Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
Home advantage is definitely a thing and the crowd does play its part getting the team going. The crowd are probably a bit more raucous right now as things are going well so there is more of a bond between the club and its fans than there’s been for a long time.
I was more responding to 21’s assertion that Highbury was intimidating. It was probably known as a tough place to come because we’ve historically been one of the better teams, but we’re hardly Galatasaray.
Ah, yeah the library was never intimidating


The places that rely on intimidation never really work in a footballing sense. The Velodrome in Marseille is a veritable cauldron but we won there quite easily as I recall on both visits, the intimidation factor is the fact that their ultras will kick the shit out of you.

Same with the old Ali Sami Yen. Good record against Turkish teams, but wouldn’t want to go there to watch us play because their fans get very stabby.


Then again I’ve only ever watched one game of football on the continent (was champions league but wasn’t Arsenal) and that was Sparta Prague vs Panathinaikos. Fortunately the atmosphere in the stands was as sedate as the game.


Even the Greek fans seemed almost put out that they had to celebrate the goals on their way to a 2-0 win