Yep, that’s pretty much what I went through watching the game. Hey, at least the Chelsea supporter they choose was A) funny and B) not as big a c*nt as I expect from someone who slavishly worships at the temple of John Terry’s penis.
Tickets to Burnley… Booked
My trip to London is drawing closer, I booked tickets to see Burnley today. Block 19 , row 1 tickets to boot! I’ll be right on the pitch, erm, I mean right near the pitch. Hopefully this means I’ll get some good photos. I do want to mention that sometimes the ticket software will show areas in red to indicate that they are sold out and there will be one off tickets in there, so don’t be afraid to click in red zones looking for singles.
I get tickets to Porto at 4pm (PST) wish me luck!
Oh and hey, if you want to see where you’re going to sit, this awesome little app will show you the view from every seat.
Wenger’s Myopia
Man, everyone’s having a go at Wenger today for not fielding a center forward/striker in yesterday’s match. It feels bad to be the butt of everyone’s jokes but judging by the fact that Arsenal have laid three eggs in three consecutive matches, they might have a point. [Studs Up]
Chamakh will save our season… next year
I have a sneaking suspicion that Wenger tried to sign Chamakh in January but Bordeaux, challenging for the next stage of the Champions League and knowing they had Arsenal over the barrel, basically asked for the moon. Or at least relatively the moon. If we get him on a free in the Summer and win 4 consecutive titles everyone will hail Wenger’s sound fiscal policy. Of course, as Wenger points out all the time, buying players is no guarantee of success. Though as we’re seeing this season, not buying players is also no guarantee. Hmmmm… there are no guarantees? [Chamakh wants Arsenal]
Everyone hates Mark Crapenburg
Wow, you know that you’re a crap ref when Kevin Cyril Davies has a go at you:
When I saw who was the referee I didn’t expect to get anything off him. Over the years I have never got much from him. There was a penalty at Old Trafford last season and he did nothing – but I got a booking. Numerous bookings over the years – I don’t know, I have always felt there is something personal there. At least I didn’t get a booking. That was the only good thing about it.
Hey, now you know how Arsenal feel every time that mentalist referees us.
Stay Classy Chelsea
I know what it means to be a supporter. I know that for many of us our heroes can do no wrong. But John Terry is a despicable human being and the love he got from the fans on Sunday and the support he’s getting from his manager at Chelsea is just… well… gross. Could you imagine the outrage in the British Press if Cesc slept with Nasri’s girlfriend and Wenger had the temerity to say this:
My captain has a fantastic attitude and is doing very well every game. For Arsenal, he is the perfect captain for sure. For the team, it is very important to have this leadership. He really has a strong mentality.
Yeah, he’s so strong he was able to overcome the lure of his teammate and friend’s girlfriend.
Seriously, I’d love it, just love it, if the Tony Cascarino’s of this world would stop moaning like a fucking drain about Arsene Wenger for 5 minutes and take a look at Chelsea, as a club. The most despicable pack of cnuts ever assembled. EVER.
Wired Goonah
Idris Elba is a Goonah. I’ve noticed that you Brits seem to love the American television show “The Wire.” I don’t know why this seems so fascinating to you, but then again, I like Red Dwarf and that’s, like, soooo 1980s Britain so who am I to judge? Anyway, some dude from some television show which I don’t watch is a Goonah.
I wonder which kind of Arsenal supporter he is? Is he the kind who complains that Arsenal have had NO TROPHY FOR FIVE YEARS, and who ignores the blogs when Arsenal make an 11 point comeback to top the table but as soon as Arsenal suffer a dip in form calls everyone “fucktards” for not listening to his sage advice and gleefully pronounces how RIGHT he is that one of the 20 shitty things he predicted would come true, because the odds are pretty good that if you say 20 shitty things one of them will come true because a team will suffer some shitty setbacks in a season, and then goes on to say that Arsenal needs to fire Wenger because he’s lost the plot for not buying Huntelaar the greatest striker in the history of EA Sports and that he has lost the plot and basically needs to get the Bolton team in our side, you know, to “add spine?”
Or is he got something other than shiat for brains? [Passe en Profondeur]
Sneezy gives a good interview
You should watch this too, the young man is articulate, intelligent, and looks to be a hell of a keeper.
And finally…
Want a good match report for Sunday’s game from a Goonah who bleeds red? [Goonerholic]
Tim, do you know what’s the worst thing about Clattenburg? My wife thinks he’s cute.
Szczęsny is going to be a great goalie, hopefully Arsenal’s no. 1 and you will have to ban me from commenting on your blog, because I’ll be bragging in every post to have met him and watching the game with his season tickets
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:27 am
@Miko_Gooner, I recommend divorce, that shows a serious lack of judgment on her part.
Does she think Ronaldo’s cute too?
Miko_Gooner Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:31 am
@Tim, I admit considering a divorce. She’s saved our marriage telling she fancies Ramsey, too.
About the reservation system – it sometimes happened that it showed the block in yellow suggesting some free seats and then refused selling, but I never thought it could also be the other way round. Thanks for suggesting.
I still support Arsene, but the fact that he said we were “dominant” yesterday really concerns me. Tim, does this concern or at least baffle you? I think Wenger deserves criticism now and then; he’s paid just as the players we criticize on occasion are paid. The last two matches have shown we’re likely not good enough this season, and I find no glee in having my suspicions that we were a little light after the January inactivity seemingly proved correct. It hurts, but we’ll still be out there supporting the club that’s on the pitch. There’s no need between now and summer to dwell on what didn’t happen in January. There is a need to say “WTF?” when Wenger says things like he said in the post-match press conference. Anyway, at least this week we don’t have to sit here with the open wounds all week before getting a chance to remedy them.
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:23 am
@ArseChicago, what else is he going to say?
We had 14 shots, 60% of the possession, 8 corners, and several really, really good chances. Not only that but we absolutely dominated the midfield. I think from that standpoint, you could argue that we dominated them.
Unfortunately, as Ancelotti pointed out, all those stats are meaningless.
nycgunner Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:44 am
The possession stat is absolutely meaningless because Chelsea was more than happy to let us kick the ball around the penalty area. Maybe there was a short period of time afer the first goal when it looked like we were going to equalize but after the second goal, we looked like all the life had been sucked out of us. If Wenger thinks that is domination, he needs to have his head examined.
Miko_Gooner Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 11:04 am
@nycgunner, I respectfully disagree. We started the game dominating the midfield and it wasn’t Ancelotti’s tactical genius that they “let us keep the ball”. Yes, we lacked sharpness in the final third. Yes, our finishing was poor. Yes, we have commited terrible defensive mistakes. But we have begun the game dictating its tempo, we kept the ball most of the time after the first goal and only after the second one Chelsea could really ease back and let us play.
Regardless, I must admit that you share with Ancelotti one right point of view – the bottomline is that the possession and domination are meaningless in the end.
ArseChicago Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 11:54 am
You’re right, he couldn’t say anything else because it’d be too self-indicting. Chelsea had nothing to fear from our offense in the 2nd half being up 2 goals. They were complacent staying back having 6 or 7 in the box when we had 2 or 3 guys making an approach towards their goal. This is exactly what happened at the first game this season at the Emirates and it happened again yesterday. Maybe he should be free to mention how we had good possession in the second half but to use the word ‘dominant’ is laughable.
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
@ArseChicago, It’s funny, every Chelsea fan I have spoken to has said that we dominated them and that they were worried.
Furthermore, they all stated that had Cech had his normal game, we certainly would have scored one or even two but as it was he had his best game of the season and that Almunia looks like he just doesn’t know how to play football.
Now, I know that Tony Cascarino, Ancelotti, and Ballack are all talking shit but why then is it that the Chelsea fans, some Gooners, and Arsene Wenger all saw it different?
Are we all bat-shit crazy?
ArseChicago Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Who knows? The Chelsea fans comprising 1/2 the pub I go to didn’t seem to be too concerned with things. Maybe the Chelsea fans you know are the few that win graciously? We had great chances, but they also had some close non-goals (Drogba’s free kick off the bar being one of them) too. And what’s this talk of Cech having his normal game? He’s had some mistakes, certainly, but by my calculations, Chelsea’s had 12 clean sheets in the EPL this season. That’s almost one clean sheet every other match. I wish we had a goalie that put up those kind of numbers for us to be pissed about. Anyway, we’ll just leave things with you being part of this apparent majority that says we were dominant against Chelsea yesterday, and I’ll take comfort in the fact that Liverpool will start the game with 0 goals this Wednesday.
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
@ArseChicago, A whole lot more goes into clean sheets than the goalie.
You’ll note that Chelsea has what some consider the best two center backs in the world, the best left-back in the world, a highly useful right back, two of the best holding midfielders in the world. Add to that an attack that basically keeps people busy in their own half and you can see that clean sheets come pretty easy.
Defense is a team effort and right now, Arsenal don’t play as a team nor do we have the individual talent in goal to overcome that.
Arsenal went to Chelsea’s patch and outworked them, hands down, we had more shots, more corners, more possession but lacked just a little up front and sorely lacked in defense at keeper and right back.
Why do you want to feel so bad about this team? It’s done, they were better than us at the one stat that really matters (scoring), so what? You can dominate a game and still lose, I’ve seen it happen time and again with this Arsenal team. Just one slip, at the wrong moment and BLAM, West Ham get two goals. Same happened against Chelsea, they scored on us and we didn’t score back though I counted three top notch chances that Cech saved.
Did you watch Chelsea play Villa? They dominated that game and lost 2-1. Chelsea had 21 shots that day, 7 on goal and 68% of the possession. They lost.
The draw against Birmingham? 30 shots!
We kept Chelsea to just 12 shots at their home ground where they average 25+ shots a game. It was as good a performance as you could expect from this severely weakened Arsenal side.
Revel in that.
ArseChicago Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Again, Tim, I’m not revelling as you say. I’m disappointed that we did nothing in January to address the plethora of injuries and our goalie being Almunia. My point is that when I hear Wenger saying how dominant we were yesterday, I’m concerned that we’ll be spending another transfer period, this summer, sitting idle. I don’t feel bad about this team, but I want to feel better about this team. Most importantly, I want Arsene Wenger to think this team, not only needs to be better, but deserves to be better. Yes, I watched the entire B’ham / Chelsea match and Chelsea dominated and yes, this proves that a team can dominate and still lose or draw. Just like how when we played Everton and got dominated in the second half and got lucky to get a draw. As you’ve said before (I think), the mark of a great team is the ability to not be at your best and win a match. So, trust me, I’m not one of these people you perceive to be lurking out here that’s waiting for Wenger to slip up. From the beginning of the year, I’ve been saying we were underrated, we were being counted out. I thought we would be challenging from the get go and we were. But a lot has changed. We’ve obviously gotten the bad injury news and we’ve now seen, tangibly, what’s happened to Almunia, the dynamic between Almunia and the back 4, what’s happened to Clichy’s form, what happened to RvP and Eduardo and Bendtner, what’s happened with Theo and his lack of improvement, etc. In short, we can disagree, but I respectfully ask that you don’t suggest I revel in what’s been taking place on the pitch. That’s not me.
nycgunner Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
i cant speak for all chelsea fans, but my buddy who is a chelsea fan certainly didn’t think we dominated. what he did admit was that we looked threatening for sometime in the first half but after the 2nd goal, they were on cruise control. see i wouldn’t have had a problem with wenger just stating the facts. if he had said – hey, we started strong but due to defensive breakdowns went down to set a piece goal and a counter attack goal and failed to find any sort of offensive rhythm afterwards and spent the game looking shell shocked – then yes, i would have agreed with him. but trying to cover up our failures with a rosy outlook of the game and pointing at useless stats – that’s something i have a difficult time accepting.
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
@nycgunner, that’s seems awfully petty but given that we’re all still reeling from the fact that we played our hearts out and still lost I guess it makes sense.
I was hoping for a bit more optimism, Tim. Just a bit more.
Nine points back, 13 to play. If anyone thinks we are done and dusted w/r/t the league, you are insane.
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 10:25 am
@matt, we have to beat Liverpool and they are going to be licking their lips to play us with our defense in shambles.
1/2 of me saw the performance and was so proud to be a goonah because the boys gave everything and 1/2 of me saw the performance and said “whelp, they just aren’t good enough.”
I can be both optimistic and pessimistic at the same time, I’m a complicated character that way.
When we take the field Wednesday, it will have been 3 entire weeks since a victory; I wonder how long it has been since we’ve had a spell like this? The results aren’t helping us, but the fact that we aren’t even scoring is totally disheartening.
The away match vs. Man U this season – that was a game we dominated and lost. For sure there are games that teams dominate and still lose – and all the examples you gave certainly are good examples. To me this wasn’t one of them. What did we do exactly offensively? A couple of half chances – that’s all we created. Other than that, it was the same old predictable offense. There was no penetration, no stretching the defense, no speed, no power. It was a pretty depressing second half for me. You say Petr Cech had a great game, well yes he was pretty good but it wasn’t an extraordinary performance from him by any means. Yeah he didn’t make his usual goof ups but are we to rely on his mistakes to score? C’mon now.
Tim Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
@nycgunner, you’re calling Arshavin’s shot, Cesc’s free kick and Nasri’s, uhhh, ok, the Nasri thing should have been a chance but was instead a wasted opportunity. But you’re calling those half chances?
Those were full on chances and given the half chances Chelsea got and took (Drogba’s second was utter garbage, Almunia ducked the fucking ball, eyes closed) I’d say we dominated but lacked a bit of sharpness up front. I don’t think it’s at all mind boggling for Wenger to state that.
nycgunner Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
@Tim,
Arshavin’s shot was probably the only real chance we created but even then that was quite difficult to pull off – on the run and from the air. If he had a bit more time on the ball, maybe it would have been different. You mentioned Cesc free kick – well Drogba almost broke the cross bar with his. Despite all our possession we managed two shots on goal. TWO!! Maybe you can argue that we won the midfield battle for most of the game – but Chelsea was better every where else. For me that is not domination Tim. Maybe you and I saw this game very differently. However, I think you will agree with me that we have seen this story too many times before and Arsenal fans have every right to be angry at the lack of action taken by the powers that be.
CaribKid69 Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
We had a group of 8 Gooners at my house for the game and none thought we dominated. Did we compete? YES! Did we show desire? YES! Ultimately, this squad as it stands is incapable of winning the EPL.
BTW, I made this statement before we played the first game of the season. I have sat humbly this season and watched every minute of every game we have played, knowing fully well we don’t have enough quality in the squad to be an elite team.
I would have preferred to see anybody else in goal except for Almunia. His inability to understand that kicking the ball 70 yards up field to a 5’6″ striker defended by 2 big world class CB’s is an utter waste of time is beyond me. What is even more amazing is that Arsene keeps starting him.
Is someone suffering from myopia here? If Fabianski and Mannone are worse than Monney, why sign them to new long term contracts? Too many questions are arising here which defy logic.
About the Fanzone commentators, are all Arsenal fans negative about international football? I heard his say he’ll follow the Arsenal players, but he’s not fussed about the World Cup. Why the hell not?
And about Nasri’s girlfriend, I’m not sure many people would be able to resist the lures of Golovin. She’s hot! Well, maybe Theo might because he’s such a nice boy, but I wouldn’t hold it against Cesc if he shagged her. And away, the team that shags together, defends together! You’ve all seen what shagging Bridge’s girlfriend has done for the Chelsea defence. Think how good it’ll be if that was us!
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 4:10 am
@connolysagent, I think it’s down to nationalism, I really do.
The World Cup is a shining beacon of old-school Nationalism and younger fans like the Arsenal fan in that video don’t buy into this notion that someone born 10 minutes from someone else is all that radically different.
Maybe we need another World War or some new lines drawn on maps so that young people can feel National Pride and root for their birth flag at the World Cup.
at least we got some good news with chamakh.but i still think we need 2 buy gignac after the world cup hes the kind of striker who just scares the shit out of defenses
I love this club. I love this site. But I am losing my mind. My motherfucking mind. I assumed that word would make me feel better, and it actually did. I bet Samuel Jackson is happy all the time,
but typing motherfucker makes me nowhere near as happy
AS PLAYING WITH A CENTER FORWARD WOULD.
I know that RvP got hurt. I know that Bart Simpson is working his way back to fitness. But if Vela is shit and Eduardo will never be himself again, then goddammit what choice did Wenger have than to buy someone? Sure, the market is inflated. But we just look like boys sometimes. It’s too hard to pass the fucking ball into the box against a team of giants.
Cech also played out of his mind. Probably the best he’s looked since his brain came out of his head.
I think our midfield is still the best in the world.
Someone fairly mediocre like Iaquinta or Vucinic could score 15 goals with the kind of service our midfield offers.
Just saying.
Remember when this season was good? Remember how good that was?
Let’s give the 30 mil transfer budget to Cesc. Or sell him for 50 and buy Portsmouth.
nycgooner – why not try supporting Chelsea then. Why waste your time on arsenal as everything arsenal doesnt go well with you. we like arsenal and arsene’s brand of football. sometimes it works but sometimes it doesnt. Fergie and Ancelloti got there tactics right and wenger wrong. it happens in competitions. you moan as if arsenal is bottom of the log. if fulham had beaten arsenal 3-0 like they did to Manu, I cant imagine what you would be saying. Chelsea or Manu for u. leave us alone
Chalmers Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 12:59 am
sorry my comment was directed at Tim
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 2:03 am
???
nycgunner Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 4:56 am
@Chalmers, huh?? you think i’d feel strongly about our deficiencies if i didn’t love arsenal? you think supporters are just supposed to shut up and accept everything no matter what? i fucking hate chelsea and man u. probably more than you do.
Dooley Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 7:51 am
@nycgunner, love for the club and undying love for our board and Wenger are two drastically different things.
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 8:02 am
@Dooley, only if you think that the board and Wenger don’t have the club’s best interest at heart.
Is that what you believe?
Really?
nycgunner Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 8:44 am
not necessarily dude.. i think the fans/ board/ arsene – we all want arsenal to succeed. we just differ on how to go about doing that. there is nothing wrong with having a discussion on what you percieve differently. and you should be able to do that without having your loyalty questioned.
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 9:07 am
@nycgunner, define success.
nycgunner Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 8:45 am
thank you. that’s why it pisses me off when people question my loyalty to the club just cos i question some of the actions undertaken, or the lack therof, by either the manager or the board.
Success for a football club it’s quite a broad definition isn’t it? To name a few… we want to be able to compete at the highest level of football and not constantly lose to the top ranked teams… we want to build a stong global brand with revenues coming in from merchandise sales all over the world.. we want to be able to attract top talent.. we should be able to win trophies now and then.. and most importantly, we should be able to do all of that without running the club to the ground and keeping the long term viability of the club intact.
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 9:33 am
@nycgunner, so by all but one definition (constantly losing, I think) Arsenal are a tremendous success and will continue to be a tremendous success for years to come.
Which means that while I understand you’re hurt that they lost to Man U and Chelsea, you would also agree that despite that and in keeping in line with the other objectives you set out there, Arsenal are a wildly successful club.
How many 60,000 seat arenas have Chelsea and Liverpool built with all the money they pissed down the drain?
nycgunner Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 9:54 am
I think in terms of success, Arsenal are almost there but there is still work to be done. We have laid some excellent ground work but if we don’t act on them soon, a lot of the work will be undone. Look I have always supported Arsene through and through and despite the losses we have suffered recently I have never said he should stand down – to me that is insanity. I am pissed off because we are at a point where we can really take on the rest of the football playing world by it’s throat but we have not shown the killer instinct – and hey that actually nicely sums up our on pitch performance as well. I can understand that Arsene and the board wants to be patient and give the younger players a chance to develop – but too much patience can be a bad thing. Guys like Cesc wont stick around forever if he doesn’t win anything year after year. What I would hate to see is the youth project completely failing because I love and respect this ideology that Arsene put forth 5 years ago to make Arsenal a super club. However, sometime you can be your own worst enemy and it feels to me like this year we could have really won something and we failed to act. Ofcourse it’s not over and we could very well go on a run from here and actually win a trophy… but this scenario is highly unlikely and the losses to the Mancs and the Chavs just make it that much tougher to swallow
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:07 am
@nycgunner, the youth project is not going to fail because it’s only now starting to deliver and it’s not 5 years old, it’s 8 years old. We’ve been doing this now for 8 years and it’s only now starting to bear fruit: Watt, Wilshere, Simpson, etc etc.
Every year from here on out will be a production line of prodigious talent. That will be Arsene’s final legacy and the board is on board with that.
As for Cesc leaving, it’s going to happen eventually and I think Wenger will replace him with someone of equal talent.
nycgunner Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:12 am
I hope you are right but based on recent evidence, I dont see Arsene replacing Cesc if he were to leave (he will go with Ramsey who is a different kind of player altogether)
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:27 am
@nycgunner, LOL, well yes, he probably would.
And then say “Wilshere can be like Cesc”
He does like to build teams based on the personnel he has at hand.
And what would be bad about Captain Ramsey in 5 years?
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:28 am
When we say “youth project”, do we mean simply fielding a team that’s on average 5 to 6 years younger than the opponent? Or do we mean just buying a bunch of guys that are not even 20 and hope that a decent fraction of them pan out? As it stands, I’d argue that most of our regular 11 has not been derived from a ‘Project Youth’. Almunia (why can’t we try project youth at GK right now??), Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Arshavin, Eduardo. Cesc and Song seem to be the two successes from Project Youth. Do we consider Van Persie part of a past project youth? Right now, most of the other members of Project Youth, have seemingly taken steps back recently. I’m talking about Clichy, Denilson, Walcott, Bendtner, VEla, Traore. Still too early or haven’t seen enough of Ramsey, Wilshere or Merida yet, and I’d argue that the jury is certainly still out on Diaby. Other than the young goalies, am I forgetting someone? Right now, the disparity between us and the top lies in the fact that too large a part of Project Youth has not taken the next step over the last 18 months. Had any of those guys actually shown improvement and had Clichy at least maintained his ’07-08 form, I think we wouldn’t be 9 pts down. No one seems to have a firm answer as to when you give up on a member of the youth project. When do you say, hey, Theo’s just not getting better or Nicklas isn’t getting better and we need to move on? As I’ve argued in the past, when there’s actual regression, you may just have to move on. And why not when you have another dozen 18 year olds chomping at the bit?
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 9:47 am
You can all define success the way you wish. I’d be surprised if Arsene’s goal wasn’t to win the EPL title this year. If it wasn’t, he really didn’t suggest otherwise, did he? Yes, it’s to do it within the club’s financial means, too. Therefore, under the premise that it was Arsene Wenger’s goal to win the premiership this year without putting undue financial strain on this club, what is wrong with any supporter wondering out loud in a blog of all places what he or she thinks it is going to take for this current club to win the premiership? Do companies not think about how to improve themselves all the time? Do we as people not think about how to improve ourselves individually? What the hell is wrong with opining that this team can be better, even without issuing 100MM in bonds?
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:19 am
@ArseChicago, A goal to win the Premiership and coming up short does not mean that we didn’t have a successful season.
Let’s carry your analogy even further. What if there were tons of blogs dedicated to the inner workings of Berkshire Hathaway. Anyone could come on and comment on the company. It doesn’t mean that they actually KNOW anything about the finances or some of them even about how to run an investment firm. But they all get to have their say.
Now, let’s say that BH starts “slipping” in that their stock growth goes from 8% annually to a mere 5% and they are now the third best investment firm in the world — because some Russian oligarch and an oil sheik created some companies that artificially inflated the market and they look like they are gaining but there are serious questions.
What if, suddenly, a bunch of people started going on the BH blogs and saying “OMG Buffet has lost the plot, he should have bought Huntelaar Co. in January, now we’ll never compete for the top spot.”
Wouldn’t you look at the facts and scratch your head a bit at those folks?
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I thought I was clear when I said I’d leave you guys to argue about what’s successful and what isn’t. My point was that if Arsene’s goal was to win the premiership and he didn’t win the premiership then he didn’t achieve his goal. You can’t argue that. When you start talking about what needs to be done, no one knows what needs to be done or doesn’t need to be done. One THINKS something should be done or shouldn’t be done for the betterment of the club, regardless of whether it’s in 1st place or 3rd place. As for statements like:
“OMG Buffet has lost the plot, he should have bought Huntelaar Co. in January, now we’ll never compete for the top spot.”
Are you any more correct saying this comment is wrong than I am in saying this comment is right? Everything on here is opinion. My opinion about January, based on what limited information I have, was that Arsenal seemed to have the financial resources to improve the club in January given the injury situation (or just my perception of our injury situation), given that some of the youngsters have disappointed or regressed (or my perception that they have), and given Arsenal’s real chance at winning the premiership (or my imagining that we were at or near the top of the table).
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 11:42 am
@ArseChicago, interesting thing about opinions: while everyone may have one and I fully support their right to do so and enjoy reading most of them (or I would turn off comments like they do at ANR) they don’t all have the same weight.
I noticed that is a distinctly American thing to think that all opinions have the same weight and thus an easy rebuttal to all arguments is “well, that’s your opinion” or in this case “that’s Arsene’s opinion.”
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
In that respect, you’d think the club’s recent form would lend weight to those that have thought, now in retrospect, doing something in January was probably going to be better than doing nothing. As it pertained to the last matched, we were pointing to the 2 nil result as the weight underpinning our opinion that we did not dominate the match. Those of another opinion chose to buttress their opinion with the amount of possession and number of passes we made. Unless I’m misinterpreting what you’re saying about weight. Maybe you’re just talking about intellectual heft or thrust girding one’s argument or opinion?
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I guess another American thing, particularly on the right, is to be labelled un-American or unpatriotic for criticizing America. Seems like some of that is going on these days. Point out perceived flaws in the club? Think out loud that you think the manager should’ve done something differently? Then you’re not a true supporter. This kind of talk shines a light on the need of the accuser, the one crying out “not a true supporter!”, to cling to some identity apparently?
But back to your point about weight, are we now going to engage in the exercise of telling posters here their opinions don’t carry as much weight as other posters or even this blog’s author?
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
You can have any opinion you want but it will be weighed against the heavy weight of Arsene Wenger’s actions, words, history, and the facts that you do or do not supply with said opinion.
90% of the time I will ignore people who just say knee-jerk and/or press-driven sound bite opinions. Especially when they are of the doom and gloom variety.
It’s one thing to say Arsenal could use some re-enforcements and quite another to say that Wenger has lost the plot because he didn’t buy your favorite player. Even Wenger’s actions show that he tried to get someone in on deadline day. Exactly why and who and why it failed we will never know. So, see, there are facts and there are opinions.
As for the last thing, it’s not just a right-wing phenomena. Try throwing a recyclable in the garbage in front of a liberal. I’ve been called “not liberal enough” many times, in fact, on here by that English chick who used to constantly complain about Arsenal. It’s something people do.
I try to avoid calling people anti-Arsenal, but I do wonder why certain Arsenal fans have nothing but negativity toward Arsenal? If you hate America 98% of the time, are you an American? How so?
If someone constantly went on an meat oriented blog and talked about how much they hate meat would it be unfair to ask if they aren’t a vegetarian?
WC came in to the liveblog and called everyone who agreed with Wenger’s transfer policy “fucktards.” He then went on to admit that he actual enjoys when Arsenal lose “because it might make Wenger change” and then basically called for the club to fire Arsene Wenger.
Is that really the same as someone questioning whether America should torture people being called un-American?
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
To the latter question, my answer would be no. I wasn’t in the live blog, but calling names is wrong. Wanting Arsenal to lose, regardless of your thoughts of the manager, is very wrong.
As for Wenger’s words and what not, I think it’s okay for someone to question the sincerity or the strength of belief of those words. As you said the other day, sometimes “what is he supposed to say”? Just like the CEO of a company or the mayor of a town has to assure people that everything’s okay, when he or she might not feel precisely that way.
Those who say he’s lost the plot, I disagree with. As you said, if Wenger’s telling the truth, they went after 1 or more players at the deadline, which to me suggests that even he could see the potential value in bolstering the club at this pivotal juncture. So he sees the plot in my view. He just wasn’t successful in that transfer window for whatever reason and some of the players he’s had belief in have frankly not lived up to that belief at this critical time.
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Oh and I get your point about the artificial inflation of performance. I agree that it’s unfortunate that we have to compete against the likes of United, Chelsea and now Man City who all can apparently sustain losses in perpetuity somehow. We obviously can’t go down that route. However, it’s only going to get worse (really, City will continue its ascent as long as the 500 billion euros is at their disposal) and here we have this chance this year to win a trophy without bringing in players that will make our 30MM operating profit go to break-even. I think we can all agree that even our beloved Arsenal simply can’t match those clubs’ money. But are we to just become disheartened and give up taking a big swing for the fence once in a great while? If not for me, the lowly American supporter, then for the old Highbury faithful who signed off on the Emirates and are now reaching in deeper and deeper into their pockets to help make the club perhaps what is now the most profitable club on the planet (I’m assuming Barca and Real are also losing money, right? Milan too?).
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
@ArseChicago, oh God dude, the good seats at the Porto match are £100! even I admit that’s crazy.
Good convo, AC, keep your head up Arsenal are a great side and deserve fans like you. Sorry if I came across as saying you should go somewhere else.
BTW why aren’t you looking at Clint Dempsey’s wife’s boobs??? There’s a whole other thread on that at the top!
ArseChicago Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Who says I wasn’t? Big fan of Schweinsteiger’s gal too. Damn.
Red Dwarf rocks! Do you think Wilma Flintstone is the most desirable woman in the world?
Tim Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 9:56 am
@ScotchEggsRule, I’d go with Betty… but I’d be thinking of Wilma.
This is crazy, really, really crazy. What are we talking about dating Wilma Flintstone for?
She’ll never leave Fred and we know it.
What? This is a football blog you say? I’ll get me coat……
Why we still love Wenger……
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2010/02/09/1783372/exclusive-arsene-wenger-rescued-me-from-a-life-of-drugs-and
i think we deserved at least a draw i know crazy to say but but i do. to take positives from sunday that if chelsea play like that again they will drop points, they and we cant forget we did not have a RVP drogba Henry Rooney Bergkamp or Adebyore on the field and if we did and the stats reamained the same the goal tally would have been different. if we had a fully fit confident striker on the field we would have been a threat to their defence our defence would have stayed back and defended, closing the possiblity of a counter attack and it would have been a entirely different game. and back to jan wil people stop it if we had bought a world class striker what would happen when RVP gets fit 1.) leave the new signing on the bench 2.) change the system 3.) leave robin on the bench you decide
I am almost as obsessed w/ the wire and as I am w/ the arsenal…do yourself a favor and check it out. The best TV show ever. Period.
It’s almost as depressing as our results lately, but still.