Stoke v Arsenal Match Reaction

[Niall_Quinn]

In the past 6 matches since we beat Man City, both teams have picked up 11 points.

More points than that were on offer but we let them slip. We should have been making hay but now we find the misfiring gypos hot on our heels. We haven't been playing well and we should have done better, especially against Southampton and especially in the final minutes against Liverpool. You take advantage when advantage presents itself, or you don't. We didn't. The run-in is always so much different to what went before. Maybe we can drag out a few decent performances when the big guns return, you get the suspicion we'll need to.

[Kano]

More points than that were on offer but we let them slip. We should have been making hay but now we find the misfiring gypos hot on our heels. We haven't been playing well and we should have done better, especially against Southampton and especially in the final minutes against Liverpool. You take advantage when advantage presents itself, or you don't. We didn't. The run-in is always so much different to what went before. Maybe we can drag out a few decent performances when the big guns return, you get the suspicion we'll need to.

I think we both know that the level in this league is dire and has been getting worse season on season for the past 5 years. Taking that into consideration, the quality in our own club has also got worse, so while the expectation may be higher - as it should be - the reality is that in a shit league, we are also not going to be much better. That remains relative. 22 games in and there is no reason to think City are going to get any better. Leciester have shown everyone else up in this league, showing that excellent organisation and full-on commitment is enough to bridge the any gap in quality that may exist between their and other squads. It will probably continue this way until the end of the season, we fail to 'take advantage' as will City and Leciester will no doubt kick around until the very end. The Premier League is now just one big slog until the end, with no team surging away, just the one left standing after everyone else has fucked it up.

[Özim]

tbf, prior to us going a bit pansy (which we did), we were the ones kicking the crap out of the opposition. Vieira, Keown, Bould, Adams, Lauren, even Bergie was a bit of a bastard when he needed to be. That was what the game was like and we played it as well as any. The "don't like it up 'em" shit went to full cry when we switched from being the perps to the victims. Barca, who we were trying to copy, can handle it because all their players are drilled to hit the deck as soon as they are touched. Our lot don't.

Spot on, noone said a thing when we were doing it, if anything they loved it, now the shoe is on the other foot it's different. Some teams are more physical than others, there's always bad challenges from time to time but bad injuries are rare nonetheless and due more to bad luck than anything else.

There are the odd few players who might put in a nasty challenge but I'd say they are rare.

[selassie]

Not a great game, but not the worst - enough to keep us top, and that'll do for now. Nice to know we can scrap out a tough point when we need to.

Need to get that winning momentum back pretty sharpish though, if we don't want to get overtaken and left behind - what better way to get started than to give Chelsea a damn good pasting!

Sanchez being back is going to be massive for us, and I think we've managed Özil's fitness really well over the Christmas period, so hopefully those two will be firing on all cylinders for the run-in. Rosicky and Mo should be available straight away, and will add some fresh legs to a tired-looking midfield, and I've heard Coquelin, Wilshere and Welbeck are all back in training ahead of schedule, so they should be ready for selection in a couple of weeks. Not sure how Santi is doing, so let's hope that's enough to see us through to May...

Aye, my thoughts exactly, considering our injury list it was a good result and to be fair we've done well to stay top considering we have 4 nailed on starters out on the sidelines. Really looking forward to Alexis and Ozil returning this weekend and also Coq is supposed to be a few weeks away, he's back in full training now with Welbeck who is also supposed to be a few weeks away. Wilshere is back in full training too but no mention of his return date. Also as you stated, Rosicky & Elneny add much needed depth.

We really aren't in bad shape all things being considered, if we can get back to winning ways on Sunday and ease back in the injured players we'll be in good shape for the run-in. We do still have some very difficult away games so it won't be easy regardless of who is available for selection.

[Power n Glory]

I was listening to some of their fans calling into 606 yesterday, and it's amazing how to this day they still seem determined to miss the point. It was never a question of whether Shawcross intended to break Ramsey's leg or not, as most of them seem to think - whilst I have no doubt that he meant to go in heavy and hard, I don't think for one second that he actually wanted to break anyone's leg. No, the issue was, and still is, that it was the inevitable outcome of a situation that had been allowed to develop in this country, where it had become acceptable practice (not to mention highly amusing) to kick the crap out of our players every week, and watch the 'Arsenal cry-babies' whine about it. How many times over the years did we hear phrases like "We know how you've got to play against Arsenal..." and "Arsenal don't like it wen you kick them..." etc? How many times did we have to sit through the sneering old-boys club on MOTD laughing about it, and spouting tired, antiquated lines from 30 years ago about how it's a man's game? Once it had become that socially acceptable, is it any wonder that refs started turning a blind eye to it?

For Stoke and their fans, I can understand that they maybe see it as a one-off freak incident - one of those unfortunate things that just happen. For us though, it was 38 games a season, every season, that we had to put up with that kind of assault, and it was quite literally a matter of when, not if, it happened again. After watching it happy to Diaby, and then Eduardo, and then Ramsey in consecutive seasons, I can totally understand why Wenger was so angry about it, and why he wouldn't accept any apologies - too little, far, far, far too late. Perhaps Stoke and their fans can count themselves unlucky in that it was them who broke the camel's back, and not one of the other 18 teams in the league who regularly riled their players up to go out and play the same way, but there you go... it was them, and they need to take responsibility for it, instead of blaming everyone under the sun except themselves, including the victim! Seriously, anyone who genuinely believes that Ramsey broke his own leg on a blade of grass, and that poor, emotionally-fragile Ryan Shawcross is the real victim because he had his feelings hurt, really needs to have a word with themselves...

Luckily, Ramsey had a clean break and recovered well. Eduardo and Diaby weren't so lucky and were finished. They were never the same after that. It's a really a sour and sad moment when I think about how their careers turned out. You have the brainless players that took them out but the Stoke fans, the pundits that perpetuated the nonsense, the managers that sent their teams out to kick us (Fuck Alex Ferguson - the originator) and the shit refs that did nothing to protect the players.

[Letters]

Boring Letters

Points per game comparison of the 3 top teams so far.
The fact is no-one has had a particularly comfortable lead over anyone so far

[Özim]

Boring Letters

Points per game comparison of the 3 top teams so far.
The fact is no-one has had a particularly comfortable lead over anyone so far

4 points over City is a decent lead, 1 point as it is now isn't, it leaves no leeway for dropped points. Whilst it's nice and novel seeing Leicester up there, you can't see them winning it, City are the real threat with the quality they have, plus we have go over to their place when we could get turned over.

[I am invisible]

Luckily, Ramsey had a clean break and recovered well. Eduardo and Diaby weren't so lucky and were finished. They were never the same after that. It's a really a sour and sad moment when I think about how their careers turned out. You have the brainless players that took them out but the Stoke fans, the pundits that perpetuated the nonsense, the managers that sent their teams out to kick us (Fuck Alex Ferguson - the originator) and the shit refs that did nothing to protect the players.

I was gonna say, you can pretty much trace it all back to that infamous '50th game' at Old Trafford, and Alex Ferguson's post-match interview - after that, everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. I don't want to let Stoke off the hook too much with this, but really they were just a symptom of a much wider problem - the focus fell on them, but the whole football culture in this country needs to bear a portion of the responsibility for what happened...

[Letters]

We were 4 points above them after we beat them then immediately cocked things up on Boxing Day when it went back to 1 points which is where it is now.
City were 5 points above us early season - that's the biggest gap there's been all season.
The fact is no-one has been consistent and we never had a huge gap over them, nor they over us.
I agree they're the biggest threat and yes, we have no leeway but neither do those. If we lose to Chelsea and they win they'll be 2 points ahead but we're both going to drop points.
It's very hard to call this year. Head says City but we've held our own with Sanchez out, we'll be stronger when he comes back. I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet.

[I am invisible]

tbf, prior to us going a bit pansy (which we did), we were the ones kicking the crap out of the opposition. Vieira, Keown, Bould, Adams, Lauren, even Bergie was a bit of a bastard when he needed to be. That was what the game was like and we played it as well as any. The "don't like it up 'em" shit went to full cry when we switched from being the perps to the victims. Barca, who we were trying to copy, can handle it because all their players are drilled to hit the deck as soon as they are touched. Our lot don't.

But when it was us, was it not met with an absolute zero-tolerance approach from the FA, and a record number of red cards? Was our disciplinary record not widely condemned by all and sundry as being a disgrace? We did everything that was asked of us - we cleaned up our act, and went from having the worst disciplinary record in the league to the best - and our reward was for the footballing world to laugh as opponents kicked lumps out of us every week. It quite literally took broken bones and career-ending injuries before anyone started questioning what was going on, and even now it feels like opponents get 10 free fouls to every one of ours before a card comes out?