So, did anything happen to you all yesterday?
Not much going on down here, lessee… I have a cold, I have a ton of work to catch up on, and oh yeah the “guys” from It’s Up For Grabs Now, the Arsenal Podcast read my email in their latest podcast and I just want to say, thanks.
For some of you it came across as harsh or a slating but “dudes” I’m an American who writes a daily Arsenal blog I get “slated” for being an American all the time. If I didn’t have a thick skin I wouldn’t be able to do what I do because I know how English people are about us foreigners and especially us foreigners nosing in on their beloved football.
But the crucial thing is that they said they liked the blog and I found their approach to my American-ness actually kind of funny. Those “chaps” do that kind of stuff all the time, make fun of Northerners, cab drivers, everything is on the table and honestly, it felt like the treatment I get every time I’m over there. People love to make fun of my American-ness in London, it’s all part of the package and something you get used to. If anything, their take was probably a bit softer than I expected. Imagine how much they would have ripped me in person if we were sitting around after some beers? And it would all be in good fun.
It was a free plug, a little bit of taking the piss, and I just want to say thanks.
As for Tayo’s assertion that Nicklas Bendtner is currently a big game player I am standing by my argument that scoring once against Chelsea in the 70th minute of a 3-0 blow out last year and the hat trick against Porto are closer to anomaly than proof that he steps up in big games. Don’t get me wrong, I think he could become a big game player but the hat trick against Porto was a one off, rather than a pattern. Here’s his complete scoring record for Arsenal last year: Chelsea, Pompey, Newcastle, West Brom, Cardiff, Hull, Bolton, Plymouth Argyle, Dynamo, Sheffield United, Bolton (he likes scoring against them), and Twente Enschede. His record this year is similar and only slightly better: Hull, Porto, Stoke, Sunderland, Liverpool, Blackburn and Standard Liege.
That record shows he is far more likely to score against relegation fodder than big names like Chelsea. We’ll find out on Friday who Arsenal get to play in the Champions League and frankly, I’d love to eat my words and see Bendtner stuff another hat trick down thew throat of someone like John Terry. I’d absolutely love it.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who said they felt bad for me and that they felt I was abused, I don’t feel that way at all. They’re comedians for fuck’s sake and yes, it’s true, I’m an American and we talk funny over here. If they didn’t have a laugh at my American-ness, I would have said they were slipping.
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Tim.
Since coming back from injury, Bendtner has scored 6 goals in 5 games and is the joint top scorer in the Champions league with Christiano Ronaldo.
What kind of sign are we to wait for to mark him out as a reliable striker? No player, even the best, scores hat-trick after hat-trick so that people recognize their status as world class players.
Also, in the games you mention last year, I think it’s only fair that you mention that in some of those games e.g. Portsmouth, Bolton, Dynamo, Liege, Hull (last year and this past weekend), and West Brom – Bendtner scored either the match winning goal or the match changing goal, e.g the first goal or the equalizer).
In this respect, his contribution was pivital. Also, I don’t think much credit is given to Bendtner’s link play, creative play and team work – some of which has led directly to goal scoring opportunities for others in matches that were quite tight.
I think that sometimes we’re so conditioned to believe a certain narrative of what a top notch striker is supposed to be like – we don’t even recognize what success looks like any more.
At 22, Bendtner still has a hell of a lot to learn, not least because of the mileage he still has in his career. But in fairness, point me to a 22 year old that is a complete package (there are exceptions like Messi and Fabregas – but they don’t come off the shelf at Giant Foods).
Bendtner is currently doing what has been asked from him by his manager and colleagues, and I’d struggle to point at any ‘off the shelf’ complete mature strikers that Arsenal could have bought in January who could have given Arsenal the goal ratio that Bendtner has in the time he has returned.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:41 am
@Darius Stone, A ton of those matches were also substitutions, I’m fully aware of Bendtner’s record and I have no pre-conceived notion of Bentdner’s ability as a striker.
I am also NOT getting down on him and if you read the site, I have been very up on the player, even going so far as to protect him from critics lately.
It’s telling that Tayo compared Bendtner to Ljungberg. Freddie had a knack for scoring in cup finals and that’s what Bendtner would have to do to be considered a big game player. Porto was a good step, this run of 6 goals in 5 games has been massively important, but it’s too early to say definitively that Bendtner is a big game player.
Again, I appreciate EVERYTHING that Bendtner does and I cheered him off the pitch against Burnley, but he’s not quite there yet.
And that’s OK, like I said, I would love it, LOVE IT, if Bendtner scored the winner against Barcelona in the CL final.
A hint about the american thing, dont call it soccer, call it football, don’t call it the EPL call it the Premier League…. dont say stuff like ‘line back’ or ‘quarter back’ etc, as those aren’t footballing positions. As long as you understand the game well, the rivalries, the passion and most importantly get all of the terms right… i dont think anyone will bother you bout being an arsenal fan from america.
Thats what i think anyway…
March 16th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Rich, you’re a patronizing prick.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:49 am
@Marty McFly,
fair enough, but it is true, i reckon a lot of english fans get annoyed when when they hear or read ‘soccer’ or ‘EPL’ is the new one, or when they say ‘quarter back’ instead of centre half…
personally the worst for me is when, people from non-english speaking countries learn the american terms for the english game because they watch the games on ESPN etc…but you could have been stronger with your wording, i always thought ‘cunt’ was a much better word than ‘prick’.!
March 16th, 2010 at 7:51 am
@rich, Cesc would make a great quarter-back in the wishbone offense.
March 16th, 2010 at 8:53 am
EPL is used when written as a shortened term for English Premier League. I’v never seen anyone write Laugh Out Loud.
‘Soccer’ is acceptable and in the US is absolutely required when you want to refer to the game without getting into the tired debate about American Football being correctly called American Rugby Football.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:47 am
@Patrick, I realise what what EPL stands for…but you wouldn’t get an English blogger writing EPL, they would write premier league as we tend to write and say (as i have have heard a lot of american commentators say EPL not english premier league btw) the full name, EPL reminds me of NFL, NHL etc which in america are all referred to in short by commentators. So for me its a way of americanising (corporatising) our game.
In england and a lot of the rest of europe there is feeling that america thinks everything important that happens, happens in america,and everything has to play by americas rules otherwise no one in america will like it. When you watch films they seem to depict the american as the hero, the english guy as the villain… there is a famous English TV series from the sixties called ‘ThunderBirds’, and all of the main characters are voiced by american actors because it was believed that american audiences wouldn’t like it unless it had american actors! A great line in the film Watchmen parodying american movies,’ the Superman does exist and he is American’…
and ‘Soccer’, i think it is worth mentioning that rest of the world refer to it as football…apart from australia, who like the US, refuse to admit that a lot of both of your heritages come from the UK.
Back to the term ‘Soccer’, what does it mean, where did it come from?…i dont know. ‘Football’ …seems to imply that you use your foot and there is ball…makes sense to me. American Football…that must be football, but with american rules….no, in fact its a lot more like rugby, and you barely use your foot….and if im not mistaken (which i may be) its derived from rugby…so why not call it american rugby???!! I don’t see why you would need to call it American Rugby Football, because it is a million miles away from football but if you had to call it that you could just shorten it to AFR.
My feeling is that (generally, not all the time) America doesn’t like to lose, and because you don’t have a very high standard of ‘real’ Football over there you had to invent something else that only your country plays and call it football! that way you can win at it….isn’t there even a competition called the ‘World Series’, but it only actually involves american teams?
Sorry if im being really harsh here, if your arsenal fans then it doesn’t really matter, i was just responding to the author and why english fans have it in for american fans…It probably goes a bit deeper than football, but issues inside and outside the game seem to strike similar chords.
March 16th, 2010 at 10:11 am
“American Football” is historically so called because it is a variation on “Rugby Football”. The mistake was not calling it American Rugby but that’s only because Rugby called itself “Rugby Football”.
Soccer is a nickname for AsSOCiation Football and it originated in England of all places. Funny that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wreford-Brown
I was born and raised in Ireland where we had no problem calling it Soccer but we had to do that sometimes to distinguish it from Gaelic Football. So obviously it all depends on where you come from.
As for the movies, tell you what, you make movies about English heroes and we’ll make them about American ones. That’s fair.
I agree about the Baseball ‘World Series’ though. That’s just weird.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:29 am
@Patrick, Leave it up to the English to invent a word and then piss all over people who use it! LOL
Patrick, you summed it up well. Its not just Americans who use it but Canadians, Irish, Aussies and from N.Z. who use it. I really dont use the term ‘soccer’ because I grew up with the term ‘Fussball’… but does it really matter? I can name a half dozen English ex-pats who say ‘soccer’ just because in the US people do get confused, which is logical. Because, if Im correct in my history, American Football was the first sanctioned ‘football’ sport.
As for the movies, since when is Hollywood a historical marker?? They couldnt be historically accurate if they tried!
Darius has said all that I would have said. I completely concure with him.
I wish the blogger many more years to see 4 himself! Dont just rush to write pieces of s##t. Viva Gooner!!!
Just to add on to my comment above, I wrote a Stone Cold Friday column for ACLF on the reasons why Arsenal can do without another striker.
It supports my argument about the value Bendtner already brings to this team.
I don’t have the stats to hand but in how many of the games in which he has scored, has he come on as sub? That might be an interesting talking point. Or not.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:49 am
@fourstar, you can have a look, ESPN keeps game logs for all Premiership players, here’s Bendtner from last year:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/gamelog?id=71647&season=2008&cc=5901
I just looked and he got Arsenal a winner against Bolton (at home, as a sub) and against Dynamo Kiev (at home, as a sub). Are we really going to count those as “big games?” His contribution is important, critical even, but those are hardly big games.
March 16th, 2010 at 8:00 am
@Tim, Nope, and I also don’t think he’s necessarily a big game player, but there might be something in him scoring important goals even against lesser sides.
Just heard your bit on the podcast, decent mention I thought – it’s their job to take the piss, they do it out of each other the whole way through!
March 16th, 2010 at 8:16 am
My feeling is that just because you are not scoring against the big name teams doesn’t necessarily mean you are not a big game player. At the end of the day, 3 points is 3 points whether its coming against Bolton, Burnley or Chelsea. It’s too early to pass a judgement on Bendtner. However, I think the signs are good.
Tim the interest in your blog is ‘you’ and your take on issues. You are gifted, in that you find creative ways to kick off your topics.
Not everything you serve on a daily basis can provide a warm fuzzy for the melting pot of the blogosphere.
I happen to agree with Darius (and LRV) but so what.
Thoroughly enjoy your ideas and endless hours of commitment!
With the exception of Arsenal news review, I read almost every blog (ANR is the only one that doesn’t allow comments for good reason) and you are definitely one of the few that i really enjoy. (Yours, along with arsenal fc blog – also not written by an english guy – and the arsenal column). I like all three for different reasons – yours, mainly because you don’t take the blog too seriously and you are the only that is actually funny.
The other thing that I like about your blog – and can’t understand why other blogs don’t do this – is after a match, you don’t spend your time churning out a match report which is something I can find on any news site, but you write your opinion on the game and all the wider issues and talking points that it has created.
We all read blogs because we are interested in opinion of the blogger, if not, we’d be on a news site.
Anyway, thanks for writing a great blog!
Tim, as you say they are comedians and any avenue for a laugh is ripe to “take the piss” with. In London there is a piss-taking on the basis of living south of the river(Thames)so obviously inter- continental leg pulling will happen.
Accent wise I didn’t really think yours stood out – I likened it to Lars Ulrich’s type of accent – but I grew up on a diet of Starsky & Hutch, The A Team, Battlestar(Original), Frazier and now watch two & Half men and re runs of Magnum PI so I don’t really notice US accents so much.
I just heard the podcast this morning. Loved the way the acted out the accent while reading your letter. Thought that was hilarious. And you know what they say right Tim? There is no such thing as bad publicity!
As for Bendtner, I will hold my judgement as to whether he’s a big game player or not although I will say this – he has scored more than one winner for us. Granted they were against lesser teams, but you cant discount them because in the end, 3 points is 3 points. So even if you dont think he’s a big game player, it seems to me he is very much in the mould of one.
Bendtner’s already scored the most important goal of the season at Hull.
Then I can look back on his header against the Spuds with his first touch coming on as a late sub and bagging us the points.
His crucial goal at Stoke when we were 1-0 down and looking ragged.
His even more crucial goal away at Standard Liege when we were 2-0 down but he took us into the break at 2-1 and inspired the 3-2 turnaround.
Or last season’s crucial late winner against Dynamo Kiev when we looked like going out of the Champs Lge.
I could go on but basically that’s enough to prove you talk shit and should stick to gridiron.
March 16th, 2010 at 8:35 am
@harry, massive cup finals against top quality opponents, each and every one.
There are almost no goals that any player scores that aren’t important to the outcome of any game so yes, he got winners against relegation fodder and Spurs.
But in the REALLY big games, the ones against Chelsea and Man U at the end of the season in the League and the Champions League where we played Liverpool, United, United, Chelsea and United Bendtner managed just 4 shots. TOTAL. 4 shots in 5 crucial games, he disappeared. That was where “big game Bendtner” should have shown up and he didn’t.
So, while I appreciate your advice about American Football, I think I’ll stick to what I clearly know better than you: Arsenal.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:04 am
still talking shit mate – Bendtner barely started any of those games you waffle on about – and being a clueless yank you obviously ‘think’ the only big games are against the likes of United and Chelsea. THEY”RE NOT! ManU won the title last year with the WORST record against the top teams.
Thierry Henry has appeared in 7 cup finals and has never scored – so by your reckoning that makes him useless too.
And the most important goal this season remains Bendtner’s against Hull. Regardless that your ignorance sees Hull as relegation fodder – it was the 93rd minute and our hopes of winning th title were over – until he scored.
I repeat – stick to Gridiron, buddy!
March 16th, 2010 at 11:20 am
@harry, Tayo specifically mentioned Theirry Henry’s record in big matches and said that Bendtner was the opposite.
He’s not.
That’s what we’re actually arguing about here and you’re proving my point.
I never said that Bendtner is crap, just the opposite.
And, I’m done with you. You’re thicker than pig-shit.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:54 am
You said United had the “WORST” record. You emphasised it as if to say they didn’t finish with ‘almost the worst’ but the actual “WORST” record.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/178707-progression-liverpool-crowned-top-four-mini-league-winners
Are we allowed to make shit up to make a point or is that right exclusively reserved for ‘REAL’ fans?
Harry, why do you feel the need to attack a fellow Gooner like that? It’s a better use of your time to attack oppo fans/teams – I was on various Hull blogs yesterday laughing at Tango and it was a right crease up.
March 16th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
brilliant. i should do that more often. when ramsey’s leg broke, one manc blogger wrote this utter shit of an article slandering arsene. i kept on pissing all over his comments and that jackass only had the balls to show a couple of them. nonetheless, it was satisfying.
Tim
I think your blog is excellent. Enthusiatic and lighthearted.
Unfortunately, some replies today on your blog from some fans are not in the same spirit.
Keep up the good work.
The next few games are crucial. If we win them while chelsea go to villa n utd and utd play pool n chelsea then we could be top and hopefully that will kick us on
Anyway its st paddy’s eve so almost time to go to the pub and watch inter beat chelsea
EPL or Premier League? This article sums it up very well…
http://www.theoffside.com/leagues/england/english-premiership/why-its-ok-to-say-epl.html
Good to see you’re taking the pisstake as a compliment, well played
Personally I read this blog precisely because it is similarly entertaining. You take the piss better than most Brits, and we like to think we invented the art.
Keep up the great work, Tim.
As for Bendy, we’re all thrilled at his recent output. The question was posed above regarding what we need to see from Bendtner to be convinced. In short, the answer is that we need to see him consistently be a threat for a whole season. At age 22, he looks very promising, yes, but we haven’t seen him represent a danger in every match for an entire season. In his defense, injury threw the wrench into the plans this year, but I thought that prior to the injury he had, at best, not really shown improvement from age 20/21. Unfortunately for Bendtner, I feel it’s likely many people would view him a failure should he not replicate or come close to the kind of goal production we got from Adebayor a few years ago. Tough numbers to replicate, that year Ade had.
This all being said, are we really looking for Bendtner to be a #1 striker? I think the answer is no. Not just because RvP is the clear #1, but also because I just don’t think he’s the guy who’s going to create problems inside the box via a blend of creativity, strength, pace and overall feistiness or nastiness. He’s a different kind of player than RvP, and the other #1 strikers for teams in the top half of the table. Not that that’s a terrible thing; he’s shown he can fit into the Wenger system quite well. If he can stay healthy over the next year or two, Wenger will continue giving him every chance to be the dependable, consistently dangerous #2 or #3 forward we’d love to see him be.
Wow. You think we have trouble winning penalties. Looks like Chelsea were robbed in Europe again.
Now I’d like for Arsenal to have a crack at Inter. We can take them.
i just had to listen to the podcast tonight – seeing the comments yesterday (which looking back, im not sure are hilarious satire or not) – but there was nothing insulting there aside from a bad american accent.
they obviously like the blog. it’s all good.
Tim: Just keep on doing your great work. If there is anyone out there who cannot disagree with you in a polite manner, they are not worth your time. Just ignore the rude commenters.
Oh! And Celsea have just been ‘Mourinho-ed’. Enjoy that Tim.
one of the reasons why i enjoy your blog is because it is written later in the day,so its something to look forward to when i get home in the evening,unlike all the others which are waiting for me as i have my breakfast
You’re a bigger man than me, Tim. I’d have flown back to London, slugged those “guys”, stolen their tickets and watched a few more Arsenal matches before taking a 9 hour flight back to Seattle.
March 17th, 2010 at 6:35 am
@connolysagent, Do you know where they live?
If you really want to piss ‘em off, call it a scrimmage!
I am late to the party here, but I just listened and, to me, a long time supporter of 7amkickoff, and fellow yank, it seemed like the one fella was just taking your e-mail as an excuse to use his American accent – an accent which is downright fucking HILARIOUS.
Yeah, they had a little go at your thoughts on Bendtner, but that’s no different than what they do for all the e-mails they read.
Keep up the good work. This is an entertaining blog. Always glad to hear another American’s perspective.
As for what you call the sport or league – everyone knows exactly what you are talking about. And that is the point of effective writing, no?
Nevermind the brits getting worked up about what you call it. The naming convention is one of the last bits of “Englishness” they have to hold on to, now that the players and owners are increasingly foreign.
wow. sense of humour failures ahoy on some of these posts…
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