Another rollercoaster …… Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 2

September 23, 2019

This was such an interesting game. The first half was really poor, we didn’t get going and we conceded (of course we conceded). The bright spark was Saka who took a couple of marvelous shots that on another day would have been great goals – he is going to be a great addition to the squad. Late in the half, Maitland-Niles, already on a yellow, got himself sent off for a second yellow and we saw out the half with Xhaka playing at right-back.

 

The second half also started slowly, Emery had (sadly) had to take off Saka to bring on Chambers at right-back. He had done well earlier in the season so that felt like a good move. Still we huffed and puffed. Guendouzi’s energy was beginning to trouble the visitors and then he was brought down while slaloming into the box. Pepe fired home the resulting penalty. Phew ………. but then we conspired to give Villa another goal.

On 71 minutes Torreira and Willock came on for Xhaka and Ceballos and then the fun started. Guendouzi has energy  to burn, I love that guy, Willock must be terrifying to play against when you’re getting tired and Torreira was snapping into tackles. Chambers showed he wouldn’t give up the chance to score by equalising to 2-2 and then Aubameyang put us ahead with a beautiful free kick.

Now I love snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and we did just that. We had played poorly for 70 minutes and conceded 2 goals, gosh we do make things difficult for ourselves.

I have to say something about Guendouzi – did I mention that I love him. His energy is amazing but what I love also is the way he engages with the crowd while the game is going ahead. I don’t think we’ve had a player that recognises the part the crowd are playing while the game is going on. Most players play with their heads down doing their job (which is fine) but this guy urges the crowd to join in. It’s fantastic. The Emirates was still nearly full at the full time whistle, supporters were staying behind to applaud Matteo as he walked around the pitch. I love him.

Player ratings from RC78

Leno – 5. Let’s in 2 goals but did well.

AMN – 3. Started the match well but squandered a glorious chance. Then gets a yellow and another one. Clearly more at ease going forward than at defending l.

Sokratis – 4. Nothing spectacular and almost gave away another PK.

Luiz – 5. Sober and had some decent passing.

Kola – 5. Struggled going forward but defended OK.

Guendouzi – 7. This guy is a pure Ray of light this season. Doesn’t hide. Wants to win. Drives the ball forward and defends with passion.

Xhaka -4. Another lacklustre performance. Not leading by example.

Ceballos – 4. Anonymous.

Pepe- 6. Chances, a goal and lots of runs at opposition. Needs to improve but at least he played well.

Aubameyang – 6. A goal and a great effort for the team. What a player we have in Auba.

Saka – 6. Great start by the youngster. Fantastic debut and unlucky to be subbed.

 

Chambers – 6. The goal and the passion he showed make up for the second goal we conceded. Pure warrior attitude. Must be a starter.

Willock and Torreira – 5. Slotted in well. Great attitude too.

 

Emery – 5. A tough win and I hope that he’ll now drop Sokratis and Xhaka and let Chambers and Torreira or Willock start.

A win is a win 🙂

peachesgooner

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Arsenal v Aston Villa pre-match

September 22, 2019

We arrive at the sixth game of the season welcoming newly promoted Aston Villa to the Home of Football. They haven’t had a particularly good start to the season with 1 win 3 losses and 1 draw. But we also haven’t won in the League since the 17th August.

Arsenal have won six consecutive league and cup games against Aston Villa, keeping a clean sheet in each of the last five. Villa have won three Premier League away games at Arsenal, a tally exceeded only by Manchester United and Chelsea (both have four victories). That was then, this is now.

After last weeks debacle against Watford there has been lots of discussion about how we set up and how we play out from the back. Both of these need to be addressed by Head Coach, Unai Emery. He has confirmed that he won’t be instructing the team to play in the suicidal manner we saw last week every time. It’s a shame he didn’t change it during the game last week.

With Lacazette injured I expect Emery to start the same team as last

 

Leno

Maitland-Niles    Sokratis    Luis    Kolasinac

Guendouzi    Xhaka    Torreira

Pepe    Aubameyang    Ceballos

 

Ceballlos loves playing at the Emirates so I’m hoping we’re going to love him back. The atmosphere was fantastic for the game against totts and tickets have been hard to come by for this game for weeks. There will be an expectation that Pepe will get his first goal in front of the home crowd. I don’t mind which end he scores but I shall be cheering him on in the North Bank.

If we’re to suffer conceding silly goals again then lets hope we get to cheer more times than we’re grumpy.

We always concede so I’m going for 4-1.

Enjoy the game all COYG

peachesgooner

 

 

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Attack attack attack – get used to it.

September 21, 2019

Still basking in victory. The Frankfurt match report was always going to be a tricky assignment !! Much to love as many have stated. Much to fear as many have stated. So I’ve come to a conclusion about Dick, based on the following evidence:

1) Overall inability to defend as a team.

2) None of Xhaka, Toreira or Guendouzi playing a responsible role as a defensive lynchpin.

3) Two second half goals conceded against Watford, bringing off Ceballos and leaving Ozil and Pepe on.

4) 1-0 up away in Europe against an at least decent team. Bring off Smith Rowe (who at least tracks back somewhat) and put Pepe on (who doesn’t really defend – period). Bring off Willock and put Ceballos on (possible like for like but JW gave us a ball winning presence which was important last night).

5) We won the above game 3-0.

So my conclusion is, Dick just isn’t interested in defending. He thinks we can outscore everyone. His solution to winning games we’re ahead in is to go further ahead. Conventional wisdom says keep it tight, secure the win. Not Dick. He wants more goals. His signings have been very attacking – even Luiz as a CB. He’s decided we can’t build a good enough defence to win games consistently so he’s just gonna build a better attack. Which he’s doing. He’s in his second year with an option for a third. Most people think if he gets us into the CL, he’ll get a 3rd year. But… there are lots of others who think he’s just not the man for the job. So Dick is coming out swinging. He doesn’t just want to scrape into the CL, he wants to catch City, finish 2nd, win all the Cups. Then he’ll get his extension.

I’m kinda tongue in cheek here but this is a great opportunity for Emery. We are a big club. They said he couldn’t cut it at PSG. He’s not waiting for slow and steady. He wants results now. It’s the only explanation I can come up with. Why doesn’t Xhaka sit in? Yet Emery plays him every game? Because he’s doing what the manager wants – getting forward. Screw defending – lets score goals.

And you know what, if I just accept it and go with the flow, it might be a fun ride. There will be ups and downs but it’s not going to be dull !!!

And lastly, for anyone that thinks that’s a stupid idea (on his part – mine’s just a theory !!!)? Remember a certain Mr Klopp and his two seasons at Liverpool before Van Dijk ???

Mike

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Eintract Frankfurt vs Arsenal: Match Preview

September 19, 2019

We travel with a party of 19. Apparently 75 mins before kick off, it will be reduced to a match squad of 18.


Goalkeepers: Leno, Martinez,

Defenders: AMN, Luiz,Holding, Mustafi, Chambers, Kolasinac,

Midfielders: ESR, Guendouzi, Willock, Torreira, Xhaka, Ceballos,

Strikers: Nelson, Aubameyang, Martinelli, Saka, Pepe.


If we had beaten Watford, I’d have expected the line up to have been:


I expect Saka will drop out. Had we beaten Watford, he might have stayed in and maybe Luiz drops out. Emery needs a win. With that in mind, he may start along the lines of:


I also have to say, I really have no idea what he’s going to do. I have come to the conclusion that Emery’s biggest failure as a manager is his inability to control his senior players. I think he has little or no respect from them because I’m not sure he knows how to earn it. I don’t think he is confident in his convictions. The reason I say this is because if you look at the 4 goals we’ve basically gifted in our last 2 games, they’ve been from mistakes by senior players. If they respected or “feared consequences” from their manager, they would be unlikely to continue to make them. If you are part of a squad that watches Granit Xhaka continually struggle yet play every game he’s fit for (and some not!!), you might think the same.


Frankfurt are no mugs. They reached the semis of the EL last season and lost on penalties to Chavs. They have lost a few players, certainly a couple of their last season standouts and have started with 2 wins and 2 losses. They play in an incredible atmosphere and we will find it intimidating. I’d have said it would be a harder assignment than Watford away. That sounds a little redundant now.

This is a huge game for Emery. He is in danger of losing the fans, his fans (of which I am still barely one but he is seriously testing my loyalty). I’m tired of saying it but if Xhaka plays, we will struggle. I hope if he plays, we win 3-0. I will stand corrected. What I hope more is that he plays Willock from the start, hopefully with Gwen, Dani and LT and we play like an away team in Europe against good opposition. We play 2 banks of 4 and make them break us down, then hit them on the counter. Then after we take the lead, or are holding them, we bring off 2 attacking players and put on an extra midfielder and Martinelli for the last 15-20 mins to snuff out their midfield and keep it tight. But that would make too much sense, be too simple. It wouldn’t involve outsmarting everyone (incl. your own players) and all it would need would be 100% commitment and a lot of hard work. I’m dreaming.


Then I woke up and realized he’ll probably play 3 up front, Xhaka in the center of midfield and we’ll probably be 2-0 down at half time. Truly I hope not. I guess we’ll see.

No prediction I’m afraid because the line up is as unpredictable as the result.

Mike

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Emery Bored … Already?

September 16, 2019

We were dire against Watford. No two ways about it. We made them look like the top four pretenders whereas we performed like we were in bottom of the league form.

Apart from the heroics from Leno and the pure class of Aubameyang, pretty much every other players scored less than 5 out of 10. So much so that there were too many choices for any individual to become the scapegoat. Inevitably the focus was directed at the manager – for his tactics, his team selection, and glaringly for his inability to coach the players to play out from the back after 15 months in charge.

The combined value of our players was three times that of Watford and yet, on the day, they put in a team performance that was greater than the sum of its parts – we certainly didn’t.

Here are some of the views expressed by bloggers yesterday …

From Rasp:

Emery it seems is like the later Arsene …his vision of how we should play is more important than the three points … tell that to the thousands of away fans who had the life sucked out of them when the first goal was conceded.

It was abundantly clear that our players had no faith in their ability to play out from the back .. you could feel the nerves.

Any decent, pragmatic manager would have sent out the instruction (probably at half time) that it wasn’t working therefore the keeper would kick the ball out to the flanks and our midfield should get tight on their players to gain first or second ball … but no, we gave the game away shamelessly.

GoonerB’s take:

As Rasp points out there are hallmarks of the latter AW with Emery. On top of what Rasp mentions there seems to be that trait of repeating the same things that are getting us into trouble. Bad formations with players out of position and not complimenting each other and then substitutions that dont alter the imbalance.

Arsene we can let it go with because he once was the prince amongst princes and the best of the best but simply the game moved on from him and he wasnt able to see it and react to it.

The board basically held out too long and we regressed as a club. Emery is younger and supposed to be that dynamic modern coach but I have reached the conclusion that he is not right for us.

LBG says:

Dick the insistence on ALWAYS playing out from the back does not work with these players, and even Man City dont do that. Adapt to the “quality” of your players. Stop making politician type comments and excuses. Percentage football is required at present .

Kelsey’s thoughts:

So far this season – in just five games – we’ve allowed 96 shots on goal, more than any other team in the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga, or Ligue 1 (via @ollysailor). That is shockingly bad, and when you throw in the fact that since Unai Emery took over we’ve conceded 10 penalties, more than any other team, there are alarm bells going off all over the place for me.(from arseblog)

Those stats are absolutely shocking and Emery must take a proportion of the blame.This is at best mid table form despite spending a shedload of money’

RockyLives:

I’m not ready to write off UE yet, but in addition to the ‘playing out from the back’ problem, his substitutions yesterday were mystifying and only made us worse.

Willock and Nelson are not yet ready for intense first team football such as yesterday’s – they need to be eased in as late subs and in Europa League/Caribou Cup games etc.

Aaron’s hard hitting stats:

Facts:

Arsenal are on pace to concede 60.8 goals this year.

Have played 13% of their games.

Conceded more shots than any team in the top leagues of Europe.

Know this, we are playing the worst defense I have seen the Arsenal play in a very long time. Emery has been in charge for 16 months and is continuing the run of play that the Arsenal exhibited during the season’s final games.

The question has been asked to death: what is Emery’s plan with no defense?

Sue’s response:

Aaron.. I saw an article earlier, about Unai’s time at Valencia (super cup v Real Madrid 2008/9 2nd leg)
Valencia were 1-0 up, Real were then down to 10 … but levelled. They then saw red again, so down to 9 men.. yet the score went from 1-1 to 1-4!!!! They ended up losing 4-2 (& losing overall) and that was with David Silva, David Villa & Juan Mata!! You couldn’t make it up!!!!

Not a great article & it didn’t fill me with confidence!! Also, it was on about him parking the bus from the 50th minute, with a slender 1-0 lead and pretty much always surrendering leads.

A balance to the debate from Fatgingergooner:

Even though I’ve done this above in previous comments, part of me does wonder if it’s a little unfair to question what Emery’s style is when at the same time we are asking him to forget his style because the players are not good enough to implement it. If Emery is only the coach, as seems to be the case, then is it fair for us to chastise him for playing out from the back?

Should he just forget his whole ethos of possession football and control because the club haven’t given him good enough players? Im not convinced the blame lies solely at his feet. It’s not as if Pep took over City and transformed their existing CB’s into world class, ball playing defenders. He got rid of any players who couldn’t do it and bought ones who could. Surely it’s too much to ask Emery to come in and transform 30 year old defenders.

They are what they are. I think it’s up to the club to provide him with the correct tools that allow him to get the best results. I’m not convinced that’s the case at the moment, so I will still give him a bit of slack on that front.

Before the game, the jury was out on Unai for most supporters … after Sunday, many are now questioning whether he is the right man for the job.

But should we even be having this debate when negativity is the last thing we want transmitted to the players?

The atmosphere at The Emirates this season has been better than for many years – we need to get behind the team, get behind the players and leave it to those above Emery to manage him and rectify the glaring problems that Watford exposed.

What do you think?

Rasp

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Arsenal Playing the Fool …. Out from the Back

September 16, 2019

Where do we go from here?

This is not so much a match report as a scream of frustration, but I’ll try to articulate something about the game.

It’s safe to say that the first half yesterday was not enjoyable to watch. We were getting outplayed all over the pitch. However we got to half time 2 nil up through two moments of classy goal scoring from Aubameyang.

One of the shocking things about the first half was Leno playing us into trouble with short passes out from the back. Since the rule change of being able to have players in the box from the restart our play out has been appalling.

Guendouzi had already been given the ball under pressure, in the box, a couple of times in the first half and we’d just managed to clear our lines. Watford were now fully aware that they could gain an advantage and were camped close to our area at each restart.

And so it came to pass …………. we conceded probably the most ridiculously easy goal that any team can score!!!!! Not through a freaky accident, not through a one in a million chance but through suicidal play that those watching could see was an accident waiting to happen.

So several people could have changed the play. Emery? Leno himself? Xhaka, our captain? If Emery isn’t going to give an instruction during play then surely, if something isn’t working, then someone on that pitch has to take on the responsibility. Personally I think Leno has to take the initiative and switch play but I don’t know if those kind of instructions have to come from Emery.

All in all the disaster was completed when with ten minutes to go we gave away a penalty. 2-2 was a lucky result for us.

We had allowed 31 shots on our goal – Watford, bottom of the league, had strolled through our midfield time and time and time again. They were unlucky not to win this game.

We are in a complete mess. Xhaka’s comments after the game that the team were ‘scared’ are shameful. Emery’s comment about taking Ceballos off because it was hot is ridiculous. Watford had 31 shots to our 7. We weren’t even playing that game, we were just making up the numbers.

Where do we go from here?

peachesgooner

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No Lacazette – but Welbeck is back

September 15, 2019

Finally, the Premier League is back, after the oh so boring International break!

Our 5th game of the season, is a trip to Vicarage Road, to face a Watford side, who are bottom of the table. After 3 losses & 1 draw, they decided to give Javi Gracia his P45 & reappoint Quique Sanchez Flores – who managed them during the 2015-16 season.

Unai Emery is familar with him, having both managed in La Liga. This will be their 8th meeting and what makes it even more interesting is QSF has 3 wins to UE’s 1… with the other 3 draws…

Since Watford’s return to the PL, after an 8 year absence, we have faced them 8 times – winning 6 & losing 2, GF – 18  GA – 5.

They also beat us in the 6th round of the FA Cup with QSF as their manager!

Watford team news – Troy Deeney is still recovering from knee surgery, so will not face the team his son supports.

Etienne Capoue is a doubt, through illness.

Rob Holding is back in full training, but doubt he will feature, what with being absent for so long.

Tierney & Bellerin are closing in on a return..

Willock had a calf problem, but is expected to be ok, as is Xhaka & Torreira.

As we all know, Welbeck was released at the end of last season and Watford signed him, so I’m just waiting for him to come back and haunt us, just like many others have previously.

Danny Welbeck made 88 appearances for us, finding the back of the net 16 times. One of my favourites was the last gasp winner against Leicester! But who could forget his goals against the Mancs – brilliant!! Will always think highly of him. He’s now played twice for Watford, but has yet to score…….

Watford are desperate for points & having changed managers, performances & results usually improve.. we need to get back to winning ways, after a disappointing loss & draw in our last 2 games. So it’s all set up to be a very interesting encounter!

Lacazette has been ruled out until next month, due to an ongoing problem with his left ankle. This is a huge blow, having scored 2 goals already this season…….. this will make for an interesting line-up.

Peaches here – I would start Reiss Nelson on the wing and put Aubamayang up top ……….. let’s see what Emery chooses.

The team I’m expecting to see is : –

Ref – Anthony Taylor

Assistants – Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn

4th Offical – Peter Bankes

Var – Chris Kavanagh Ass Var – Daniel Cook

Not going to predict a score, as I’m usually pants at it. I just hope we play well, Pepe scores & we win COYG

By Mrs Kolasinac

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How Does Unai’s 2019 Arsenal Compare to Arsene’s 2017 Arsenal?

September 12, 2019

Ahead of our 5th game of the season, where are we compared to Arsene’s last season (2017)?

I’m looking at 9 main factors in trying to decide how much of a better path we’re on compared to when Arsene left. Make no mistake, this is probably an examination of Arsenal under Unai Emery as anything else. It’s early in the season and maybe we can revisit this at the next interlull to help time move on. Sorry to RA in particular for not having this ready for this morning’s post (I had a couple too many margaritas last night !!). Sorry too if I’ve missed anyone!! Hopefully not !! So

Goalkeeper and Defence

2017 –  Cech, Ospina, Bellerin, Debuchy, Gibbs, Monreal, Mertesacker, Mustafi , Gabriel, Koscielny

Grade  – 6/10. Merts was a bit of a loss, Nacho will be too.

2019 – Leno, Martinez, Bellerin, AMN, Kolasinac, Holding, Sokratis, Luis, Chambers, Tierney

Grade 7/10. Leno is (will be) an upgrade, Holding is better than anyone else we had and we have a little better overall quality in the middle and Tierney should also be a good upgrade.

Midfield

2017 – Ozil, Elneney, Ramsey, Xhaka, Coquelin,  AMN, Wilshere

Grade – 6/10. Obviously very affected by injury (didn’t even include Santi) but overall, where can you see any ball winning coming from? However also obviously very creative.

2019 – Ozil, Xhaka, Ceballos, Willock, Torreira, Guendouzi

Grade: 7.5/10. Definitely more strength and tenacity defensively but also with plenty of creativity. Even if you’d argue there was more going forward in 2017, it’s hard to create without the ball.

Forwards

2017 – Giroud, Iwobi, Oxlade, Sanchez, Walcott, Welbeck, Lucas.

Grade:  6.5/10. Obviously Sanchez was dangerous and Giroud was a huge weapon in the air but we hardly used it !! Not enough quality wide and very one dimensional as far as goal threat.

2019 – Auba, Laca, Pepe, Nelson, Martinelli

Grade:  8.5/10. There’s a lot of firepower in this group. Probably not quite deep enough but wide players are much better in my opinion.

Management Team

2017 – Wenger, Bould, Gazidis, Law.

Grade – 4/10. This group oversaw a steady decline in player quality and mentality which I think when you compare it to this year, is very stark.

2019 – Emery, Ljungberg, Edu, Sanehlli, Vinai V

Grade: 7.5/10. Mostly based on this summer transfer window but also the team just seems a little more steely and solid. It’s early but I also think we should bear in mind the losses of Bellerin and Holding last season at a time when we were on a very good run.

Ownership

2017 – Kroenke, Usmanov, Fanshare

Grade:  4/10. Did very little to help a sinking ship. Is it the fact that now KSE knows putting its own money in will reap benefits back to them alone? (This is also a great subject for a later post that I’d like to tackle !!)

2019 – Kroenke

Grade: 7/10: Got to give credit where it’s due. At least for right now. Substantial improvement

Mental Strength

2017 – Arsene talked a lot about it but who would you say showed a good mentality from all of the 2017 lists? For me, Nacho, Ramsey, Coquelin, Wilshere and Alexis would be the only ones I would want in my squad today for their mentality.

Grade: 3/10: Stemming from the manager I believe this has been the biggest failure at Arsenal during the later Wenger years. A team crying out for leaders, there were none.

2019 – I’d pick Leno, Holding, Sokratis, Luis, Ceballos, Willock, Guendouzi, Auba, Laca, for sure as players I think have a great mental presence on the field. I’d probably take Torreira and I’d imagine Tierney too but I’m not sure.

Grade: 5.5/10: Substantial improvements here. There are 3 or 4 players that need to be moved  on before I would rate us higher and an addition or two would help.

Defensive Ability 2019

Grade: 5/10. I am starting to understand better the massive correlation between a good defence and a solid defensive midfield. Until we fix that issue, our defenders are almost over achievers.

Attacking Strength 2019

Grade: 9/10. Similarly to our defenders, attackers allowed to play freely without fear of losing possession leading to goals being conceded will be better with good midfielders.

Fear Factor 2019

I think teams facing the current Arsenal team see a different proposition to a couple of years ago. I think we’re going to win a few games through not being intimidated that we wouldn’t have before. I’m not sure we’ll intimidate too many at first but hopefully once our front 3 get firing, that’s possible too.

Summary:  I’m not saying everything is rosy in the garden, far from it. But from a more stable ownership model through better overall management to an overall more balanced and athletic squad, I think we’re on the right track. What do you think?

Mike M

 

 

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A bit of Arsenal history …. 9th September 1958 Arsenal 6 Bolton 1

September 9, 2019

Has there ever been an International break as boring as this one? There are definitely not enough foreign superstars in our squad to make watching Internationals interesting ……….. well for me anyway. Even the thought of seeing Olivier Giroud in the blue of France wasn’t enough to get me to watch their match.

So, I was tempted to look at the Arsenal History page on Arsenal.com to see what they had included for this day. On this day in 1958, Arsenal beat Bolton Wanderers 6-1. And that was after beating Everton 6-1 three days earlier.

My introduction to all things Arsenal was made when at the age of six I changed Primary schools and was looked after by a little boy who insisted that Arsenal were the best team to follow. His dad had been the captain in the late sixties, a gentleman by the name of Dennis Evans. This small boy and I went to school together for the next 12 years and then lost touch. Until one day I found him …………. or rather he found me at a builder’s merchants. We were 35 years older and one of us still looked the same, according to him 🙂

Dipping into Wikipedia and other research I discovered that Arsenal had a pretty good season 1958-59, finishing 3rd, 11 points behind Wolves and 5 points behind Manchester United. Tottenham finished 18th with Arsenal beating them 3-1 at home and 4-1 away.

These years are described as the ‘dark days’ for Arsenal but I would say that 1958-59 was a bit of a blip looking at the results for that season.

Yaaawn ………… roll on Sunday ……………

peachesgooner

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This Is Unacceptable From An Arsenal Supporter

September 7, 2019

You call yourself an Arsenal supporter.

You love the club, you’re proud of our history and achievements. You’re desperate for the current team to achieve its potential.

But is there anything you could say or do as a Gooner that would be beyond the pale? Anything that would just be plain wrong coming from an Arsenal fan?

I have to thank GoonerB for the inspiration for this Post. His excellent idea of asking whether it was time for Arsenal supporters to rethink their antagonistic attitude towards Ashley Cole (a former Invincible, after all) prompted a lively discussion.

Some readers were minded to forgive and forget; others would not be budged from the view that Cashley is a wrong ‘un and would never be welcome back at The Arsenal (among the many eloquently argued points I couldn’t help but smile at Bernard’s short but emphatic: “Ten men went to bed, went to bed with Cashley, ten men and his mobile phone, went to bed with Cashley. I rest my case.”).

The discussion set me to thinking about whether there are certain opinions that no self-respecting Arsenal fan should hold or actions they should do.

I reckon 10 years ago, when we were still in the doldrums of the new stadium austerity and Cashley was winning trophies for fun at Chelsea, it would have been almost unsayable for an Arsenal fan to express admiration for our former Number 3.

With the passage of time it seems views have mellowed somewhat. But what are the other taboos for a Gooner?

I’d love your ideas in the comments, but here’s a list of potential no-nos for starters: would any of them be a step too far?

Is it acceptable for an Arsenal fan to say any of the following?:

“You know, I really quite like watching this Spurs team.”

“Manchester United have been the best team of the Premier League era.”

“I really miss the mint-coloured away kit.”

“People are being very harsh about Harry Kane. I don’t think it was a dive.”

“I hope we lose because…” (insert cockamamie reason here, eg:“…it will help us get rid of the manager”).

“In fairness, Mike Dean is a really good ref.”

“Roy Keane was better than Patrick Vieira.”

“We should get rid of Emery and appoint Mourinho – he’s a proven winner.”

Is it acceptable for an Arsenal fan to do any of the following?:

Go to Totteringham home games and sort-of support the Totts when Arsenal are playing away.

Boo one of our own players during a game.

Leave more than five minutes before the end of a game (except in the case of an emergency).

Miss an Arsenal cup final because you’ve been invited to a wedding (including your own).

Sit down during “stand up if you hate Totnum.”

Withdraw your support because you don’t like the manager/team selections/results.

Wear an Arsenal shirt with “van Persie” on the back.

Feel you’d rather England win the World Cup than Arsenal win the league.

RockyLives

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