Well, I was going to write a blog yesterday, but the news cycle was so grim I had to pass.
There was an incident. I don’t want to go to deep on it. But we need to talk about it.
Kids do stupid things. I could barely dress myself at 16. Thank the lord there was no Twitter during those formative years when I was trying to discover who the fuck I was. Even as a blogger in my twenties, some of my old work was unbelievably crass and embarrassing. We cannot hold kids to ridiculous standards, they are learning life in public, they will make mistakes. Sometimes HUGE mistakes. The more famous they are, the harder those mistakes land because we thread them through the needle of how we behave as grown adults. That’s not fair.
The most grim part about the whole thing is someone close to him leaked that video, not because it was in the public interest (it wasn’t), but to destroy the human in question. Once things like that leak, that’s it, it’s there forever… on every level, that sort of behaviour is grotesque. It’s cockroach behaviour. Pure scum. The intent is destruction, it should be treated like a subcategory of revenge porn. It’s digital assault, designed to inflict pain. I hate it.
What made the whole thing worse for me was reading all the homophobic commentary that followed it. Like, honestly, do we really need that nonsense in 2021? Are we not at the stage in society where it should be really fucking shameful to have a scummy opinion about LGBTQ? It’s so dated now, the comments ‘nearly’ make me feel sorry for the perpetrators. Like when everyone laughs at their weird uncle who says he doesn’t like foreign food and found that Sainsbury’s Christmas ad problematic. How can people be so pathetic? How can their lives be so fucking empty that they need to be mean like that?
The player in question does need to take some responsibility. The video wasn’t standard dressing room ‘banter’ and it certainly was not a case of ‘that’s just kids these days.’ It was VERY strange. The dressing room, however you cut it, is the workplace (lol, so HR here). BUT, let’s be honest, it was no weirder than the stuff that goes on at rugby parties at University… come on… you’ve seen weirder… Tarquin and Johannes showing off in the kitchen with an old sock and a pint of Tetley’s. Jokes aside, it was dumb to have his phone out in a dressing room. It was dumb to record the scene. It was dumb to post it to Snapchat when you’re on the verge of fame. But it happened, we need to move on.
The player needs to go into PR Airplane Mode.
The video was bad, but all that showed was poor judgement and shit friends. The bigger concern is that he’s whining in the French media for the 3rd time in a month about being given marching orders after 2.5 games. He seems to think the coaching staff missed all his training sessions and the loan games Arteta will have studied (because he’s a massive football nerd). We get it, it’s embarrassing to be sent home, everyone wants to play… but the truth is the best way to get back at the coaching staff is to keep your head down and let the fancy footwork, well-timed defensive actions, and line-breaking passes do the talking.
We all want him to thrive. Every single one of us wants him in the starting 11. He’s built for the league and exciting football. If he wants to achieve that, he’s going to have to prove himself like everyone else at Arsenal bar Willian.
Young players land minutes. ESR, Saka, MO, and Martinelli all speak to that. His career at Arsenal will be about what he does on and off the pitch, time to switch off the phone, reject the calls from the French media, and focus on becoming an Arsenal great.
Talking of great… Thomas Partey is going to be available at the weekend. That is HUGE news for the run-in. If we channel the first-half performance from Wolves, with the second from Villa, I can assure you, things will pick up. There will be a blow-out. We will start finding some of the sauce we need. Things will get better.
I am FASCINATED to see what the deal is for the Leeds game.
There are two big priorities for me.
How do we re-engage Auba?
He’s our superstar. Our captain. The biggest smile on the pitch. He’s having a very rough time at the moment, he’s had a poor season by his own standards, but we need to get him firing. Our biggest issue now is we can’t finish even though we’re creating chances. We need to have our best striker burying them. Does he play on the left where arguably we have more aggressive players? Or do we play him through the middle, where Lacazette has really owned that false nine position? BIG DECISIONS.
How do we have Odegaard on the pitch?
He’s quality, we can see that. He has that final ball that we’re missing. Where does he play? On the right in place of Pepe who has improved? In that #10 role after a quiet game from ESR? Or next to Partey where he can pull strings and offer mobility Xhaka doesn’t have? BIG DECISIONS.
What do we do about Tierney?
I think we need to bite the bullet and accept that Saka needs to deputise. There was a spell where his overlapping runs were really causing problems at the weekend. He can drop back and give us double the firepower. That’d be one scary team on the break. Remember, left-back is like, the new #10 position for coolness.
Arteta needs to end this year with an Arsenal on fire in a positive sense. If the fans are drooling over an exciting brand of football delivered by a youthful side of hungry terriers… he’ll be in good shape. If the football is shite, he’s in trouble. The next 4 weeks will determine how the fans will treat him next season. Fingers crossed he shows his very best, the fans certainly need it!
Ok, I am tired now… so you should just have it out in the comments. SEE YOU THERE. x
Pierre “It’s sad that 65 year old man like Tony has to refer to wanking socks every day and even sadder that there are others that feel its even slightly amusing to follow in his foootsteps.” Just accept that you’re a trolling, wanker, wind up merchant and move on Pierre. I’ll make you a deal you stop the trolling and winding up and boring Wenger/Ozil revision BS and I stop with the sock references. Neither Freddie or I or others here castigate you for your football in-depth analysis; only your BS you like to spew for the baiting, which you… Read more »
Only people who did not live the arrival of Wenger and the tsunami of changes he made to this club could say with a straight face that we were in good health when he arrived. We were a laughing stock. Our historic manager had been sacked after being caught taking a brown envelope. Our manager was out of his depth and at loggerhead with our main striker. Things were so bad, Ian Wright had put a transfer request. Our captain was an alcoholic. Half the team were boozers who could not run past the 60 minutes mark. The team was… Read more »
Valentin I said ‘decent’ health. Yes, Tony Adams was an alcoholic (he was jailed in 1990, missed three months of the season and still captained us to the title having suffered only one league defeat all season). But Arsenal weren’t a ‘laughing stock’. Wenger inherited the best defensive group in the PL, and yes with his revolutionary diets and training methods was able to extend their careers, but they formed the bedrock of his early success, and he didn’t need to buy anyone. He also inherited Bergkamp and Wrighty, as well as Parlour and Platt, so not quite the disaster… Read more »
And on Highbury, it’s where Wenger had his greatest success and was thought of as a ‘God’ in footballing terms.
What has the new soulless bowl given us?
Thus far it has been an albatross that still doesn’t feel like a spiritual home.
Valentin Rioch was a disciplinarian who upset David Dein over the Wrighty issues, as is well laid out in Parlour’s Romford Pele book. European teams were far more advanced than English teams with diet and training at the time where Wenger brought those new regimes to the club, which paid off handsomely for the first 10 years. Rioch did bring in Bergkamp who was a hugely important/essential cog to Wenger’s playing style, and Wenger still had one of the world’s best defensive back fours to keep goals against very respectable and offered the Bergkamp the freedom to be the superstar… Read more »
Saliba video is 3 years old . stop talking shit
HerbsArmy, Tabloid called our defense Dad’s army. Most pundits were considered our defense as past-it. Tony Adams was publicly called a donkey. When he scored that brilliant volley against Everton, most comments were about the fact that under GG he would never have been allowed to cross the half way line and that nobody thought that he could score such a goal. David Platt was peripheral to our success. The midfield was Petit-Vieira. Grimandi and Remi Garde were the substitute for those two. Ray Parlour was saved from becoming another alcoholic by Wenger, because the worst culprits in that bad… Read more »
We all know it was because of david dein that aarsenal was so successful. Wenger played an important role but the minute dein left, it exposed all of wengers weaknesses off the pitch. Not to mention, he got rather arrogant and that started his downfall.
At the end of his career, he was depending on highly bought players in sanchez and Ozil.
Rioch was brought in as an interim manager for a year to steady the ship, and finished fifth.
Of course there were a few minor problems that greeted Wenger when he took over, but it’s a bit OTT to suggest Arsenal were a laughing stock.
HerbsArmy “bit OTT to suggest Arsenal were a laughing stock” Totally agree, in decline from CG’s trophy haul with a manager not likely to be winning the top trophies, but not a laughing stock. The appointment of Rioch was met with fans’ mixed emotions where the club wanted an authoritarian type manager after the sacking of GG who was a pretty tough manager as well. Adams and Merson were on benders all the time and racking up addictions for fun. There needed to be controls to stop the rot. They thought Rioch could do that, but he upset Wrighty and… Read more »
If anyone here has met Pedro, you know why he’s on the LGBT bandwagon. Football people , true lads are never gonna accept faggots. Why? Because it’s not natural to suck another guy’s dick. No matter how many left wing people tell you it is, it’s clearly not. There is no god, there are no ghosts, there isn’t luck or Mohammad. All that exists is evolution and part of evolution is reproduction and that involves the two sexes men and women. Not two men. Pedro you can’t sell your cocksucking and fucking other men to football lads. If that’s what… Read more »
Floom
You must be great w women and at parties. Hopefully you don’t have children.
Some of the dumbest shit ive read anywhere and i’m not even talking about yr view on ‘fags’
Theres an overwhelming amount of evidence indicating the opposite of your views. people like you simply ignore it becaise you are sick, addicted to booze or something harder AND you’ve chosen to see the world as meaningless
LGBT is a zero sum endevour,
back to football, whats all this about monogramed socks Ozil, playing golf & senior citizens
You can tell Floom was a mistake. You don’t need to meet his parents to know though…
“In 2009 onwards it all started to go wrong for Wenger, and had we thanked Wenger and moved him on, we most likely would have picked up a couple of titles from 2009 to 2020, the odd cup and fared better in Europe.”
I swear this made me shed a tear. So true
Modified Food and lifestyle are altering human hormonal balance, its resulting in havoc
Floom in denial, poor soul.
I am not the one posting positive stuff about faggots am I ? Notice you’re quick to criticise my words. Put that link in your browser https://photos.app.goo.gl/JPXc9P73A3D3fMQ59 and tell me how gay I am you fucking cocksucking faggot appeaser
A lot of revisionism going on last night, Pierre with is usual nonsense but I have to take issue with some of Val’s comments too. Pierre first. Pretty poor choice of examples with respect to player choices. We could have competed for all of those mentioned. Arsenal were linked with Hazard at least a year before Chelsea started sniffing around. But Wenger preferred Gervinho. Oops. Kante? Again Wenger preferred Xhaka (oh dear!) who actually cost more than Kante. Don’t bother claiming wages were an issue when our wage bill and Chelsea’s were almost identical, we just spent it badly. Suarez?… Read more »
I’d imagine that most sane individuals would criticise any form of hate talk. Must come a place of deep insecurity. No need to feel threatened, this is a football blog, not a dating site.
Lol Floom beat it. If you don’t like LGBTQ, ignore and be blessed
Andy
Yea, we were poor at that time but Wenger became obsessed with ‘making stars’ and not buying them and the team of couldn’t care less men we had in the boardroom said nothing about it. Wenger chose not to buy hazard cos the story would have been louder if he had made gervinho world class.
I’m a right wing conservative. That doesn’t make me a far right racist, unlike every man on this blog, I speak 7 languages. No one hear even speaks more than 1. Being right wing doesn’t make you BNP. However, I want blog and football sites to avoid political comments on LGBT matters, because it is not important. What is important is the players and coaches that are involved in the game. If any of you have met Pedro, you know the reason for his OTT left wing gay defending comments. I get offended by this, because, defending gays is not… Read more »
@Val. For sure Rioch wasn’t a good fit, that said we did manage to finish 5th and gain a European place. Wenger’s first title was however a result of many factors. Fitness was I’m sure a key one but as you will recall the team was have a poor run of form culminating with Wrighty’s outburst to fans after defeat at home to Blackburn in mid-December (we’d won two and lost four of the last eight games). What turned it around was when Adams, Dixon and Winterburn hauled in PV4 and Petit and gave them a rollicking about providing protection… Read more »
“No one hear even speaks more than 1” Really? In that case I’d have thought that you’d know that it’s ‘here’ not ‘hear’. Really shocked to discover that you’re a right-winger, never would have guessed! I’m afraid that you’re wrong about homosexuality always being viewed in the way you suggest though. Modern society evolved from the Greek and Roman models in which sexual orientation wasn’t considered to be an issue. Taking a lover of the same sex or enjoying relationships with either gender was quite normal. If you want to take a religious viewpoint I think that it’s also fair… Read more »
Tony
“I’ll make you a deal you stop the trolling and winding up and boring Wenger/Ozil revision BS and I stop with the sock references..
Your choice Pierre”
Carry on Tony …the only person you are embarrassing is yourself.
My advice to you would be to try and be a little less juvenile in your attempt at humour…it’s not a good look for a 66 year old man.
“If you want to take a religious viewpoint I think that it’s also fair to point out that most churches have a pretty hypocritical record when it comes to saying one thing and doing another”
Religious viewpoint would be what the bible says not what churches do.. & it’s pretty clear what the Bible says about this. Humans both in & out of church just have a way of backsliding.
This is a football blog tho. So I’ll just stop talking about this.
Who thinks Arsenal will take anything off Leeds this time round?
Frost, no problem with that at all. As a historian I’d be inclined to ask about the people who wrote it and why they were motivated to write what they did. That’s even before we talk about the message being lost in translation over the last sixteen hundred or so years. But yeah, everyone is entitled to believe what they will as long as they don’t abuse others who believe something different.
Mystic, I agree, there was that whole ‘making stars, not buying them’ thing going on. Even so if Wenger hadn’t dithered we could have bought Hazard a yeat or two before Chelsea did for far less than they ultimately paid.
When Arteta leaves, so should Edu and Vinnai- the triumvirate of mediocrity. Is it that there are no capable Englishmen to take over the operations of Arsenal football club?
Floom, suggest you go and find a blog that supports your views, imagine there are plenty out there where you can find like-minded people. Not sure what your aptitude for languages has to say about your viewpoints.
David Dein was brilliant for Wenger, a perfect team.. However, it’s too easy to say that things would have been different if Dein had stayed… Dein made the deals because of Wenger’s knowledge of the market around the world…Dein was very good at getting deals done. Football changed with the arrival of Chelsea and then City and I’m not so sure that Dein would have found it quite so easy to make or close the deals, especially with a new owner who was reluctant to put his hand in his own pocket. However , Dein being the man he was,… Read more »
Gloom,
“Put that link in your browser https://photos.app.goo.gl/JPXc9P73A3D3fMQ59 and tell me how gay I am you fucking cocksucking faggot appeaser“
You looked a closet to me .
“Homosexuality should still be considered how it always was and that is freakish. It shouldn’t be celebrated as it’s against the laws of evolution”
The lady doth protest too much, methinks 🤣
Isnt Vinnai an Englishman?
Wenger was great the first 10 years and then his madness started appearing, just like Mourinho now, and he should’ve been kicked out of our club after season 08/09.
In his later years Arsenal become a banter club with the mad French men leading us down the table and coming up with some stupid philosophy “the next level is the next level”,
With his madness at later years for the whole world to see, he’s out of a job and should stay out of a job, due to him stealing a living to make him rich for extra 10 years.
Floom is definitely gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
@Jamie –
Wasn’t Floom the guy that was on here before saying that he likes to be held in the arms of a strong man because it makes him feel safe?
As you say, nothing wrong with it at all, he can live his life as he sees fit! (in the arms of a strong man).
One of flooms girls is a known transgender
“I’ll guarantee in 2 years time we are talking about Gabriel on here as dead wood.”I would not go that far as I think Holding is useful and in my opinion just as good as maguire but I also think Gabriel is just as talented as holding if not more I also think he reads the game well and has the added advantage of pace and physical strength which in your opinion is not necessarily a requirement and that’s fare enough I just think Gabriel has a higher ceiling, with all that said an English core or back bone to… Read more »
Andy, The famous bollocking of the French players by Adams is a myth. There was no two poor French men taking a good tongue lashing by Captain Marvel. The team was split. There was 5 French players in that squad. There was some players like Platt who having played in a more open way did not like the GG view of the style of football of the old guard. The reality is that it was a frank exchange of view from BOTH sides. The famous retort of why are here “We came here to play and win, you stay here… Read more »
Valentin From what I can recall of both players’ autobiography, Adam’s and Vieira had slightly different versions of that team meeting. Adam’s have the impression Perit and Vieira needed to offer the defence more protection and were told in no uncertain terms. Vieira wrote something along the lines of what you said about coming to play, so it would seem to be a bit of both, and a very happy compromise was met! I think the following season we only conceded a miserly 17 goals. Apparently the year after that when we lost to Cherry at Highfield Road, Overmars resolved… Read more »
Cherry – Coventry
LOL FLOOM
You fucking moron, absolutely the right thing to defend gays from rabid idiots like you, but you’re so stupid you can’t even see
THAT WASNT EVEN GOING ON.
Get lost you filth
That accountability was missing for years at Arsenal, I will never forget the days of conceding a goal and having captain Koscielny avoid eye contact with the other players.
Chris, My take is that the old guard started the meeting with the impression that they were going to show those outsiders the error of their way and how things should be done. However things did not turn out like that. For two reasons, one is that the PV4 and Petit were not shrinking violet who could be easily bullied. The second is that a third of the team did not have a particular allegiance. Like I said having Wrighty, DB10, Platt agreeing and disagreeing with both sides forces both to take a step back and accept a compromise. People… Read more »
Jim Lahey
We all remember that.
The amazing thing is that some supporters thought Koscielny was a legend.
No he wasn’t.
Koz was class Jim. Dunno what yr on about. Our issue was always needing a defensive mid for balance. His recovery speed saved us a lot of the time and inthought the pairing of him and mert was better than they ever got credit for precisely because of the mf issues
@Zacharse –
He was a quick, decent, error-prone defender who read the game well. But he was no leader and the team suffered because of it.
Floom
Where the hell did you pop up from?
Such opinions are not appropriate or relevant.
@Graham –
“The amazing thing is that some supporters thought Koscielny was a legend.”
Yeah that word gets thrown around a lot on here, has lost all meaning at this point!
Valentin
Yep largely agree with your version of events there, as we said, a great compromise met by all that led to glory.
It’s also worth considering the impact the old guard left on their eventual replacements, the defensive expertise as well as a grit and determination. Cole, Campbell, Ralph, and then Toure, that’s still my favourite ever Arsenal back four.
Jim
There are no defenders in the modern game that arent error prone. Its harsh to pit that on him when he played w a lot of guys who were more to blame. Sure he wasnt loud but he led by example. Amazed what short shrift he gets when there was vermaelen gibbs eboue Andre santos nevermind a MF that hardly ever did its defensive duties. But as always we dont have to agree
Chris, Val, the point is, however you look at it, the players took into their own hands to turn our season around and that first title. Sure Wenger deserved respect for the changes he made and the move to a more attacking philosophy, but those of a certain disposition credit Wenger entirely with our success when actually the players were equally responsible for creating the initial Wenger model that won so many titles. Once the old heads and the players they helped mould had gone and Wenger moved through the stages of project youth and Barca lite he was never… Read more »
Kos was no legend, he was a decent to good defender at best.
Put him next to mert or someone to direct him he was ok, put him in with someone like Gab paulista and he didn’t have a clue what he was doing.
He was typical of the type of defender we hired after Dein left and the fact he was the best CB at the club for so long was criminal.
Kos and Mert was the closest Wenger ever came to a quality pairing after Sol left. Neither was individually brilliant but together they gelled and complimented each other overcoming the weaknesses in their own games. Unfortunately Wenger never truly valued defending as an art and seemed blind to the need for a top class ‘keeper.
Mert was very good at leading that defence.
Bellerin has never played as well as he did with mert leading the line.
That’s not to say it was an amazing defence, we were still very prone to those balls over the top and switch offs.
The difference between Kos and Kolo is the midfield ahead of them,
Im telling you for free!
Mert should take over from Diet Pep, men with bigger longstuff generally are calmer and collected
Sorry but apart from a handful of good games, I always felt that Mertesacker was a bit of a liability.
Sid
Toure was a much better physical specimen and a lot more composed than Kos.
Granted he had Sol next to him and Paddy and Gilberto in front, but I’d say all round he was a better player
Graham
Yeah don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of defenders I’d rather have had over mert. But in terms of on pitch presence he was the best we had for a while.
What Kolo beat Kos in physicality Kos compensated with speed,
When Kolo lost a yard of pace he was pityful
The difference between Mert and Adams aside from the midfield ahead is a few pints to calm the nerves
Koz cried out for a big man next tonhim. Thats exactly the kind of pairing u need in the modern game, big man and speed demon. U put two giants out (like holdinho and mari) and it wont be effective if yr playing against aguero, vardy etc
Koz was better than decent tho like anybdefender in an underdrilled defensive unit in a teammthat focuses on possession and attack and theres bound to be an error eventually. You cant blame the player for the managers tactics
Koscelny was a decent defender…. the best of a bad bunch during the winding down years of Wenger.
He looked better than he was but if you compare him to the best we’ve had under Graham and Wenger he would be an able squad player at best…
Adams and Sol were a class beyond. We could use one of them in their prime just about now.
Kos was a solid CB, terrific value and made a large step up from the french 2nd division (I think?) to the EPL.
He was many things, but most certainly not a big game player. His speed made up for his average ability to read the game, and his passing beyond a 5 yarder was not great.
I liked him, though. Gave his all, good pro. His level of English after almost a decade in London is poor though, it has to be said.
“Thats exactly the kind of pairing u need in the modern game, big man and speed demon.” agreed and if you have a big man who is also quick your looking at a vandyke type almost like the complete package in a central defender ……key words being the modern game
SidFebruary 11, 2021 11:58:38
The difference between Mert and Adams aside from the midfield ahead is a few pints to calm the nerves
Urgh
Blasphemy
The way the modern game is played, players are asked to take more risks. We should judge a player on the level of risk he takes, but also on the reward he gets for those risks. Sometimes those risks spectacularly backfire, but when they are successful the benefit outweighs the risk. Liverpool has one of the world best keeper, yet he does commit a fair number of howlers per season. I discount the 2 howlers against ManCity, because I don’t think that he was 100%. IMHO he should not have played that game. It is the role of the manager… Read more »
Thank you Pierre for your thoughtful comments. Today I particularly liked the ‘attracting the wrong type of supporter’ opinion. The ‘entitlement to success’ brigade? Maybe a few of those on here?
Shaun
Yes maybe, given time Gabriel could become a top quality defender, while his physical attributes are in tact as if he learned to calm down.
I just don’t think he’s as good as is being made out right now and my big concern is that he goes into headless chicken mode and that’s being excused by fans who hope rather than see that he’s the answer to their defensive prayers
For now it’s Mari and holding until someone makes it impossible not to include them
I rate both chambers and Saliba more than Gabriel until further notice
We may have one of the best defensive record because we lose games by the odd goal, but if we lose more games than we win, but that safety first approach may not be that effective overall. To score, you have to take risk. Arteta did not want our midfield to take risk and that’s why Arsenal is in the bottom half. Valentin While I don’t disagree entirely with your point I do feel it’s possible to take more risks and be defensively sound. Take, for example, the fact that our two full backs are tasked with playing as auxiliary… Read more »
Be it Badstuber-Mertesacker or Hummels-Mertesacker or Boateng-Mertesacker, one person has been omnipresent in the pairings and that is Per Mertesacker.
Like i said, a few pints to calm his nerves
Sid
So you rate mertesacker that highly?
I think Mert is highly underated
Just a little reminder that Arsenal won nothing for 4 years under peak Wenger
The biggest improvement on Arteta is giving a free role to the attackers, ESR Laca, Saka, etc. During the Nov, Dec days, the players were restricted. The attacking plays were always through the wings and then high balls to the box.
Arteta’s next challenge is how to rotate players to maintain competitive for the Europa Cup and the PL.Also don’t risk playing players who are not 100%
Patrick Vieira interviewed for Bournemouth job along with David Wagner. It could be first step for Vieria to return to the English football.
Can’t say I disagree with that Floom guy. If he doesn’t want to see left wing woke policies on a football blog, I think it’s unfair of you guys to jump up and gang up on him. He’s also totally correct, a lot of football fans do not rate or accept LGBT gay or trans. Why are there no gay footballers and if they are, why don’t they come out? Congrats on your languages Floom and I agree with your point. A football blog should not be WOKE!
Swkmoon: We all know who the ‘wrong type of supporter’ are. They’re people who feel entitled to tell other people how to support the club and try to define what makes the ‘right’ type of supporter. All a bit pompous and self-righteous really.
Posting a collection of pics you took with women over the years to convince complete strangers you are against the sexual orientation of others isn’t normal behavior.
This place can be strange
“Today I particularly liked the ‘attracting the wrong type of supporter’ opinion. The ‘entitlement to success’ brigade? Maybe a few of those on here?”
One would argue Pierre is the wrong type of supporter for any competitive top team. He makes excuses for mediocrity and failure based on how much he likes the individual involved. He is no way the model supporter he thinks he is
“ Just a little reminder that Arsenal won nothing for 4 years under peak Wenger”
98-99 – Lost out on the league by a point on the final day
99-00 – Lost the UEFA Cup final on penalties after Henry and Keown miss golden goal sitters
00-01 – Lost Cup final in one of the biggest examples of daylight robbery I have ever seen in football.
01-02 – Done the Double, again.
RH
We’ve all known that from day one.
andy1886
Also correct.
That’s what happens when you play too much golf………….on your own.
I think Auba is too immobile when he was asked to play the #9 role. He is not a physical player who can fight through those big EPL CB’s. He should study the Luis Suarez or Edinson Cavani’ game. They are both old but still much more effective than Auba. The club has invested heavily in Auba for two more years. Arteta has to find a way to use him.
Receding hairline, pure jealousy on your part. Whilst I think it’s a bit strange to post such a thing on a football blog, he had hundreds of fucking fit birds. More than anyone I’ve ever known of and I’m 63. Using on a blog is a bit extreme I agree, but I guess he proved the point he’s definitely not gay 😂 Chris that Galatasaray in the UEFA cup were old and slow. If Arsene was even 40% good coach, with that squad, we should have pummelled Galatasaray. Wenger went 14 years with no major trophy. FA cup is not… Read more »
Nelson, you’re totally correct, Auba is a pretty average striker, a good finisher, but he can’t even dribble. I don’t rate him
There is an argument for Wenger being sacked in 2000 after Arsenal finished a staggering 18 points behind Champions Man Utd.
Blackstock you’re totally correct. We’d have a champions league if that happened
Koscielny was bang average and another example of Wenger being different just because everyone told him to go for Gary Cahill. Instead he bought the error prone, duck ut of the way of the ball Kos who couldnt lead a thirsty horse to a stream. Kos epitomised all the self indulgent years under Wenger when we never threatened the EPL title. Merts was a lanky Giraffe who never jumped in his whole life and so never used the one attribute he actually had. Xhaka is the one remnant left of the bust Wenger buys along with El Neny I guess.… Read more »
Receding HairlineFebruary 11, 2021 13:17:19
Posting a collection of pics you took with women over the years to convince complete strangers you are against the sexual orientation of others isn’t normal behavior. This place can be strange
Excuse me? What’s this about? Curious happenings
Global Harsh Per and Koscielney were both very good defenders. Koscielney would have captained the World Cup winning side were it not for his unfortunate injury vs Atletico in the EL semi. Incidentally I feel we’d have won it that season had he stayed fit and likely would not be in the mess we are now Per had his faults but was largely hung out to dru by Wenger in a high line game that never suited him. He was always at his best closer to his goal in a sound defensive structure rather than the gung ho chaos wenger’s… Read more »
Winthorpe, I agree with most of what you said. The point that I was trying to make is that every players have flaws in them. The role of a manager is to weight the balance between the risk/flaws and the benefit of a player within a specific system. I highly rate Allison and VVD, but even them are not flawless and perfect. Koscielny and Per were not either, but they were not clowns or average like some try to pretend. My take is that Arteta did restrict the number of chances against us, but to the detriment of our attack.… Read more »
BlackStockFebruary 11, 2021 13:38:27
There is an argument for Wenger being sacked in 2000 after Arsenal finished a staggering 18 points behind Champions Man Utd.
Thank god he wasn’t then. We’d have been deprived of the greatest era in arsenal history
The reason there are so many Johnny come lately types on le grove today, spitting glass and blood over the greatest man to ever sit in the Highbury dugout
99-00 – Lost the UEFA Cup final on penalties after Henry and Keown miss golden goal sitters
Chris
I’ll never forget that night. Around the same time that Turkish fans were stabbing rival fans as often as they could. I hated galataseray back then.
Winthorpe… some right wing guy got upset about Pedro defending homosexuals. A guy called floom said Pedro himself was gay and if you met him you’d agree with that analogy. Everyone started to jump on the guy floom, you know, mainly for being Right wing. Same like what happened to Gina Carona and the usual woke left wing hanging up on the right, like what happened to Trump supporters. Anyway they were calling him gay for taking offence at the defence of homosexuals. So Floom posted an album of thousands of photos of him with different beautiful women, all kissing… Read more »
Mert would always have Suarez in his pocket