Bendtner – Man or Mouth?

November 26, 2010

Written by CarlitoII

Nik – “Supernik” to some – Bendtner has caused a ripple in the Arsenal news pond recently by being an outspoken advocate of his own abilities. So what’s new? The man’s ambition is loftier than Peter Crouch’s adams apple and his head seems to swell up on a regular basis as if his brain suffers from an allergic reaction to reporters .

The stir seems to be caused mainly by the fact that, after claiming he would leave the club if not given more first team opportunities, he didn’t make the bench against Everton. Let’s start by analysing what the man actually said.

“I’m extremely disappointed with the lack of minutes on the field.”

Well, Nik. You were injured for the start of the season and Chamakh did a great job leading the line so you’ll have to wait your turn.

“I feel I’ve done everything right in getting back to fitness and I’m in the best shape of my life.”

Then you’ll prove it when you come on as a sub. Play well enough and you’ll be undroppable.

“I feel better than before the injury and at that point I was in the starting XI and close to fulfilling my potential.”

Wenger says that all players say this but his data tells him you need to be eased back in. Any fan can see you still have to work on your first touch!

“When I’m 100 per cent fit, I can’t accept sitting on the bench.”

Right, go on… *handing out just enough rope to hang yourself with*

“I’m 100 per cent good enough for the starting XI in Arsenal. I have the qualities and I’ve been sitting enough on the bench in my career.”

Glad you’re so full of self belief, it’s important in a striker…

“If my manager feels differently that’s fair, and he’s the one choosing the team, but then I disagree.”

Ah Nik, the rashness of youth! You disgree with the best manager Arsenal have ever had? Well ok then, um, we really missed you at Everton…

Whatever happened to letting your performances do the talking? If you’re good enough, you’ll play. Any casual observer can see that, in the main, Chamakh has a better first touch and holds the ball up better than any centre forward since Thierry.. My personal belief is that Nik feels threatened by this, and he is probably right to do so. My question to you all is: would we really miss him if he went?

I love the directness that he can bring when he comes off the bench. I love his “never give in” mentality that brought us memorable last minute goals last season. I’m also superstitious, in that I believe we need a good Scandinavian player to bring home a trophy (Limpar, Jensen, Freddy…) – ok it’s my own superstition that one, but one I cling on to! But he’s not the new TH14 is he, and until he becomes the finished article, it would behove him to keep his head down!

Post Script- I wrote this article before the Totnum game and “SuperNik” has since had his chance at Braga. I missed the game sulking but I gather there may be a few words to be said about his performance- I’ll leave that to you!

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal …. Why don’t we learn from our mistakes?

November 25, 2010

Written by Rasp

I’ve had nearly a week to calm down from my anger at our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory last Saturday. I still feel sick to the pit of my stomach, not so much because we lost, but because of the manner in which we lost.  I wasn’t going to use this post, but after Tuesday’s hopeless performance against Braga, my ‘belief’ in this team/squad has been shot to pieces. This is not a knee-jerk reaction, but the accumulation of a growing frustration over the last few years that I can no longer suppress.

Why is our system so fragile?

Saturday’s game was the perfect example. We played the beautiful controlled football for which we are admired in the first half and then fell apart as soon as they scored their second goal. I can’t believe a single fan wouldn’t sacrifice 65% possession for winning a game. Arsène talks a lot about ‘belief’ but I don’t see that these players have the belief necessary to fight back when under pressure. This is borne from past experience when we’ve capitulated. Just review the final games of last season to illustrate the point.

Against Braga, we lacked ideas, penetration and energy. Most of the players (with the exception of Djourou and Gibbs) seemed to be caricatures of themselves, exhibiting all their worst traits. The Emirates crowd have come in for fair criticism for their inability to lift the team when needed, but the plague of anxiety that spreads through the stands is generated by the players and reflected by the fans – not vice verse.

Why do we have a policy of buying small players?

Let me qualify this; I don’t only mean small only in terms of stature but also in terms of presence, personality, guts and leadership. Of course size doesn’t matter when we’re in possession of the ball and are being allowed to play our way. Our problem is when we’re not in possession. Some players still do not work hard enough to regain position, track back and defend as a team.

We have been vulnerable to set pieces for years. Every opposition manager knows it. Chris Hughton knew it when he told Joey Barton to deliver the ball onto Andy Carrol’s head at every opportunity. Would Tony Adams or Keown have allowed Kaboul the header for the winning goal on Saturday? In hindsight, it would probably have been better to play Djourou rather than Koscielny against totnum – perhaps our CB may not have been out jumped by 5ft 7in Defoe?

The spine of the team is weak. Where are the leaders on the pitch? Who grabs the team by the scruff of the neck when we need to fight back? We don’t have a winning mentality. Vermaelen stands alone in the squad as the one player who has what it takes to be a future captain; he is being sorely missed.

Why do we coach the shooting instinct out of our players?

Once again we saw a player (Chamakh) shun shooting opportunities against totnum. This can’t be a coincidence. Maybe our training regimes are so ingrained in the player’s minds that they are ‘brainwashed’ into passing when shooting is the better option? We bought Tomas Rosicky as a player with a reputation for having a fantastic shot who could find the back of the net from way outside the box – I’ve never seen him do it for Arsenal.

Perhaps we should practice our ‘clever passing triangles’ on the edge of the box and someone has to shoot every 10th pass? Fabregas was the only player seemingly prepared to let loose against Braga and his efforts were as far off the mark as is his form of late. He, not RvP or Song, should have been rested – and rested several weeks ago when it was clear that he was being hampered by what must now be considered to be a long term injury.

Why can’t we motivate the players at half time?

I knew that ‘arry would send his players out fired up for the second half; he’s done it many times. Ours emerged from the tunnel looking relaxed and unconcerned, 20 minutes later they looked scared, unsure and vulnerable. Against Braga, our players needed an ‘arry-type rocket up them, but instead they just continued in the same lame lackadaisical vein in which they had laboured through the first half. No spark. No invention. No leadership. No balls.

We accept that Arsène Wenger is not a ‘hairdryer-style’ manager, but maybe he should transmit some of the venom he wastes on water bottles in the direction of his underperforming players at half time. Just once, I’d like to see him make a substitution at half time when a player is not performing.

Why don’t we ever learn from our mistakes?

For me, this is the most damming question, and it can only be directed at the manager. What will it take to shake him from the conviction that his way of playing and this group of players will eventually prove all the doubters wrong? It’s easy to dismiss the opinions of pundits who revel in our failure, but it would appear that Arsène is becoming an increasingly isolated figure, clinging to his principles whilst all around him shrink away in recognition that ‘it’ isn’t working. It has been said repeatedly and for many years that ‘this Arsenal team’ is only a couple of players short of getting back to the very top – I believe this is still the case.

The balance to the argument.

We’ve not had the luck. The free kick that led to the penalty for totnum should not have been given. The decision to book Vela instead of awarding a nailed on penalty against Braga was incomprehensible, but in both cases our performance for the 90 minutes was not good enough. We continue to suffer from injuries to key players – but don’t most teams? The good news is the emergence of Djourou as a big strong defender who can compete with powerful strikers and Nasri as our most effective midfielder and the imminent return of Vermaelen and Ramsey.

We’re 2 points off the top of the Premiership with 24 games left to play. We’re still in the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and we can still qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League if we beat Partizan at home or as long as Shaktar beat Braga. Second in the group is the most likely scenario – unfortunately coming second in the group cost us dear last year; had we topped the group there is a good chance we would have made it to the final.

None of this gives me cause for optimism. We play an improving Villa side on Saturday who will be fighting to keep out of the relegation zone. It will be difficult and unless we can play with some fire in our bellies and overcome our fear of defeat, we will drop points and the familiar scenario of struggling to achieve 4th place in the Premiership will become the focus of our season once again.

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Posted by Rasp

Tippy Tappy football to Nowhere.

November 24, 2010

Written by kelsey

Good morning (or is it????)

Last night was a totally inept display, no passion yet again, no leadership on or off the field, no confidence and quite frankly before half time I lost interest watching the team I support.

Undoubtedly we should have had a penalty, but I doubt it would have changed the game that much, or the performance. It also brings into question how on earth the fifth or was it the sixth official didn’t see Vela brought down.

We will beat the whipping boys Partizan Belgrade and finish runner up, and it says a lot that, everyone will want to draw The Arsenal for the next stage of the competition.

Wenger admitted, and not for the first time that he took a gamble with Cesc, and it back fired big time. He is clearly unfit and appeared to be quite nonchalant in his performance on the pitch. His first attempt with a free kick in a central position was literally a timid lob which hardly reached the keeper. Others were just as bad though Djourou and Gibbs did at least show a resemblance of wanting to actually play, and I must emphasize we were playing an out of form mid table Portuguese side.

My advice to Bendtner is to marry his beloved princess and retire gracefully to some remote castle in deepest Denmark.

There will be in some quarters increasingly loud chants of “Wenger Out” but it will never happen. One has to seriously question where is this ‘mental strength’ that we continually hear about, and why for the umpteenth time, we keep having players on the field who just aren’t fit. He literally is running out of excuses.

He must take the proportion of the blame and though he will argue that we made 7 changes from the Spurs game, it was if anything a worse performance, in fact was it a performance?

Yet again we make life difficult for ourselves from going from the top of the group to the embarressment of having to win the final game to qualify for the knock out stages.

The last goal summed it up for me. Our three players could not dispossess Matheus, he was too strong, determined and quick – if  it had been us scoring we would be waxing lyrical, but actually it felt like a dagger in the heart.

If ever there was a need to buy in January, it has to be NOW, and as a highest priority.

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Posted by kelsey

Braga to test the strength of Arsenal’s squad

November 23, 2010

Further to yesterday’s interesting discussion about squad strength we have an opportunity tonight to evaluate  Mr Wenger’s statement. For tonight the squad players travel to Portugal for a Champions League game which despite not being a win or bust fixture is contextually important, if only to sweeten what has been a difficult week.

Clichy, Van Persie, and Arshavin are not travelling, Fabregas may well be rested to help his ailing hamstring and AW could rest any of the others who have played so many games over the past two weeks. Whichever team is played we are strong. In my opinion Mr Wenger is right in his assertion that this is his strongest squad. In every position we have a quality (and almost always an International) backúp. As Kelsey pointed out, the only position in with a doubtful substitute is in goal and Chesney has all the attributes to become a fine GK.

Tonight we could play the following team and reasonably expect a positive result:

Chesney/almunia

Eboue  JD  Kos  Gibbs

Rosicky Denilson Eastmond Wilshere

Theo Bendtner

This is without the injured and likely starters of Vermaelen, Diaby and  Ramsey.

I wrote in the comments about the absence of Diaby who has become a forgotten man, In my opinion he would start ahead of Wilshere and would certainly have played against Spurs. His loss is considerable as he is developing into a fine player with pace, power, skill and developing awareness (clearly his weak point). His recent performances for France are evidence of his growing influence. I realise that he is not everyone’s cup of tea but I like him!

Braga, despite winning their previous CL game, are in a poor run of form and we know how easliy they were brushed aside at the Grove, but this is a very important game in their season (in financial terms) and Braga will be looking for revenge.

Arsenal have not won in Portugal in 5 attempts and a Braga victory would bring them level with us on 9 points. This is not a game we can afford to take lightly

My team:

Fabianski

Sagna  Squillaci  Koscileny  Gibbs

Song  Denilson  Wilshere  Rosicky

Walcott Bendtner.

Could we be creative enough without Nasri or Fabregas in the starting 11? Perhaps not.

Not much to tell you about Braga which is in the very North of Portugal, except Marie Miriam who won the 1977 Eurovision song contest was born there, and Braga has a Quidditch team!

COYRRG

Written by BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Strongest Squad Ever? My Arse(nal)

November 22, 2010

Arsene Wenger says this current Arsenal squad is the strongest he’s ever had.

As the dust settles on Saturday’s painful and embarrassing defeat, perhaps it’s time to examine that claim.

It seems important that Arsene referred to his strongest squad, not his strongest team (even he wouldn’t expect us to swallow that Saturday’s bottlers are the best team he’s ever had).

The implication must be that he feels he has more strength in depth than ever before.

Opinion is subjective, and there’s no scientific way of measuring it, but one way of examining strength in depth is to look at the best possible second team that the Arsenal could have put out at certain points during Wenger’s reign.

In 2010/11 I see our strongest second team (assuming everyone is fit) as being this:

Almunia

Eboue   Koscielny   Djourou   Gibbs

Diaby   Wilshere   Rosicky

Walcott   Bendtner   Chamakh

In the Invincibles season of 2003/4 it would have been this:

Taylor

Hoyte   Senderos   Keown   van Bronckhorst

Parlour   Edu   Flamini   Reyes

Kanu   Wiltord

In our Double Year of 2001/2:

Wright

Luzhny   Adams   Upson   van Bronckhorst

Parlour   Grimandi   Edu   Pennant

Kanu   Wiltord

And in our first Wenger Double Year of 1997/98:

Manninger

Grimandi   Upson   Keown   McGowan

Boa Morte   Platt   Garde    Hughes

Wright   Wreh

I believe the current ‘second eleven’ would probably lose to all the others listed. They might have a fighting chance against the 1998 brigade (anyone remember Gavin McGowan?) but I suspect even an ageing Ian Wright would rip Djourou and Koscielny to shreds.

The funny thing is that the current second string probably has more technical ability than any of its predecessors, but it doesn’t have the out-and-out winning mentality of the players from previous years (the likes of Ian Wright, Keown, Parlour, Adams and Edu).

I accept that there are other possible ways of measuring squad strength (for example, if we looked into the ‘leftovers’ – players who don’t even make it into the second elevens – there would probably be more in the 2010 crop with first team experience than in previous years – the likes of Vela, Traore, Eastmond, JET and Lansbury).

However, using my method it seems clear that this is most certainly NOT the best Arsenal squad of the Wenger era.

So why would he say it is?

To understand that you need to be able to decipher Wengerspeak. When we had teams conquering all before them, making opponents feel defeated before they even stepped onto the pitch, you seldom heard Arsene talking about how great his players were or how professional or focused they were.

Instead he has a pattern of making these kind of utterances when his team is not functioning properly. It’s as if he hopes that by saying it, it will become true.

Worst of all are his constant references to our mental strength during periods when, mentally, we have all the strength of Syd Little with ‘flu.

I think he says this stuff because, although he knows the players are not mentally strong, he feels it will act as a motivator if they believe that’s what he thinks.

Well, it’s not working. This current first team has perfected the art of collapsing with all the speed and finality of a cheap Caribbean beach shack in a hurricane.

Saturday’s effort harked back to Wigan away last year, the 4-4 against the Spuds at The Grove a couple of years ago and to our habitual inferiority-complex-ridden displays against Chelsea and Man Utd. At this rate I can see the Spuds joining the ‘big two’ as a team against whom we start feeling we can’t win.

Jermaine Jenas said that when the Bale goal went in the Spud players sensed they could win – and that the Arsenal players sensed they could lose. I’m sure most of us watching felt the same anxiety.

What’s to be done?

Frankly, I don’t have much idea. Arsene must know that he has a team of bottlers, a team incapable of stepping up when the pressure is really on, a team that needs a three goal cushion before it can remotely begin to feel secure. I’m sure he has attempted to tackle the psychological issues that are holding his squad back, but whatever he has done has failed.

Maybe it will take a trophy. The Carling Cup is by far the most realistic prospect for us this year, but if we reach the final I suspect there’s every chance we will choke on the big day, regardless of who we’re playing. It’s what this group of players has learnt to do.

For a mostly foreign team, they have a strangely British quality to them: gallant losers all.

I don’t want Wenger out, but I am slowly coming round to the view held by some that if this talented group of players is to ever make that final step up, we need to buy in two or three proven winners at the very top of their games: a new centre back, a new defensive midfielder and possibly even a world class striker. And in an ideal world they will all be players who bang heads together in the dressing room when their colleagues are not pulling their weight.

I know this is not Championship Manager; money isn’t the solution to everything; and who’s to say the right players are available anyway?

But somehow, from somewhere, we need a massive injection of the winning mentality into the club we love or last weekend’s heartbreak is going to become an all too familiar feeling.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Redknapp outthinks Wenger …… fact.

November 21, 2010

Written  by kelsey

Having digested the result and read many comments I am left thinking how we lost a game that at half time was literally in the bag and though not at our most fluent we had surpringly  nullified a much hyped up Spurs outfit. Beforehand, I thought  that if we contained Bale and Van der Vaart we should have no trouble in beating Spurs, though much improved, but always likely to concede.

The game plan worked a treat and an early goal from Nasri after yet another howler from Gomes and then a poachers goal from Chamakh after a clever cross from Arshavin just after half an hour, I was foolishly mislead that this could be a huge embarrassment for the tiny tots. How wrong could one be.

We squandered several more chances in that first half and someone needs to tell Chamakh that as he is a striker, a direct shot at goal wouldn’t go amiss. Over 45 minutes it was a team effort and no one had an outstanding game, but as a unit we performed well.

At that moment of time we were top of the league and we waited to see with the Champions league games coming up within a few days, if either manager would be bold enough to make changes or in Arsenal’s case go for the jugular and in Redknapp’s case, alter his game plan,which he did with the introduction of Defoe .

A two goal lead counts for nothing these days, especially with the Arsenal, and I had this gut feeling  that whoever was on the pitch it would need a third goal to finally kill off the Spurs.

Should a title chasing side be in that position ?The answer is an emphatic NO.

Spurs took control more or less from the resumption of play and remember we had the same players on the pitch that had easily contained them in the first half. The second half became a horror show, and Bale walked through the defence to score. Fabregas gave away a stupid penalty and the inevitable happened with Kaboul scoring the winner with minutes left.

It was, not for the first time this season, unbearable to watch, and yet again we got caught on set pieces. There was no leadership on the field, no motivation to press on after half time and the players and the manager must look at themselves this morning and many , many questions need to be asked.

Three home defeats in seven matches is just not acceptable and don’t kid yourselves that we are still in the mix as this is the first time in twelve years that the current leaders have obtained so few points.I don’t care about United,Spurs or Chelsea, I expect my team to perform every time they take the field.

This team has one or two great players, and an abundance of squad players and fewer injuries than at any time for a considerable period, and though all is not lost,  a major overhaul is needed if we are to progress this season. Beforehand I had my doubts,but now they are being slowly confirmed.

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Posted by kelsey

High Noon

November 19, 2010

In my very young years Spurs were the best in the country if not the world, with a team that had it all – speed, craft, strength (what a player Dave Mackay was), super full backs, centre halves (as they were then) a fine keeper and the late , great Bobby Smith upfront. I can still name the entire 61 Double team, such was their impact upon my psyche.

It was touch and go whether I supported the forces of good or evil, my father had gone over to the dark side and encouraged me to do the same. I was taken to  the coven at WHL to be surrounded by waling banshees and devil worshippers. Thankfully I saw the light and was led onto the path of good and righteousness by other family members. Had they not exorcised me I could have been subjected to a life of ridicule and envy, for such is the life of a Spurs fan. How those poor saps made the disastrous decision to support the joke that is THFC is for them to analyse, but I think it must be centred upon low self-esteem and a history of bed wetting.

Last season we lost our record of not having been beaten by them in the PL this century – you may recall they brought out a DVD. In a way it took a monkey off our backs, but it still rankles that our team didn’t perform that night and a Spurs lad scored the goal of his life (poor chap has gone back to a life of obscurity). And then there was the 4-4 (another DVD!) a game which in which we threw away 2 points and allowed an ex-AFC reserve to score the goal of his life – we must stop that habit!

Spurs go into the game with fresh legs thanks to them having so few Internationals, whereas our boys have all (16 of them!) been away playing meaningless friendlies.  Players like Arshavin and Nasri who played 90 minutes will struggle for fitness.

To see the vast gulf in class between our clubs one only has to assess the respective managers. Mr. Wenger is approaching sainthood, whereas Harry is an execrable human being whose only redeeming features are his fit daughter-in-law and his bank balance.

There can be no doubt that at last Spurs have a decent squad, they can play good football and have quality throughout the side. In Gareth Bale they have the best player in the World – the new Messi  (yeah, right….typical Spurs, 10 decent games from Bale and he is worth €50m!!), the Bale/Sagna battle will be mouthwatering. Modric despite having a ratface and the body of an undernourished spaniel is a player who would flourish at Man Utd – he is wasted at the Sh**hole. Jenas is likely to play thanks to Fatboy Huddlestone’s ban, a player who loves a goal against us – he will have to closed down fast. Lemon is quick but crosses like Clichy, Crouch is hated by the Spurs acolytes which sums them up – I like him but hope he has a stinker tomorrow. Same goes for Pavlachenko – actively disliked by his own fans (check out their blogs). Then there is  Van de Vaart, the “New Dennis Bergkamp”, an Real reject who has started well in the PL, he is without doubt a fine player and an excellent signing by Redknapp, our defensive midfielders will have to be very aware of his movement, for that reason I would play Denilson ahead of Wilshere.

Our ex-captain WG will start and I expect him to get a rousing welcome (actually the expected response will be apathy unless he scores). Should (when) Spurs lose tomorrow their fans will focus upon their defence and the lack of their 3 best CB’s, but let us be honest, if King plays 12 games a season he has had a good year, Woodgate isn’t even in their 25 man squad; Dawson it has to be admitted is a loss but they have a WC winner as a replacement!

Our team:

We have had 2 back to back away victories and return to the Grove where our record is surprisingly not great this season. The fighting performances on the road must be continued if we are to win tomorrow. I am told Arshavin is running into good form, and Chamakh is on a fine scoring streak. Fabregas has found aggression to add to his sublime skills and Nasri is the Premiership’s form player. We have easily enough quality to win this game – what will be required is commitment and concentration over the whole 95 minutes.

The North London Derby (NLD) has at last got some frisson back thanks to the resurgence of the devilspawn fro N17, the atmosphere at The Grove will be electric, the teams excited and inspired, and I just wish I could be there….

Here’s hoping for a great game, a decent referee, an early goal, one just before half time to calm the nerves and a victory for the men in the white hats.

This is not a purely a question of football superiority – it is the eternal battle for the triumph of good over evil

COYRRG

Written by BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City: Boo Boys Compared

November 18, 2010

Booing, when you think about it, is a very funny sound.

It’s the sort of sound a cow might make if it had a bad head cold.

And right now, around the more charmless corners of the Premier League, there has been quite an outbreak of snuffly Fresian behaviour.

The pale blue herd up at Middle Eastlands have been booing their little hearts out because their £350 million squad can’t rustle up a goal for love nor money. Well, actually, just for money – there’s not a single player at Man City who loves the club, although they all love their pay cheques.

Then, down the road in the pastoral idyll that is London N17, the all-white herd are just as noisily petulant because, in their case, they are feeling let down and betrayed: this was going to be THEIR YEAR. It really was – that top four finish was going to be a stepping stone to the League title, while the Champions League trophy would be scooped up along the way. The white herd, as is well known, is strongly infected with mad cow disease.

In both cases the booing is truly absurd.

Look at Citeh: Booed off at the weekend against Birmingham; booed off after drawing with Manchester United and at half time and full time when drawing with Blackburn; jeered off the pitch at half time when nil-nil at home to Wigan. I could go on but there are just too many examples to mention.

Sky Blues fans – what are you doing? Are you mad? You have spent years of your life loyally supporting a rubbish team that hasn’t looked remotely like winning anything for a generation and now, just because someone has come in and flashed his wad at you, you expect the earth?

Did you really think that all it takes to become a team of champions is to pay over-the-odds prices for greedy players looking for a mega payday, throw them all together and see what happens?

Chelsea managed it with Abramovich’s cash because (a) the league was not as competitive then and (b) Chelsea had the nucleus of a good team (which had already won silverware and competed in the Champions League before the Russian arrived).

City would probably be doing better now if they had kept the likes of Given, Ireland, Dunne, Elano and Bellamy and added some quality imports to that strong core. And yes I know Given is still there, but he’s not exactly first choice, is he?

I used to always like meeting Man City supporters because they had a great sense of cynicism and dark humour about the fortunes of their beloved club. Even their iconic anthem, Blue Moon, with it’s wistful, yearning air, reflected their understanding that they followed a club destined never to be fashionable or successful. And you know what? They hardly ever booed their boys back in the pre-lottery win days. Now look at them. Frankly it’s sad.

And then we move to our noisy neighbours, from whom we hear the sound of booing echoing over the rooftops of North London on an almost weekly basis – most recently after drawing with Sunderland last week.

Unlike poor Citeh, whose fans have had their heads turned by all that dough, the Spuds supporters have a long tradition of booing their team. They booed them under Ramos and under Jol and Santini and Pleat; they booed them under Hoddle and under Graham and Gross and Francis; they were probably booing them all the way back in 1898 under Frank Brettell, first in a long tradition of managerial failures at the mighty Cocks.

But they, too, need to ask themselves why they are booing their team this season of all seasons. They are in the champions league – a feat they will never achieve again in the lifetime of many of their fans – they are in the top seven in the table and are getting to see some decent players on a weekly basis (Bale, van der Vaart, Defoe, Modric, Kranjcar).

Don’t you Spuds realise that this is as good as it gets for you? And you’re STILL booing? Really, you deserve the club you’ve got and it deserves you.

Finally there’s Arsenal. One of the things I love about our club is that we don’t collectively boo the players off the pitch. When some sections of the crowd booed Emmanuel Eboue as he experienced a mid-game mental breakdown it caused an explosion of self-examination that continues in the blogosphere to this day.

Yes, there’ll be occasions when the team don’t exactly leave the pitch to a standing ovation, but collective booing by a large section of the Arsenal crowd is almost unheard of. (I have read reports of Arsenal being booed off at the end of games where I have been present and there was no booing – just muted applause. I can only imagine that some particularly dopey individual who likes to boo happens to sit near the press box).

Liverpool supporters hardly ever boo their team (and God knows, they have had reason to in the last few seasons). Nor do the supporters of Manchester United. Along with Arsenal, what those two clubs and their supporters have is history, and a touch of class. They know what success is, they have had high highs and low lows, but they also know their jobs as supporters.

Manchester City used to have class in a peculiar, downtrodden way, but the glint of money has stolen it from them.

The Spuds have never had it and they never will, so the mournful sound of booing from N17 will long continue to rival the chimes of Big Ben as one of the traditional sounds of Old London Town.

RockyLives

The England team were booed off the pitch at Wembley  last night. The France team which had a poorer World Cup than ours managed to look more like a football team than we did. What is more frustrating, the coach, the players or the media feeding the expectation of the supporters?

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Posted by RockyLives

The Emirates Library …. sshhhhhh ……

November 17, 2010

Written by CarlitoII

Who wasn’t excited to hear about the Arsenalization process of “The Mothership” as I call our beautiful stadium? The reinstatement of the North Bank and Clock End, the murals and all that other jazz designed make the stadium more of a fortress was our CEO’s shining hope to create more atmosphere and add to the uniqueness of the stadium. Does anyone feel it worked?

I, for one, feel that the atmosphere at the Grove has been even flatter this year than in years past – the only game that really got going was the game against Birmingham. Now, we’ve never had the loudest fans at home but those away boys do us proud, don’t they? So why is it that the lads behind me barely murmer along to the songs even though they’re barely 20 years old? Why is it that the guys next to me comment to each other as if they’re watching the game in their front room?

Before I get into my explanation, it has to be said that it’s never a flat atmosphere when the spuds, chavs or manks turn up- but against West Ham, West Brom and in particular against Aston Villa last season I felt that the whole stadium and overdosed on Nytol on the way to the ground!

Reason 1: Ticket prices. I pay about a month’s salary for my ticket. In practice, a lot of the members in and around me sell their tickets on for the less glamorous fixtures and this means that we get a lot of football tourists – possibly not even Gooners – coming to watch a game. My choice of verb is important here. They do not seem to consider the need to support the team, and I often find myself becoming part of the show for these good people (“ooh, he’s a colourful character – look at him shouting”)! I won’t blame them or the season ticket holders for selling on. Anyone who likes football would want to come. But if true Gooners could afford to go every week there would be a far better atmosphere.

Reason 2: Easy access. You can get from outside the ground to your seat in about 90 seconds – except you can’t in the 5 minutes before kickoff when everyone’s had the same idea and the turnstiles get blocked. The culture of getting into your seat/ grabbing your spot on the terrace has disappeared so the atmosphere doesn’t build up.

Reason 3: Booze restriction. If you could take your pint to your seat you would stay there, wouldn’t you? The irony of a tournament being sponsored by Heineken and Amstel having a booze prohibition is a matter for a different blog – but I cannot see any reason why I shouldn’t take a beer to my seat for a premier league game!

Reason 4: Plastic fans. I hate to say this but there are too many fans who were not with us before Arsene Wenger’s revolution. The “sing when your winning” mentality has to stop. We need to sing louder when we’re losing. I think this is the main reason why we are doing better away than at home – the real fans sing louder.

This blog is a bit of a rant, but I really believe that the team shouldn’t always be held responsible for the atmosphere at the ground. It’s our part to support the team and inspire them to greater things – we really lack the 12th man. I hope the CEO will take look at some of these factors – even putting “Come on you Reds” on the screens like they used to a Highbury would be a start!

Finally- what is the deal with the food? North London has fantastic food from Bagels to Turkish food, Indian, Thai, Italian- you name it. What do we get inside the stadium? Nachos. Hotdogs. Popcorn in the name of all things holy! This is only going to encourage people to treat a match like a trip to the cinema. Let’s make the stadium a reflection of the supporters and not the corporate ideals of the board- murals schmurals – let’s get ‘em singing!

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Which Arsenal will turn up this afternoon?

November 14, 2010

Another tough game on the road. Goodison is one of my favourite grounds, there is always a good atmosphere and the food used to be good!  Plus Kevin Campbell (a diehard Gooner) was a big success up there.

The stats going into this fixture definitely indicate a home win, Everton are in a fine run of form, have finally got through their regular dreadful start to the season and are climbing the table. They have drawn with Man Utd and beaten Liverpool at home and today will be expecting another good result. We on the other hand have been going through a topsy turvy run, sometimes playing sublime football and the next losing to the Barcodes. Let us hope for a continuation of the grit shown at Wolves.

Everton will be missing Fellaini which is a major positive for us, but both Heitinga and Rodwell are in contention. In Arteta they have a player who is almost as good as Cesc (not really!!), and we can expect an even battle in midfield. With Pienaar (often cited as an AW target), Cahill and Yakubu, they are dangerous both on the break and at set pieces. With two fine full-backs in Baines and Hibbert and another AW target (?) Jagielka alongside the experienced Distin, they should be solid at the back.

I am not anticipating a repeat of last season’s result at Goodison!

AW has an almost full squad to pick from. He intimated that he will rotate the midfield which I take to mean the JW will get a rest. I would play Theo in the final 30 mins when his pace will cause Baines problems and hopefully stop him venturing into attack.

Theo and Nik to come on after 60 mins.

For historical details about Everton please refer to my Liverpool posts! All I know of the area is that it inspired a fine album by Paul Weller named Stanley Park – but I would have Weller down as a Chelsea fan.

With the results benefitting us yesterday and Chelsea having a relatively tricky home fixture (Sunderland),  three points would be great but with our inconsistent form I would happily take the draw.

COYYRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

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