb,
Henry-Bent
Fabregas-Jenas
Van Persie-Pavyluchenko
Every club has good and bad transfers Herb.
Herb,
When basil knocked out Manu, was you proud to be a Herb that night ? 🙂
Cheers TerryM.
FGG – Surely we are shopping in the same market as Tottenham?
Look here Cats,
We’re all after the same thing and we’re fighting over the detail. Its a hormone thing, and its what Cats do.
Nobody on here has ever said we can/should compete with City or Chelsea. At the same time, they can’t sign everyone. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t sign two world class players within our budget, its just a question of shrewd dealings.
Raddy, spot on about the Little Chap 🙂
Every player costs money and is a risk. What all Arsenal fans should have learnt by now is that the pricetag guarantees absolutely nothing. We can sit here and list players all day in hindsight, it’s easy. The challenge for Wenger however is to spot the Henry’s and miss the Rebrov’s. Price tags don’t give any indication of which is which so we have to trust Arsenes judgement. He may have got more wrong in the last few years than we would like, but that’s because there are bigger boys around getting the first picks.
Evening all.,
Herb – I do actually agree with some of what you are saying but this “we could have had…” stuff irks me to be honest. We can’t sign everyone.
Its like those stories we hear about Ronaldo,or Alonso – we could have had them. Its not as simple as saying “I want him, and here’s the £5 more you want to make sure we get him.”
What about all the variables. Some players don’t like the ethos of a club, some take a chance on developing in one club ahead of another. For example, a 19 yr old from Nth.Ireland has signed for Swansea even though Liverpool (and reportedly us) were interested in signing him.
You can’t sign every player and you can’t always sign the best. In my eyes, Man Utd have some very average technical players but Ferguson manages to get them to the do the job he wants and they win. I think Wenger’s problem is his inability to get the players to dig in – perhaps they have no fear of him?
FGG,
Good point about good and bad transfers. Its easy to look at the successes at other clubs, but the same clubs are heaving with examples of failures.
The main thrust of the current situation is we all know how fucked our season would be without Robin. In other words, we are vulnerable.
Fans will always have ideas on what the best solution is. Vive the different opinions, I say, so long as you remember I’m always right 🙂
I was buzzing that night GliC, but they’ve won the competition three times. And they went to Fulham with only two fit defenders and won 5-0.
They responded to their 6-1 hammering at home, and sit joint top. We responded to the 8-2 with rushed last-minute signings and suffered further defeats against Blackburn and Tottenham.
United won 3-0 at WHL, City won 5-1 there.
As I said earlier, totally different expectations.
Oh bloody cosmic.
To avoid yet more speeding points, I have to attend a “WORKSHOP”. I never thought it possible. I’m not a bloody lesbian!
Just to make myself politically correct, I have nothing against Lesbians. Its simply that Workshops are obviously for Lesbians, and sadly, I’m not one of them. So why would I ever need to attend such a gathering. If I WAS a woman, I would definately be one.
You sounded like Rodney Trotter then Micky.
Hope City beat Pool. Lets keep them tucked up well behind us. Then we can concentrate on Chavs and Spuds first.
Herb,
Cosmic was a Rodney saying, and I’ve used it ever since.
The mancs may be joint top but they are shit Herb. Given a piss easy Cl group and they lost to basle. Knocked out of the CC by palace ffs.Out of the fa cup next game too. Without rooney they are toilet. I remember why I swore at you now, Why do you say clichy (who couldn’t wait to leave) but not Modric (who can’t wait to leave)?
They also got vdv through sheer luck and twtchycunt knew nothing about it. They also found out that when you have to play CL football it’s difficult to get 4th. You may have noticed they didn’t even bother trying to compete in the europa league.
They also got hammered 6-1 at home with a full strength team. Since then who have thay beaten? We lost with a worse than CC team and had two c**ts waiting to piss off. we had to buy players. the mancs didn’t. this is bollocks
I stopped going on LG because I was sick of people saying “look what the mancs have done” “look how good the fucking scum are”
Clichy was shite since he broke his back anyway.
Anyone noticed that Suarez has accepted his 8 match ban?
Hi Irish,
you’re right, we can’t sign everybody, but to refer to a point Kelsey made, Redknapp clears out the dross, Wenger dilly-dallies so we end up with over-paid deadwood that nobody else wants, eating up a large proportion of the wage bill.
When was the last time Rosicky won a game for us? Arshavin has two or three good games a season. And for the third year running, we have loaned an ex-player, whose last game for us was when we were knocked out of CL by PSV in 2007, before heading off to Spain.
Is that the level of our ambition now?
I want City to win but I’m finding it impossible to get myself in the mindset to cheer them on!!!
GLiC 6:44
RA = W12ODF
So who would you have us measure our standards against GM in terms of direct opponents and lack of recent success? Mid-table clubs like Norwich or Stoke?
hahahaha, didnt realise workshops were for lesbians Micky.
Herb – Rosicky vs Udinese – Mozart is my specialty, those injuries or whatever it was, has ruined him. Real classy player – well, could have been.
Agreed about the deadwood – sometimes Wenger has persisted with players and it has worked out for him, notably Song, but yeah, when you have people like Arshavin, Vela, etc., who are eating into a wage bill, I agree its best to move them on when a turn around in fortune looks highly unlikely.
GM. 100% agree. What matters is what happens at Arsenal. The argument about the quality of signings is an irrelevance, we have to work with the players AW has signed and get on with it.
One or two poor games do not make BFG a poor signing, or any of AW’s newboys.
However, a season long drought such as Chamakh’s is surely a sign that he should be sold in summer (no-one will buy him in Jan as he is in Africa)-
By the way anyone see the news that Liverpool have dropped Suarez appeal, but in their statement they jump up and down about it not being fair that Evra was believed…..well why not appeal then?
Not winning them any favours with journos on twitter:
DickinsonTimes: The martyrdom started with those ludicrous T-shirts. Suarez calls Evra a “negro” and LFC now dress it up as “a fight for justice”.
Football365 : Appeal quietly and with dignity or don’t appeal very loudly while stamping feet. Anyone surprised which way Liverpool chose to go?
Johnothan Legard : What is it that Luiz Suarez doesn’t understand about his comments? And Liverpool do themselves no favours by harping on about injustice
John Cross Mirror : What chance is there for anti racism campaigns in this country when a top football club denies the obvious? Embarrassing. Well done, FA.
Sam Wallace Indy : I get the impression some people out there haven’t sat down & read all 115 pages of Suarez report. Do your homework first. Time well spent
Their statement http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/statement-from-liverpool-fc
Oh and finally to make you smile, if Spuds let in one goal tonight they will become the first PL team to concede 1000 goals 😀
VCC, Hear you were in the pub for the QPR game with your boy, sorry i missed you. Had to take Mrs Terry to Paris. I warned Peaches to keep you off the Vino just in case you went beserk. hahaha.
Herb you can measure our standards against anyone you like I don’t give a fuck but please have a level playing field. When we played the mancs we were in diisarray (if you want to sack Wenger because of that I’m not arguing) You mention “panic buys” which is what everyone on Lg and all the scum press say. Should we have not bought anyone? The mancs had already bought their players but got spanked by thier fiercest rivals 6-1. Did you notice that we went to the same team (with our panic buys) and didn’t get spanked 6-1?
Micky,
Absolutely, I`d be one too, woman are so lucky ! 🙂
Hi Terry.
Yes I was at the game with my Son.
Sorry you could not make it, but I was pleased to meet some of the AA’ers in the Tavern.
Hope your wife and you had a smashing time in Paris, celebrating the New Year.
I was a good boy and stuck to Guiness.
I was impressed with Coquelin, he looks like he could be a great FB. I would have liked to have Ox on the bench.. not that he is neccessarily a guarenteed game changer per se.. but that even his presence will make an opponent think twice and maybe be more careful. Once Gervinho and TW were subbed… we had no attacking threat and Fulham could pile forward. Even Chamack or Park would be better as a threat than a MF player.
When our injured come back we have a strong squad but we need another goalscorer to support RVP. Half a season gone and 2 of our front 3 have scored what.. 9-10 goals betwen them..if that!
Lets hope AW surprises us and gets someone this month.
GLIC. YOu are so right. I have been trying to become a Lesbian for years but the crown jewels have always proved a stumbling block.
Micky has brilliantly found a way round it!
I wish we’d have got the Rosicky that Dortmund fans enjoyed, Irish.
Then, without doubt he would have been a quality signing.
He was brilliant against Liverpool at Anfield (FA Cup 3rd Rnd – 2007?), but has never reproduced that level since, most probably as you say due to his bad luck regarding injuries.
I have some sympathy for suarez. does that make me a racist? Evra is a c**t and I wouldn’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth. io have been falsely accused of racism by a member of my staff. It is a nightmare.
They have actually taken the cock down at White Hart Lane 😆
VCC, Yeah, Paris was good, would rather have been at the QPR game though,
I sometimes wish my wife was a lesbian, is that strange?, crap City score
Terry – Would it not be more fun if your wife were bisexual?
Shitty are winning
As a womans body is curved,smooth and sweet I can understand why there are Lesbians in this world.
Never been able to understand why a guy would fancy a hairy arsed bloke though, strange is folk.
Come on City.
Herb – I was so excited when we signed him, and maybe I’m heavily biased, but would keep him as a very useful squad player.
Evra is a complete pillock GM but it doesn’t warrant allowing Suarez (equally a pillock) to get off with racist language – once you might have excused it, but 7 or 8 times?
VCC,
That postcode brings up the Linford Christie Stadium, I think he could deliver a couple of dozen Donut`s, or were you refering to the nice property next door, Wormwood Scrubs and that RA is the “D” wing Daddy ? 🙂
Raddy, 😆
Herb, I think Irish only likes Rosicky for his cheekbones ! 🙂
I used the words ‘rushed last-minute buys, GM, I didn’t use the word ‘panic’.
Yes we were very impressive in our narrow defeat at the Etihad, but as is so often the case, we lacked any cutting-edge either on the park or on the bench.
Terry. Strange? Yes but at your age understandable 😀
Didnt think about that Irish. hahaha.
GLiC,
Thought the Wormwood Scrubs would be more fitting for RA.
Thats It, I`m moving to Lesbos, for some good viewing !
Evra wAs a better witness than Suarez and that’s the point basically. There were no witnessses,and no video evidence. Suarez admitted to using the word negro bat says it is ok where he comes from and he has been backed by players from his own country.I hate hansen but the stick he got for saying “coloured” was a bit ridiculous” It has gone a bit far I think.
Lost in Cornwall – The cheekbones help 😀
Terry – keep all options open at all times 😆
I don’t want to argue with you Herb you remind me too much of my ex wife and my son.
I hate City, just when i was having lesbian thoughts about the wife the gits distract me by scoring…which is more than i will be doing tonight.
Wasn’t Bale subject to monkey chants lately? They were called “cruel” but none of the crowd that were anything other than white were labeled racist. Double standards are everywhere. He does look like a money though to be fair.
rushed, last minute. That is so different to panic.
All us AAers ( women inc`) should move to Lesbos, we can build our own little stadium and watch Lesbo gladiators fight it out, whilst watching our Arsenal on a giant plasma screen, I`ll supply the Donut`s !
Irish
The sun had a headline of “hand of frog” after France knocked you out of the WC. Now the scum journos are all fucking anti racist. It’s pathetic. How many black sports writers are there?
GLiC,
I’ll supply the Vino Tinto.
GM – It seems its only racist if white people insult other races. I have a large suspicion that people don’t understand the term “racist.”
Speaking of Henry, some Irish people are still yapping on about it, I’ve borrowed my sister’s old Henry shirt – will be wearing some day this week to work 😀
Great save by reina
yes 2 nil
What a player YaYa is. Great shame we missed out on him.
GLIC, I will supply binoculars.
Herb,
We didn’t lack cutting edge against City. We had 12 shots on goal away from home, 8 on target. I got those stats from City blog site who gave Hart MoTM in that game.
You must have had your blinkers on when watching the game!
Half Time
Spurs 0 v West Brom 0
Irish
There was a very interesting documentary call something like “who you calling ni**er by Darcus Howe. It’;s worth watching. It’s basically about racism by Indians, Pakistanis, Tamils and Somalis among others.
Kalou out of contract in summer.
Could snap him up on the cheap in January, any takers?
I’d take almost anyone ginger. Are you any good?
Decent player FGG, wouldnt say no, seems like an Arsenal player to me, pacey and skilful.
Hi all
I have to go back to work tomorrow so there won’t be a post from me I’m afraid but we do need posts for this week as we’re not playing until next Monday so anyone who feels like sharing their views please send them in.
Thanks – it’s good to be a gooner 🙂
So we`ve got Plasma screen, Wine , Donuts and Binoculars anything else to add AAers, actually Raddy ,you can manage from the dugout, tactic`s ,formation`s and you`ll need to do a pre- fight and weigh -in from the changing room, you deserve it !. RA can have the Binoculars, he`ll need them from Wormwood Scrubs !. 🙂
hahahaha GM, if only you were Wenger, i reckon i good do a job up front.
I`ve said this before, I know a few Chav`s and they slag off Kalou like we do to Chamakh, Squilacci and Co, so he`s a No for me.
These Lesbo gladiators will need oiling up before bouts, a horrible task i know, but ime willing to sacrafice myself. hahaha.
Terry ,
You could pull the “rug” over the goalies eye`s, whilst I tap It In !
scum are winning,
GM,
I’m ok if a lumbering centre half is what you need!
Haircules, the job is your`s !.
GM – Sounds very interesting – can’t seem to find it anywhere to watch on the internet though, been looking for last 20 mins.
Thats what i was planning to do Cornwall.
THMT. That’s my job! You are the Corner man – towel, chest rub and the vaseline
Irish. Onlinefooty has all the games. I know it costs a bit but it is worth every penny.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/who-you-callin-a-nigger/episode-guide/series-1/episode-1
this is the programme Irish but it’s not on 4od
Who wants to be the Vagazzler ?
hahaha, that will do for me Raddy.
spuds have had 11 shots on target and West Brom none
BR – Cheers, always manage to find a footy stream 😉 Its the documentary GM was on about that has me intrigued. I love documentaries.
Great post, peaches.
You summed up the ‘what the fuck happened there’ absolutely perfectly.
Gallas and Sandro both gone off with muscle injuries though.
Twitter is a bit shit as far as breaking down goes.
bugger TMHT you beat me to the oiling job! however 99.9% of lesbians shouldn’t be seen from that close:
1) they are butch and aren’t to good on the eye
2) i’d most likely make a sexist joke therefore causing me to get snapped in too
3) there’s are reason most of them moved onto women, it’s because the men wouldn’t have a bar of them!
oops!
I still reckon we will finish above them.
Probably right Oz, its ok though, Raddy is doing it hahaha.
I hope so Terry although I’m not confident
THMT. Mugged myself off again…..
Sorry GiE part of your arguement is flawed. Winning the champions league nets you alot more than 20 million. It’s a sum far more substantial and rises each year. An example can be seen on the uefa finance website which shows:
Manchester United got €53.197m in payments from UEFA. This comprised more than €27m for their performances from the UEFA Champions League group stage onwards, and another €25.9m from the television market pool.
Barcelona’s triumphant run to the title at Wembley in May earned them a total of €51.025m. The Spanish club’s performance-related payments amounted to €30.7m and they also collected €20.3m from the TV market pool
Even the scum made 31, you’re most likely to get 20 million just for making it outside the group stages. Basically what i’m saying is we will get 50million extra this season after we win the champions league
Sunderland have sored 4. How many by bendy?
zero GM
I know. oz. hope he doesn’t come back
haha sorry GM thought you wanted to know. I agree, it’s a shame though, i’ve always been one of his biggest supporters. however, after last year whinging about the lack of game time (even though he was missing for large parts due to injury), and then complaining in the TW were it for me.
He needed to pull his head it and focus of football, now he’s just a wasted talent not good enough for sunderland
Chamakh has started complaining too. I can’t see him playing for us next season. I think Wenger may be waiting for campbell.
Oh bollocks.
At least Pool lost. Mind you, Spuds are not special, definately catchable as I can’t see them winning any of the big away games.
Nothing would hurt the poor dears more than a St.Totteringham’s Day on the final weekend of the season.
Spuds won. Difficult to catch them although obviously not impossible. Time will tell as they say.
a spot of dysentry too
twitter isn’t working for me. it’s very frustrating. I don’t even want to tweet but it’s annoying.
MC has no right to complain, at least bendy scored once and a while. Hopefully campbell and afobe can step up then
“Tweeting” must be very hard to admit doing.
R Madrid are 2 down
Does anyone remember Ian Wright accuse schmeichal (can’t be bothered) of racially abusing him?
apparently theres a whole chapter on it in schmeical’s book
Peter Schmeichel could become the first footballer to face criminal charges for alleged racist abuse as his feud with Ian Wright burst back into life.
While everyone expected the Arsenal striker to be charged with misconduct by the Football Association for his behaviour at Highbury on Wednesday night, it was the Manchester United goalkeeper who found himself in deeper trouble.
Wright’s complaint that he subjected him to racial abuse during last November’s Premiership game at Old Trafford had not, as everyone believed, been quietly shelved.
Instead, the police have been carrying out an extensive investigation and papers have now been lodged with the Crown Prosecution Service.
There were no close witnesses to the alleged incident, but several lip- readers claimed that television pictures showed the Danish international swearing at Wright and, if the CPS decides that evidence is strong enough, Schmeichel will find himself in a unique test case.
“There has been a long-running police investigation into the original incident at Old Trafford,” Steve Double, an FA spokesman, said. “As a result of police inquiries into the alleged racist remarks a report has been compiled and is currently being considered by the Crown Prosecution Service.”
It would be the third time that United players have found themselves in a criminal court. Eric Cantona assaulted a Crystal Palace fan with his infamous kung-fu leap two years ago, while Paul Ince was acquitted for his part in the same incident.
Schmeichel could also find himself in trouble with the FA for the tunnel scuffle with Wright after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat on Wednesday.
Arsenal believe he provoked Wright, who needed restraining by three policemen and the physiotherapist, Gary Lewin. Inquiries were continuing yesterday to see if there may have been a racist element to the incident.
Schmeichel was incensed by Wright’s reckless, two-footed lunge which has left him with a badly-bruised ankle and doubtful for tomorrow’s game at Chelsea. The keeper was seen wagging his finger at Wright.
Arsenal, conscious of the bad blood between the pair, had taken precautions to isolate Wright as he came off, crowding the tunnel area with police and stewards. But United appeared to leave their goalkeeper to his own devices and he seemed to be involved in exchanges all the way down the crowded Highbury pitch exit.
Significantly, the FA has received an independent report on what happened from the match observer, Kelvin Morton, but it will not make any comment or decision until the match referee, Martin Bodenham, submits his summary.
He did not see the scuffles but the police officers involved gave him a full account and he has indicated that it will feature prominently in his report.
Indications are that Wright, who collected a booking which will already ensure another two-match ban, will certainly face a misconduct charge.
Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger, defended Wright on the night and refused to comment further yesterday, although having reviewed television pictures of the tackle, following through on the goalkeeper though whistled offside, Wenger may change his mind.
Oz its not flawed I’m afraid as our profits already included €30m for our progress so I called the €22m difference £20m which depends on the exchange rate. We need a weak pound to earn more from Euro campaigns 🙂 Same goes for PL earnings in terms of calculating the difference.
But imports cost more as a result.
Basically earn about €20m for getting to the Group Stage. It’s €3m Euros a game after that.
Seems like Spud depth will be tested with Sandro and Gallas suffering knocks. West Brom appear pretty hopeless.
Shitty did us a favour pegging Liverpool back.
Damn you GiE heres me thinking i was smart for a second there. I should have known. Oh well back to the drawing board, but know this if you slip up i’ll be ready to pounce out and shout ‘AH-HUH!’ …only to be proved wrong again
anyone know how long parker is out for? (please say the rest of the season!)
Sagna is penciled in for the manc game 🙂
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/teampages/arsenal.html
Sagna…..
Oz 🙂 admittedly I didn’t really explain myself I was in full accounting rant mode…..never a pretty sight.
I think Parker had a late fitness test today, so who knows, Arry certainly wants him back.
Good news about Sagna, Wilshere is running as are Afobe and Henderson (another who needs time on loan)….but it would be good to see a few youngsters make the grade now. We have a great Youth academy and it’s bearing fruit like Wilshere, Frimpong, Bartley, Lansbury, Coquelin. I don’t really think we should be investing too much in squad players from now on (these roles can be filled by youngsters) and instead focus on players to improve the first team. We did it this year in midfield and at the back and a replacement for Nasri. I would welcome one more PL ready midfielder/wideman and one goalscorer.
http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/
the decision Arsene has to make is whether he can rely on the current players who are fit to hassle until all the injured first team are back. By that time, maybe Feb/March, is Arsenal still within striking distance of the top 4 spots or inside the better of 4th ? If Arsene is certain Arsenal can hang on until Feb, I don’t think there’ll be any reinforcement coming in this Jan. He has already hinted there’s no chance for us winning the league, so why spend now if CL qualification can be achieved with the status quo. Why not see how’s the youngsters and newcomers are doing during the second half of the season, then he’ll decide what to do, who to sign in the summer. It logical and practical but not necessary what fans like to see.
dy. You make a convincing argument.
A counter argument may be that this summer showed AW has changed his thinking regarding the squad and youth. My guess and it is purely a guess, is that AW had transfer targets which were not realized and may still be on the radar. If this is so and the players are now available perhaps AW will buy.
Morning Raddy.
That is the key.When will Sagna,Wilshere,vermaelen and to a slightly lesses degree jenkinson and gibss not only be fit but ready to play a full ninety minutes.
If there is one thing i have noticed this season is that we cetainly don’t break on the counter attack as quickly as in previous years and though Arteta is doing a good job has hasn’t got the awareness of a “motivated” fabregas.
Like it or not we are in a real dog fight of 4 teams chasing two spots.
Will Abramovich dig even deeper into his pockets and will he persevere with his current manager.
Will liverpool strengthen with Suarez banned for 8 games and an ineffectual Carroll, and like other teams may get crucial injuries.
Will Harry have money at his disposal or will he do a bit of wheeling and dealing as like it or not they are not wilting.
So that leaves us. Chamakh and Gervinho are away at the ANC.It may do Chamakh’s confidence some good to bang in a few goals,but my understanding is that he is a player who just hasn’t worked out and will be off.Gervinho most probably is the quickest of the forwards/wingers with the ball, will he tire ?
It is imperative something is done in the window be it loan or otherwise as Henry on his own will help but is not the long term solution for the remainder of the season, because even if he plays some part in the 8 games available there are still a minimum of about 12/14 games left to play even if we don’t progress further in the CL.
dy,
Also, what if some of the current fit players get injured.?
it will be very surprising if arsene buys in the transfer window. He is renowned for saying that players are always extra this time of year so often waits til the next one. Plus they have to hit the ground running, so it might just be premier league players if he does. Hopefully not richardson!
Kelsey we need names and gossip post haste!
oz,
i could name several, but deals are so complicated these days with agents especially and of course we haven’t got the mega bucks and good players are in short supply.
the days of buying Anelka for a few pence and selling him at 1000% profit are gone.
dy,
one can’t be certain of anything anymore.results this season have proved that and the gap bewtween top and bottom is far smaller than it was. this is one area where AW has a downfall. he persists to play tippy tappy all the time even though so many teams have sussed him out.As peaches said yesterday why don’t we shoot more from the edge of the box.have we got those kind of players or are they under instructions to pass,pass pass .How may direct free kicks do we actually score from, yet look at the countless long range shots from the opposition (spurs are a good example) that find there way into our net.Rvp aside and occasionaly Arteta and vermaelen we hardly ever see those kind of shots.
Morning all there is a bit of value to be had in this TW, not with players signed up for 3years or more but for those with 6months to run. Ok they would be free come summer but then you’re in a dog fight over wages.
If reports are to be believed Cahill will go for £10m less than Bolton could have got in June/July. Which seems ridiculous decision now (as would it have been for us to keep Nasri).
Podolski is stalling on contract and although stating he won’t go in January there are rumours he has fallen out with the boss. The Beeb has a list of players and several could be useful.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16237635.stm
With agents i’m sure it’s a hell of alot harder because they like to find the best price e.g mata. Although i think gerv will work out to be a steal.
These days it seems like chelsea, man city and liverpool use the arsenal scouts and steal whoever we are trying to pursue.
Morning all,
GiE, That is some list of Talent, Man City cant buy every single one !, so just one teasy weasy one of the Talented one`s please. 🙂
There`s also a rumour that Cahill want`s £120K a week, If that`s the case, we were never in the running ! good !
GLIC just one? I’ll take two, on Cahill he knows Luiz and Terry are on that or more, so if they want him to replace either then it’s fair to assume he should be paid around that much. He also I guess wants to guarantee pitch time and £120k means they can’t just sit him on the bench. Furthermore he knows they have saved £10m in transfer fee so assumes it would be better in his back pocket than theirs. Question is can you blame him.
Morning all, today we have some stats to digest from GN5….
…. New post …….
GiE,
Yummy yummy, some tasty stuff on that menu. As GliC rightly points out, and contrary to what some think, even Chavs and City can’t hoover that lot up on their own.
@ Kelsey
indeed this’s a weird season, not clear cut at the top, and yes how I wish our players would set aside a time just to practise what is required of them to do, like shooting from around the box. Practice makes perfect, I believe in the saying.
heart rate monitors for running…
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