Twat?Originally Posted by Fist of Lehmann
Twat?
It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
Thanks, but I just ate.
http://arseblog.com/2013/04/fulham-0...-that-matters/
In the 11+ years I’ve been writing Arseblog, and about Arsenal, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such an outpouring of anger … after a win. Yes, there have been days when people’s frustration has gotten the better of them, but usually it’s when we drop points, lose cup finals or important games, or find our season over midway through November.
That, I understand, but the vitriol and viciousness yesterday of some commentators is staggering. I don’t think there’s a single person out there who would say we were at our best yesterday, nobody would dare suggest we played well, but at this point of the season there’s nothing to be taken from a sterling performance coupled with a poor result. It is all about getting points under our belts, and we did that. Being glad one of our players is suspended for three games, in a position where we’ve bemoaned our lack of strength all season, is an opinion so stupid it could take human shape as Joey Barton.
If you want my brutally honest assessment, I think we’re a pretty average team that doesn’t play particularly attractive football any more, we have certain players whose contributions are far less than they should be, the squad is missing the kind of quality to win things, and we are where we are in the league for good reason; not bad luck or anything like it.
But we’re also a team that has been working extremely hard in recent weeks, that has knuckled down to overcome some of its flaws, that has kept probably as many clean sheets in the past month as we have most of the rest of the season, and a team that has taken 19 points from the last 21 available in the league. In the grand scheme of things, there’s plenty to discuss and talk about; there are obviously improvements that can be made to the first team and the squad in general, but I think it redefines the word churlish to throw your toys out of the pram after we’ve won … away from home. We were poor against 10 men, so what?
Frankly, at this stage of the season I care little for how we perform as long as we win. That’s the position we’re in, like it or not. Other teams are criticised for winning ugly, when we do it it seems to be a cardinal sin. And not reacting like a spoilt child doesn’t mean you’re blind to our problems or that you think everything is A-OK, it just means you can appreciate that right now, it’s far better for us to play like crap and take three points than be tippy-tappy, flicky-flacky, pass masters who draw or lose.
That Arsenal’s two best players yesterday were goalscorer Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny tells you something about a game in which we played against 10 men for 80+ minutes. Fulham looked more dangerous than us throughout, we just did not click from an attacking point of view. Olivier Giroud had another frustrating game but also received little service. At one point I was playing Where’s Walco, trying to figure out which defender Theo was hiding behind, while Santi Cazorla was only marginally better than his corners which were, being brutally honest, so far below the standard you’d expect from a professional footballer of his talent that I just don’t have the words to do them justice.
What was interesting was how the substitutions, designed, I’m sure, to spark a bit of life into us, completely changed the momentum of the game. We were most certainly on top, if completely nonthreatening, with plenty of possession. We spread the ball well from one side to the other, Fulham worked hard and kept a good shape which made it difficult for us (on top of our own performance issues), but when Podolski and Wilshere replaced Rosicky and Walcott it was like somebody flicked a switch.
For the final 15 minutes or so, they looked far more likely to score an equaliser than we did a second. Only for some good assistant refereeing by Sian Massey and it might have been worse, their ‘goal’ was rightly cancelled out for offside, but we were living dangerously. Mertesacker and Koscielny dealt with increasing Fulham pressure and even with a man advantage we couldn’t get back on top of the game.
The late dismissal of Giroud made me think it was going to be one of those days, but in the end we hung on, we took three points, we did what we had to do, and ultimately that’s all that counts at the end of 90 minutes. I’d much rather be here talking about how we played poorly and won than the alternative, and if results go our way today then this is a game we can rightly consign to history and never think of again.
With regard to the red cards, I thought the referee made absolutely the right decision with Sidwell. It was, in terms of the challenge, very similar to the one which broke Eduardo’s leg at Birmingham. I don’t believe it was malicious, but it was reckless and dangerous and the sending off was 100% correct. As for Giroud, I don’t think it would have been a red if a Fulham man hadn’t already been sent off. I can understand why it was given, under the circumstances, but it’s still a bit harsh for me.
Assuming that we don’t appeal and accept the three match ban, it does leave us with some tweaking to do to the team for the next number of fixtures. I talked this week about how we need another striker for next season, we don’t really have one now. Podolski is an option, of course, but he looks genuinely unfit to me, the ankle injury he’s been nursing all season seemed obvious yesterday when he was given a decent pass to run on to but outpaced by one of Senderos or Hangeland. That’s not a 100% fit Podolski. Still, it’s something to keep the discussion going this week as we prepare for the visit of United next Sunday.
The players celebrated at the end yesterday, not because they played well, but because they knew how tough it had been and because, more than anything, they knew that simply had to win. Sometimes it just don’t matter how you get there, once you get there.
Till tomorrow.
http://arseblog.com/2013/05/arsenal-...-crucial-week/
Morning all and welcome to a brand new, and incredibly, important week in the life of Arsenal Football Club.
As expected, there were no favours done yesterday. Sp*rs won against Stoke, no surprise whatsoever, and the other results at the bottom end of the table had a direct impact on Wigan. Both Norwich and Newcastle won which means that the FA Cup holders now have to win both their final games in order to stay up.
None of it really changes our situation though. While it might have been nice to have some margin for error, that was lost long before this weekend. It suits us to point fingers at the Orcs but the reality is we’re responsible for where we are and looking for that lot to do us a favour just isn’t right. There was an inevitability about Sp*rs scoring the winner but nobody was predicting anything other than three points for them so it’s no surprise.
Anything less than a win tomorrow night needs us leaving a favour from Sunderland at White Hart Lane on the final day of the season. If we win, a win at Newcastle will guarantee us at least fourth, and we could finish third if Chelsea lose their fixture at home to Everton. A win also relegates Wigan which means that Newcastle will have nothing to worry about on the final day. Update: Newcastle are already safe.
Yet, although the pressure is on, there’s absolute clarity about what we need to do. Two games, two wins. That’s always been our target and that hasn’t changed. We go into a game tomorrow night having had 10 days off. There can be no excuses when it comes to effort and endeavour. At this point of the season it’s practically unheard of to have that amount of time between games. It’s normally a slog from one game to the next, legs are tired, injuries and strains and aches shape team selection, but we should be in good shape.
And that’s something we need to take advantage of. Look at how we started the game against Manchester United a couple of weeks back. Think back to that awesome performance against Chelsea a couple of seasons ago. High-tempo football, pressing all over the pitch, giving the opposition no time to be comfortable on the ball. If we can’t manage that for two games as important as this, well, then we’ve got real problems.
Wigan will arrive with plenty of confidence having won a trophy, and beaten last season’s champions to do it, and, of course, they beat us in this fixture last season. But there’s also a reason why they’re staring relegation in the face and that’s what we need to exploit. The importance of Champions League football next season is impossible to ignore. It will shape what we do this summer, and how we can do it, and the players need to be aware of that.
On the one hand you want them relaxed and feeling good, not overly-burdened by the task at hand, but on the other these are professional footballers and pressure comes with the territory. If you can’t handle it, you’re in the wrong game. But our form is good, we’re 9 games unbeaten, the players have shown some serious resolve in certain fixtures even if we’ve struggled in others, and they should feel confident about this one.
It’s the final home game of the season, Champions League football next season is in our own hands and after some of the crap we’ve produced this campaign I don’t think we’re in any position to complain about the situation we’re in. Heads down, work hard, get on with it.
We’ll get some team news later on as Arsene meets the press this morning. I don’t think there are any fresh problems – unless somebody’s done something in training that hasn’t leaked – so we should have as full a squad as possible bar the suspended Giroud and Diaby. We can take a proper look ahead to the game tomorrow, and all the other bits and pieces.
Until then.
Arseblog on Sanogo signing:
http://arseblog.com/2013/05/thoughts...d-yaya-sanogo/
Morning chums.
A quick Saturday round-up for you. Firstly, some quotes from some mad people who are genuinely looking forward to tomorrow’s game against Newcastle.
Arsene Wenger: Sometimes you think it would be nice to have a game with no pressure, but when you have one you think, ‘let’s get it back, it’s so boring’. What would be terrible would be to go to Newcastle and have nothing at stake for us. We have what we wanted so let’s just finish the job.
Jack Wilshere: I think excitement first of all. When we get into the game, we’ll see what happens. Maybe a bit of nerves will come into it.
Olivier Giroud has spoken about how Montpellier won the title in France on the final day of last season, and look, I get why the players and the manager have to make confident noises ahead of this game. They should feel upbeat, it’s in their hands, results have been good lately, and we’ve got the experience of having done this before. More than once.
Personally though, I don’t find anything enjoyable about it at all. If the result goes our way I’m sure I’ll be delighted and happy, but it’ll be relief more than anything else. Like finally getting off a train with no toilet and finding somewhere to have a wee after sitting cross-legged for an hour. It’s a lovely feeling but one precipitated by a period of increasing discomfort and pain.
I can’t get the final day of last season out of my head and that excruciating game against West Brom knowing that one goal would leave us in 4th. As bad as watching Mr Shinpads lift the Champions League for that pack of knobbers, knowing it would have deprived us of our spot in that tournament this season would have been unbearable.
Only a win will do for us tomorrow. Sunderland might try hard but they’ve little to play for and they’ll want to get away from their angry manager as quickly as possible. Spurs know they’ve got to win to have any chance of finishing top four and I fully expect them to do it. Although we beat Wigan quite comfortably on Tuesday night, you need only look at the sequence of our recent results to think it’s probably going to be a tight game tomorrow.
Before Wigan it’s been: 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, 3-1, 2-1. The late, late rally against Norwich made that scoreline look more respectable than the game felt. But hey, I don’t want to come across as overly negative. I think we’ve got the form, experience and the quality to win tomorrow, but in all honesty I’m looking forward to it about as much as a trip to the dentist. And the dentist is drunk. And uses a Black and Decker drill. And instead of Novocaine he injects you with Painacaine, a new invention which makes you feel all the soreness multiplied by 75. And his hands are covered in warts and he’s not wearing gloves and at one point, as he’s leaning over you, he dribbles some of the spittle from the tobacco he’s chewing into your mouth.
So there.
In other news, away from the final day stuff, comes a story from France that we’ve agreed to sign 20 year old Auxerre striker Yaya Sanogo on a free transfer. I don’t know anything about him, really, other than he ticks a lot of the ‘haha typical Arsenal signing’ boxes in that he’s young, French and has had a lot of injury problems.
So he’s apparently very talented but somewhat brittle. Therefore, getting him on a free doesn’t seem like an unreasonable gamble to take. I don’t fall into the group of people who know with absolute certainty that this is the only transfer we’ll make this summer, eschewing more experienced and better quality options simply because he’s young, French and injury prone, just how we like ‘em, har har!
Shoot me.
I suspect this is about adding some depth to the striking position for next season. We’ve bemoaned it all season long, how we didn’t have anyone to fill in when Giroud was out, not even a promising youngster. Well, if he signs now we have that option. It doesn’t mean we won’t sign anyone else because as our defensive record show this season, it’s lack of goals that have hindered us, and I think that will be a major factor in what we do in the transfer market this summer.
It’s the age old ‘You can’t please some of the people any of the time’ thing when it comes to transfers. They complain when we don’t make them, they complain when we do. They are seeking Goldilocks’ porridge in every single deal but sometimes the porridge is a bit lumpy and sometimes the porridge is a bit cold. And hey, not all the porridge is good porridge but at least give it a try before you throw your toys out of the pram.
And on that horrendously mixed metaphorical note, I’m off to try and forget about tomorrow until it happens. Have a good Saturday.
He sure does chat a lot of crap
Well I'm looking forward to the game. I'm trying to put aside the humiliation of knowing we are scrabbling for a loser's spot and focus on the fact it's been a while since we played in a one-off game where there was something at stake. I'm leaving aside this season's domestic cup competitions because we don't turn up for those. If we turn up tomorrow we'll win. And why are the games on Sunday? Saturday footballFA ****s of course.
Für eure Sicherheit
This.And why are the games on Sunday? Saturday football
Im working tomorrow sowont be able to watch it. Im not working today so could have watched it. FA have had a shocker
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