Chavs v Arsenal Match Reaction

[Letters]

Football is not worth anyone's free time, never mind their money or foolish dedication.

Watch other sports and enjoy the skill and sportsmanship that's not been eroded through years of malpractice, contemptible greed and outright corruption.

Football is beyond repair and if Arsenal devolve into a reprehensible outfit which does anything and everything in order gain three measly, ephemeral points on a digital table ultimately ranking the richest and most powerful, then it will be disappointing, funny and understandable.

But football is not a thing worth discussing seriously anymore. All we can do is derive some joy from the less well-endowed clubs hopefully out-cheating the scum that resides at the top of the game.

We can discuss sport in the tennis/athletics/darts/bowls threads from now on. And talk about politics and Letters' royal fetish maybe.

And Gawd bless 'em!

[alexander]

Just seen it all on MOTD.

What an utter joke. If this is what football has become, then Im out. Not that I really give much to Arsenal these days, used to go 10 times a season at least, but prices got higher and higher, and it ended up costing me at least £100 per game with trains/tickets/food etc. I used to enjoy it, but it just is not the same these days. When you lose like yesterday, with `gamesmanship` or cheating as I call it, whats the point?

[Letters]

Wenger doesnt want characters. I have said it several times. The first player he got rid of was Wrighty. Why, i guess because he was mouthy and independent minded.

Or 'cos he was 35 by then?

Was Vieira not a character?

EDIT: Kinda agree with the general point about 'characters' in the team though.

[Letters]

everyone near enough universally agreed that what happened was not was not wenget's fault

So...what do you think I'm 'defending' him against?!

I was neither defending him or criticizing him. I'm just sick of football generally. It's not a sport any more. I like to think there isn't any corruption in the sport but when there's so much money around you kinda think there probably is and then when things like yesterday happen...what's the point?

Zim's said we'd have lost anyway. Well, maybe. But the point is we'll never know. From what I've heard we were holding our own until we had a player sent off. If we'd lost with it 11 on 11 then fine, I can accept that. But when the cheating is so blatant then what's the point in it all? Had we beaten Chelsea they would almost have been out of the title race already - it seems so contrived that with us looking like we could get a result (by which I mean at least a point) there's suddenly a refereeing 'mistake' which makes a defeat almost inevitable. It keeps the narrative going that Chelsea are resurgent, Mourinho is a genius

Balls to it all, the only thing to do if you're going to follow football at all is go back to grass roots. The football might be a bit rubbish in local teams but at least it's real, at least it's still a sport where the best, not the richest, team wins.

[Letters]

Oh, while I'm here, why are referees not accountable for anything?
Pretty much everyone else in the game is but refs can be as 'incompetent' as they like with impunity.

[Power n Glory]

Mike Dean has until Monday to get his story straight and submit his report to the FA. That's bullshit. He should submit his report straight after the game. What sort of rule is that? He can submit a report on Monday? Why? If refs can't use video evidence during the game he shouldn't be able to have such a long delay to rematch the footage and try to get his story straight.

[Injury Time]

Football

[Marc Overmars]

Some nice trolling from Mourinho as usual. Claiming Diego Costa was man of the match and that he's rarely played against without hearing us "moaning and crying" after the result.

Silly cunt.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

We could have got a certain nasty, vicious cunt who also happens to be an outstanding footballer for £28mill and £90kpw but he didn't have enough quality. Hasn't taken lomg for the penny pinching to bite us in the arse. Goals and balls is what we needed to buy in during the summer. But it was impossible.

I heard Jerome Boateng saying he keeps everybody on their toes in training at Bayern......he probably doesn't see a difference between training and an actual game. Missed opportunity.

Anyway all the nasty cynical players in the world doesn't make a damn difference if they are all stupid. What did Gabriel think he was doing? He got out witted by Costa which should never happen, especially as Costa as always was the one who caused all the commotion. You're trusting a dipstick referee to be reasonable after he had failed to send off Costa in the first place!? Really?

Somebody at the club should tell Gabriel in whatever language he needs to hear it in that he needs to keep his fuhking counsel...referees are often daft and that Costa is a loose cannon but a smart one which is why he has only been sent off half the times in his career he should have been.

3 red cards in 2 games and fairly important ones too is pure foolishness.

Mike Dean should be demoted, that goes without saying. AT the least.

[RomfordPele]

Is anyone else still fucking furious this morning?!

I'd just add that while the focus is on mike dean here, we have GOT to learn to influence refs more. Why didn't koscielny go down clutching his face after the first incident? Why didn't we swarm dean like angry wasps immediately after this like every other team does? Why was Gabriel the only player getting in costa's face after the incident? And why wasn't there a massive brawl after the red card was produced?

That was a moment to defend your mate and really get into Chelsea, like the old guard would have. The fact that we just limply accepted it says everything about the spirit in that team. I actually think that's what winds me up more than anything.