Match Reaction Arsenal 0-0 Anti-Football Scum

Would people swap the football they witnessed in Wenger's earlier years with Graham's football and winning the title ever since? I mean every single title and throw every cup in too. And every CL, Charity Shield, basically everything? Would you swap it? How about half the titles? Would you swap then? A quarter of them? At what point would you swap?

Isn't the only thing saving football from the likes of the chavs, gypos, Bayern, Barca and Marketing the chance they can still be beaten to a title or a cup by a less money focused team? Rarely, but it's still possible. Take the infinite money cheat to its final conclusion (as advocated by Martin Samuel), switch off FFP and give Maureen the Messis and Ronaldos and the next 20 best in the world. Then add in his tactics and special appreciation for the game. What do you have left? Domination, but in what form and at what cost?

It's only the teams who aren't the chavs managed by managers who aren't Maureen that keep this game in any way interesting and therefore alive. The logical conclusion of Maureen is the death of the game. Almost worth it if it would also mean the death of the media pundits who are like turkeys singing Christmas carols every time they applaud the wretch.

I don't necessarily blame them for yesterday as they were away from home against a top four side. We were lavishing Wenger for taking a less extreme approach against City away earlier in the season. In isolated incidents it's an acceptable method to play for a top side.

But the difference is that they've been doing it week in week out since the winter, even in the home games. Last week they only had 30% of the possession at home against Utd ..... deliberately and they only created one chance all game. That's just fucking pathetic. It'd be absolutely abject to watch that turgid shit week in week out but then again as Moh said, Chelsea are a small club with a small team mentality. That would never be acceptable at a Barca, RM or even here.

What I find more egregious though is the media obsession with Mourinho and how easily they'll bend over to accept his cock. I mean for example his comment in reply to being questioned about the "boring boring Chelsea" chants about not winning a title for so long being boring instead is patently ridicoulous. So unless you win the title you just give up on football? Most teams don't get to win the league ever including a certain Chelsea who went 50 years without winning before the Russian showed up. Yet no one calls him out on that shit.

The latest Tuesday Club was released last night and Alan Davies nails it regarding him and our media's sycophantic behaviour. It's clear our fans and Wenger gets to him given how bitey and personal he gets in his attacks, something you'd never seem from Wenger. But no, instead of the cunts reporting on how flustered Mourinho gets when questioned it's all "Mourinho does Wenger again with a funny". Cunts.

I wish some player/manager would have the balls to confront these absolute hacks on this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Munchies

Cesc sub

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDiG4nKWgAAjbi6.jpg

legend lol

others clapping :blink:

---

Funniest thing about this was the commentator saying "I think Cesc has won the crowd round" just as it panned to this shot

Whats get to me is not the fact that Chelsea sits deep and waits to hit on the counter; its the fact that they seem to have all the fucking luck in the world. Think about the Utd game and if Rooney's shot didnt hit the post in the early part of the game, what would have happened? Ditto for our chance at the end of the game when Monreal crossed the ball and Ozil kicked air and Welbeck lost his footing... Think about their whole freaking CL winning campaign!!!

How on earth are they buying luck too?!!? You can bet your bottom dollar that if any of these chances fell to Chelsea, they would have buried the chance. They really are the devils team. I have said it before and I'll say it again.. I despise them more than Spurs any day of the week!

As a club I don't have a huge problem with Spurs. They're more to be pitied than scorned.
Chelsea are the axis of evil, all by themselves

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

It's time to stop moaning about Chelsea's style of play and just beat the shit out of them. It's really annoying that we have this discussion every season but have yet to beat them. Just makes us seem more sour. If we'd beat the shit out of them constantly and mocked the shit out of their style after, it would be so much sweeter and valid!

---

End of! Great post, we need to look at what we're doing about it ........so far nothing but just coming across as bitter. There's only one way to deal with this and that's to beat them. Failed in 13 matches, the fuckin joke's on us!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seymour Butts

Funniest thing about this was the commentator saying "I think Cesc has won the crowd round" just as it panned to this shot

---

isnt that the "oli Geroud" guy on youtube?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDsZSVjXIAAfNhi.jpg

:lol:

Never ceases to amaze me how clued up you lot are on everything coming out of the media. I still don't even know what Henry said!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

Never ceases to amaze me how clued up you lot are on everything coming out of the media. I still don't even know what Henry said!

---

In the age of Social Media and twitter, things travel fast. Surprised you haven't heard his comments by now Blink; they've become a big news item by themselves.

As for the Henry comments, I thoroughly disagree with them. Giroud's stats are no worse than Costa's who's about to win the league with the Rent-Boy's ...... we can win a league with him up top, especially if you have top quality around him as we currently do. Bayern fucking won the treble with Mandzukic who's worse than Giroud imo. We may not perpetually dominate Europe but a league is certainly possible ..... I mean it's not been because of Giroud that we've failed this year, our problems have mainly been at the other end. That being said, if an upgrade is possible and available then we should certainly be open to getting him in and I think Giroud is the type of guy who would welcome competition. However when it comes to getting world class striker's in, it's not a matter of shopping at Tesco's and picking something of the shelf to use a common Wenger analogy.

Unfortunately for Thierry, he's part of the pundit class now and after receiving some public criticism of his punditery recently (article in the guardian) which tbh objectively hasn't been that great, he's probably been told by the Sky producers to ramp it up and start being more controversial which he's done here. It shouldn't detract from his legend status at the club and any so call fan using it to slag him of personally (there have been some prats on twitter) need to fuck off.

With the PL run-in and a cup final to come it wasn't helpful for a club legend to start slagging the striker we'll be relying on to bag goals in crucial games. Hopefully Bif uses it to his advantage rather than let it get to him. He's worked hard enough and delivered enough goals this season to earn a bit of respect. Sad to see Henry becoming a pundit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico

In the age of Social Media and twitter, things travel fast. Surprised you haven't heard his comments by now Blink; they've become a big news item by themselves.

As for the Henry comments, I thoroughly disagree with them. Giroud's stats are no worse than Costa's who's about to win the league with the Rent-Boy's ...... we can win a league with him up top, especially if you have top quality around him as we currently do. Bayern fucking won the treble with Mandzukic who's worse than Giroud imo. We may not perpetually dominate Europe but a league is certainly possible ..... I mean it's not been because of Giroud that we've failed this year, our problems have mainly been at the other end. That being said, if an upgrade is possible and available then we should certainly be open to getting him in and I think Giroud is the type of guy who would welcome competition. However when it comes to getting world class striker's in, it's not a matter of shopping at Tesco's and picking something of the shelf to use a common Wenger analogy.

Unfortunately for Thierry, he's part of the pundit class now and after receiving some public criticism of his punditery recently (article in the guardian) which tbh objectively hasn't been that great, he's probably been told by the Sky producers to ramp it up and start being more controversial which he's done here. It shouldn't detract from his legend status at the club and any so call fan using it to slag him of personally (there have been some prats on twitter) need to fuck off.

---

When Henry spoke on Sky, I immediately thought of his outburst before the Spurs game. :lol: I don't think he's said anything we haven't said on here and I think he's being genuine. We really need to make some changes in how we prepare for a season because our slow start has hampered our chances of winning the title. It was the same last season. We need to do better in the summer and stop making excuses for ourselves.

Henry said Giroud has been good and fine striker but he's not going to win you the league. That's on the money. His record in big games isn't up to par and it's never a case that he's been an absolute thorn in the oppositions side. He needs to really up his performances against top opposition. If not, we need another top player to step up where Giroud drops off.

Henry said the same applies to a lot of the players. Ozil is another example he used. He needs to come out firing next season because he's another one that hasn't done the magic for us on the big stage. Maybe next season we'll see more from both players, Ozil especially, because he seems to be finding his stride whilst Giroud is in the form of his life. It's not impossible to win the league with a striker like Giroud, but we need another player to step up with the goals. We really missed Theo's goals and assists this year along with Ramsey's crazy form from last year. Imagine if we had that.

Which is where Henry was saying we need the players to step their game up if we're not going to buy in the summer. We also need our medical team to keep players fit for the season so they can stay in form, another point Henry made. There isn't anything he said that hasn't been said on here before and if we carry on in the same way, won't be saying again in 6 months time.

Ahh... and Diego Costa vs Giroud. I won't argue on the stats but I've never been convinced that Costa is the answer to what we need up front. That was before moving to Chelsea and I still hold that same opinion. If we'd have signed him it wouldn't have been the end of the world but I'd prefer someone with a little more magic to their game.

He works for Chelsea because they play that direct style, they're more defensive and not a team that dominate possession or need players that need to find an inch perfect pass in the tightest of spaces. Just thinking of his games for Spain and he seems like a fish out of water with that tika taka style.

We criticise our own in the company of other fans. Would we do it with the likes of Souness, Carragher or Redknapp in the room? Or if tens of thousands of dirty chavs were watching? I wouldn't. I'm not sure either how feasible it would be to rip out the goalkeeper, Merts (because I guess that's who the new spine defender would replace), Coquelin or Ramsey (ditto) and Giroud then hit the ground running and get a fast start. Wouldn't we have to learn how to play as a team all over? It's taken the best part of a year for the latest lot to show signs of being a team.

Anyway, Henry will always be forgiven and he's probably trying to win at being a pundit just as he wanted to win at everything else. At least he's not Alan 'Wanker' Smith.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Douglas Reynholm

"Cesc Fabregas outshone Ozil on Sunday..."

lol no

---

fabregas was fucking awful on sunday. Just seem to ghost around and not want to get involved.

Apart from diving to try and cheat arsenal into conceding a penalty

and then our fans clap the diving snake off.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

We criticise our own in the company of other fans. Would we do it with the likes of Souness, Carragher or Redknapp in the room? Or if tens of thousands of dirty chavs were watching? I wouldn't. I'm not sure either how feasible it would be to rip out the goalkeeper, Merts (because I guess that's who the new spine defender would replace), Coquelin or Ramsey (ditto) and Giroud then hit the ground running and get a fast start. Wouldn't we have to learn how to play as a team all over? It's taken the best part of a year for the latest lot to show signs of being a team.

Anyway, Henry will always be forgiven and he's probably trying to win at being a pundit just as he wanted to win at everything else. At least he's not Alan 'Wanker' Smith.

---

Yeah why is Alan Smith always so anti- Arsenal when he is a pundit/commentates. I do like Niall Quinn, the pundit version and not you, though seems always fair and rational and only small bit of pro-arsenal about him.

Quote:

---

I do like Niall Quinn, the pundit version and not you

---

:crying:

early signs are that Henry's post-Arsenal career will go the same way as Sol's. He's been embarrassing so far. Ex-Arsenal players generally haven't been good. Keown's the only one that talks sense and is worth listening to, who would've thought that...

Boring game to watch. Don't know why Wenger's coming into criticism here, it's fucking hard to break down such a negative team and his players didn't take their chances. Ozil fluffed his chance at the end to nick a 1-0, other than that there's not much that can be done. Defensively they're absolutely brilliant when they're on their game and they were on Sunday.

These aren't the games you need to win anyway, these are the games you can't lose, as Mourinho knows well. Our big game record has improved since the Tottenham defeat. A big test at Old Trafford to come, as well as the FA cup final. Avoid defeat at Old Trafford and win the FA cup and it's our best season since 2005 no matter what way you look at it. If Chelsea turn up and buy 92 points to win the league like they will here there's not much else you can do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ollie the Optimist

Apart from diving to try and cheat arsenal into conceding a penalty.

---

Finally watched the highlights last night and yeah, nice to see he's picked up the Chelsea cheating philosophy.
And, of course, the commentator said there was contact. Yes, there was, the tiniest brush, and he went down quicker than your mum. Don't bother mentioning that.

<_<

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Syn

Boring game to watch. Don't know why Wenger's coming into criticism here, it's fucking hard to break down such a negative team and his players didn't take their chances. Ozil fluffed his chance at the end to nick a 1-0, other than that there's not much that can be done. Defensively they're absolutely brilliant when they're on their game and they were on Sunday.

These aren't the games you need to win anyway, these are the games you can't lose, as Mourinho knows well. Our big game record has improved since the Tottenham defeat. A big test at Old Trafford to come, as well as the FA cup final. Avoid defeat at Old Trafford and win the FA cup and it's our best season since 2005 no matter what way you look at it. If Chelsea turn up and buy 92 points to win the league like they will here there's not much else you can do.

---

Pretty much.
So far we've been the 2nd best team. Finish 2nd and we've only been beaten by one of the billionaire cheats. Win the Cup too and that's a good season.
#WengerIn*

* - terms and conditions apply.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Letters

Finally watched the highlights

<_<

---

There were highlights? :unsure:

i know this is probably going against most people on here, but I really dislike John Terry. Switched over to the football last night for about a minute and saw him moaning to the ref about something.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bob Loblaw

There were highlights? :unsure:

---

Oscar getting flattened by Ospina was pretty good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

We criticise our own in the company of other fans. Would we do it with the likes of Souness, Carragher or Redknapp in the room? Or if tens of thousands of dirty chavs were watching? I wouldn't. I'm not sure either how feasible it would be to rip out the goalkeeper, Merts (because I guess that's who the new spine defender would replace), Coquelin or Ramsey (ditto) and Giroud then hit the ground running and get a fast start. Wouldn't we have to learn how to play as a team all over? It's taken the best part of a year for the latest lot to show signs of being a team.

Anyway, Henry will always be forgiven and he's probably trying to win at being a pundit just as he wanted to win at everything else. At least he's not Alan 'Wanker' Smith.

---

Not sure how you expect him to get around this when he's a pundit. Are you upset that Sky are biased or just that they're not biased in our favour? Wouldn't be right if Henry only said positive things on air about Arsenal. Also, it's not as if other pundits won't criticise their former clubs. Carragaher and Scholes have done it recently and they're the two clubs HCZ says are the darlings of English football all media outlets bow down to.

Quote:

---

Are you upset that Sky are biased or just that they're not biased in our favour?

---

The latter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

His record in big games isn't up to par

---

When you actually look at it, his productivity in big games and small games is largely comparable.

4 Goals and 1 Assist in 6 league games against top 5 opposition.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fist of Lehmann

When you actually look at it, his productivity in big games and small games is largely comparable.

4 Goals and 1 Assist in 6 league games against top 5 opposition.

---

Using facts is cheating :sulk:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fist of Lehmann

When you actually look at it, his productivity in big games and small games is largely comparable.

4 Goals and 1 Assist in 6 league games against top 5 opposition.

---

Against who and when did he score? I'm guessing this are stats from this season alone but what about the previous?

This article says otherwise and from what I remember of his performances, he can often have off games where he's not as effective.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...e-forward.html

I really don't want to get into the stats argument but we're kidding ourselves if we think we've got someone comparable to RVP and Henry. That's what the essence of ten argument and what people mean when they say we need a better striker. Aiming for that calibre.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Against who and when did he score? I'm guessing this are stats from this season alone but what about the previous?

---

This season.

..........H......A
CFC.....0......inj
MC.....inj.....1G
MU.....1G....
LFC.....1G....1G
Spu.....inj....1A

You could say a lot of things about Giroud historically, what's most relevant in assessing him is what he did last, and since he joined us he has improved year on year.

So while there is a discussion to be had around whether he is good enough for a Premiership winning side, and there are arguably legitimate criticisms of his game, big game choker shouldn't be one of them, for this season at least.

PnG is right to say that with Giroud alone we can't win the league. Henry was right too but I don't want to credit him much because his first year has been spent sitting like a well dressed mannequin saying next to nothing.

Man City have had what most people regard as a bad season. Yet they've scored more than anyone. They have players that can come in and score key goals when Aguero needs a rest, is injured or substituted. Chelsea have Remy who has scored a few key goals throughout the season and Drogba has too. Like ourselves, Utd need better options upfront to improve.

We have Wellbeck, who works bloody hard and has been as influential as Sanchez has in terms of convincing our players to chase down and close the opposition. It's hard to make a full assessment of his striker abilities because his only option is still play wide with Giroud on form. Earlier in the season he's goal rate was patchy and i don't think he can be relied on as a strong alternative when Giroud is out. Walcott, well he'll rarely ever play through the middle for us, so that's not an option. We need another 10-15 premier league goal striker to have any chance of winning the league but whether Wenger agrees with that in the summer is another thing.

With the mark he left at Monaco, that perception will remain until he has dominant performance in a big game. He's done well this season but I wouldn't want us to pass up on a quality striker based on his recent form. 90+ minute goals in a game we've already lost (Utd) or won (Liverpool) and an early assist against Spurs, a game we lost will look good on paper but look different in context.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

With the mark he left at Monaco, that perception will remain until he has dominant performance in a big game. He's done well this season but I wouldn't want us to pass up on a quality striker based on his recent form. 90+ minute goals in a game we've already lost (Utd) or won (Liverpool) and an early assist against Spurs, a game we lost will look good on paper but look different in context.

---

I wouldn't want that either. Any way we can improve the team I'm right behind it.

But is it valid to devalue a goal that doesn't mathematically affect the end result?

For instance does the second goal in a 2-0 kill off the game and deter pressure?
In hindsight you might argue the second goal wasn't important, but what you cannot say with any certainty is that it had no effect on the eventual outcome.

All goals change games, if not in the game they're scored in then confidence and thereby future games.

Oh and goal difference.

Either that or let's just chalk off all goals that didn't mathematically win or draw a game.

I don't mean the goal 2nd goal in the first tie against Pool. I mean the 4th goal in the 95th minute in the recent game where we smashed them.

The overall point I'm making is that he's not enough of the deciding factor and difference in the big games. It's the point Henry was making last week.

It's not to chalk off it's goals, it's going back to that point about being that quality striker that's going to win you re match and possibly the title.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico

In the age of Social Media and twitter, things travel fast. Surprised you haven't heard his comments by now Blink; they've become a big news item by themselves.

As for the Henry comments, I thoroughly disagree with them. Giroud's stats are no worse than Costa's who's about to win the league with the Rent-Boy's ...... we can win a league with him up top, especially if you have top quality around him as we currently do. Bayern fucking won the treble with Mandzukic who's worse than Giroud imo. We may not perpetually dominate Europe but a league is certainly possible ..... I mean it's not been because of Giroud that we've failed this year, our problems have mainly been at the other end. That being said, if an upgrade is possible and available then we should certainly be open to getting him in and I think Giroud is the type of guy who would welcome competition. However when it comes to getting world class striker's in, it's not a matter of shopping at Tesco's and picking something of the shelf to use a common Wenger analogy.

Unfortunately for Thierry, he's part of the pundit class now and after receiving some public criticism of his punditery recently (article in the guardian) which tbh objectively hasn't been that great, he's probably been told by the Sky producers to ramp it up and start being more controversial which he's done here. It shouldn't detract from his legend status at the club and any so call fan using it to slag him of personally (there have been some prats on twitter) need to fuck off.

---

I'm not one for social media, don't use twitter, facebook or anything else of that ilk but I've inevitably heard what he said now. I don't agree with him but perhaps he needs more convincing of Giroud's quality than the average man.....what with being a footballing deity and all.....

Giroud may be much less effective next season a little like Ramsey. I don't expect it and certainly hope it isn't the case but I feel like the aftermath to what he said has been a little OTT.

I find it hard to believe Henry is simply pandering to his employers either. He is pretty strong willed and opinionated and we can't forget that it's only been 6 or so months since most Arsenal fans would have agreed with him.

Giroud has been great this season, he's improved so much. But he will never be a world class striker. He's slow, he can't carry the ball, or dribble, he doesn't have that little bit of skill to make space for himself inside the box, and he doesn't have a right foot. Those are all big weaknesses for a striker.

The top strikers can also make a goal for themselves whereas Giroud falls into the finisher category. It's not all that important against the Sunderlands and QPRs who can't stop our creative midfielders, but in a tight game against a strong defence it makes a big difference. For me, Giroud should be the person challenging our 'first choice' for a starting place, and offering a plan B off the bench.

Our other strikers? Welbeck had a good run of games up front and disappointed really. He's not ruthless enough and his overall CF play isn't as good enough. There's still a lot of room for improvement though, and I hope he really pushes on next season. Theo cannot play as a lone striker and never will. If he's adamant that he wants to play up front he's welcome to join whatever bottom half side feels like playing with two strikers, cause he wont do it here.

World class strikers don't grow on trees so obviously it will be difficult to sign one, but we should be actively looking for one in the summer.

Welbeck needs to improve quickly if he wants games as a striker for us. He's really ineffective up front and just gets lost. He's not making the right movement or runs and just struggles to get into the game. He'll need a good run of games in preseason to get to grips with it because a fit Giroud will always be first choice.

Walcott should just leave. He's not a winger, he's not a striker, he's a wide forward, some sort of in between that's only used here at Arsenal but the manager doesn't rate him highly enough to start him in a role that he's been developed for. He's wasted his development and education time with us because he was supposed to be a Henry like striker.

As a striker, he's had games where his runs are dangerous but games where he's struggled to find the ball. Only more game time will fix that. It's the same conundrum Welbeck is in and neither will get the run of games when we have Giroud.

I've tried really hard to like Welbz. I appreciate the running he does and how effective that can be at times, but as a central striker? Minimal quality.